Chapter 498: Chapter 498

[The current progress of the Celestial Driver "International Chess" for the second character is: 52%/100%]

Xia Pingzhou thought, there isn’t much progress left. Keeping up this speed, I should be able to reach Tier Three before September arrives, officially stepping into the threshold of the Catastrophe Level.

He opened the interface of the training system "Winter of the Wild Hunt" and collected the task reward.

[Completed training task five—kill any 70 C-Class or above "Demons", or 70 C-Class or above "Superhuman Species."]

[Received reward for training task: 1 attribute point.]

[Training task six has been refreshed, kill count increased to 120 (current progress: 70/120)]

Xia Pingzhou pulled up the character panel and quickly allocated the attribute point.

[The "Spirit" attribute of your second unit "Chess Player" has changed: A++ level → S level (the power of your "Chess Species" will also increase accordingly)]

[Current attributes of the unit are as follows—Strength: D level; Speed: A++ level; Spirit: S level]

He closed the fragmented panel, then poured a glass of cold boiled water in the kitchen, took a sip, and went upstairs.

Even though he lightened his steps, the old wooden stairs still creaked underfoot, so he had to try to walk a bit slower.

Reaching the attic, Xia Pingzhou paused slightly, lifting his eyes from his phone, and saw a girl in a russet kimono sitting by the windowsill, eyes downcast, quietly flipping through a book.

Ayase Origami didn’t speak, nor did she want to. Moonlight cloaked her pale face. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝙣𝙚𝙩

"Did you have a nightmare?" Xia Pingzhou walked over, asking curiously. Generally speaking, if Ayase Origami is still awake at this hour, she must have had a nightmare.

She said that she often dreams of things from her childhood, dreams of that interrogation room, her father yelling at her, saying that her mother was killed because of her, and then the corpse hanging on the wall suddenly changed to her mother’s face from the photograph.

At that time Xia Pingzhou thought for a moment and then said, in your dream, you can imagine me by your side, so you won’t be afraid.

Back then she shook her head and said, "No need, each time I wake up from a dream, you’re already by my side."

Xia Pingzhou froze for a moment and said, "That’s fine too, as long as you wake up scared and see me."

But this time when she woke up from a nightmare, Xia Pingzhou was not by her side. Ayase Origami seemed somewhat unhappy, a faint indifference on her fair face.

Xia Pingzhou silently walked over and sat down on the windowsill.

"Where did you go?" Ayase Origami finally looked up at him after a long silence.

"Hunting demons," Xia Pingzhou said honestly, "I want to become a little stronger before we encounter Lake Hunting... isn’t it to avenge Uncle Takayama?"

"Messages... you didn’t reply to me." The kimono girl said softly, "I sent a lot."

"Oh, I was busy rushing back just now," Xia Pingzhou said, glancing at his phone, and opening Line.

On the Line interface, her messages popped up.

[(02:30) KamiNeko: Where are you?]

[(02:45) KamiNeko: Little cat, don’t sneak out at night.]

[(02:50) KamiNeko: Idiot.]

[(02:55) KamiNeko: Come back.]

[(03:05) KamiNeko: Don’t come back.]

[(03:10) KamiNeko: Come back.]

Xia Pingzhou froze for a moment, then rubbed his nose and explained:

"Blame the hacker, he muted my notification sounds."

Just as he said this, his phone suddenly buzzed with notification sounds, and looking down, he saw it was filled with question marks from the hacker, almost flooding the screen. Even after muting the phone, it was no use, so he simply turned it off and tossed it aside.

He thought for a moment, lifted his head, only to see that Ayase Origami was not paying him any attention, just staring blankly with downcast eyes for a long time.

She suddenly turned a page. The sound of her fingers brushing past the book page was like the wind, rustling softly.

Ji Minghuan suddenly recalled one night shortly after he arrived in Tokyo, also lying awake in the attic of the café, disturbed by the rainstorm outside. It was like when his parents used to lock him in the closet as a child, the storm raging, and the windows banging loudly, making the world seem like a menacing devil.

So then, he lifted his head, staring at Ayase Origami’s sleeping face for a while, as if to see if she would wake up.

She really did wake up, opened her eyes, the two of them locked gazes for a while, then she used a piece of paper to seal the window, isolating the sound of the storm outside.

That night Ji Minghuan slept very soundly and contentedly.

But when this girl had a nightmare, he wasn’t by her side, and it didn’t seem fair.

In fact, Ji Minghuan didn’t know how long these times could last.

In his heart, he really liked this café, also liked the quiet attic, where moonlight and neon lights poured in together at night. When he couldn’t sleep, he could hear the girl’s faint breathing, and when he opened his eyes he could see her sleeping face.

At some unknown point, Ayase Origami had stopped drawing a line between them with a piece of paper.

But these days would soon end, he was about to kill Jack the Ripper, become a disgusting traitor, then take the Longevity Love-Chasing Old Lady and Bai Tanlang to the Salvation Society, heading into a war with an uncertain outcome.

If he survived that, if by then, Ayase Origami didn’t hate him completely, if she felt sad because Xia Pingzhou left...

Then Ji Minghuan should return to this café in his true form on a sunny afternoon, stand openly in front of her, gaze at the kimono girl lost in thought under the sunlight, and say to her:

"Don’t be sad, actually Xia Pingzhou never existed, this is who I really am... I lied to you so many times, betrayed you, will you forgive me?"

After lowering his gaze and remaining silent for a long time, Ji Minghuan’s reverie was suddenly interrupted by a soft voice.

"Will you leave me?" Ayase Origami suddenly asked, her voice very light. She had waited for a long time, wanting him to explain why he didn’t keep his promise, clearly saying he wouldn’t leave while she slept, but he didn’t.

Xia Pingzhou lifted his head, quietly watching her. Outside the window, Tokyo was a dazzling sight, neon lights spilled through the windowsill onto the dim floor.

He was silent for a moment, "If one day I really leave, will you come with me?"

The kimono girl thought for a while, lifting her dark eyes from the book, looking at him steadily, and then asked:

"Where would we... go?"

Hearing her use "we" instead of "you", Xia Pingzhou lowered his head.

"I don’t know..." He shook his head, "At least not yet."

Ayase Origami gazed at his bewildered face, pondered for a while, then put down the book and leaned towards him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Don’t sneak off quietly." She whispered into his ear.

The world was silent, outside the window the neon lights still bright, she slowly closed her eyes.

Xia Pingzhou couldn’t understand whether she was saying not to sneak away in her sleep so she wouldn’t be scared during nightmares, or if she already guessed he would leave the White Crow Travel Brigade.

He just lowered his head, resting his forehead against her pale one, closed his weary eyes, and the two of them fell asleep leaning against the windowsill.

The pages from the girl’s sleeve were lifted by the wind, like snow, drifting over the brightly lit city, as if they would fly off to the ends of the world.