A standalone villa on the outskirts of the city.
It was the address Lin Cheng and Lu Xiaoxiao had agreed on, so she drove them there. After he used his face to get them inside, Lu Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth slightly and stared at the villa in front of her—luxurious to the point of excess. “So when I gave you those two thousand bucks before, you were secretly laughing your ass off inside, weren’t you?”
“No, I really am broke. Fruit Shop bought this villa. It’s nominally under Litchi’s name and has nothing to do with me. She even covers my living expenses—five thousand a month, not a penny more.”
“So you’re a kept man with a sugar mama?”
“…I was just messing with you.” The corner of Lin Cheng’s mouth twitched. “I didn’t think you’d actually buy it.”
As Lu Xiaoxiao brushed past him, she subtly stepped on his foot with the high heels she’d just changed into. Fortunately, it was the toe of the shoe and not the heel; otherwise, Lin Cheng figured he’d have jumped a foot in the air.
“So why’d you bring me here?” Lu Xiaoxiao strolled into the villa’s garden, gazing at the roses planted everywhere. She bent down, covering her face lightly as she sniffed one.
“Ah, as Fruit Shop’s close-quarters combat instructor, I’m here to teach you some fighting tricks.”
“You? Teach me?” Lu Xiaoxiao’s combat skills had been honed since childhood.
“You’ll see once you try.” Lin Cheng’s smile was enigmatic.
Lu Xiaoxiao had originally been wearing a milk-green skirt that hugged her hips, but Lin Cheng had led her to change into gym clothes. The villa was stocked with plenty of brand-new outfits that had never been worn. Now, she wore a white cotton top on her upper body and black shorts below. Her full breasts strained against the fabric, while her long, snow-white legs gleamed beneath the shorts.
The two of them were now in the villa’s badminton court. She stood barefoot on the floor, eyeing Lin Cheng in front of her. He had already stripped off his shirt, revealing a body covered in ferocious scars. She hesitated for a moment before suddenly recalling something. “So where’d all those injuries come from?”
“A while back, there was an Abyss Descent near my house. Abyss creatures did this to me.”
Lin Cheng casually reached up to touch his ear clip. He pulled out a pair of colored contacts from the spatial storage ear clip and handed them to Lu Xiaoxiao. “Put these on.”
She blinked in surprise. Removing her own colored contacts, she slipped on the black ones he’d given her. When she looked up at Lin Cheng, she noticed a string of data hovering beside him.
Lin Cheng. Comprehensive Energy Assessment Value: 120.
“What the hell is that?”
It was more than that. She felt as though she had x-ray vision now, able to clearly see the evenly distributed blue light points across Lin Cheng’s body. Those were obviously his energy reserves, and there were forty-nine distinct energy nodes on him as well.
“The Energy Assessment Value is the total amount of energy in a person’s body. Without using Mimicry Abyss, mine’s around 120. The blue light points you see are the locations of my energy distribution. That’s what I’m going to teach you next—but first, check out your own stats.”
Lu Xiaoxiao glanced down at her palm, and soon her own Energy Assessment Value appeared: 135. It was even higher than Lin Cheng’s current reading. She was an A+ Rank ability user, after all, and she’d even used Evolution Blood to boost her core abilities. No ordinary A-Rank could match her.
“These contacts are…?”
“Alchemy technology from Fruit Shop. I usually use them as a teaching aid.”
“Teaching?”
Lin Cheng struck a Wing Chun stance like Ip Man’s, then beckoned to Lu Xiaoxiao with his palm.
“Come on, Master Lu. Let’s spar.”
There wasn’t a hint of fear in Lu Xiaoxiao’s eyes. She took a step forward, her pitch-black pupils sharpening in an instant. She might come off as a haughty young miss on the surface, but her fighting skills had been drilled into her by Lu Lingling from a young age. Starting at fourteen, getting beaten black and blue by her sister was a regular occurrence. She’d even chug a Healing Potion right after and keep going. It wasn’t until she turned eighteen that Lu Lingling ran out of combat techniques to teach her.
By nineteen, Lu Xiaoxiao had fully mastered the Alliance’s methods for energy nodes, opening all forty-nine of them. Her energy manipulation had reached its peak. Though she specialized in the Elemental System, she had few equals in close-quarters brawls against Physical System users of the same rank.
One minute later.
Lin Cheng had twisted Lu Xiaoxiao’s arms behind her back and pinned her down. Her body was forced flat against the floor, her ample chest pressed tightly beneath her. His knee dug into her back as he met her furious glare over her shoulder with a light chuckle. “I swear, I only used 120 energy just now.”
Lu Xiaoxiao didn’t get it.
Technique was one thing, and Lin Cheng clearly wasn’t bluffing—he’d put real pressure on her in that fight. But his speed and power didn’t add up. They were way too much for an A-Rank ability user. She’d keenly noticed that during his attacks, his energy distribution had been wildly uneven: concentrated in his legs one moment, his arms the next…
“I refuse to accept this!”
Lin Cheng released her hands and stood up. “Then let’s go again.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lu Xiaoxiao swung a fist at him.
This time, it took him only fifty seconds. He easily spotted the opening in her guard and kicked her calf in the split second before she could react. The pain dragged up old memories of being dominated by Lu Lingling, and in that dazed instant, Lin Cheng pinned her to the ground once more, stripping away her ability to fight back.
“I refuse!”
“Again,” Lin Cheng replied with a smile.
The third time. The fourth. The fifth. The sixth.
It wasn’t until the seventh time, when Lu Xiaoxiao lay with her cheek pressed against the cold floor, that she finally accepted the truth. Her energy reserves were clearly higher than his, yet she was powerless against Lin Cheng.
“You… how the hell did you do that?”
Lin Cheng climbed off her and sat on the floor. He cracked open a bottle of mineral water and passed it to her. Lu Xiaoxiao took a sip before hearing his explanation. “This is what I came here to teach you: controlling energy.”
“Controlling… energy?”
“Yeah. You gather it through different energy nodes, channel it, and then unleash it all in a single burst when you need to. Like this…”
Lin Cheng stood up, and Lu Xiaoxiao clearly saw the blue light points on his body ignite at various energy nodes before converging in different spots.
“Follow the trajectory of my energy circulation and try it slowly. Different positions require activating different nodes. Take your time—we’ve got plenty.”
Lu Xiaoxiao nodded, half understanding.
Once her pride was shattered, she was always a quick study.
Two hours later.
Nothing sped up progress like live combat. Over those two hours, Lu Xiaoxiao had sparred with Lin Cheng countless times. Now, drenched in sweat—her top so soaked she could probably wring water from it—she had finally grasped the basics of Energy Manipulation.
“How’d you learn this?”
“I noticed that a lot of high-tier Abyss creatures use energy this way, so I reverse-engineered it based on human energy nodes and came up with the Abyss Mimicry Method.”
Lin Cheng was pleased by the hunger in Lu Xiaoxiao’s eyes.
Unlike Xu Wanyue. If it had been her, she probably wouldn’t have cared at all—whining about the pain the first time he pinned her and refusing to learn.
“You’re… a genius,” Lu Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but marvel.
“Heh heh, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.” Lin Cheng suddenly leaned in closer, his breath ghosting her neck. Lu Xiaoxiao instinctively leaned back and turned to him. “What are you doing?”
“Swim with me?” He flashed her a light smile. “I’ll teach you some advanced techniques next time.”
The villa had a massive pool.
Lu Xiaoxiao had been planning to shower anyway, and it didn’t seem like too much to ask. She nodded lightly and reached up to remove the contacts—only to notice Lin Cheng’s number flicker.
From 120 to 99999????
“What’s wrong?” Lin Cheng asked, looking at her.
“The number on you…”
“Oh, that alchemy device glitches sometimes. Just take them off and put them back in this box.” He shrugged it off.
This villa served as Fruit Shop’s team building venue.
The pool was meticulously maintained year-round, the water crystal clear. The changing room was stocked with all sorts of women’s swimsuits—and pointedly, just the one pair of men’s trunks.
Lu Xiaoxiao browsed for a while before settling on a conservative white tie-side bikini. Swimsuits were thicker than underwear, at least, so it wasn’t quite as revealing.
She tied her hair up and stepped out of the changing room. Lin Cheng was already waiting, clad only in swim trunks and clutching an inflatable float.
“You’re the only guy in Fruit Shop?” Lu Xiaoxiao had picked up on it right away.
“Yeah.” Lin Cheng nodded.
“Who are the others?” she asked, as if it were no big deal.
“They’re from different organizations, so it’s a secret. Can’t spill.” Clutching his float, Lin Cheng headed out. The villa had two pools: one indoor, one outdoor. They went to the outdoor one. He lounged on his float, drifting lazily, while Lu Xiaoxiao eased into the water. The cool embrace enveloped her body, making her squint in comfort as she leaned against the pool steps.
Maybe it had something to do with her abilities, but Lu Xiaoxiao had always loved the water. Still, wearing just a swimsuit in front of him left her a touch uneasy, though she masked it behind a cool expression—betrayed only by the way she absentmindedly bit her lip.
Lin Cheng’s gaze lingered openly on her. The water clung to her pale, tender skin, giving it a soft, pinkish glow. For some reason, it stirred memories of a few nights ago.
The clumsy Lu Xiaoxiao.
The lewd Lu Xiaoxiao.
The cute Lu Xiaoxiao.
Lin Cheng pulled a water gun from somewhere and sprayed her with it. Lu Xiaoxiao’s face got drenched, and she took a deep breath. “Childish.”
“Gotta find something to do somehow… otherwise it’s just too damn boring.”
