So ugly

The man who never stopped running his mouth finally reacted.

He screamed, immediately releasing his grip on Lin Ze's arm, and collapsed helplessly to the floor with a strange howl.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"

"That feels... super... unbelievably... painful!"

Lying on the floor, the man began to whimper:

"I've reflected on my actions. I shouldn't attack girls, especially ones who fight back like that."

"It felt pretty good, but promise me you won't do that again, okay, darling?"

Argh! That's disgusting!

Finish him while he's down!

Lin Ze's patience had reached its limit.

Pressing his advantage, he thrust his sword straight into the chest of the man who was still yapping!

Shlick!

Blood gushed out!

"Ah~ Ah~"

The man's eyes widened, his voice filled with disbelief:

"No way. You're doing this for real?"

"Oh no, I'm gonna... hurl."

Blood splattered and splashed. With a sword sticking out of his chest, the man bent over, braced his hands on his knees, and kept vomiting mouthfuls of blood onto the floor.

"Hey, my throat tastes like death. Great!"

What the hell!

How could this guy still talk like nothing had happened? That much blood loss was fatal.

Lin Ze frowned deeply as he watched the man before him, his expression growing grave. This wasn't normal.

Bzzzt.

The hallway lights flickered, then came on.

Now Lin Ze could see the man's face clearly.

No joke, his face was ugly enough to qualify as a miscarriage of justice.

His pitted skin was covered in scars. There wasn't a single unblemished patch anywhere on him.

That was easy to see, since the man wore nothing but a pair of fuzzy pants.

Done puking, the man grabbed the Dull Blade by its blade and slowly pulled it out of his chest, bringing a great gush of red liquid with it.

"Whew~ Much better."

He wiped away some blood and stood up.

This guy was actually fine?!

Lin Ze looked even more shocked.

But when the man stood and turned around, he saw Lin Ze's face and looked even more astonished than Lin Ze.

"Holy shit!!!"

He jumped up, so full of life that he didn't look seriously injured at all.

"Damn!... Gorgeous."

The man bobbed his head and spun around twice.

He frantically wiped his chest, then smeared the blood on his hands onto his pants in disgust.

Noticing Lin Ze's gaze, the man shuffled two steps sideways, crossed his legs, propped his left elbow against the wall, and kept waving his right hand beside his head, striking a ridiculously sultry, windswept pose.

"Hi, beautiful. Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Wade."

Then the man blew the boy a kiss.

"Mwah~"

"God, you're beautiful! Anyway, you can also call me your little baby~ Hehehe."

Eww~ He looked so manly. No, scratch that-so gay.

Through his own actions, this man demonstrated to Lin Ze exactly what the word "sleazy" meant.

"Come on, I know you're shy, honey. Go on! Say it for me."

Ugh, he was really smarmy, too.

You actually dared to hit on the Traveler. Little bro, I salute your guts.

Lin Ze's fists cracked, and the veins at his temples began tap-dancing.

"Aah! A ghost!!!"

Worried about Lin Ze, Paimon flew over. As soon as she got close, the man's hideous face under the lights gave her a fright.

"Traveler!!"

She grabbed Lin Ze's scarf in fear.

Unexpectedly, the man contorting himself into a pretzel looked just as startled when he saw Paimon.

"F-double-asterisk-k! Did I puke too much just now?"

"I'm seeing a flying diaper!"

A flying diaper? Good grief, Paimon had another nickname now.

"What!"

Once Paimon realized the man before her was a person rather than a ghost, she stopped being afraid.

He was ugly and pretty scary, but hadn't the Traveler still beaten him bloody?

Paimon flew up, planted her hands on her hips, and puffed out her cheeks:

"I'm not a flying diaper! I'm Paimon!"

"You big meanie! Don't call me that!"

"Aaargh, I'm so mad! I'm going to give you an awful nickname!"

Without even needing to think, Paimon immediately had an idea:

"I'll call you Rotten Walnut!"

"Rotten Walnut! Rotten Walnut!"

Rotten Walnut?

It had to be said, that nickname was pretty apt. Paimon's knack for nicknames hadn't failed her this time, either.

Nothing to it but practice.

"Oh~ My dear little diaper, please don't be like that."

The man swept back his nonexistent luxurious hair, raised his head, and put on a confident smile as he patiently explained:

"I swear on my character that I'm definitely not a good... uh... not a bad guy."

The corner of Lin Ze's mouth twitched, and he raised a hand to block his view.

My eyes!

All right, enough.

Anemo gathered in his hand, aimed at the man before him who was "oozing charm."

Lin Ze thought, Just perish. Spending another second here would be an insult to my eyes.

"Wind Blade!"

As expected, the man flew into the air, swept up by the Wind Blade, slammed into the ceiling, and dropped hard.

The tremendous noise drew someone over.

"Wade!"

Thud, thud, thud! The ground seemed to shake.

The person running over was huge. His entire body looked as though it were made of steel, gleaming with a metallic sheen beneath the lights.

As soon as Colossus arrived, he saw Wade with his head lodged in the ceiling, his body swaying in the air like a rootless blade of grass in the wind.

"Are you okay?"

He poked Wade's leg.

The man twitched, and a muffled voice came from inside the ceiling:

"Oh, I'm not okay."

Colossus said, "I can see that. Does your head hurt?"

"No, it's not my head. Damn it, I'm being so obvious. Haven't you noticed?"

Colossus noticed the large hole in Wade's foot.

"Oh, that's fine. Patch it up and it'll still work."

"God!! You're so dumb!" Wade pressed his hands, which were still sticking out, against his chest and swung his feet bashfully. "I'm in love."

"Just now. Who would've thought that in this summer of swirling snow, I'd meet the love of my life?"

Wade raised an arm and pointed left. "She's right over there."

"Darling? Honey? Baby? Are you still there?"

There couldn't have been a more absurd scene in the world. And hey, iron man over there, weren't you going to get him down first?

Colossus knew nothing serious could happen to Wade. With his incredible healing ability, the man could grow himself back even if all that remained was his head. So Colossus's first thought wasn't to get him down, but to follow Wade's pointing finger out of nosy curiosity.

Because of the angle, the first person Colossus saw was little Paimon hovering in midair.

"Oh, Wade. You can't have inappropriate thoughts about a kid that young."

Wade protested, "What?! No way! I'm a good person!"

Colossus said, "You're everything but a good person. You're completely depraved."

"What?! I mean the tall one with yellow hair, not the little flying diaper!"

"Yellow hair?"

Colossus tilted his head and saw Aether.

In an instant.

He blushed.

Lin Ze was speechless.

Don't ask how he could spot embarrassment on a slab of iron. He just could!

Those two patches were as red as hot branding irons. Even an idiot could tell!