Chapter 54: Footwork Deepening · Crane
Professor, Liu Qi, Elizabeth, and Bai Cangshu sat on the train heading to Kyoto. Due to the previous incident, they had basically reached a consensus.
Professor had originally planned to take Gyomei Himejima and Butterfly Kanae near Tanjiro's home to kill the government troops and officials who came looking for the blue spider lily. This way, they could gain reputation and prevent the opposing faction from helping Muzan complete himself.
But Bai Cangshu rejected this plan and proposed a more "vicious" one.
The Demon Slayer Corps' accompanying 'Hidden' members helped Tanjiro's family and the families on the nearby mountain relocate. After Bai Cangshu and his group used advanced modern weapons to defeat the incoming government troops, they directly set fire to the entire mountain forest.
Except for a few blue spider lilies they had collected in advance, everything was reduced to ash.
Although Butterfly Kanae opposed this plan, after Gyomei Himejima contacted Kagaya Ubuyashiki through his crow, Kagaya Ubuyashiki agreed to the plan.
In fact, only this kind of plan could ensure that Kibutsuji Muzan would not obtain the blue spider lily in a short time. However, since Kibutsuji Muzan already knew that the blue spider lily only bloomed during the day.
Then it was theoretically only a matter of time before he got this thing.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki understood this principle, so he would not think Bai Cangshu's plan was vicious, only that it might not be thorough enough.
"Since we have all confirmed the next main mission, and I assume everyone is new and shouldn't have things like 'scapegoat dolls', then from now on, our actions can only be either successful, or... death."
Professor looked at the others and said this.
"I think it is necessary for us to further share our information with each other to facilitate subsequent combat arrangements. If we encounter a strong enemy like an Upper Moon, I'm afraid we will all be in danger fighting alone."
Professor spoke very subtly. In fact, in her judgment, except for "Tao Bai Bai" who had the possibility of defeating some Upper Moons, the others would almost certainly be killed by an Upper Moon.
The strength of the Upper Moon demons was vastly different from the Lower Moons. Even with an intelligence advantage, knowing the opponent's Blood Demon Art, and equipped with advanced firearms, these 'Paper' level Reincarnators still could not bridge the inherent gap in strength.
Speed, strength, regeneration, and fault tolerance – in all aspects, the Upper Moons had an overwhelming advantage.
Elizabeth and Liu Qi also understood what Professor meant and did not object.
Elizabeth, who always gave the impression of being unapproachable, was the first to speak.
"Vincent and I are members of a team under the loose assembly 'Salty Fish'. Because it's a loose assembly, there's no resource support. We are just Paper-level Reincarnators who can use the team function to perform missions."
"That special assembly where even the Chairman is said to have disappeared?" Professor seemed to have heard of this somewhat rough assembly name.
Elizabeth nodded and continued.
"My highest attribute is Mental, 12 points. I can communicate mentally within a 10-meter range, and then..."
Elizabeth glanced at Bai Cangshu, sighed, and finally said,
"I possess an incomplete advanced ability, 'Heart Control'. I can crush the opponent's heart, but because my Mental attribute is insufficient, I can only use it when I can see the enemy's heart..."
Elizabeth's voice became softer towards the end. This strong woman, nearly 1.8 meters tall, seemed a little embarrassed by the inadequacy of her ability at this moment.
Professor nodded and said nothing. Liu Qi also took the opportunity to begin his introduction.
Only Bai Cangshu looked at Elizabeth with a strange smile, causing the latter to subconsciously look away.
Bai Cangshu inwardly clicked his tongue. As expected, these were Reincarnators, a group of pathetic creatures who could never feel secure.
He was certain that Elizabeth's ability was absolutely not what she claimed, 'Heart Control', because simply crushing a heart could definitely not instantly kill a Lower Moon.
But that was how Reincarnators were. Even for the sake of cooperation and sharing information, they would selectively conceal things.
This incomplete information would become the catalyst for a team wipe when facing a strong enemy.
But Bai Cangshu couldn't criticize this behavior either, after all, even he wouldn't honestly reveal the source of his abilities.
This kind of loose team cooperation was utterly boring to him.
Bai Cangshu suddenly pushed open the window glass on the side of the carriage. The night wind instantly poured in.
The others were startled.
Liu Qi was still subconsciously reporting his abilities.
"I am Liu Qi, my highest value is Strength at 13 points. I am skilled in close combat, with a specialization level of Lv5. The direction I chose to specialize in is enhanced slashes..."
Bai Cangshu stepped onto the table in front of him. Amidst the exclamations of the surrounding passengers, he launched himself out of the carriage. He curled his lips. This Liu Qi was honestly a little funny.
Bai Cangshu gripped the iron sheet at the top edge of the carriage with both hands, pushed hard, and flipped himself onto the carriage roof in a counter-intuitive manner.
He waved at the people below.
"You can play this boring team game. I'll take care of the target myself."
Seeing Bai Cangshu like this, Professor sighed, but there was nothing he could do.
However, he actually felt a slight sense of relief in his heart. When acting with Bai Cangshu, he always felt completely suppressed by the other party, to the point where he always felt less confident.
And perhaps, splitting up their group of Reincarnators was the most efficient way to complete the main mission.
To reverse the balance of power between the two sides, in addition to killing the political strong allies of the opposing faction as much as possible, they also needed to find help for the Demon Slayer Corps faction.
Professor's eyes lit up. He suddenly realized that in some aspects, even that "Tao Bai Bai" was completely incomparable to him.
Bai Cangshu sat on the carriage roof. The Japanese trains of this era did not go through tunnels. He sat on the train, feeling the wind whistling through the mountains and fields. His mouth and nose were still struggling to maintain Ripple Breathing, and the injury on his right hand was now close to healing.
A scarlet light appeared in Bai Cangshu's hand, and then he crushed it.
[You have opened the scarlet drop card]
Read without error at 1619shuba!
[Drop opening...]
[Calculating target kill points. Target kill points: 4. Reward slightly increased]
[Calculating your kill points...]
[Detected that Ex051 holds 2 points of sin. You will receive 1 additional reward selection right]
[Calculation complete. This opening, you can choose 2 items from the following rewards]
[A: 30% dimensional points]
[B: 2 items from your backpack]
[C: Gain an additional 10% of the main attribute added to your own attributes]
[D: Randomly draw 1 specialization and retain a maximum level of Lv3]
[E: Randomly obtain 1 ability. The ability can only retain Lv1]
Bai Cangshu noticed that the values for each item in this opening were somewhat less than those on Evans' drop card.
The biggest impact was probably that he directly gained 1 point of Agility when he killed Evans, which he didn't get this time.
In other words, essentially, Space did not want Reincarnators to kill each other in these cooperative mission worlds. Because of the special nature of being a Culprit Reincarnator, he had gained a certain degree of "overstepping authority" and obtained the special ability to potentially generate scarlet drop cards in this type of mission world.
"Choose C, D."
[You have chosen C · Attribute Extraction. Extraction is now beginning]
[Your Agility attribute has increased by 1 point]
[You have chosen D · Specialization Draw. Drawing is now beginning]
[Drawing...]
[You have obtained Basic Footwork Specialization. Detected that you already possess this specialization. Specialization level slightly increased]
[Basic Footwork Specialization has been increased. Current: Lv5]
[You can choose a deepening direction](Note: Deepening directions can be chosen at Lv4, Lv7, Lv10. If a Reincarnator already possessed this level of specialization before entering Space, they can choose at the next level)
[A: Spirit Cat. Your footsteps are light as a feather, making very little noise when moving]
[B: Crane. Your footsteps are light and nimble, and your jump hang time is additionally increased]