Chapter 149
With the rescue over and the four of them parting ways, Ji Qing was finally able to return to his daily life.
Though it did not really count as daily life, did it? Ji Qing’s eyes shifted with a trace of hesitation. After smoothly saying goodbye to the other three, the first greeting he received came from White Night.
White Night: 【Senior… (soul leaving body)】
White Night: 【How am I supposed to live without you, Senior… If you keep ignoring me, I really am not going to survive… Senior, save me, save me. If you still don’t come back, Senior, you’re going to be collecting my corpse, wuuuuu…】
Seeing that, Ji Qing slowly typed a question mark: 【?】
Was it really that painful? What exactly had happened to torment his cute and well-behaved junior to the point of wishing for death? Ji Qing thought about it and felt that the tasks he had assigned should not have been so heavy, right? Probably?
White Night: 【If you stay missing any longer, Senior, I’m really going to die, QAQ】
Raven: 【But I’ve only been out of contact for six days.】
White Night: 【Wuuuuu, Senior, you have no idea how painful these six days have been for intelligence personnel… Central City feels like it’s just going out of its way to make trouble. I’ve spent these six days just digging into Central City’s filthy secrets until I wanted to die, and that’s not even counting the missions BOSS assigned, wuuuuu…】
White Night: 【I seriously suspect BOSS and Central City are in cahoots! They’re working together to torment me!!!】
Raven: 【…Pfft.】
Raven: 【No, wait. Tell me what happened first.】
White Night: 【Senior (serious.jpg)】
White Night: 【The Clan Head of the You Family has gone missing. Central City currently suspects he was abducted, but they still aren’t sure which group took him. And by the way, after finding out about it, Central City followed the trail and raided the foundations of several organizations, only to realize they’d hit the wrong ones.】
Raven: 【Wow.】
White Night: 【There were probably three different groups planning to make a move at the time, but all three of them ended up not knowing where he went. Then Central City raided all three groups. But since they still haven’t found where he is, they’ve concluded there must have been a fourth group.】
Raven: 【He’s really popular.】
White Night: 【Right? He really is. I originally wanted to persuade BOSS to join in and snatch him too, but BOSS never replied to me. Thinking about it now, BOSS was probably speechless at me. BOSS really was farsighted. Luckily, we didn’t get involved.】
Raven: 【?】
No way, right? Ji Qing was caught completely off guard when he saw that. He hurriedly opened the other hidden communication app on his Terminal, and very quickly found the multiple suggestions White Night had sent to BOSS about abducting You Xingluo.
Ji Qing fell silent.
Ji Qing stared, dumbfounded.
Ji Qing specifically checked the timestamps on the messages.
White Night had sent them three days ago, and three days ago Ji Qing had already met up with Feng Youyou and the others and was discussing the rescue plan for You Xingluo. At that time, Ji Qing had had no time at all to look at his Terminal, though perhaps part of it was also because he had not thought it necessary.
Who would have thought he would miss such a shocking piece of gossip so completely?
Ji Qing instantly found it hilarious.
In that moment, he realized just how valuable You Xingluo really was. Although You Xingluo usually came across as rather unreliable, his actual status was definitely far higher than any of them had imagined.
White Night: 【Oh, right—can you guess how I found out, Senior?】
Raven: 【Wasn’t it just because they made too much noise tearing places apart?】
White Night: 【Correct!】
White Night: 【Because Central City never used to make this kind of huge move before. I heard this time it was purely because of a prophecy. Their Seer foresaw something terrifying, and then when they tried to interpret it, they couldn’t find the person they needed. They urgently needed the Clan Head of the You Family, so they started tearing everything apart.】
Raven: 【Tsk, tsk, tsk.】
Raven: 【So when they don’t need him, he’s ignored, but the moment they do, they start turning everything upside down to find him?】
White Night: 【Exactly. How pitiful. Honestly, he should just join the Dawn Society. Our organization is way more humane than Central City. As long as you finish your missions, the rest of your time is your own, and you don’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back either.】
Raven: 【? Weren’t you just complaining about BOSS?】
White Night: 【Complaining is complaining, but our organization’s treatment really is better than theirs. To be honest… I think infection is like a chronic illness. As long as you properly monitor the condition, it can be kept under control really well.
Besides, once you become one of the Infected, everyone can awaken a talent. That’s way easier than becoming an Ability User.】
Raven: 【…Hm?】
For a moment, Ji Qing found himself at a loss for words. He had never discussed this sort of topic with White Night before, so he had never imagined White Night’s thinking would be this unusual.
Still. Ji Qing lowered his gaze and thought about it.
White Night’s view did indeed have a certain logic to it. White Night had already risen to the rank of cadre within the Dawn Society. Compared with the other Infected, he had far less need to worry about his Mutation worsening, and neither Emerald nor Ji Qing would allow White Night to die for such an absurd reason.
And most importantly, White Night was not an Ability User.
An ordinary person who had long suffered under the Federation’s ability-based discrimination had, after becoming one of the Infected, finally obtained a talent almost on par with an Ability… When Ji Qing thought that far, he could not help falling silent. He thought: It really was a little ridiculous…
The Noble Houses relied on marriage alliances.
Ordinary people relied on infection.
The reason the Infected were not tolerated by the Federation was, perhaps, not only because they were prone to losing control and could easily be manipulated by Aberrants, but also because their existence might challenge the Federation’s current value system built around Abilities.
But Ji Qing still had no intention of letting You Xingluo join the Dawn Society. The most crucial reason was this: members of the Dawn Society could only be Infected.
If someone was not Infected, there would be far too many hidden dangers later on.
And to be honest… Ji Qing tapped lightly on the desk in annoyance.
What truly gave him a headache now was what he ought to do with the Dawn Society after his revenge was over. He could not exactly just disband it on the spot, could he? At the very least, he would have to wait until the few people he knew there had passed away first. Ji Qing muttered in distress, “Tch. White Night’s line of thinking is actually right…”
As BOSS, Ji Qing himself really was far more humane than Central City’s upper echelon.
The irony was absurd.
Leaning back in his chair, Ji Qing tilted his head up and let out a helpless sigh. “Sigh…”
You Xingluo’s crisis had temporarily come to an end. He would be out of the picture for a long while afterward. But the reason for it was entirely reasonable. Some things simply were more convenient when handled from the shadows, and Ji Qing himself had no intention of getting involved in Central City’s next round of internal reshuffling.
Those internal struggles among humans were best left for humans to handle.
As for Ji Qing…
He was prepared to go right on worrying about the Aberrants, the Infected, and revenge.
Ji Qing lowered his eyes coolly and checked his Terminal. White Night’s messages were still continuing to pour in. But unlike the earlier casual chatter, what White Night was sending this time was a list of the people Raven needed to assassinate, the Dawn Society’s routine missions, and a small apology delivered in a way uniquely characteristic of White Night.
White Night: 【I’m sorry, Senior!!!】
White Night: 【It’s not that I’m deliberately tormenting you. It’s our BOSS who’s deliberately tormenting us (crying my heart out.jpg). Red Heart already has a complete dead-fish face on and has gone fully on strike. Right now, the only one capable of handling these missions is you, Senior!】
Raven: 【Ah…】
White Night: 【Or why don’t you go on strike too, Senior? With your veteran-level experience, BOSS definitely won’t scold you too harshly, wuuuuu】
Raven: 【(blank stare.jpg)】
After sending the sticker that best matched his current state, Ji Qing fell silent.
To be honest, Ji Qing really did want to go on strike, but who could blame him when BOSS was none other than himself?
So all he could do was cover his face and send back: 【…Forget it. Let’s just do the work first.】
White Night: 【Senior! Senior! You’re practically the light of the Dawn Society!!!】
Raven: 【……】
Raven: 【Tsk… that description sounds really creepy.】
Ji Qing instantly felt his scalp go numb.
That was where his conversation with White Night ended. Ji Qing once more returned to his half-dead, sprawled-out state. He had originally thought that after dealing with You Xingluo’s rescue, he would finally be able to rest properly for a while. Who would have thought the Dawn Society’s missions would come flooding in one after another instead?
Red Heart could go on strike.
Raven could not.
Because he was BOSS.
Ji Qing let out a lifeless sigh. “Sigh…”
“I should still divide up my time a little.” Ji Qing slapped his own cheeks, trying to force himself to calm down. “I’ll start dealing with all this tomorrow. Today… today I’ll rest first, and maybe read the manga while I’m at it? Though that hardly sounds like resting at all…”
***
Ji Qing successfully entered the Pure White Space.
Although his mood was somewhat irritable, he still opened the computer expressionlessly. The first thing that entered his sight was the cover of Volume 9 of the Ability Hunter Academy manga. This volume’s cover continued the style of Volume 8, with no especially prominent featured protagonist.
Ji Qing and You Xingluo occupied the upper half of the cover.
Xie Chang’an and Feng Youyou occupied the lower half.
The two in the upper half stood on a rooftop steeped in night, each turning back to look down at the two below. The two in the lower half, meanwhile, were in a dim alley, staring straight toward the distant city gate as they fled for their lives, while explosion-like effects kept erupting behind them.
“So they drew the scene where we split up and acted separately.” Seeing that, Ji Qing understood at once.
Ji Qing did not know what the other two had gone through at the time.
Neither Feng Youyou nor Xie Chang’an had mentioned it, so Ji Qing had not gone out of his way to ask. But before parting, Feng Youyou had eagerly grabbed the hands of each person who had taken part in the operation and said with shining eyes, “If you ever need my help again next time, please make absolutely sure to call me!”
She truly did not seem afraid of trouble in the slightest.
Ji Qing felt both helpless and deeply impressed by the sheer strength of execution Feng Youyou had displayed.
On the other side, Xie Chang’an’s reaction was as consistent as ever. He was still the same dull and taciturn Xie Chang’an, and just as he had done after the escort commission ended, he specifically said one sentence to Ji Qing: “See you next time, Ji Qing.”
That counted as a Xie Chang’an trait too, didn’t it? Ji Qing thought uncertainly.
But Ji Qing sincerely felt that if Xie Chang’an repeated it a few more times in the future, the manga readers would start saying it before he himself did. When the time came, every farewell scene would be flooded with comment-barrage lines of Xie Chang’an’s “See you next time, Ji Qing.”
Ji Qing commented under his breath, “…How strange.”
But no matter how strange it was, none of that was what he ought to be thinking about now. Just as Volume 9 of the manga depicted things that had already happened in the past, Ji Qing could no longer change the plot of Volume 9. All he could do now was properly enjoy the contents of this volume.
Yes, he ought to relax now.
Ji Qing gave a bitter smile and shrugged. “There’s still plenty to be busy with later, so I might as well take it easy for now.”
