Chapter 156 – If You Will Have Me, I Wish to Take You as My Adoptive Father!

The Beast King attacked first, enraged and humiliated by Thor’s taunt.

“I’ll tear you apart!”

“Feel my Dragon Power!”

With a roar, the Beast King charged at Thor.

Bam!

Even in Dragonkin Form, a single punch from Thor knocked him flat.

Following through, Thor slammed the Beast King’s head into the floor.

Another thunderous crash rang out.

The floor shattered.

“That’s it? Some Dragon Power,” Thor said, thoroughly unimpressed.

“Thor, watch out!” Lin Xi warned.

Old K’s Laser Eyes swept toward Thor. Dragon wings unfurled from her back.

“Don’t worry, Master. Beams at this temperature can barely even tickle me.”

The Beast King, whose face Thor was grinding into the floor, caught sight of her dragon wings and cried out in shock.

“Y-You’re… a dragon?!”

The Beast King despaired.

How was he supposed to fight a real dragon?!

Thor admitted it without hesitation. There was no need to hide anything from a man who was about to die.

Dead men told no secrets.

She bore down with her right hand and crushed the Beast King’s head.

Lin Xi frowned hard at the gruesome sight.

Thor really was one bloodthirsty, brutal Demon Dragon…

“You’re not human?!” It finally dawned on Old K. “You’re a Dark Realm Disaster! A Special-Grade Disaster?!”

He pointed at Lin Xi and cursed her out.

“You actually allied yourselves with a Dark Realm Disaster!”

“You’re a disgrace to humanity!”

“A disgrace to humanity?” Lin Xi replied flatly. “I’m not human.”

“Neither am I,” Qin Ling said.

“Same here,” Lu Yi added.

Shi Yu laughed. “Not one of us is human.”

The only human among them, Zheng Mo, was waiting in the car outside.

“Y-You… None of you are human?!” Old K’s composure shattered.

After all his years as a mercenary, he had never once failed a mission. Now, he completely lost it.

“I… I’m calling the Countermeasures Bureau!”

“I’m calling the Magical Girl!”

“Heh. You won’t get the chance!”

Thor flapped her dragon wings and appeared before Old K in the blink of an eye, driving a fist into his chest.

But it felt as though she had punched an impossibly hard block of iron.

“Hahaha!” Old K crowed with delight. “Compared with Laser Eyes, Body of Steel is the superpower I’m most proud of!”

“Is that so?!”

Thor unleashed a furious barrage of punches, yet she failed to leave so much as a scratch on him.

“Dragon Breath!”

Thor spewed flames from her mouth, intent on burning straight through this lump of steel.

To her surprise, Old K remained standing.

“Let me try.”

Lin Xi summoned a tiny flame and sent it toward Old K.

Old K jolted from the heat. “Who the hell are you?!”

“Your fire is even stronger than Dragon Breath.”

“But this still isn’t enough to hurt me.”

Old K’s gaze darted toward Qin Ling and Lu Yi. He planned to seize the two weaker combatants as hostages. It was his only chance of getting out of there safely.

“If this isn’t enough to hurt you, I’ll turn it up a little,” Lin Xi said, increasing her output from 1% to 5%.

“You can turn it up even more?” Old K stared in bewilderment.

Another tiny flame, seemingly no different from the previous one, flew toward him. He wasn’t as fast as Fleetfoot, so dodging was impossible.

The instant the flame touched him, Old K let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Lin Xi’s 5% output burned straight through the Body of Steel Old K took such pride in.

He didn’t evaporate like Fleetfoot, but a massive hole had been seared through his chest.

Even the gods could only shake their heads at a wound like that.

“As expected of you, Master!” Thor’s eyes practically turned into hearts. “I just love how strong you are, Master! Love!!!”

“Thor,” Lin Xi warned, “if you pounce on me, I’ll burn straight through you too.”

Thor: “…”

“Master, you’re so mean-“

The gruesome deaths of Old K, Fleetfoot, and Beast King made the remaining three-He Mingyuan, who was hiding beneath the table; Flame Emperor, who had collapsed onto the floor in terror; and Succubus-painfully aware that Lin Xi could kill any one of them as easily as crushing a bug.

Flame Emperor was the first to react. Without sparing a single moment to grieve or rage over his teammates’ deaths, he scrambled on all fours to Lin Xi.

“Please spare me!

“I… I’ll give you all my money!

“I’ll serve you hand and foot!

“Oh, right-!”

Tears in his eyes and worship written all over his face, Flame Emperor gazed up at Lin Xi.

“Your flames are the strongest and most beautiful flames I have ever seen!

“My admiration for you flows like an endless river!

“If you would deign to accept me, I wish to acknowledge you as my adoptive father!”

Lin Xi: “…”

“Uh, I’m a woman.”

Flame Emperor immediately corrected himself.

“Honored adoptive mother! Please accept your child’s kowtow!”

Thud! Thud! Flame Emperor repeatedly slammed his forehead against the floor.

Lin Xi’s composure cracked.

“Adoptive mother,” Flame Emperor continued, eager to prove his loyalty, “your flames rival the sun itself. From now on, you will be the one and only sun in my heart. Loyal! Orange-!”

Displeasure appeared on Lin Xi’s face. She was allergic to the three phrases “Loyal Orange,” “Enqin1,” and “Isshoni.”

Flame Emperor mistakenly thought his loyalty had moved Lin Xi, so he kept going.

“Adoptive mother, your flames could definitely crush Magical Girl Xia Xun’s ice in an instant!

“One of these days, I’ll go with you to challenge Xia Xun. You can destroy her and take her place! You’re stronger than she is. You’re the one who truly deserves to be the Magical Girl!”

Lin Xi’s expression darkened. “You want to destroy Xia Xun?”

“Y-yes…” Flame Emperor began to panic. Something about Lin Xi’s expression seemed off…

That shouldn’t be possible!

A Magical Girl was supposed to be the mortal enemy of every Dark Realm Disaster! That was precisely why Flame Emperor had called for a Magical Girl’s destruction-to prove his loyalty.

Never, even at the moment of his death, would he have imagined that Magical Girl Xia Xun was his “adoptive mother’s” prospective girlfriend.

A Magical Girl was the prospective girlfriend of a Dark Realm Disaster??? Who the hell was he supposed to complain to about that???!!!

For openly displaying hostility toward Xia Xun, Flame Emperor was vaporized by Lin Xi.

Of the remaining two, He Mingyuan had fainted beneath the table, while Succubus scrambled on all fours to Lin Xi just as Flame Emperor had.

Having learned from Flame Emperor’s example, she knew that acknowledging someone as her adoptive father or mother wouldn’t work.

Offering up her wealth was pointless, too.

And trying to prove her loyalty by calling for a Magical Girl’s death was an even surer way to get herself killed.

Therefore, Succubus decided to offer something else.

“Please don’t kill me!

“I’m willing to offer you my body!

“You can toy with my body however you like!

“You can educate and train me however you like!”

Before Lin Xi could speak, Thor erupted in fury.

“We have to kill this woman!”

Qin Ling said, “Exactly! Under no circumstances can she be allowed to live!”

Lu Yi asked, “What does ‘educate and train’ mean???”

Shi Yu acted without another word and cut Succubus down. She then turned to Lin Xi.

“If you want to toy with someone, or educate and train them, do it to me instead.”

“Shi Yu, step aside,” Thor said. “Master, please do it to me!”

Qin Ling said nothing and simply kept blushing.

Lu Yi asked again, “What does ‘educate and train’ mean???”

Lin Xi smacked a hand against her forehead.

Sure enough, the “attacks” from her own teammates were the deadliest part of this mission.

Lin Xi told them to stop messing around and hurry up and wake He Mingyuan for questioning.

Thor dragged He Mingyuan out from under the table, and Shi Yu splashed a basinful of cold water over his face.

He Mingyuan jolted awake.

Before he could beg for mercy, Shi Yu asked, “How did you find me so quickly?”

He Mingyuan answered in a trembling voice, “A letter… I received an anonymous letter…”

Footnote:

• Enqin(恩芹): A playful alteration of the Chinese word enqing (“kindness” or “a favor owed”), replacing its final syllable with qin, meaning “celery.”