Chapter 54: We’re Done For
“Huh?”
Yi Ning, who had just been gloating, froze in place. Her expression stiffened.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
She was in disbelief.
She was already on her way back to the Tang Empire after completing the pilgrimage—how could she suddenly run into another tribulation at the River of Heaven with the old turtle?
“Of course I’m not joking.”
Seeing Yi Ning’s twisted smile, Lu Zheng’s own smile widened.
A smile doesn’t vanish—it just transfers to his face.
“I… I object!”
Yi Ning pouted and resumed her old tricks, playing the rogue again.
“You don’t have a search warrant—how can you search my base?”
Unfortunately, her tantrum didn’t yield the result she wanted.
Lu Zheng pulled out a piece of paper, with three bold characters written at the top:
Search Warrant.
It read:
According to Article 124 and Article 135 of the “Hero Association Special Circumstances Action Ordinance,” the bearer Pixel Mask is hereby authorized to search Dr. Alien’s Evil Laboratory.
Dated XX/XX/20XX
Below that were the signature and stamp of Miss Qiu Yu, Director of the D-City Hero Association Branch.
As well as the official seal of the Hero Association’s D-City Branch.
“Mmm…”
Yi Ning clenched the paper so hard that the edges were almost crushed.
She angrily threw the search warrant at Lu Zheng’s chest, her round apricot eyes glaring fiercely as she fired laser beams of fury at him with her gaze.
“Never thought… you were this kind of person!”
Yi Ning pointed her middle finger at Lu Zheng.
Using her index finger was no longer enough to express her rage and indignation.
“With our relationship, you still bring a search warrant to see me? I’m telling you, Pixel Mask, our relationship ends here! Game Over!”
She made a big X in front of her chest.
Seriously?
Watching Yi Ning cross her arms, turn her head, and huff in the classic three-piece pout combo, Lu Zheng sighed helplessly.
Still, Yi Ning wasn’t entirely wrong, so he had to admit fault.
“Let me explain.”
Lu Zheng began to placate her.
“Hmph! I won’t listen!”
Though her mouth said one thing, Yi Ning’s eyes started to drift subtly, sneaking glances at Lu Zheng from the corners.
Lu Zheng breathed a small sigh of relief.
She seemed determined to stay in her tsundere character.
The search warrant obviously wasn’t something he had gone out of his way to request.
After yesterday’s events, the two of them had grown much closer. Lu Zheng wouldn’t have gone out of his way to ask Miss Qiu Yu for a warrant just to enter Yi Ning’s base.
Due to the Freedom Alliance situation, the Hero Association had started monitoring all ability usage across D-City. This also led them to discover many undocumented ability users.
Previously, they could turn a blind eye, but now that it was under scrutiny, the Association had to haul these folks in for registration and ideological education.
Naturally, Lu Zheng was one of the main field agents tasked with this. He had to go to these “clever” undocumented users’ homes and bring them back.
These people typically distrusted the Hero Association and wouldn’t easily let Lu Zheng into their homes. So, to make things smoother, Miss Qiu Yu issued him a blanket search warrant.
Since everyone else’s homes got a warrant, it wouldn’t look good if Dr. Alien’s Evil Laboratory was exempt.
Otherwise, rumors might spread that the D-City Hero Association was colluding with an evil organization.
The warrant Lu Zheng held was merely a formality.
He hadn’t expected to need it.
“I see…”
After hearing Lu Zheng’s explanation, Yi Ning’s scowl slowly faded.
Still, she hadn’t completely abandoned her tsundere stance.
“Hmph! In that case, I suppose I could forgive you. After all… I was the one throwing a tantrum first.”
Oh, you do realize that?
Lu Zheng rolled his eyes internally.
“But…”
Yi Ning dragged out the word, teasing a bit of suspense.
“But what?”
Lu Zheng knew—this was the part where she named her price.
“…”
Yi Ning didn’t speak. Instead, she shyly crossed her hands at her lower abdomen, twiddling her thumbs.
Her cheeks flushed as she turned her head to the side, offering only the back of her head to Lu Zheng.
“I’m afraid you won’t agree.”
Lu Zheng sighed.
He hadn’t done anything wrong, yet now he had to promise her something?
Still, with the mood like this, he couldn’t bear to refuse.
“Go ahead. As long as it’s not too outrageous, I’ll agree.”
“You won’t agree.”
Yi Ning put on the airs of a tragic heroine.
“Because… my request is juuust a tiny bit over the top~”
She wriggled and began to act coy.
Paired with her eye-pleasing body, it was genuinely hard to refuse her whims.
“Then I’ll agree to a slightly outrageous request too.”
Lu Zheng gave his word.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but since yesterday, Yi Ning seemed to have started embracing her female identity.
Not that it was a bad thing—after all, she was now a girl, and clinging to a male self-perception wasn’t healthy.
This mainly referred to Lu Zheng’s body.
Ever since Yi Ning acknowledged she was female, she’d begun using that identity advantage to steer situations in her favor.
Like now.
Lu Zheng quietly rolled his eyes.
He didn’t know if she behaved this way with others, but he had to admit—it worked pretty well on him.
He just wasn’t good at saying no to girls who acted spoiled and mischievous around him.
Especially considering the girls in his life…
Lu Zheng reflected briefly—his sadness was indescribable.
Sensing that he was softening, Yi Ning pressed forward to clinch her win.
She stepped closer, gazing up at him with soft, moist eyes, gently tugging at his sleeve.
Then she leaned close to his ear and whispered sweetly:
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then when I say it, you can’t get mad, okay?”
Lu Zheng nodded. The pixel screen on his helmet even displayed a (˵ovo˵) emoji.
With her prey caught in the trap, Yi Ning finally revealed her fangs.
“Well then—be generous and tear up that search warrant for me, won’t you?”