Chapter 52: The Chase
July 12th, 7:20 a.m., a corner of Lijing.
The silver-uniformed Reality-altering Esper “Silver Swallow” was now charging across the rooftops like a raging bull. His frame was tall and muscular—when he leaned forward, he looked just like a silver motorcycle.
Reaching the edge of the rooftop, he stepped on the railing, warping it underfoot as he launched himself toward the next building’s rooftop.
Mid-air, a compartment on his metal glove suddenly opened, and metal shards began pouring out.
He bared his teeth like a rabid dog and chomped down on the mass of metal shards in his palm. The wind high above the city was fierce, scraping black debris across his mask.
As he devoured the metal, a jet nozzle suddenly formed on his back and legs, and then flames burst from the circular outlet, launching him forward like a Ferrari in a drag race.
He was tightly tailing a tiny figure in his sights.
Silver Swallow’s visor had a locking function, but even with all systems pushed to their limit, the gap between him and the target was still widening.
“Flying Ant” was fast—unless Blue Arc showed up, no one could catch her. That’s when Silver Swallow realized the mission assignment had been flawed from the start. He should’ve gone after Da Zhonghou, and Blue Arc should’ve chased Flying Ant. He wasn’t built for this kind of speed chase.
His brows knit together in frustration, his face twitching beneath the mask. Flying Ant was already on the verge of leaving his lock-on range, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. “Silver Swallow, do you copy?” Blue Arc’s voice came through the communicator in his ear.
Silver Swallow clenched his teeth and barked back, “That dn fly’s too fast and too small—I can’t even find her!”
“Forget it… Flying Ant’s ability was made for running away,” Blue Arc replied calmly.
“She barged onto our turf to show off—we can’t just let her go like that… wait, who’s that…” Silver Swallow trailed off.
Just then, a pitch-black figure swept past him, gliding through the air and latching onto a building’s billboard with a dark ribbon.
“Who’d you run into?” Blue Arc frowned.
“Black Cocoon.”
Using his binding restraints to swing between the buildings, Black Cocoon turned to Silver Swallow and said, “Oh, what a surprise. Isn’t this our dear Silver Swallow? I still have one of your fan T-shirts at home—the one with that little hamster hugging a piece of iron. If I could, I’d really love to wear it next time and show it off to you… hmm, in real life, you’re just as adorably pathetic as that hamster. Makes people want to toss you snacks.”
He paused. “Chew more metal. You’ve earned it.”
With that, Black Cocoon pulled a battery out of his trench coat pocket and casually tossed it at Silver Swallow.
Silver Swallow froze for a full two seconds before realizing he’d been played.
Fury surged through him. He roared at the figure darting through the sky, “You little btard! Get your a** back here!”
But in the next moment, Black Cocoon wrapped himself in his binding restraints and turned invisible before Silver Swallow’s eyes.
He plummeted toward the ground like a mummy surrendering to gravity.
Closing his eyes, he pushed his Binding Restraint Sensory to its peak—car horns now roared like explosions in his ears. The cacophony of this steel city surged into his head, enough to make an ordinary person dizzy and nosebleed.
“Flying Ant” shrinks to the size of a thumb when using her ability, but even creatures that size make noticeable wing-flapping sounds. He could hear the hum of her wings.
The frequency was unique, far beyond any common bird or insect. Picking it out from the noise wasn’t hard.
Just as he was about to hit the ground, Black Cocoon’s eyes snapped open.
From his black-gloved fingertips, the binding restraints spilled forward like ink, grabbing onto a nearby construction platform. He soared past a window-cleaner mid-wipe, rising through the sky like a transparent bird.
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Three minutes later, Lijing, District 5, deep in a quiet alleyway.
“Finally shook off those pests… wonder how Monkey’s doing.”
A thumb-sized woman removed her mask as she murmured and returned to normal size. Her face was classically American, speckled with freckles.
With a grunt, she retracted the translucent wings into her shoulder blades, then yanked off her hair clip, letting golden waves tumble down like a waterfall.
At that moment, a pitch-black binding restraint suddenly dropped from the sky, tightly tying up her arms and legs.
A figure slowly revealed itself. Wrapped entirely in a black trench coat, he hung upside down beneath the AC unit on the wall, suspended by a single restraint.
The woman blinked, then looked up and gave the dangling figure a mocking smile.
“You don’t actually think this thing can hold me, do you?”
Black Cocoon, still fiddling with his phone, answered in fluent English, “Oh… I understand, Miss Flying Ant. Nothing can restrain a woman—especially an awakened woman. I’m a staunch feminist. I get it, I really do. This is the modern woman’s struggle.”
He raised a finger and, with his binding restraints, handed her a copy of Misogyny from his coat pocket.
Scratching his chin, he mused, “Why is it always the mom who dies in Rainbow Wing, and not the dad…? Totally anti-feminist. Clearly written by a male screenwriter. Why is it always ‘dead mom’ and not ‘dead dad’? Just like Attack on Titan… does motherly love have to equal sacrifice? Absurd.”
He shook his head and looked at the stunned woman, then asked with dead-serious gravity:
“Do you support dead moms or dead dads?”
The woman stared blankly. “What the f**k?”
Black Cocoon raised a hand to his forehead and sighed, “Looks like… you’re not an awakened woman after all. Pity. I thought we had a connection.”
With that, he quietly pulled Misogyny away from her.
She spat at him. He tilted his head and dodged it effortlessly.
She’d had enough of playing with this lunatic. A glint of power flashed in her eyes.
In the next second, her body visibly shrank—but the binding restraints twitched like a red-and-black serpent, yanking her back to full size.
“Why?!”
She looked at her body, then up at Black Cocoon, in total disbelief.
【Passive Skill “Binding Restraint Suppression” activated: While bound by your restraint, the target is unable to use any extraordinary abilities.】
“Forgot to mention, ma’am—I’m borrowing your ability for a bit… Honestly, I’d love to turn into a little bumblebee and fly fly fly, no idea what that feels like, but I bet it’s even better than your American teens high on weed.”
Black Cocoon spoke as he returned Misogyny to his coat and sent a text to Blue Arc.
【Active Skill “Esper Theft” has been triggered: Your binding restraint has stolen the Esper ability of ‘Flying Ant.’ It can be used within 24 hours (ability disappears after use or timeout).】
Not long after, Blue Arc arrived on cue like a deep blue bolt of lightning, the booming thunder shaking the alley.
Sparks crackled as he looked up at Black Cocoon hanging upside-down, then at Flying Ant tied up in restraints, momentarily at a loss for words.
“He… caught Flying Ant for me?”
As the thought ran through Blue Arc’s mind, he looked up at Black Cocoon—who was still playing Minesweeper on his phone, casually twirling a black restraint like he was waving hello.
Just then, the woman suddenly turned her head and shouted desperately at Blue Arc, “Hey! What are you standing there for?! Get this freak off me—save me!”