Dragon Blood Has No Mercy
The setting sun shimmered with flowing light, while the evening clouds blazed with color.
On the rooftop of the Texaco Building, Xia Mi approached the young man who was using his phone to photograph the distant cityscape, carrying a lunchbox in her hands.
"Do you know what the Executive Department calls you now?"
"Gossip?" Li Lin lowered his phone.
"Everyone says you're the dragon slayer chosen by fate!"
"I only beat up a Mixed-Blood who'd lost his mind. Isn't that a bit exaggerated...?"
Grumbling, Li Lin accepted the heavy lunchbox from Xia Mi. It was dinner provided by the Executive Department's logistics team: fried bacon and ham, four hamburger patties served with pasta, each drenched in cheese.
A classic American calorie bomb, with over three thousand calories in a single meal—the perfect thing for an operative who had just returned from a mission.
Xia Mi leaned close in front of Li Lin with a bright smile, cheerfully telling him everything she had seen and heard. Clearly, Li Lin was the one being praised, yet she looked as happy as if she herself had received the compliments.
Ever since their date that day, Li Lin could sense a subtle change in Xia Mi's attitude toward him.
In the past, whenever Xia Mi took the initiative to come fuss around Li Lin, it was probably because she felt lonely and bored, like a kitten waking from a nap and instinctively going to play beside the human it trusted.
But now, he could vaguely see a tenderness in the girl's gaze that had never been there before, one that made his heart skip a beat.
The two sat down at the edge of the rooftop, overlooking the crowds and traffic below. They chatted freely about the weather, classes, and the taste of the food... enjoying the familiarity and simplicity of being able to talk about anything.
Xia Mi patted Li Lin on the shoulder and pointed at the bustling crowd below. "Sitting up here, don't you feel like they look tiny, just like ants? Right now, we're the ones looking at the ants."
"Although that is true, maybe we're still ants too. We've just sat somewhere high for so long that we can't even tell whether we're ants anymore."
Li Lin thought for quite a while before giving an answer steeped in dialectical thinking.
Hearing that, Xia Mi looked suspiciously at her childhood friend. He had just enjoyed an utterly crushing battle won through bloodline and talent, yet he showed no sign of immersing himself in the splendor of "power and strength."
The Dragon Race's desire for "power and strength" was an instinct carved into their genes. Humanity had stolen the ancient mysteries passed down by the Dragon Race, and inherited this most primal greed as well.
During her time at Cassel College, Xia Mi had read many autobiographies written by the leaders of Mixed-Blood families. They actually called themselves the "new Dragon Race" in those books...
She found it rather amusing.
Back to the point: if Xia Mi wanted to turn Li Lin into a retainer belonging solely to her, her most urgent task was to make him understand the beauty of power and strength.
Only when Li Lin became immersed in the thrill of pursuing power would she have a chance to make him abandon his identification with humanity.
But Li Lin looked entirely like someone whose heart in pursuit of the Dao was as firm as iron, which gave Xia Mi quite a headache.
She always felt that this guy treated the Dragon Race bloodline as the "meridians" of martial arts novels or the "spiritual roots" of fantasy immortal-cultivation stories. Even if she really handed him the alchemical secrets to refining Dragon Blood, he would probably treat them as some peerless inner cultivation art and start practicing them immediately.
No matter how powerful he became, he would only think it was because of his extraordinary talent, rather than worshipping or becoming fascinated by the enhancement brought by Dragon Blood.
Xia Mi was utterly troubled. Originally, two paths had lain before her. One was to subdue Li Lin as her retainer and dragon servant; the other was to use Li Lin to kill the other monarchs, then kill Li Lin in the end...
She simply did not want to imagine a future where she had to fight Li Lin to the death. The girl swung her porcelain-white calves in frustration until the phone inside her sleeve vibrated.
Norma sent a text message, notifying the resting First Operations Group to return to the conference room.
A moment later.
Li Lin and Xia Mi saw Professor Schneider, his expression grim and gloomy.
"The Third Operations Group's mission has failed."
"Based on the intelligence gathered during your mission, the alchemical drug known as the 'Molotov Cocktail' not only increases the concentration of Dragon Blood in the user's body, but apparently also has powerful hallucinogenic effects, addictive properties, and a large amount of stimulants. That is why the target suddenly appeared at the gang's underground clinic and killed Jon and the doctor on duty. He did it all to seize the last bottle of the drug stored there."
"From this, we can determine that his purpose in attacking the community cold storage two days ago was also to seize the drugs inside."
Professor Schneider's voice was hoarse.
"Fourteen minutes ago, the operatives we stationed near the target's residence made a new discovery. The severely wounded target returned home through the sewers and injected himself with the drug again. After losing his mind, he carried out an indiscriminate slaughter of every living thing around him, including his family..."
"I regret to inform you all that the situation has now exceeded our initial expectations. The Third Operations Group alone cannot eliminate a high-risk Mixed-Blood in the city who can push Word Spirit: Time Zero to its third tier. I need you to return to the battlefield before reinforcements arrive."
At that point, Professor Schneider paused.
"Student Li Lin, do you have a suggestion?"
The young man who had raised his hand stared intently at Schneider.
"Professor, if you had approved my actions in the hospital basement, this tragedy would never have happened."
At those words, Schneider kept his blade-like eyes fixed on the standing Li Lin, trying to find even the slightest flaw in his face.
Soon, Schneider's gaze softened, and some of his suspicion and coldness faded with it.
"My reason for stopping you was simple. No one could predict how many bottles of the drug the target still carried. He was only a hair's breadth away from becoming a Dead Servant... War requires sacrifice, but I cannot allow reckless actions to lead to meaningless sacrifices."
Li Lin sensed the raw grief and regret behind Schneider's words, so he silently sat back down.
Schneider tapped the tabletop with his fingers. What he said next was directed at the four students present.
"Young people, prepare yourselves mentally to eliminate the target on the spot... What you are about to face is no longer a living human being, but an extremely dangerous Mixed-Blood who has suffered repeated Dragon Blood contamination and is about to cross the Critical Blood Limit and become a Dead Servant."
"Everyone except Li Lin, I need you to maintain a security distance of at least eight hundred meters from the target."
"Yes!"
"Li Lin, the task of engaging at close range will be entrusted to you. You are the only operative present capable of stopping it head-on. The First and Third Operations Groups will provide you with support nearby throughout the operation."
"Professor?!"
Declan, the leader of the First Operations Group, tried to dissuade Schneider.
But Schneider insisted on having Li Lin take on the task of controlling the target alone.
Li Lin felt the admiring yet grave gazes converging on him, but he did not ask why Schneider had arranged things this way. It did not matter anyway.
No matter how many doses of Molotov Cocktail Leonardo intended to inject, since he had not even been able to touch the corner of Li Lin's clothes when they first met, he had forever lost any chance of defeating Li Lin.
After all, what he was facing was no longer one of his own kind with Dragon Blood flowing through his veins, but the world's only Earthbending Avatar.