Chapter 176: Truly a Pair of Ill-Fated Lovers

When Yuki Asahi saw the news and rushed from the Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu training base to the warehouse in Kawasaki, he found a circle of men in black already surrounding the building.

A special-purpose vehicle was parked nearby; Yuki Asahi did not know what it was for.

These people didn’t look like police, but they didn’t look like kidnappers either.

They seemed more like… bodyguards?

Moreover, each of them had a belt with a handgun holstered on their waist—Yuki Asahi didn’t know exactly what model they were, but they looked familiar.

“Takashi Taguchi, who are they…?”

Yuki Asahi hesitated and looked back at Takaguchi, who had hurriedly stepped out of the car—he had only been able to arrive so quickly by asking someone else for a ride.

Takaguchi glanced at the P320s equipped by these men and sighed.

“They’re from DRG.”

Yuki Asahi nodded.

He knew the Jiang Family was the Dawn Resources Group… which meant they were his own people!

He quickened his pace toward the warehouse.

Unexpectedly, as he crossed the street, the outermost man in black placed his hand on his holster and shouted with a frown, “Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from approaching!”

Yuki Asahi froze on the spot, feeling a bit at a loss.

He subconsciously raised his hands to show he was not a threat—just like in the movies.

“He’s Yuki Asahi!”

Takaguchi also raised both hands as he walked to his side, but he held his Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu identification in one hand.

“He’s your Missy’s boyfriend!”

What…

Not yet!

Being called Jiang Jian Yue’s boyfriend in front of so many people made Yuki Asahi feel embarrassed for a moment.

He quickly coughed a few times to fix his expression.

The man in black holding the holster turned pale instantly.

He then felt relieved that he hadn’t drawn his weapon and hurriedly bowed.

“My apologies!”

“Oi! Yuki!”

Just then, from behind a few black cars, an acquaintance heard the commotion and stuck his head out to wave.

Yuki Asahi jogged over, while Takaguchi tactfully stayed where he was and did not follow.

Behind the black car, Yuki Asahi saw Makino Yuzuha, who was currently being bandaged by medical staff.

“Are you okay?”

“Um… Is that Senior Yuki?”

Makino Yuzuha squinted her eyes, looking at the blurry blocks of color in front of her.

“Don’t call me Senior…”

Yuki Asahi turned his head and looked at Koji Hattori.

“Thank you.”

Koji Hattori waved his hand, which was in a plaster cast.

“I just did some minor work.”

Then, his tone became somewhat serious.

“Yuki, your ability is Emotion Manipulation, right?”

Yuki Asahi, who was about to ask why they were still here, was stunned for a moment before nodding.

“Why do you ask?”

“Missy, she…”

Bang—

As they were speaking, a gap was slammed open in the heavy warehouse doors.

A man wearing heavy riot armor was dragged out in a pathetic state by those guarding the door.

Then, the people on both sides rushed forward and pulled the doors shut again.

“Hold it!”

“Ohhhhhhh!”

“As you can see… Missy, she…”

Koji Hattori was seeing Missy like this for the first time, and he sounded hesitant.

Yuki Asahi recalled the superpower user who had been killed by Morita Aoya in front of West Nest Duck Station.

The strange emotional fluctuations in Jiang Jian Yue after she touched the corpse…

“Senior Jiang… I don’t know what happened. That superpower user seemed to… take advantage of Senior Jiang being on the phone to try and kidnap me, and then Senior Jiang accidentally killed him… and then…”

“Those kidnappers… they all seem to be dead…”

Makino Yuzuha explained her “observations” incoherently.

A trace of discomfort crossed Koji Hattori’s face.

Although he had joined the Self-Defense Force and participated in overseas peacekeeping operations, this was the first time he had seen such a bloody and grotesque scene.

It wasn’t simple “death”; it was a massacre.

After taking Makino Yuzuha, who was squinting and couldn’t see what was happening, out of the warehouse, Koji Hattori immediately contacted the Morita Butler to ask for a solution.

Morita Aoya passed on the solution from the Dark Crow Unit—use tranquilizers!

However, Jiang Jian Yue, who had already fallen into a frenzy, directly broke Koji Hattori’s hand with a single slap when he tried to approach her—Hattori hadn’t even been injured for a month before gaining a new wound.

Left with no choice, they could only call for more reinforcements and bring in some riot armor to see if they could try to make Jiang Jian Yue quiet down.

But clearly, this new operation had also failed.

Now, the DRG bodyguards were busy blocking all the cracks in the warehouse from the outside, intending to pump tranquilizers into the warehouse in the form of gas.

“Let me do it.”

***

Side effect?

No, this isn’t a side effect; this is the true self.

“Stupid, of course it’s not! Look at yourself—you can’t even control yourself.”

An annoying voice kept buzzing in her ear.

How irritating!

The young girl sat cross-legged in a pool of blood.

Her index finger, sharp as a claw, poked into her temple and stirred, attempting to drive the voice out of her head.

The heavy iron door of the warehouse was pulled open a crack.

“Yuki, ensure your own safety…”

Koji Hattori patted the boy’s thin shoulder with his uninjured hand.

Yuki Asahi did not answer.

He took a deep breath and squeezed through the narrow gap in the door.

Bang!

The iron door slammed shut behind him, isolating all sounds from the outside world.

Inside the warehouse, there was dead silence.

A sort of thick, nauseating silence.

The heavy scent of blood mixed with the stench of internal organs slammed into Yuki Asahi’s nose, making him dizzy and almost causing him to vomit on the spot.

He forcibly suppressed the churning in his stomach.

His Golden Eyes gradually lit up as he scanned the hell before him.

This could no longer be called the remains of a “battle.”

This was… a slaughterhouse.

Severed limbs and broken arms were used as brushes to coat the walls and floor with blurred flesh.

Yuki Asahi’s heart hammered wildly in his chest, not out of fear, but because… from this hell, he felt that familiar yet strange “emotion.”

In the deepest part of the warehouse, under the only flickering emergency light.

Jiang Jian Yue sat right there.

She sat in the middle of a “lake” formed by chunks of corpses and blood.

Her pale gray hair was dyed dark red, clinging to her pale face.

The trench coat she wore was already in tatters, revealing the hideous mutation beneath, making her look like a monster crawling out of a nightmare.

“…Get out.”

The girl let out a beast-like low growl, her voice hoarse and distorted.

Yuki Asahi straightened his back slightly.

Stepping on the sticky ground, he walked straight toward Jiang Jian Yue.

“I’m not leaving.”

Jiang Jian Yue suddenly raised her head.

Her blood-red pupils instantly locked onto Yuki Asahi as he walked toward her.

Yuki… why is he here?

Did he see all of this?

I’m a monster… no… I’m not…

Panic, an irrational panic, instantly overwhelmed the stimulation of slaughter and the noise in her head.

Panic and sadness—these negative emotions were also the emotions born from Jiang Jian Yue’s side effect.

They were usually just covered by more intense negative emotions.

“Don’t come over!”

Jiang Jian Yue let out a scream that didn’t sound like her usual self, her voice becoming shrill with terror.

She subconsciously wanted to hide her mutated arms, but only kicked up a spray of blood.

“Don’t look at me! Get out! Yuki Asahi… I’m telling you to get out!”

Like a wild cat whose tail had been stepped on, she bristled with “blades” all over her body, pointing them at the one person she least wanted to see her like this.

Yuki Asahi did not move.

He just stood there quietly, his Golden Eyes watching her without blinking.

He could feel it.

All the madness, anger, chaos, and malice… and all the… fear.

“Yue.”

Ignoring her warning, Yuki Asahi took step after step toward her.

As the tentacles of his Emotion Perception touched those uncomfortable negative emotions, Yuki prioritized absorbing the anger from her body.

“I told you not to come over!”

Jiang Jian Yue’s emotions spiraled completely out of control, and she fiercely swung her right arm.

Whir—

The gleaming Insect Blade, carrying a whistle that tore through the air, sliced across the short distance of a few meters between them.

It slashed toward Yuki Asahi’s neck almost like a teleportation!

Yuki Asahi did not dodge; he didn’t even close his eyes.

The sharp blade stopped less than a centimeter from his eyes.

The wind generated by the sharp tip cut a few strands of hair from his forehead.

Jiang Jian Yue’s arm… no, that monster-like limb, was trembling violently.

Her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks as she stared deathly at Yuki Asahi.

Yuki Asahi slowly raised his hand.

Instead of touching the cold blade, he gently placed it on Jiang Jian Yue’s blood-stained arm, which was encased in a shell.

“What a pair of tragic lovers~”

Meiguan’s voice sounded inordinately inside her head.

“Shut up!”

Jiang Jian Yue let out a cry of pain.

Her other hand slammed into her own head.

But Yuki Asahi was faster.

He took a sudden step forward, and before Jiang Jian Yue could self-harm, he pulled her whole body—along with that hideous shell and the Insect Blade—tightly into his arms.

The world seemed to stand still in that moment.

The blade capable of cutting through steel rested against Yuki Asahi’s back, but it could no longer move an inch.

“It’s okay now.”

Yuki Asahi buried his face in her hair.

Ignoring the pungent smell of blood, his voice came out muffled.

“It’s okay now, Yue.”

He didn’t say “don’t be afraid,” nor did he say “this isn’t you.”

He simply used all his strength to continuously perform a Devouring of all negative emotions.

I am here.

I see you.

I see your pain, your struggle, and your fear.

I see what you look like as a monster.

But I am not afraid.

I will not leave.

It’s okay, Yue.

I’ve got you.

Inside Jiang Jian Yue’s mind, Meiguan’s voice changed into Yuki Asahi’s voice, continuously speaking… she didn’t know whose heart it was.

Was Meiguan pretending?

Or…

I don’t know… My head hurts so much…

Crack… crack crack…

The hideous black shell on her body made a series of cracking sounds and began to peel off.

The Insect Blade snapped inch by inch, turning into ash and revealing the girl’s snow-white skin underneath.

The negative emotions did not disappear; it was just that all the intense emotions were filled with sadness and confusion.

This was all Yuki Asahi could do for now.

Compared to that time at West Nest Duck Station, the negative emotions in Jiang Jian Yue were like heaven and earth; they were completely incomparable.

Yue… what exactly is your ability?

Why does it become like this?

Can’t you tell me?