Chapter 20

In the peach grove at night, peach blossom petals drifted down from time to time.

"Mr. Gan?" Ouyang Rui arrived at a clearing in the peach grove, where three people stood before him—two men and one woman.

"Mr. Ouyang is not only punctual, but your choice of location is also top-notch," Mr. Gan said. "Truly a beautiful place."

As he spoke, Mr. Gan admired the flower lanterns beneath the peach blossoms.

"You flatter me, Mr. Gan. I also hope this meeting of ours will be a good start," Ouyang Rui said. "My people are already here. Is it just the three of you on your side?"

"How could that be? Mr. Ouyang, please look up," Mr. Gan said, pointing above.

Above their heads, an invisible stealth fighter hovered silently in the sky. As the fighter dropped its camouflage, a figure leaped directly from the aircraft, carrying a case in hand.

Just before landing, a jet of air shot from the figure's feet, cushioning the impact. As the air current swept past, countless petals began to dance through the sky.

"Allow me to introduce you. This is Kaito, the person our Evolution Company has sent to oversee this transaction," Mr. Gan said, then addressed the man: "And this is Mr. Ouyang of the Ouyang Family."

While the atmosphere in the peach grove was cordial, Lin Jie outside it was far from comfortable. Two muscular men were patting him down, one on each side.

"Just as I guessed—he doesn't look strong, but the muscles under his clothes are incredibly powerful," one of the muscle men said as he felt around. This man was Yatan, a B-rank hero who had been instantly defeated as Lin Jie's examiner during the hero exam.

"The muscles are firm, all small explosive fibers. Looks like he's been through some hard training," said another muscle man, whose skin was pitch black. Lin Jie recognized him too—it was Black Gold, the lecturer from when he'd attended classes at the Hero Association.

"Is that so? Let me have a feel too!" A pale-skinned muscle man walked over. Lin Jie had only met him after Dong Xue'er's introductions—he was Black Gold's brother, named White Gold, also a B-rank hero. Behind them stood at least a few dozen more muscle men, ranging from C-rank to E-rank. These were the reinforcements Dong Xue'er had brought from H City: the H City Muscle Association.

"Get the hell away from me, all of you!" Lin Jie couldn't take it anymore. Surrounded by a crowd of muscle men groping him all over, he had an unsettling feeling like his back door was "chilly."

"Kid, how about joining our Muscle Association? We can study muscle-building methods together," Black Gold said to Lin Jie. "I think highly of you."

"Like hell I'd join your so-called Muscle Association!" Lin Jie backed away and looked helplessly at Dong Xue'er. "I never figured you for this type."

"In H City, among the strong and righteous superheroes, they're the only ones," Dong Xue'er said. "Stay sharp! Don't get spotted. Right now, the peach grove is basically full of Ouyang Rui's men—they outnumber us by a lot."

"Tch!" Lin Jie spat. "Can you stop grabbing my ass?"

Just then, Xiao Zhan and a group of muscle men charged into the peach grove. A large number of armed mercenaries and low-rank ability users appeared before them.

"Let them see the power of our Muscle Association!" the leading muscle man shouted.

"Roar! Roar!" The muscle men behind him let out a synchronized battle cry and raised their massive alloy shields as they charged at the enemy.

"This is some 300 Spartans vibe," Xiao Zhan said as he leaped sideways with all his strength. A fist-sized crater appeared in the ground where he'd been standing.

After a clumsy scramble, Xiao Zhan barely managed to steady himself on a tree.

Watching the chaotic battle ahead, Xiao Zhan felt a deep sense of helplessness. Enemies were everywhere, and no matter how fierce his Spartan warriors were, they couldn't take on this many.

"Ouyang Rui, you damn rich bastard! You bring this many mercenaries just to step out the door?" Xiao Zhan cursed. "Good thing I came prepared."

With that, he pulled out a strange device.

"Time to show you my domain," Xiao Zhan said as he activated the device.

The next moment, both sides in the skirmish at the edge of the peach grove were stunned to find that everyone present had been covered in mosaic censor bars. Yes, Xiao Zhan's device had pixelated every single person, even their weapons.

And so, in this pink peach grove, a horde of mosaic-covered beings launched into a chaotic melee. The sheer beauty of the scene left Lin Jie and the others, who entered the grove later, frozen in stunned silence.

"I've successfully suppressed the outer enemies! Leave the rest to you!" Xiao Zhan, his entire body covered in mosaic, waved a mosaic-covered decontamination baton as he ran toward Lin Jie and Dong Xue'er.

"Alloy Heavy Fist!!"

Halfway there, Black Gold's fist made intimate contact with him. Xiao Zhan was sent flying sideways, slamming into a peach tree and getting buried under falling petals.

"What the hell are these things?" Black Gold withdrew his fist and asked.

"The guy you just hit is one of ours," Lin Jie said. "I'm embarrassed to say it, but that's my partner."

"What?" Black Gold was taken aback. "I thought he was some kind of monster from the way he looked."

"Forget it, let's just count that as one non-combat casualty," Lin Jie said.

In the clearing of the peach grove.

"Mr. Ouyang, it seems your security measures weren't so tight after all," Kaito said to Ouyang Rui.

Behind Kaito, Weapon and Shadow had already vanished from their spots.

"So Dong Xue'er really came to cause trouble after all?" Ouyang Rui muttered. "Since that's the case, don't blame me for being ruthless. I already gave you a chance."

Then Ouyang Rui pulled out a communicator. "Hunter, make your move."

"It looks like our transaction will have to be postponed," Kaito said.

"My apologies, but I need to clean up here," Ouyang Rui said to Kaito.

"No problem. Good luck," Kaito said as he activated the fighter in the sky.

"None of you are getting away today." A female voice rang out from the sky as a massive spear of ice pierced through the fighter.

The fighter began to fall toward the people below. Ouyang Rui and the others barely dodged the descending aircraft.

But the fighter didn't explode—because the moment it hit the ground, it froze into an iceberg.

Behind Dong Xiaoye, a pair of wings formed from ice spread out. She hovered like a spirit of the night, looking down at the people beneath her.

"Dong Xiaoye, so you came along too," Ouyang Rui said.

"Today, you all—" Before Dong Xiaoye could finish, a powerful electromagnetic pulse shot toward her. She instinctively dodged, but the pulse still struck one of her ice wings. Losing one wing, Dong Xiaoye tilted and fell toward a part of the forest.

"Huff, huff, huff." Glasses barely managed to run over at that moment, and then he saw Dong Xiaoye falling in another direction: "Holy shit!"

Glasses thought for a moment, then chased after her in that direction.

"I never thought you'd actually manage to buy off Hunter." Dong Xue'er stepped out from behind a tree, with Lin Jie and the Black-White-Gold Brothers beside him.

"I already gave you a chance, Dong Xue'er! Even if I kill you now, the boss won't say a thing." Ouyang Rui spoke as faint golden light swirled around his body, and a dozen or so metal devices shaped like fountain pens floated at his side.

"Looks like I underestimated the combat strength a bit." Dong Xue'er glanced helplessly at the Black-White-Gold Brothers and Lin Jie: "You two handle those Evolution Company guys over there. Lin Jie and I will take Ouyang Rui."

"Leave it to us." White Gold said as his body began to steelize, and he charged straight at Kaito. Black Gold, meanwhile, rushed toward Mr. Gan.

"You think the two of you can handle me?" Ouyang Rui said to Lin Jie and Dong Xue'er. As he spoke, the pen-like metal devices around him flew at the two of them.

On two large peach trees at the edge of the peach grove, one person stood atop each. One was the Hero Association examiner, Yatan. The other was Evolution Company's Weapon.

Both of their hands had transformed—one into a pair of long blades, the other into a pair of alloy swords.

"A fellow ability user?" Yatan raised the alloy swords formed from his hands: "Let's see which of us is stronger."

Shadow had been in a bad mood earlier, because she hadn't gotten the chance to personally kill that bastard who'd given her two straight nights of nightmares. But what she hadn't expected was that today, in this peach grove, she'd spot that same damn bastard again through the monitors. Not only that, but the bastard was about to attack their trade site.

For Shadow, this was a perfect opportunity. She had another chance to kill him. So as the chaotic battle at the edge of the peach grove erupted, she couldn't wait to get there.

And then she was completely dumbfounded!

The beautiful scenery of this peach grove had been utterly ruined by a bunch of mosaic creatures that didn't fit the aesthetic at all.

Everyone was covered in mosaics, everyone was holding mosaic-covered props. They kept throwing mosaic-covered props at each other, and the scene was nothing short of a demonic frenzy.

From time to time, two mosaic-covered figures would roll together, letting out pained groans that made anyone watching inevitably think of something unsavory.

Now, it was practically a state of everyone against everyone. After all, once you were covered in mosaics, you couldn't tell friend from foe...

"Where the hell is that bastard?" Shadow was on the verge of losing it. Because with everyone mosaicked, she couldn't tell which one was her target.

"Forget it... heh..." Shadow's eyes turned into pitch-black voids in that moment: "I'll just kill them all! If I kill everyone, then there won't be anything like this left in the world, right..."