Chapter 28: Fellow Countrymen Meet
“Hey, Shangshan Jun, what the hell is that thing?”
Seeing the man behind them treating his head like a detachable part, Lili Zi couldn’t help but feel a chill, gripping the bamboo sword in her hand even tighter.
“Roller head, also called Futodama.” Shangshan Che stared at the opponent’s head for a moment and said, “It’s not very strong.”
No wonder he and Lili Zi were discovered; there had been a head floating in the sky watching them all along.
“But be careful, its head and body can stretch or separate at any time, and I’m not sure if its body can still move after decapitation.”
Lili Zi glanced at him in surprise, seemingly wondering why Shangshan Che knew so much about this suddenly appearing demon.
But she didn’t say much, just asked coldly, “Then which side do I handle?”
“Those two people, the Futodama is mine.”
“Okay.”
Lili Zi and Shangshan Che pressed their backs together, changed direction, and then she found him stuffing a strangely shaped cloth doll into her pocket.
“What is this?”
“Don’t worry about it!”
The moment the words fell, the two rushed toward their respective opponents as if by telepathy.
“Hiss!”
The Futodama opened its mouth and roared, its big mouth stretching exaggeratedly at the base, red muscles contracting and expanding, revealing a terrifying expression even fiercer than an evil spirit.
The piercing sound wave swept by, but Shangshan Che, enveloped in thick qi, remained expressionless, assuming the Hirai stance, crouching low and rapidly closing in on the opponent.
He thought this battle came at the perfect time to practice the new sword technique skills that had appeared in his mind.
On the other side, the two Friendship Club… no, perhaps better called Friendship Cult followers sighed at the same time.
“How did it come to this…”
The young employee standing beside them seemed stunned, staring motionless at the battle unfolding before his eyes.
The two followers showed expressions of pity and compassion, taking out prayer beads and beginning to chant some incomprehensible phrases.
“Pretending to be mystical.”
Lili Zi snorted coldly; she only felt some insignificant fragmented noise brushing past her sword heart.
“Dream Sound has no effect?!”
The two followers’ tones carried undisguisable shock as they watched Lili Zi rapidly closing in; one of them grimly drew a dagger, while the other viciously snapped his prayer beads.
The follower holding the dagger had cold eyes, raising the sharp weapon and thrusting it toward Lili Zi’s heart.
At the same time, noise dozens of times more massive than before surged into Lili Zi’s heart, only to be effortlessly crushed into fragments by her sword heart.
Lili Zi furrowed her brows and roared angrily, “Cultists, is this all you’ve got!?”
Her forefoot landed, ki-gong technique bursting forth; the bamboo sword in her hand turned into falling thunder, striking the dagger-wielding follower’s hand, chest, and head in an instant.
Full force, three strikes in one second!
In that instant, the dagger in the follower’s hand was knocked flying to the wall, and he himself had his nose bridge broken by the downward swing of the bamboo sword, blacking out and collapsing unconscious on the ground.
“Small hand! Torso! Face!”
Amid the roar, Lili Zi pushed the ki-gong technique to its limit; her face was furious like a diamond, but her eyes were colder than a Siberian winter.
Without waiting for the still-dazed follower to react, Lili Zi, now at close range, released the bamboo sword and delivered a devastating groin kick.
The follower’s face twisted in pain as he cried out, “Ah!”
But that cry was smashed back by Lili Zi’s flying elbow strike in the next moment.
“—Sounds like things are going smoothly over there.”
Facing the roaring, charging Futodama, Shangshan Che halted his steps, maintaining the Hirai stance, and in a breath unleashed the sword blade fiercely.
Tusk Thrust!
Kaga Kiyomitsu’s blade bloomed with a faint green light, and the sword tip, already leaving an afterimage, surged in speed again.
The Futodama hadn’t even seen the sword’s trajectory before its crown was pierced straight through by Kaga Kiyomitsu, turning into airborne skewered meat.
Instant kill!
【You killed the Half-Star Demon “Futodama”, Soul Ash +25】
Seeing the prompt appear, Shangshan Che was about to turn back to check on Lili Zi when he felt chilling wind whistling from both sides.
—An ambush!?
Shangshan Che’s pupils contracted sharply; he almost instinctively wanted to transform into Laughing Hannya, but in his calm as still water state, he knew there was no need yet to play this troublesome trump card.
After an undignified forward donkey roll, Shangshan Che, with two vicious bloodstains on his back, regrouped and stared at the two glaring heads before him.
Why hadn’t these two Futodama supported their teammate earlier?
What Shangshan Che didn’t know was that he had killed the first Futodama so quickly that the remaining two hadn’t even reacted.
“No problem though…” Under the adrenaline rush, Shangshan Che felt his blood boiling. “Just two small fry.”
The qi emanating from these two Futodama was far weaker than the first one.
The “Zero-Star” above their heads confirmed this.
The Futodama flailed in mid-air, sharp fangs flashing coldly in its blood basin mouth.
Shangshan Che advanced silently.
Two clean sword lights flashed and vanished, cutting off the Futodama’s hoarse roar.
【You killed the Zero-Star Demon “Futodama”, Soul Ash +12】
【You killed the Zero-Star Demon “Futodama”, Soul Ash +13】
The four severed head parts scattered on the ground, emitting a foul odor; if left alone, they would be discovered and reported within hours.
But Shangshan Che had already notified Nanjo Emi while waiting at the Korean BBQ Restaurant doorway; by his calculation, the Special Affairs Office should arrive in less than two minutes.
【Your skill, Ki-Gong Technique Fragment proficiency +21!】
【Your skill, Natural Reason School proficiency +28!】
Perhaps because it was the first time Natural Reason School had reached beginner level and then seen real combat, the proficiency gain was more than in usual battles.
And with fragmented time training factored in, the Ki-Gong Technique proficiency had become 【Ki-Gong Technique Fragment（151/300）】, already over halfway.
Sheathing the sword, Shangshan Che walked toward the opposite side of the alley: “How’s that guy…”
“You’re injured?!”
Lili Zi interrupted him, pulling Shangshan Che over and flipping him around to carefully examine the wound on his back for a while before sighing in relief.
“Minor injury.”
As he spoke, Shangshan Che unceremoniously took the doll back from Lili Zi’s pocket and turned around: “Rather than me, worry about that guy first.”
After both followers were beaten unconscious, the youth seemed to snap out of his daze, suddenly speaking in Chinese: “Thank you… You two just saved me?”
Lili Zi scratched her head, not understanding what the guy was saying.
Shangshan Che raised an eyebrow and asked in plastic Henan dialect learned online: “Fellow townsman? Exchange student?”
The youth was stunned, then burst into incoherent excitement: “Holy shit, bro, your girlfriend was freaking badass just now!”
Girlfriend?
Oh, he meant Lili Zi.
Ignoring the minor detail, Shangshan Che amiably put his arm around the youth’s shoulder and said in Chinese: “Bro, can you tell us how you ran into these two guys?”
The youth laughed haha upon hearing this, but though laughing, Shangshan Che sensed a hint of bitterness.
“Chance encounter. I was about to get off work when they walked in and said something about love and salvation, so I dazedly followed… Sounds pretty stupid, right?”
Dazedly, huh.
Shangshan Che glanced at the scattered prayer beads on the ground; probably some Onmyōdō hypnosis or mind-affecting technique.
The laughter gradually faded; the youth took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and wearily closed his eyes: “Sometimes I wonder if deciding to study abroad in Japan was really the right choice.”
“At first, when working part-time, I couldn’t even speak fluently, and classes were incomprehensible. Just when things started improving, everyone put on masks. Graduation is next year, but family business hit problems, and I have to figure out tuition for the last two semesters myself.
Today I even almost got kidnapped by a cult… I’m tired, really tired.”
He looked enviously at Shangshan Che and Lili Zi standing beside him, offering a cigarette: “Bro, cherish your girlfriend.”
Shangshan Che took the cigarette and asked: “Any plans next?”
“Go home.” The youth exhaled smoke and sighed deeply. “Back to old home, farm in the countryside, raise some livestock or something. Lost the job, but adding chopsticks to the table shouldn’t be hard.”
Shangshan Che thought of recent events in Tokyo and felt the youth going back now might be a good choice.
So he said no more; the rest could be asked of the two followers.
The youth looked up, quietly gazing at the modern city filled with skyscrapers, as if reminiscing every moment since studying abroad.
After a long time, he seemed to make a decision and left without looking back.
Once the youth’s back completely disappeared, Lili Zi, who hadn’t understood a word, asked curiously: “What did he just say to you?”
Shangshan Che stared at the unlit cigarette in his hand, thought for a moment, and said:
“He said he misses home.”
Lili Zi didn’t understand, but she could clearly feel the heavy atmosphere in the air, so she looked at the two followers on the ground showing signs of waking.
Lili Zi decided to use the Great Memory Recovery Technique on them.
