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So I’ve already become this strong… hah…

“A monster… a monster wearing a human’s skin…”

Amidst my stunned wonderment, a cold voice immediately rained on my parade, paired with an expressionless face of someone whom you would have thought the entire world owed her money.

What do you mean ‘a monster wearing a human’s skin’… the nerve of some people!

“A monster? The mortal needs to watch her tongue – do not sully His Highness’s divinity!” Ever my loyal self-proclaimed retainer, Lixiang, did not take any disrespect towards me lightly. “The seal on His Highness’s powers are about to come undone. When that day comes, His Highness will have the power to wipe out this planet with naught but a wave of his hands. Offending His Highness now is not a wise decision at all. The mortal had best beg for His Highness’s forgiveness now while she still can, lest something worse happens in the future. Do not say that this one did not warn you!”

“You…” Having listened to all of Lixiang’s drivel, Floater looked calmly at the girl who was a little red from her long speech.

But Floater didn’t seem like the type to take such provocation lying down. Just because she was silent most of the time did not mean that she was meek; Her military background gave her a natural aggressive streak.

Under our watchful eyes, Floater slowly lifted up her left hand and stuck out a finger… Is she trying to challenge Lixiang? Or maybe she’s giving the signal to her detachable bits?

Crap, I need to stop Floater before she does something rash!

However, before I could even make a move, the situation changed.

Her finger did not point at Lixiang as we had expected. Rather, she pointed it at her own head and asked in that same stoic voice, “Are you off your rocker?”

“Pfft…”

The moment she said that, Bitong and Qiaoqiao couldn’t help but let slip a laugh despite not even daring to breathe just mere moments ago. Gone was that nail-biting tenseness, replaced by an atmosphere more common in a clown fest…

Well… it’s not like Lixiang’s delusions are a secret at this point… any random passerby can tell she’s delusional from a mile away.

“Alright, alright, no more laughing… There’s still two more exosuits that need assembling, and our location has already been found out by the enemy. We don’t know how long before the next wave of enemies will appear so time is of the essence. As the leader of this team, I need you all to get back to work right away. Floater, you will be in charge of guarding everyone.”

Lixiang was positively fuming at this point, but she had no way of venting that anger now that I had spoken. Time wasn’t something we could afford to waste right now. Those two exosuits had to be completed as soon as possible. After all, no one knew where that giant skeleton even came from. How did it find us? Was it just coincidence, or something more sinister?

Under my direction, Lixiang and Bitong got to work on the exosuits. Floater, instead, continued staring at her custom exosuit. However, her detachable bits were all deployed and ready to intercept any possible threat.

As for Qiaoqiao…”

“Aunty Xinqing, here’s big brother’s newest combat footage.” Before we knew it, Qiaoqiao was somehow in contact with Aunty Xinqing.

The mature holographic figure of Aunty Xinqing popped up before Qiaoqiao. She pinched her fingers together and said in a tender voice, “Hand over the video, quickly. Qiaoqiao, my dear girl, you know your aunty Xinqing loves nothing more than to watch your big brother heroically slay monsters! There’s no sight more beautiful in this world!!”

Hmmm? Shouldn’t it be dashing? Why is it beautiful?!

“Big brother was so cool just now. There was this giant skeleton snake, but big brother chopped it up in a couple of hacks!” Qiaoqiao swung her hands wide open as if to emphasize how big the monster was.

Why not just show her a picture… it’s so much easier…

“Big brother trashed that monster good! Qiaoqiao’s in love with big brother all over again. Once Qiaoqiao grows older, Qiaoqiao is going to marry big brother!! At that time, big brother will welcome Qiaoqiao with open arms and open wings…”

Qiaoqiao started off with how my battle went, but as the talk turned to talks of marriage, the look Floater gave me turned to disgust.

“So our team leader likes them small. What a… unique taste.”

Me, sweating profusely: No… it’s not what you’re thinking… I’m innocent…

“So you like them innocent as well?”

“No… I’m really innocent…” Not wishing to be seen as a pervert, I tried one last time to explain myself. “What if I told you I am a female? Will you believe me?”

“I will.” Floater eyed me from top to toe before nodding. “A flat-chested pervert then.”

“…”

Why the ‘flat-chested’ part… Ah… there’s no hope… I’m better off dying to prove my innocence…

Maybe I should just stay away from her from now on. Doesn’t matter how beautiful she is, talking to her is causing my lifespan to shorten…

“Aunty Xinqing, is there a reason why you are uploading this footage onto the web?” Qiaoqiao asked.

From their brief exchange, I surmised that Qiaoqiao must have gotten her own mission of filming my battles. Normally, there would be cameras on the ground or the satellites above to capture such footage. But in an underground factory, Qiaoqiao’s filming was necessary.

“That’s a difficult question with many different answers…”

“In order to avoid heavy casualties, the military won’t send its forces in for now. But the Federation doesn’t want to seem impotent. I’m sure you all know that it’s not the government that won’t act, but it’s that they can’t act. Doing so would lead to losses that even they can’t handle…”

Simply put, they did not want to have to answer to the masses on why they weren’t sending in the troops. And that was where my little battles came in. Even if I was a normal civilian in the past, as long as they registered me into one of their bureaus, then I was technically a civil servant.

In that case, these combat footages were basically glorified ads for the Federation, showing that the government wasn’t impotent. In fact, my presence was proof that the Federation had even noticed something was amiss before the crisis happened. Unfortunately, the mastermind had proven too cruel and cunning in the end…

“So big brother is like an idol for the Federation?” Qiaoqiao clapped her hands excitedly. “Big brother is just too amazing!”

“There are actually a number of reasons why Ke was chosen for this position. For example, my government position, Ke’s immense strength, General Rodenas’s favouritism… But the most important reason has to be…” Aunty Xinqing beamed at that point. “Ke’s is just too beautiful! With looks like that, Ke can do whatever Ke wants!”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE