novelraw Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Chapter 136: This Brave Hero is Such a Greedy Bastard!
Wanniu District, as one of the five oldest districts in Qingcheng City, still retains many old buildings like Xia Li’s family’s apartment complex.
Some residential buildings don’t even have a complex or a gate, and you can walk straight into someone else’s house by turning a corner.
Xia Li was pulled forward by Lucia, holding the dragon claw from the evil dragon’s pocket, ultimately forced to comply with the ‘dragon claw on top’ principle.
He didn’t know where the evil dragon wanted to go.
Lucia didn’t speak either, her silent little face lost in thought.
Xia Li tried to say something flirty several times, but the words stopped at his lips.
Forget it…
This dragon is getting harder to fool.
I need to change my strategy. “Where do you want to go?”
“Just wander around…”
“There’s nothing to wander around here, it’s all old and dilapidated. If you want to wander, I can drive you to a place with better air.”
“No, I just want to wander around.”
Lucia shook her head, her hair brushing against her shoulders.
She had seen the construction cranes building houses, she had strolled through the park, and she had played on the dragon launcher, which human cubs loved, several times.
Lucia’s dragon life had never had any aspirations.
She used to be like this when she went out, aimless, flying wherever her dragon wings took her, and that was the purpose of her journey.
She would stop and admire the beautiful mountains and rivers, and she wouldn’t mind stopping to take a look at the desolate land, or even the battlefield littered with corpses…
It was this easygoing personality that allowed her to always remain optimistic and positive, and even in the face of setbacks, she would look forward to the interesting things that might happen next.
Walking between the two rows of old buildings, the morning breeze brought the unique humid air of Sichuan.
There were no lights in the dim alley, clothes were hanging haphazardly overhead, and a ditch covered with an iron net flowed at their feet.
This sense of mystery, deep inside a human city, made Lucia feel a little excited.
It was a bit like when she was adventuring alone in Azure Continent.
But it was different now.
Now she had the Brave Hero by her side.
Lucia clutched the big hand in her pocket tightly. Her pockets weren’t big, so their hands were stuffed in together, making it bulge.
Because they had just had breakfast （late-night snack）, the two hands clasped together were very warm, their palms slightly sweaty and sticky.
“When I was a kid, there were small fish and shrimp in these ditches. Later, with urban development, industrial wastewater and domestic sewage were discharged into these small ditches, and they became stinky ditches…”
“Later, with urban renovation and environmental improvement, the stinky ditches no longer had sewage and became much clearer. Now there are aquatic plants and moss growing in them.”
The surroundings were quiet, and Xia Li suddenly became interested in telling the evil dragon about the development process of human cities.
“This transformation seems to have taken a long time, but it’s only been a short twenty or thirty years… Twenty years ago, this was all countryside and farmland, and twenty years later, it’s full of tall buildings.” Xia Li said.
Lucia looked up at the increasingly bright sky.
The dawn seemed to be hidden between the buildings, the sky squeezed by the alley into a single line, dividing dawn and dusk.
The side where the sun rose was the east, and the side where the stars were still sleeping was the west.
“Twenty years…”
Lucia suddenly had a concept of this number.
Twenty years, for her dragon life, was so short that it wasn’t even considered childhood.
But for humans, it should be very, very long.
“What was Xia Li doing twenty years ago?” Lucia suddenly asked.
“I was still breastfeeding.”
“Whose milk?”
“…”
Xia Li paused, then chuckled, “Humans are mammals, of course I was drinking breast milk… But now, compared to breast milk, it seems that more people use formula to feed their babies.”
Speaking of this, Xia Li was stunned again.
He suddenly thought of another question.
Dragons are not mammals.
So do they have… milk?
Xia Li’s gaze inadvertently glanced at Lucia’s not-so-flat chest.
Lucia even had a girl’s period, so there should be an answer to this question.
No, why think so much?
This guy doesn’t even dare to kiss me, isn’t it too early to think about these questions?
“I was only two years old twenty years ago, this small.”
Xia Li gestured with his hand to show the height of a two-year-old human baby, Lucia’s little face shocked.
“So small… I was much bigger than you when I was born!”
“Nonsense, you’re a dragon, it’s different from me.”
“I want to see a miniature version of Xia Li…” Lucia said sincerely.
Xia Li thought to himself, this is going to be difficult.
Even in Azure Continent, he had never heard of magic that could reverse a human’s age.
But…
You can just give birth to one!
Xia Li’s eyes became heated, Lucia still had the curious look of a baby, unaware of the approaching danger.
“This kind of dark and windy place is suitable for some naughty things to happen.” Xia Li said with a smile.
Lucia saw the mischievous smile on Xia Li’s face this time.
Zhou Anqi had taught her that when a boy smiles mischievously next to a girl, he only thinks about one thing…
Lewd things.
“…”
Lucia let out a soft hum, turned her head away, and threw away the sticky big hand in her pocket.
“It’s too hot, I won’t hold hands for now.”
Xia Li, ruthlessly abandoned by the evil dragon, the mischievous expression on his face cooled down at an extremely fast speed.
“It’s not dawn yet, and it’s easy to run into bad guys in this kind of alley.
If you don’t hold me tight, what if a bad guy appears and kidnaps you… kidnaps me?”
Xia Li quickly caught up and said.
But the evil dragon didn’t believe these words.
Even if a bad guy really appeared, she could just go up and knock them flying with two punches, right?
However, as if to confirm Xia Li’s words.
At the end of the dark alley, there were three or five young men leaning against a utility pole.
Some were standing, some were squatting, and some were kicking a Styrofoam box with their feet.
As if they had found some amusement, they were talking loudly and laughing hysterically in this silent alley.
“These guys are drunk, they’re acting crazy, stay away from them.”
Xia Li pulled the little dragon claw walking in front of him.
The security in the old city was much worse. Although there was a police station not far away, there were still many people who caused trouble at night.
And these guys looked very young, their hairstyles one more flamboyant than the next, with a youthful appearance, probably the kind that graduated from junior high school and dropped out of high school.
Xia Li didn’t want to get involved with this kind of people, he pulled Lucia’s hand and quickly left.
However, Lucia kept looking back.
Finally, as if she had discovered something, she suddenly stopped.
“…There’s a kitten.”
She scratched Xia Li’s palm and stopped.
Xia Li looked back and saw a calico cat smaller than the palm of his hand in the Styrofoam box.
The cat was soaking wet, its fur completely soaked and matted together.
It hadn’t rained recently, and there were no leaks around. Xia Li looked around, and it wasn’t until he saw two beer bottles casually discarded on the ground that he guessed they must have poured beer on it.
“Do you think we can light it?”
“Hahaha… How can you light beer? It’s not liquor! And even with liquor, it depends on the alcohol content!”
“I don’t believe it, I’ll try.”
The three squatted on the ground, chatting and laughing. One of them had already taken out a lighter and started trying.
Xia Li watched this scene from afar.
There were no streetlights in the dark alley, he couldn’t see the faces of the three people clearly, he could only judge what they were doing by their conversation and the shadows on the ground.
“Click,”
As the lighter ignited, the surroundings lit up.
The kitten in the Styrofoam box shivered, letting out a weak meow in the cold wind.
The person holding the lighter seemed to think it was boring, he lit a cigarette and took a puff with the cigarette butt in his mouth.
After the cigarette butt was fully lit, he pinched it, wanting to burn the kitten with it.
“Xia Li…”
Lucia looked at the terrified kitten in the box and suddenly remembered the pet store Xia Li had taken her to a few days ago.
Compared to the kittens there, the cat in the box could only be described as ‘lowly’.
Just because the cats in the pet store had price tags on them, and this one didn’t?
Lucia thought of the dragons captured by humans and brought back to towns in Azure Continent.
Often those dragons would be exploited before being killed.
Valuable dragons would have their blood drawn, scales plucked, and horns cut off repeatedly.
Those whose bodies had no value would be put in the Colosseum to fight and kill each other, becoming tools for human entertainment… just like the cat she saw now.
“Xia Li, can I beat these… beat them up?”
Lucia clenched her small fists.
The previous few times she said she wanted to knock something with two punches, most of it was just casual talk.
But this time, she really felt impulsive.
Turning her head, Lucia found that Xia Li had disappeared from her side and was now in front of her.
◈◈◈
The Brave Hero’s tall figure blocked her.
He took a few steps forward, his tone and movements casual, but if there was enough light here, one could see a sharp glint in his deep black eyes.
“Is this cat yours?”
“Who are you?”
Facing the sudden appearance of a strange man, the three drunk men looked up at the same time, their puzzled tone mixed with a touch of arrogance unique to young punks.
“Is this cat yours?” Xia Li asked again.
“Are you blind?” one of them said, “This damn cat was abandoned in a box, can’t you see?”
“Now that we’ve seen it, it’s ours, so what?”
Another one probably saw that this man was not to be trifled with, his tone full of provocation.
He also knew that what he and his friends were doing was tantamount to animal cruelty, but he didn’t feel guilty about it. Instead, he sneered at the man who wanted to speak out for justice.
“Are you going to film a video and post it online~~?”
Xia Li didn’t answer his question, nor did he intend to take out his phone to take pictures or anything. Instead, he quietly walked over and looked at the condition of the kitten in the Styrofoam box.
He couldn’t see clearly from afar, but now that he was closer, he could see that the little calico cat’s nose and mouth were full of water, and there was a strong smell of beer on its body.
Probably because beer had gotten into its eyes, the kitten couldn’t open its eyes, it weakly moved its limbs in the box, and let out a very soft meow.
Xia Li observed carefully. The Styrofoam box was lined with thick clothes, and there was a note on the clothes. The handwriting on the note was childish, probably from an elementary school student:
‘My family doesn’t allow pets, please kind person take good care of it!’
The character ‘待’ （care） was misspelled, and pinyin was used instead.
It’s a pity that the child who wrote this note probably didn’t expect that the kitten he left downstairs was being force-fed beer by a group of jerks.
And the kitten, only a few months old, didn’t expect that its desperate cries for help wouldn’t elicit mercy, but would only provoke a stronger desire for destruction in humans.
The Styrofoam box was full of beer water. Xia Li didn’t take the dirty clothes inside, but carefully grabbed the kitten by the scruff of its neck, lifted it up, and held it in his arms.
“I’m talking to you, asshole!”
The dissatisfied voice of the punk came from behind.
A clenched fist swung towards the back of Xia Li’s head.
But he never expected that the young man, who looked gentle and spoke politely, would easily dodge the punch.
The one who threw the punch thought he was just drunk and missed.
He looked at his fist, then at the man slowly getting up from the ground.
“Hahaha, are you drunk too??”
The laughter of his companions made him even more angry, and he threw another heavy punch from bottom to top.
Xia Li tilted his head slightly, and the fist brushed past his head less than five centimeters away.
As a Brave Hero who had experienced countless life-and-death situations in another world, the attack methods of these Earth punks were like child’s play to Xia Li.
If these guys didn’t keep pestering him, Xia Li didn’t want to have any conflict with them.
But…
Glancing at the security camera hanging in the alley behind him, Xia Li met the next punch head-on.
The fist that was originally aimed at his face landed on his shoulder. The person who threw the punch was stunned, thinking that he must be really drunk.
However, this successful punch undoubtedly gave him great confidence. The guy sneered and, together with his two companions, surrounded Xia Li to beat him up.
“We saw this cat first, you’re stealing it from us…”
The punk who walked over spat on the ground and took another drag of his cigarette.
Before he finished speaking, a sweeping leg caught him off guard.
The force of the leg was somewhat unexpected, sweeping across his stomach horizontally, making him lose his balance and fall on his butt.
Seeing this, the other companion with a cigarette in his mouth didn’t hesitate to pick up the beer bottle on the ground and smash it towards the young man’s head.
The young man held the cat with one hand, and his outstretched palm grabbed the beer bottle, skillfully dissolving the force.
Then he pulled hard, pulling the punk holding the beer bottle along with the bottle, and then kicked him.
He punched them to trigger self-defense.
After self-defense was triggered, these punks completely lost the chance to hit Xia Li.
“Cough, cough…”
The guy clutched his stomach, his back hitting the utility pole, his eyes wide with disbelief.
It all happened in a flash, and the other punk who was pretending to join in was dumbfounded.
In the time it took him to laugh, his two companions were already groaning in pain.
Suddenly realizing that he had encountered a tough opponent, and coupled with the fact that he was drunk and had caused trouble first, the punk hurriedly glanced at Xia Li, then quickly pulled up his two companions on the ground and by the utility pole and left.
“Damn it, I told you to drink less, you had to drink all night, now you’re screwed! Damn!!”
The sound of curses disappeared into the alley.
Xia Li, holding the shivering kitten, returned to Lucia’s side.
Lucia hurriedly stepped forward and asked with a worried look on her face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, those fists are nothing compared to your dragon claws.” Xia Li smiled.
Lucia added: “I mean… are those bad guys okay?”
Xia Li: “???”
You don’t care about your boyfriend, who do you care about?!
Seeing Xia Li’s face change, Lucia explained:
“You said… in this society, if you beat someone to death or cripple them, you have to go to jail. I don’t want to see you cooking for others in jail for the rest of your life.”
So that’s what she was worried about.
Xia Li felt much better, but his face was still a little gloomy.
“…I was careful, just enough to knock them out, not to the point of bleeding.” Xia Li said lightly.
These guys should be thankful that this is a society ruled by law, and there are cameras in every corner of the alley.
Otherwise, it would have been a different outcome.
Thinking of this, Xia Li suddenly clutched his shoulder.
His face turned pale, and he squatted down in pain.
“Hiss…”
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong!”
Lucia was about to check on the kitten when she saw Xia Li squatting down and instantly panicked.
Did those guys use weapons?
Humans are the most cunning, they would hide all kinds of hidden weapons during a fight.
“My shoulder hurts.”
Xia Li took a deep breath and said.
Lucia’s little face was stunned, the panicked expression on her face was even more nervous than Xia Li’s.
“They did use weapons? … Let me see!”
She said, reaching for Xia Li’s clothes.
But Xia Li’s clothes were thick, and she pulled his sweater out of shape.
Lucia reached into his clothes and found that what she pulled out was a long underwear top, and her little face became even more panicked.
“There’s no blood… Could it be internal injuries?”
Lucia carefully analyzed it and felt that there were no internal organs in the shoulder, so there shouldn’t be any internal injuries.
“Ouch, my bones hurt,” Xia Li sighed.
“If you kiss me, I think I’ll get better faster.”
“Okay, I’ll…”
The honest dragon was about to nod when she suddenly realized.
No…
Xia Li was lying to her.
The Brave Hero went through all this trouble just to get her to kiss him.
Lucia’s anxious little face gradually calmed down.
The morning light had already filled the sky, and the faint orange-red light allowed her to see Xia Li’s eyes closed in ‘pain’.
Probably because it was too quiet for too long, Xia Li couldn’t wait any longer.
He opened one eye and peeked at Lucia.
Lucia happened to be looking at him, and he quickly closed his eyes again, pretending to be in pain.
“It hurts so much… That guy must have practiced internal martial arts.”
“…”
Lucia was silent for a moment.
In the end, she decided to fall for it.
She hummed softly, leaned over, and pressed her soft lips against Xia Li’s face.
“Is it better now?”
“No… This side needs one too, for symmetry.”
Xia Li turned the other side of his head.
“…”
This Brave Hero is such a greedy bastard!
Lucia sighed and did as she was told.
After kissing both sides, she felt her cheeks burning.
She had kissed Xia Li’s face, but it felt like her own face had been kissed too.
It made her feel embarrassed.
“It must be better now…”
She muttered, ignoring the Brave Hero’s puckered lips that were begging for a kiss, and reached out to take the kitten from his arms to check on it.