The skinny man and his Talent User puppets had occupied the first floor of the supermarket, so the second and third floors were deserted, save for being fully stocked with supplies.
Jiang Jianxin, wearing the storage watch, was in charge of collecting supplies aisle by aisle, while Lin Xin’an had already made a beeline for the clothing section to find a new white coat.
Sometimes, when she was halfway through clearing an aisle, she could hear Lin Xin’an calling out to her:
“Hey, is there any men’s hair wax on your aisle?
Grab one for me, will you?”
Jiang Jianxin: “…”
By the time all the supplies on the second floor had been transferred into her storage space, Lin Xin’an had finally finished tidying himself up.
Jiang Jianxin stared at his brand-new look, a little dazed.
As she recalled, Lin Xin’an would use any free moment to work on his appearance.
Even though the heavy rain always ruined it in under three seconds, he never seemed to tire of it.
‘No wonder he managed to become the third-in-command of the Bright Camp.
His perseverance and patience were on another level.’
Jiang Jianxin thought to herself.
“I’m going upstairs to grab more supplies,”
she said to Lin Xin’an.
He nodded, still admiring his handsome reflection in the mirror, not even sparing her a glance.
CLACK…
CLACK…
As Jiang Jianxin’s footsteps faded into the distance, Lin Xin’an slowly lowered the mirror and looked toward the stairwell entrance.
He called out:
“What are you doing just standing there?”
The shadows at the entrance to the stairwell trembled twice, and a person emerged.
The person wore a blue-and-white patient’s uniform.
His short hair obscured his eyes, and he clutched a large, silver-white blade to his chest.
The light from the stairwell cast his figure as a straight shadow on the wall.
“I’m here for her, not for you, Doctor Lin,”
the young man said emotionlessly.
Lin Xin’an’s lips curled into a smile.
“I’ve already met Blind Sister’s Deadpool.
When she mentioned something terrible had happened, I assume she meant you escaped, right?”
The young man said flatly:
“You already read that, didn’t you?”
Lin Xin’an shot him a look.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll message Blind Sister and tell her you’re here?”
“You’re not one of them.
Besides, I’m here for her,”
the young man repeated, still cold and emotionless.
Lin Xin’an said, “Oh.” After a moment’s thought, he asked curiously:
“Why are you looking for her?”
The young man pressed his lips together and said nothing.
His thoughts were a complete blank.
It had been a long time since Lin Xin’an had encountered such emptiness.
But he could guess the reason.
This young man bore a spiritual imprint superior to his own.
Lin Xin’an stroked his chin.
‘A spiritual imprint even more advanced than a Rank 6 from the All-Knowing Sequence…?’
He now knew how the young man before him had escaped Blind Sister’s Spiritual Control.
Since the young man wouldn’t speak and he couldn’t read his thoughts, Lin Xin’an lost interest.
He found a spot to sit down and went back to looking in the mirror.
About twenty minutes later, Jiang Jianxin finally came downstairs after collecting the supplies from the upper floor.
As she reached the second floor and was about to say something to Lin Xin’an, she noticed the young man in the patient’s uniform standing silently at the entrance to the stairwell.
He was hugging a large blade, just standing there obediently like a good child, not speaking or looking around.
Jiang Jianxin walked over and asked, confused,
“Who’s this?”
Without looking up, Lin Xin’an said:
“He’s looking for you.”
“Huh?”
Her face showed her surprise; mainly because she couldn’t recall anyone like him.
Jiang Jianxin stepped closer.
The young man’s hair was long, hiding his eyes.
She could only sense his dazed and reserved demeanor.
“Hello, you’re looking for me?”
she asked tentatively.
The young man slowly lifted his head.
Only then did Jiang Jianxin see that he had a very handsome face.
His red lips and white teeth gave him a sweet, almost delicate appearance, but his pupils held no light.
He appeared to be blind.
“Great Sage, thank you for your help back then.”
The young man dropped a bombshell with his first words.
Jiang Jianxin’s mouth fell open, her face a mask of astonishment.
‘Great…
Great Sage?’
‘Who is the Great Sage?’
‘Am I the Great Sage?’
Before she could ask any more questions, the young man’s face turned beet red, and he continued, stammering nervously:
“Just…
just as you foresaw, the Madhouse heavily invest…
invested in me.
I’m now ranked sixth in the War Camp and have completely broken free from the Madhouse’s control.
I am now able to serve you.”
Nearby, Lin Xin’an gave an awkward cough.
‘This guy is defecting right in front of me, completely ignoring the fact that a current Doctor from the Madhouse is standing right there.’
‘Just how nice does he think I am?’
Still stunned, Jiang Jianxin saw how nervous the young man was, which in turn made her nervous.
“I think you have the wrong person.
I’m not any Great Sage.”
Jiang Jianxin thought about the Sword Master’s Diary and her life since then:
“I was a Sword Master when I was young, and now I’m just a recent college graduate…
I’m not a Great Sage.”
The young man pursed his lips, looking a little lost and disappointed.
“It’s like this.
Ten years ago, you told me that you wouldn’t remember me ten years later.
You said I had to tell you a specific phrase before you would acknowledge me.”
Jiang Jianxin sensed the complexity of the situation.
She frowned and said:
“What phrase?”
“The first two digits of the password for her diary are 23.
The last four are in a line of poetry.”
The young man’s words struck Jiang Jianxin like a bolt of lightning, leaving her stunned.
She hastily took out the Tang Guang Sword and shook out the four diaries hidden inside.
Besides the Peppa Pig one that had no lock and could be opened freely, there were three locked diaries.
Among them was indeed a blue, hardcover journal with a six-digit combination lock.
Jiang Jianxin stared at it for a long moment before asking in a trembling voice:
“What’s the line of poetry?”
“Red moon night, April Fool’s Day,”
the young man said.
Jiang Jianxin set the first two digits, then tried various combinations for the last four, but the lock wouldn’t open.
She muttered the five words to herself several times, but still couldn’t decipher their meaning.
“What is ‘Red moon night,’ and what is ‘April Fool’s Day’?”
she asked the young man.
“I don’t know either.
You said back then that when the time was right, you would understand,”
the young man said blankly.
Jiang Jianxin deflated instantly.
She hated it when fortune-tellers were cryptic like this, and to think her younger self would pull the same trick on her future self.
Honestly, she was so exasperated she had to laugh.
Jiang Jianxin stroked the cover of the blue diary a few times, but ultimately put it away.
“The ‘Great Sage’ you met before…
what did she have you do, and why are you looking for me now?
I want to hear the whole story.”
The young man nodded but didn’t begin his story.
Instead, he tilted his head to the side, his vacant eyes turning toward Lin Xin’an, and asked in a low voice:
“Do you need me to kill him for you?”
Jiang Jianxin asked in surprise:
“You can kill him?”
When this person introduced himself, he said he was ranked sixth in the War Camp, while Lin Xin’an was ranked third in the Bright Camp.
Sixth versus third.
And that wasn’t even mentioning Lin Xin’an’s arsenal of Spiritual Control techniques.
To her surprise, the young man nodded and said with certainty:
“Most of his offensive abilities are spiritual.
The spiritual imprint you placed on me has been activated, and it grants me immunity to all Spiritual Control beneath your own.”
“Beneath my own?”
Jiang Jianxin repeated, confused.
The young man nodded again.
“He is Rank 6 of the All-Knowing Sequence, while you are Rank 1 of the Foreknowledge Sequence.”
“Unless you encounter another Rank 1, you hold absolute superiority.”