1569 Demon Daughter
Xia Fan took Traveling Buddha to familiarize themselves with the city. The Little Old Buddha was apathetic to life and usually didn’t care about much. After noting down some of the primary divisions and buildings and understanding the streets and districts of the city, Traveling Buddha went with Xia Fan to a tea house to brew up some tea. Compared to touring the city, he cared more about the quality of tea leaves in the Lower Realm!
The next morning, the two of them had breakfast in the dining hall. The culinary tradition of Subduing Demon City was rather simple. Breakfast consisted of fried eggs and flatbread, with milk and coffee for beverages.
Xia Fan ran into Le Jiajia again. The girl with an angelic face and interesting name wasn’t welcomed by the other youths, sitting alone in a corner of the dining hall. She used her bread to wrap up two fried eggs and some raw vegetables and then started to chow down, not at all like a lady.
The surrounding people intentionally avoided her, the several tables around her all empty. As the others were eating, they would often point at Le Jiajia. Xia Fan listened in on their conversations and found that Le Jiajia was a.s.sociated with the term “demon daughter” for them.
!!
“Hm? Isn’t that your girl? Why don’t we sit with her? But it seems like she’s not very welcome here.” After getting his breakfast, Traveling Buddha came over and spotted Le Jiajia.
“What do you mean my girl? I said before, I don’t have any sort of relations.h.i.+p with her,” Xia Fan answered hastily.
“You don’t have anything right now, but you might in the future.” Traveling Buddha started to show his troublemaking nature. “We’re all brothers, so don’t blame me for not reminding you. I now have a wife and kid too, so you have to hurry up. There will always be chances, but you have to be the one to seize them!”
“Screw you!” Xia Fan muttered. It had clearly been Hidden Water who had been pursuing Traveling Buddha, while Traveling Buddha had been like a block of wood. He had seized nothing!
But Turan had explained to Xia Fan the day before yesterday that he had introduced Le Jiajia to him because the natives of the Lower Realm were all rather prejudiced against her. As outsiders, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha might be able to become friends with her.
But Xia Fan could tell that Turan also wanted him to keep an eye on Le Jiajia. It seemed that while Turan had brought Le Jiajia into Subduing Demon City, he still couldn’t trust her that much. Since no one else was willing to interact with her, Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan naturally became the best people to ask! After all, they were the only two who had no understanding of the lifestyle and history of the Lower Realm.
Understanding that, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha went over to Le Jiajia. As countless people watched in shock, they sat down across from her.
“Your appet.i.te is pretty small. Is a single piece of flatbread and two eggs really enough?” Xia Fan started up the conversation.
“Pigs have a big appet.i.te, but does it help them?” Le Jiajia quietly retorted without raising her head.
That reply…
Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan suddenly felt like their food was stuck in their throats.
In the s.p.a.ce of several minutes, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha became keenly aware of why their elders said to never provoke women. The reason was simple: they held grudges!
Xia Fan’s little prank had resulted in serious consequences. As a man, Xia Fan had already forgotten what had happened the day before yesterday, but Le Jiajia still remembered, and she used her own ability to act as a devil’s advocate, throwing back everything Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha said. In the end, the two of them had no choice but to silently finish their meals.
“Turan was right. You two will never be together.” Traveling Buddha no longer had any doubt about Turan’s conclusion, avoiding Le Jiajia as one would a mother tiger.
Le Jiajia was rather free-spirited, completely ignoring his words. She seemed used to it all, walking off to an empty corner of the training ground with her backpack. With her slender figure under a ginkgo tree, she was beautiful beyond comparison, but also extremely lonely.
The youths who had recently entered Subduing Demon City were all gathered there to receive their lecture. There were around three hundred people, with half being natives of Subduing Demon City, and the other half coming from all other parts of the continent.
“Oh, you’re a Vajra! Formidable!” A burly man with a crewtop cut walked over to Traveling Buddha, and when he saw the fake symbol, he gave a thumbs-up and complimented him.
“My name is A’Lang, and my ability is the Ifrit! I look forward to receiving your instruction in the future!” This crewtop guy was a head taller than Traveling Buddha, but he spoke very modestly. Traveling Buddha nodded a slight greeting, the usual apathetic look on his face.
There were only a small number of people here with non-combat abilities like Xia Fan. It was him, Le Jiajia, a very delicate youth wearing gla.s.ses, and a fatty who was chowing down on spicy potato chips. Xia Fan discovered that, just like him, those people without Symbols on their arms were basically ignored. Turan was right when he said that those with non-combat abilities weren’t that welcome.
Traveling Buddha was very annoyed. In the last few minutes, several strangers had come to cozy up to him. These people praised the Vajra on Traveling Buddha’s arm, and they tried to get close to him and say that they were willing to be in a team with him. They also asked if he preferred the Combat Division or the Law Enforcement Division, or perhaps the special operations divisions, so that they could all apply for the same division in the future!
“Scram! I don’t even know any of you!”
Traveling Buddha finally lost it. He was a guy who hated being bothered. He was partners not only because of their friends.h.i.+p forged in battle, but also because Xia Fan was learned and was always able to handle things perfectly, minimizing the number of times he would have to use his own brain. As for other people, they could do whatever they wanted.
The one Traveling Buddha was yelling at was a rather tall girl with long and muscular legs. She had come to persuade Traveling Buddha to join the search division because her older sister was a squad captain in that division. A talent like Traveling Buddha would clearly be a powerful addition to the force!
“Truly a Vajra reborn, as tyrannical as expected! Regardless, sir, please seriously consider my suggestion!”
The long-legged girl actually showed admiration after being cursed at by Traveling Buddha. She had no idea that Traveling Buddha had only joined the logistics division back in the Special Investigation Bureau because he was following Xia Fan. A place like the Search and Rescue Division didn’t suit his appet.i.te at all. Of course, if Xia Fan wanted to join, Traveling Buddha wouldn’t object.
The gla.s.ses-wearing youth and the fatty eating chips smiled and wandered over next to Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.
“Are you a non-combat type? What a coincidence! I am too.”
“Is this warrior your friend?”
Xia Fan very earnestly shook his head. “No, Traveling Buddha is my brother.”
“Brother? Then you’re truly fortunate. He’s a Vajra reborn! One of the strongest combat abilities in the world, and he’s your brother!”
“I’m so envious. This means that no one will dare to bully you in Subduing Demon City,” the fatty said while stuffing chips into his mouth, his face covered in crumbs.
So it seems I’ll have to rely on Traveling Buddha for protection?, Xia Fan wondered to himself.
The youth with gla.s.ses was called Du Yu. His ability was Observation. On a micro level, his eyes were like microscopes, able to see things as small as germs. On a macro level, he could see as far as five hundred kilometers away clearly!
Du Yu’s ability was very strange. Whether it was micro or macro, nothing could escape his eyes. It was only at normal distances where things were unclear and he needed gla.s.ses to compensate. Xia Fan found it rather interesting when listening to him introduce himself.
The fatty was called Jiang Zhibei. His ability was Devouring. As a non-combat ability user who could get selected to enter Subduing Demon City, Jiang Zhibei had his own unique attributes.
“I can eat explosives, lava, iron, anything, really! And anything that enters my stomach will be digested. My appet.i.te has always been good, and my health has always been excellent,” Jiang Zhibei said proudly.
It was both absurd and incredible!
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were stunned by Jiang Zhibei’s ability. As someone who could drink lava like it was fruit juice, Jiang Zhibei was basically a G.o.d!
Traveling Buddha stroked his chin and asked, “What if you eat an explosive and it explodes in your stomach?
“It’s fine. I have an iron stomach, so I just need to drink some water to calm things down,” Jiang Zhibei said nonchalantly. “They probably let me into Subduing Demon City for something like that, I’m guessing? If the enemy throws an explosive over, I can just eat it and keep everyone safe.”
Xia Fan laughed. “Don’t put it like that. All things in the world have their use. Your ability is so formidable that it’s bound to be useful in the future!”
Jiang Zhibei scratched his head. “What use could it be? Non-combat types have always served the combat types. To put it in a nicer way, we’re the support, and to put it more bluntly, we’re lackeys that do all the hard work. It’s fine. I know what I’m in for.”
Xia Fan glanced at Le Jiajia, who was standing on the edge of the training ground, and asked, “Do any of you know her ability?”
“No way? Do you not know who Le Jiajia is?”
“I really don’t know. That’s why I’m asking!”
Jiang Zhibei rubbed his big belly and frowned. “Le Jiajia is a demon daughter. I’m sure you saw the corpse of Demon King Achilles on the way here, right? He’s Le Jiajia’s ancestor. It’s said that Achilles’s wife was a human. When he died, his wife was pregnant. There was a huge argument in Subduing Demon City about what to do, but in the end, it was decided to allow Le Jiajia’s ancestor to live. From then on, her lineage has served humanity. Their family has never had any male children, they’re all girls. It’s said that Subduing Demon City fears that the male children would inherit the brutality of Achilles, so they have all the boys killed at birth.”
Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan were gobsmacked. Achilles’s corpse was several thousand meters tall, like a giant Asura, but Le Jiajia had a slender body, flawless face, and snow-white skin. Wasn’t the contrast too great?
“When Demon Kings aren’t transformed, they’ll be like us, appearing as ordinary people. Only when they’re demonized will they become enormous and have the power to destroy the world,” Du Yu explained quickly.
“Then what is Le Jiajia’s ability?”
“Her? Nominally, it’s etherealization, allowing her to pa.s.s freely through walls, but it should actually be something even more formidable. After all, she’s the descendant of a Demon King. Subduing Demon City is taking a huge risk by keeping her family around!”
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were still digesting that information. Such a slender girl was a Demon King’s descendent?
He recalled Turan’s words: “You should try your best to treat Le Jiajia well. After all, she’s rather pitiful. Her special status makes the people of Subduing Demon City very prejudiced against her…”