Kidnapping Kimiko

With the speed and agility of a superhuman, Li Wei and Kimiko easily shook off the curious onlookers, but then Kimiko began struggling fiercely again.

She hadn't come here to save those two trafficked children—she came for revenge, and she wouldn't let this mysterious superhuman drag her around.

Even if he seemed full of goodwill, back when she was trafficked, the two guys she'd just killed had acted just as friendly at first!

This time, Li Wei didn't keep a death grip on her. Instead, he quickly spoke in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, insisting he meant no harm.

He wanted to help her escape the enemy's pursuit, so whatever she planned to do next, she should keep a low profile.

Then change clothes, grab some food, and go do what she needed to do.

Pretending to think it over, and noticing she hadn't said a word the whole time, he pulled out a spare phone he'd prepared, opened a handwriting input app and translation software.

"If you don't want to talk or it's inconvenient, how about we communicate through the phone?"

To recruit this little mute, he'd invested no small amount of effort—almost as much as with Starlight. He hoped she'd understand gratitude.

And Li Wei still faced a major issue: in the storyline, Kimiko had selective mutism, but his system required a verbal affirmative when trying to copy abilities.

How was a mute supposed to answer? Sign language? Nod for yes, shake for no?

Regardless, he had to recruit her first, then slowly work on the rest.

After hearing him out, Kimiko's expression shifted again.

After a moment's thought, she cautiously took the phone and typed out a long string of text.

The translation software made some phrasing off, but Li Wei already knew the answer, so he understood perfectly.

First, her name was Kimiko, a Japanese girl. She'd been kidnapped, her parents killed, and she and her brother forced into an extremist organization—the Flash—where they endured brutal training.

Her fighting skills came from life-or-death battles there.

She later managed to escape with her brother, but unfortunately, out of the tiger's den, into the wolf's lair.

Snakehead and the two black guys had caught and sold her, locking her in some basement for experiments, which gave her special abilities.

Now she wanted revenge—kill Snakehead, find her brother, and go home!

When Li Wei finished reading, he looked up to see Kimiko watching him nervously, clearly ready to fight or flee.

Obviously, if he tried to stop her revenge, she wouldn't listen, even though he'd just helped her.

Li Wei just chuckled. "I won't stop your revenge. If needed, I'll even help you find your brother or whatever."

"But I hope you finish your revenge quickly and slip away quietly. Our situation isn't exactly safe, deal?"

He held out his fist. Thinking back on everything he'd done since they met, Kimiko finally bumped her fist against his. Things couldn't get worse than this, right?

So Kimiko changed clothes in the shadows, put on shoes, and followed Li Wei's directions to the Nail Salon.

At first, she walked in like a regular customer, drawing no attention—the salon kept up appearances as a front for trafficking.

Then Kimiko took out Snakehead in a few moves. She didn't drag innocents into it, and with Li Wei and Hughie's backup, she quickly fled by car.

Hughie was a bit shaky at first—he'd watched her kill two people from a distance—but remembering there was a real superhuman in the car, his fear turned to excitement.

Kimiko frowned. Her brutal fighting style had splattered blood on her new clothes, which she found a shame and a bit guilty about.

Li Wei caught on and chuckled. "Don't worry about it. We got you some food—this one's yours."

He pushed the Japanese meal toward Kimiko and took the Chinese food for himself.

As for the crappy kimchi, that went to Hughie.

Sure, Hughie had run the errand, but Li Wei had paid for it. He was lucky to get anything.

In fact, Hughie was too excited to care. He just asked about the driving route, not knowing where they were headed.

Li Wei wasn't about to tell him. Once they hit the suburbs, he had Hughie drive off on his own.

If Hughie knew the exact address, that bastard Butcher would follow the trail and try to find some weakness to exploit.

Li Wei wasn't afraid, but it'd be a hassle, and he didn't have time for that.

Besides, he always thought killing the main crew outright was the lowest move—totally unnecessary for now.

He turned to Kimiko, who was glancing around warily now that they were in the wild.

"I'll call a friend to look after you. I told her your throat's injured and you need rest."

"I need some time to dig up info on your brother."

"Our enemies are strong. For safety, you'd better not go out. If you absolutely have to, disguise yourself and come back fast."

He'd already called Firecracker. The house he'd had her buy earlier was perfect for this.

With Firecracker's abilities, she could handle looking after Kimiko no problem.

And he wasn't too worried about betrayal. First, A-Train and Homelander would definitely keep this under wraps, not wanting any extra people to know.

Second, Firecracker had recently realized the benefits he could bring her—she wouldn't give that up.

Finally, she had one good trait: self-awareness. She wouldn't crave things beyond her reach.

Unless Homelander personally told her to hand over Kimiko and promised to protect her himself, she wouldn't snitch even knowing Kimiko was shady. She wasn't that stupid.

A few warnings from him should be enough.

Of course, nothing is absolute. If, through some twist of fate, she actually handed Kimiko over, Li Wei would be the first to kill that kind of traitor.

Kimiko nodded silently. Soon, she couldn't hold back and typed on her phone: "Why are you helping me so much?"

Li Wei said very seriously, "The power within you comes from experiments, and so does mine. You can consider the people who experimented on you as my enemies."

"There's an old Chinese saying: an enemy's enemy is a friend. Does that make sense?"

Kimiko's eyes went wide in an instant, because he had spoken that sentence in very standard Chinese. He must be of Chinese descent!

Earlier, with the mask in the way, she only knew he might be Asian, but Asia has many countries, and their qualities often differ vastly.

But if he was of Chinese descent, combined with everything he had done before, it greatly increased his trustworthiness.

After thinking it over, Kimiko typed again. Besides expressing her thanks, this time she added one more sentence.

If there was a need, she was also willing to act. Her revenge targets weren't just Snakehead and the people who sold her—the ones who experimented on her were included too!

Li Wei couldn't help but smile. Good, this was a very promising start. As long as she wasn't an ungrateful person, he would win her over sooner or later!

Thanks to fellow reader (Jue Tianmo) for the tip, and thanks to everyone for the votes.

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