Chapter 52: Law of Conservation of Luck
12:01 P.M.
Dr. Alien’s Evil Laboratory.
“Ding dong.”
Lu Zheng, dressed in Pixel Mask’s signature outfit, stepped out of the car with a complicated expression and walked up to the lab’s main entrance, pressing the doorbell.
“Who is it? Coming to find me at noon like this.”
Yi Ning, holding a bowl of rice while sitting at the dining table, raised her head helplessly.
She licked her chopsticks, picked up the rice bowl, and walked toward the monitor screen of the surveillance camera.
Could it be that Rigil-whatever again?
She speculated.
Since something was apparently wrong on the Hero Association’s end and the usually punctual Lu Zheng hadn’t shown up to investigate the anomaly at her base, it wouldn’t be surprising if that Gilyer fellow came back after realizing nothing had happened.
Yi Ning held the chopsticks in her mouth, freeing her hands to turn on the surveillance screen.
An unexpected yet reasonable figure appeared on the screen.
It was Pixel Mask.
The one with the pixel-screen helmet.
Speak of the devil.
Yi Ning, bowl in hand and chopsticks in mouth, pushed open the lab’s front door and walked out.
She then transferred the chopsticks to her hand and used her foot to leave the door slightly ajar.
The inside was still off-limits—she couldn’t spoil the surprise, not until the afternoon.
Seeing Yi Ning come out, Lu Zheng glanced at her bowl and recalled that he hadn’t eaten a single bite all morning. He felt a bit glum.
Fortunately, he quickly adjusted his mindset and got to work.
“I believe I mentioned before that the Hero Association is now monitoring special ability usage throughout the city. About an hour and a half ago, the Association detected a signal from your location, so I came to investigate. Please cooperate.”
He pulled out a small notebook, adopting a businesslike tone.
Unfortunately, Yi Ning never played along with this sort of thing.
She raised her bowl and shoveled a few bites of rice into her mouth, puffing out her cheeks like a hamster.
“This is the base of an evil scientist, you know. Isn’t it normal for there to be signals of special abilities being used?”
She muttered, tilting her head in a righteously indignant manner.
Lu Zheng was a bit exasperated.
She couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a proper excuse.
They’d fought long enough for him to know—Yi Ning had never once triggered a special ability signal.
He began to find her behavior suspicious.
Could she be harboring a criminal?
The thought suddenly popped into Lu Zheng’s head.
He chuckled and shook the thought away.
After all, they had fought long enough, and their relationship had been improving lately. He had a decent grasp of her personality.
She’d never bother with something so troublesome and unrewarding.
Lu Zheng scanned Yi Ning, who was still standing there stuffing rice into her mouth with chopsticks, and sighed again.
Though she hated doing tedious things, she was unexpectedly dedicated when it came to her job of conquering D-City.
He had even given her a certificate to slack off, yet here she was, back at it the very next day.
If possible, Lu Zheng hoped she could just stay quiet for a bit.
“So you’re admitting the signal came from you?”
He began to dig a trap.
With that Freedom Alliance guy causing chaos, everyone at the Hero Association had been swamped.
If he could get Yi Ning to take a break, his own workload might ease up a bit too.
Unfortunately, Yi Ning was unexpectedly shrewd in situations like this and wasn’t about to fall into his trap.
“That I can’t say for sure. I’ve got too many gadgets here—any one of them could’ve accidentally interfered with your signal.”
She started playing Tai Chi with Lu Zheng, deflecting and stalling.
She had nothing urgent going on anyway, so she had all the time in the world to drag this out—unlike Lu Zheng.
Seeing her acting so slippery, Lu Zheng sighed again.
He decided to be upfront: “I’m begging you—can you just stay home and rest for a few days? Once we catch that Freedom Alliance guy, you can raise all the hell you want, and I’ll be right there with you.”
Lu Zheng raised his clasped hands high above his head and bowed deeply to her.
“Not happening!”
Yi Ning mercilessly shot him down.
She didn’t want to keep arguing this point and quickly changed the topic.
“By the way, why are you so late today?”
At this question, Lu Zheng’s expression grew complicated.
His gaze drifted.
“There was a little accident.”
He brushed it off casually, then started complaining about his hectic morning.
Things like having to investigate remote areas…
Having to conduct emergency arrests of undocumented ability users scattered across the city…
Not being able to rest his feet since clocking in…
The sheer number of tasks made Yi Ning shiver just hearing them.
She looked at Lu Zheng with pity, set her chopsticks across her bowl, and patted his shoulder with her free hand in consolation.
“So…”
Seeing her sympathetic expression, Lu Zheng tried to use the moment to play the victim some more, hoping she’d give up on working for now.
But before he could get more than a few words out—
“Alright, alright, I get it, you’re busy.”
So it seemed Lu Zheng being late wasn’t all that strange.
But in truth, his tardiness had little to do with those tasks.
It wasn’t like he was the only one at the Hero Association—Ye Qin and the other departments were all working hard.
Plus, Lu Zheng had been pretty lucky recently. Every time he went on assignment, he happened to draw a very suitable ability, making all his tasks twice as effective with half the effort.
But good luck always runs out.
As everyone knows, luck is conserved.
Time saved by streaks of good fortune could be devoured in one bout of bad luck.
Like his trip to Dr. Alien’s lab this time.
Before heading over, Lu Zheng unfortunately drew a random ability called “Stamina Boost.”
As the name suggests, it greatly increased his stamina, allowing him to run twenty kilometers without breaking a sweat.
But could he really run twenty kilometers to Yi Ning’s base?
Where would he find the time?
Plus, due to the limitations of his ability, he couldn’t switch powers unless he reached the lab. So in the end, he had no choice but to drive.
And, of course, he got stuck in traffic.
For over an hour.
It nearly fried his brain.
“Alright, fine.”
Lu Zheng waved his hand at Yi Ning.
He gave up.
Or rather, he changed tactics.
I know you love your job—but what if I just ruin your overtime plans for the afternoon?
Lu Zheng pulled a die from his pocket and tossed it into the air.
Pointing at Yi Ning, who stood frozen in place with her bowl in hand, he shouted:
“Open up! Hero Association raid!”