Dragon Blood Has No Mercy

The sunset shimmered with flowing light, and the evening clouds glowed in brilliant colors.

On the rooftop of the Texaco Building, Xia Mi carried a lunch box over to the boy who was using his phone to photograph the city skyline.

"Do you know what they're calling you in the Executive Department now?"

"Gossip?" Li Lin put down his phone.

"Everyone says you're the dragon slayer chosen by fate!"

"I only beat up a delirious Mixed-Blood. Isn't that a bit exaggerated...?"

Grumbling, Li Lin took the heavy lunch box from Xia Mi. It was dinner provided by the Executive Department's logistics team: fried bacon and ham, four burger patties with spaghetti, each covered in a layer of cheese.

A classic American calorie bomb—more than three thousand calories in one meal, perfect for an agent who had just returned from an operation.

Xia Mi leaned close in front of Li Lin with a sweet smile, cheerfully recounting 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 had sensed a subtle change in Xia Mi's attitude toward him.

In the past, Xia Mi had probably only come over to make noise around Li Lin because she was lonely and bored, like a kitten waking up and instinctively going to play beside a human it trusted.

But now, he could vaguely see a tenderness in the girl's gaze that had not been there before, a tenderness that made his heart skip a beat.

The two sat at the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the crowds and traffic below as they casually chatted about the weather, classes, and the taste of the food... enjoying the familiar, ordinary comfort 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, like ants? Right now, we're the ones looking at the ants."

"While that's true, maybe we're still ants ourselves. We've just sat up high for so long that we can no longer tell whether we're ants."

Li Lin thought about it for quite a while before answering with words full of dialectical thinking.

At that, Xia Mi looked suspiciously at her childhood friend. He had just enjoyed a crushing victory achieved through bloodline and talent, yet he showed no sign of immersing himself in the beauty of "authority and power."

The Dragon Race's thirst for "authority and power" was an instinct carved into their genes. Humans had stolen the ancient mysteries passed down by the Dragon Race, and they had inherited that most primal greed as well.

During her time at Cassel College, Xia Mi had read many autobiographies written by the leaders of hybrid families. They had actually called themselves "the new Dragon Race" in their books...

She found that rather amusing.

Getting back to the point, if Xia Mi wanted to turn Li Lin into a retainer who belonged only to her, her most urgent task was to make him understand the splendor of authority and power.

Only when Li Lin became addicted to the thrill of pursuing strength would she have a chance to make Li Lin abandon his identification with humanity.

But Li Lin looked completely 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 regarded the Dragon Race bloodline as the "meridians" from martial arts novels or the "spiritual roots" from xianxia fantasies. Even if she truly handed him the alchemical secrets of refining Dragon Blood, he would probably treat them as some "peerless internal art" and start cultivating them on the spot.

No matter how strong he became, he would only think it was because of his exceptional talent, rather than worshipping or becoming fascinated by the improvements brought by Dragon Blood.

Xia Mi was terribly worried. Originally, two paths lay before her: the first was to subdue Li Lin as her retainer dragon servant; the second was to use Li Lin to slay the other monarchs, then kill Li Lin in the end...

She simply did not want to imagine fighting Li Lin to the death in the future. The girl anxiously swung her porcelain-white calves until the phone in her sleeve vibrated.

Norma sent a 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 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 injector's body, but also appears to have potent 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. Everything was done to seize the last bottle of the drug stored there."

"From this, we can conclude that his attack on the community cold-storage warehouse two days ago was also intended to seize the drugs inside."

Professor Schneider's voice was hoarse.

"Fourteen minutes ago, the agents we stationed near the target's residence made a new discovery. The heavily wounded target returned home through the sewers and injected the drug again. After losing his mind, he began indiscriminately slaughtering every living thing around him, including his family..."

"I regret to inform you all that the situation has now exceeded our original expectations. The Third Operations Group alone cannot eliminate, in the city center, a high-risk Mixed-Blood capable of pushing the Word Spirit: Moment to the third tier. I need you to return to the battlefield before reinforcements arrive."

At this point, Schneider paused.

"Student Li Lin, do you have any suggestions?"

The boy who had raised his hand earlier stared intently at Schneider.

"Professor, if you had approved my actions in the hospital basement at the time, this tragedy would never have happened."

At those words, Schneider kept his blade-like eyes fixed on Li Lin as he rose to his feet, trying to find even the slightest flaw in his expression.

Very soon, Schneider's gaze softened, and some of that doubt and coldness faded with it.

"The reason I stopped you was simple. No one could predict how many more bottles of the drug the target was carrying. He was only a step away from becoming a Dead Servant... War requires sacrifice, but I cannot allow reckless action to lead to meaningless sacrifice."

Li Lin sensed the raw grief and regret dripping from Schneider's words, so he silently sat back down.

Schneider rapped his fingers against the tabletop. His next words were directed at the four students present.

"Young people, prepare yourselves mentally to kill the target on the spot... What you are about to face is no longer a living human, but an extremely dangerous Mixed-Blood who has suffered repeated Dragon Blood contamination and is about to cross the Critical Blood Limit to become a Dead Servant."

"Everyone except Li Lin, I need you to maintain a minimum warning distance of eight hundred meters from the target."

"Yes!"

"Li Lin, the task of engaging at close range is yours. You are the only agent present capable of stopping him 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 that Li Lin take on the task of restraining the target alone.

Li Lin felt the admiring yet solemn gazes focused on him from all around, but he did not ask why Schneider had arranged things this way. It did not matter anyway.

No matter how many doses of the 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 would face was no longer one of his "own kind" with Dragon Blood flowing through his veins, but the world's only Earthbending Avatar.