Skill and Strength Overwhelming the Enemy

"Senior, carry out your mission as soon as possible. Leave this thing to me."

Li Lin stared intently at the enemy embedded in the wall, its body showing obvious draconic traits. He had a feeling the other man was playing dead.

Aki Shigede nodded hard. She knew time was pressing; any thanks or questions could wait until after the mission. She immediately activated "Ghost Illumination" and left the operating room, heading for other parts of the underground clinic in search of the Molotov Cocktail Jon had yet to retrieve.

Inside the operating room, Li Lin steadily approached the Mixed-Blood on the other side who shared a name with Little Li.

In fact, shortly after entering the hospital, he had discovered a beast running wild underground.

With his Word Spirit active, Li Lin's perception of the surrounding earth elements had been enhanced. He could sense the enemy's movements and physical condition through the vibrations in the ground alone.

If the target was within the range of his domain, this ability to gather information was further amplified. The information Li Lin collected could bypass the constraints of physical laws and be transmitted directly to his mind.

Combined with the martial arts attainments he had accumulated at a staggering pace over the past ten years, "reading ahead" to predict an enemy's moves and intentions was effortless.

Leonardo, who had been embedded in the wall, suddenly vanished into thin air.

As expected, he had been playing dead.

Faced with the Mixed-Blood activating "Word Spirit: Time Zero" again, Li Lin showed no fear. Imitating Xia Mi's usual pretentious manner, he simply clasped his hands behind his back and slid his right foot forward against the floor—

A trapezoidal wall of earth nearly two meters thick surged from the ground and struck Leonardo, who was moving at high speed, like a spinning engine propeller.

After a series of muffled cracks of breaking bones, Leonardo smashed through every operating table in succession before Li Lin intercepted him for the second time.

This time, Li Lin did not even need to test the waters. He had completely understood Leonardo's crude, savage combat instincts.

A beast's behavior was the easiest to predict.

Moreover, Li Lin had seriously studied "Word Spiritology" and knew full well the greatest weakness of Time Zero, a Word Spirit famed for its "divine speed."

This Word Spirit's domain acted only upon the body. Its extreme speed often left the user unable to react to changes in the outside world in time.

Thus, movements at divine speed were usually planned out completely before they began. Once initiated, they could neither stop nor adjust midway.

When a swordsman using Time Zero charged at an opponent at divine speed and brought down his blade, even if a spear pierced his chest halfway through, his body would still complete that valiant, lightning-fast sword dance according to his original intention.

Modern Word Spiritology tests had shown that Time Zero placed a considerable burden on the user's body. Tearing muscles or breaking one's own bones were common accidents.

Li Lin had similar troubles. His ability to sense and control elements far exceeded the range of normal Mixed-Bloods, yet his bloodline did not support him in controlling the elements within his domain as freely as a dragon could.

If only there were some divine martial arts manual that could refine the concentration of Dragon Blood...

Watching Leonardo vanish from his sight once more, Li Lin could not help sighing inwardly.

Although he could manipulate several tons of rock for attacks while rapidly draining his mental and physical strength, that simply did not fit his fighting habits.

He had always preferred to respond to endless changes by remaining unchanged, using his connection with the ground to identify flaws in an enemy's attacks before counterattacking for victory. Maintaining a good combat condition had long become instinctive to him.

The pool of blood beside Li Lin suddenly exploded into a cloud of red mist. Leonardo's figure flickered within it as he rushed behind Li Lin, intending to dig out his spine with his sharp claws.

But the human he was desperately trying to kill had already formed a sword hand seal with his right hand behind his back.

A pointed concrete pillar, tiles still clinging to its surface, had already grown into place and stabbed straight into Leonardo's body as he threw himself at it.

Scalding blood instantly splashed across the floor.

Finally caught this guy.

Li Lin turned and drove a straight punch into Leonardo's forehead. Feeling the solid, metallic resistance, his expression changed at once, and he immediately followed with a barrage of short punches into the massive wound piercing Leonardo's abdomen.

Rocks suddenly flowed like water with Li Lin's every movement, clinging around his body. More than two hundred kilograms of stone were granted the same speed as Li Lin's fists within his domain.

Though technically unarmed, the force of every punch was no less than the frontal impact of a motorcycle racing at full speed.

After that combo, even Leonardo's gaze became clear.

Not only had his gaze cleared up—even his Golden Eyes were nearly beaten out by Li Lin.

No wonder the ancients said that martial arts were about winning people over through virtue. Li Lin felt that he was trying to awaken the humanity sleeping within Leonardo's body through his abundant martial virtue.

Leonardo seemed not to know why he was here, or why he was fighting a monster that could unleash sonic booms with every gesture. His face was full of terror.

Seeing this, Li Lin stopped moving as well.

"You're awake?"

He asked Leonardo pleasantly, considering how to sweet-talk and deceive him into being escorted alive back to the Executive Department's base.

After all, Leonardo's Word Spirit was Time Zero, and his physical strength ranked among the rarest Li Lin had ever seen. Li Lin could not restrain him and transport him outside without drawing public attention.

Thinking about it, all he had left was talking him down.

But Li Lin had clearly underestimated how terrifying he appeared in Leonardo's eyes.

Leonardo had already regained consciousness from the Dragon Blood Reaction. In his hazy memories, one moment he had been in the clinic preparing to steal the medicine the doctor had hidden away, and the next, an unfamiliar Asian teenager had beaten him off the ground with fists too fast to see.

The agonizing pain of countless bones throughout his body nearing fracture left him unable even to scream.

So, the instant Li Lin stopped, Leonardo, whose body was covered in blue-green scales, vanished before him. His survival instinct drove him to use Time Zero desperately. His wounds bled profusely, and the exploding blood mist dragged out a dark-red trail so long its end could not be seen.

Aki Shigede and the camera on her collar happened to witness the entire scene from the corridor.

"Holy shit, a ten-thousand-foot bloodline!" an Executive Department officer well versed in web novels exclaimed over the command channel.

Li Lin saw Leonardo flee into the sewers. He opened the communications channel and prepared to pursue him, but Professor Schneider's voice stopped him through his tiny earpiece.

"Li Lin, your mission has ended ahead of schedule. Withdraw immediately with Aki Shigede!"

"Professor, he can't get far."

"Leave the cleanup to Executive Team Three. You and Aki Shigede are to return to Executive Team One immediately!"

Sensing the concern and firmness in Professor Schneider's words, Li Lin had no choice but to obey.

Recalling the various draconic traits on Leonardo's body, he had already guessed that the Molotov Cocktail's true target users were likely Mixed-Bloods.

Even territory controlled by the Japan Branch could produce such a miraculous alchemical drug.

Could it be that the Secret Party had actually mastered the technology to refine bloodlines long ago?

At that thought, certain ideas in Li Lin's heart immediately began to stir.