“Get out.”
“No… I’m scared.”
Amuro Funae’s voice trembled from beneath the blanket, muffled and shaking.
Yuki Asahi knew that what she saw last night was most likely Ikeda Sachi.
He explained patiently,
“The person has been caught, there’s nothing to fear.”
“Liar!”
The sharp scream instantly tore through the quiet room.
Yuki Asahi stopped talking, picked up the blanket-wrapped Amuro Funae, and tossed her outside the door.
The door slammed shut behind her with a heavy bang and locked, cutting off the wailing cries from outside.
“Maniac.”
Yuki Asahi cursed under his breath and fell back onto the bed, now stripped to just the sheets.
***
“Fake?”
Dozens of minutes earlier, in a warehouse in Nerima Ward, Jiang Jian Yue was examining a corpse.
Her hand moved away from the body she had just pulled from the freezer, the icy touch lingering on her fingertips, but the anticipation in her heart had already frozen.
No new abilities.
Koji Hattori didn’t understand why the young lady insisted on touching the corpse, but the sudden shift in her tone was enough to make him realize—something was wrong with the deal.
“Are you messing with me, kora!”
Don’t talk like some yakuza copycat, kora!
Jiang Jian Yue gave him a speechless glance.
“How could it be!”
The friendliness on Long Yin’s face was instantly replaced by shock, his mind spinning.
The authenticity of the corpse was undeniable.
Was she warning or testing the Extinguisher?
“I mean…”
Beiye, leaning against the rusty railing, spoke up, shaking an empty soda can in his hand.
“Do you think we could make a fake corpse this real?”
He could never figure out why Jiang Jian Yue wanted the corpse.
Don’t leave, just touch it?
Too strange.
Unless her ability was related to touching corpses.
The thought flashed by, and even Beiye didn’t realize how close he was to the truth.
“How do you prove it?”
Jiang Jian Yue suppressed her doubts and countered.
Long Yin’s expression didn’t look like he was lying, and they lacked any reason to deceive her.
Long Yin pondered for a moment, then nodded at Beiye.
“Light Bug.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Beiye curled his lips and fetched a small box from the corner.
Long Yin took it, opened the lid, and pinched out a bug the size of a firefly, its entire body glowing faintly.
“Light Bugs only react to things awakened by Heart Worms,”
He explained, placing the Light Bug gently on the exposed thigh of the corpse.
The tiny Light Bug touched the skin and immediately grew excited, its sharp mouthpart piercing in to feed greedily.
The Light Bug devoured quickly, multiplying like splitting silk as it ate, and the newly born bugs quickly joined in.
Shallow pits soon appeared on the thigh.
Light Bugs densely covered the pits, feeding, forming a cluster of writhing glowing spots—it looked like a living, luminous pomegranate.
Koji Hattori’s stomach churned, and he felt like vomiting his dinner.
Long Yin brushed the Light Bugs off onto the floor with a bristle brush, exposing the half-eaten flesh beneath.
The little creatures rolled a few times on the ground, then started hopping urgently, eager to return to their dining hall—
BYD, kind of cute, actually.
“Do you believe it now?”
Jiang Jian Yue nodded, then asked coldly,
“How long have these corpses been dead?”
“At most a year, at least three months.”
Jiang Jian Yue understood.
Fresh corpses she’d touched before could replicate abilities, but these ‘aged goods’ had no effect—her ability was closely tied to the freshness of the corpse.
If the time window was this short, then her plan to become a Forensics Department member at the special branch seemed doomed.
Damn it, she’d already prepared to apply for the forensics major.
While mourning the lost Sword Saint of Ten Li Slope plan in her heart, Jiang Jian Yue maintained a cold, all-is-under-control expression, her gaze shifting to the Light Bugs on the floor.
Aren’t you guys still here?
As if sensing the invisible gaze, the hopping Light Bugs suddenly froze, their glowing bodies trembling as one.
A large hand descended from above, picking up a lone Light Bug from the floor and crushing it between two fingers.
The expected burst didn’t occur.
Instead, the tiny life vanished with a soft ‘poof,’ transforming into a wisp of shimmering light, like scattered stardust, melting into Jiang Jian Yue’s skin.
A moment of shock flickered in Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes.
The Light Bug swarm fell eerily silent, hundreds of glowing dots turning toward her at once, as if connected by invisible threads.
A clear intent rose in her mind.
In an instant, the Light Bugs collectively shattered without a sound—she seemed to hear countless faint, childish ‘mm-eeh’ noises as they turned into streams of radiant threads, flowing into her body like shooting stars.
The three nearby stared in dazed shock at the scene, as if witnessing magic.
Interesting.
As if in contact with pheromones, information about the Light Bug ability flooded into Jiang Jian Yue’s mind—methods of control, growth paths, the operational core and costs of other abilities.
The Heart Chamber she had never sensed before also became perceivable with this sudden enlightenment.
Her Heart Chamber was unusually empty, with no insect pupa in sight, only five shards of different shapes floating in the invisible void of flesh.
A white Insect Blade, a black Rapid Recovery, and three golden shards: Visual Obscuration, Qi Trace, Sculpting Transmutation.
Of course, she’d named them herself.
Around the shards, newly gathered points of light formed a dreamlike ribbon of starlight, slowly circling.
There were simply too many cards she could play.
A trace of excitement flashed in Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes.
She instructed Long Yin to feed the aged corpses to the Light Bugs, absorbing the continuous stream of light herself.
“Much appreciated for the meal.”
As several corpses ‘entered’ her body, Jiang Jian Yue felt a sense of fullness, then left with Koji Hattori, satisfied.
Long Yin and Beiye exchanged glances, both seeing the same two words in each other’s eyes: “Something’s off.”
In the end, Beiye hesitantly spoke first.
“Do Light Bugs… have that kind of trait?”
Long Yin was silent for a long time, then waved his hand.
“There are all sorts of bizarre Superpowers in the world—it’s not impossible for one to link with other phenomena.”
Beiye figured that made sense.
He still remembered the most absurd Parasite he’d ever encountered.
That Parasite’s ability was to forcibly select someone within their line of sight for a Street Fighter Best of Five Deathmatch.
Under the rules, both parties’ Superpowers were nullified, physical attributes reduced to ordinary human level, and all damage was immune.
The battle took place inside a giant arcade projection conjured from thin air.
The loser’s heart stopped instantly, and any Rebirth Ability or item was rendered void.
Unfortunately, that guy couldn’t retain this godlike skill during Chantui—after all, dual-core Cicada Molt Bodies, able to retain two abilities, were extremely rare.
It couldn’t be helped.
Otherwise, with his semi-professional fighting game skills, dealing with those clueless Superpower Users would have been effortless.
Rumor had it, when the ability data reached Headquarters, even the Leader’s usually emotionless face showed a rare hint of delight.
If that ability could have been retained, Beiye couldn’t imagine the future—Superpower Users training in Street Fighter just to stay alive, Capcom would be laughing all the way to the bank.
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SF? Should’ve picked a real man’s game, like BlazBlue