Chapter 202

Chapter 202: Why Not Go Take A Look (Two-In-One)

People’s Park, restroom.  

“What’s this?” Rutherford frowned at the memory card handed to him.  

The man in front of him was hard to describe—covered up tightly, dressed like a slimmer version of Weapon Master.  

This was his former employer, the one who had hired him to find “Star.”  

“Experimental records on Mi Xiaoliu.”  

“Why give this to me?” Rutherford wasn’t particularly interested.  

He only cared about footage he recorded himself. Everything else was beneath his standards.  

“Take her to the meteor crater and show this to her. Push her anger to the limit. That’s our commission this time.” The Weapon Master said.  

“What happens if she gets enraged?” Rutherford wasn’t fooled.  

“She’ll die.” The Weapon Master replied. “She’ll die. Her body can’t withstand another emotional breakdown. Don’t try to kill her any other way—you won’t succeed. We’ll retrieve her corpse afterward.”  

“Oh?” Rutherford took the memory card and inserted it into his recorder to check the contents.  

When he looked up again, the man was gone.  

Did they really think he was an idiot?  

Rutherford left the restroom and nearly bumped into two police officers.  

He pretended to walk past casually—after all, he was currently disguised—but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the officers glance at him.  

At the center of the park lake, people with cameras for faces.  

“This is Sunshine City’s West District People’s Park, home to the viral ‘lakeside swing’ that’s taken the internet by storm. Our city may not have much, but it’s got plenty of influencer hotspots—holy sh—!”  

The swing’s chain suddenly snapped, and one of the broken links flew straight into a customer’s freshly bought oden. The scalding fish cakes scattered, burning a passerby while another roller-skater slipped on one, crashing into an unlucky cop and getting his Bluetooth earpiece crushed underfoot.  

The officer looked around, but all he saw were legs rushing past—his target was long gone.  

Unfazed, the plainclothes cop excitedly pulled out a backup communicator.  

“Chief, I almost had him!”  

Of course he was excited. As an ordinary person, he had nearly caught the most dangerous ability-user criminal in history.  

“Not necessarily. His ability might be leading us on a wild goose chase. Lock down the park and check everyone entering or exiting.” The female captain poured cold water on his enthusiasm.  

Just finding traces of the Red Prince was a nightmare.  

Back when he was still known as “Destiny,” the local paranormal police had tried contacting the best clairvoyant in the metropolis to locate him—only for the entire city to lose internet and cell service the moment they made the call.  

By the time communications were restored, they learned the clairvoyant had tripped over his own feet and died on the spot. Just like that, the Federation lost its best clairvoyant in the most absurd way possible.  

Every time you passed one layer of his ability’s judgment, another awaited.  

Finding him wasn’t a matter of 50/50 odds—it was pure, unfiltered luck.  

But in Sunshine City today, tracking someone down was way too easy.  

Because surveillance was everywhere. You couldn’t even go swimming without underwater pinhole cameras making sure no one peed in the pool. Unlike Drunkard City, where the only cameras were in bathrooms and locker rooms.  

But the Red Prince wasn’t an idiot, and his abilities were still overpowered…  

“Chief, I think I just saw someone who might be the Red Prince.”  

“Same here, and it’s the same guy—he’s running! Jet-powered glider, that’s confirmation, right? I’m following.”  

The captain frowned.  

“Some of you, pursue. The rest stay and keep searching.”  

She refused to believe a wanted criminal who had evaded capture for years would be this clumsy.  

This had happened before—they’d mistaken a shady figure for the Red Prince, only to arrest some other fugitive. That guy had been pissed, getting nabbed in a high-profile operation, only for the cops to look disappointed afterward.  

……  

Flying, combined with Okulet’s aggressive teleportation, got them back to the city quickly. But now they faced another problem.  

“I can’t contact them, I’m not with the Paranormal Police.” Yiwen played dumb to hide her identity.  

In truth, she really couldn’t reach them. In Sunshine City, she only had Humpback Whale and Enoch’s contact info—maybe her police academy instructor at most.  

Out of those, only Humpback Whale might be involved in this case, and now he wasn’t answering.  

She understood Mi Xiaoliu holding a grudge over the broken arm incident, but this was the Red Prince—no joke. The larger the team hunting him, the bigger and more dangerous the chaos would be.  

“Hm.” Okulet answered a call—not from the police, but from home.  

Terrible. Someone had told Gloria the Red Prince was still alive, and now she’d run off.  

Okulet called Nikita: “Are you back yet?”  

“No. They still haven’t paid me.” Nikita replied.  

Even a single day’s wages mattered.  

“You know the Red Prince is alive?”  

“Yeah.”  

“Did you tell Gloria?”  

“Might’ve been overheard when I took a call. I was with her earlier.”  

“You didn’t notice her running off with your ability? Why didn’t you stop her?” Okulet’s tone turned icy.  

“I chased her. Got my motorcycle stolen halfway.”  

Useless.  

“Also, Mi Xiaoliu is a girl.”  

“Yeah, I know.”  

“Your files listed her as male.”  

“Did they? I typed it manually—maybe a typo. Not a big deal, right? You didn’t take her to the men’s baths?”  

“Do you know where the Red Prince is? You should’ve memorized his life signature.”  

“Too much change over the years. But there are a few similar ones in West District’s People’s Park.”  

“Hm.”  

Okulet got the Sunshine City police chief’s number from Old Chen.  

He called.  

Straight to voicemail. They were all on walkie-talkies—no room for error in a Red Prince operation.  

Okulet lowered his head, deep in thought.  

He warped space again, landing them at People’s Park.  

The rapid teleportation left Yiwen dizzy and nauseous, while Xiaoliu remained unfazed.  

“Uncle, we’re going into the park?”  

“No. He’s probably not there.” Okulet shook his head.  

He no longer trusted Nikita.  

Truthfully, he’d stopped trusting Nikita six years ago.  

“Huh?”  

Okulet didn’t explain.  

He glanced at the two “kids” with him but didn’t say anything like “This could get dangerous—you two should leave.” Because right now, he was the safest place for them.  

He analyzed aloud: “The Red Prince might be at People’s Park, but given his ability’s nature, even if police check everyone one by one, he could still—”  

“Uncle, what if the Red Prince just… jumpscares us?” Yiwen tugged his sleeve lightly, mimicking how Xiaoliu often did to her.  

“Impossible.” Okulet frowned. Please don’t tell me she inherited her dad’s idiocy.  

Then a white-haired man on a jet glider crashed straight into their faces.  

“…”  

“Probably not him.” Okulet studied the man’s face. “Or… maybe?”  

Mi Xiaoliu didn’t wait for confirmation. She tugged Yiwen’s sleeve.  

Yiwen understood—releasing the gravity, keeping her airborne and hurling her forward.  

A flash of white light—Mi Xiaoliu in her beginner combat suit blitzed the man, her punch cratering his chest and sending him flying through the building’s walls, out the other side.  

Office workers inside stared, slack-jawed.  

Then Mi Xiaoliu chased after him.  

“If you hadn’t hit him, I could’ve erased him outright—”  

Okulet grimaced. But he couldn’t blame Mi Xiaoliu—this might also be part of Rutherford’s ability. The only one at fault was him for reacting too slowly.  

Peering through the new hole in the building at the equally stunned office workers, Okulet decided against teleporting after them. Might accidentally decapitate a few.  

“Fly me over.” He ordered Yiwen.  

It reminded him of working with Riels—except Riels could’ve assisted from kilometers away with a telescope.  

Was that really the Red Prince?  

Yes.  

Rutherford coughed up a mouthful of blood—chunks of organ tissue mixed in.  

He wasn’t stupid.  

His usual routine, kill at most five kids per city, leave before police connect the dots, only linger for missions—let alone now, with the “already dead” shield.  

So why had things gone like this?  

It all started yesterday, with a teal-haired girl picking a fight.  

Armed with a laser gun (Sword?), clearly Easter—but her attacks couldn’t touch him.  

At the time, Rutherford didn’t want to engage with her, so he activated his usual tactic—a 50% chance the police would arrest her instead. If that failed, another 50% chance an officer would coincidentally pass by and find her suspicious. If that didn’t work…  

In short, his classic combo.  

Yet despite successfully escaping, his ability inexplicably backfired on himself. Even something as simple as eating drew police attention: “Look at that guy—the way he eats is so arrogant. Probably a wanted criminal.”  

Even his disguise peeled off mid-chase. This veteran criminal from the City of Descent was making rookie mistakes, as if experiencing the infuriating side of his own ability for the first time.  

Was it a similar ability? Or could she copy others’ powers? Maybe even reflect them outright?  

His custom bulletproof vest absorbed most of the impact, but he still felt a rib crack.  

Using a grappling hook to latch onto the building’s edge and halt his fall, Rutherford grinned, his breath reeking of blood: “So it’s you, little girl. Didn’t you know the organization forbids infighting?”  

He glanced down—twenty stories up, his glider wrecked.  

Xiaoliu crouched silently where his grappling hook was anchored, staring down at him.  

His face triggered something in her. The world around her seemed to shift—forest, a cliff beneath her feet, blue flames raging below. The Red Prince stood at the cliff’s edge, peering down as women and children wailed beside him. No one noticed the girl clinging to a bloodvine halfway down, her hands pierced and gnawed raw, refusing to let go.  

“Child, why do you resent me so much?” Rutherford’s tone was eerily gentle.  

Mi Xiaoliu’s amnesia wasn’t hard to uncover. Even without Princess’s intel, her file plainly stated “memory defects.”  

“Ah, my bad for leaving a poor impression last time. But who could’ve guessed that window was so rotten, right? If it upset you, this uncle can apologize.”  

Mi Xiaoliu gripped the hook’s cable, slowly reeling him up.  

“Good girl.” Rutherford smiled.  

Then his smile vanished. A pen suddenly impaled his palm, and Mi Xiaoliu stopped pulling.  

He was now within five meters.  

“Let me tell you something, kid.”  

A second pen pierced his hand, forming an X with the first.  

The Red Prince winced but grinned through the pain, still clinging to the hook.  

“Your mother abandoned you.”  

Mi Xiaoliu froze, watching him silently.  

“Master, kill him!” Sasha urged.  

“Oh, you didn’t know? Your mother said it herself—she didn’t want you. Know who she is?” Rutherford’s smile twisted. “Why not visit dear Miss Gloria’s house? Or the heart of the forest?”  

Mi Xiaoliu’s eyes widened slightly. Fragments of memory flickered—blank spaces stirred, and not just one.  

She hunched over, clutching her head.  

She could feel it.  

Just one more thought.  

One more.  

But—  

No. Don’t think about it.  

Maybe Mom’s already dead.  

The Malphite Network’s trademark damage control.  

Rutherford finally let go: “Also, you should’ve aimed for my vitals.”  

He fell backward, grin intact.  

He saw Mi Xiaoliu leap after him, sprinting vertically down the building’s face.  

Rutherford activated his ability again, drawing a dagger to latch onto an AC unit—only for the blade to slice clean through the metal casing. 

Clutching the severed panel, he barely had time to process before Xiaoliu closed in. Then a shrill, furious scream erupted from the side.  

“RED PRINCE!!”  

He twisted instinctively—just as a massive force slammed into the metal sheet.  

The impact sent him flying onto a neighboring rooftop, the searing-hot panel sparing him a fatal landing.  

Dropping the scorched metal, now with a gaping hole melted through it, he yanked out the pens and jumped again, reactivating his ability.  

Gloria wasn’t about to let him escape. She pursued at lightning speed.  

Rat-tat-tat—  

Heavy machine gun fire echoed behind her. She ignored it—bullets would melt against her current form.  

Except these phased right through her, harmless.  

What the—? Did I unlock intangibility? Do I get a ‘Kizaru’ nickname now?  

Then she saw the bullets curve midair, homing in on Rutherford. No cover could withstand Gatling’s sustained barrage.  

The first round struck his chest—and Rutherford’s face contorted in horror.  

Homing bullets?!  

But his vest was organization-issue, rated for armor-piercing rounds.  

Fine. Then: 50% chance the bullets hit cover. If not, 50% chance they only hit the vest. If not, 50% chance non-lethal areas—  

“Master, he’s alive! Probably armored.” Sasha piped up.  

Gatling rounds were still just bullets.  

Mi Xiaoliu’s weapon morphed.  

A cannon now, even more absurd than the Gatling. What little girl wields this?  

These weren’t bullets.  

Sasha: Screw your 50%. At this range, firepower is the truth!  

Rutherford saw distant blue light rapidly expanding.  

It charges?!  

Rutherford: “??”  

The rest was a foregone conclusion.  

Mi Xiaoliu landed heroically from twenty stories up, cratering the ground.  

She crouched there, trembling slightly.  

Still so scared.  

“Sasha… were you lying?”  

Sasha had said her parents were dead.  

“Master, what do you mean? Isn’t Heli your mom?” Sasha’s laugh was strained, dodging the question.  

“Mm.”  

Okulet, carried by Yiwen’s flight, surveyed the distance before landing and gently patted Mi Xiaoliu’s back.  

This girl’s grudge against the Red Prince ran just as deep.  

Could she be a survivor—one of his past victims?  

He reached to lift her hood for a better look.  

Yiwen shoved him away.  

“What’s your problem, old man? Xiaoliu’s my girlfriend.”  

If anyone’s comforting her, it’s me.  

“Apologies.” Okulet averted his gaze—only to spot a “Massage Services” flyer.  

Even more awkward.  

“But you’re both girls?” He finally registered the oddity.  

“Got a problem with that? What’re you implying?” Yiwen scowled.  

Then it hit her.  

Wait. Didn’t the Red Prince call Xiaoliu ‘Misha’ earlier…?  

Her expression shifted.  

She reeled in her irritation, thinking hard.  

Then beamed.  

“Uncle, are you thirsty?”  

—  

Elsewhere, Gloria nearly lost control of her stomach acids at the scene.  

The upper half of Rutherford’s body was gone—just a head and arms left.  

To be killed by a past victim… How pathetic. Yet it intrigued him. Mi Xiaoliu would’ve made a fascinating target.  

It’s too late now.  

More pressingly—  

His remaining eye locked onto Gloria with mocking amusement.  

What happens next to this family… I’d love to see it.  

Fighting fading consciousness, he glanced meaningfully at his waist.  

Gloria spat on his head: “How the mighty have fallen.” Then crushed it underfoot.  

By the time she looked back, the shooter was long gone.  

What was that look about?  

Gloria gritted her teeth, and she searched the corpse.  

And found a camcorder.

[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]

[https://ko-fi.com/golden_dragon]