Chapter 360: Hidden Faction, The Attacker Appears

【Hidden Side Quest: Ability User Purge (Hidden Faction Quest, repeatable)】

【Quest Description:??? denies the existence of ability users. Please kill the ability users in this world.】

【Quest Reward: For every ability user killed, gain Reputation based on the ability user's strength. Once Reputation reaches Respected, the Reputation Store will be unlocked.】

【Quest Penalty: Encounter pursuit by Spirit World Creatures, lasting for three quest worlds.】

Li Qingzi panted; the aura of that powerful Reincarnator behind her had vanished. Under Suzuki Toichiro's mission arrangements, she had originally intended to go straight to J City to find Tao Baibai.

But halfway there, she encountered an unexpected team battle mission. A 5-person Reincarnator team was farming Milestones in W Shi by hunting Professional Heroes, and they dragged her into it.

Because she was currently severely lacking resources, Li Qingzi drew her sword and fiercely killed three of them.

However, during the pursuit, she unexpectedly encountered the powerful Follower of 【End Sun】, 【Tang Sanzang】.

It is said that this person once participated in the contention for a 【Strongest】 Title and belongs to the upper echelon of Title-level Reincarnators. After exchanging only two moves, Li Qingzi felt she was no match.

She immediately activated 【God Speed】 to flee, eventually plunging into a Spirit World Infestation Zone.

She looked up and saw that the sky here was extremely eerie, appearing entirely pitch-black, as if thick ink were constantly surging. Yet, the city's buildings and the surrounding air shimmered with iridescent fluorescence, preventing the world from being plunged into total darkness.

This was likely an abandoned city; the buildings and streets were perfectly preserved, but there were no traces of any humans in the city.

Li Qingzi hid at the base of a high-rise building, watching that giant humanoid creature retreat from outside the Spirit World Infestation Zone, guessing that it was the target Suzuki Toichiro wanted to unite various ability users to defeat:???

Li Qingzi's Observation Haki was fully activated. Suddenly, she turned her head back to see several green will-o'-the-wisps lighting up in the dim corridor, drifting toward her.

Her Gantzsword instantly extended to nearly two meters, fully covered in Armament Haki.

"Heh, this aura... you aren't a good person, are you? Do you want to kill me?"

The tone was low, but the inflection was inexplicably comical.

Li Qingzi watched the will-o'-the-wisp drift before her, revealing a green Spirit Body that consisted only of a head, with two red "blushes" on its face.

This is...

She had also watched the story of Spirit Ability 100% and recognized this Spirit Body; it was precisely one of the important characters—【Xiaojiwo】.

Unexpectedly, Li Qingzi's hesitation made Xiaojiwo's expression turn somewhat gloomier.

"You know me..."

"I don't know you, yet you know me, and you have special combat abilities... Right, you are also one of those guys..."

Xiaojiwo's voice became inexplicably eerie and chilling. The ball of will-o'-the-wisp began to burn. In just a moment, Xiaojiwo's Spirit Body began to grow massive, but at the same time, it became more illusory.

"You guys... you turned that guy into what he is now, and you still aren't planning to let go, are you..."

Xiaojiwo shifted his gaze from Li Qingzi's face to the ground, and intense Spirit Ability began to emerge.

He truly hated these inexplicable guys; they were far more evil than any Resentful Spirit he had ever seen.

"You guys like this..."

Xiaojiwo's voice began to sound strange. Li Qingzi stepped back a few paces; she felt this building seemed to be starting to twist, and an extremely dangerous sensation began to permeate the air.

A Bound Spirit?

Among spirits, Bound Spirits are not considered very high-level; for a Spirit Body, becoming a Bound Spirit is even a form of torture and restraint.

It means being unable to ever leave that place, becoming a prisoner.

But correspondingly, a Bound Spirit also possesses more powerful abilities within its own environment.

Bang!

The ground shattered instantly. Li Qingzi leaped backward in an instant. She smashed through the glass and returned to the dim street. Xiaojiwo arrived at the edge of the building, and the base of the building began to twist, as if a giant arm were about to reach out from within.

Li Qingzi's thoughts raced, and she quickly realized that this world had likely already been affected by the actions of Reincarnators; Kageyama Shigeo had turned into this current??? state, and Xiaojiwo had turned into a Bound Spirit and hated Reincarnators.

Everything had a reason.

"Do you want to turn Kageyama Shigeo back, Xiaojiwo?"

As she spoke, Li Qingzi accepted the hidden quest.

【You have joined the hidden faction: Spirit World Revelation. Current Reputation: Stranger (1/100)】

Sure enough, as she accepted the quest and joined this hidden faction, the omnipresent danger within her Observation Haki weakened significantly.

She took a deep breath, feeling that she might have inadvertently found the best route to maneuver between those powerful Title-level Reincarnator teams in this world.

She betrayed Suzuki Toichiro's 【Zhua】 organization without hesitation.

The other party couldn't even rival Kageyama Shigeo in his??? state after accumulating energy for thirty years; with only three years of accumulation now, wanting to defeat??? was simply unrealistic.

And her own "master," Bai Cangshu, making a big show of being a hero for fun, was clearly trying to find a breakthrough from Saitama's side.

That was likely the theoretically most complete method, but it was too dangerous.

Li Qingzi was no longer prepared to prioritize meeting up with him; the rewards for this hidden quest were actually quite generous.

It only required killing ability users, but from Xiaojiwo's words, it could be seen that??? was actually hostile toward all individuals possessing extraordinary power.

Ability Users, Reincarnators, and even those heroes and monsters with all sorts of varied powers, would likely all satisfy the conditions...

All she had to do was... kill!

——

"Lady Fubuki, there have been multiple ability user attack incidents in W Shi, and there are many distress calls. What do you think..."

Lili, who was driving, tilted her head to look at Fubuki in the passenger seat, looking somewhat troubled.

Fubuki was also frowning, hesitating.

Tatsumaki was rarely sitting in the car; she usually flew around high in the sky or was deployed directly via Hero Association aircraft.

"Lady Fubuki, the Spirit World Infestation Zone seems to have expanded again. Someone in W Shi just witnessed a giant black figure emerging from the Spirit World."

Tatsumaki frowned. If it were just ordinary ability users and Spirit World Creatures, she could accept letting Fubuki go play house with those guys in a hero-roleplay game.

But if that guy had appeared, then it was not something Fubuki could handle.

She pushed open the car door. Lili let out a cry of surprise, unable to stop her. Tatsumaki flew out of the car, transformed into a green light, and vanished instantly.

In the vehicle behind, Bai Cangshu also saw the scene of Tatsumaki leaving.

Following the successive departures of Saitama and Tatsumaki from the team, Bai Cangshu clearly sensed that the atmosphere within the team had changed.

Hongchen, hanging outside the vehicle, was no longer chattering incessantly, and Sera, sitting in the very front vehicle, revealed a grim smile she could hardly control.

Luoka and Duanfa, who were in the same vehicle as him, both felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

These two had not noticed at all that Tatsumaki had left.

Bai Cangshu also curled his lips; among Reincarnators, it was always like this—deceit and treachery were the eternal themes.

He sat directly in the vehicle and pointed his index finger toward the front.

Hum~

Amidst the violent whistling of golden Qi, Lilith, who was driving, had not yet realized what had happened when she saw a laser beam shoot out from the windshield, pierce directly through the vehicle Fubuki was riding in, and penetrate the vehicle at the very front.

Subsequently, that vehicle immediately swerved, two figures jumped out by opening the doors on both sides, and the vehicle exploded with a boom.

Bai Cangshu stomped down with force.

Bang!

The floor of the vehicle was instantly stomped through; his feet, fully covered in Hardening, slammed into the asphalt road surface, and amidst a terrifying roar, the vehicle rapidly lost power as all four wheels left the ground.

"Mr. Tao Baibai, what are you..."

Lilith gripped the steering wheel, still shaken, while Bai Cangshu tore open the roof of the vehicle and flipped up onto the top.

He scanned his surroundings but saw no figures; only a translucent silhouette emerged from the flames amidst the explosion smoke, subsequently concealing its tracks completely in the air.

"You're crazy!"

Fubuki got out of the car, shocked and furious, but the next moment, a flash of white lightning appeared.

【Way of Destruction No. 4: White Lightning】

The lightning pierced through Fubuki's chest in an instant, and as her figure staggered and fell backward, Fubuki saw the space in front of her seem to be torn open into a pitch-black door, from which a man wearing a white suit stepped out.

(End of this chapter)