Scientific Calculation

Scientific Calculation

"Not bad. You actually managed to hurt me." Su Mu tilted her head, looking rather intrigued. "I thought this mission would just be a small job to relax with. I didn't expect you to be this capable."

As she spoke, Su Mu, floating in midair, stomped heavily through the air with her tiny foot. The air behind her erupted with violent vibrations, and a ring of transparent ripples spread through the sky.

A punch—a small, fair fist swung straight at Hong Mo's face.

Hong Mo aimed his left hand at Su Mu and fired a bolt of lightning. The finger-thick bolt shot straight toward her, but she neither dodged nor evaded. When it was still more than ten centimeters from her body, a ring of transparent ripples suddenly burst through the air, and the lightning simply vanished.

What kind of defense was that?

Hong Mo had no time to think. Su Mu's fist was already right before him. He sidestepped half a meter to the left, and Su Mu's fist was about to brush past his ear. At that moment, Hong Mo caught the disdainful smile on her face.

With a bang, Hong Mo felt his entire face explode with sensations—sweet, spicy, everything crashing together—before he was sent flying backward.

Fuck, she clearly didn't hit me.

Su Mu pressed on, following up with knee strikes, elbow strikes, rising dragon punches, hammer blows, straight punches, reverse hooks, charges... Hong Mo was like a human punching bag, struck continuously where he stood. Every time he managed to gather a little strength to counterattack, her next move would arrive and scatter it again.

After a rising hook kick from her long, pale leg, Hong Mo was sent flying into the air with his head thrown back. Seizing that brief opening, Su Mu swept her left leg in a semicircle along the ground, assuming a forward bow stance. Her right fist drew back to her lower abdomen.

The final move—Air Fist!

Hong Mo was in free fall now. After that unbroken string of attacks, his nerves had nearly gone numb.

Su Mu clenched her pale right hand into a fist and threw it viciously into the air. They were more than a meter apart, yet Hong Mo's chest seemed to be struck by an invisible fist. His sternum caved in sharply with a crack. His body suddenly curled over, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before being blasted backward and slammed against a distant building.

Kinetic energy could be transmitted. Hong Mo recalled the physics he had learned in middle school: three small iron balls hanging side by side. Pull back the third ball and let it strike the second, and the first ball would fly out while the second remained still. For ordinary people, air could not transmit kinetic energy because its density was too low; once disturbed, it dispersed, and the force could not carry through.

But clearly, that did not apply to Su Mu. Hong Mo remembered distinctly that during her series of attacks, even her closest strikes had never directly touched him. There had always been at least three centimeters of space between them.

Hong Mo's whole body convulsed. He coughed up another mouthful of blood, then slowly slid down the wall. A human-shaped bloody imprint was left on the gray surface. The ordinary people watching nearby through binoculars could not help closing their eyes.

How miserable. The situation had changed far too quickly—just moments ago, that fierce man had become a human punching bag.

Su Mu remained where she was. Suddenly, she covered her mouth, and a thread of bright red blood slowly trickled through her fingers. Hong Mo's electromagnetic cannon had clearly not been just for show. Though no injury showed on the surface, she had indeed suffered internal damage, and the series of attacks had worsened it somewhat.

Su Mu slowly walked over to Hong Mo, looking at this rare opponent. Hong Mo lay facedown on the ground. His left hand slowly stretched out, then suddenly grabbed Su Mu's ankle.

Sure enough, there had always been a layer of protective air around her body. Hong Mo could clearly feel that what he was gripping was a layer of flowing air.

"Hmph!"

Su Mu pulled back her right foot, then stomped viciously on Hong Mo's left hand. With a crack, his left arm immediately twisted into an unnatural shape.

"Don't hurt my dad!" At that moment, an angry voice came from the clothing store, which had already been reduced to ruins. Then a little girl in a Gothic Lolita outfit ran out.

Oh, kawaii. This was a classic clash between an elegant older sister and a loli. The wolves hiding in the distance howled endlessly in their hearts.

"Why did you come out? Didn't I tell you to leave?" Hong Mo opened his swollen eyes and looked at Lingyin.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I know how to break her air barrier," Lingyin suddenly said. Both Hong Mo and Su Mu froze upon hearing that.

"Little one, you said you can break my air barrier? Lying isn't something good children do." Su Mu also wanted to know what ability this child had that could destroy her defense. Only by understanding its flaws could she improve it.

"I saw a document at the doctor's place. It was about the defenses of atmospheric-control superhumans. Many superpowers can be explained scientifically. Compared to exploring and familiarizing yourself with an ability alone, using scientific methods for precise calculations is much easier. That document contained the construction method and weaknesses of an air barrier designed and calculated by a computer," Lingyin said.

Suddenly, countless bats flew out from around Lingyin's body, filling the entire space. "The weakness of your air barrier is ultrasonic waves." Lingyin pointed a small hand at Su Mu, and countless bats swept toward her like a tidal wave.

Su Mu could feel it. The air barrier she relied on for defense was truly collapsing. Even if she reconstructed it with all her strength, she could not do so faster than the impact of so many bats.

Damn it! Su Mu cursed inwardly. She had indeed obtained the construction method for her air barrier from the organization. In fact, it was not only her; every atmospheric-control superhuman with even a little status in the organization had received a copy. But she was the only one who had truly mastered the air barrier completely. That precise and complex method of construction was not something ordinary people could accomplish. As for whoever had come up with it, Su Mu had admired them to the utmost. Only now did she learn that it had merely been the result of supercomputer calculations.

Knowing so much, this little girl and this man were clearly not ordinary civilian superhumans. Thoughts flashed through Su Mu's mind at lightning speed, and she considered many things in that instant.

Elbow strike, straight punch—Su Mu helplessly discovered that under the bats' ultrasonic interference, her attacks could no longer trigger violent air vibrations. Otherwise, these little bats would have been nothing; one punch would have shaken an entire swarm to death.

Su Mu's fighting skills were excellent, blending ancient martial arts with modern combat techniques in a concise, fierce style. But no matter how fierce she was, she could not defend against bats that slipped through every opening. After sweeping away a flock of bats with a whip kick, Su Mu felt a stinging pain from her leg. It lasted only an instant, but many bats had pierced her delicate skin with their sharp fangs upon contact.

From the corner of her eye, Su Mu saw Lingyin standing in front of Hong Mo.

Straight punch!

Su Mu's entire body tensed like a great bow, and she unleashed a savage straight punch at Lingyin's head. She did not care how cute the little girl was. If she was an enemy, she had to be prepared to die. Su Mu, who had survived the battlefield between life and death, had no room for mercy.

"Ice Mirror!" Facing that fierce straight punch, Lingyin did not dodge. She brought her hands together into a triangle, then suddenly pulled them apart. A triangular wall of ice appeared and blocked Su Mu's fist.

With a smack, Su Mu's fist slammed hard into the ice wall. She gave a muffled groan and clenched her right fist. Without the protection of her air barrier, her physical strength was not particularly great.

Though she had blocked Su Mu's punch, the tremendous force passed through the ice wall and into Lingyin's body, sending her small figure flying.

"Lingyin!" Hong Mo shouted, struggling to get up and catch her. But a flapping sound rose, and hundreds of bats grabbed onto one another with their tiny claws, catching Lingyin in midair. From afar, it looked as though Lingyin had suddenly grown a pair of demon wings.

After failing to finish her with one punch, Su Mu felt numbness spreading from the places where the bats had bitten her, accompanied by a faint dizziness in her head. Poison? Su Mu glanced down and saw a faint pale-blue glow flickering on the bats' fangs.

Su Mu withdrew swiftly, scooped up Qin An, who lay on the ground with his fate unknown, and quickly vanished into the gaps between the tall buildings.

At that moment, Lingyin also descended from the air. With a flutter, the bat wings behind her scattered apart once more. "Dad, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I won't die. Let's go. While no one is here, we should leave too." Hong Mo lovingly patted Lingyin's little head.

"Mm." Lingyin recalled the little bats into Soul Space, then looked sorrowfully at the countless bat corpses on the ground.

"Let's go. If you want to protect your friends, you need strength."

"Mm. I'll definitely protect the little bats from now on." Lingyin raised her head, her small face filled with determination.

As both sides left, the area gradually became lively again. Once they were sure there was no longer any danger, the ordinary people who had been hiding and watching from all around slowly approached the center of the recent battle.

"That guy was the one who turned into a dragon-man earlier, right? His head's already fallen off. So pitiful."

"Look over here—wow, all this steel melted and only just solidified again. Just how much current and voltage did that lightning contain?"

"Bats. These little bats are pretty impressive too." A boy carrying a backpack spotted a little bat crawling on the ground. It looked like it wasn't dead yet. He glanced around, saw that everything was in chaos, quickly grabbed the little bat, and hid it in his clothing pocket.

Not long after, the police arrived, dispersing the crowd and beginning to cordon off the scene.

"Tch! Always showing up after the fact. The whole thing's over before they get here." Some people grumbled as they watched the police.

"No one is allowed to leave! Everyone stay and give a statement!" an officer shouted through a megaphone.

"A statement? Give your mother a statement, dumbass." A white-haired punk flipped the officer off, then took off running. Behind him, several similarly delinquent-looking boys burst into laughter and followed him out.

The officer's face turned purple with anger, but there was nothing he could do. Those boys were obviously local street punks and had nothing to do with this incident. It wasn't like he could shoot them.

Of course, no one noticed that a boy carrying a backpack had also slipped out amid that group.