Chapter 55: No Spoilers, Dammit!
Unfortunately, that only made Lu Zheng a little more agreeable—it couldn’t completely cloud his judgment.
“Da-me.”
Lu Zheng mimicked Yi Ning’s earlier antics.
“Ehh—”
Seeing her scheme fail, Yi Ning unhappily let go of his sleeve and stepped back, dragging out her tone in protest.
“I’ve been playing up the act for so long I almost disgusted myself, and you’re still this immune to charm?”
She dropped her facade and flipped him off to vent her frustration.
“I’m a professional hero, academy-trained. You think I’d fall for a low-level honey trap like that?”
Lu Zheng snorted dismissively and returned the gesture with a middle finger of his own.
Seeing him start to mimic her, Yi Ning withdrew her hand and mocked him inwardly for his immaturity.
She hadn’t conceded, not at all.
Everyone knows the left side loses in a beam clash.
She was on the far right—so in the Beam Clash of Contempt, Lu Zheng had lost!
But watching Lu Zheng stubbornly persist, she couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated.
“I just don’t get it—why are you so dead set on going into my lab now? It’s not even fully set up yet.”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at Lu Zheng.
He stared back without flinching.
Yi Ning huffed and turned her head away.
She was on the right—so she won the Stare Clash too!
Seeing her back down, Lu Zheng shrugged dismissively.
“I originally just wanted to handle things here early, so I’d be free in the afternoon to hunt that Freedom Alliance guy. But now that you’re being so evasive about the lab, I’m really curious what’s going on inside.”
Truthfully, it was just a bit of rebelliousness and curiosity.
“So now it’s my fault?”
Yi Ning naturally wasn’t happy to hear that and rolled her eyes at him.
This time, she quickly reeled it back before Lu Zheng could respond.
No counter-beam? That made it a unilateral win for her!
“Do you absolutely have to go in?”
Her voice was full of dissatisfaction.
But compared to her earlier tantrums, her tone had softened significantly.
One more push and she might yield.
Lu Zheng pressed on.
“That Freedom Alliance guy is still in D-City—I can’t relax. So many innocent citizens are still under his threat.”
He continued coaxing her.
“Just take a few days off. Give me a bit of time to catch him and throw him in jail. Wouldn’t that be good for you too? At least then you won’t have some idiot barging into D-City trying to carry out their evil plans behind your back.”
Seeing that Lu Zheng wasn’t budging, Yi Ning relented a bit. She tried leaking a small bit of information about Rigil in hopes of quelling his premature crackdown.
“If that’s what you’re worried about, that Freedom Alliance guy won’t be causing trouble in D-City anymore.”
To complete her carefully prepared evil plan, she was willing to go this far.
“What do you mean he won’t be causing trouble anymore?”
As expected, Lu Zheng was very reactive to this tidbit.
But that was all Yi Ning intended to say.
From her earlier conversation with Rigil, she had a decent read on his character.
Hot-tempered, arrogant, emotionally stunted—but at least smart enough to understand self-preservation.
There was no way he’d stick his neck out while the Hero Association was actively hunting him.
And barring any surprises, he probably wouldn’t live to see tomorrow afternoon’s sun anyway.
“Just take it literally.”
Yi Ning raised one finger and pressed it to her lips.
If her theory proved right, that guy would be reduced to a pig for slaughter—his personality wiped clean, raised to produce rare materials like a machine.
If not, well…
He’d become her lab rat, then be tossed into a dimensional dumpster after his value was drained.
Yi Ning had been raised to avoid using innocents in experiments—but Rigil didn’t qualify as “innocent populace.”
A rare lab rat like this—no way was she letting go.
Seeing Lu Zheng about to press for more, she waved her hand and zipped her lips.
“The rest is proprietary information.”
After all, if the Hero Association caught Rigil first, her precious lab rat would end up on trial instead.
Lu Zheng studied her expression, realized he wouldn’t get anything else, and sighed.
“If you don’t want to talk, I won’t push.”
He knew Yi Ning well enough to understand she wouldn’t make baseless claims at a time like this.
Satisfied with his response, Yi Ning smiled and began tidying up, preparing to send him off.
But what Lu Zheng said next caught her off guard.
“I’m still going into your lab, though.”
“Huh? Why?!”
Yi Ning was on the verge of breaking down.
She had blocked off every possible approach—why was this guy still finding ways to push through?
Lu Zheng’s pixel screen displayed an awkward emoji.
“Well… it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but—it’s just personal curiosity.”
“……”
Yi Ning was momentarily speechless.
After a long pause, she squeezed out one line:
“Can’t you hold it in? I’ll trigger your alert system this afternoon and call you.”
“Since I’m already here, y’know?”
Lu Zheng’s pixel screen now showed a shy expression.
Yi Ning was at a loss for words.
She picked up her bowl and chopsticks from the ground and began scarfing down the rest of her meal in big bites, chewing forcefully—
As if she were chewing up a certain someone’s flesh.
“Fine. If you’re so desperate to go in, then go.”
She wiped her mouth with the hand holding her chopsticks and pointed a thumb at the lab door.
Her sudden compliance threw Lu Zheng off.
He had expected another tantrum.
“What’s with that look?”
Catching his surprised expression, Yi Ning rolled her eyes again.
“If you don’t wanna go in, then scram!”
She marched toward the door, but just as she lifted her foot, something seemed to click in her mind. She turned around and held out a hand to block Lu Zheng behind her.
“Wait a sec.”
Lu Zheng’s screen showed a puzzled emoji.
“Let me go in and tidy up first.”
Yi Ning decided to make one last stand.
While Lu Zheng waited outside, she would create a fake version of the lab interior to shield what she had spent all morning building.
Spoilers were absolutely forbidden!
She had to stop this!
No spoilers, dammit!