Chapter 169
by Need_More_SleepChapter 169: As Adorable As Jingyin
“It’s only been a year since I was last home, yet this city already feels so unfamiliar. Society really does develop fast.”
Riels sighed, trying to salvage some dignity from the embarrassment of getting lost.
Sunshine City truly lived up to its reputation as a metropolis—there was even a private helicopter landing pad atop this 33-story skyscraper.
Yet when he suddenly took off into the sky with someone in tow, the pedestrians below didn’t panic at all. They all looked completely unfazed, as if they’d seen it all before. His precaution of destroying the surveillance camera now seemed completely unnecessary.
“This kind of lax attitude is not good. What if human traffickers started using this trick…?”
First-tier cities were safer—they had outright banned unauthorized flight, much to the dismay of many superhumans. But it maximized public security.
“Don’t be scared, kid. I just have a couple of questions, then I’ll send you right back, ‘Princess.’”
Riels leaned casually against the helicopter on the rooftop, his relaxed posture meant to put Mi Xiaoliu at ease.
But the girl in front of him had already switched into her full combat gear—black robes and tall boots.
Riels didn’t know that this outfit enhanced her physical abilities, but he could tell it meant she was ready to fight at any moment.
He really didn’t want to bully a kid.
“Are you dating Jingyin?”
He had been keeping an eye on these two girls.
As a man, he wasn’t entirely sure how girls usually interacted, but from what he’d observed today, they seemed unusually close.
He couldn’t pretend it didn’t bother him.
And—maybe it was just his imagination—but when he asked this question, Sasha sensed a hint of excitement in him.
“Mmm.” Mi Xiaoliu nodded.
Yiwen had said they were dating now, though Mi Xiaoliu still didn’t fully understand what that meant.
Riels was slightly taken aback. She just admitted it outright? No hesitation, no denial—just a straightforward confirmation of something so unconventional?
“Where is the Red Prince?” Mi Xiaoliu asked.
“Let’s get one thing straight, kid—right now, I’m the one asking the questions.” Riels wasn’t about to let her take control.
“Where is the Red Prince?” She asked again.
“Kid, are you not understanding me?” Riels rubbed his temples in frustration. “Do you have some kind of grudge against him? Not that I blame you—even I wish he’d just drop dead.”
“Master, just beat him up! Leave him alive, though—he definitely knows where the Red Prince is!” Sasha urged, fanning the flames.
“Mmm.”
Riels, oblivious to the rising hostility, continued: “Look, I’m not some unreasonable old man. As long as your parents don’t object—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a pen materialized out of thin air and lodged itself into his shoulder.
Then came a straightforward right hook.
His expression didn’t change. With a slight tilt of his head, he dodged the punch—only for her small, seemingly delicate fist to punch straight through the helicopter’s metal hull with the force of several tons.
“This kid’s temper is something else… I wonder if Jingyin can handle her.”
Without even touching her, Riels released an invisible force field from his body, sending Mi Xiaoliu flying into the air. Then, gravity around her vanished, leaving her floating helplessly mid-air.
Yiwen had once demonstrated a similar ability.
“You’re really gonna throw hands just because I didn’t answer your question? If you marry into the family, you’ll be fighting with Raven every single day.”
He pulled the pen out of his shoulder—no blood, not even a tear in his clothes. The damage had already vanished without a trace.
“Whatever. I got the answer I wanted anyway. I’ll just send you back now. Jingyin probably got lost for ten minutes at most while looking for a bathroom—huh?”
Just as Riels was about to return her to her original location, he’d been keeping track of it the whole time, the hot-tempered girl suddenly dropped straight out of the zero-gravity field.
At the same time, the air warped from intense heat, adding another layer of sweltering discomfort to the already scorching summer day.
“I’m looking for the Red Prince.”
Mi Xiaoliu’s hands trembled as she pressed them against her burning-hot eyes. Tiny sparks flickered in the air around her.
……
“There’s Fire!”
The crowd gasped in shock. On the street below, onlookers raised their phones to capture the astonishing scene—yet few actually fled in panic.
Because the fire was blazing atop the roof of a tech company building, far from where they stood. They could even safely watch from the ground, craning their necks for a better view.
Even the employees inside the building remained unfazed. Some overworked office drones even leaned out the windows, disappointed to find the flames too far away to threaten them. They almost wished the fire would burn the whole company down.
The only ones truly panicking were those working on the top floor—and those who knew what that helicopter was for.
Perhaps because blue flames of this intensity were a rare sight, people rushed out to snap photos, some even stopping their cars in the middle of the road. What had been a minor hazard now risked turning into a stampede—all because of these reckless spectators.
“I know what this is—it’s gotta be the gas company’s fault!” a tourist from Fanzui City exclaimed.
Yiwen, who had just finished adjusting her clothes, scooped up a little girl to shield her from the chaos. Glaring at the crowd, she carried the child back to her mother.
“They’re all running toward the fire just to gawk? Haven’t there been enough news stories about rubberneckers blocking firefighters?”
That old saying really was true: The only lesson humanity learns from history is that humanity learns nothing from history.
“Xiaoliu! Where are you?!” Yiwen called out frantically.
With Mi Xiaoliu’s small frame, getting trampled would be disastrous.
No response. Desperate, Yiwen flew into the air to search—but still saw no sign of her. Instead, she earned complaints from other airborne onlookers for blocking their shots.
Unlike Fanzui City, Sunshine City wasn’t plagued by endless crime, so police and firefighters arrived quickly. Yet even they were at a loss when faced with this phenomenon.
“What the hell is this?”
Blue flames hovering mid-air, clinging to nothing flammable?
Conventional firefighting methods had no effect.
“I think I’ve seen this before.”
A Spider-Man-esque officer, swinging through the city on a grappling hook, chimed in.
“I saw this online before—apparently it happened once in Fanzui City. The flames burned for a full month before naturally extinguishing. Rumor has it, it was the work of a super-criminal there.”
Minor phenomena caused by ability users naturally wouldn’t make it to federal headlines—such things could only be learned through local news and online chatter.
“You’re telling me this thing will burn for a month?! I even tried creating a vacuum, and it still wouldn’t go out!”
“Dunno, man. Why don’t you just search it up or call the local cops in Fanzui City?” Black Spider shrugged innocently.
“I’ve seen that report. It was caused by a member of Tian Xing Dao in Fanzui City—someone called the Black-Clothed One,” a low female voice interjected.
Police from different jurisdictions obviously didn’t constantly share intel on every criminal, and the media had always framed Black-Clothed One as part of Tian Xing Dao.
“Then this is serious. That helicopter was reserved for the governor’s inspection in two weeks.” The man fell silent for a moment. “Does this mean Tian Xing Dao just declared war? Are they planning to disrupt the governor’s visit?”
“Mhm. And apparently, nearby surveillance cameras were destroyed—fits their usual MO,” the woman agreed.
Too damn brazen! Tian Xing Dao needed to be crushed hard.
“Lock this down for now. Get in touch with Fanzui City’s superhuman division—have them send over everything they’ve got on Black-Clothed One. Black Spider, go handle crowd control.”
“Copy that.”
It seemed his words had just uncovered a major conspiracy.
Enoch continued swinging on his grappling hook, looking every bit like Venomized Spider-Man.
“Captain, will we be assigned to the governor’s escort detail?”
He began fantasizing about heroically protecting the governor, getting featured in major news outlets, and maybe even earning Jingyin’s secret admiration…
“Keep dreaming. Maybe after you pass probation,” the captain ruthlessly shattered his hopes.
Snapped back to reality, Enoch suddenly noticed a figure hurtling straight toward him—clad in black and nearly invisible in the darkness.
Mid-swing, he had no time to dodge. A skull rammed straight into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. In desperation, he grabbed the assailant’s hood—
—only to be yanked downward with terrifying force, sending him plummeting toward the ground.
They were dozens of meters up. A fall from this height would leave him crippled at best.
Luckily, his attacker had some semblance of mercy. Kicking off an AC unit, they dove after him, grabbed his uniform—
—and tossed him into a dumpster to cushion the impact.
Meanwhile, the black-clad figure landed directly on the pavement, cracking the concrete beneath them.
Enoch: “…?”
“Shouldn’t you have caught me?!”
Scrambling out of the trash, Enoch turned to see a petite girl with uneven twin tails standing in the middle of the street.
Her hood had been torn off during the collision, revealing a strikingly adorable face—expressionless, yet mesmerizing under the streetlight.
“So cute… just as cute as Jingyin.”
Enoch froze, forgetting even to brush the banana peel off his head as he stared.
He didn’t snap out of it until she was already walking away.
“Black Spider! What’s taking so long? At this rate, just quit and rot at home!” his captain barked through the earpiece.
“S-Sorry! Got knocked off course!” Enoch stammered.
“That girl was really cute…”
“No! I’m devoted to Jingyin!”
“…But she was SO cute.”
“Ugh! Snap out of it!” He slapped himself twice.
“Intel on Black-Clothed One: aside from the standard black trench coat, she favors asymmetrical twin tails (One long, one short), blue eyes, and appears to be 13-14 years old. No photos on file due to Fanzui City PD’s incompetence, but witnesses describe her as exceptionally striking.”
Enoch: “…?”
That was her?!
[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]
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