Second Kill

"...When you said you 'dealt with' them, did you mean academically?" Su Ming asked the scholar.

"Xiao Jin rose like a comet in academic circles back then. One reason was that no one could beat her in an academic debate," Xiwo interjected. "As for the other reason..." The old elf glanced at Zijin.

"If I could settle things with my fists, why argue with them?" Zijin countered. "They pulled rank and suppressed me, so naturally, I 'suppressed' them right back."

Sure enough, she was the best fighter among scholars and the most scholarly among combatants.

"The people she caught in sacks got off with broken bones at best. The worst cases were bedridden for a year," Xiwo recalled. "Eventually, quite a few people who had offended her wrote to me, asking me to plead with her on their behalf."

"I was already showing a lot of restraint," Zijin protested. "I only hit a tiny bit too hard every now and then."

"Say, didn't you listen when Xiwo tried to talk you out of it?" Su Ming asked casually.

"Talk me out of it?" Zijin looked surprised. "When Grandpa Xiwo got those letters and found out what was happening, he came right over to help me. If he hadn't helped, there were a few tough ones I wouldn't have been able to deal with!"

Su Ming couldn't help glancing at the two of them. So the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree!

Xiwo continued exchanging information with the Federation. The sea monster they had killed was designated No. 1, and the newly sighted one was designated No. 2, with the possibility of more being added to the sequence later. Su Ming even suspected that the sea monsters they had found on the first and second days weren't the same