Knight Asylum

Sitting on the single sofa, Qiao crossed her legs, folded her arms around her chest, and supported her chin, while Ise Ayaka was kneeling in front of Qiao, with her head down and not saying a word.

"From the results... I can only say you deserved what happened to you."

Ise Ayaka's shoulders trembled.

"Ha..." Qiao let out a long breath, leaned back on the sofa, raised his hand and waved, "That guy must have discovered some of the little lies you told, but he chose to pretend that he didn't know. You should really feel lucky from the bottom of your heart. At least he will believe you unconditionally because you asked him for help."

"Sorry……"

"Anyway - we will protect you, and there won't be a next time," Qiao pinched the bridge of his nose.

Ise Ayaka nodded, and just as she got up, there was a knock on the door, and Reid's voice came from outside the door, "Qiao, Ise-san, it's me!"

Qiao stood up, raised his hand and patted Ise Ayaka on the shoulder as he passed by her.

"do you understand?"

Arriving at the door, Qiao did not open it immediately. Instead, he confirmed through the peephole that it was Red before opening the door. Just as Qiao was about to ask about the situation, he saw Takashi Sudo standing not far away. He raised his eyebrows slightly, "Who is this?"

"This is Officer Sudo. Ise Ayaka went to the police station to report the incident yesterday. Officer Sudo felt that there was something fishy about it, so he is also investigating. He heard that Ise Ayaka was attacked by a strange person last night, so he plans to help. There will be many plainclothes police patrolling nearby tonight."

Reid moved aside and raised his hand in the direction of Sudo Takashi. Sudo Masashi, who was standing in the distance, did not come closer, but smiled and waved.

Qiao raised her eyebrows slightly, nodded, and opened the door to motion for Red to come in. As soon as Red entered the door, Qiao immediately closed the door, with no intention of welcoming Takashi Sudo at all.

Red couldn't help but grumble, "He's not a bad guy."

Qiao glanced at Red without saying anything, but just picked up an old backpack and shook it.

"Well, that's not the most important thing now."

Reid scratched his face and smiled awkwardly.

"I'm going to make a phone call first."

Selvi Turia, minus 13th floor.

"Prepare for the 372nd experiment. This time the stagnation time will be five minutes."

Under the guidance of the broadcast, the fully prepared experimenters raised the black boxes in their hands towards the mirror, inserted the black boxes into their belts, entered the mirror world through the mirror, and the five-minute countdown at the top began.

The other researchers looked confident because no accidents had occurred in the experiments so far, but Kanzaki Shiro, who was standing in front of the observation window, had a serious expression.

As the countdown drew to a close, more and more researchers showed relaxed expressions.

[Five seconds left in the countdown]

[Four]

【three】

【two】

【One】

The moment the countdown reached zero, a shrill alarm sounded. The researchers' faces changed and they immediately ran back to their workstations.

"The vital signs are blurring!"

"Heart rate and blood pressure all increased!"

“What kind of phenomenon is this!”

"Notify the medical department to conduct emergency examination immediately!"

The mirror that served as the gateway to the mirror world was rippling. One by one, the experimenters staggered out of the mirror, collapsed on the ground and twitched. The black card box on their waists fell out of their belts and shattered. A crack appeared on the mirror that served as the gateway to the mirror world.

Kanzaki Shirou frowned slightly and spoke.

"Record - this is an erosion phenomenon. The current equipment is able to keep the mirror world active for five minutes."

Chapter 79 A Heavy Sense of Reassurance

Qiao leaned against the window and lifted a corner of the curtain. There were people talking and laughing in Ise Ayaka's house, which was no different from an ordinary residential area. However, Qiao keenly noticed that there were more people. Qiao lowered the curtain and greeted Reid who was cooking in the kitchen.

"Red, the plainclothes police are here, and there are quite a few of them."

"Officer Sudo is really reliable," Reid sighed.

"You seem to like that Sudo Masashi very much," Takumi asked pretending to be indifferent.

"I like you too, Qiao."

"Can you please stop doing this? It's disgusting—"

Qiao rubbed his arms vigorously, almost showing disgust on his face. Red shrugged and put the curry rice on the table. "Sorry, there are too few things in the refrigerator. I can only make this."

Ise Ayaka sat down carefully, picked up the spoon and took one bite after another. With each bite, her head would lower a little, and her shoulders would tremble slightly. Red took Qiao's arm tactfully and led Qiao to the stairs. "I have contacted Enbei. This matter has reached the level that requires a temporary worker to deal with it."

"Are you still a temporary worker now?" Qiao stretched out his finger and poked Reid's waist.

From the perspective of strength alone, Red, who defeated Gamego, who even Serviera was helpless against, can alone destroy all of Serviera's known containment forces.

"Who knows," Red shrugged and took out his phone from his pocket, "But I have contacted Uncle Ming Hai. He is a detective. Although it is inconvenient for him to come to the scene for investigation due to physical reasons, we can connect via video."

After saying that, Red turned around and was about to go upstairs when Qiao pulled him back, "Wait a minute, are you going to go into Ise Ayaka's room?"

"Uh—how else can we survey it?"

"You can't just barge into a high school girl's room," Qiao snatched Red's phone away, "I've already been in there once, so I'd better go in."

After saying that, Qiao walked upstairs. Reid stood at the stairs for a while, then held his forehead and sighed, and returned to the restaurant. Ise Ayaka had finished her curry and was sitting properly. Her signature long ponytail had become a little messy, and her eyes were a little red, as if she had just cried.

"Would you like another helping?"

"No, I'm full, and thank you for believing what I say," Ise Ayaka lowered her head again.

"Okay - you don't have to keep that expression. You're still just a student. It's normal to make mistakes. What's important is the future." Reid pulled out a chair and sat opposite Ise Ayaka. After a pause, he said helplessly, "In the future, you have to work hard for Hamamura-san."

"...I will," Ise Ayaka clutched the edge of her skirt.

"Goo-"

Ise Ayaka blushed and lowered her head slowly like an ostrich.

Red smiled and stood up, "After all, you still need another helping, right?"

"Um……"

Perhaps because she was no longer suppressed by negative emotions, Ise Ayaka regained the vitality that a high school student should have after letting go. She no longer refused and ate the curry in big mouthfuls. When Qiao came downstairs, the cooked curry had been eaten up by Ise Ayaka.

"Hey, hey, hey - did you eat it all by yourself? I didn't eat a single bite," Qiao couldn't help but complain.

"I'll treat you to a nice meal when we get back. How's Uncle Ming Hai doing?" Reid put the clean plate that could be used as a mirror back into the cupboard.

"Let him explain it to you himself."

Qiao leaned the phone against the cup. On the screen, Ming Hai was sitting on a single sofa, wearing a round-brimmed hat, with his head slightly lowered and his fingers crossed.

"Uncle, you really look like a detective now," Red wiped his hands and sat in front of the phone.

"Red, I'm the detective." Even a tough guy like Ming Hai couldn't help but twitch his lips. However, as a tough guy, Ming Hai immediately adjusted himself back to his state. "The chaos at the scene was basically caused by this Ise-san himself."

Ise Ayaka stood up anxiously and wanted to explain, but Reid just raised his hand to suppress her, and Ise Ayaka sat down again.

"But, last night, someone definitely invaded Ise Ayaka's room, and used a method that no human could do," Ming Hai said slowly.

"Is he really a weirdo?" Red frowned, "But what is his purpose? Because Ise Ayaka and Hamamura Miyo saw the murder scene? Then why didn't they do it last night?"

"Murder scene?" Ming Hai raised his eyebrows slightly, "Please describe the situation in detail."

Following Reid's eye signal, Ise Ayaka described in as much detail as possible what she and Hamamura Midori saw in the territory of the Yagi clan.

"Dismemberment? Hmm..." Ming Hai narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded, his voice slightly raised, "It's not important. What's important now is that the monster's target is Ise Ayaka herself. Why he didn't treat Ise Ayaka the same way he treated Hamamura Midori is not clear for now, but I can be sure that the monster will invade again today."

Upon hearing that the monster would invade again, Ise Ayaka immediately reached out nervously and grabbed Reid's sleeve.

"That's all the reasoning we have now."

After saying that, Ming Hai reached out and hung up the video call.

Qiao pinched his chin, thought for a while, and then tilted his head, "I think I understand. Anyway, I have to stay up late tonight."

"Will there be another invasion?" Reid raised his hand and patted Ise Ayaka's head. "Don't worry, we are here."

"Thank you..." Ise Ayaka breathed a sigh of relief.

Servi Turia.

After ending the call, Ming Hai crossed his fingers and placed them in front of his nose. He stared at the bookshelf not far away for a while, then stood up, threw away his phone, and dialed a number. "It's me. I want to ask you to check something."

----

Because they didn't know when the monsters that followed out of the Yagui tribe's territory would start attacking, Red and Qiao didn't plan to move around and just stayed in the living room watching TV.

There were no cool games, no trendy and rebellious clothes, nothing special at all, but the simple companionship made Ise Ayaka feel extremely at ease.

The feeling of being trusted dispelled the despair of being targeted by a weirdo. In such a comfortable atmosphere, Ise Ayaka fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already dawn. Qiao was still sitting on the sofa watching TV, and Red was making breakfast.

Ise Ayaka stretched lazily, looked around blankly, and tilted her head, "Dream?"

"This is reality, go wash up first," Qiao waved his hand.

Still in a daze, Ise Ayaka nodded, staggered into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and the cold water slid over Ise Ayaka's fingers. Ise Ayaka shuddered from the cold, came back to her senses, and rushed out in a hurry, "Did that weirdo come last night?"

"No, nothing happened last night," Qiao said without even turning his head.

Ise Ayaka opened her mouth. This was clearly good news, but it did not bring her any sense of security. She was so depressed that she had difficulty breathing.

"I, I want to take a bath," Ise Ayaka smiled somewhat reluctantly.

"Hmm? This... don't take too long. I'll be guarding outside the door. Remember to count when you take a shower." Qiao turned around this time, stared at Ise Ayaka for a while, then stood up. "If I can't hear any sound from you, I will kick the door immediately. Do you understand?"

"I see."

Ise Ayaka glanced at Reid's back as he was still making breakfast, then walked into the bathroom with her clean clothes. Looking at herself in the mirror, Ise Ayaka suddenly felt extremely unfamiliar. She didn't want to look directly at herself, so she took off her clothes awkwardly, hid in the hot water, and counted in a daze. It was not until twenty minutes later when someone knocked on the door impatiently that Ise Ayaka slowly got up and changed her clothes.

In a situation where a weirdo could attack at any time, she was lucky enough to be able to take a bath safely alone. This luck made Ise Ayaka gradually become dazed, and she didn't even notice someone knocking on the door.

Reid pulled down his sleeves and opened the door, and standing outside was none other than Sudo Masashi.

"Officer Sudo, what's the situation?"

"How should I put it? No suspicious people appeared," Sudo Masashi shook his head helplessly with his hands on his hips. "We investigated the surrounding situation. According to other residents' statements, they did not see any suspicious people yesterday. We also scouted Hamamura Midori's room. Unfortunately, we did not find any signs of intrusion. Her mother also insisted that Hamamura Midori did not return home at night. However, we also sent some people to search the places Hamamura Midori used to go."

"If..." Sudo Masashi hesitated and scratched the back of his head, "If only this was just a prank by high school students."

After saying that, Masashi Sudo left. Reid stood at the door and paused for a long time before closing the door.

Ise Ayaka, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV, was startled. She stood up and sat down again, pacing back and forth in the living room. For some reason, the depressing atmosphere made her feel uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Qiao raised an eyebrow, "It looks like a lie that is about to be exposed."

"skillful……"

"I'm just kidding, what's with that expression on your face?" Qiao said perfunctorily, raising his hand and waving in Reid's direction.

"that--"

Ise Ayaka mustered up the courage to speak and break the silence, but when she met Red's eyes, she subconsciously turned away, "Can I go to school?"

"Ah? Do you understand your current situation?" Qiao frowned, "There is a weird person staring at you now."

"No... I was thinking, maybe the reason why the monsters didn't attack yesterday was because there were other people there, and since there were so many people in the school, wouldn't it be... safer or something like that?" Ise Ayaka's voice became lower and lower as she spoke, and she lowered her head completely, pinching the edge of her skirt lightly with her nails.

“That’s true—”

Red crossed his arms across his chest, thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"We can't confirm the monster's abilities yet, but whether it's Hamamura-san or Ise-san, they were attacked when they were alone."

Ise Ayaka didn't expect Reid to analyze it so seriously, so she stammered but ultimately said nothing.

Chapter 80: Cheap Peace of Mind

Because there were still many plainclothes police officers guarding near Ise Ayaka's house, Reid first explained to Sudo Masashi that Ise Ayaka wanted to go to school. After a brief thought, Sudo Masashi also thought that going to school was safer, and enthusiastically offered to drive Ise Ayaka to school.

Red originally planned to ride the Mobile Pegasus to send Ise Ayaka off by himself, but Qiao was already sitting on the Mobile Pegasus wearing a helmet and obviously did not intend to give up his seat.

"excuse me."

Sitting in the back seat, Ise Ayaka nodded somewhat stiffly to Sudo Masashi who was holding the steering wheel, then looked at Reid outside the window. Reid, who was wearing a helmet, noticed Ise Ayaka's gaze, smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up. Ise Ayaka then breathed a sigh of relief.

"You seem to trust him?"

Sudo Masashi's voice came, and Ise Ayaka subconsciously looked at the rearview mirror, but the rearview mirror seemed to have been specially adjusted, and she couldn't see Sudo Masashi's eyes through the rearview mirror, "Yes."

"Because he believes what you say? To be honest, I don't like high school girls like you. You are frivolous and have no plans for your life. You are just willful," Sudo Masashi said lightly while driving. "It's hard to imagine any pillar of hope. But thanks to this, you will easily despair, but not completely despair."