"Ah!"
Earlier, while chasing after Lin Fei—and since Lin Fei hadn't refused her invitation to have dinner together—
And with everything that followed, including her pulling him along by the hand—
Su Xiaoli had momentarily forgotten the consequences of the huge commotion Lin Fei had caused with Liu Kai.
But after letting Lin Fei touch her ears—and after he learned that her fox ears were real—
She suddenly remembered it all, and couldn't help letting out a small cry of alarm.
"Hm?"
"A-Fei, about what happened today between you and Liu Kai…"
On Su Xiaoli's innocent yet faintly alluring face, a trace of worry surfaced.
"What about it?" Lin Fei asked, puzzled.
"Aren't you worried?"
"Worried about what? That Liu Kai will come looking for revenge?"
Lin Fei gave her a confident smile.
"Don't worry. Even if Liu Kai has awakened a super gene, he's still no match for me."
"Honestly, if he dares to come bother me again, that'd be great. He passed out after just two hits today—I didn't even get warmed up."
"But next time we meet, I'm afraid all he'll need to do is open his mouth to talk, and it'll be nothing but air leaking out."
"I don't even know if I'd be able to hear clearly what he's saying."
"Pfft!"
Su Xiaoli burst out laughing.
Hearing Lin Fei say that, she couldn't help recalling the scene on the street earlier—when Lin Fei tried to hear what Liu Kai was saying, but couldn't hear a thing at all.
And then, just a couple of lines later, Liu Kai was so furious that he passed out on the spot.
She seriously suspected Lin Fei had done it on purpose—putting on that deliberately infuriating, half-mocking tone.
Still, it really had been extremely satisfying to watch.
"It's not that," Su Xiaoli said, shaking her head.
"I know you're amazing, A-Fei."
"Then what is it? Don't tell me, Xiaoli—you're worried someone's going to grab me and slice me up for research?"
"Yes! That's exactly it!"
Su Xiaoli nodded emphatically.
Ever since she'd realized she possessed a strange kind of "magic," and that her fox ears were real—
She'd been on edge for quite a while.
Whenever she went out, she wore a hat, afraid some mysterious organization would take her away "for tea."
Then secretly transfer her somewhere and dissect her for research.
Later, she realized that most people just thought her fox ears were cosplay props.
Only then did she relax a bit and stop deliberately wearing a hat—after all, wearing one every day was pretty rough on the ears.
But today was different.
Lin Fei had literally ripped a streetlamp out of the ground and used it as a weapon.
No matter how you looked at it, that was way beyond what a normal person could do.
She didn't care whether Liu Kai lived or died.
What she was worried about… was Lin Fei.
"A-Fei, what happened between you and Liu Kai on the street today—official channels will definitely find out. I'm afraid it won't be long before they send people to come look for you."
"And then you might be taken away and… dissected…"
"Dissected? What dissected?"
"What do you mean what dissected—being caught, put on an operating table, cut up and studied, turned into samples… Who are—?"
Su Xiaoli suddenly froze mid-sentence.
She realized that the voice that had just spoken… wasn't Lin Fei's.
She turned to look at the person walking toward them—
A tall woman with light smoky makeup, wine-red long hair, and a bold, dashing air.
Qiangwei had arrived at the table, one hand braced casually on her hip.
"Me? I'm the 'official' person you were talking about—the one who's supposedly here to take you away."
"Eek—?!"
Su Xiaoli froze for a moment.
Then, like a startled little fox, she yelped in alarm, her fox ears standing straight up.
"Hey, hey. Eavesdropping is bad enough—scaring people like that is just rude," Lin Fei said to Qiangwei.
"I wasn't eavesdropping. I just happened to hear it," Qiangwei replied calmly.
As a second-generation Super Warrior, even though her gene type was spacetime-based and not specialized in hearing—
Her senses were still far beyond those of ordinary people.
And just as she was walking toward Lin Fei's table, she'd overheard their conversation.
To be honest, it had been pretty interesting.
"Anyway, although I am with the authorities, I don't have any intention of dragging people off for dissection."
"Then what do you want with us?" Lin Fei asked.
Qiangwei noticed Su Xiaoli's wariness and hostility toward her—but her real focus was on Lin Fei.
"I'm not here for her. I'm here for him."
"So you are here for A-Fei!" Su Xiaoli exclaimed.
"Mind if I join you?" Qiangwei said, looking at Lin Fei.
"I haven't had dinner yet either."
"Well, sharing a table isn't impossible," Lin Fei said.
"But this meal was Xiaoli treating me to thank me for helping her, so—"
"I'll pay," Qiangwei said flatly.
Clean, decisive, without the slightest hesitation—none of the coyness of an ordinary girl.
"If someone's paying, then Xiaoli, come sit on my side," Lin Fei said casually.
"Alright."
Seeing that Lin Fei hadn't refused Qiangwei, Su Xiaoli hesitated for a moment, then nodded and moved to sit on Lin Fei's inner side.
Still, she remained guarded toward Qiangwei.
"So—what do you want with me?" Lin Fei asked.
"Did Du Kao send you to recruit me?"
In fact, when Lin Fei had beaten Liu Kai earlier, he had already noticed Qiangwei—and sensed eyes watching from above.
At the time, he'd even thought she might step in to stop him.
After all, Liu Kai was a favored subject under the Super God Academy's watch.
But in the end, Qiangwei hadn't made a move.
She'd even let him leave just like that.
That had surprised him a little.
As for why she was here now—there was no need to think too hard. It was obviously Du Kao's instruction.
"You know us?" Qiangwei asked, a little surprised.
Then again, it wasn't that strange.
After all, Lin Fei had effortlessly crushed Liu Kai, who possessed the Norse War God super gene.
Even if Liu Kai had just awakened, he wasn't someone an ordinary Super Warrior could handle.
What's more, even Derma No. 3 couldn't detect Lin Fei's gene type or background.
"Super God Academy? Of course I know it," Lin Fei replied.
"I see. Then I'll be straightforward. I'm only here today because Old Du wants to know your purpose for coming to Earth."
"As for recruiting people—that's Ah Jie's job. It has nothing to do with me."
"Your purpose for coming to Earth?" Su Xiaoli asked curiously after hearing their conversation.
"A-Fei… are you an alien?"
"Don't listen to her nonsense. I'm a born-and-bred Earthling," Lin Fei said smoothly.
—Even if it was an Earth from a different universe.
But that still counted as Earth.
"Hah! I'm not talking nonsense. Otherwise, why couldn't Old Du find any record of your past on Earth?"
Qiangwei crossed her arms atop the table, her tall body leaning forward slightly.
Lin Fei waved his hand casually.
"Then it can only mean your supercomputer is outdated. Time for an upgrade."
"The god-tier civilizations in the known universe all use celestial supercomputers, you know."
"Uh…"
Qiangwei was momentarily speechless.
She didn't know that much about alien civilizations or technology.
But she did know what a celestial supercomputer was.
And… what Lin Fei said actually wasn't unreasonable.
After all, Derma No. 3 had indeed been built tens of thousands of years ago—it was outdated compared to modern standards.