From the Sound of It-You're Pretty Brave, Huh?

The power of being called "hubby" continued to work its magic all night long.

Even the next morning, as Luo Li sat at the dining table watching Castorice approach with fried eggs, a goofy smile still hung on his lips.

His gaze made Castorice a little uncomfortable. Her cheeks flushed as she gently set the plate before him and chided softly, "D-don't keep staring at me..."

"What's wrong with looking at my wife? It's perfectly legal."

Entirely unapologetic, Luo Li picked up a fried egg, took a bite, and gave an exaggerated thumbs-up.

"Mmm! My wife makes the best fried eggs in the world!"

Castorice couldn't help smiling, sweetness filling her heart. She sat across from him and took small sips of warm water from her cup.

Their cozy breakfast was interrupted by the urgent ringing of a phone.

Luo Li glanced at the caller ID-it was Yang Shan.

He raised his eyebrows and answered. Before he could even say hello, Yang Shan's booming voice blasted through the receiver. "Li Zi! Holy shit! You absolute beast! You went and made big news without saying a word?!"

Luo Li held the phone a little farther away and switched to speakerphone, puzzled. "What big news? I've been behaving myself lately."

"Still playing dumb! The guild's internal system has already updated! You, Luo Li, originally rated as having the C+ support ability [Deep Information Perception and Traceback], underwent a personal combat assessment by A-rank adviser Lei Zhen and were confirmed to have-a B-rank combat rating! Holy shit! B-rank! Since when could you fight like that?!"

On the other end, Yang Shan's voice brimmed with incredulous excitement and a burning thirst for gossip.

Luo Li exchanged a look with Castorice, whose purple eyes also flashed with understanding.

"Oh, you mean that."

Luo Li spoke as casually as he could.

"I just thought my old ability rating wasn't quite accurate, so I asked Senior Lei to reassess me. That's all."

"That's all?! You make it sound so easy! Madman Lei's combat assessments are notoriously insane! Plenty of peak C-ranks can't last three minutes against him! And you actually passed?! Come on! Spill it! Have you been hiding your strength all along? Just so you could play pig to eat the tiger in front of that 'cousin' of yours?"

Luo Li: "..."

Bro, just how deep does this obsession of yours run?

"I really wasn't hiding anything. Maybe... I've just been training hard lately, and my reaction speed got a tiny bit faster."

Luo Li continued making things up.

"Like hell I believe you!" Yang Shan clearly didn't believe him, but he stopped pressing and excitedly changed the subject. "Whatever the case, reaching B-rank is awesome! We can go on missions together now! As it happens, I've got a nice job here. Ridiculously lucrative. Interested?"

"What kind of mission?" Luo Li was intrigued.

"Clearing out a swarm of 'Parasitic Water Ghosts' at Blackwater Wharf. We suspect a B+ mother is controlling them from behind the scenes.

"The pay's high, and there's plenty of loot. The surroundings are just a bit disgusting-underwater and inside abandoned dry docks.

"Our squad still needs a capable assault fighter. You'd be perfect!"

Blackwater Wharf? Parasitic Water Ghosts? A B+ mother?

Luo Li quickly weighed things up.

The underwater environment would affect his current [Space Folding] jumps to some extent, but the power of [Time Retardation] and Enma wouldn't be restricted.

And with Yang Shan's squad supporting him, it would be safer.

"Sure. When?"

Luo Li readily agreed.

"This afternoon! Meet at the wharf entrance! Bring your gear!"

With that, Yang Shan hurriedly hung up.

Putting down his phone, Luo Li looked at Castorice and explained, "Shan Zai has a mission and invited me along."

Castorice nodded gently. "Stay safe."

She paused, a hint of curiosity in her purple eyes.

"That 'Madman Lei'... is he very strong?"

Remembering the miserable state yesterday's "lesson" had left him in, Luo Li's mouth twitched. "Strong doesn't begin to describe it... He's practically a human tyrannosaurus.

"He's not a bad person, though. It's just that his training methods... are pretty hardcore."

Not wanting to dwell on getting beaten up, he quickly changed the subject and patted his chest with a little pride. "But don't worry! I'm officially a B-rank combatant now! Handling a B+ mother shouldn't be much of a problem!"

Seeing his "I'm so brave" look, a mischievous gleam flashed through Castorice's eyes.

Copying a scene she had recently watched in a romance movie, she tilted her head slightly and asked softly in her ethereal voice, a hint of teasing in her tone, "Oh? From the sound of it-you're pretty brave, huh?"

Luo Li froze. He hadn't expected the usually cool Castorice to suddenly say something like that. It struck an odd chord of cuteness in him, making his heart skip a beat.

He cleared his throat and tried to strike an even "braver" pose. "Are you kidding? I'm super brave, okay! Super good at fighting!"

Watching him deliberately clown around, Castorice finally burst into laughter, her purple eyes curving into lovely crescents.

"All right, I know you're super brave."

She stood, walked over, and straightened his collar, which wasn't actually crooked. Her gentle voice carried a reminder.

"No matter how brave you are, be careful. Underwater conditions are complicated. Don't push yourself."

"Understood, ma'am!"

Luo Li gave a playful salute and stole a kiss on her forehead before finally going to prepare his equipment, thoroughly satisfied.

That afternoon, at Blackwater Wharf.

This place had once been an important freight hub in Jiangcheng, but it had long since been abandoned.

The air was thick with the fishy smell of water, rust, and an indescribable stench of decay.

Murky black-green river water lapped against embankments coated in slippery moss. Several rust-covered freighters lay silently beside the wharf like the carcasses of enormous beasts.

Yang Shan's squad was already waiting at the agreed meeting point. Besides Yang Shan himself, there were two other members-a tall female martial artist with a ponytail and sharp eyes, rated C+, and a bespectacled, somewhat quiet-looking young man, rated C, whose ability seemed to involve creating simple earth-and-stone obstacles.

"Let me introduce you. Luo Li, my childhood buddy, and a newly minted B-rank big shot!"

Yang Shan enthusiastically threw an arm around Luo Li's shoulders as he addressed his two teammates.

"Lin Wei, our main attacker."

"A Tu, in charge of control and shaping the terrain."

Lin Wei nodded at Luo Li, scrutiny in her eyes. A Tu merely adjusted his glasses shyly.

"B-rank? Brother Shan, you're not exaggerating, are you?" Lin Wei was clearly skeptical.

Luo Li's demeanor seemed... a little like that of a homebody who stayed up all night gaming. He really didn't look like a conventional, powerful combat ability user.

"Hehe, you'll see soon enough."

Yang Shan kept them guessing, then grew serious. "Everyone clear on the targets? Parasitic Water Ghosts. Their individual strength generally ranges from D+ to C. The trouble is, they're incredibly fast underwater and can spit water arrows that cause paralysis.

"The most important thing is to find and kill that B+ mother. It should be hiding in one of the dry docks or the lower hold of a large freighter."

"Same as always. I draw their fire head-on, Lin Wei works the flanks, and A Tu handles crowd control and blocks their paths. Li Zi..."

Yang Shan looked at Luo Li.

"You're highly mobile. Look for an opening, break through, and go straight for the heart of the enemy. Any problem?"

"No problem," Luo Li answered succinctly.

"Good! Move out!"

The four-person squad advanced cautiously along the wharf's walkway.

They hadn't gone far before swift black shadows flashed beneath the murky water.

"They're here!"

Yang Shan gave a low shout. An ocher glow rose around his fists as he slammed them toward the water.

Boom!

A powerful shock wave spread from his fists, instantly stunning several water ghosts that had just surfaced.

Lin Wei darted forward like a cheetah, her kicks fierce and precise as she shattered two water ghosts' heads.

A Tu pressed both hands to the ground, raising low earthen walls along either side of the walkway to restrict where the water ghosts could climb ashore.

Luo Li didn't rush to act. He activated [Remembrance Perception], spreading his mental power like a spiderweb to catch the chaotic fragments of consciousness in the water, filled with bloodlust. Meanwhile, [Future Preview] allowed him to anticipate the water ghosts' attack trajectories a few tenths of a second in advance.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several water ghosts spat water arrows from different angles, aiming straight at Luo Li.

To the others, Luo Li merely seemed to turn sideways and tilt his head casually, avoiding every attack by a hair's breadth with movements as fluid as a dance.

Seizing an opening, he moved, darting like a phantom toward a C-rank water ghost. He didn't even use Enma. He simply held his fingers together like a blade, wrapped them in a faint trace of time-accelerating power, and precisely struck the vulnerable point where the water ghost's neck joined its torso.

Crack!

With a sharp snap, the water ghost instantly froze, then slumped to the ground.

Clean and efficient!

Surprise flashed in both Lin Wei's and A Tu's eyes. That reaction speed and precision were indeed far beyond an ordinary C-rank's!

Yang Shan raised his eyebrows smugly, as though saying, "See? Pretty impressive, my buddy, huh?"

As they pushed deeper, more and more water ghosts appeared. Among them were elite specimens with larger bodies and thicker shells, capable of firing water arrows in rapid succession.

Luo Li finally drew Enma.

Dark red blade light flashed through the mist-shrouded wharf. Every swing severed at least one water ghost, sometimes several.

Enma's [Demon Breaking] property was exceptionally effective against creatures like these, while [Soul Devouring] continuously replenished Luo Li's expended stamina and mental power.

He didn't use any particularly extravagant abilities, relying mainly on his "superfast" reactions, "precise" predictions, and Enma's sharpness. What he displayed was exactly the standard of a B-rank melee ability user specializing in agility and technique.

Even so, his efficiency was striking. Often, by the time Lin Wei had finished one enemy, Luo Li had already cleared out two or three.

"Tsk, Li Zi, that blade of yours... is a little sinister. Where'd you get it?"

Yang Shan found a moment to ask while punching a water ghost apart.

"Family heirloom," Luo Li lied without batting an eye.

"Damn! Why haven't I ever seen you bring it out before?"

"Never needed it before."

Yang Shan: "..." Fine, you're awesome.

With Luo Li's efficient clearing and the squad's coordination, they soon advanced to the entrance of the largest semi-enclosed dry dock.

The interior was dim, the water waist-deep. All kinds of trash floated on the surface, along with... the remains of animals and even humans drained of blood.

An intense stench carrying mental contamination hit them.

"The mother should be in there!"

Yang Shan's expression grew grave. "Be careful. There's something wrong with this smell!"

The moment he finished speaking, the water deep inside the dry dock exploded!

An enormous creature slowly rose.

It was a huge mass of flesh formed from countless twisted, pale limbs entwined with sticky black tentacles, over five meters in diameter! At its center, a gaping mouth lined with spiraling sharp teeth split open, releasing a silent psychic shriek.

A B+ Parasitic Water Ghost Mother.

The mental contamination it emitted made Lin Wei and A Tu pale, slowing their movements somewhat.

"Psychic attack! A Tu! Barrier!"

Yang Shan roared, unleashing a succession of punches, trying to disrupt the mother with ocher shock waves.

Gritting his teeth, A Tu raised a thick earthen wall in front of the squad, barely holding back the invisible psychic assault.

Feeling the almost tangible mental contamination, Luo Li frowned slightly.

This thing is much more troublesome than that mutant at the abandoned research institute.

With a thought, he quietly activated [Existence Anchoring].

A force that stabilized his own existence circulated through his body. Most of the irritating, dizzying mental contamination was instantly shut out, leaving it with almost no effect on him.

"I'll kill it!"

Luo Li shouted to Yang Shan, then became a blur, stepping across floating debris as he charged straight at the mother.

"Li Zi! Watch out for its tentacles!"

Yang Shan hurriedly warned him.

Sure enough, countless sticky black tentacles covered in suckers and barbs shot from the water like venomous snakes, reaching to coil around Luo Li.

Hum!

The flow of time abruptly slowed in a small area centered on Luo Li.

In his eyes, those swift tentacles instantly moved in slow motion.

Enma erupted with a bloodthirsty red glow in his hand, its blade light weaving a net of death.

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

The dozen or so leading tentacles were severed instantly. Dark green fluid sprayed out, hissing corrosively as it hit the water.

The mother unleashed an even sharper psychic roar. More tentacles swarmed toward him, while dark energy began gathering inside its enormous mouth. It was clearly preparing a stronger attack.

I can't let it fire!

Luo Li's gaze sharpened.

His figure vanished from the spot. The next instant, he appeared directly above the mother's enormous mass of flesh!

[Causal Tracing] instantly locked onto the very core of the mother's energy, which was also its least defended point-deep inside that enormous mouth.

"Die!"

Gripping Enma with both hands, Luo Li pushed all his strength, along with [Time Retardation]'s effect of accelerating his blade swing, to the limit. Trailing a dark red afterimage like a falling meteor, the blade plunged viciously into the depths of that gaping mouth!

Squelch-!

A muffled sound rang out, like an enormous water bag being punctured.

The energy the mother had gathered instantly dispersed. Its enormous body convulsed violently, and all its tentacles drooped limply.

Dark green blood and slime gushed like fountains from its mouth and wound.

Luo Li pulled Enma free, performed a nimble backflip through the air, and landed steadily atop an abandoned shipping container nearby.

Behind him, the mother's enormous mass of flesh rapidly shriveled like a deflating ball and sank beneath the water, leaving only scattered limbs and filthy blood floating on the surface.

The suffocating mental contamination inside the dry dock instantly dissipated.

Yang Shan, Lin Wei, and A Tu stared at Luo Li standing atop the container with his blade in hand, his clothes barely even wet. All three fell silent.

Lin Wei, who had been skeptical before, now stood with her mouth slightly open, the look in her eyes as she gazed at Luo Li completely changed.

They called this a fucking "support with fast reactions"?!

That phantom-like movement, that bladework that sliced through tentacles like vegetables, that perception that pinpointed the core and killed it in one strike... This was definitely genuine B-rank strength, possibly even more.

Yang Shan was the first to recover. Slapping his thigh, he shouted excitedly:

"Holy shit!!! Li Zi!!! You're way too brave!!!"

Luo Li flicked nonexistent slime off Enma's blade, sheathed it, and jumped down from the container. He gave Yang Shan a calm smile that the latter found exceptionally "punchable." "Nothing special."

"Just... a tiny bit super brave."