Beneath a dim streetlamp, a young man stood bare-chested beside a roadside tree. The faint lamplight and pale moonlight drifted over him like water, casting a misty sheen across his knotted muscles.
Huang Tian! What was he doing here?
Gru had studied Huang Tian's file long ago and remembered his face well. He recognized him at once.
And that recognition was precisely what unsettled him. Whatever the reason, Huang Tian should not have been here at this moment!
"Be careful," the woman in the purple dress said softly. As she spoke, purple armor appeared around her like a violet coming into bloom.
The armor hugged her figure, its petal-shaped plates layered over one another. An eerie purple halo shimmered across them in the moonlight.
A blooming violet adorned her faceplate, leaving only her eyes visible. The skirt armor behind her spread like petals, lending her a striking beauty.
"Don't worry. I'm not stupid."
Gru answered in a low voice. The next instant, red armor flowed over his burly frame like water. Dark crimson light coursed across its surface like magma. Two sharp spines rose from the shoulders, a savage beast's face marked the breastplate, and every plate gleamed coldly.
"Did you come here specifically for us?" the woman asked Huang Tian, testing him. "We haven't met before, have we?
"And there's no bad blood between us."
"I did come for you. As for bad blood—" Huang Tian smiled. "If you had nothing to hide, why did you become so wary the moment you saw me? Do you think I'm going to kill you?"
The woman faltered. Beside her, Gru slowly rolled his neck, drawing a string of cracks from it, then sneered. "So you've come looking for trouble. Fine. They say you're the greatest martial artist in thousands of years.