In the Far East, at the end of January, night fell much faster than in most other months.
The sun had long since set, and the moon had already risen into the night sky. The pitch-black curtain of night had enveloped the world, and the dim moonlight cast a hazy gray pallor over the firmament, blanketing the earth completely.
The rather handsome young man stood by the windowsill, gazing into the distance.
Each room in the motel consisted of a garage and living quarters. With good eyesight, one could see quite far.
This was, in fact, an unnecessary act.
For a magus, surveillance could easily be entrusted to familiars, rather than requiring personal observation.
Li Zihan was doing this simply to pass the time.
"Will it be Welt's clones, Anti-Entropy's mecha units, Aunt Chen, or Cocolia herself who arrives later?" the young man, feeling that the novice mission was still quite relaxed, mused aloud.
"Li-kun, who are all these people you're talking about?" the girl standing to one side, who had heard him mention many names, asked, her delicate eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"Inferior copies of a hero, some iron clunkers manufactured using your old man's resources, a 'sanwu' loli, and a psycho."
"Small fry who, if they teamed up, could probably demolish Nagazora City in a day."
To be able to demolish a city in a day—even strategic weapons were barely capable of such a feat.
And Li Zihan called them small fry?
Miss Raiden Mei felt that this fellow might have some misunderstanding of the term "small fry."
"In the eyes of those who can truly influence the world's geopolitical landscape—that is, bugs like Schicksal's Overseer Otto, Anti-Entropy's Sovereign Welt II, and World Serpent's Lord Kevin—Cocolia's faction is nothing more than small fry that can be swept away with a wave of their hand."
Raiden Mei, who had just learned about this other side of the world, and then immediately heard from someone's mouth about the top-tier combatants of this world, fell silent.
She truly hadn't imagined that such terrifying things were hidden on the other side of the world.
"Then, Li-kun, what kind of person are you?"
She didn't know who the young man before her truly was, but judging from his ability to casually state the names and identities of characters who sounded incredibly formidable, and his extremely clear understanding of Anti-Entropy's internal members, this fellow's identity was definitely very special.
With such a mysterious individual flitting about right in front of her, Raiden Mei couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity.
Curiosity is one of the intrinsic motivations for individual learning, the driving force for seeking knowledge, and an important characteristic of creative talent.
Raiden Mei, who bore a great resemblance to Dr. MEI, had always possessed a strong sense of curiosity.
"A hero who gets things done for a fee."
The young man, who had indeed accepted payment from the system to come to Nagazora City and save people, said to Raiden Mei.
"If you encounter any difficulties, you can look for me. My business scope is quite broad."
A mercenary who calls himself a hero?
Raiden Mei was somewhat disappointed; the fellow named Li Zihan clearly had no intention of telling her his true identity.
This left Miss Mei feeling a little disheartened.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask further, but before she could speak, the self-proclaimed hero turned around and spoke towards the window.
"You've been eavesdropping for so long, aren't you going to come out and say hello?"
Raiden Mei's expression tensed, and she also looked in the direction of Li Zihan's gaze.
A girl with long, gray hair had appeared there at some unknown time, observing the two—whose interaction didn't resemble that of a kidnapper and hostage at all—with eyes of the same pale gray color.
"Who is she?" Raiden Mei looked at the petite girl, as exquisite as a doll, hesitated for a moment, then walked to Li Zihan's side and asked.
"Bronya. Cocolia's adopted daughter. She's here to settle the score with me for 'eloping' with you."
Raiden Mei was stunned. In her impression, pursuers from an evil organization weren't supposed to be this seemingly delicate little girl with a voice that even sounded a bit childish and sweet.
Hearing Li Zihan's words, the girl whose identity had been exposed focused her entire attention on Li Zihan and slowly spoke.
"You know a lot about us."
"Of course. After all, in a certain sense, I suppose I've been a superior to you and your sisters," the young man, who in his past life had often been knocked offline by Armored Bunny due to careless clicks, said with a smile.
Bronya's delicate brows furrowed. She did indeed have superiors, but that was before she turned twelve, during her time as an assassin.
She didn't recall a commander in the young soldiers' training camp who looked not much older than herself.
As for being a commander to her sisters, that was even more ridiculous.
In the entire Cocolia Orphanage, everyone except her and Sin Mal were abandoned children; they might not even understand what the word "commander" meant.
"You're lying."
The girl, who had specifically hidden herself after hearing certain information instead of summoning Armored Bunny to engage, had a layer of coldness frost over her already expressionless little face.
As if straight out of a power-fantasy meme declaring "Even Shidan is afraid of me!", a completely nonsensical, colossal robot materialized behind the girl named Bronya.
"Little Bunny, I never lie." The young man, who never lied but at most withheld parts of the truth or reversed the order of events, shrugged and stood in front of the girl named Raiden Mei.
"It seems your younger sister left you a pretty good weapon."
Without any apprehension, the young man, who was not an acquaintance of Miss Banya, observed the machine that could switch between quantum and physical states, and spoke.
Bronya's expression remained unchanged, but endless waves surged in her heart.
Regarding Armored Bunny, very few people in the entire Cocolia Orphanage knew its origins.
How did he know about such a thing?
"It seems Bronya will have to retrieve both you and Raiden Mei."
The machinery behind Bronya, who had originally come here merely to eliminate the kidnapper who had abducted Raiden Mei and return Raiden Mei to the testing grounds, began to transform violently.
"Looks like it's time for a fight."
The young man, a seemingly priceless jewel having appeared in his hand at some unknown point, looked at the science-fiction-esque machine and shrugged.
Crack—
The magical energy stored within the jewel was directly extracted, and the jewel, its vessel, shattered like cheap glass struck by a sledgehammer.
Amidst the uncomprehending and bewildered gazes of Bronya and Raiden Mei, intricate and unbelievable patterns, like magic circles from a game, spread out with Li Zihan at their center.
"This isn't a good place for a fight." The young man, who was exceptionally skilled in spatial magecraft due to his master's teachings and his own Imaginary Number attribute, chuckled lightly.
"So, let's change venues."
As soon as his voice fell, a white light engulfed everything in the room.