Nekomata let out a low chuckle. He was currently in spirit form, hovering a couple of meters above the ground, observing everything beneath him.
Ever since Xiao Yu found out that Fish Ball had used her identity to borrow money, she stopped treating him as a pet. His status had been reduced to nothing more than a breathing flashlight.
Xiao Yu pursed her lips when another ruckus could be heard.
"First, the sprinklers come on. Then, the entire building shakes. Now, it's something else. There's no peace in this place."
She was in an understandably bad mood.
"What kind of stupid company agrees to loan money to an underaged girl? What kind of corrupt business is this?" she whined, slamming the keyboard.
"Not the C drive. Not the D drive. Where could the loan records be?!"
Xiao Yu's understanding of systems was typical of a 12-year-old's, which was to say that she knew close to nothing at all. Servers and databases were alien concepts that were unheard of.
Naturally, she was unable to find her profile and remove the loans made in her name.
She looked away from the screen and towards the illuminated server room. An idea sprouted in her head.
"I can just destroy all the computers here. Then my records will be gone too."
It made so much sense to her that she did not hesitate to put it into action.
Thick, black smoke surrounded her as she lifted into the air. Her shirt billowed like a sail in the wind.
Her face had turned a pallid shade of white. Her eyes cast an eerie glow as they turned to the computer desk. It started shaking violently and it was not long before the desks surrounding it began vibrating as well.
One computer flew towards a wall and was instantly smashed to smithereens. Two more met the same fate. Then another.
"I hope this isn't illegal. Zhao Yao said that even the government has apostles. They wouldn't be sent after me, would they?" she pondered briefly.
In the midst of Xiao Yu's mass destruction, Noodle began barking.
He raced towards her.
"Xiao Yu! Someone's coming!"
Barking was not a language she was fluent in, but the husky's panicked behavior spoke volumes. There was trouble coming.
Xiao Yu got to work immediately. She levitated both Noodle and Fish Ball, raising them into the air so that they had their backs pressed against the ceiling.
"Oh no, who could it be?" she thought anxiously.
Her question was answered when two figures darted into the office at lightning speed.
Xiao Yu's eyes grew wide as marbles. "They move quickly. Really quickly."
Now that the two figures were standing still, she could start to make out their appearance. She had no clue who the Black Panther was, but she recognized Zhao Xue right away. They were relatives after all.
Xiao Yu grinned as she descended from the ceiling, wondering if her niece owed money as well.
"Zhao Xue," she called out as she reached eye level, "What are you doing here?"
"Ah!!!"
Black Panther and Zhao Xue let out a terrified scream, the former's slightly shriller than the latter's.
Xiao Yu's sudden appearance was shocking, but her physical appearance was just downright frightening. Waves of black smoke continued to billow around her. Her skin looked completely bloodless. Worse, that darn stocking was still on her face.
Xiao Yu rolled her eyes, then whipped the stocking off with one quick pull.
"It's me," she announced.
While she was recognizable now, she was not any less frightening.
Her face was as blanched as the rest of her body and there was an eerie glow dancing in her eyes.
Black Panther took one look at her and collapsed on the floor.
He had fainted.
Zhao Xue was still screaming. She threw a punch at the ghost, not holding any of her strength back. It caused visible ripples in the air that simply went through Xiao Yu's body, hitting the tables and chairs behind her instead. The furniture flew against the wall and broke into pieces.
Xiao Yu let out a heavy sigh. She turned to Zhao Xue and looked at her seriously.
"Xue, take a good look at me. It's your aunt, Xiao Yu."
Zhao Xue allowed herself one glance at the horrible apparition. She blinked a few times and her furrowed brows relaxed.
"You're...you're Aunt Xiao Yu? You've died? What has this company done to you?! Look at that vengeful aura radiating off you! You must have died a horrific death!"
Xiao Yu refrained from rolling her eyes once more.
"I'm not dead!" she exclaimed, "This is a superpower. I'm sure you're familiar with them because what you did just now was far from normal. You have powers too, right?"
The girls had barely begun chatting when Ishida caught up. Countless shadow spikes pelted against the door, blowing it up.
"Little rats, I've got you n- Ah!!!"
His eyes landed immediately on Xiao Yu, whom was still floating a few inches off the ground, looking very much like a ghost.
A frightened shriek erupted from the shadows before they vanished.
"And who's that?" Xiao Yu asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Zhao Xue let out a pained laugh. "He works for the P2P platform. He's a very powerful apostle."
She then launched into the story of how they ended up here.
Xiao Yu listened to it intently, nodding vehemently when Zhao Xue was done.
"This company is evil. Destroying their computers is really an act of justice, don't you agree?" she asked.
"I guess?" Zhao Xue responded uncertainly, "Whatever it is, we've got to leave now. That shadow man is not easy to deal with. We should go when he still believes that he saw a ghost."
Unfortunately, Ishida came to his senses a lot more quickly than she expected.
He had fled instinctively. He had never seen a ghost before after all.
However, as he moved further away from the IT department, he realized that it was a lot more likely that what he saw was a superpower, not the supernatural.
He jumped to a shadow that was just by the entrance, eavesdropping on the girls' conversation.
He knew it was time to strike when Zhao Xue proposed that they leave.
He was swift. He leaped from the outside to the shadow cast by an office table, the one behind a computer, by the corner of the desk, then finally to Zhao Xue and Black Panther's shadows.
With each jump, he closed the distance between them and raised new armies of spikes, darkening the ceiling with their presence.
Zhao Xue's first thought was to drag the two of them by the collar and run. However, it seemed that her aunt had other ideas.
Xiao Yu looked at the shadow spikes intently, determination shining in her eyes. Wordlessly, she worked with Nekomata to conjure shapeless poltergeists. They rushed forward and lassoed the spikes tightly, crushing them into bits.
Nekomata's poltergeists were capable of wrecking some serious havoc. They were strong enough to twist metal into a braid, so destroying mere shadows was not much of an issue.
The barrage of spikes was broken into pieces when they got too close, as if an invisible shield was protecting them.
Unfortunately, the fun had barely begun for Ishida.
The room was brimming with shadows, both big and small. Every time he sprung to a new one, he could harness its darkness to create more shadow spikes.
While in spirit mode, Xiao Yu was incorporeal, so the spikes could not hurt her. They went right through her.
Unfortunately, both Zhao Xue and Black Panther were very much solid and vulnerable, so she had to continue protecting them with her poltergeists.
At the same time, she wanted to fight back. She directed some of her poltergeists to obliterate the furniture that cast the shadow Ishida was in. While destroying the source also destroyed the shadow, that did not inflict any damage on the apostle.
Panic was starting to claw up Zhao Xue and Black Panther's throats.
They were cornered.
Xiao Yu could crush the spikes, but she could not stop Ishida from inching closer to them.
With each leap, he got one step nearer to his targets. It was only a matter of time before he infiltrated the shadows on their bodies.
By now, Black Panther had woken. However, without any of his bros within range, he was helpless.
Spikes were emerging from the shadows beneath their chins, necks, and even the sleeves of their shirts. Xiao Yu was destroying them as quickly as she could, but some still managed to nick Zhao Xue and Black Panther, slicing their skin.
"Darn it. As long as there's a shadow, he can reach it."
That was an accurate assessment.
It was also why Ishida's skill was so powerful. There was no place in the world that did not have shadows. Even in the middle of the day, when the sun shines overhead, shadows creep are cast from a person's back, wrists, and even underarms.
"Shadows…"
"Shadows…"
"Shadows…"
Xiao Yu was thinking hard. Zhao Xue and Black Panther were in serious danger and it was up to her to save them.
As she repeated the word, an idea popped into her head.
A bright idea at that, both literally and metaphorically.
She raised both hands to her head and lifted Fish Ball into the air.
Nekomata let out a low chuckle. He was currently in spirit form, hovering a couple of meters above the ground, observing everything beneath him.
Ever since Xiao Yu found out that Fish Ball had used her identity to borrow money, she stopped treating him as a pet. His status had been reduced to nothing more than a breathing flashlight.
Xiao Yu pursed her lips when another ruckus could be heard.
"First, the sprinklers come on. Then, the entire building shakes. Now, it's something else. There's no peace in this place."
She was in an understandably bad mood.
"What kind of stupid company agrees to loan money to an underaged girl? What kind of corrupt business is this?" she whined, slamming the keyboard.
"Not the C drive. Not the D drive. Where could the loan records be?!"
Xiao Yu's understanding of systems was typical of a 12-year-old's, which was to say that she knew close to nothing at all. Servers and databases were alien concepts that were unheard of.
Naturally, she was unable to find her profile and remove the loans made in her name.
She looked away from the screen and towards the illuminated server room. An idea sprouted in her head.
"I can just destroy all the computers here. Then my records will be gone too."
It made so much sense to her that she did not hesitate to put it into action.
Thick, black smoke surrounded her as she lifted into the air. Her shirt billowed like a sail in the wind.
Her face had turned a pallid shade of white. Her eyes cast an eerie glow as they turned to the computer desk. It started shaking violently and it was not long before the desks surrounding it began vibrating as well.
One computer flew towards a wall and was instantly smashed to smithereens. Two more met the same fate. Then another.
"I hope this isn't illegal. Zhao Yao said that even the government has apostles. They wouldn't be sent after me, would they?" she pondered briefly.
In the midst of Xiao Yu's mass destruction, Noodle began barking.
He raced towards her.
"Xiao Yu! Someone's coming!"
Barking was not a language she was fluent in, but the husky's panicked behavior spoke volumes. There was trouble coming.
Xiao Yu got to work immediately. She levitated both Noodle and Fish Ball, raising them into the air so that they had their backs pressed against the ceiling.
"Oh no, who could it be?" she thought anxiously.
Her question was answered when two figures darted into the office at lightning speed.
Xiao Yu's eyes grew wide as marbles. "They move quickly. Really quickly."
Now that the two figures were standing still, she could start to make out their appearance. She had no clue who the Black Panther was, but she recognized Zhao Xue right away. They were relatives after all.
Xiao Yu grinned as she descended from the ceiling, wondering if her niece owed money as well.
"Zhao Xue," she called out as she reached eye level, "What are you doing here?"
"Ah!!!"
Black Panther and Zhao Xue let out a terrified scream, the former's slightly shriller than the latter's.
Xiao Yu's sudden appearance was shocking, but her physical appearance was just downright frightening. Waves of black smoke continued to billow around her. Her skin looked completely bloodless. Worse, that darn stocking was still on her face.
Xiao Yu rolled her eyes, then whipped the stocking off with one quick pull.
"It's me," she announced.
While she was recognizable now, she was not any less frightening.
Her face was as blanched as the rest of her body and there was an eerie glow dancing in her eyes.
Black Panther took one look at her and collapsed on the floor.
He had fainted.
Zhao Xue was still screaming. She threw a punch at the ghost, not holding any of her strength back. It caused visible ripples in the air that simply went through Xiao Yu's body, hitting the tables and chairs behind her instead. The furniture flew against the wall and broke into pieces.
Xiao Yu let out a heavy sigh. She turned to Zhao Xue and looked at her seriously.
"Xue, take a good look at me. It's your aunt, Xiao Yu."
Zhao Xue allowed herself one glance at the horrible apparition. She blinked a few times and her furrowed brows relaxed.
"You're...you're Aunt Xiao Yu? You've died? What has this company done to you?! Look at that vengeful aura radiating off you! You must have died a horrific death!"
Xiao Yu refrained from rolling her eyes once more.
"I'm not dead!" she exclaimed, "This is a superpower. I'm sure you're familiar with them because what you did just now was far from normal. You have powers too, right?"
The girls had barely begun chatting when Ishida caught up. Countless shadow spikes pelted against the door, blowing it up.
"Little rats, I've got you n- Ah!!!"
His eyes landed immediately on Xiao Yu, whom was still floating a few inches off the ground, looking very much like a ghost.
A frightened shriek erupted from the shadows before they vanished.
"And who's that?" Xiao Yu asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Zhao Xue let out a pained laugh. "He works for the P2P platform. He's a very powerful apostle."
She then launched into the story of how they ended up here.
Xiao Yu listened to it intently, nodding vehemently when Zhao Xue was done.
"This company is evil. Destroying their computers is really an act of justice, don't you agree?" she asked.
"I guess?" Zhao Xue responded uncertainly, "Whatever it is, we've got to leave now. That shadow man is not easy to deal with. We should go when he still believes that he saw a ghost."
Unfortunately, Ishida came to his senses a lot more quickly than she expected.
He had fled instinctively. He had never seen a ghost before after all.
However, as he moved further away from the IT department, he realized that it was a lot more likely that what he saw was a superpower, not the supernatural.
He jumped to a shadow that was just by the entrance, eavesdropping on the girls' conversation.
He knew it was time to strike when Zhao Xue proposed that they leave.
He was swift. He leaped from the outside to the shadow cast by an office table, the one behind a computer, by the corner of the desk, then finally to Zhao Xue and Black Panther's shadows.
With each jump, he closed the distance between them and raised new armies of spikes, darkening the ceiling with their presence.
Zhao Xue's first thought was to drag the two of them by the collar and run. However, it seemed that her aunt had other ideas.
Xiao Yu looked at the shadow spikes intently, determination shining in her eyes. Wordlessly, she worked with Nekomata to conjure shapeless poltergeists. They rushed forward and lassoed the spikes tightly, crushing them into bits.
Nekomata's poltergeists were capable of wrecking some serious havoc. They were strong enough to twist metal into a braid, so destroying mere shadows was not much of an issue.
The barrage of spikes was broken into pieces when they got too close, as if an invisible shield was protecting them.
Unfortunately, the fun had barely begun for Ishida.
The room was brimming with shadows, both big and small. Every time he sprung to a new one, he could harness its darkness to create more shadow spikes.
While in spirit mode, Xiao Yu was incorporeal, so the spikes could not hurt her. They went right through her.
Unfortunately, both Zhao Xue and Black Panther were very much solid and vulnerable, so she had to continue protecting them with her poltergeists.
At the same time, she wanted to fight back. She directed some of her poltergeists to obliterate the furniture that cast the shadow Ishida was in. While destroying the source also destroyed the shadow, that did not inflict any damage on the apostle.
Panic was starting to claw up Zhao Xue and Black Panther's throats.
They were cornered.
Xiao Yu could crush the spikes, but she could not stop Ishida from inching closer to them.
With each leap, he got one step nearer to his targets. It was only a matter of time before he infiltrated the shadows on their bodies.
By now, Black Panther had woken. However, without any of his bros within range, he was helpless.
Spikes were emerging from the shadows beneath their chins, necks, and even the sleeves of their shirts. Xiao Yu was destroying them as quickly as she could, but some still managed to nick Zhao Xue and Black Panther, slicing their skin.
"Darn it. As long as there's a shadow, he can reach it."
That was an accurate assessment.
It was also why Ishida's skill was so powerful. There was no place in the world that did not have shadows. Even in the middle of the day, when the sun shines overhead, shadows creep are cast from a person's back, wrists, and even underarms.
"Shadows…"
"Shadows…"
"Shadows…"
Xiao Yu was thinking hard. Zhao Xue and Black Panther were in serious danger and it was up to her to save them.
As she repeated the word, an idea popped into her head.
A bright idea at that, both literally and metaphorically.
She raised both hands to her head and lifted Fish Ball into the air.
