What Are You Pretending to Be?

What Are You Pretending to Be? The Spartan Front Kick, which used the heel as its final point of force, had the greatest destructive power of all front-kicking techniques.

"Pfft!"

Even Lou Huiying, struck by that violent kick directly to her weak point, doubled over like a cooked shrimp. Blood and vomit surged from her mouth as she clutched her abdomen with both hands.

Without hesitation, Xue Jing pressed forward. His right leg rose straight up above his head, power gathering as he charged it to the limit, then it came down like the blade of a guillotine!

Lou Huiying was bent over, clutching her stomach, when the back of her head took the full blow. Like a radish being planted, she was brutally kicked into the ground by Xue Jing.

"Bang!"

Her face sank deeply into the hard concrete, dust flying everywhere. A ring of cracks over a meter wide spread out from her.

Lou Huiying stopped moving. The black crown fell off and rolled to one side, looking no different from an ordinary hair accessory.

Everyone watching stood silent as cicadas in winter, intimidated by the young man's terrifying martial prowess and his merciless brutality even toward a woman.

Xue Jing paid no attention to what others thought. He adjusted the glasses on his nose, which had shifted slightly from his violent movements, then bent down and picked up GOD-1105: Villainess's Crown.

Divinity Substance detected. Absorbing divinity...

He took out his phone, snapped a picture of the black crown, and sent it to Wu Youqing.

"Containment successful," Xue Jing muttered.

He glanced once more at Lou Huiying, who lay facedown and motionless on the ground, then walked over and used his right foot to turn her over.

So she would not suffocate with her head buried in the ground.

As for the punishment for all the evil deeds she had committed after putting on Villainess's Crown... he would leave that to the residents she had persecuted these past days.

The South District was known for its simple folkways, and the major gangs were full of talent. Having lost Villainess's Crown and reverted to an ordinary person, Lou Huiying's days ahead would surely not be pleasant.

Just as Xue Jing was about to leave, a low, indifferent voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Oh? I nearly arrived too late, but this works out just fine."

"Hey, kid."

"Hand over that thing you're holding. You're not qualified to touch it."

Xue Jing paused slightly, then slowly turned toward the source of the voice.

It was a rather burly man dressed in a suit and leather shoes.

His entire outfit was impeccably groomed, without so much as a wrinkle in his clothes. His tie was perfectly straight, and his hair had been slicked back with pomade without a single strand sticking up. He looked like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The man had hard features and an indifferent look in his eyes. He looked down at Xue Jing with an air of superiority, as if gazing down from above.

Xue Jing lingered over the man's face for a moment longer, finding something strange about it.

His skin was extremely pale—unnaturally so. Several indentations marked his cheeks, as though his skin had been sewn on through some highly precise method, giving him an oddly discordant appearance.

His eyes were strange as well. One was normal black, while the other was a dark red Bionic Eye that emitted a faint glow.

"What if I say no?" Xue Jing asked in a completely flat tone.

He glanced at the panel.

In the Divinity Skill section, beneath Twin Life, wisps of golden light were emerging and steadily gathering.

He had seen this phenomenon before.

It was exactly what had happened when he first came into contact with a God Relic and Twin Life had activated.

A new Divinity Skill was being born.

Xue Jing closed the panel and tucked Villainess's Crown into his collar, making sure it remained in constant contact with his body.

Seeing this, the man narrowed his eyes.

"Kid, you're courting death."

The man took off his suit jacket and tossed it aside. As he walked toward Xue Jing, he loosened his tie, clearly preparing to fight.

From the dark red Bionic Eye's perspective, the data on the young man before him was rapidly analyzed.

Estimated physical energy level: 1.7–1.9

Physical mutation rate: below 1%

Signs of martial arts training. No obvious bodily specialization. Unable to calculate combat pattern.

...

Following a large amount of data analysis came the final assessment.

Estimated overall danger rating: 2.1–2.5

The result surprised the man somewhat.

He looked only sixteen or seventeen... Living in a backwater like the Outer Ring City, yet earning an evaluation above 2 at that age—this kid's talent was not bad.

But... he was still far too weak.

Contempt showed in the man's eyes.

"Kid, I'll give you one last chance."

"Hand it over."

He stopped in front of Xue Jing and crossed his arms.

"I can spare your worthless life and only break one arm and one leg."

"Kneel and thank me for my mercy."

There was an infuriating sense of entitlement in the man's words.

Xue Jing was silent for a moment. Then he blinked and smiled.

"You piece of shit, you haven't done much posing, have you?"

The man's gaze turned cold.

"Let me guess. You're the kind of lowly mutt who'd rather wag his tail and beg just to squeeze into a circle where he doesn't belong. Now that you've gotten in, you think you're hot shit, better than everyone else. You walk around like the wind's at your back, and you can't help copying those upper-class people you usually deal with, trying to put on an act."

"But—you've never actually put on an act before, have you? It's way too stiff. Seriously, I'm embarrassed for you just listening to it."

A bright, sunlit smile curled across Xue Jing's lips.

"I'm really curious. You low-class mutt, who the fuck are you trying to impress here?"

One Razor Gang member among the onlookers could not help laughing.

"Pfft..."

Hearing the laughter, the man seemed to have had a nerve struck. His face turned green, then white. His red Bionic Eye flickered continuously, seeming ashamed and furious before transforming into utter rage.

"You're dead... You're dead... You're dead..."

"I'm going to... kill you!"

Just as he was about to attack, Xue Jing beat him to it, ruthlessly kicking upward at the man's crotch.

"Smack!"

After the dull impact, contempt appeared in the man's eyes. "Despicable Martial Artists, always relying on such cheap tricks. Did you really think we wouldn't guard against them?"

Xue Jing immediately sensed that something was wrong. The sensation of impact was nothing like hitting a human body. It felt as though he had kicked a hard rubber tire—tough and solid.

"It's over!"

The man suddenly lunged in for a grab, moving with incredible speed, like a giant beast opening its jaws to bite Xue Jing.

It should have been a sure thing. According to the Bionic Eye's assessment, a kid with a physical energy level below 2 had no chance of dodging at this range.

Yet the man grabbed nothing.

The young man was incredibly quick. With speed far beyond his evaluated level, he crouched to evade the grab, took a step back, and pulled away from him.

Then... he turned and ran without hesitation!

"Damn it!"

The man flew into a rage, smashing through the floor as he chased after Xue Jing.

Xue Jing weaved through the maze-like alleys, his eyes thoughtful.

Who was this guy? A Containment Officer from another containment company?

His body is strange... Has he taken illegal enhancement drugs? Or does he have an Alien Plant Body implanted?

The Outer Ring City lacks the medical conditions for it, so the use of Alien Plant Bodies is prohibited... Did he come from the Inner Ring City?

A continuous series of crashing sounds came from behind him.

Xue Jing looked back.

While he darted around corners and used force techniques to run along walls and rooftops through the alleys, the other man was far more straightforward and brutal. Like a tank, he smashed through countless walls and rapidly closed in on him in a straight line.

As the distance between them steadily shrank and Twin Birth Speed could not be maintained for long, Xue Jing checked the divinity absorption progress on the panel.

The pale golden motes were still gathering.

First, I need to buy some time and see what this new Divinity Skill is.

Xue Jing made his decision.

He turned into another alley, his sharp gaze sweeping across the area. After taking a few steps forward, he picked up a rusty, bent iron nail from the ground.

Please vote with your monthly tickets, I'm begging you.