What happened next was, frankly, completely predictable.

  Although the man in the black suit could command shadow clones, he himself was clearly just an ordinary human. If the shadow swapper’s true body had shown up in person, the moment he saw Zhu Shi, Alice, and my face, he’d have turned tail and fled without a second thought.

  In Goldfish’s eyes he might have been some mysterious, ruthless ex-hitman with formidable killing skills, but those talents had zero room to shine here. The shadow clones he summoned looked imposing enough on the surface, but they posed no real threat—borderline comical, even.

  Who knows when exactly he started eavesdropping, or how he interpreted our conversation, but he clearly failed to grasp that more than half of us weren’t ordinary people at all. He probably assumed that since Chang'an hadn’t asked us for help beforehand, we had no power to deal with the situation. What a colossal misunderstanding.

  I released a massive surge of flames that instantly filled every inch of the private room. The surrounding shadow clones disintegrated into nothing within the inferno.

  At the same time, Zhu Shi—exactly like last night—erected a sound-isolating barrier. The roar of traffic outside vanished completely; presumably nothing from inside could leak out either.

  Chang'an managed to more or less keep up with the sudden shift in reality. Goldfish, on the other hand, looked like her entire worldview had shattered—she stared at everything in a dazed, dreamlike stupor.

  Under my precise control, the flames harmed nothing except the shadow clones—not even the man in the black suit. True to his ex-hitman background, he reacted almost instantly to the drastic reversal and tried to bolt for the door.

  “—Return.”

  Alice set down her straw and cola, pointed one finger at the man in the black suit.

  With that single gesture, the foot he’d already extended somehow retracted on its own. He froze for a split second, then hurriedly tried to turn and step out again. But the anomalous force still clinging to him continued its effect; this time he only managed half a step before his body reversed itself.

  Panic flooded his face. He tried once more to move—yet he couldn’t even complete half a step. His body twisted back before it could fully turn, and the terror on his expression vanished as if rewound. His struggles grew fainter and fainter until only faint, inexplicable tremors remained.

  Less than a second later, even the trembling stopped. His face locked into complete stillness, every ounce of resistance canceled before it could properly begin. He stood frozen like a victim petrified by a gorgon’s gaze.

  This seemed to be yet another application of Alice’s “return” power.

  “She’s a superhuman too?” Chang'an asked, shock mixed with unmistakable envy.

  Goldfish was utterly speechless: “What… what in the world is going on…?”

  Even Zhu Shi looked mildly surprised.

  I’ll admit—I have a bit of a petty streak. I genuinely enjoy watching other people’s jaws drop when they witness my power.

  Seeing some of their attention diverted by Alice’s casual display of dominance in front of everyone made me just as pleased—no discount. Yes, that’s right—my Alice is this capable. I wouldn’t say I thought it in such a serious, possessive way, but the emotion was definitely somewhere in that neighborhood.

  Why did I feel that way? Was it because I unconsciously saw myself as the first person Alice met and bonded with in this era? I quietly examined my own feelings.

  Alice herself seemed completely uninterested in the others’ astonishment. She simply turned to me with focused seriousness. “What now? Should we interrogate him for the freak’s real identity?”

  I thought for a moment, then asked, “Can you make him speak while keeping the rest of his body immobilized?”

  She nodded and slightly relaxed the finger she’d raised. The man in the black suit’s limbs and torso remained locked, but from the neck up he regained some freedom. He jerked his head around frantically, looking utterly helpless.

  I stood and walked over, considering where to start. There was no point expecting him to cooperate willingly, and even if he talked, there’d be no guarantee of truthfulness. He was a former professional killer—who knew how much conventional torture would actually work on someone like him?

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  So I skipped the unnecessary steps entirely. I pulled the Black Rope Heart-Locking Ring from my pocket.

  My intangible right hand pierced straight into the man’s chest and seized his heart.

  I silently thanked Lu Youxun again for this ring—it had come in handy sooner than expected.

  Ten minutes later, we had extracted essentially everything useful he knew.

  The most critical piece: the shadow swapper really was inside that nightclub—and he was currently its invisible backer.

  About three months ago, he had appeared before the club’s owner and proposed “cooperation.” In reality, it was pure coercion—he used force to unilaterally exploit the owner’s extensive connections among the local elite. I knew next to nothing about how high society worked, but according to the man in the black suit, even though the owner ran this dark business, she wielded considerable influence in upper-class circles.

  The shadow swapper’s true identity was also someone from the local elite, but the man in the black suit didn’t know who—only the owner did. As the invisible patron, the freak would step in whenever the club’s operations were threatened.

  The shadow clones that had appeared earlier were ones the freak had transferred to the man in the black suit. The handover process was simple: the freak simply ordered the semi-intelligent clones to follow him. The ones that had kidnapped and beaten Chang'an two days ago were dispatched by this man.

  The motive was straightforward: Chang'an’s quiet collection of incriminating evidence inside the club had already been noticed. The man wanted to eliminate him. Shadow clones were perfect disposable tools—exposure of their actions wouldn’t implicate the club.

  But before finishing the job, he needed to know exactly how much evidence Chang'an had gathered and whether he’d shared it with anyone. That’s why the clones only beat him severely instead of killing him outright.

  The original plan was to batter Chang'an to the brink of death, break his will, then use Chang'an’s own phone to contact him remotely for interrogation. But before that stage could even begin, the two clones he sent suddenly went dark—and two days later, Chang'an reappeared perfectly fine and full of energy.

  That was the full truth behind what happened to Chang'an two days ago.

  “So that’s what really happened…” Chang'an exhaled shakily. “Just to be sure—when you said ‘settle accounts,’ what exactly did you mean by that?”

  “Speak,” I commanded, tightening my grip on the man’s heart.

  Pain contorted his face as the truth spilled out involuntarily: “It depended on how much evidence you’d collected and how far you intended to push. If you were just some weakling who’d crumble after a beating—if everything had been youthful impulsiveness and hot-blooded recklessness—then I’d have let you go home.

  “But if you showed real spine, if you were willing to die rather than back down, then I’d have no choice but to acknowledge you as a true enemy and kill you properly.”

  “You were actually planning to let me go?” Chang'an asked in surprise. “Aren’t you supposed to be a killer?”

  “Former killer,” the man replied, his voice carrying a trace of weariness and age.

  It sounded like he had his own story, but now wasn’t the time to hear it. I withdrew my right hand and removed the ring. Zhu Shi drew a sheathed longsword from her black guitar case and knocked the man unconscious with a single strike. Honestly, I’d have preferred to incinerate him on the spot, but with Chang'an watching, I held back for now.

  My mood had improved considerably. The lingering mystery of Chang'an’s attack was finally fully resolved—everything clicked into place.

  Unfortunately, the man in the black suit didn’t know the shadow swapper’s true identity. The club owner did, but storming in to interrogate her directly wasn’t feasible—it might provoke the freak unnecessarily. Since this was intel he’d handed us on a silver platter, there wasn’t much point expecting more from him.

  …Speaking of which, the fact that he walked right into our hands—could that also have been Alice’s jinx-like aura at work, pulling him in?

  I glanced at Alice. She blinked back innocently.

  “Brother, just hand over all the evidence you’ve collected to the family,” Zhu Shi told Chang'an. “After that, that nightclub will disappear for good.”

  “Huh? Is our family that powerful?” Chang'an asked doubtfully.

  “A few years ago, a demon-hunting family like ours really couldn’t exert much influence over secular society—not even against a vice den tied to so many powerful people. But things have changed in the last two or three years,” Zhu Shi explained, seemingly for my benefit as well. “Right now the official authorities are on tense terms with Luo Shan. The moment a place that exploits even little girls gets exposed, it becomes perfect ammunition for Luo Shan to attack the legitimacy of the authorities. They’ll be far more eager than we are to crush it—and they’ll use the heaviest possible methods.”

  “Our family is still a demon-hunting clan?” Chang'an asked, stunned.

  Zhu Shi blinked. “Wait—Grandfather didn’t tell you anything?”

  Chang'an looked utterly lost. “He just told me to stay quietly in my room…”

  “Shouldn’t Grandfather have explained the truth to you first?” Zhu Shi frowned, then seemed to realize something. “Unless… he’s planning to unseal your demonic blood right away, so he’s preparing in advance? That makes sense. Once the seal is broken and you regain your childhood memories, there’s no need for long explanations or convincing you…”

  Hearing all this, Goldfish’s expression became the very picture of someone witnessing an over-the-top chuunibyou performance—except she couldn’t deny that every word was real. Utter chaos.

  Though this was the second time I’d heard these things about Chang'an, I had to admit: lines like these really didn’t belong in the real world. Had I somehow wandered onto the set of a fantasy battle story starring Chang'an without realizing it?

  “Demonic blood? Seal? Memories?” Chang'an echoed in disbelief. “I actually have protagonist-level shounen-manga tropes on me?”

  “Okay, okay—not the time for that right now,” Zhu Shi sighed wearily. “Let’s focus on the shadow swapper. Assuming he really is inside that nightclub right now, how do we find him?”

  Perhaps influenced by me, Zhu Shi had also started calling the freak “the shadow swapper.”

  As for the current problem, I already had an immature idea forming.