Chapter 115: Chapter 098 Xia Pingzhou: What, I hit a team member? (Second update, asking for monthly votes)Inside the café, Oda Takashige lowered the reading glasses on his nose and glanced at Xia Pingzhou across the counter.

    Then, he slowly bowed his head to read the newspaper and spoke in a warm yet deep voice:

    "Tonight, the remaining three members will arrive in Tokyo. If you want to spar, you can find Number 5, her name is Lan Duoduo... she’s quite soft-hearted."

    "No." Ji Minghuan shook his head, cutting in, "I only want to spar with you, forget about the other members." Sёarch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    In the official information provided by Sakurabu, the troupe’s Number 4 member "Oda Takashige" was evaluated as a Dragon-level peak superpower user.

    The Japanese official assessment of other members’ strength might have some errors, but Ayase Origami and Oda Takashige are escapees from a gangster family, and the Japanese side’s understanding of them must far exceed that of the other members.

    Even if there are discrepancies, it wouldn’t be far from their true power.

    So, Ji Minghuan wanted to have a match with the Dragon-level peak Oda Takashige...

    To see with his own eyes how far the gap between them truly is.

    Another reason is that: Oda Takashige, though appearing tall and clumsy, with a wolf-like back and tiger-like waist, is actually the most difficult kind of enemy for Number 2: a speed-type power user.

    "I’m sorry, but I still have no desire to spar with you, I’ve had enough fighting and killing usually, it’s rare to have leisure..."

    Oda Takashige glanced at the newspaper, his voice sincere and calm, "Number 12, why don’t you calm down and sit to enjoy some coffee. You don’t need to worry about the auction action, we will take care of killing them all."

    Despite speaking of being weary of killing, when Oda Ryuuei mentioned the words "kill them all," he remained calm without a ripple — for this ninja butler, killing was just like clocking into work, reluctant but commonplace.

    "Little cat, yawned."

    Ayase Origami said plainly, retracting her gaze from Xia Pingzhou’s face and continued reading her haiku book "Four-leaf Collection".

    Seeing Oda Takashige unmoved, Ji Minghuan turned his head, expressionless, to look at Ayase Origami. He seriously said:

    "Not only yawning, the little cat is about to leave home."

    After a pause, he added: "I’d better go follow the Longevity Love-Chasing Old Lady."

    Ayase Origami looked up from her haiku book, staring at Ji Minghuan, just watching him for a moment.

    Her gaze was indifferent and hollow, like the eerie feeling from a Japanese doll placed on a shelf, yet Ji Minghuan was unfazed, quietly meeting her stare.

    After a moment, Ayase Origami lowered her gaze back to the haiku book, without raising her head she said to Oda Takashige:

    "Takashige, be a cat teaser."

    Though it was a sentence with vague meaning, Oda Takashige immediately understood what Miss Ayase meant, without a second of hesitation, he slowly placed the newspaper on the table.

    "Alright, Miss." He replied in a calm tone.

    "It’s not suitable to spar here, we can find a nearby abandoned building."

    Ji Minghuan spoke without turning, already ahead stepping out of the quiet café. The dazzling sunlight rushed in, wrapped in summer’s heat, dazing in an instant.

    Ten minutes later.

    Ji Minghuan and Ayase Origami arrived near Tokyo Bay, at a building that stopped construction due to uncontrollable reasons midway, they climbed to the top floor of the building.

    Last night, the Legendary Bandage Man fought the Horror Bell Tower Man for three hundred rounds right here. Thus, one can see the abandoned building was already a mess, worsened by craters on the walls everywhere.

    It must have been an evenly matched battle.

    Among them was a giant humanoid pit, as if someone was nailed alive into the wall like a spike, just looking at the scars on the building is enough to feel thrilled and horrified, without thinking twice to know... how fierce the battle was.

    Ayase Origami glanced at these marks, but didn’t care much.

    "Where’s the person?" Ji Minghuan asked.

    Ayase Origami, lazy to respond, only glanced at the ground not far away.

    Suddenly, a shadow like a puddle floated over from there, then a giant-like shadow slowly emerged from the shade.

    By then Oda Takashige had already changed into a set of pitch-black masked ninja attire, with a sword handle on his back, his eyes cold and sharp, compared to the amiable uncle in the café, seemingly a different person.

    "Miss, it seems like someone fought here." Oda Takashige turned his head, surveying the surroundings, and spoke.

    "Doesn’t matter, it’s unaffected."

    Saying this, Ayase Origami raised her hand, from her vermilion kimono sleeve, sketchbook pages stretched out, sealing all windows in a blink, ensuring no large commotion would arise, yet also making the surroundings darken instantly.

    In a pitch-black environment, Ji Minghuan and Oda Takashige were tens of meters apart, gazing at each other.

    In this abandoned building, just last night there was a major ethical incident of "father beating son," if today it accidentally evolved into a "large-scale cat abuse scene" here, that would be too tragic to behold.

    Both units being injured here indicates heavily that this place is ominous, unsuitable for future visits.

    Thinking this, Ji Minghuan suddenly turned to look at the remnants on the wall, after a moment he returned gaze to meet Oda Takashige’s eyes.

    As though seeing Oda Takashige as Ghost Bell, turning sorrow and anger into fighting spirit, his face chilled.

    Moving forward.

    In the clear sound of footsteps, the Celestial Driver was released from Xia Pingzhou’s body.

    The black and white halos swirled around him, forming a M?bius strip, with chess shadows orbiting him like satellites, emitting a faint glow that illuminated the surroundings like fireflies.

    Meanwhile, a perspective as if a chess player was gazing at a chessboard appeared in Ji Minghuan’s mind.

    The aerial view allowed him to see everything within a thirty-five-meter radius centered on himself—along with the enhancement of the Spirit attribute of the No. 2 body, the range of the "chessboard" seemed to subtly expand.

    Oda Ryuuei remained unmoved, standing quietly like a statue, as if wanting the newcomer to take the first step.

    Extending his right arm, Ji Minghuan raised his hand to touch the chess shadows on the Black and White Ring Road.

    Immediately, all the chess species were called out, standing around him like a legion, and he was the general commanding on the battlefield.

    Two cannon carriage chess species, three Black Iron Soldiers, one Queen’s Statue, and one King’s Statue—this was the entire combat force that Xia Pingzhou currently possessed.

    The three Black Iron Soldiers held giant shields and tightly grasped long swords, forming a wall of men ahead;

    The two Black Iron Cannon Carriages "clattered" as they loaded ammunition, their muzzles sparking with bits of fire;

    The King’s Statue held aloft a scepter symbolizing power in the darkness, with alternating black and white halos flowing from it, forming a barrier that covered Xia Pingzhou;

    The Queen’s Statue held a short dagger in her left hand and a long dagger in her right, quietly staring at Oda Ryuuei in the darkness, her slender eyes ablaze with ghostly blue flames.

    Just then, as an onlooker, Ayase Origami suddenly spoke.

    "Chess pieces," Ayase Origami asked concisely, "why are they different from last time?"

    She could see that compared to the last time she saw Ji Minghuan use his abilities, the scene before her had many differences, and it wasn’t the kind of subtle, imperceptible changes, but things that could be seen at a glance:

    First, the number, with the soldier chess pieces increasing from one to three, and the cannon carriage chess species increasing by one as well;

    Second, the appearance, with each Black Iron Soldier’s left hand now equipped with a giant shield.

    Taking advantage of the time before the battle officially started, Ji Minghuan slowly and methodically explained to the young lady:

    "My Celestial Driver can level up by killing. That day when I went to the amusement park to meet the Bloodline, she handed me nine high-level superpower users. So after killing these superpower users, my Celestial Driver evolved once."

    After a moment of silence, Ayase Origami suddenly said, "Next time, don’t go looking for the Vampire Old Lady, come to me."

    She expressionlessly emphasized, word by word:

    "My cat, I raise."

    Hearing this, Ji Minghuan, still gazing at Oda Takashige, coldly called without turning his head:

    "Meow."

    Who knows if it was reading Natsume Soseki’s "I Am a Cat" too much, or if he got hit silly by his old father here last night, but Ji Minghuan found himself truly wanting to meow from the heart this time.

    He thought: Isn’t it truly joyful to rely on someone powerful? Who would want to mess with the Celestial Driver and Blue Arc, those Quasi-Calamities, anyway? Anyone who likes it can play house with them.

    Every now and then, he still had to be pinned against the wall by that foolish father to experience the iron fist of fatherly love, as if making up for the lack of paternal affection over the past eight years.

    Regret, my foot!

    It was truly better to be the beloved cat of the ruthless young lady of the underworld.

    Of course... in another month, this little kitty would transform into a big tiger.

    "Be good, little cat," Ayase Origami said.

    At this moment, in the distance, Oda Takashige did not speak.

    This was also the first time he had seen Xia Pingzhou’s Celestial Driver, and seeing the series of statues surrounding him, a trace of surprise inevitably flashed in his eyes, and his expression involuntarily grew solemn.

    After a while, Oda Takashige sighed and said, "I see... such a unique Celestial Driver mechanism, and also a rare evolutionary Celestial Driver, like Miss Ripper, no wonder... the leader let you join the brigade."

    Before this, he seemed to have always underestimated this kid, considering the aura he exuded as entirely different from the rest of the brigade, like a little cat mixed in among a pride of lions.

    But now he realized he was wrong...

    Perhaps, this kid was an outright monster.

    Oda Takashige said deeply, "If you weren’t a member of the brigade, based on my personal experience, I might consider snuffing you out in the cradle to prevent you from growing up and threatening the young lady."

    "That would be unfortunate then," Ji Minghuan stated expressionlessly. "Members are forbidden from killing each other, though sparring like this should be fine."

    He understood in his heart that with Ayase Origami acting as a referee, if necessary, the kimono young lady would use her superpower to prevent the sparring from endangering lives.

    There’s no way a Quasi-Calamity level referee would let her little cat be decapitated by a ninja, right?

    That’s why Ji Minghuan could confidently fight with Oda Takashige, without worrying about breaking the brigade’s rules.

    "Indeed... I’m very glad that such a potential young person is one of us."

    Pausing, Oda Takashige slowly drew a long sword from behind and met Xia Pingzhou’s eyes: "Number 12, you want to know how strong your Celestial Driver is after evolving, which is why you are so eager to spar with me, right?"

    "Correct."

    "Then I... am honored to be your opponent."

    As the words fell, Oda Takashige’s figure vanished into the shadow at his feet, disappearing instantly.