Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 849: 516, painter

Time travel countdown, the tenth day.

Osaka City Hall, the meeting room on the top floor.

In the 400-square-meter meeting room with a long solid wood table, only six young people sat around it, five men and one woman.

Everyone wore formal attire in silence, except for a young man sitting cross-legged at the end of the table, eyes closed in meditation, dressed in an exquisite white Japanese hunting suit, with leggings and a tall hat.

This attire was the traditional uniform for priests and the samurai formal wear from the Jindai clan era.

This clothing might not stand out in the Jindai family of the Inner World, but here it seemed out of place.

A tall young man sat calmly at the head of the table, his bulging muscles making his black suit exceptionally tight.

He looked around slowly and said, “Jindai Yunyi has been confirmed dead, with only ten days left until the time travel. How should we explain this to Uncle Jindai Yasuhito?”

“There’s nothing to explain. The meeting already established a strategy: test the opponent’s strength with the search troops first. However, he was too eager to achieve merit and died for it,” said a young man on the left. “Jindai Yunxiu, now that you’re in charge of the Mysterious Business Department, you explain to Uncle Jindai Yasuhito how foolish his son was.”

The robust Jindai Yunxiu frowned: “There are only seven chosen ones left in the Outer World. Now that one is dead, I advise you all to at least pretend to be a little sad.”

The young man on the left shrugged: “Sorry, I can’t do that. I find it hard to see such a fool as a comrade.”

Jindai Yunxiu waved his hand: “Let’s drop this and discuss whom you think the murderer is. Is it one of our local chosen Time Travelers, or was it Kyushu?”

The only woman present calmly said, “It’s not local. Gao Dao’s identity is definitely fake.”

“Why?” Jindai Yunxiu looked at the woman named Jindai Sorajima, whose straight black hair was sharp-edged like a blade.

Jindai Sorajima said, “Si Nianhua represents Qing’s Family, and Ji Guanya represents the Li Family. The timing of the Shrine explosion was too coincidental. The people in Takayama Hida were just creating opportunities for them. So, it should be a chosen one from the Li Family or Qing’s Family.”

Jindai Yunxiu asked, “But why would he appear in such a remote place like Shirakawa Village?”

Jindai Sorajima replied, “Perhaps the Li Family or Qing’s Family discovered the little girl’s special traits long ago and aimed at her.”

“Could it be Qing Chen?”

After a moment of silent contemplation, Jindai Sorajima replied: “I think there is a 40% chance that it’s Qing Chen. The key here is that Qing Chen suffered humiliation and injury at the A02 base. Being a cautious person, he should have first recuperated upon returning to the Outer World and started contacting various forces to discuss rescue plans. However, the timing of Gao Dao’s appearance isn’t enough for Qing Chen to recover from his injuries. It’s foolish for a C-Class to stir up trouble without healing.”

Jindai Sorajima continued, “It’s more likely our Joker. He briefly appeared at Osaka Airport and then disappeared, fitting all clues. I suspect Joker is the boss of Daytime, given his familiar sniper skills and chosen one’s power level, all the clues point to him. It’s reasonable to want to avenge the humiliated Daytime member. Judging by motivation and capability, I tend to think he’s the Daytime boss.”

In most people’s eyes, Qing Chen wasn’t the Daytime boss, nor did he match Joker’s power level.

Jindai Sorajima’s analysis wasn’t wrong. If it were the former Qing Chen, he’d definitely hide to heal and level up secretly before finding a way to escape.

But the current Qing Chen was different.

The redeemed boy had shed his last bit of cowardice and impurity, leaving only raw courage and sincerity.

Jindai Yunxiu said, “Our forces in the otherworld have been suppressed by Kunlun and Kyushu. Now that this Daytime boss has come to our land, we must keep him here.”

Jindai Yunwu, seated on the left, calmly said, “Starting today, the six of us will split into two groups and not disperse. He’s been hunted for over ten days and is constantly fleeing. The remaining ten days are our best chance. Facing him three-on-one, he won’t stand a chance, even if he had three heads and six arms.”

The robust Jindai Yunxiu nodded: “Yes, it’s decided then.”

Just then, the young man dressed in the hunting suit, Jindai Yunlo, suddenly opened his eyes: “I won’t participate in this capture.”

Jindai Yunxiu frowned: “Why?”

Jindai Yunlo calmly said: “No particular reason, but as a chosen one facing the enemy, immediately wanting a three-person team shows cowardice. Also, I admire his courage to stand up to protect the little girl against hundreds, more than any of you.”

Jindai Yunxiu asked, “Have you forgotten what your last name is?”

Jindai Yunlo stood up and walked toward the exit: “You’re tracking in the wrong direction. I guess he’s neither in Hokkaido nor Takayama Hida.”

“Hmm?”

“If I were him, I’d return to Osaka City and kill you fools. After all, 80% of the Mysterious Business Department members are hunting him, leaving Osaka City vulnerable,” Jindai Yunlo looked back at Jindai Yunxiu from the door: “You plan to hold a press conference tomorrow to quell the rumor from the recording, right? If I were you, I’d station people at every possible sniping point within a 2600-meter radius.”

With that, Jindai Yunlo walked out.

Jindai Yunxiu asked, “Where are you going? Going alone might make you his target.”

Jindai Yunlo replied, “How else can I lure him out? Don’t worry, I’ll kill him fairly. Also, make sure your subordinates don’t spoil a nine-year-old girl. It’s disgusting.”

As he spoke, the young man in the white hunting suit walked away.

…

…

Osaka Shinsaibashi.

This might be the most bustling area in Osaka, filled with throngs of tourists, and street performers thrive here, with some performing magic acts, while others dress as Spider-Man for photos with visitors.

Amidst the crowd, a teenage boy sat by the bridge with a drawing board in front of him, his pencil scratching on the paper with a rustling sound.

Upon closer inspection, one would find that the boy wasn’t skilled in sketching techniques and didn’t seem to have received any professional training in drawing.

The drawing lacked light and shading, only outlined with simple and sharp lines, capturing the tourists’ facial contours.

The strange thing was.

Though dozens of tourists passed by every second, he could remember someone’s appearance in an instant. Even if they walked away, the boy could reproduce their likeness non-professionally, to the tiniest detail.

At that moment, a couple walked past holding hands. They saw the boy with the drawing board and asked with a smile: “Hi, how much to draw a picture of us?”

The boy looked up and smiled: “A portrait is 10,000 yen, for two of you, let’s say 15,000 yen. Is that okay?”

The couple exchanged a glance, finding the price a bit steep, but since they were already here, the girl happily said: “Go ahead and draw us a picture then.”

“Thank you!” The boy said with a grin: “If it doesn’t resemble you, it’s free.”

He took out a blade to sharpen his pencil lightly, glanced at the couple, and lowered his head to draw.

The couple felt a bit strange. Usually, an artist needs to repeatedly observe their subject, determining proportions, light, and contours.

But this boy artist just glanced at them and remembered everything?

The boyfriend curiously walked around to the front of the board, only to see a few strokes had already outlined them. With these few magical strokes, he was certain the drawing was of him and his girlfriend.

It was like pixel-level sketching.

At that moment, seven or eight young men in black suits quickly passed by, wearing gold brooches on their chests signifying the Mysterious Business Department.

As they passed, the pedestrians made way for them.

The boy suddenly stopped drawing and said to the girl and the boy: “Sorry, hold on for 27 seconds.”

With that, he got up and followed the Mysterious Business Department from behind, holding his pencil.

The couple watched in bewilderment.

The next moment, the boy leaped forward, and the pencil in his hand straight through a Mysterious Business Department member’s carotid artery.

Without stopping, the boy intertwined with the group’s members and, within a few breaths, had killed all the Mysterious Business Department members, leaving them lying in a pool of blood.

The killing was so fast that the tourists on Shinsaibashi didn’t even react.

When he slowly walked back to his board, the tourists screamed.

The boy wiped the pencil tip with a napkin and smiled at the couple: “Sorry, I’ll finish in a minute.”

The couple noticed that he had killed eight people, yet the tip of the pencil he used as a murder weapon was still intact.

They trembled, having watched the boy draw, kill, and return to draw again, effortlessly.

But what struck them most was the boy’s 27 seconds, the precise, confident time.

The couple didn’t count the time, but somehow they felt that the boy’s rise to kill and return must have been exactly 27 seconds, no more, no less.

The tourists behind them screamed and fled, but they stood still, afraid to move.

The boy sighed: “Sorry, I might have scared you. This drawing is free, and the board is yours.”

He got up and handed the drawing board over, with an already completed picture of the couple on the white paper, almost identical to the real them.

The couple remained silent, pondering how someone who just killed could return to drawing so calmly. Who was this person?

How could he be so calm?

Wait, they suddenly felt the boy looked familiar… wasn’t he the most wanted Gao Dao from the Mysterious Business Department?!

The couple looked up abruptly, but the boy had vanished into thin air, as if he had never been there, as if all of this had nothing to do with him.

Meanwhile, the hacker who had been missing for a day reappeared, this time not releasing new recordings but instead flooding every account with a single message: “I’m back, is the filthy Mysterious Business Department ready to face the consequences?”

This message was spreading, along with a video shot of the killings on Shinsaibashi.

The video started just as the killing ended. In the footage, the boy was seen calmly returning to his drawing, focused on his task.

…

Another chapter will be released at 11 PM.