Human Cannon!

Without a doubt, even if God himself showed up today, there was no escaping this beating.

(艹皿艹)

This damned little brat!

If he didn't spank her ass into eight pieces today, she'd never remember who was boss.

Smack-

With every strike,

Hana Ye let out a scream, covering her face and whimpering, her flushed face trembling and her toes curling.

How could he do this?! Sure, nobody was around, but getting taught a harsh lesson right out in the street was humiliating no matter how she looked at it! So humiliating!

No! He couldn't do this!

Only after a good ten-plus minutes of discipline did Lin En lower the shoe sole, his eyes closed.

"How many shells did you bring?"

Hana Ye clutched her butt with an o(╥﹏╥)o expression and said,

"Two... sniff."

They were too heavy to carry many, and bringing too many would make her far too conspicuous.

Lin En examined the cannon barrel again and immediately spotted two small shell holders at the back, one welded onto each side. There were even two little wheels underneath to help move the barrel around.

The design did seem perfectly reasonable.

Lin En pondered uncertainly.

But why did this design give me such an indescribable sense of déjà vu?!

[Human Cannon (two-round model)]

[Category]: Mechanical mortar

[Creators]: Hana Ye, Lolotia

[Quality]: Average

[Description]: A portable mortar that can be disguised as a trash can. Carries two shells and is powered by hydraulics and magic. Can fire various types of ammunition. In an emergency, can launch Hana Ye and Lolotia for a quick escape.

[Additional note]: When launching Hana Ye and Lolotia, please be sure to bring your own parachute or similar equipment-left by Lolotia, who spent three hundred days recovering from broken bones.

Lin En: "..."

Holy crap, she really did build it!

Looks like this little girl wasn't quite as useless as she seemed!

Lin En then glanced toward the dark street in the distance.

"Hana Ye, load a shell!"

Hana Ye immediately made an (ŎдŎ;) face and said,

"Wh-what's wrong?"

Lin En pointed at the dark street in the distance and said with his eyes closed,

"Fire a shot over there!"

Hana Ye said in bewilderment,

"Wh-what for? Why are we suddenly firing the cannon?"

Lin En smiled faintly and said,

"Because we have guests."

On a street shrouded in darkness,

three black-robed figures could vaguely be seen rushing toward Shakira.

"Did you hear that explosion just now? It seemed to come from up ahead. Could something have happened?"

A man with tattoos etched onto his face spoke uncertainly.

Beside him floated a cloak like a ghost, with no feet and only a faint glimpse of eerie green ghostfire beneath its hood.

"That shouldn't be possible. In her [Transmutation] state, Shakira is no weaker than those Exorcist Squad members. Besides, didn't she tell us she'd already smashed that guy's head to a pulp? Unless her identity was exposed, what could possibly threaten her?"

The doctor following behind them stammered,

"I... I swear to you! After ex-extracting his [origin substance], I made absolutely, one hundred percent sure he was dead before throwing him out... and you two were there at the time..."

"If I'd really... tampered with anything, there's no way you wouldn't have noticed!"

The other two figures' eyes flickered, but they said nothing.

Without a doubt,

neither of them had expected anything like this to happen.

Yesterday's operation had actually gone very smoothly. It had taken only half an hour to open his skull and dig that tiny piece of origin substance out of his brain. That was all.

"But you both saw it too, didn't you?"

The ghostfire-like cloak spoke hoarsely,

"The sigil I left there clearly captured his face this morning. If he didn't come back from the dead, are you saying there could be two completely identical people in this world?"

No matter how they looked at it, the whole affair was deeply suspicious.

The tattoo-faced man said gravely,

"Whatever the case, we need to calm Shakira down first. If she finds out we botched the job, with that crazy personality of hers, she might actually turn on us."

He glanced at the [origin substance] in his hand.

Once again, he recalled what had happened last night.

After extracting Lin Ke's origin substance, they had originally intended to find somewhere secluded to dispose of his corpse. But who could have expected the Red Moon to descend without any warning?

It had disrupted their arrangements outright, leaving them no choice but to abandon the body.

"And you've heard the news too, haven't you?"

He spoke in a low voice.

"Last night, the Nine Chimes of the Spirit Bell rang out, and every exorcist in Clockwork City mobilized. If some unknown evil really has descended... it could cause unwanted complications for our Secret Cult's plans."

The doctor was drenched in sweat and didn't dare respond.

He was only a peripheral member of their organization. Yesterday, he had merely followed their orders and performed a minor operation on that human. He certainly didn't want to get dragged into any trouble over it.

The ghostfire-like cloak spoke hoarsely,

"Regardless, we follow the orders from above. Let's meet up with Shakira fir-"

But before the words "meet up" could even be finished,

Boom-

a tremendous explosion erupted.

Screams instantly rang out.

A small mushroom cloud rose directly above them.

On the street in front of Shakira's house,

Lin En gazed into the distance with an (oﾟ▽ﾟ)o expression, peering as far as he could, and said,

"Nice! Now that's my kind of fireworks! That blast really hit the spot!"

[Ding! Your happiness +1]

Hana Ye trembled behind him, her little hands clutching his waistband as she nervously poked her head out and said,

"Um... are you sure those really are that bad woman's people?! H-how did it go? Did we actually hit them?"

But before she could finish,

Rrrip-

a tearing sound rang out.

In the breeze, Lin En closed his eyes and swept his hand out, just as Shakira had once done. His long trousers went sailing away on the wind.

"Aaaah!!"

Hana Ye blanched and scurried several dozen meters backward, staring at Lin En's muscular back with an (ΩДΩ) expression.

In the bleak breeze, it was just like the first time they had met.

He was buck naked!

"Are you sick in the head?!"

"Why are you taking your clothes off?!"

Running around naked didn't increase his defense!

Lin En smiled toward the distance, cracking his knuckles as he felt the bite of the breeze.

"Because my fullness is maxed out. When they get here, it'll be the perfect chance to test my current stats. I don't know what I'll turn into, but just thinking about it makes my whole body tremble!"

Last time, he'd held himself back until he went from a little tadpole to an aberrant tadpole. So this time... what would he become?

He really couldn't wait!