Hero Must Never Flee from Battle! (4k)

After saying that, Klein, who had arrived here by accident, turned around and tried to flee.

"Wait!"

But things had already reached this point. The original abduction plan had completely fallen apart, so Xu Ziling naturally could not simply let Klein leave. He decided to go all the way, and the body of the National Goddess suddenly erupted with unimaginable power. Her golden hair flew behind her as she concentrated her strength into one finger and swiftly jabbed it into the back of Klein's head.

"Ugh!..."

Under force comparable to the impact of an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, Klein naturally had no chance to resist. She only felt a sudden chill behind her before losing consciousness and collapsing to the ground.

However, after knocking Klein out, Xu Ziling's anxiety did not lessen in the slightest.

That was because the current reality could not merely be described as having nothing to do with the original plan. It had completely collapsed from beginning to end. Now Klein was down, Mobius was down, and he was alone. What was he supposed to do next?

He could carry the professor straight home... but how would he explain it afterward? Besides, carrying the professor home was possible, but what about Klein?

If he left her here, she might choose not to tell anyone about what she had seen out of reason after waking up. But she would definitely lower her first impression of Xu Ziling and Serpent, making it incredibly difficult for Mobius to abduct her afterward.

So what exactly should he do? Carry Klein home with him too? Wouldn't that count as illegal kidnapping?

Wait... illegal kidnapping?

He had an idea.

At the same time, elsewhere.

"Hey... old man, could you open the gate for us? We're really just going out to look for someone!"

At the entrance of Chiyu Academy, Kevin exhausted himself trying to reason with the elderly gatekeeper.

"Besides, it's Friday today. Evening self-study is already over. You don't have to be so strict about us leaving campus, do you?"

"Looking for someone..."

The gray-haired gatekeeper pushed up his reading glasses. He first looked at Kevin, then at Mei, who stood behind him with her head lowered and her breathing disordered. After thinking for a moment, he stroked his beard and said,

"In the middle of the night, you're taking this young girl out to look for someone?"

"Exactly!"

Kevin nodded earnestly.

The old gatekeeper stroked his beard again. After pondering for quite some time, he asked,

"Who are you looking for?"

"We're of course going out to find... uh... Mei, what was that professor's name again?"

Kevin suddenly forgot the name of the professor who had come to Chiyu Academy to give a lecture that night, so he asked Mei behind him.

Kevin had carried Mei off so abruptly earlier that her breathing was still somewhat disordered after he set her down. After steadying her emotions, Mei shook her head at Kevin and addressed the gatekeeper herself.

"Grandpa, we really are going out to find someone. There are two people, and she introduced herself to us as... um, Professor Serpent."

"Snake teacher?"

"Professor Serpent."

"What kind of professor?"

"Professor Serpent."

"What snake receiver?"

"..."

Mei fell tactically silent for a moment before saying,

"Grandpa, let me put it another way... Did you see two girls leave through here just now? One had long green hair, and the other had long golden hair. The green-haired one was about as tall as me, while the blonde was tall and slender, about as tall as Kevin."

As she spoke, Mei gestured to compare her height with Kevin's.

"Oh..."

The gatekeeper stroked his beard, seemingly remembering something.

The next moment, he decisively shook his head.

"Never saw them."

"This..."

Mei was rendered speechless.

Kevin scratched his head and asked,

"Old man, are you saying you were deliberately messing with us?"

The gatekeeper's eyes widened. He immediately flew into a rage.

"You know? If you know, then get lost!

"And Kevin, no matter what, I've watched you grow from your first year to your third year at this academy. If you were more faithful, I wouldn't say anything. After all, you're all adults in your third year... But you change girlfriends every week, and you still expect me to open the gate for you? Dream on! If you have the time to make me risk disciplinary action by opening the gate, you might as well climb over that old wall of yours!"

"Uh... but I brought Mei along, and that makes it inconvenient..."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost, get lost! Just stop bothering me. One of these days, you're going to drive me to my grave."

After his conversation with the gatekeeper fell apart, Kevin truly had no other choice. He led Mei away from the main entrance of Chiyu Academy's high school division. After thinking for a moment, he suggested,

"How about we climb over the wall? It's not high, only five meters. I'll call Su to help you. You should be able to get out."

"Sigh."

Mei sighed and shook her head helplessly.

"Thanks, but forget it... Kevin, we've already wasted too much time. Professor Mobius and her assistant should have already driven away. Even if you could run faster than a car, we don't know which direction they went in. We'd only be wasting our effort."

"Mobius... That's Professor Serpent's name?"

Kevin scratched his head.

"But Mei, are you really giving up just like that?"

"There's nothing else we can do..."

Mei sighed again.

"But this matter at least taught me one thing. If I want to reach the heights I dream of, relying on others will always be empty and illusory. Only by believing in myself can I improve steadily... Let's go, Kevin. We'll return to the academy library. Thank you for helping me today. I can help you review your lessons."

Changkong City had its own distinctive arrangement: Chiyu Academy combined a university and a high school, and naturally had a library open twenty-four hours for students to study. Whenever there were no classes, Mei would always go to the library to review. Kevin would shamelessly follow her whenever he had the chance. Although he could not understand anything, he was always happy as long as he could be with Mei.

But now that Mei had said this, she had clearly given up on her earlier idea.

After reading the encouragement letter from Miss Pink Elf, Kevin, who was currently filled with mysterious confidence, definitely could not stand by and watch Mei give up. It was also one of his charming qualities. Kevin was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed.

"Student Kevin, what's wrong?"

Mei noticed the sudden change in Kevin's eyes and asked in confusion.

"Shh!"

Kevin hurriedly gestured for Mei to be quiet. Then he pointed toward the wall surrounding the high school division of Chiyu Academy in the distance, hidden beneath the night sky.

Mei followed his gaze and indeed saw a furtive figure "holding a beauty in each arm," carrying two "students" who had clearly lost the ability to resist toward the academy wall. With one powerful leap, the figure vaulted over the five-meter-high wall and disappeared outside the academy.

"Are they... climbing the wall to skip class?"

"Hey! Mei, are you really stupid, or are you pretending?"

Seeing that the figure in the darkness had already left the campus, Kevin waved at Mei and said,

"The two students that figure is carrying have obviously lost consciousness, all right? If they were climbing the wall to skip class, they should be excited. How could they be carried away? This is clearly a kidnapping!"

"A kidnapping?"

Mei was shocked. Growing up, she had always had her father's hundred-billion-yuan listed company supporting her, as well as Kevin, an absurdly gifted athlete, accompanying her at all times. She had always been the best-protected person around. She simply could not imagine that such an abhorrent crime as kidnapping could still happen in Changkong City.

"Then... should we call the police? There are cameras around the academy. That person shouldn't be able to get away."

The matter involved a possible crime, and Mei's tone inevitably became tense. Although she was the Lightning Queen of the academy and had ranked first in her year for years, she was, at heart, only an eighteen-year-old girl.

"It won't work."

Kevin waved his hand.

"I know the wall that person climbed over. It's the one Su and I often use to sneak out. That area is a blind spot for the academy's surveillance. The culprit probably noticed that too, which is why they chose to escape there.

"This also proves that the kidnapping was no coincidence. It was premeditated and planned. Even after leaving Chiyu Academy, they'll definitely avoid surveillance blind spots everywhere. If we call the police directly, the kidnapped students might not be rescued immediately. We could even alert the culprit."

"So, Mei, I have a plan now. I need you to cooperate with me."

Mei looked at Kevin, who was speaking to her with utmost seriousness about a rescue plan. She suddenly felt that she had only truly gotten to know this white-haired young man today.

But after thinking for a moment, Mei frowned and said to Kevin,

"Student Kevin, don't tell me your plan is for me to stay here and act as backup while you go alone to fight the criminals? No! I refuse. That would be far too dangerous for you."

"Ah? Haha~ You really can't hide anything from me, Mei."

Kevin laughed awkwardly, then turned serious.

"But Mei, I don't know whether I've ever told you this, but my dream, Kevin's dream... is to become a hero! And a hero can't just stand by and watch his classmate get kidnapped. I have to do something.

"Besides, Mei, you know I'm very talented physically. Please believe me. Once I catch up with the person who kidnapped our classmates, I'll definitely bring the innocent victims back."

"But Kevin, you're going to fight a real criminal this time. What if they're carrying a controlled weapon or a gun? What will you do then? Wake up! This has gone beyond the point where you can stubbornly pursue your hero's dream!"

Mei grew anxious and grabbed Kevin's arm.

"How about this... I'll call my father right now. You know who he is. He can send people to work with the police and deal with this through a full-scale search. That kidnapper won't be able to escape."

"Mm... Mei, I know what you're saying."

Kevin lowered Mei's hand from his arm and said,

"But a hero... can't flee from battle! Ha! Don't worry, Mei. I'm not afraid of knives. If I discover that they have a gun, I'll follow them from a distance and call the police step by step. Just wait for my good news. See you!"

"Hey! Kevin!!"

Mei cried out in alarm, but the next moment, Kevin had already sprinted away like the wind. He quickly reached the section of Chiyu Academy's wall outside the surveillance coverage, then vaulted over it with a powerful leap.

Mei stared blankly at the scene, her mind replaying Kevin's departing figure again and again. At that moment, the white-haired young man who usually joked around seemed to have truly become a real hero.

Elsewhere.

After vaulting over the wall and leaving Chiyu Academy, Xu Ziling, with Mobius in his left hand and Klein in his right, was steadily carrying out his plan.

Although, according to his own thoughts, the plan he was about to carry out was indeed quite despicable, Mobius had said that they did not need to explain their actions to anyone. Mobius's original plan had also been to abduct Klein with a "white lie," so there was no need to worry about it too much.

Under normal circumstances, he might have had to consider the consequences of taking an evil path in civilized society. But a few days ago, after seeing Mobius call the principal of Chiyu Academy and terrify him into silence with only a slight revelation of her identity, Xu Ziling realized that Mobius, his target for conquest, might wield even greater power in this era than he had imagined.

With every advantage on his side, Xu Ziling wandered through the night of Changkong City. He selected a lucky passerby, plucked out one of their hairs with lightning speed, and swiftly carried Mobius and Klein into an alley without surveillance cameras.

"Sorry... Since I've already started, I have no choice but to see it through. This really was the only option left."

In the alley, Xu Ziling found a relatively clean spot and settled down the drunk Mobius and unconscious Klein. At some point, a pitch-black strand of hair had appeared in his hand.

The next moment, as Xu Ziling's thoughts shifted, the smooth skin of his right hand began to twist and writhe strangely, enveloping the black strand of hair clenched in his palm.

Immediately afterward, Xu Ziling's dazzling golden hair and National Goddess-like features rapidly twisted. His skin and cells churned in a way that ordinary people could not comprehend. When everything finally settled, "Xu Ziling" had vanished. His white-and-gold clothes had vanished as well, replaced by an utterly ordinary Shenzhou face—the kind that would disappear into a crowd before anyone got a second look.

"As expected..."

Xu Ziling, now wearing another ordinary face, nodded to himself.

"This so-called DNA Mimicry doesn't necessarily require blood. As long as it contains someone's DNA, hair with a follicle will work too."

Then Xu Ziling slightly furrowed his brows. Along with the change in appearance caused by DNA Mimicry, some of the lucky passerby's thought patterns had begun to seep backward and envelop his mind. However, the influence on Xu Ziling was extremely weak. As long as he did not deliberately imitate that person, the other person's thought patterns brought by DNA Mimicry would have a negligible effect on him.

Now that he understood this point, Xu Ziling's "plan" to achieve the best of both worlds could proceed to its next step.

Looking at Mobius and Klein, both unconscious in the alley, Xu Ziling tactically swallowed before reaching out his "sinful hand" toward them...

The data for this new book has gone way beyond expectations!! Once again, thank you all for your love and support! The author is entering nonstop-update mode immediately. I deleted my games, tossed my phone aside, and handed over my account. The author will sleep only four hours a day and write as much as possible today—never less than ten thousand words. From now on, updates will be fixed at seven in the afternoon every day, and the amount updated over the next seven days will match today's output. Once again, thank you all for your love and support!!!!