Spare Me, Great Lord!

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Late at night, Bunndai and Lu Shu sat together, facing each other. Lu Shu was silent, while Bunndai was stating the latest information.

She had realized the sudden increase in her access to intelligence ever since Lu Shu’s arrival. More precisely speaking, though, it was through Lu Shu’s access.

It felt like a giant, covert web had just set into operation in Japan, serving Lu Shu alone.

Bunndai was in shock. She knew how great the cost must be to plant a web here. What was even scarier was the fact that the entire system was meant for only one person.

The number of intelligence agents used was not even as many when Heavenly King Nie himself came last time.

Moreover, the open accessibility could not be done without Nie Ting’s authorization. But why did Heavenly King Nie think so highly of this young man?

“The Collection of Gods has come to a conclusion regarding Nogiwa Hakushun’s death. They deduced that the Heavenly Network is behind it and seem to believe that an earth-type Class B Metahuman from the Network is somewhere in Nishinokyo. They call him the suspected 9th Heavenly King…” Then, Bunndai looked at Lu Shu, awaiting his reply.

Lu Shu drew a startled breath. He did not expect the story to unfold this way!

“Er, why did they think so?” Lu Shu asked in curiosity.

“They believe that an earth-type Class B Metahuman joined forces with Heavenly King Li in Pattaya to kill Johnson. It has also been verified by a few individual Practitioners that this Metahuman has deep sea white sand in his possession, which is in line with the fact that Anthony lost his deep sea white sand in the Salt Lake remains. In any case, deep sea white sand has only appeared in Japan before,” Bunndai explained.

Lu Shu took a while to gather his thoughts. Though unexpected, he had to admit that their analysis was rather reasonable…

“Er, please continue…”

“Currently the Collection of Gods has activated the top alert operation procedures due to the incident. In any case, they are deeply scared by Heavenly King Nie’s action the previous time. Although he did not cause any actual damage on the Collection of Gods, it has dealt a deadly blow to their morale seeing how Heavenly King Nie could come, kill and leave as he pleased…”

Lu Shu was glad to hear that. “When they wanted to do the same, Nie Ting had ascended to Class A. By then, those who wanted to cause trouble in our country might not have even left in one piece…”

In fact, it would have been a different story if Nie Ting had remained at Class B. With Chen Baili far away guarding the national border, the Collection of Gods could easily come and leave when their job was done. It was unrealistic for people of the same Class to hunt one another down relentlessly.

It seemed to be a despicable move. Nie Ting ran away after giving their enemy a hard slap. But when the enemy wanted to enact revenge in a similar way, they realized they could hardly even make the slap, let alone escape…

“His ascension happened at just the right time,” Lu Shu exclaimed…

Thus, Nie Ting’s overemphasis on the Collection of Gods could probably be due to his concern over the emergence of a Class A there.

Lu Shu asked, “Is there any sign of a newly ascended Class A in the Collection of Gods?”

“No. But according to the information released long ago, the higher-ups are researching on a ceremony and symbols related to sacrifice. But they have yet to achieve satisfactory results,” Bunndai replied.

Her words reminded Lu Shu of the scene below the cavern in the Beimang remains. Could that be their so-called sacrifice? Were they trying to artificially create a Class A through distorted methods like that?

Now, Nogiwa Takenobu, one of the top three Class B experts of the Jingoists was dead. Coupled with the recent power awakening like that of the Saint and pressure from the Heavenly Network, the Collection of God’s worries were completely justifiable.

“Wait a moment.” Lu Shu was confused. “Is that Kitamura Hirono free from suspicion?”

Despite his unprofessional approach and mediocre scheming, it should at least result in some confusion, shouldn’t it?

“After the conclusion had been reached, the discussion over Kitamura Hirono has subsided. It’s mainly because Kitamura’s teacher is one of the Class B pros of the Collection of Gods. Certainly there are voices suspecting that it was all by Kitamura’s hand, but such views cannot be raised openly,” Bunndai explained.

Lu Shu was disappointed. He had inadvertently planted blame on others in the past, but now he put in effort and he had failed!

What the heck!

There was a long silence. Then, Lu Shu said, “No. I can’t take it anymore! I deserve better!”

“From Bunndai’s distress, +166…”

Bunndai started to wonder Heavenly King Nie’s purpose of sending Lu Shu there. Was it to give him the freedom to do whatever he wanted?

“Get ready the intelligence for me. I need to make some preparations,” Lu Shu said in a firm voice.

…

Before the dawn of the day, Sakurai was awoken by sharp sounds of air. She put on the clothes prepared by Bunndai… Indeed, it was a bit tight at her bust area.

It was only 3am in the morning. With an overcoat draped over her shoulders, Sakurai pulled open the door to see Lu Shu practicing his swordplay in the yard. Does he train this early everyday? She wondered to herself, I’m not even half as diligent as him.

What she did not know was that Lu Shu had been singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars for hours before his sword practice…

Without stopping his training, Lu Shu smiled at her and asked, “Up so early?”

“Yea.” Sakurai sat on the edge of the corridor and watched Lu Shu train, her hands supporting her head. Lu Shu felt something different about Sakurai, as if she was… more at ease.

As a secret Practitioner who acted with purposes and missions, Sakurai Yaeko had to put on a disguise anytime, anywhere. Yet, just the night before, she seemed to have let go something in her heart.

It was not because of Kitamura’s words, nor anybody, but a sudden venting of her pent-up dissatisfaction of her present situation. Then, her wall of pretense was breached, like a collapsed dam.

Having infiltrated through the cracks of the dam, water gushed out and, eventually, flooded everything.

“Kiriharakun,” Sakurai called his name, smiling.

Lu Shu paused his movement. “Yea?”

“Will you remember me?”

“Probably. You are so pretty.”

“Thank you.”

For the first time Sakurai Yaeko sensed honesty and simplicity in a praise regarding her attractiveness…

But Lu Shu felt that it was Sakurai’s goodbye message.