In a flash, Lin Yu made his decision.
With a neutral expression, he reached out and took the long blade.
The moment the sword entered his hand, it felt heavier than he had imagined.
The icy scabbard brushed against his palm.
He held the scabbard with one hand and slowly drew the sword with the other.
The black blade slid out of the sheath slowly.
Nothing strange happened.
The entire process took only two or three seconds, and his movements were fluid.
Kobayashi Mirai took the long blade back from Lin Yu, her fingers lightly tracing the cherry blossom pattern on the scabbard.
She gave a soft smile, and a voice devoid of emotion came through the translator:
“You saved me, so I’ll act as if what you said is true.”
She hooked the long blade back onto her waist with crisp, decisive movements.
However, the moment she turned to leave, her footsteps paused.
She tilted her head, looking at Lin Yu with eyes that appeared exceptionally clear in the night.
“The School’s club activities are starting in a few days. You haven’t joined a club yet, have you? Do you want to join mine?”
Lin Yu instinctively shook his head.
The girl glanced at him and didn’t linger.
She waved goodbye, her figure quickly merging into the deep shadows cast by the main building until she disappeared.
Lin Yu stood where he was until she had completely vanished.
As the evening breeze blew past, he felt a slight chill on his back.
‘What does she mean by “I’ll act as if what you said is true”?’
She didn’t believe him at all, but she chose to back off for now instead of exposing him on the spot.
“Heh, this seems like it might be a bit of a hassle. If I had known, I would have just left her back there,” a voice drifted from beside him.
Lin Yu didn’t even look.
He threw a backhand punch.
His fist passed through the phantom without any resistance, striking the air.
Golden particles of light scattered and quickly reorganized on his other side.
“What was that for? I’m the other you, after all. Besides, if you really want to hit me, you should just hit yourself. That would be more effective, and it would hurt my heart,” No. 2 said airily.
“It’s nothing. I didn’t expect to hit you anyway,” Lin Yu retracted his hand and continued walking toward the dormitory, his voice cold.
“But if I didn’t at least try to give you a blow, I’d feel uneasy.”
“Are you dissatisfied with the results of our trade? The Divine Sense I gave you is clearly very useful, isn’t it?”
“The results of the trade were indeed good, and I like your gift as well. However, I don’t particularly want to see you. You should just stay quiet and—”
“I can’t do that,” No. 2 interrupted Lin Yu’s unfinished sentence.
“Our last agreement was very clear. I would no longer actively appear to disturb your life until you summoned me. But you already broke that agreement last time. Now, when I appear and what I say… are all my own freedom.”
He floated in front of Lin Yu, his dark gold pupils flickering with an icy luster.
“Furthermore, after the last trade, I possess 20 out of 100 chips. I already have 20% of the usage rights for this body… One shouldn’t be too selfish, Number One. You should let me use the body occasionally.”
Lin Yu stopped in his tracks and looked directly into those inhuman eyes.
“It’s not impossible. Answer me one question: what exactly are you?”
“I’ve already told you—”
“Fine.”
Lin Yu cut him off bluntly, his gaze turning completely cold.
“I won’t be making another trade with you.”
No. 2 let out a low chuckle that sounded as if it came from the abyss.
“How heartless… but when we made our agreement last time, you said the same thing.”
The phantom leaned closer until he was almost face-to-face with Lin Yu, his voice burrowing directly into his mind.
“Humans are always like this. They hold onto lucky streaks, thinking they can control their own desires. But once you have personally opened Pandora’s Box and witnessed the kind of power that can rewrite fate… you can never turn back. My answer remains the same as before: you will trade.”
‘Trade, my foot,’ Lin Yu thought.
In truth, he didn’t have many desires.
Just as No. 2 had said, even if a bullet were about to pierce his head, he wouldn’t necessarily engage in a so-called trade.
A person usually needs a reason to struggle to stay alive, right?
Kinship, friendship, and love—he possessed very little of the things that formed the pillars of a normal person’s life, or they had long since rotted away.
If he thought about it carefully, surrendering this shell to No. 2 didn’t seem like something unacceptable.
Even if No. 2 were truly a great villain determined to destroy the world, he probably wouldn’t care.
To him, this world held nothing particularly worth cherishing.
But No. 2 had lied to him many times, and he didn’t like being lied to.
When he was a child, his parents lied to him, saying they were too busy to breathe, when in reality, they had secretly had another daughter.
His grandfather had also lied to him, claiming he knew nothing about his parents’ affairs when he had known about the granddaughter all along.
Even the friends he used to play with in the mud as a child had promised to be friends for life, yet they were like strangers when they met again.
Trust was like a fragile layer of glass. Every time a lie fell upon it, a clear crack was added until it was covered in fractures and could no longer bear any weight.
Honestly, if No. 2 could just be a little bit honest.
Even if he said straightforwardly, ‘I am a monster sent by Belial to destroy the Earth, and now I just need a suitable body to transform and turn this world upside down in minutes.’
If that were the case, Lin Yu might actually feel relieved.
He might even hand over the body with a bit of theatrical indifference and thoughtfully say to him:
‘Here, take it. Just remember to be careful and don’t get kicked to death by Ultraman.’
***
Late at night, in a meeting hall somewhere on the Thanatos Campus.
Almost all core members of the King club were present.
Their leader, Alexandre Duval, sat in the primary seat.
He leaned back casually in a single armchair that looked incredibly expensive, playing with a rhombic gemstone that emitted a faint golden glow between his long fingers—the Eye of Ra.
The Divine Artifact spun at his fingertips as if it were merely an exquisite toy.
“We put a lot of effort into this school mission, and now this thing has fallen into our hands.”
A girl with beautiful long black hair—one of King’s two vice presidents, Fu Qiesi—couldn’t help but speak.
She leaned against the fireplace, her brow slightly furrowed.
“Are we really going to just hand it over to The School so easily?”
“We are all conquerors of Divine Artifacts. Why does X have the right to use a Divine Artifact while we have to hand ours over?” another member asked indignantly.
The crowd grew heated.
The members whispered to one another, clearly dissatisfied with The School’s decision.
Alexandre didn’t even look up, his gaze remaining on the flowing luster inside the gem.
“I’ve said it before, this Divine Artifact wasn’t won through my own strength. A lucky victory is not worth bragging about. Furthermore, I don’t need to rely on an external object to prove myself.”
He paused, his fingertips stopping as he finally looked up to scan the members in attendance.
“Let the matter of the Divine Artifact end here.”
He leaned forward slightly and placed the Eye of Ra carelessly on a small side table as if it were just a shiny rock.
“Let’s look toward the future. There is only 1 week left until this year’s Club Activity Month begins. Thinking back to last year, we did indeed beat Mu Chengfeng’s Feng. But that was a pyrrhic victory—a narrow margin.”
A sharp glint flashed in his grayish-blue eyes.
“This time, we don’t want that kind of strained victory. We want a landslide. We want a victory so undisputed that no one can argue.”
“Then, what about that freshman?” another core member asked, pushing up his glasses.
He seemed more inclined toward strategic analysis.
“His Divine Sense is Regeneration, a healing ability that borders on the perverse,” Alexandre said.
“Setting aside his entrance evaluation, Regeneration alone is a strategic resource that any team would dream of. Do you need me to go and recruit him privately?”
Fu Qiesi asked with a shrug.
“Go ahead. If he goes to Mu Chengfeng’s side, it will be quite a bit of trouble for us,” Alexandre nodded slightly.
“Unfortunately,” another member who had been looking down at a tablet quickly chimed in, holding up the device.
“According to the information I just found about him, this Grade A freshman happens to be Mu Chengfeng’s roommate. Feng likely has the advantage of being close by.”
This information caused a brief silence and a flurry of whispers in the meeting hall.
“Wait a moment…”
The member looking at the tablet suddenly spoke with a voice full of confusion, his fingers sliding quickly across the screen.
“Our public club inbox… just received a Grade A application.”
“It’s from Lin Yu…”