Mutual Destruction

Si Ming suddenly felt that the fellow before him was unreliable. Surely his experiments didn't all end with a "bang," did they?

"All of that can be improved! For example, for example... right, I could add a solar energy storage device. It could store solar energy normally, and save on consumption when it's needed."

"Then why don't I just carry a solar energy storage device? Why bring a flashlight too?" Si Ming looked at him with undisguised skepticism.

After a strangely long silence, the doctor spoke. "None of that matters! Don't get hung up on the little details! Right, what level have you reached in Blazing Sun True Qi?"

"Level three," Si Ming answered.

"Oh, you've still got a long way to go. Come back when you reach level seven, and I'll teach you the Phase Transfer Body-Protecting Divine Art. I guarantee it'll leave the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth Shirt ten streets behind!"

Chapter 44: Mutual Destruction

A scientific term like phase shift held no appeal for Si Ming. He'd had enough of scientific divine arts. Every night, he had to strip naked, turn on a sunlamp until it lit up his entire bedroom, then adjust his position to expose every inch of skin he could to the sunlight. Cultivating like that was sheer torture, like performing some cult ritual.

Fortunately, the orphanage was in a remote location. If it had been in the city, he was genuinely afraid someone would discover him one day and report him. From then on, he'd be branded the "naked cultivation pervert" and wiped out socially.

I finally transmigrated to a wuxia world. Can't I cultivate some mystical martial arts? Even if there's no Nine Yin or Nine Yang, Northern Darkness or Muscle-Tendon Changing would do. And if nothing else, couldn't I at least take a look at the Sunflower Manual and feast my eyes?

Seeing the unmistakably indifferent look on Si Ming's face at the mention of the "Phase Shift Body-Protecting Divine Art," the doctor raised an eyebrow, but refused to rise to the bait. He snorted. "Learn it or don't! At the beginning, the Blazing Yang Battle Art can only cultivate solar energy. Only after achieving minor mastery can you cultivate thermal energy, which works out to about level-seven internal cultivation on the standardized scale. Solar energy is too niche, and with current technology, there's really nothing much you can do with it. Thermal energy, on the other hand, has a great deal of potential. Since you haven't even entered the field of thermal energy yet, you have no research value. Hurry up and leave."

He scratched his bird's-nest hair and started back toward the laboratory in his flip-flops, but Zhong Lingxiu hurriedly stopped him. "Doctor, it's too rude to chase him away like that. Don't forget, Senior Yan asked you to look after his disciple."

Remembering the favor he owed Yan Jinghong, the doctor clicked his tongue impatiently and turned back. "All right, kid, what do you want?"

Si Ming scratched his head. He didn't lack cultivation methods; both the Blazing Yang Battle Art and the Dinghu Sect's ultimate techniques were enough to keep him busy cultivating. Besides, limited by his internal cultivation, he wouldn't be able to master advanced martial arts even if he got them. As for high-tech weapons, when Yan Jinghong had been instructing him, he had warned him that relying too heavily on external objects could easily hold back his own cultivation.

"If I have to name something... Mohist School Profound Armor."

The doctor froze for a moment, then chuckled. "Kid, you've really got the nerve to open your mouth as wide as a lion! Do you think Mohist School Profound Armor is some piece of scrap metal you can make whenever you please? Not even every Spirit Transformation expert has a set of custom-made Profound Armor."

Ordinary standard-issue Profound Armor was of little use to Spirit Transformation experts; wearing it would only weigh them down. Only armor tailored specifically to them could be effective. At present, only the Mohist School government was capable of making custom Profound Armor, and it had even passed a law strictly forbidding private sales to civilians or unofficial organizations. As a result, Spirit Transformation experts who hadn't pledged themselves to the state couldn't buy a set of Profound Armor that fit them, no matter how much money, influence, or connections they had.

As for the set Yan Jinghong had previously lent Si Ming, it had been the latest experimental model developed by the Mohist Academy of Science. With no regard for cost-effectiveness, manpower and materials had been poured into it regardless of expense, solely to test certain theories and ideas. Its performance even surpassed that of the custom-made Profound Armor.

Si Ming had been about to say a standard set would be enough for him, but the doctor suddenly produced a black gothic lolita outfit from behind his back. Snorting heavily through both nostrils, he said, "If you can find a girl suited to wearing this outfit, I'll consider making you a set of Profound Armor."

"..."

Officer, there's a pervert here!

Isn't there a single normal person among the higher-ups at this Mohist Knight Guard base? Jiang Zhengtai goes without saying. I thought this doctor was just a mad scientist, but who knew he had this kind of gentlemanly hobby too? Doesn't the Mohist School consider morals when selecting its talent?

By comparison, Senior Pan De was relatively normal. Though he was obsessed with building muscle and gave off the unmistakable impression of a bear, at least his hobby was normal.

Si Ming resisted the urge to call the police and pointed at Zhong Lingxiu. "Judging by her figure, wouldn't Senior Sister Zhong be a good fit?"

To his surprise, the doctor flatly refused. "No, she's already expired."

"Ex-expired?" Si Ming wondered what the hell this pervert was talking about.

The doctor looked utterly pained. "Yes. Although the outfit really would fit her perfectly, she's sixteen now. I was lost, hesitant, and torn over it, but in the end, I decided to follow my heart and stand by my principles. I made the painful decision-fifteen really is the limit!"

You make it sound like you overcame a martial arts heart demon. You're just a damn lolicon!

"So that's why... No wonder you haven't wanted me to help you lately, Doctor. I was wondering if I'd done something wrong... It was because I'd already turned sixteen. Come to think of it, you had a good cry on my sixteenth birthday..."

Zhong Lingxiu looked utterly crestfallen, tears glistening in her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I really can't go against my own heart..."

At the sight of her, the doctor clenched his fists, his face twisting in agony. He struggled fiercely within himself, looking as though he wanted to step forward and comfort her, but feared hurting her further.

Si Ming was dumbfounded by the sight. Why are you two acting like the leads in an idol drama parting forever? You damn lolicon doctor, you just think she's past the age limit! What's with that look of unbearable anguish? Do you think you're Romeo, forced to break up with your beloved because of your Lineage? Hurry up and say, "I'll go home and get married after this war," then get your ass onto the battlefield!

Zhong Lingxiu bit her lip and held back her sorrow. "I know it's not your fault, Doctor. I'm the one who put you in a difficult position. I never considered your feelings and just charged ahead blindly..."

No, no, no, this is entirely the lolicon doctor's fault! Normal people don't need to consider a pervert's feelings. Just beat him to death.

Si Ming was about to step forward and interrupt their inexplicable breakup scene when a giant bear's roar suddenly came from nearby.

"Rooaaar-"

A huge figure came sprinting over with incredible agility. It was Pan De. His muscles bulged all over, stretching his loose Daoist robe to the point of tearing. His expression was one of extreme fury, like a mother beast seeing her child in danger.

"Who was it? Who dared make my Xiu'er cry?!"

Two streams of hot air blasted from Pan De's nostrils like steam from an engine. His bloodshot eyes swept over the scene and quickly settled on the doctor. Glaring and gnashing his teeth, he said, "No need to explain. It had to be you, you crabapple-loving pervert! You finally couldn't keep your hands off Xiu'er, could you?! Argh! I should've twisted you into a pretzel the day before Xiu'er met you!"

The Sea Continent World had no loanword like "loli." The equivalent term was "crabapple," taken from "a pear tree in bloom weighs down a crabapple."

Easterners preferred refined, subtle expressions. Just as amorous scholars often called themselves "flower cherishers," if women were flowers, lolis were the crabapples among them. Thus, lolicons often called themselves "crabapple lovers."

The moment he saw Pan De, the doctor dropped his look of unbearable anguish. Unconcerned by the fury bearing down on him, he roared, "Shut up, you fake 'crabapple lover'! Do you think everyone lusts after the opposite sex's body like you do? True crabapple lovers look upon girls with care, without a trace of desire, and never ask for any kind of return!"

"Shut up! I was never one of you crabapple-loving perverts! I just like petite women. I've never been one of your gang of potential criminals!"

"Aha, you finally admit it! So you really do look at adorable young girls with those filthy, testosterone-filled eyes of yours, you bear with a head full of sperm who thinks about nothing but banging all day! I may not be able to care for Lingxiu like I used to, but I won't stand by and let my assistant fall into the hands of a scoundrel. If you dare lay one filthy hand on her, I'll stuff a plasma bomb up your chrysanthemum and give you a taste of anal ecstasy!"

"Before that happens, I'll twist your head off and use it as a ball! You've already abandoned Xiu'er, so you've got no right to keep protecting her. The fact that you mind something as trivial as age proves that's all the breadth of heart you have. If you're allowed near Xiu'er again, you'll only hurt her more!"

"Pah! You talk about breadth of heart, but you're a man with no principles whatsoever. To someone like you, as long as she's petite and cute, nothing else matters, does it? You're the truly shallow one!" A sharp glint flashed in the doctor's eyes as he delivered a fatal blow. "Take a look at your own build in the mirror. You and crabapples are fated never to be together-because your sizes don't match!"

Pan De staggered as though he'd taken a critical hit. Even the dark circles he'd been born with turned deathly pale. In utter agony, he said, "You're cruel! You just had to rip open the scar I care about most. It's not like I chose to grow this way. Why are there only cultivation methods to make you taller in this world, and none to make you shorter?"

"Hahaha..." The doctor threw back his head and laughed, a triumphant look on his face. "Accept your fate. How could a big black bear possibly marry a little white rabbit? Abandon your filthy thoughts and return to the pure crabapple school. So-called legal crabapples are nothing but a deviant path. The idea of legal banging was wrong from the very beginning."

Pan De panted heavily. Though they hadn't come to blows, their exchange of words was fiercer than any fight of fists and feet. But he refused to yield. He suddenly raised his head, a ferocious light blazing in his eyes, as though to say he would take the doctor down with him.