The instant the barrier descended, a bad feeling welled up in You Shuo's chest.
Still holding that sign, he squeezed through the crowd murmuring apologies, scanning the entire exterior of the venue. He didn't see that familiar figure. Just moments ago he'd been swallowed by the enthusiastic young crowd, and Bi Xi had vanished without a trace. Now he had no idea where he was.
He couldn't tell if it was his own bad luck or Bi Xi's—twice now their outings had been interrupted. Bi Xi hadn't minded the first time, but who knew if he'd keep not minding?
Bi Xi could act on whims. You Shuo could not. In this moment, his heart leapt back into his throat.
He couldn't see Bi Xi. This was bad—where was he?
Wind swept across the ground. On the dry, rough cement, new sprouts kept pushing through. White wildflowers grew from the cracks between stones, and the entire venue was enveloped in thick springtime vitality.
You Shuo recognized this ability. Its owner shouldn't have been here.
You Shuo pulled out his phone, about to dial a number.
"Spotted you from a mile away, 【Yanmo】." A voice came from behind. You Shuo turned—and sure enough, it was him. "Happy holidays?"
Wearing a white kung fu outfit with a long strand of prayer beads in hand, fingers flicking the beads one by one—he looked supremely relaxed and at ease.
Chiyu City Nightwatch district captain 【Fuhuajin】, A-rank biological-type ability user.
At the last headquarters meeting, they'd handed the entire Tianli Sect case behind Yiluoqi to 【Fuhuajin】. He hadn't expected him to show up in Jinli City.
"What are you doing here?" You Shuo asked.
They were both Nightwatch colleagues. They'd cooperated on cross-city cases before—familiar enough to be called friends.
"I could ask you the same thing." 【Fuhuajin】's gaze dropped to the sign in You Shuo's hands. When he saw 【Vote Bi Xi for Popularity ^w^】, his eyes widened uncontrollably, his bead-rolling accelerated, and he said slowly: "I'd heard headquarters wanted you to appease the Demon God. As expected of 【Yanmo】—such dedication."
The emoticon was very cute, but You Shuo's usual vibe around them was nothing like this. It was rather jaw-dropping.
You Shuo didn't think much of it. Face was a luxury item—he'd stopped caring about it long ago.
After headquarters already knew he'd cried while hugging his little sister as a kid, there was nothing else that could embarrass him.
"The Tianli Sect people are still in Jinli City?" He deduced from the current situation.
At the mention of work, 【Fuhuajin】 dropped the joking attitude and nodded: "Yiluoqi leaked all of your defensive gaps. They've been thriving in Jinli City like fish in water—completely unwilling to pull out."
"【Zhi Tianming】 did a divination for me. Every lead he gave pointed to Jinli City. I came to check, and sure enough—like cockroaches, they're all nesting at your place. Find one, and a whole swarm scatters out." A cold glint appeared in 【Fuhuajin】's eyes. "When they realized they couldn't escape, they ran to the nearest crowd. What—do they think we Nightwatches are some charity? That having hostages means we won't make a move?"
Ability user affairs were settled among ability users—that was the Hidden World's default rule. But if the Surface World absolutely had to be dragged in, as long as the Nightwatch wasn't at fault, no matter how many casualties resulted, the Nightwatch's field leader wouldn't be punished.
They were semi-official—not justice, just rules.
And those rules could flex based on circumstances. Against low-rank ability users they could easily crush, rules were sacred as heaven. When facing SS-rank or a Demon God—well, those rules could also just not exist.
They came here to work, not to die. Good pay, good benefits—that was enough. Why fight to the death? Not everyone was a manga protagonist, all righteous and morally spotless.
Geniuses had their way of living, protagonists had their way, and ordinary people had theirs. Everyone was just trying to get by—no hierarchy of worth.
So 【Fuhuajin】 remained quite relaxed: "Relax, 【Yanmo】. We'll handle this quickly—won't interrupt your vacation."
Except You Shuo couldn't relax at all: "Bi Xi is here."
"Don't say the name—" 【Fuhuajin】's relaxation evaporated. The beads stopped rolling. In this moment, he felt You Shuo's dread viscerally. "Wait—the Demon God is here?!"
Under normal circumstances, the Nightwatch would surround the unrepentant ability criminals, who'd resist to the death. Then, after a number of civilian casualties, the Nightwatch would grimly eliminate the criminals on the bloody battlefield and complete the mission.
But with Bi Xi present, things were entirely different. Who knew if that great being might get triggered by something and painlessly send everyone straight to the afterlife?
Before absolute crushing power, all plans and predictions were empty talk. The other party's mood was the decisive factor.
Same thing as before—they came to work, not to die. 【Fuhuajin】 took a step back and even considered abandoning the mission entirely: "【Yanmo】, how would you say His mood is?"
"It was good earlier." You Shuo said, his own mood impossibly heavy. "How it is now—I don't know."
He looked down at the sign in his hands. The words 【Vote Bi Xi for Popularity ^w^】 were very cute—as if the person himself were equally easy to talk to.
"I never know what he's thinking." You Shuo sighed.
He truly couldn't play the role of the little courtier trying to read his sovereign's moods. On the surface, Bi Xi seemed to enjoy the crowd's adoration—but as a Demon God, would he genuinely, simply enjoy such things?
He truly didn't know.
...
"Green-eyed Kitty! Can we do a heart pose?"
"Can I get close?"
"You look absolutely scrumptious—"
Under a large tree, You Ling was surrounded by a crowd.
You Ling glanced to the side and saw a cosplayer in the distance pressing her face into another person's palm, nuzzling it. Then, mimicking the gesture, she took the hand of the girl beside her and pressed it against her own cheek: "Is this how you do the 'get close' thing?"
The girl looked like she was about to faint from excitement, her native language of nearly two decades entirely forgotten, reduced to a single syllable: "AHHH!!!"
Those nearby saw this and cried out excitedly: "Yes yes yes, just like that!"
"Me too, me too!"
"Green-eyed Kitty, we love you!"
When you don't know how to pander, just learn on the spot—copying others can't go wrong. You Ling had always been a quick study. More learning was never a bad thing.
"Then the popularity vote~" She lilted the end of her sentence, like a little hook.
"All yours, all of it, take it all!" The pandered-to fan got a nosebleed.
For the sake of survival, You Ling was genuinely putting in effort—such dedication. Unlike You Shuo, just standing there holding a sign like a pole.
Right in the middle of fan-pandering, the sky suddenly dropped a red barrier. The ominous red settled over everything like a filter, dyeing every face before her in crimson light.
A gust blew past, and everywhere the wind touched, flowers bloomed and grass sprouted. Petals danced in the air, falling onto the red-tinged ground.
It was an ability.
You Ling glanced up. The ominous red signaled that her vote-campaigning plan was about to take a serious hit.
An ability user had appeared. This place was about to become a battlefield. If casualties occurred—and especially if the dead happened to be manga readers she'd just campaigned to—then everything she'd done was for nothing.
She looked at the people around her. What she saw in this moment weren't people—they were living, breathing votes.
Did they have any idea how important popularity votes were to her?!
"Aiya, aiya." She rested her knuckle against her jaw, tilted her head, and smiled. "How rude, interrupting my fun."
"Your in-character performance is so on point!" said the girl beside her.
"That's the vibe! Long live Lord Demon God!"
Waves of fear leaked from every direction. More and more "Lord Demon God" cheers rang out, while the fear lurking in the shadows could no longer be concealed, sweeping in like a violent gale.
You Ling's gaze swept those dark corners. She couldn't see the people, but she could sense their familiar fear.
If they dared make a move—she'd kill them. With the manga-reinforced fear on her side, everywhere was her home turf.
...
【Farshore】 wove through cosplayers wearing every color of wig. With her naturally red hair and her all-black leather outfit and high heels—rare in everyday life—she looked like a character from some anime. A few people occasionally approached to ask: "What character are you cosplaying?"
Having studied the manga, 【Farshore】 nodded, her cold expression yielding two words: "An OC."
OC—an original character. Not from any anime or manga, just the creator's own personal character.
"Wow! Your OC is so cool!" They bought it.
【Farshore】 tried to submerge her presence within the oblivious crowd. After the barrier descended, the other sect members had also gone into hiding. Their only option was to look for opportunities to break out from the shadows.
Both A-rank, the biological-type ability user 【Fuhuajin】 was troublesome. His ability controlled all plants within range—he could even play Plants vs. Zombies in real life. 【Jiao Tu】 had only been an action squad member during his time undercover, so his knowledge of the neighboring city's captain's abilities was limited. But he'd passed along two critical pieces of information: pollen was 【Fuhuajin】's hidden attack method, and—plants were his body. Where plants existed, he was the plants, and the plants were him. He would not die.
Hard to kill—that was the most troublesome part.
In their situation, there was no pulling punches. If they caught her, she was dead. If she caught them, she had to kill them to escape.
After 【Jiao Tu】's death, the Tianli Sect's grip on Jinli City had weakened somewhat. But after years of lying low, this was still the best soil for their organization's survival.
This time they'd been suddenly discovered and caught off guard, but it wouldn't happen again.
Her gaze swept over the ordinary people who'd gathered for group photos. She couldn't leave behind photographs—so they all had to die.
Plants were 【Fuhuajin】's vessels. To kill him, one had to eliminate every single plant within the barrier's range. Killing only plants without killing people was too difficult. The plan 【Farshore】 transmitted to her subordinates was—
Protect yourselves. She would find the right moment to use her ability and annihilate all living things within the barrier.
Eliminate everything, and there'd be no loose ends.
The commotion would be enormous, but there was no other way—against 【Fuhuajin】, this was the only option.
Just then, she heard a girl in a JK uniform taking photos nearby say: "Wow, that Demon God cosplay over there is so accurate!"
Demon God?
She couldn't help but scoff internally. Only Surface World people would dare do such a thing—cosplaying the Demon God. Weren't they afraid of luring the real Demon God over to take the wheel?
This particular Demon God truly was omnipresent, able to hear every voice that called His name.
That night, 【Farshore】 had actually been at the scene. She simply hadn't intervened to help 【Jiao Tu】 because she deemed it unnecessary.
Yiluoqi was doomed. Going out would only expose herself—feeding her head to the enemy.
Moreover, it was Yiluoqi who'd chosen to be devoured by the Demon God. In the Leader's eyes, such behavior was an irrefutable betrayal. After watching the manga, the Leader had thrown his phone in fury.
That night 【Farshore】 chose to watch—but she'd also used her ability to witness the entire scene.
That uncanny silhouette, the darkness filling the sky, and the person who was suddenly devoured.
The Demon God—He truly would appear without warning and eat you.
Cosplaying the Demon God? Only ignorant Surface World civilians would do such a thing.
"Over there, over there! I'm going first!" said the ordinary person.
【Farshore】 followed the direction she pointed, looking over with idle indifference.
"...!!!"
She froze in place. Cold sweat instantly beaded at her temples, dampening the hair at her forehead.
She'd been there that night. So she'd seen it.
That face—was the Demon God Himself.
Those seemingly bright eyes harboring flowing light, that uncanny smile full of cruelty—it was Him. Absolutely Him!
【Farshore】's pupils trembled violently. In that instant, she felt as if she'd been plunged into an arctic wasteland.
—Why would the Demon God appear at a manga convention?!
Had these Surface World people actually managed to summon the real thing?!