The fire on the mountaintop had yet to die out completely.
Black Ze had already descended upon the world, transforming the downpour into a gentle drizzle. Flames danced in the darkness, which was why Lin Cheng’s temper flared the moment he spotted the owner of those high heels.
“You’ve been here the whole time?” His eyes bored into Lu Lingling, demanding an answer.
“I just arrived,” Lu Lingling replied softly.
Her words carried a certain persuasiveness. After all, she was dressed in an elegant black evening gown, her delicate black stilettos clicking softly, her hair neatly styled in a sophisticated updo—as if she had just glided in from a formal ball.
She was old enough to be Lin Cheng’s mother, yet she exuded an inexplicable tenderness, perhaps thanks to energy slowing her aging. In his memories, her skin had always been fair and flawless, pink where it should be.
“I don’t buy that you just got here,” Lin Cheng said, his voice dipping low.
“If you don’t believe me, why ask?” Lu Lingling tilted her head.
“Whatever. I’m done arguing. She’s all yours.”
Lin Cheng stepped back and settled onto a nearby boulder, effectively bowing out of the fight. Black Ze, standing off to the side, was still piecing together the situation. When his gaze landed on Lu Lingling, the spines along his tail instinctively bristled at the sense of danger.
He couldn’t read her energy reserves.
Twenty years ago, Lu Lingling had been SS-rank, and she still was… but the Alliance’s grading system was too simplistic. The threshold for S-rank was 5,000 energy points, and anything above that qualified as SS-rank. SSS-grade, however, required energy in the millions.
Ranks weren’t everything, though. A well-prepared S-rank who knew everything about an SS-rank could potentially take them down with the right plan.
That said, gaps existed even among SS-ranks.
Lu Lingling stood there quietly, her hair swaying gently in the wind. Raindrops seemed to dance around her, and though she did nothing more than stand, everyone instinctively saw her as the center of the world.
The wind and rain whipped up again in an instant. A teeth-grating slicing sound filled the air, as if something invisible was coalescing. Thunder crashed from the night sky, razor-sharp moonblades slashing through the atmosphere. Pale, rootless flames erupted at Black Ze’s feet, while rocks of indeterminate material clamped around his calves. All of it happened in a blink—she commanded the world’s elements, and they obeyed.
Green Hair tried to aim his glasses at Lu Lingling to scan her energy points, but the device failed. The reason was simple: her energy exceeded 100,000, far beyond the Alchemy Glasses’ detection range.
Lin Cheng glanced at Green Hair from his perch on the rock. “Not running?”
Green Hair adjusted his glasses. “No need.”
“Oh?” Lin Cheng eyed him curiously. Green Hair just smiled. “My boss is on her way.”
“Oh, great,” Lin Cheng sighed in exasperation. He leaped off the rock, clearly intending to leave the battlefield. But after only a few steps, a slender leg emerged from a ripple in the void.
“Where are you going?”
An ethereal, otherworldly voice whispered in Lin Cheng’s ear. He turned slowly to face her.
He couldn’t make out her face.
Yes, she stood right there in front of him, no mask obscuring her features, but when Lin Cheng looked at her, his brain registered only a blurry, indistinct visage. It was one of her abilities.
“I’m going to find a friend. There’s still one down at the base of the mountain,” Lin Cheng replied. Since her face was a no-go, he shifted his gaze to her outfit: a pink onesie pajamas, adorably cute, complete with a hood sporting two floppy bunny ears.
“It’s been a while since we last crossed paths,” she said.
As expected. Though she’d never seen his face without the mask, her familiarity with his aura was unmistakable. If not for the two additional layers of seal breaking earlier, Lin Cheng figured he might have fooled her. Suddenly, he felt played—like Lu Lingling had been hiding in some spatial pocket, watching his near-deaths until she had him figured out, then stepping in.
He hated overthinking like this.
“You could crush me with a single finger now. Why bother?” Lin Cheng sighed softly.
“Fair point. Have you given up the chase?”
“I never chased to begin with.”
The woman in the bunny pajamas nodded slightly and turned her attention to Lu Lingling, who was locked in combat with Black Ze. It was less a fight and more a one-sided thrashing. After all, this was a juvenile Black Ze, with energy points under 50,000, his tail spines and wings not fully evolved. In front of Lu Lingling, he was little more than a plaything.
“Good luck to you,” the bunny-pajama woman said coolly to Lin Cheng. Lu Lingling’s battle with Black Ze was reaching its end, but the woman stepped forward, her lips moving as she murmured, “Disintegrate.”
Black Ze’s body abruptly came apart—limbs, arms, head, tail spines, energy core—like a model figure being disassembled. All the parts hovered in midair. She raised her hand, and the tail spine flew into her grasp.
With that piece secured, her mission was complete. She turned toward Lin Cheng, who was nearly out of sight. “Will we meet again?”
“I hope not,” Lin Cheng said with a wry smile.
The woman in the bunny pajamas nodded. She glanced at Green Hair and uttered a single word: “Teleport.” In an instant, the two vanished from the mountaintop.
Now, only Lin Cheng and Lu Lingling remained.
Lin Cheng eyed her faint frown and walked back over. He picked up Black Ze’s energy core from the ground—a goose-egg-sized blue crystal. It was research material for Lemon, and Lin Cheng wanted her to make him a little dog like this one. It had proven pretty useful, after all.
“Who was she?” Lu Lingling asked suddenly.
“She used to be in the Alliance. But you wouldn’t remember.”
“Who?”
“I told you, you wouldn’t know. She erased every memory of herself from everyone’s minds.”
“Erased?”
Lin Cheng ignored her follow-up questions. He pocketed the energy core and headed down the mountain. Lu Lingling called after him softly, “Are you angry?”
He didn’t respond, as if he hadn’t heard. He descended quickly; the steps were slick from the rain. Midway down, he spotted Lu Xiaoxiao struggling to climb up. Their eyes met. Before Lin Cheng could speak, she bolted toward him and crashed into his arms.
The girl in his embrace was soft and warm, though trembling slightly now. Lin Cheng patted her back gently. “It’s okay. Everything’s fine. Your mom showed up and took out that monster called Black Ze.”
“A-are you okay?”
“She got here in time. What could happen to me?” Lin Cheng chuckled helplessly. He tilted his head to look at Lu Xiaoxiao’s cheek—hey, there were still traces of dried tears at the corners of her eyes. She was always so proud and haughty, yet turned into a crybaby at the critical moment.
He held her like that for a good while. As expected, hugging a girl with an ample figure felt wonderfully soft and comforting.
Until Lu Xiaoxiao looked up and whispered, “Mom…”
Lu Lingling stood right behind Lin Cheng. He let go, and Lu Xiaoxiao stepped out of his arms, her cheeks flushing pink. She wiped her tears, about to say something, but Lu Lingling spoke first to Lin Cheng. “Let me explain.”
“I’m not angry. There’s nothing to explain. I promised to help Xiaoxiao with this myself. Whether you showed up or not didn’t matter.” Lin Cheng’s voice sounded genuinely calm. He kept walking. Lu Lingling’s stilettos clicked rhythmically on the steps behind him. She seemed ready to say more, sticking close. As she drew near, Lin Cheng whipped around impatiently.
“Get lost!”
Lu Lingling froze in place, at a loss.
Lu Xiaoxiao didn’t understand what was happening; she stood there stunned. Little Dog—Little Qi in dog form—trailed Lin Cheng. When he called out for Little Qi to turn into a vehicle, it spun happily around him before shifting into a sleek black motorcycle. Lin Cheng hopped on, revved the engine, and vanished from Lu Lingling and Lu Xiaoxiao’s sight in a heartbeat.
Two hours later, Lin Cheng roared home on the motorcycle and pulled up downstairs.
Little Qi had a short-range leap function, and the late-night streets were empty, so the ride was smooth. Lin Cheng patted its head and shoved Black Ze’s energy core into its mouth. “Go back to your mom, Lemon.”
Little Qi nodded obediently, wagged its tail, and scampered off. Lin Cheng headed inside alone. He took a shower, then climbed into bed. It was already 4 a.m. His bed was by the window, and even A City had been touched by the elemental turbulence—fine rain pattered outside.
Back when he first retired, he’d suffered from insomnia and often played rain sounds to sleep. Now, though, the real rain brought no drowsiness. Lin Cheng lowered his head and extended his hand, watching energy sparks flicker at his fingertips.
After a long moment, he hugged his knees, sitting alone on the bed and staring blankly into the darkness. The room was pitch-black, the heavy shadows threatening to swallow him whole.
Truth be told, he wasn’t mad at Lu Lingling. It didn’t matter if that woman showed up or not—he’d chosen to help Lu Xiaoxiao himself. Dying a few times was no big deal; he didn’t even mind the pain of death. But when had she dragged him back into all this?
He suddenly recalled his words to Xu Wanyue: ability users only got one choice in life. He’d made his at fifteen. He’d thought turning eighteen would give him another shot, but that was just delusion.
He’d sworn never to use his powers again, yet less than a year later, Jiang Lingxue had shaken him. Once you did something once, it became easier the second time. What came next? Death after death, rebirth after rebirth… and then?
Dodging an inescapable fate just made the story sound less bleak, that was all.
Lin Cheng sensed a spatial fluctuation in the darkness. He lifted his head slowly, spotting the woman who had appeared there at some point.
“Turn on the light for me. Thanks.”
Lu Lingling switched on the bedside lamp. She looked down at Lin Cheng on the bed; he looked up at her. Their gazes met in midair, forming an invisible bridge.
Gradually, his lashes drooped, revealing an unspoken weariness.
