CHAPTER 239: CHAPTER 155: SALVATION SOCIETY’S TRAP, THE FIFTH CHILD

"In three days, you’ll be heading to London, representing our Salvation Society on its first mission abroad."

With that, the mentor pulled a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his white coat.

"London..." Ji Minghuan muttered softly.

"That’s right."

The mentor nodded in response while tearing the packaging of the cigarette box with his fingertips, opened the case, and pulled out a cigarette.

Ji Minghuan rested his chin on one hand, looked at the cigarette in the mentor’s hand, then at the plastic wrap on the table, and said nonchalantly, "I’ve lived for over ten years and never been abroad, and I didn’t expect my first trip would be dragged by you guys; it’s really boring."

He lowered his eyes and looked at his somewhat excessive nails, thinking inwardly: Ke Qirui’s information is correct: the Red Light will appear in London... Is her source the same as the Salvation Society?

If it’s the same source, then the Salvation Society’s influence must have seeped into the Exorcist Association’s interior — though that’s not surprising, given that the Salvation Society has infiltrated Rainbow Wings too, let alone the Exorcist Association.

Seems like among the major forces, the only organization yet to be infiltrated by the Salvation Society might be "Lake Hunting."

A lineage organization like Lake Hunting, selected from families, surely wouldn’t let outsiders from the Salvation Society slip in.

The mentor took out a lighter from another pocket, held the cigarette at his mouth, leaned close to the flame to light it, took a deep inhale, and then exhaled a puff of white smoke.

He held the cigarette between his fingers and casually said, "Actually, there’s nothing special abroad."

"So, the base of Salvation Society is domestic?" Ji Minghuan asked his daily question.

"Could be."

The mentor adjusted the frame of the glasses on his nose and replied uncertainly.

"Hey... just to be clear, I can’t do anything; at most I can throw a couple of stones at people during a fight," Ji Minghuan emphasized, "If — just if — the restrictions you put on other kids are too tight, causing this mission to fail, you can’t blame me."

He averted his gaze: "After all, I’m just a muggle, understand? Can’t help."

"No worries." The mentor smiled slightly, unconcerned, "You just need to observe, we’ll ensure this mission goes smoothly."

"Oh, that’s good." Pi Minghuan looked at the cigarette in his hand with some curiosity and asked, "You actually smoke? I thought you were the clean scholar type who wouldn’t touch tobacco or alcohol."

"We’re adults; there’s always a need for pressure relief. Smoking and drinking are similar things; everyone knows they’re not good, but in life, it’s hard not to need them to dispel worries."

As he spoke, the mentor suddenly coughed twice, drank a cup of warm water from a thermos, then twisted the cap back on and said, "I just learned to smoke recently too."

"Looks like you’re under quite a bit of pressure."

Ji Minghuan remarked on the source of pressure.

The mentor returned the lighter to the pocket of his white coat, with a hint of amusement in his tone, he remarked:

"Being assigned to manage a child who could destroy the world at any moment, wouldn’t the pressure be great?"

Ji Minghuan tilted his head slightly, "Seeing you so pitiful, can you let your superiors talk to me? I guarantee I’ll scold them until my spit covers their entire face."

"They’re not convenient to meet you." The mentor shook his head, "But when you can stably control your own powers one day, they’ll meet you to congratulate you on ’graduating’ from the Salvation Society."

"Almost believed you, let’s talk about something else..." Ji Minghuan pondered, "So how many kids are going on this mission, just four of us?"

"There are five in total."

Upon hearing this, Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows and looked at the mentor with a tilted head, "Five?"

He counted on his fingers: "Me, Kong Youling, Filio, Sun Changkong, that makes four."

At that point, he lifted his head and tentatively asked: "Who’s the fifth kid, is it the ’very dangerous individual’ you mentioned before?"

"No," the mentor shook his head, "That ’very dangerous individual’ isn’t stable enough yet, so we can’t let him leave the research institute."

"Then who’s the fifth person?" Ji Minghuan asked.

"We call him ’Mario.’" The mentor said, "Mario is an exorcist, you’ll see him in a couple of days."

"An exorcist, what is his Celestial Driver?"

"A game machine."

"Game machine? What kind of game machine?"

"A handheld." The mentor replied coolly, "If graded by the Exorcist Association’s Celestial Driver rating, Mario’s would achieve SSS level, the highest rating... He’s an unprecedented genius among exorcists, though... still far from your caliber."

"Oh? So impressive?" Ji Minghuan raised his brows, "What can his Celestial Driver do?"

"Mario’s Celestial Driver can draw people around him into a random game scene and manipulate various aspects within the scene, such as controlling game characters appearing in the scene, or some manageable environmental items within the scene... For example, if Jurassic World is loaded, he can control dinosaurs to kill opponents; if a desolate mountain is loaded, he can roll a giant boulder down the mountain to crush enemies to pulp."

"Sounds pretty awesome." Ji Minghuan praised, then asked: "Once he grows up, can he compare to that ’Lake Hunting’ you mentioned?"

"Certainly... Lake Hunting people are at most a century-level, but a genius exorcist like Mario might appear once in several centuries."

"Oh." Ji Minghuan said, "Then what’s the Celestial Driver of the Red Light we’re capturing, can’t be a ’streetlight’?"

"That’s correct." The mentor said, "Red Light’s Celestial Driver is just like his nickname, a streetlight." He paused, "His fighting style is exceptionally crude; based on our information, he likes grabbing the streetlight pole and swinging the light to smash the opponent’s head."

Ji Minghuan smacked his lips and took a cold breath.

He leaned back, resting his body against the chair back, clasped his hands in front of his abdomen, and then looked up at the Mentor: "So all I need to do is follow them around and paddle, right?"

"That’s right... unless something unexpected happens."

"Then why don’t you try to unlock the superpower inhibitor on me, and this collar, maybe the superpower you’ve been dreaming of will suddenly awaken?"

"Regrettably, I cannot do that."

"What’s the point of letting me out then?"

"To test your abilities, but not just for you, we need to test the stability of other children as well." The Mentor paused, "In my eyes, you are equally important."

Ji Minghuan silently watched the Mentor’s eyes, thinking if the Salvation Society knew his superpower had already awakened, they might indeed test him in this way...

From this angle, the Salvation Society released his original form to take advantage of his superpower not being fully unleashed yet, to eradicate the "things" he created in the cradle.

His original form is bait:

——The Salvation Society is ensuring he won’t escape, which is why they’ve resorted to this plan.

Therefore, if he keeps focusing on his original form, he falls right into the Salvation Society’s trap.

What he should do is not think about how to take his original form away, but how to outpace the Salvation Society and take away that frenzied Exorcist first.

In this way, the core goals of both parties are diverged.

The focus of the Salvation Society’s action this time is "to test whether his superpower has already awakened," not to capture the traffic light; Ji Minghuan’s focus is "to snatch the traffic light," not to save his original form from the Salvation Society.

"As long as I capture and take away the traffic light, I can later use the ’Restraint Truth’ from Black Cocoon to get intelligence about the Salvation Society from him... No matter how much intelligence there is, it should help in my future escape plan."

"But if I’m impatient at this moment, everything is lost."

"With my current strength, I’m not yet able to compete with the Salvation Society; reckless action will only cost me my life, and even implicate those around me."

"My goal must be clear: get ahead of the Salvation Society and snatch the traffic light, then retreat safely from London. Once the goal is set, no matter what happens in the meantime, I can’t falter, otherwise, I’ll fall into their trap..."

Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan took a deep breath, shifted his gaze, and changed the topic:

"You say I can’t meet Mario until two days later, is it at the start of the task?"

"No, we’ll arrange it ourselves in two days." The Mentor smiled, "Mario is a solitary child, he’s different from other kids here, he doesn’t crave friendship. His sole interest is focused on various video games."

"Sounds reliable." Ji Minghuan remarked, "Can he let me traverse into the world of Pokémon? I’ll take a few Poké Balls to become a Pokémon Master."

"Theoretically, as long as you can imagine it, the game screens can be materialized by him."

"No wonder you keep him here."

"There’s no choice, it’s our duty."

After speaking, the Mentor stood up from the chair, placed his hands behind his back, "Your friends are here."

With a cigarette in his mouth, he squinted his eyes and smiled at Ji Minghuan, then slowly walked toward the exit of the detention room.

Ji Minghuan watched the Mentor’s back leave, feeling around the plate with his small hand, he put two pieces of nougat into his mouth, and then used the remote on the table to turn on the TV.

The disc in the CD player was "Robot’s Dream," which he hadn’t finished watching yesterday.

Soon, the metal door reopened, and the white-haired girl was the first to arrive as usual.

The corridor lights were bright, she lowered her eyes, stumbling like a round-headed penguin, she hobbled over.

She sat across Ji Minghuan, raised her eyes from the notebook, and looked at him curiously.

"I have a TV too." Ji Minghuan looked at her eyes and nodded toward the TV on the ground with his chin, "We can watch cartoons together, just like at the Welfare Institute."

Kong Youling followed his gaze to the TV in the corner, paused for a moment, then wrote in her notebook: "That’s good."

She had originally watched many, many dramas, and even drew rough sketches of these works’ plots in her notebook, intending to share stories with Ji Minghuan when they met.

But she didn’t expect he already had a TV in his bedroom, realizing this, Kong Youling closed her notebook carefully, not letting Ji Minghuan see the "homework" she had done.

Otherwise, he would surely call her an idiot.

After a while, the metal door opened once again.

Then a red-haired girl wearing a baseball cap swaggered in, as if this place was her own kingdom. Every step she took was with flair, her red hair swaying at the back of her head.

She was humming the tune of the "Doraemon" theme song.

But as soon as she stepped in, she saw Ji Minghuan and a white-haired girl sitting shoulder to shoulder on the ground, focused on watching TV.

From time to time, the two would chat about the plot of the animated movie "Robot’s Dream" in their notebooks.

The white-haired girl wrote in her notebook: "The little robot is so pitiful, lying on the beach for so long, and no one found it."

Ji Minghuan took the notebook and pencil, and wrote: "I watched it twice. Later, this little robot found a new owner."

Sun Changkong froze, stopped humming, the air of arrogance on her face vanished, leaving only a sense of awkwardness like visiting relatives.