Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three: The reckoning

　When the sea of flames rose for the first time, Zhang Shengkang wanted to grab his daughter and run, but as soon as he reached out, he suddenly felt like he lost control over his body and fell back onto the driver’s seat with a thud.

　Every part of him was paralyzed except for his neck up.

　”What have you done?!”

　”I haven’t done much compared to what you’ve done to my family,” Bai Ling said calmly, “at least not yet.”

　Even though he couldn’t move his body, Zhang Shengkang still felt chills down his spine: “How do you know…”

　”Knowing is knowing, no one cares how,” Bai Ling said lightly, “focus on the field instead. Let’s see how the person you put so much hope in will perform.”

　The situation in the field wasn’t looking good at all. The hastily assembled team of three was almost bickering among themselves.

　”It’s a Water-type Spiritual Energy Manipulator! And the grade and purity are extremely high!” The fiery-tempered Fox snapped first, “Damn it, who said it was Mental-type?!”

　At this moment, Mion timidly spoke up: “Um… I think she might not be our target… I’ve seen the picture, the target doesn’t have such a great figure.”

　The proud busty blonde stood out even in the rain.

　Fox paused slightly, glanced over carefully, and it turns out she was right.

　”That makes it even worse! We didn’t even know there was such a powerful Water-type Spiritual Energy Manipulator around the target!”

　”Fox, keep your voice down,” Fong Qin trembled in the voice chat, “she’s coming over.”

　Without needing mental detection, anyone could see her clearly.

　”So what if she comes over? Fire isn’t necessarily afraid of water.”

　Fox threw off the hood of his raincoat, leapt out abruptly, and the intense heat from his body evaporated the rainwater that fell on him.

　A well-endowed blonde girl just stood silently about ten meters away, tilting her head cutely when she saw him jump out:

　”Are you guys talking about me?”

　Fox didn’t respond, using all his strength to form a fire beast. The sizzling sound of burning was like a wild beast roaring, charging furiously towards Yuan Xiaoling.

　Even in the unfavorable torrential rain, the fire beast carved a scorched path forward, turning the raindrops into steam.

　In return, Yuan Xiaoling conjured up a water toad. Under the enhancement of the rainy weather, it grew to the size of two people, croaking and hopping forward twice before opening its giant mouth—

　BOOM—!

　The battered fire beast dissipated in the heavy rain, and the water toad didn’t fare much better either. But thanks to the advantage of the weather, it didn’t disappear immediately.

　”Not bad,” Fox caught his breath, feeling more confident, “Fong Qin, Mion, come out and help me pin her down. If I can do this a few more times, she won’t be able to hold on.”

　”F-Fox…” Fong Qin’s voice stuttered.

　”What now?! What other problems are there?!”

　Fox was about to lose his temper when he heard his teammate say: “Look over there, there are… several more…”

　Water elementals manifested as birds and fierce beasts thrived in the rain. Including the big toad from earlier, there were a total of five water constructs.

　Fox’s face changed drastically.

　From the start of the mission until now, this was the first time he had ever thought of running away.

　”You people are truly evil. No grudge, no reason, you’re willing to kill just for money.”

　Yuan Xiaoling stood in the rain, hands on her hips, chest thrust out, full of spirit, pointing fingers at them:

　”Have you ever thought about how much harm your success would cause others!”

　It’s all because of you guys. In the previous life, you kept chasing Bai Ling and broke someone’s fingers, now look what happened, they got darkened and I’m the one suffering.

　”But never mind, if you survive this move, I’ll forgive you.”

　The busty girl waved her little hand, and the five water constructs surrounded the three people, swelling rapidly under the rain—

　”Explosion Sacrifice!”

　Fong Qin sensed the danger first, shouting loudly: “Quick, get out of the way!”

　BOOM—!!

　High-pressure water streams shot out like blades in an arc, cutting through the trees on the mountain, which then splashed and fell down.

　Together with the falling trees, the upper half of a gloomy man also collapsed, blood spurting out from the cut at his waist.

　Mion wasn’t the weakest member of the team, but he lacked Fong Qin’s ability to sense danger and couldn’t use his powers like Fox to hold out for a couple of seconds to buy time to escape.

　”Hiss…”

　Yuan Xiaoling didn’t expect the scene to be so bloody, quickly lifting her little hand. Without Bai Ling around, Ning Ning needed to learn how to cover her own eyes.

　Regardless, the remaining two had also lost their fighting abilities, so it could be considered a major accomplishment. As for the unlucky guy who died, they were originally here to kill her and Bai Ling, there’s nothing that can be done. Hopefully, he doesn’t reincarnate as a villain in the next life.

　Even if he does become a villain again, he should learn from her a bit—use intelligence to complete tasks rather than being a traditional villain.

　Yuan Xiaoling clapped her hands, ready to go find Bai Ling, but when she turned around, she saw a man in a gray cloak standing in front of her.

　”Surprising,” he said in a hoarse voice, “when did someone like you appear in Tianhai City?”

　”… About last week?” Yuan Xiaoling answered instinctively.

　Ning Ning is a good girl; she answers any question asked.

　”It doesn’t matter anyway, originally, we were supposed to eliminate threats.”

　The gray-clad man muttered to himself, then raised his hand. His palm gleamed like a silver blade.

　Danger!

　Yuan Xiaoling didn’t think too much, nor did she consider whether to exchange blows or not. She directly squealed:

　”Bai Ling, save me! Save me, save me, save me, save me!”

　The gray-clad man’s hand blade didn’t fall. In fact, the moment Yuan Xiaoling shouted Bai Ling’s name, he froze.

　The air seemed to turn gelatinous, and he felt like an ant trapped in amber, barely able to move a little, but moving was essentially useless.

　Bai Ling walked to the tombstone from earlier, followed by the father and daughter of the Zhang family, who moved like marionettes.

　”Finally got you out,” she said, “gray-furred rat.”

　The gray-clad man clenched his teeth. His knowledge far surpassed that of the temporary squad members, and he could roughly guess the reason for the current situation.

　The white-haired maiden filled the air in this space with her mental power.

　”You’re definitely more than third-tier.”

　”This isn’t obvious?”

　Before Bai Ling could speak, the overly beautiful blonde busty girl snorted, “I’m already at Third-tier Grand Mastery, how could she be just third or fourth tier? Oh, are you stupid?”

　Yuan Xiaoling was furious. How could this person think that if Miss Bai wasn’t ahead by two whole tiers, she’d be calling her every day?

　She should at least have enough strength to fight back a bit, maybe once every two days or something.

　Hearing the blonde busty girl’s joking words, the gray-clad man started sweating cold sweat.

　Yes, not only is she more than third-tier… but also more than fourth-tier.

　How could this be! How could Tianhai City…

　”Shh, wait a moment.”

　Bai Ling indicated to leave him there for now and turned to look at the Zhang family father and daughter: “Let’s talk about these two first.”

　She snapped her fingers—not very loud—and released her control over the Zhang family father and daughter. The two immediately slumped into the muddy ground.

　”Little Ling, niece, please be kind, it’s all because Uncle was bewitched,” Zhang Shengkang said immediately, “it’s all because of this person who approached us and threatened me to do it. I and your parents were like brothers…”

　Pfft! A basin of clear water was poured on his face.

　”Shut up, you’re spouting nonsense,” Yuan Xiaoling crossed her arms, “I’m just a young girl, listening to this makes me blush!”