Xiao Ping walked between the huts. Every villager, upon seeing him approach, would move away from him and his path, showing looks of mockery and hatred towards him.
Xiao Ping didn't care about their looks. He continued walking without pulling his hat down to cover his eyes this time, ignoring the gossip about him as he walked calmly… When he reached the farm fields, he faced the same thing, except that there was a blind villager carrying a sickle who shouted: "You scoundrel, how dare you harbor an evil spirit in your hut!" he said while raising his sickle towards Xiao Ping's face. But Xiao Ping didn't care for him and passed by his side with complete coldness and disregard, as if he were a mere pebble on the road.
This further enraged the farmer, who wanted to run and strike Xiao Ping from behind with his sickle. But at that moment, a vision appeared in Xiao Ping's eyes—that someone would strike him from the back. So he simply turned, looked towards that person's body, particularly at that villager's knee, and said: "Sever!" Something swift shot out and severed the thread running through his knee, causing the villager to fall onto the muddy ground, with his own sickle wounding his right shoulder from the fall.
The villager screamed in pain and asked Xiao Ping for help, but Xiao Ping simply bent down and stuffed that package into the villager's mouth, rendering him a lump unable to scream from pain or speak.
Prominent veins appeared on his forehead, which turned red from intense anger, but Xiao Ping didn't care for him… He simply turned and left coldly, leaving that villager writhing in pain, unable to scream. But he soon pulled the package out with his uninjured hand and began screaming and cursing at Xiao Ping.
Xiao Ping completely ignored him. He wanted to take out the Abyss Pistol and rid himself of this annoying villager forever, but he didn't want to waste his abilities on a mere human.
He walked away, but it wasn't long before the other farmers began gathering around the injured villager, carrying him to the village for proper treatment… But they looked back with a unified look of hatred and malice towards Xiao Ping.
"Annoying insects!" Xiao Ping said coldly as he walked on the road towards the city's giant iron gate.
Suddenly, he felt movement in his shirt pocket, so he pushed his coat aside slightly to see that the sky-colored flower was moving violently as if angry.
"Heh, don't worry, they won't be able to do anything to me!" Xiao Ping said, reassuring the flower, and continued in a friendlier tone: "By the way, what do you think about me giving you a name? Calling you 'sky-colored flower' gives off a strange vibe! So, how about the name Vioundra?"
At that moment, the sky-colored flower shook its head in agreement with its new name.
"Then, Vioundra, when we reach that colossal gate ahead on the horizon! You must try to hide your energy to the utmost of your ability! Understood?" Xiao Ping asked, and Vioundra responded by shaking its head up and down.
"Good, an obedient girl! I'll reward you with better fertilizer later, but for now, you must stay inside the shirt pocket! Okay?" Xiao Ping said while covering the flower with his coat as it was inside his shirt pocket.
After half an hour, Xiao Ping arrived before the giant gate, but he didn't slow down. He quickly took out his ID for the gate guard, who wasn't the same guard Xiao Ping knew, but he didn't care and entered, while many caravans stood outside in a long queue.
Xiao Ping walked to the sidewalk and saw a carriage parked on the side of the curb… It looked like a taxi from the yellow-painted emblem on its top.
So he approached it and said to its driver: "I want you to take me!"
"Alright, sir! But one Lira per hour!" the driver replied quickly.
'One Lira per hour? Does he charge by time? This is interesting!' Xiao Ping thought to himself while getting into the carriage and said: "I don't mind!"
"Then, where do you want to go, sir? Is there any place that caught your attention? You seem unfamiliar here!" the driver said to Xiao Ping.
"You're right, I'm unfamiliar here! So I don't know the places well, but I visited a friend of mine on some street in this colossal city! He owned a café for his mistress, and there was a tall lamppost in front of it!" Xiao Ping said relaxedly.
"Ah! I understand what you mean, sir! You're talking about Hanged Dreamer Street; that single tall lamppost in the city is on that street!" the driver replied.
'Hanged Dreamer? Damn these stupid names!' Xiao Ping said to himself while saying aloud: "Yes! That's where I want to go!"
"At your service, respected sir!" the driver said while whipping the reins on his brown horse and drove through the streets until Xiao Ping reached Hanged Dreamer Street in less than twenty minutes.
"Wait for me here! I'll be right back!" Xiao Ping said while getting off the carriage, which the driver parked by the curb in front of the café and next to the tall lamppost.
Xiao Ping moved, pushed the door that wasn't locked, and entered the café, which made him feel warmth from the hot air pipes in the café's ceiling… But he didn't stop and quickly advanced, seeing three waitresses serving coffee and pastries to customers at the tables. Madeline was sitting on a chair in front of the glass shelf with an L-shaped desk before her, and there was a very beautiful plant on the desk with a silver bell beside it.
"Where's James?" Xiao Ping asked Madeline quickly.
"Ah, Xiao Ping! You've come! He's waiting for you on the second floor!" Madeline replied quickly and didn't mention the failed incident of Xiao Ping deceiving her yesterday.
"Thank you!" Xiao Ping thanked her, then went up the stairs to the second floor, walked over the romantic carpet, then entered from the hall door into the living room and saw that James was… already prepared and suddenly turned to him with hollow looks, beginning to slowly advance towards Xiao Ping, who saw a clear redness on his face.
Xiao Ping remembered the gift he gave James yesterday and laughed internally, but he soon slowly retreated backward as James approached him.
"I can explain!" Xiao Ping said while raising the umbrella and pointing it towards James.
"Heh, explain? So you admit you're behind that deliberate act? I wanted to disclose your life, but now!..." James looked cunningly at Xiao Ping, who turned at that moment and fled.
"You won't escape!" James chased Xiao Ping, and they quickly descended the stairs, making their way under the gaze of all the customers.
"Fools!" Madeline said while looking at Xiao Ping being chased by James as they exited the café.
"I'm sorry James! I won't do it again!" Xiao Ping said while circling around the carriage.
"I'll kill you!" James didn't calm down, and it continued like this until Xiao Ping felt extreme exhaustion, then stopped and said: "Alright, won't you stop? I'll pay your fare while we investigate!" Saying that, Xiao Ping weakly pointed towards the carriage behind him.
"Alright, if you say so, I agree!" James said while moving towards the carriage, got in, and said: "But, you should work on strengthening your stamina! Honestly, at first glance at your body, I thought you were utterly weak, but you exceeded expectations!"
"Oh, really?" Xiao Ping said while getting in, carrying his umbrella before closing it and placing it above his head on an umbrella hook. He said: "Drive! Wait, where to?" Xiao Ping asked the driver, then turned his head towards James and asked.
"Hmm, to Seven Smiths Street, please!" James said cordially.
'Seven Smiths? Pfft, what are these strange names! I'm going to die from this soon!' Xiao Ping said to himself while saying aloud: "Why are we going to this particular street today? Shouldn't we go investigate and search for clues in the places that person visited before fleeing." Xiao Ping's words were coded at the end; he didn't want the carriage driver to know.
Just as James was about to respond to Xiao Ping, the driver's voice was heard saying: "Sorry for intruding! But are you investigators?"
"Yes! We are, why do you ask?" Xiao Ping replied quickly.
"Just curiosity, nothing more! But I think you don't know what happened on Seven Smiths Street yesterday! Right?" the driver said deliberately.
"No, what happened?" Xiao Ping replied.
James was sitting quietly as if he already knew what happened, so he said nothing.
"A person was killed on that street yesterday, but the police and their investigators… only found small scattered pieces of the victim's body! It was a horrific scene according to the Mengle Down newspaper!" the driver replied in a worried tone.
'Oh, a person was killed? What is this? Hmm… This serial killer is more cunning than I thought; he didn't even leave the body intact! I believe he's a power holder! This makes the case truly interesting!' Xiao Ping thought to himself while changing his facial features, preparing to act, and said: "That's truly horrific, I feel sorry for what happened to him! We will catch this serial killer and bring him to justice!"
"Yes! He must be caught as soon as possible. He's terrorizing citizens and preventing them from going out at night, and this could harm their personal income, as there might be citizens who work at night! I'm one of them!" the driver said in a sad tone.
"Don't worry, we will catch him for sure!" Xiao Ping said, calming the driver.
After this, the three said nothing more and just continued moving through the streets in the carriage until they reached Seven Smiths Street. He saw yellow tape with black lines surrounding a specific site, with many policemen and two investigators standing outside the tape's boundaries, holding their umbrellas.
"Stop here!" James said while getting off the carriage, followed by Xiao Ping carrying his black umbrella.
They quickly advanced towards the policemen and investigators, not heeding any of the warning disclosures before them, but bypassing them.
The old investigator with glasses turned at that moment and said: "You little rascal, you're very late!"
"Uncle Rainer, please stop calling me a little rascal! It's embarrassing!" James said while taking off his hat and giving a small bow to the old investigator Rainer, then Xiao Ping did the same.
"But you truly are a little rascal, going wherever you want, you and… what's your name!" Rainer pointed his finger at Xiao Ping.
"Ping, Xiao Ping, that's my name!" Xiao Ping answered with complete composure.
...
End of Chapter ~ To be continued