Harmless as a Lamb?

(Free chapter)

Fifteen minutes was neither long nor short. In those fifteen minutes, I witnessed a scene worthy of a futuristic sci-fi blockbuster, while the three unfortunate criminals completed their transformation from vicious bandits into idiots. Thinking of Pandora forcibly driving those long metal probes into their brains, I couldn't help feeling nauseated again...

A faint hum came from within Pandora's body, and Time Stop ended. The crowd resumed scattering in panic, scraps of paper continued spiraling down through the air, and the dust suspended in midair, having shown off its particle effects long enough, went back to serving as background scenery. At the same time, the silent world was instantly flooded with all kinds of sounds: students screaming, students screaming, and more students screaming...

For a moment, I felt like my head was about to explode! The contrast before and after was simply unbelievable!

But the students' cries soon quieted down, because someone noticed that the three gunmen who had been so arrogant moments ago were now sprawled on the ground, drooling, rolling their eyes, and stupidly chewing on their fingers...

Actually, anyone observant enough could still have noticed the inconsistency at the scene—although Pandora had done her best to place the three criminals in suitable positions beforehand, the discontinuity in time still made the scene seem strange. It felt like a small section had been deleted from a complete video before it was stitched back together, creating an obvious skipped-frame effect.

But everyone was too busy running for their lives to notice that tiny anomaly.

By normal plot conventions, this should have been the part where the police came out to clean things up.

I had no interest in what happened next. Right now, I just wanted to leave this chaotic place as quickly as possible.

So I grabbed Qian Qian's hand and hurried toward the school grounds. She was still somewhat terrified and could only stumble along behind me.

No one noticed that among the noble students across from us, a pair of bright eyes was watching the direction we left with an uncertain, startled gaze.

After resting beneath one of the school buildings for quite a while, Qian Qian finally came back to her senses. She let out a long breath, patted her chest, and said, "Whew... That scared me to death. I never thought we'd run into something like that. I thought things like this only happened on TV, but it actually happened in real life."

I smiled awkwardly. Compared to you, what I saw just now was even less likely to happen in reality!

"Hey, A Jun, why do you think those three did something like that? For money? Well, the students across from us are all nobles, so it's normal for them to be targeted. But how did they end up like that? Did they all have heart attacks at the same time?"

Looking at Qian Qian, who had already recovered, I couldn't help sighing. "Qian Qian, aren't your nerves a little too tough? You recovered that quickly?"

"Of course. It was just a false alarm. Do I need to end up traumatized or something?" Qian Qian's exceptionally thick nerves were fully displaying their usefulness now. The shooting seemed to have had little effect on this carefree girl. The two of us looked calm, in sharp contrast to the students around us who occasionally ran past in a panic.

"By the way, A Jun, you still need to take Lily to register, right? It's getting late... Lily, that didn't scare you too badly, did it? If you really can't handle it, why not let your brother take you home?"

Qian Qian's last sentence suddenly reminded me of something important!

Pandora! I had only thought to bring Qian Qian with me and had completely forgotten Pandora. Had she been quietly following us the whole time?

I stared fixedly at the little girl pretending to be blind without saying a word, my feelings complicated.

Originally, although I knew she was not human, she looked no different from an ordinary person, so I had always unconsciously regarded her as nothing more than a somewhat strange little sister. But just now, Pandora's Humanoid Weapon form had harshly reminded me once again that the girl before me, who was called my little sister, was not human, but a war machine from somewhere far away.

For a moment, I didn't even know how to face her.

I didn't dislike Pandora. On the contrary, when facing this cold little girl—the only one who knew my secret—I often felt a heartfelt tenderness toward her. Perhaps that was why I found it so hard to accept the fact that she was not human and was closer to a weapon.

"A Jun, what's wrong? Spacing out again? Don't tell me what happened just now scared you silly?" Qian Qian saw that I had remained silent for so long, merely looking quietly at my own little sister, and spoke worriedly. Her tone made it sound as though she had already decided I had been frightened stupid by what had happened.

That was a serious blow to my self-esteem...

"I'm fine. I was just worried about whether Lily got scared... You should go to class first. I already talked to the teacher. Once Lily gets to her new class, I'll come over."

Qian Qian looked at me worriedly for several seconds. Only after seeing that I did not seem abnormal did she answer, "Oh, then I'll go first. Hurry up and come to class later."

Honestly... She was a few months younger than me, yet she always acted like she was taking care of me...

"Emperor..."

"Don't call me that," I said firmly all of a sudden.

Pandora seemed startled by my words. A trace of surprise even appeared on that face which almost never showed any expression. Her gray eyes widened slightly, making her look even cuter.

After being stunned for two or three seconds, Pandora came back to herself and said calmly, "Emperor is the standard form of address for an individual with highest authority. If you are dissatisfied with it, I can follow this world's customs and add 'Your Majesty' after Emperor."

"No, that's not what I mean... Call me Brother. Try to use that form of address from now on."

Pandora looked at me quietly. Then I heard a buzzing sound from inside her body, like high-voltage current passing through a transformer. Before long, a wisp of white smoke rose from the top of her head...

Hey, hey, hey, I mean, it was just a change of address! Did that really cause a logic failure?

"Database comparison complete. Changing to this form of address does not violate Shilin Law. The default address set has been modified, but the original form of address will still be maintained in combat mode."

Pandora calmly reported the result of her deliberation, then suddenly pointed at her head and said, "Brother, I'm overloaded..."

She was so cute like this!

Introducing Pandora to her new group went even more smoothly than I had expected. A strong blind girl whose parents had died when she was young had overcome countless hardships to attend school so she could stay with the brother she had finally reunited with. That premise immediately stirred the sympathy of those innocent first-year middle school students. Little Pan Lili instantly became the darling of the entire class, and everyone was eager to show this unfortunate girl a little kindness. The overflowing enthusiasm of her classmates even left Pandora slightly at a loss.

That put me much more at ease. At least I no longer had to worry about some clueless student bullying Pandora for being "blind" and getting blasted into scraps by a Phase Shock Cannon—because Pandora had previously told me that if some rude Carbon-Based Lifeform attempted to offend her, then as a senior officer, she had to defend the honor of the Empire Army. And the method of defending that honor was the use of force—the upper limit of that use of force had given me quite a scare. It even included the option of activating an Anti-Star Weapon!

Therefore, my greatest hope was that no brain-dead idiot would provoke Pandora.

Of course, considering that my current remote command ability was basically zero, and Pandora herself had no support from the Shilin Outpost Base, using an Anti-Star Weapon was still unlikely. At most, she might use a Legion-Class Weapon...

So, Pandora's classmates, don't let this little loli's harmless appearance fool you!