Outside the window, rain poured down like a waterfall.
The dense raindrops hammered against the glass, crackling and shattering the silence inside the room.
It wasn’t until the sound of a hand striking the table echoed through the meeting room that Dream Serpent snapped out of her daze, pulling her gaze away from the window.
“Everyone, does anyone have any further objections?”
The Vice Minister gripped a thick stack of documents in his hand, his eyes sweeping over the members seated on both sides of the conference table.
On the left sat the department heads of Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu, while representatives from the Curtain Cluster occupied the right.
Dream Serpent’s seat was at the far end, directly across from the Vice Minister.
Director Kawada Hou, head of the Combat Adjustment Room, looked around, then raised his hand.
“Forcing people to wear monitoring collars—this method is too extreme.”
“Superpowered individuals aren’t criminals. They shouldn’t be monitored in real-time like prisoners.”
“This so-called Non-Human Rights Declaration… I don’t agree.”
Dream Serpent rested her chin on her hand, a faint, indifferent smirk playing at the corner of her lips.
At the head of the right side, a handsome man with short silver-white hair and eyes filled with unfathomable amusement let out a soft laugh.
“Drafting this declaration is preparation for the further exposure of Mind Bug System data in the future.”
“We need legal grounds to take compulsory measures against superpowered individuals if necessary.”
“The collar is just one of the preventive measures. Of course, they’re not criminals, but under the current legal framework, I’m afraid it’s no longer enough to restrain them.”
“A pile of nonsense.”
Director Kawada Hou grumbled in discontent, his brows furrowed tightly.
“Until a concrete law is enacted, superpowered individuals are ordinary citizens! Before they’ve committed any crime, we have no justification for imposing such forceful measures!”
Matsumoto Asa, head of the Intelligence Analysis Room, turned to look at his colleague beside him, lips parted but finally holding back his words.
Across from him, a blue-haired boy sprawled lazily over the back of his chair, posture so relaxed he resembled a boneless cat.
He let out an exaggerated yawn, his voice laced with piercing mockery.
“Do you people only get moving after rivers of blood have already been spilled? The inefficiency of the Japanese government truly shines through.”
“Treat superpowered individuals as ordinary people? Naive!”
“They should be regarded as ordinary citizens carrying guns! Those who hold deadly weapons are prone to killing—do I really need to spell out such a simple truth? Idiot.”
Bang—
Director Kawada Hou slammed his hand down on the table, his fiery temper undampened even in the face of a superpowered individual.
“Bastard! Did they acquire these ‘deadly weapons’ by choice? Aren’t they victims of Superpower Awakening themselves?”
“Stop arguing! Communicate properly!”
The Vice Minister rubbed his temples in exasperation.
Ever since the Curtain Cluster proactively sought cooperation with Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu, the relevant work had indeed progressed much more smoothly.
However, not all Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu members had accepted these outsiders.
The meeting ended in a stalemate, with no substantial consensus reached—only the adjournment was declared.
The attendees began gathering their belongings to leave.
“Those GPRI trash—it’s better to just let those superpowered freaks tear everything apart!”
The blue-haired boy propped his legs up on the table, picking at his nails absentmindedly as he cast a sideways glance at Dream Serpent, deliberately raising his voice.
“Let those idiot Japanese officials witness what happens when ordinary people gain power.”
From the departing crowd, members of Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu shot angry and contemptuous looks.
“Kokoro, that’s enough!”
The short-haired brunette woman sitting next to the boy hurriedly tried to stop him in a low voice.
The blue-haired boy called Kokoro wore a look of impatience, turning to stare at Dream Serpent’s departing figure.
“Hey! Traitor of GPRI! Am I right or not~”
Dream Serpent’s steps paused.
A flash of murderous intent flickered in her eyes, but it was quickly masked by a light, mocking smile.
She turned slowly, her voice dripping with sweetness.
“Traitor?”
You all betrayed GPRI much earlier than I did, sen. iors.
“Ha?”
The blue-haired boy pressed his lips together, squinting slightly.
“Heh, at this point, you still think of yourself as part of GPRI?”
Dream Serpent shook her head gently, her gaze lazy and distant.
“Of course not.”
She silently added the rest in her heart.
Never have been.
“Kokoro! Behave yourself!”
The silver-haired man who had reached the door could take it no longer.
He spun around and shouted sharply.
He turned to Dream Serpent, softening his tone.
“We’re colleagues now. The past is best left unspoken.”
“Tch.”
Kokoro rolled his eyes, making an unpleasant sound.
Leaving the Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu building, Dream Serpent didn’t head toward the train station.
She opened her umbrella and stepped alone into the Chiyoda streets, washed by the pouring rain.
Rainwater streamed down the umbrella’s surface.
A man in a shabby yellow raincoat, his face gaunt as dead wood, brushed past her— in a fleeting moment of contact, Dream Serpent clenched the object handed to her tightly.
Her expression remained unchanged, her pace never faltering, as she walked into a Net Café.
Inside a booth, Dream Serpent smoothly plugged a Hard Drive into the main unit, powered it on, and selected to boot from the drive in the BIOS menu.
The screen flickered.
A black-and-white command interface appeared, the cursor blinking rhythmically.
A moment later, a simple prompt box popped up.
[Awaiting Barrier]
At the same time, thousands of kilometers away in Chiang Dao, northern Thailand, inside a secret mountain base—
A string of numbers suddenly appeared on a grime-stained cathode-ray screen.
A pale-skinned man shoved a Thai woman off his body, not even bothering to pull up his pants, and tossed the liquor bottle aside.
“Fuck! Even with GPRI all wiped out, we’re still being this careful?”
Then, his azure eyes began to glow, faint ripples spreading around him.
In Tokyo, a Barrier materialized near a Net Café in Chiyoda, invisible to the naked eye.
[Barrier Established]
[Requesting Authentication]
[Cultist—Dark Walker—Damian Thorn Authentication Complete]
[Mission: Infiltrate Kawasaki Base—Expired]
[Archbishop—Changshi God Connected]
[New Mission Issued: Ayaka sighted in Saitama Prefecture, capture alive at all costs. New Cultists will cooperate.]
[Notice: Pay special attention to Jiang Jian Yue and the Dawn Resources Group. Absolutely avoid conflict.]
Dream Serpent frowned slightly, running through her mind quickly.
Who is this Jiang Jian Yue?
After hot-unplugging the Hard Drive, Dream Serpent inserted a USB Drive.
She logged into the Net Café’s normal system, randomly clicked on a video, and waited.
When the timer finished, she shut down the computer, took the USB Drive and Hard Drive, and left.
Outside, the rain had lessened slightly.
Hurrying through the damp streets under her umbrella, Dream Serpent pulled out her phone, fingers flying across the screen as she searched for keywords: “Dawn Resources Group…”
Out of the corner of her eye, a drenched figure came rushing toward her.
Dream Serpent darted to the side.
It was a boy with striking emerald green hair.
His School Uniform was soaked through, and he clutched a black plastic bag tightly to his chest, the square shape inside faintly visible.
“Sorry.”
The boy mumbled blankly, bowing slightly before hurrying on.
Was that…a student from Tokiwagi High School?