"Work with me." I repeat these four words. It was exactly what I wanted, but I wasn't young enough to show it. And I have a question that I must confirm, "You should understand that even if the leader of an underground organization like an ant colony is almost invisible, even if the leader dies, only a few of the leader's cronies will be known. As long as the message hasn't been communicated downward, it makes sense for the organization to continue as usual for a short period of time. ”

Hearing this, Naoto Inoue shook his head, "I traced the current flow of funds of the ant colony in the shadows, and found two projects established by the Ant Lord, which have nothing to do with the interests of his cronies and their organization, but occupy a lot of funds, and are still in operation. ”

Although I don't really believe that the dead Xu Quanan is the lord of ants, out of the desire to throw bricks and lead the jade, I still say, "Maybe it's just a smoke bomb set up by cronies to make the lies about the leader's survival more credible." ”

"There are very few people who know about those two projects. Assuming I wasn't a medium, I wouldn't have been able to track it down. And if this is a smoke bomb, it is too far-fetched. "And the person in charge of those two projects is the most trusted confidant of the Ant Lord, and he has established a very thorough and effective loyalty pact with the Ant Lord, which will not be broken even if his superiors die." Although other cronies have been more or less contracted, they have not reached the point where even freedom of thought has been curtailed like him. If the Ant Lord is truly dead, then he will never turn a deaf ear. ”

It's really a report that can't be ignored. I accepted his statement for the time being, and then asked, "The police will never let a precious talent like you sniff around, in other words, are you doing it alone for your own sake?" ”

He was silent, then nodded.

"Tell me your reasons." I say.

He held the tea in both hands and silently turned the paper cup, his eyes glued to the mouth of the straw. After a moment, he asked, "What do you think of us?" ”

By "we", he is referring to him and his colleagues. I thought and asked, "How, mean?" ”

"Beaver City has always had a high crime rate. I don't know exactly what the situation is in other cities, but Beaver City is definitely weird. Sometimes I spend time with my colleagues and it feels like I'm working with outlaws. If there is any difference between us and the real outlaws, it is nothing more than that we kill people legally, and they kill people illegally. But lately, I've been wondering if the law can really be such an impregnable dividing line in a city where the law has been trampled on repeatedly. He seemed to be talking to me as well as to himself, "I don't get it anymore." I was confused about what I believed in justice. finally became a law enforcer that even my father wanted to be, but I felt that I was going further and further. ”

I don't know exactly what he's been through after the Facelings incident, but it doesn't sound pleasant.

"Ever since I killed my father, I thought I would become resistant to killing." He looked at his hands, "But I'm getting more and more proficient." Both physically and mentally. It was as if something that seemed sturdy that had been tightly tied to itself in the past was now gone. ”

"There were no chains at all." I suddenly remembered this sentence.

"What?" He was stunned.

"It's something I've heard lately." I say.

"Yes. There are no chains at all. He seemed to understand, and then said, "Sometimes I wonder if there is any point in continuing to work over there." Should you be like you, and just sanction the bad guys on your own ideas. They are noticeably more afraid of you than we are. ”

"I never thought of sanctions." I said to him, "I just think it's nice to kill them." ”

"That's why they're so scared of you." He said, "If you crusade against them with a righteous heart, they will be able to harden the bones of evil." Even if he is really killed, it is just a lack of strength. But if you are killed by an inexplicable Faceling, with inexplicable motives, with inexplicable powers, then even death will be inexplicably dead. ”

When he said this, I was a little dissatisfied with outsiders. But I decided to get down to business, "Let's talk about the reason why we want to fight the Lord of the Ants." ”

"I want to climb to the top and change Beaver City." "For that, I need credit," he said. Plenty of credit. ”

"That makes sense." I nodded.

"You want to deal with the Ant Lord, too, don't you? Otherwise, you won't kill Xu Quanan. He stared at me, "I'm a psychic medium, with enough reconnaissance but lack the combat power to fight the ant colony, and you're the opposite. Regardless of the physiognomy of the character, at least in terms of ability, we just complement each other, and it is not an exaggeration to say that we are a match made in heaven. Don't you think so? ”

To be exact, I'm not trying to deal with the Ant Lord, I'm just trying to get the "earthworm eyeballs" that are likely to be on the Ant Lord's side.

But there's no need to divulge on him here. I just nodded in acknowledgement and said, "Let's do that first." ”

Thus the matter of cooperation was determined.

But he still had personal matters to deal with, so he said goodbye to me first. Before leaving, he suddenly remembered and turned back to me and said, "When the dark beaver was still there, the beaver city was even darker than it is now. And you were the one who dismantled the dark beaver at that time. Is this true? ”

"It's true."

"I've heard that the leader of the Dark Beaver is not just a super-grade psionic, he also has a power armor. Even if an ordinary person wears that armor, he can exert the combat power of a super-grade psyker, and if he wears it, he can exert a power comparable to that of a 'demon subduing expert'. Is this also true? ”

"It's true." I repeated.

"But the dark beaver was eventually defeated by you." He asked curiously, "How did you do that?" ”

"It's a long story."

"'Long story' again?"

"It's hard to put into words." I changed my tune.

*

After saying goodbye to Inoue, I didn't immediately return home, but went to the small street where I had first arranged the blood sacrifice ceremony, which was off the beaten track. The runic array I had set up here to contain the remnants of the Blood Ritual was still operating as usual, the walls were standing well, and there were no noticeable incidents in the vicinity. This is a good thing, but it is not enough. Although I was influenced by jealous knowledge at the beginning, this is the poison I left behind. We'll have to find a way to get rid of the remnants of this place in the future.

I also went to see the miscellaneous woods where the "boxes" were buried. The box was black and wooden, depicting the ripples of the Seal Spirit, and contained the black cloth I used to carry the residual effects during my second Blood Sacrifice Ritual. It seems that this seal is quite effective. I moved it to a more secluded place.

By the end of the day, it was already evening.

I took the bus, got off at a stop two kilometers away from home, and headed to a nearby park. I put all the clothes I changed into when I was going to go cross-dressing, and now I'm going to get them back. But after walking in the park for a long time, I suddenly felt someone appear behind me. It wasn't "walking" behind me, but "appearing out of nowhere".

The park was quite deserted in the evening, and I was the only one around. The appearance of this person was as if the air had spit it out coldly.

I turned slowly and looked over.

This man was standing in the shade of a tree seven or eight meters away from me, he was wearing a long black trench coat and hunting suit, and his hands were wearing black leather hands. Looking at it up close, every piece of clothing on him now looks quite old, even shabby. What's more, he still wears the black leather short-beaked beak mask. It is as if it came out of a medieval oil painting full of plagues, and the air of death flows through it. Originally, this was just a park that could be seen everywhere in the evening, but his appearance was like a ghost in the ordinary landscape photos. The whole space was quickly drained of the sense of reality, and became a different dimension that did not resemble reality.

He didn't speak. He had never said a word last time, and with this mask, he looked like a monster, which was unsettling. It was the first time I had seen a Faceling so close from someone else's point of view. Could it be that my enemies in the past had the same mentality when they looked at me?

It's really scary. I think.

"Should I call you 'Faceling'?" I asked.

He seemed to have made up his mind not to speak, but that didn't mean he was just coming to see me.

The next second, he burst towards me like a cannonball.

The ground he trampled on suddenly dented and shattered. At this speed, with this power, he activated the "turning zero into whole" mode as soon as he came up. He clenched his right fist tightly and slammed it at me with murderous intent, and even a steel plate would surely have been pierced by him like a piece of paper. If I don't give it my all, I won't be able to hold even one move. So immediately after that, I also activated "Turning Parts into Wholes" and attacked the past with my fists as well.

The two fists collided together, and the air reacted violently, as if a powerful bomb had been detonated on the spot. The shock wave swept in all directions), and the fallen leaves and dust on the ground were suddenly swept away, forming a dusty field. I don't know if it's a hallucination, but it seems that even the surrounding trees have briefly tilted down with the pull of the wind. And almost at the same time, the ground beneath our feet was in a huge depression and crumble at the same time. This is due to the fact that in order to prevent each other's forces from harming ourselves, we channel all our energy into the ground with the clever use of "turning parts into wholes". It seems that he is not only good at "turning parts into wholes", but also very proficient, like another me who has come out of the mirror.

This is just the beginning.

In the next instant, his fists struck like a raging storm, each blow as powerful as the first. I didn't hesitate to fight back with the same tricks.