Chapter 43: A Reversal, But Not a Complete One

Jiang Jian Yue, the friend from Central Africa, returned to her loyal Mejiro 1-chome Apartment.

The scene before her was bleak and dismal: the front gate and lobby were severely damaged, and a fine layer of ash covered the floor.

Only after an explanation from the servant did Jiang Jian Yue realize that the debris was the remains of a decomposed human sculpture.

She passed through the wreckage and took the elevator back up to the fifth floor—though recently she had been climbing in from outside, this was a rare time she used the elevator.

Stepping out of the elevator, she kicked off her shoes. Barefoot, as soon as she touched the floor, a faint but unmistakable scent of blood pierced her nose.

Something was wrong!

A chill shot down her spine instantly, sharp and cold like a blade piercing through her clothes, lightly pressing against her skin.

“Don’t move.”

A faint warning came from behind.

I’m about to move!

Jiang Jian Yue reacted in a split second.

She stomped her left foot hard on the ground, lunging her body forward to widen the distance from the blade’s attack.

At the same time, the back of her right hand bulged slightly, and the sharp Insect Blade popped out with a metallic “clang.”

Her waist twisted, her arm swung the Insect Blade into a crescent arc, fiercely slashing at the attacker behind her!

Ding—

A crisp sound shattered the silence as the Insect Blade collided with a short blade barely held in a horizontal block.

Suddenly flashing sparks illuminated the attacker’s face.

The man had silver-blue hair, his trench coat stained with blood.

One hand pressed firmly on a wound in his abdomen, his pale face sweating profusely; the other hand holding the knife trembled slightly from exertion.

“I mean no harm.”

Seeing his hold broken instantly, he gasped for breath and gritted his teeth.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Jiang Jian Yue’s expression was cold and emotionless.

Her right leg shot out like lightning, hooking his ankle precisely and kicking hard.

The man lost balance and fell backward.

At that moment, Jiang Jian Yue was already upon him, her bare foot mercilessly pressing down on his wound.

The cold, hard Insect Blade tip aimed straight at his emerald eyes.

The man gasped in pain, his eyes rolling back as he nearly fainted.

Suddenly, Jiang Jian Yue felt her body grow light.

The ground seemed to turn into a deep abyss, yet she didn’t feel herself falling—instead, there was a strange sensation of floating.

Invisible forces lifted her up, suspending her in midair.

Jiang Jian Yue refused to believe it, kicking and flailing her arms, but she only tumbled helplessly through the air as if in zero gravity.

“Let’s have a proper talk, shall we, Miss Jiang Jian?” the man wheezed weakly.

“All right…”

Jiang Jian Yue answered with great difficulty—how she envied such a cool ability.

Thud!

Gravity seemed to suddenly affect her body; unprepared, Jiang Jian Yue slammed heavily onto the floor.

Her head collided with the ground with a dull thud.

Damn it!

***

When the man who called himself Kanrou took out a GPRI Personal Terminal, Jiang Jian Yue nearly sighed again.

After all, it was common knowledge that GPRI were monsters.

“I tracked the signal from Takeyama’s terminal to find you.”

Kanrou quickly raised his hand to stop Jiang Jian Yue, who was about to speak, panting as he explained, “…Let me finish.”

Jiang Jian Yue’s pupils darkened.

The terminal that Takeyama had locked down, she had indeed tossed casually in the apartment.

She had assumed that with the Destruction of GPRI, the terminals couldn’t locate each other.

Otherwise, capturing one would expose all hunters.

Instinctively, she pulled out her second terminal—its screen glaring red with the words “Locked.”

No wonder.

If there was no way to avoid this, once Dream Serpent handed over the Personal Terminal, things wouldn’t have escalated like this.

“The plan failed, and we no longer have the strength to stop this.”

Kanrou’s voice was heavy with exhaustion.

“At this point, I only want to earnestly ask Miss Jiang Jian for a favor.”

“Wait a moment.”

Jiang Jian Yue looked at herself in confusion.

Then she typed a message on her phone’s notepad: “You assassinate me, then expect me to help you? Are you speaking human language?”

A flicker of surprise crossed Kanrou’s eyes as he wondered why this girl was typing instead of speaking—she wasn’t mute, was she?

“I’m only carrying out the mission. The list isn’t mine to decide. This request… comes solely from me personally.”

Kanrou swallowed hard, gathering strength to patiently explain, “I know this is hard to understand! But GPRI’s cleansing of superhumans was to prevent a greater catastrophe! Since our establishment, we’ve stopped multiple world-level crises…”

“Why me?”

Jiang Jian Yue suddenly interrupted, her tone icy, cutting off Kanrou’s argument.

Before the list appeared, she had never revealed any superhuman powers; the terminal couldn’t detect any stray signals from her.

And on the list, she was marked as a “normal person assassination target.”

“I told you, I didn’t make the list, I don’t know anything about it!”

Kanrou’s emotions flared as he retorted, wincing from the pain in his abdomen.

Then realizing he was the one asking for help, his tone softened: “Please believe in GPRI, or don’t. After all, it’s a destroyed organization. I only ask…”

“…That you and the group behind you stand on the side of justice, to oppose those guys.”

Jiang Jian Yue wondered what group she supposedly had behind her.

Could DRG be a superhuman organization?

Known groups like The Light Extinguishers and GPRI operated secretly beneath the surface.

DRG was just a company—with even an official website.

“Those guys?”

“Within Japan, Curtain Cluster, The Light Extinguishers, and Saints—these three organizations must be treated with extreme caution…”

“Curtain Cluster originally consisted of a group of GPRI defectors. At first, it was just a difference in ideology—they advocated revealing the existence of superhumans to governments worldwide, seeking official cooperation. But later…”

He shook his head bitterly.

“Later, they became more radical, attempting to control governments and extend their reach directly into ordinary people’s lives to dominate everything.”

“The Light Extinguishers are a pure NAZI organization! They maintain their group by promoting the inferiority of ordinary people and glorifying themselves as evolved new humans. They’re an extremely vicious, racist group.”

“As for Saints…”

Kanrou sighed, his voice dropping low: “They are fanatics who worship the so-called Bug God. Their logic and goals are beyond any normal understanding.”

Had GPRI not lost control of everything?

Look at the monsters you all have been protecting!

Big Brother, the KKK, foot washers—such a small country like Japan somehow houses so many demons and monsters.

However, Jiang Jian Yue didn’t fully believe everything Kanrou said.

After all, she had come into contact with The Light Extinguishers, and they were rather friendly—even had a fellow countryman.

Except for their arrogant behavior in her own apartment, which made her angry.

Compared to GPRI, which had a minus 100 on her score sheet, her trust in them was still not as low as the Light Extinguishers’ minus 80.

“So, what exactly is the purpose of cleansing superhumans? What was your mission in Tokyo?”

“There are too many, the Special Response Division can’t handle it!”

Kanrou’s gaze left Jiang Jian Yue’s phone screen as he explained, “As far as I know, on the afternoon of the Shock Core Incident, these three organizations established contact with some of those people.”

“By itself, the Kawasaki Base couldn’t keep up with their containment speed and couldn’t stop them…”

“Can you imagine a future where hundreds of superhumans are controlled by those three groups of vermin?”

“Or rather, do you really trust these ordinary people who suddenly gained powers?”

Jiang Jian Yue’s head was a bit muddled, but she roughly understood—so they were saying she had wrongly blamed GPRI?

Right… right?