Chapter 605: Stealth and Stalls
‘Alright guys…girls…ghouls…zakos. I need one of you to go and meet with your coin counterpart at the main estate, another one of you has to go figure out if someone is rigging this bullshit and another to make sure nobody tries to do sneaky shit to the family or me. Understood?’
“Wooo…”
‘Marvelous.’
A bit after telling off some gossiping asshats and loudly declaring that he had to use the bathroom, Zhen Liu actually did go to the restroom to actually make use of them, but threw in an additional task as well.
He prepared some specter type zakos and summoned them so they could do some sneaky shenanigans while he was busy dealing with the actual tournament itself.
Zhen Liu hadn’t forgotten that somewhere in the Zhen Clan estate was one of Paralust’s special zakos that needed to be rescued ASAP.
Zhen Liu understood that if the main clan was anything like his own, they would definitely try to interrogate a prisoner of interest, especially when it was one that had somehow managed to sneak past all of the defense. While he wasn’t entirely sure if these guys had a torture chamber, he had been to his uncle’s torture chambers, so he knew what the fuck to expect from those places.
Granted, Zhen Liu’s zakos were borderline invincible against those of the same level, but he still didn’t want to take the risk of one of those interrogators getting a bit too heavy handed, or worst, they find someone who was old enough and smart enough to recognize [Chaos] and the things related to it.
He had to nip this possibility in the bud, preferably without exposing any more of his secrets if possible.
‘Alright, you got your orders. Now go.’
“Woo…”
The spectre-type zakos quickly left the restroom, turning invisible or phasing through the walls and floors as needed in order to remain as elusive as possible.
Once all of the zakos had left the room, Zhen Liu let out a mildly tired sigh before finally using the restroom for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be in silence as would be the norm.
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[Ringmaster, I have a question.]
‘What’s up, Spring Brawler?’
[Why didn’t you just use the toilet while ordering the zakos? I mean, they’re technically ghosts so it wouldn’t be impossible for you to just…sit and make orders.]
‘Well, aside from the obvious issue of personal space,] Zhen Liu answered earnestly, [I didn’t want to risk anyone walking in on me while conversing with the zakos. Hence why I had to lock the door for a bit and keep an eye out here in case there was movement.]
[Okay…that sounds needlessly complicated, but okay.]
[Milord, I can kind of understand your chain of logic, but was doing this while in a public restroom really necessary in the first place, milord?,] Nepherage asked.
[I mean…wouldn’t it have been easier to just go to the Library to discuss this?]
‘That…is a very good point, but I did actually have to use the bathroom anyway and I want to abuse the fact that we have flush toilets a little more before we head back home to the desert.’
[TMI, maestro. TMI,] Hurricroak pointed out.
‘Hey, ask and ye shall receive. You wanted me to answer questions while I’m trying to use the toilet, you get answers while I still use the toilet.’
[Don’t…think…that’s…how…that…works…,] Frosttusk rumbled.
‘Meh.’
[Are we seriously having a discussion about why the director is having us do clandestine activities while using a toilet instead of, you know, planning on who’s going to be up on the battle stage with him first?,] Razorstella interjected, [because the director is still a puppet master and we kind of need to establish that.]
‘That’s a good point…but we can discuss that after I’m done.’
[Fine…]
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After finishing his business in the restroom, and making sure to wash his hands despite the combination of sea water and soap making zero sense to him, Zhen Liu was just about set to go back to the lounge area and chill until his first match in this weird round robin fuck fest.
As such, he decided to use the walk time to determine who among his kaijin would be up first for the debut of the “puppet master”.
‘Alright, so depending on who my first opponent is, I will probably just use the zakos first because they’re most…puppet looking and then from there, you guys can…’
However, just as he was about to leave the hall where the restrooms were located and head back to the lounge, he had an encounter with someone he was dreading to meet.
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And like any good dreadful moment, it came out of fucking nowhere.
‘Ah fuck me sideways, why is this day mostly back-to-back awkward ass encounters? Couldn’t it have been anyone else?,’ Zhen Liu cursed as he realized that he had almost bumped into Ren Jin Yan, aka the tournament favorite, aka the one guy in this tournament that could actually hurt him and his kaijin, quite severely.
He already had a taste about what could happen when a wild aether beast wielded dragon force, he did not want to see what could happen when such power was in the hands of someone actually competent and talented in using the stuff.
Evidently, Zhen Liu was so engrossed by this one thought that he failed to realize that he was staring at Ren Jin Yan like a freaking weirdo.
The only reason he was made aware of his staring though, was because the person being stared at decided to bring it up.
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“Wait, what? I mean…”<
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Ren Jin Yan paused for a moment before eyeing Zhen Liu up and down, moments before a knowing smile formed on her face.
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In this moment, Zhen Liu realized something incredibly important about Ren Jin Yan.
Not only was he his natural enemy in terms of power sets, but he was also his natural enemy in regards to social interactions.
Because while Zhen Liu could handle crazy, heroic, vain, sarcastic and arrogant, he could not handle someone who just…shot from the mouth, without thinking about who was the receiver on the other end.
‘Oh I can already tell that I am not gonna get along with him even more so than what I had initially thought…’
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[Well then, looks like you guys were right about our lord somehow running into him prior to their actual match. Forgive me, my elder kaijin, for doubting you,] Razorstella apologized to Nepherage, Hurricroak and Frosttusk.
The latter of the trio didn’t really care, but the former two more than accepted the apology.
[See? What did I say?,] Hurricroak asked with nonchalance.
[Our lord has a tendency to attract crazy and weird, and nothing is crazy and weirder in this moment than running into a dragon force wielding prince-like girl.]
[Okay, no,] Nepherage suddenly interjected,[I am fairly certain you meant, “prince”, no “like girl” at the end of it. Did you not hear their voice?]
[Yeah, I did. That’s why I am now damn sure they’re a girl, their voice is way too high pitched to belong to a guy.]
[Okay, I think you need to lay off the rock n roll music because it is messing with your hearing,] Nepherage argued, [that voice is way too deep to belong to a girl, but it’s the perfect pitch for it to belong to a young guy.]
[No, that voice clearly belongs to a girl.]
[Guy.]
[Girl!]
[Uh…guys?,] Spring Brawler interrupted.
[You do realize that there is a possibility that they’re…nonbinary?]
[That…huh…,] Nepherage trailed off at the realization.
[Well when you put it like that, then I guess it is silly for us to-]
[Oi! Nepherage, Hurricroak!,] Razorstella called out, [looks like that Ren Jin Yan guy is about to leave in the opposite direction of us and use the bathroom. If you want to settle your argument, do it now!]
[Finally!]
Unfortunately for them, they wouldn’t get an answer this time either.
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