Night was black as ink, spilled across the endless forest.
The branches twisted and coiled like countless outstretched claws, tearing the moonlight to pieces and casting mottled patches of light across the ground.
Within that suffocating darkness, a figure was fleeing in utter panic.
The man's heavy breathing tore through the silence. Every inhale seemed to drag icy air and despair alike into his lungs.
He stumbled through the tangled woodland, rotting leaves and slippery moss making each step unsteady. Sometimes a tree root tripped him hard, but he had no time to care about the pain. Driven purely by instinct, he scrambled back up on hands and knees and continued charging forward, as though the evil spirits of hell were licking at his heels.
Every glance back carried the panic of a startled bird. Every step drew on every last drop of his strength.
Only one thought screamed madly in his mind.
Run! Run! Faster! If I stop—if I stop, I'll be killed! Killed by that… that monster!
Yet the intensity of his escape had long since exceeded his limits.
For more than ten minutes, he had fled for his life. Every burst of muscle had pushed his body past its breaking point.
At last, his footsteps inevitably slowed. They grew heavier, more sluggish.
Finally, he braced himself against the trunk of a thick tree, both hands digging desperately into the rough bark. His body bent violently forward like a fish out of water, greedily and futilely seizing at the thin air.
Sweat poured down like a waterfall, soaking his tattered clothes. It ran along his cheeks and dripped onto the cold earth.
His lungs burned as if scorched by fire. Every breath seemed to carry the taste of blood. His heart hammered madly inside his chest, almost as if it would shatter his ribs.
"I should've… shaken her off… right?"
A broken gasp forced itself from his throat, carrying a trace of desperate relief.
"I… I survived…"
In the deathly still forest, only his panting echoed.
Then, at that moment, a voice abruptly slipped into the silence.
Sweet. Clear.
"No, Mister Demon."
The voice carried just the right amount of regret, as though reminding a forgetful friend.
"I was following you the entire time."
Those words were like the most vicious curse, instantly freezing the blood throughout the man's body.
Following the source of the sound, he raised his head in terror. His movements were stiff, like a rusted puppet.
Moonlight happened to slip through the gaps between the leaves, clearly illuminating his face.
It was absolutely not human.
His eyes were terrifying vertical pupils, threaded with blood vessels like spiderwebs and glinting with beastlike ferocity. His lips were split open, revealing two rows of long, dagger-sharp white fangs, hideous and horrifying.
Higher up in his line of sight, on a thick branch growing diagonally from a tree, sat a young girl.
She seemed utterly uninterested in the chase that had just ended below her. Her head was slightly raised, and she was gazing intently at the cold crescent moon visible through the gaps in the canopy.
The moonlight softly outlined her petite figure. Yet the casual posture with which she sat upon the high branch unintentionally revealed breathtakingly mature curves utterly at odds with her height.
The night breeze passed, lifting a few dark strands of hair beside her cheeks.
That extreme stillness and beauty formed a jarring contrast with the demon's wretched terror below.
"Uwaaaaaah—!!"
The last string of the demon's reason snapped completely. The fear that had been building up inside him instantly transformed into hysterical rage. He roared at the figure in the tree as he broke down.
"You crazy woman! What the hell do you want?! You chased me the whole way! What do you want from me?!"
Hearing him, the girl finally withdrew her gaze from the bright moon.
On that exquisitely doll-like face, there remained an impeccable smile, as though polished through countless rehearsals. The curve of it was perfect, yet it held not the slightest warmth.
She rose lightly and leapt down gracefully from the branch several meters above, as if she had no weight at all.
The instant her toes touched the ground, not even a single fallen leaf was disturbed. She was as light as a butterfly folding its wings to rest.
She landed steadily a few steps in front of the demon. Moonlight illuminated her wisteria-patterned haori and those seemingly calm, rippleless purple eyes, in whose depths an abyss seemed to hide.
"How hurtful, Mister Demon."
The girl spoke. Her voice was still sweet, her tone carrying a perfectly measured blend of confusion and grievance.
"After all… I didn't do anything. If anything, you were the one who attacked me the moment you saw me."
Her smile did not move in the slightest, like an exquisite mask.
The demon glared at her, his teeth clenched so hard they creaked. His fangs gleamed coldly under the moonlight.
He could not refute her.
Not long ago, he had disguised himself as an ordinary woodcutter and lain inside a crude wooden hut, pretending to sleep.
When he opened his eyes, he saw this smiling, unsettling face right before him, silently staring at him from close range.
The terror of that instant nearly scared his soul out of his body. He had almost instinctively sprung up to counterattack.
However, the demon claws and fangs he was so proud of, the strength that could tear steel apart, had failed to so much as touch the hem of her clothing.
Every one of his attacks had been easily evaded by that unbelievable agility.
At the time, shocked and furious, he had demanded, "What do you want?"
And this woman had actually paused slightly, as though she had heard something impossibly stupid, before asking back in an almost pitying tone:
"You don't even know about the Demon Slayer Corps?"
Then, she had hidden that trace of astonishment. Her flawless smile covered her face once again as she asked him a question that felt like ice water pouring over his head.
"Then, could you answer a question for me?"
Her voice had suddenly turned cold. Beneath that sweet smile, bone-chilling killing intent erupted like an invisible tsunami, swallowing him in an instant.
"When you killed those ordinary people, what were you feeling?"
At that moment, the murderous intent beneath her smile terrified him far more than any fang or claw.
It was a pure will of extermination aimed at the very existence of demons. His heart had nearly stopped in that instant.
In the next second, his survival instincts overwhelmed everything.
He erupted with unprecedented speed, smashing through the fragile wooden wall like a cannonball and rushing headlong into this forest without looking back.
He was a demon.
He was certain that when it came to short-distance movement, evasion, and instantaneous bursts of speed, this human might surpass him. But in long-distance endurance, her petite body was surely an enormous weakness.
As long as he ran far enough, he could definitely shake her off.
He had to shake her off.
Otherwise… he would die. He would definitely die.
Like a headless fly, he had frantically changed directions in the dense forest, using trees and terrain in an attempt to throw her off.
For more than ten minutes, every second had been like dancing on the edge of a blade.
He thought he had succeeded.
Yet he had never imagined that the moment he stopped, that nightmarish voice would follow like a shadow.
"What a pity…"
The girl looked at his face, twisted by fear and anger. The regret in her voice sounded incomparably sincere.
"I still had so many questions I wanted to ask you."
She tilted her head slightly, as if contemplating an interesting puzzle.
"If you hadn't moved around so violently, you should have been able to live… quite a bit longer."
"What?"
The demon froze, completely unable to understand what she meant.
In that instant of stunned hesitation—
His left leg suddenly lost all strength to support him. His body tilted sharply to the left and fell uncontrollably downward.
He instinctively lowered his head, and his pupils abruptly contracted to pinpoints.
His left leg had, at some unknown time, been cleanly severed below the knee.
No blood sprayed from the wound. There was only an eerie, rapidly spreading purplish-black color. Flesh and bone seemed to be corroded by invisible acid, emitting faint sizzling smoke and a nauseating burnt smell.
"Guh?!"
A choked sound of horror stuck in his throat.
Instinctively, he tried to use his left hand to support himself against the ground and stop himself from collapsing completely.
However, just as his left palm touched the cold, damp earth—
Pfft.
Another faint, hair-raising sound of severance rang out.
His left hand, from the elbow down, was likewise silently cut off.
The wound bore the same terrifying, rapidly corroding purplish-black color.
Pain.
A delayed agony, like billions of venomous ants gnawing at his bone marrow, finally surged violently along his nerves and crashed into his brain.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to question her. He wanted to curse.
But his throat felt as though it had been blocked by a scorching branding iron. All he could produce were hoarse, leaking sounds of "huh, huh," unable to form even a single complete syllable.
Fear wrapped around his heart like an icy venomous snake, squeezing until he could not breathe.
The girl still stood where she was. On her face was that perfect, unchanging smile, as though the terrifying scene before her was nothing more than an ordinary landscape.
She calmly explained, her voice clear and matter-of-fact.
"I poisoned you through the air when we first met. It's a very gentle poison, and its effect develops extremely slowly. At its normal diffusion rate, you originally could have lived safely until dawn. Perhaps we might even have had a… pleasant conversation."
She paused slightly.
Seeing the disbelief, despair, and incomprehension in the demon's eyes, she continued in that soft tone and revealed the cruel truth.
"But you see, Mister Demon, that desperate, violent running you did just now greatly accelerated the circulation of blood throughout your body, and also accelerated the spread of the poison inside you. That is why you suddenly felt exhausted and could no longer run."
She tilted her head slightly, her smile carrying a trace of innocent cruelty.
"You are a powerful demon, after all. How could you become tired from running, like a fragile human?"
The demon's mind went blank.
That was right.
He was a demon.
He fed on humans, possessing superhuman physical ability and regenerative power.
How could he…
How could he have felt tired?
So it had never been exhaustion at all.
It was poison.
A deadly trap laid by this woman in complete silence.
That violent sprint had not been a path to survival.
It had been a death warrant.
Regret, terror, and despair drowned him like a tide.
That was the last thought he had before his consciousness faded.
The purplish-black corrosion rapidly spread across his entire body. His tall frame collapsed and dissolved silently like a paper figure set aflame.
Hard bones and tough muscles alike were reduced by the poison into a bubbling pool of thick, foul-smelling purplish-black liquid, which seeped into the damp soil. Only a few wisps of pale smoke remained, and they too soon disappeared into the cold moonlight and air.
In the forest, only the heavy stench of decay and deathly silence remained.
Shinobu Kocho quietly looked at the filthy puddle. The perfect smile on her face did not change in the slightest. Only deep within those purple eyes did an almost imperceptible trace of disappointment flash by.
She sighed softly, her tone carrying genuine regret.
"Honestly… I was hoping he could answer some of my questions."
The instant that sigh faded, another abnormality occurred.
Without any warning of light, shadow, or sound, a translucent rectangular screen emitting a gentle glow suddenly appeared in the air about a foot before Shinobu's eyes.
It hovered quietly, ignoring the laws of physics.
The screen was clearly divided into several sections. In the largest area, lines of strange text she had never seen before slowly emerged.
Yet what was eerie was that although she clearly did not recognize those twisted symbols, the moment she saw them, she understood their meaning perfectly.
Group Assistant: The seventh member, Blueberry-Filled Pudding, has joined the chat group. Everyone, please welcome the newcomer!
Almost immediately after that line appeared, three more lines of text popped up below it.
Group Assistant: New member detected. The chat group feature upgrade mechanism has been optimized.
Group Assistant: Starting today, group features will no longer be released all at once through major version updates. Instead, one new feature will be added whenever a new group member joins, improving member experience and iteration efficiency.
Group Assistant: Feature updated this time: Group Livestream. Please check the feature details for more information.
For the first time, the smile on Shinobu Kocho's face completely froze.
The perfect curve still remained, but her eyes instantly sharpened like blades, filled with vigilance and scrutiny.
She understood the literal meaning.
Chat group. New member. Feature update. Group livestream.
The meanings of those terms had been forcibly poured into her consciousness.
But understanding the literal words did not mean understanding the phenomenon itself.
"A Blood Demon Art?!"
That thought flashed through her mind like lightning.
A Blood Demon Art that could act directly on vision, even consciousness, without any medium?
Her slender body instantly tensed, like a bowstring drawn taut.
Her left foot silently and swiftly retreated half a step, her center of gravity lowering.
Her right thumb pressed steadily against the guard of her Nichirin blade. Her thumb and index finger held the hilt, while her remaining three fingers stayed loosely curled. In an instant, she assumed the preparatory stance for the fastest technique, Insect Breathing: Dance of the Bee Sting, True Flutter.
At the same time, her powerful senses spread outward from her like an invisible spiderweb, extending to the limits of the surrounding forest.
The flow of air, the slight tremor of grass, the wriggling of insects beneath the soil, the distant wingbeats of a night owl…
Every tiny sound and presence appeared in her perception with perfect clarity.
Her breathing became extremely long and faint. Her entire body seemed to merge into the forest shadows.
Yet the result of that perception made her heart sink.
Nothing.
There was nothing.
Aside from the life of the forest itself, she could not sense any cold and evil aura belonging to a demon. She could not even sense a large beast.
Within several dozen yards, she was the only intelligent life-form present.
But this result did not relax Shinobu at all. Instead, it made her heart sink to the very bottom.
This was far too strange.
At that moment, new text appeared on the light screen. It was a detailed explanation of the Group Livestream feature.
Shinobu's heart gave a sudden jump.
This was also a Blood Demon Art?
This Blood Demon Art called "Group Livestream" could allow one user to perceive another person's senses and emotional fluctuations. If the Demon Slayer Corps could master such an ability…
As a Hashira, pharmacist, and researcher of the Demon Slayer Corps, she instantly thought of its revolutionary value.
Whether in the inheritance of swordsmanship, the refinement of breathing styles, tactical coordination, or even research into demons' weaknesses, it would all make a qualitative leap forward.
At this moment, two possibilities collided violently in her rapidly turning mind.
First, the demon she had just poisoned had activated some unknown Blood Demon Art before dying, forcibly dragging her into some kind of consciousness network used by demons to communicate. Was this a curse after death?
Second, and even more terrifying, there was a demon so unimaginably powerful that it could completely hide from her senses, lurking somewhere in the dark and using this eerie light-screen Blood Demon Art to manipulate her vision, intending to confuse or attack her.
Either possibility meant extreme danger.
She had to seize the initiative.
Cold sweat quietly dampened the palm of the hand gripping her sword.
The perfect smile remained on her face, but her eyes were as cold as frost.
While silently and covertly spreading a colorless, odorless, specially prepared paralytic poison around herself, one that could invade the lungs through breathing, Shinobu spoke clearly into the empty forest in a voice so calm it contained almost no emotional fluctuation.
"Why not reveal yourself, sir? That way, I can ask you directly."
Her voice was not loud, but it carried undeniable pressure.
Only the rustling of wind through leaves and the cry of some unknown night bird in the distance answered her.
The light screen still hovered there unchanged. No demon answered her question.
Yet the text on the screen updated again by itself.
This time, what appeared was the introduction of an item called Thought Singularity.
Shinobu's pupils contracted slightly again.
She stared intently at the description.
"Instantly integrate all knowledge and obtain an answer…"
This ability…
It was simply inconceivable.
If it was real, then it was indeed a terrifyingly convenient Blood Demon Art.
However, that only made her even more certain that this light screen was no ordinary thing.
After more than ten seconds of highly concentrated sensory scanning, Shinobu's heart grew even heavier.
Her perception should not be wrong. There really was no powerful demon nearby.
Her lethal poison mist had produced no reaction either.
Having ruled out the second possibility, that no powerful demon was controlling this from nearby, only the first possibility remained.
The demon who had just died, or perhaps its death itself, had triggered some incomprehensible change and connected her to this strange light screen.
She adjusted her breathing by the tiniest degree and withdrew most of her attention from sensing the environment, refocusing instead on the screen.
Beneath her perfect smile, her brows furrowed for the first time in a nearly imperceptible way.
Her mind worked rapidly, trying to interpret this unknown mystery through the information she already possessed.
"Could it be…"
A bold hypothesis gradually formed.
"Could it be that whenever a new demon is born, this Blood Demon Art network updates itself and displays the Blood Demon Art abilities possessed by that new demon?"
Her gaze moved back and forth between the function descriptions of Group Livestream and Thought Singularity, her heart turning cold.
"This Group Livestream can share senses and emotions. Thought Singularity can instantly obtain answers. No matter which one it is, it's a Blood Demon Art so powerful it's almost unimaginable. If a demon truly possesses such power…"
Shinobu fell silent, like a statue.
Only the rustling of leaves in the wind and her own almost inaudible breathing remained in the forest.
She discovered that the light screen seemed to be interactive.
With a slight movement of her will, an area resembling a text input box appeared on the screen as expected.
What should she do?
Pretend to be a demon and infiltrate them?
That daring thought flashed through her mind.
Or…
Should she immediately report this to the Master?
Her gaze landed on the right side of the light screen, where seven circular avatars were arranged.
At the very top was a man with such an ordinary face that he was almost impossible to remember. Beside him was the label Group Owner.
Below him were five female avatars with very different temperaments, all of them beautiful enough to be called peerless.
And the seventh avatar…
It was herself.
Beside it was written—
Blueberry-Filled Pudding?
Shinobu subconsciously tilted her head, an extremely faint trace of confusion crossing her face.
She knew what blueberries were.
But pudding? Filled pudding?
Was this some kind of Blood Demon Art-related code word or food?
The thought vanished almost instantly. Her attention immediately returned to the group owner.
Who was he?
Was he Muzan Kibutsuji, the demon king hiding within a thousand years of shadow?
Or was he merely the leader of some wicked demons occupying a region, the true master of this light-screen Blood Demon Art?
Just as she was concentrating on that thought, the screen suddenly became lively. Lines of welcome messages for the new member appeared one after another from different avatars.
Shinobu took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. Her chest rose and fell slightly.
The cold air entered her lungs, making her even clearer-headed.
It was time to test her acting skills, she thought.
Her tense jaw softened. The gentle smile that usually hung at the corners of her mouth appeared once more. Yet deep in her eyes, there was not the slightest warmth, only calculation honed to the extreme.
She extended a slender finger, hovering it over the input area on the screen, exploring how to type.
Soon, driven by her will, lines of carefully arranged text appeared in the group chat box.
Blueberry-Filled Pudding: Hello, seniors. I am a demon who was only just transformed. I just ate a human for the first time. It tasted truly delicious.
When she typed that line, the curve of her lips did not change in the slightest, but her gaze was as cold as frost.
Blueberry-Filled Pudding: Are the abilities above, called Group Livestream and Thought Singularity, the Blood Demon Arts of you seniors? They are truly powerful.
But I seem to have been discovered by a Demon Slayer swordsman. May I ask where you seniors are located, so I can seek some protection?
Also, whose Blood Demon Art is this light screen? May I pay them a visit? I'm truly very curious.
After sending the text, Shinobu's face still wore a sweet smile, but dark currents churned in the depths of her eyes.
She had made up her mind.
First, she would pretend to be the weakest kind of new demon, lull the other side into complacency, and extract key information from them.
Especially their location.
Once she confirmed it, she could gather the other Hashira and launch a lightning strike, wiping out this group of evil demons in one blow.
On the other side of the screen, in the world of Zenless Zone Zero, Eisen and the other members all froze as they looked at the newcomer's messages.
The instant Shinobu's message appeared, the air seemed to solidify.
"Group owner, if the other party feeds on humans, then I hope she will be excluded from us!"
Mash's decisive voice broke the brief astonishment.
Her body was tense and straight, her eyes filled with undisguised wariness and disgust.
Then her gaze locked tightly onto Eisen, her concern almost overflowing.
"Group owner, please tell me honestly. Is there any way to ban her from purchasing group items? Or… can you directly bypass the chat group's protection and kill a group member?"
The final few words were extremely difficult for her to say, but they carried an unquestionable resolve.
As for Mash's words, none of the other four immediately spoke up in opposition.
Tsunade crossed her arms, her brows tightly furrowed. Sakiko looked thoughtful. Belle rubbed her chin with great interest. Kafka still lounged lazily where she was.
This was no longer the early period when the chat group had just been established and everyone was suspicious of one another.
Through repeated selfless assistance and honesty, Eisen had already left a reliable impression in their hearts as the group owner. So it was fine to speak frankly.
At this moment, facing a new member who claimed to eat humans, they were more concerned with how to prevent a possible disaster.
Even if they could not directly eliminate her, they at least had to cut off every possibility of her growing stronger through this miraculous chat group, so as not to bring irreversible harm to that unknown world.
Kafka's lazy voice sounded at just the right moment, breaking the tension caused by Mash's words.
"Mash, calm down. The fact that she eats humans alone does not fully determine her good or evil."
She gently swirled the wineglass in her hand, her gaze deep.
"Human is only a broad term. Perhaps in that world, she is the oppressed one. Or perhaps the people she speaks of are wicked scum who deserve death. She may even be playing some kind of antihero role."
Then her tone changed, still calm and unruffled.
"Of course, I'm not saying I have any expectations of her. I'm merely presenting another possibility."
Her words temporarily eased the strained atmosphere.
"I actually think this newcomer's tone is very off."
Belle let out a short laugh and lowered the hand rubbing her chin.
"Look. She obviously doesn't know what the chat group is and thinks this is a Blood Demon Art. And—"
She drew out the word, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.
"Don't you think she's asking way too directly? Every other sentence is trying to get our location. 'Where are you seniors?' 'Can I visit?' My god, this is way too blatant. Who asks for someone's address that directly? If someone asked for an address this honestly on the Hollow Net, they'd either be an idiot or bait."
She added firmly:
"I'll bet fifty cents that she's fishing."
Sakiko picked up where Belle left off and began analyzing.
"Belle's analysis makes a lot of sense. Judging from the information she revealed, Blood Demon Arts should be special abilities unique to beings in her world who feed on humans, and humans are absolutely unable to master such powers. That is why she subconsciously assumed all of us were man-eating demons."
"Then there are two possibilities. The first is exactly what Mash is worried about: she is a pure evil demon who feeds on humans. The second is what Belle implied: she may not be a demon at all, but a true human who is dealing with us under false pretenses…"
Sakiko's expression became somewhat strange, even carrying a trace of absurdity.
"The purpose of asking for our address is very likely not to seek protection, but to lock onto our location and then come straight over to kill us."
That deduction struck everyone's hearts like a thunderbolt.
Mash's eyes suddenly widened, full of astonishment. Her previous anger and killing intent were scattered by the overwhelming sense of absurdity.
"Huh?!"
Tsunade finally clicked her tongue impatiently. She had long since been irritated by this roundabout discussion.
She abruptly straightened up, crossed her arms, and spoke in her booming voice.
"Enough! All this guessing back and forth is annoying as hell!"
Her voice echoed through the restaurant.
"Whether she's human or demon, just ask directly!"
Giant Daifuku: Hey, newcomer! Listen up! We are not monsters who feed on humans! And this is not some Blood Demon Art either! This is a chat group that can cross worlds! So I'm asking you very seriously right now: Are! You! An existence that feeds on humans or not?
If you aren't, then great, everyone's happy!
But if you are! If you can't give me an explanation that convinces me…
The text paused, almost as though one could feel Tsunade clenching her fist on the other side of the screen, rage about to erupt.
Then we won't be polite! I'll be the first one who refuses to let you off!
Throughout this entire process, Eisen remained silent.
His calm gaze swept over Tsunade's explosive text on the screen, then over the expressions of the group members around him—angry, vigilant, or deep in thought.
Mash's proposal pointed toward authority he might possess as the group owner but had never explicitly revealed.
The authority to seal functions.
Or even…
To erase members.
Some things carried little weight when unspoken. But once they were placed on the scale, they became impossibly heavy. The chain reactions they could cause were impossible to estimate.
He could not speak lightly.
That silence itself was a kind of attitude.
Shinobu stared at those lines of text, which were full of gunpowder yet carried a huge amount of information, and she froze completely.
The smile she had been using as a disguise cracked, replaced by tremendous shock and disbelief.
The other side…
Were they also human?
That realization shook her heart violently.
Another world?
Communication across worlds?
This information was far too inconceivable, far beyond her understanding of Blood Demon Arts.
Could she trust them?
Could this be a more sophisticated deception by evil demons? A trap aimed at the Demon Slayer Corps, and at her, the Insect Hashira?
Her mind raced.
If the other side really were demons…
Then after discovering that I'm a human in disguise, they definitely shouldn't react this way.
Flatly deny being demons and instead claim to be human?
That made no sense.
There was no meaning in pretending to be human to a demon. Blood Demon Arts were exclusive to demons. No demon would be stupid enough to deny their identity, especially inside a space created by a Blood Demon Art. Doing so would only expose flaws.
So…
What they were saying might actually be true.
They really might be humans from other worlds.
In the world of Zenless Zone Zero, Tsunade stared at the screen, which had yet to receive a reply, and her frown grew deeper and deeper.
"Huh! She's been silent for ages! Is she really a man-eating bastard?"
However, Mash, who had been the most hardline at first, now wavered because of Sakiko and Belle's analysis, as well as Shinobu's silence.
A trace of realization flashed through her eyes, and she spoke.
"Wait, Big Sister Tsunade. I… I may have been mistaken. According to the information she revealed earlier, Blood Demon Arts are the unique mark of man-eating demons in her world. If she really were an evil demon, then after seeing you clearly deny being a demon, she should find it extremely absurd. She might even think you were joking or testing her and would likely reply quickly, not remain silent like this. Her silence… feels more like shock and weighing her options."
Kafka took a small sip of wine.
"Silence can represent too many possibilities, Mash. Perhaps it is shock, perhaps hesitation, perhaps she is fabricating a lie. It proves nothing."
Time passed in silent waiting. Every second seemed especially long.
Then, amid that suffocating suspicion and waiting, a new message finally appeared on the screen.
There was only one simple sentence, yet it seemed to have exhausted all the sender's strength. Every word seemed to carry immense weight.
Blueberry-Filled Pudding: I… how am I supposed to trust you?
The people in the other world—Mash, Sakiko, Belle, and even the fiery Tsunade—all let out slight breaths of relief. The tense atmosphere eased.
This was no longer an attempt to trick them by pretending to be a demon.
It was a question from someone standing on the side of humanity, full of vigilance yet carrying a trace of fragile inquiry.
She was seeking a foundation upon which trust could be built.
After sending that line, Shinobu's fingers curled slightly.
She looked at the words. Deep within her purple eyes lay a calmness after stormy waves, and a nearly tragic resolve.
This was a cruel gamble.
The wager was her life.
If the other side were demons, then her identity had been exposed. As the Hashira least suited to direct frontal combat, she would almost certainly die.
If the other side were human…
She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her gaze was clear and firm.
But…
If the other side truly were humans from another world?
Then perhaps this was an opportunity the Demon Slayer Corps had never had in a thousand years.
A ray of dawn that could sever Muzan Kibutsuji's thousand-year curse.
A chance that might completely alter the battlefield and bring new hope.
For the sake of killing demons, for the sake of all those lost lives, for the sake of her dead older sister…
What did her own safety matter?
She would gamble.
She would stake everything.
In the world of Zenless Zone Zero, someone let out a soft breath first.
Mash's tense shoulders relaxed. With a faint, relieved smile, she spoke in a gentle voice.
"It seems this new member is indeed a companion standing on humanity's side."
Eisen, who had been silently observing all this time, finally rubbed his brow and revealed a helpless smile.
"Honestly, the few of us sitting here suspecting one another for so long made this feel like a riddle contest."
As he complained, he directly typed into the main group interface.
Group Owner: Group Assistant, next time you pull a new member into the group, remember to add a basic personal information function for me. Species, faction, general background—just list them directly. Stop always giving us these surprises. Everyone ends up on edge, and misunderstandings can really hurt feelings.
Almost instantly, a concise system prompt appeared on the screen.
Group Assistant: Received. Instruction recorded. The group member personal information module will be added in the next update.
Only then did Eisen nod in satisfaction. Then he turned to solving the current issue.
Group Owner: Blueberry-Filled Pudding, Miss, you should have seen the explanation of the Group Livestream function, right? Trust needs a bridge. In that case, we will initiate a group livestream from our side. Join it and see our world with your own eyes.
Group Owner: I believe there must be things here that absolutely do not exist in your world, things that are unique to this side. Seeing it for yourself is better than a thousand explanations. That will be our proof of sincerity.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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