A Turn for the Better

A Turn for the Better

"Dad, what's an eel?" Lingyin suddenly asked. Hong Mo was standing at a barbecue stall, holding Lingyin's hand. From the outside, the two of them really did not look like fugitives. Or rather, Hong Mo had absolutely no awareness of being a fugitive.

Hong Mo ordered several skewers from the roadside barbecue stall, then handed the cooked lamb skewers to Lingyin. "An eel? An eel is an aquatic creature..." Hong Mo suddenly did not know how to explain what an eel was to Lingyin. It would be best to see the real thing.

"Little girl, this is an eel. Look, sliced eel. Buddy, want a couple of skewers?" The barbecue vendor pointed at the slices of eel threaded onto skewers.

"Were these frozen?" Hong Mo asked.

"Yeah, of course they were frozen. Actually, they've already been cooked. Don't tell me you wanted to grill them raw?" The vendor looked puzzled instead.

"No, of course not. Grill two skewers."

"Sure thing."

"So this is an eel. It doesn't look anything like it." Lingyin stood on tiptoe and looked over at the stall.

"Haha, it's already been chopped into pieces and cooked. How could you tell what it looked like? You're too funny, little girl." The barbecue vendor kept working as he teased Lingyin.

"There's a seafood market nearby, right? Could you tell me where it is? I'll take my daughter there later to have a look." Hong Mo rubbed Lingyin's little head.

"The seafood market? Just follow this street..." The vendor was quite enthusiastic. Of course, perhaps it was because Hong Mo had ordered a lot of barbecue and brought him business.

After eating a pile of barbecue, Hong Mo led Lingyin toward the seafood market. Along the way, Lingyin skipped about, curiously tugging at Hong Mo and asking what this was and what that was. In truth, there were many aquatic products even Hong Mo did not recognize, so in the end, he had no choice but to ask the vendors.

Seeing such an adorable little girl, most people would not refuse her. At most, their attitudes differed. Even the most impatient people would at least tell Lingyin the names of those aquatic creatures.

They naturally saw eels as well, as thick as thumbs and slippery as could be. "This is an eel? It doesn't resemble it at all." Lingyin squatted down and poked the largest eel with her little finger.

"Be careful, little girl. Eels bite." The vendor immediately stopped her. It would not be good if the little girl got bitten and blamed him for it.

"Mm, I know. Yesterday, two unlucky people were eaten by an eel." Lingyin nodded seriously.

"Haha, you really know how to joke, little girl. An eel eating people? How big would it have to be?" The vendor clearly did not believe her.

Lingyin stood up, spread her little arms, and gestured. "About this thick, and dozens of meters long." As if to make herself more convincing, she even nodded to herself.

"Stop kidding, little girl. How could there be an eel that big? Did you watch some monster movie?" The vendor smiled and teased her.

"I can testify that she's telling the truth." A devastatingly handsome man with long hair draped over his shoulders stopped five meters away from Hong Mo and suddenly spoke up.

"You finally came? I thought you'd keep getting closer." Hong Mo did not turn around, but he casually positioned himself in front of Lingyin.

"I didn't want to provoke you. What if something snaps in your head and you go berserk again? Killing a few hundred people would be quite troublesome to deal with." The long-haired man shrugged.

The vendor looked at the three of them, then shook his head. "People these days are really weird. Hey, are you buying anything or not? If not, stop loitering here and getting in the way of my business." As he spoke, he waved his hand as though shooing away flies.

Hong Mo slowly led Lingyin out of the seafood market, while the man followed alongside him, keeping exactly five meters away.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Bai Cangye, captain of the Fourth Squad of the National Superpower Special Security Department. By the way, Qin An, Su Mu, Long Hanyu, and that driver, Zhao Qiong, are all members of my squad." Bai Cangye introduced himself from afar. To outsiders, the two looked like lunatics, standing far apart and each talking about completely unrelated things.

"Oh." Hong Mo's response was flat. "And then? You're here for revenge?"

"If I were here for revenge, do you think I'd be calmly taking a walk with you?" Bai Cangye asked helplessly. "Fine, I'll be direct. I've brought the state's decision on how to handle you."

Hong Mo tilted his head and glanced at the helpless fellow. He was rather curious now about what sort of measures the state would take against him.

Seeing that Hong Mo remained silent for so long without any intention of asking, Bai Cangye gave up. "The state has revoked the warrant and the pursuit order against you. They've also arranged new IDs for you and your daughter. All you need to do is be a law-abiding citizen."

Hong Mo grew even more puzzled. What was this? The state was compromising with him?

"The reason." A huge pie had fallen from the sky for no clear reason. Who knew what filling was hidden inside?

"Because you pose too great a threat. Do you know how many civilians died in the battle in central Chongqing five days ago? One hundred and thirty-four people died, and even more were seriously injured."

"That only makes me more confused. So many people died because of me. No matter how you put it, I should be considered a heinous criminal in the eyes of those above, right? Yet now you're asking me to be a law-abiding citizen. Isn't that ridiculous?" Hong Mo understood even less what the state was thinking. Or rather, what those people at the top were thinking.

"So you know you're heinous. Do you know how great the impact of this incident was? The people above would love nothing more than to kill you. If possible, capturing you would naturally be best. But we just received the latest information from the Eighth Squad: you possess high-speed regeneration. Generally speaking, people with that ability are like cockroaches that can't be killed. Add your electromagnetic ability, and if you go wild, the damage would be unimaginable."

"So?"

"So the higher-ups have decided to offer you amnesty. Like they did to certain people in ancient times. Yes, just like in Water Margin." Bai Cangye nodded.

"Put simply, the higher-ups still want to kill me, but I'm a hard bone to chew. If they mishandle it, they might suffer serious losses. More importantly, they're afraid I'll go wild and cause a bad impact, so they're simply offering me amnesty?" Hong Mo voiced his thoughts.

"More or less. That's it. Actually, the higher-ups have already uncovered your identity. This attitude also represents compensation from some of them."

"Compensation for me? What does that mean?" Hong Mo narrowed his eyes, giving off a dangerous air.

"The matter of the research institute."

"Hmph!" Hong Mo snorted coldly. The higher-ups truly had formidable means to uncover his identity so quickly.

"Oh, and if you accept the amnesty, the higher-ups have one more condition."

"Say it."

"You must not deliberately seek revenge against Mao Shaohui in the future." Bai Cangye wore a smile, forming a stark contrast with Hong Mo's icy expression.

Hong Mo closed his eyes. The dead, after all, could not offer as much hope as the living. He thought of Mu Siyu, then of Lingyin. Perhaps compromise was the best choice. Did he really think he could stir up anything in the hands of the state?

When Bai Cangye saw Hong Mo close his eyes, he unexpectedly felt an urge to strike. Perhaps he could kill him with a sneak attack? Just as Bai Cangye hesitated, Hong Mo opened his eyes and looked at him with a half-smile.

"Have you made up your mind? What's your decision?" Seeing that the opportunity was gone, Bai Cangye steadied himself again.

"Mm, I accept the state's decision. I'll be a law-abiding citizen." Hong Mo rubbed Lingyin's head. If it were only him, it would not matter, but Lingyin was the key. For his daughter.

"Good. Catch." Bai Cangye nodded and tossed over two cards.

Hong Mo reached out and took them. They were ID cards. The first one read: Hong Mo. The second... Remilia? Red? Scarlet? Hong Mo stared at Bai Cangye, waiting for an explanation.

"What?"

Bai Cangye looked somewhat confused.

"What's with this name? Remilia Red Scarlet? Are you kidding me?"

"Isn't Remilia the name written on her? We didn't know what your daughter was called. Since that name was already on her, it seemed you liked it well enough, so we just added the surname 'Red' in the middle. Totally okay. And personally, I think it's a very nice name." Bai Cangye was clearly holding back his laughter.

"Dad, let's use this name. Didn't you say lots of people have nicknames, the kind used between close people? From now on, my formal name will be Remilia Red Scarlet, and my nickname will be Lingyin." Lingyin tugged at Hong Mo's hand.

"See? Your daughter is more open-minded than you are." Bai Cangye finally burst out laughing. Hong Mo wore an odd expression. He did not actually have any prejudice against the name. To be honest, he rather liked it too. What felt strange was only that his daughter had taken the name of an anime character.

"Oh, right. The state has another suggestion regarding your arrangements."

"Another suggestion?" Hong Mo's expression immediately turned serious.

"Relax. It's a good suggestion. You definitely won't find anything wrong with it. They recommend that you become a teacher."

"Huh? A teacher?" Hong Mo froze. He had never imagined he would receive such an answer. Wasn't that a bit too out of left field? They were recommending that he become a teacher?

"Strange? It seems you really don't know anything about superpowered individuals."

"Oh? Is there some secret involved? Explain it."

"You know that superpowered individuals undergo bodily mutations due to meteorite radiation. That's the most basic case. The second type involves injecting Evolution Serum, which is essentially the assimilation—or perhaps invasion—of the serum from a superpowered individual or mutated creature. In fact, there is a third type." Bai Cangye held up three fingers.

"You know the principle of magnets, right? If ordinary metal is placed near a permanent magnet, after some time, that metal will become magnetic too, though relatively weakly. This is called magnetization."

"You mean superpowered individuals can influence ordinary people and gradually turn them into superpowered individuals as well, like magnetization?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Though it's definitely much harder than magnetization. Don't laugh, but I'm still an honorary professor at some university. I have to spend one day there every week, and even if I don't teach any classes, I still have to stay on campus." Bai Cangye scratched his head, looking rather embarrassed.

Remilia Red Scarlet—Lingyin's name was officially decided. Also, a little spoiler: the main plot of this book will be mentioned for the first time in Chapter 54. Don't worry, it definitely won't be leveling up, killing monsters for EXP, then continuing to level up and kill monsters...