Chapter 427 Manipulating Light
The arrangements were quickly finalized. My junior, Xiao Qiao, would follow the mysterious man's instructions to go to the abandoned construction site, and I would go with her.
Now that we have me, we don't need Zhu Shi in terms of combat strength. However, we'll have to decide on the specific arrangements for Zhu Shi later in private.
I have deeper thoughts about this strange incident, which may involve a freak. Rather than wiping out the enemy right away, I'd rather delve into the details. Therefore, if possible, I want to extract as much information as possible from the enemy before any formal conflict.
While bringing the enemy's remains to Asahaha to rewind historical records is not out of the question, it is ultimately a second-best solution. Rather than a proper intelligence gathering method, it is more of a remedial measure taken after normal intelligence gathering methods have failed.
It seemed that Junior Sister Qiao had relaxed a lot, but she still appeared somewhat worried about the difference in combat strength between us and the enemy. I didn't explain to her, who knew nothing about the supernatural world, what the Great Impermanence was, what a Witcher was, or what a monster was. No matter how much I explained, she lacked the most basic frame of reference. Even if I explained that my strength was so great that I could destroy a mountain with a single blow, I couldn't actually demonstrate how to destroy a mountain in front of her; that would just make me seem like I was bragging.
Even if she reluctantly believed it, she might still think, "What if the other person has bizarre 'rule' abilities like in a comic book?" To be honest, I often had those thoughts when I first entered the supernatural world. Many things can't be truly grasped without seeing them for yourself.
Moreover, if we really think about it, even now I don't believe that idea is completely unreasonable.
"To lower their guard, I will follow you invisibly."
As I spoke, I removed the fireball from my hand.
As if her attention had been drawn away and was released as the fireball disappeared, Xiao Qiao seemed to realize that the fireball had been released in a public place. She quickly looked around, probably worried that others might have witnessed what had just happened.
Fortunately, it wasn't mealtime in the cafeteria, and there were only a few people around. And coincidentally, they weren't looking this way when I released the fireball—saying "coincidentally" is a bit of an exaggeration. The reason those few people didn't look this way was probably because I didn't want to attract attention.
Xiao Qiao, the junior student, breathed a sigh of relief and then turned her attention to what I had just said.
"Invisibility?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Is your power not just fire, senior?"
"That's right. Just like that."
Instead of correcting it, I stood up and began to manipulate the light.
Manipulating light is also part of my abilities, which I used in my battle against Chenlong. Because light is a marginal part of my abilities, and because I personally perceive it as something ethereal and fleeting, it wasn't easy for me to control it in the past. If the light is generated by my own abilities, that's easier, but naturally, manipulating light is much more difficult.
After becoming the Great Impermanence, I was able to intervene in things that were even more ethereal, such as cause and effect and fate, and the difficulty of controlling light was naturally reduced considerably.
I grabbed the light with my hand and pulled it towards myself. It was like pulling up a piece of cloth made of mirrors, or like stretching and moving space itself. The scenery was draped over me, and I felt as if I had stepped back from the front of the stage to behind the curtain.
Similar to optical camouflage in science fiction, it achieves the effect of being visually undetectable by altering light. From the naked eye's perspective, my body disappears; even I can't see my own body.
My junior classmate, Xiao Qiao, stared wide-eyed at the spot where I had "disappeared," then couldn't resist reaching out to touch it. Of course, I hadn't actually disappeared, so she naturally ended up touching my stomach.
I manipulated the light again, covering her with the scenery. She vanished just like me, leaving behind a slightly shaky voice.
Zhu Shi calmly watched the changes in me and my junior, Xiao Qiao.
I withdrew my power, the light returned to normal, and our bodies returned to their original state.
“If a danger arises that even I can’t handle, I’ll take you and we’ll escape invisibly. You can rest assured then, right?” I asked.
Xiao Qiao, the junior student, nodded excitedly.
It's just optical camouflage; as a form of invisibility, it's quite basic. These strange people all possess highly developed hearing and smell, and can even sense souls to some extent. However, Xiao Qiao doesn't have that kind of knowledge, and experiencing something and not experiencing it are two different things. Having personally entered an invisible state, Xiao Qiao suddenly seemed to gain immense confidence.
We agreed to meet tomorrow, and then my junior, Xiao Qiao, said goodbye. Just in case, I also gave her a "firefly" in case the mysterious person appeared in front of her a day early and caused her any harm.
Zhu Shi didn't pick up the black guitar case and leave. Perhaps because of their engagement, Xiao Qiao, the junior student, didn't question why Zhu Shi stayed. Instead, she gave him a mysterious smile, made an encouraging gesture, and then left lightly.
"Why are you still carrying that guitar case?" I asked curiously. "Isn't that a tool used to hide the Yama Sword? Now that you can summon the Yama Sword at any time, you don't need this cover anymore, right?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi placed the black guitar case on his lap, opened it, and found that there was indeed a white guitar inside.
"I'm not just carrying a guitar case to cosplay as a girl band member; I actually play the guitar," she said boastfully. "After all, if I carry a guitar case around all day, my friends will inevitably ask me about it, so I sometimes need to actually take a guitar out of it to let people know that I'm not just pretending."
"Back in high school, Xiao Qiao invited me to join her student band as a guitarist. But after starting university, I had less homework, but I had a lot more work with the Witcher. Now, whenever Xiao Qiao invites me to play guitar, I can only politely decline."
Towards the end, she became somewhat regretful.
This person was actually a member of a band in high school?
However, I'm more concerned about something else right now.
"Why don't you go help Xiao Qiao yourself?" I asked. "You should already have the power of a Great Completion level by now. Although I don't know the exact level of the strange person troubling Xiao Qiao, as far as I know, apart from Chen Long, there are no strange individuals above the Great Completion level. Even if there were, they wouldn't appear in such a remote corner. Wouldn't it be a piece of cake for you to eliminate him?"
“Well… there are two reasons,” Zhu Shi said. “The first reason is luck. Xiao Qiao brought it up with me first, but she had only just begun to explain the situation and hadn’t had a chance to tell me the whole story when you happened to pass by nearby.”
"The second reason is also related to luck. When she told me that she wanted to consult you about a problem, I had a premonition, and when you happened to show up, that premonition turned into certainty."
“You’ve never been to the university before, and then you suddenly appeared just in time for this, without even giving me a chance to intervene beforehand… I wonder if this is the event itself trying to align itself with you?”
I asked, "You mean, this was also an event attracted by Asahi's power?"
Zhu Shi nodded.
She seems to have gotten used to the illogical workings of Asahi's power, and when faced with such situations, her first thought is of Asahi's jinxed nature.
I've had similar thoughts, which is why I'm paying extra attention to this incident and want to cautiously try to extract more information from it. I don't believe that Asahi's jinxed nature would only attract such a "trivial incident" to me. If nothing unexpected happens, this incident is either seemingly a small problem that actually carries great danger, or it may not be dangerous at all, but it's not an isolated incident, but rather one of the tentacles of a much greater danger.
Zhu Shi said apologetically, "I'm sorry, this is danger my friend was in. I should have been the one to end things first..."
"Are you trying to say that I'm being dragged into this? There's no need to think that way. Since this is an event brought about by my jinxed nature, there's no point in me trying to avoid it. I might as well face it head-on," I said. "Besides, don't you know what kind of person I am? I've been feeling a bit too free lately, so instead of trying to handle this myself, you should drag everything onto me."
"Also, when do you plan to tell your friends the truth?"
Zhu Shi seemed hesitant to reveal her true self to her friends. To be honest, I don't quite understand why she would hesitate to tell her friends that she is "a mysterious demon hunter who is proficient in swordsmanship and magic and can kill anyone."
(End of this chapter)
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