Love, Gun, Cupid

"This isn't luck, it's love!"

"Interpret it however you like." Mu Mian raised her sword. "Are you fully recovered? If so, let's continue."

"I'm all better now, but may I ask a question? Is it illegal for magic researchers to possess weapons?"

"It's not illegal. The law controls us differently from ordinary people. Its purpose is to block the public's understanding of magic, reduce internal friction among magic researchers within the system, and encourage magic researchers outside the system to kill each other."

Being able to legally use a weapon brought Lin Jiade a sigh of relief. He reached into his pocket, and a cold, hard object slid into his hand. He had anticipated this, and the moment the sword started moving, he suddenly crouched down, the silver blade flying past his head.

"it is good!"

He turned around, making the legendary sliding tackle that could take down a tiger, and kicked at the calf of the cotton tree. To dodge the cotton tree, he jumped into the air. In that instant, Lin Jiade pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the cotton tree in the air.

"Senior, times have changed!"

"You're right, junior!"

To Lin Jiade's astonishment, Mu Mian magically produced a submachine gun and fired first.

Chapter Sixty-Five Overtime Workers

As the rubber bullets pounded against Lin Jiade, he couldn't help but wonder where Mu Mian had hidden the submachine gun.

Hehuan would come to check on him from time to time over the past three days. She noticed that Mumian was becoming increasingly ruthless and was treating Lin Jiade as a mature apprentice-level magic researcher. Lin Jiade looked miserable, but he was becoming more and more energetic.

"He digested the potion very well, and he was almost as good as Mumian was when she was 12 years old."

Hehuan sent the message to Jasmine to reassure her. Because Lin Jiade's other helper (Dujuan) was not directly involved in the battle, Jasmine was now struggling against the enemy, needing a cane for support.

Hehuan used divination to discover that there were two auras around the school that alternated between dawn and dusk, distorting the surrounding feng shui. She then deduced that two enemies were monitoring Lin Jiade here day and night in shifts.

According to first-order arithmetic, Jasmine's enemies should number three, but Jasmine reported back that she only sensed two enemies, which made Hehuan somewhat worried about where the last enemy had gone.

Actually, Hehuan was overthinking it. That last, unseen enemy spent his days sleeping with men, doing absolutely nothing. The useless Barbary witch not only bewitched her teammates but also successfully misled all the unsuspecting members of Jasmine's side.

Hehuan's essential job in this mission was naturally to perform divination and feng shui. She tried her best to find a place that was "auspicious" for her side and not easy to be disturbed.

If direct combat is unavoidable, then proactively choosing a battlefield that is advantageous to one's own side becomes a necessary preparation, and it is not enough to prepare only one location as a backup plan.

Such locations are hard to find. Hehuan searched for two days and only found three places. Two of them required the use of exorcism magic, while the other was far away in the suburbs. Although it was hidden, it also meant that it would be difficult to send the injured person to the hospital for treatment.

At 0:10 on October 1st, the city ushered in a new day. Mu Mian sheathed her sword and looked at Lin Jiade, who had fully digested the potion, and said, "Let's go and give your monitor a surprise."

Are you sure I'll get beaten up if I go out?

Kapok explained, "They don't know that your enhancement magic has a three-day digestion period and a three-day cooldown period, and you can't take it every day. They will only see that you have improved a lot within three days."

To avoid any unforeseen complications, controlling you while you are still weak becomes the optimal solution for your enemy.

Lin Jiade dragged his suitcase away from the school and wandered through the maze of facilities near the school’s amenities, which served a variety of functions.

Even in the early hours of the morning, couples could still be seen coming in and out of hotels. At this time, the price that the woman asked for from the man was far different from what she had paid when they got married.

Lin Jiade didn't want to disturb the couple's good mood. He dragged his suitcase deeper into the "maze" and unknowingly arrived at the food area, where all the shops were already closed.

The streetlights dispelled the darkness but not the terror. A cool breeze blew past his clothes, making the plastic chairs outside creak.

Beyond the reach of the streetlights, Lin Jiade felt a gaze fixed on him, and the pressure felt like an invisible hand gripping his heart.

He reached into his pocket, and the revolver slid into his palm; the cold touch of the weapon made him feel somewhat at ease.

Just as the clouds obscured the moon and darkened the earth, two bricks flew out of the darkness one after the other. Lin Jiade dodged one by side, then pointed his fingers like a sword and shattered the other with his palm.

He stepped back, squatted down, took out the eye drop bottle, and applied the potion to his eyelids. A few seconds later, he saw golden light gather into a human shape and appear in the darkness that was previously invisible.

He knelt down on one knee, pulled out his pistol, and fired. The other man fired at the same time. Senior Kapok lent him bullets for actual combat, but the young man's wildly off-target shooting wasted this kindness.

However, the enemy seemed to have anticipated Lin Jiade's archery skills being on the fifth level, so they dodged to the side, but just happened to run into the bullet fired by Lin Jiade. The bullet, which was attached to a spell, burst into light and fire at that moment.

"succeed……"

Lin Jiade dodged to the side, seeing a smoking briefcase fly past him. Clearly, according to the "smoke doesn't hurt" rule, the bullet hadn't hit the enemy's body, but rather the briefcase.

Are you a mercenary or a corporate slave working overtime late at night?

Lin Jiade wanted to complain, but the person who attacked him was already in front of him, reaching out to grab his throat. His vision blurred for a moment, and when his vision stabilized, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet and a suit appeared in his field of vision.

"Who are you?" Lin Jiade asked with difficulty.

"Hey overtime worker, I'm taking you home. If you don't resist, you won't suffer."

"Are you Jasmine's enemy?"

“Jasmine…that red dragon offspring? She’s not my enemy; I’m here for the bounty.”

Whether on the court or the battlefield, one cannot lose momentum. The overtime worker is fast and has maxed out his dodging skills, but he is not very strong. Lin Jiade's breathing was only slightly suppressed.

So he still had the energy to sneer: "You're really going all out for money. Do you get a sense of accomplishment from bullying minors?"

The person who worked overtime confessed: "It's shameful and not honorable at all, but for my happiness, I have no choice but to bully minors."

Lin Jiade angrily rebuked, "For your own happiness, you're willing to destroy other people's happiness? Is this something an adult should do?"

"Do you have some strange misunderstanding about adults? Some adults' happiness is built on depriving others of their happiness."

A student like you has too little exposure to society, lacks experience, and is naive and foolish. I don't expect you to understand me, but I just want you to know that living like this is normal. For money, people will do anything, even against their conscience.

The overtime workers poured out their malice in a frustrated voice, and Lin Jiade could probably sense that he had become their dumping ground for venting their frustrations.

He could partially understand those who work overtime, because the football field is just as ruthless. To achieve victory, one must inflict defeat on the opponent; the champion is remembered, while the runner-up bitterly swallows all the ridicule and malice.

However, competitive sports or games are ultimately entertainment or work, but right now, they involve life and death. Therefore, he cannot take the attitude of entertainment or work and rashly agree with the logic that one should destroy the happiness of others in order to achieve one's own happiness.

The wind blew through the clouds, and moonlight returned to the earth, bringing a new atmosphere. The overtime workers saw Lin Jiade, who was restrained, smiling, while behind them, Mu Mian entered, sword in hand, the moonlight reflecting off her strange weapon into a long, cold gleam.

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Magic of Overtime

"Is this your plan?" the overtime worker asked.

“Since you want to destroy other people’s happiness with brute force, you won’t resent it when others destroy your happiness with brute force,” Lin Jiade replied.

The cotton tree distracted the overtime worker, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Jiade, who had seemed defenseless, suddenly exerted his strength and struck the overtime worker's wrist.

The worker, in pain, let go. As Lin Jiade fell, he used his waist and abdomen to kick out. The worker stretched out his arm to block, and the interaction forces made them move backward in opposite directions.

Lin Jiade landed on his back, slid on the ground for a while before stopping. When he stood up with a groan, Mu Mian had already run towards the people working overtime.

Lin Jiade took out a spray bottle filled with water, closed his eyes and sprayed it on his eyelids a few times, wiped it dry with a paper handkerchief, and then hurriedly applied new potion.

This is the drawback of level 4 spells; without teammates, he wouldn't even dare to use detection spells during combat.

In his field of vision, there was no light from the cotton tree. This was not because the bodysuit-clad monster lacked energy, but because its black bodysuit swallowed any probing gazes. Therefore, Lin Jiade still could not tell whether the person was male or female.

Kapok did not disappoint Lin Jiade's sacrifice of using her as bait to lure the enemy into a trap. Before her longsword even arrived, the red beam of light shot from the tip of the sword knocked away the overtime worker's briefcase.

Two kitchen knives flew out of the briefcase, and the overtime worker caught them. The knives danced in his hands, combining offense and defense, constantly clashing with the longsword of the kapok tree. For a moment, the two sides were evenly matched, and the weapons emitted crisp, piercing sounds.

Lin Jiade, who had been a living wooden stake for more than two days, was the most qualified to comment on Kapok's swordsmanship. However, it was truly astonishing that the overtime worker could maintain an evenly matched contest for more than twenty seconds with just two kitchen knives.

"Speaking of which, he wields the cleaver so skillfully, is he working overtime at the Zhenguanxi Cold Fresh Meat Shop?" the young man couldn't help but complain.

Seemingly having ascertained the true extent of the overtime worker's melee combat abilities, Mu Mian thrust out a straight sword. The overtime worker, holding two kitchen knives close to the center line, used the blades to clamp Mu Mian's weapon, blocking its movement.

Kapok pulled the trigger on the hilt of the sword. The recoil from the bullet, along with the energy it injected into the blade, propelled the longsword downwards, breaking through the overtime worker's defenses and slashing into his left shoulder, causing blood to splatter everywhere.

The worker used a kitchen knife to deflect Mu Mian's sword, but Mu Mian followed up by kicking him into the darkness. Mu Mian turned to look at Lin Jiade, who pointed to a spot and said, "Something's not right. His energy intensity has only decreased slightly."

Mu Mian gave an OK sign. This was something the two had agreed upon beforehand: Lin Jiade was responsible for scouting the enemy, while Mu Mian was responsible for engaging in combat.

Kapok injured Overtime Man in the 32nd second of the fight, giving it a significant advantage, but Lin Jiade's bad premonition grew stronger.

The man who had worked overtime emerged from the darkness, dragging an arm. He looked extremely disheveled. Mu Mian raised her weapon and pointed it at the enemy, saying, "Junior."

"Huh?" Lin Jiade replied, puzzled.

"After you graduate, never become that kind of person in society. The only thing that such a person can show off to students is their experience and the ugly truths they have summarized after being beaten down by society."

Sadly, most of their experiences are hearsay, not their own.

The sad thing is that they have been constantly beaten, and those ugly truths are just their excuses for their own ugliness.

The sad thing is, they became ugly in the hope that this would give them the right to avoid being beaten or even to beat others, but they are still being beaten.

"Oh, why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

Lin Jiade had forgotten what the overtime worker had said, because trash talk often happens on the basketball court. When emotions run high, it's easy to blurt out unpleasant words. It's not surprising that teammates who play together often end up arguing.

It would be too much of a waste of brain cells to remember every single trash talk, so whether Lin Jiade was trash-talking or being trash-talked on the field, he would let bygones be bygones in the time it takes to drink a bottle of soda after the game.

"It's nothing. I tried to provoke my opponent, but unfortunately, he's not the type to fall for provocation," said Kapok.

"No, he's broken through!" Lin Jiade said urgently. "Senior, be careful, his energy is even more dazzling than before."

Lin Jiade felt that his enemy was both strong and weak. On the one hand, overtime workers had a lot of frustrations in their lives but were able to persevere. Even though they were on opposing sides, he thought overtime workers were strong.

However, those who pride themselves on their experience working overtime are actually quite fragile. They can make fun of themselves, deeming themselves worthless, but when others mock their lives, they suddenly have a mental breakdown.

Perhaps it is precisely because material life is not easy that we become particularly sensitive and vulnerable in spirit?

Lin Jiade stared intently at the person working overtime, watching the energy intensity on that person steadily increase, while the light emanating from the Kapok tree, sensing the threat, became even brighter than before.

The man working overtime was turning the watch on his wrist as if performing some kind of ritual. Mu Mian didn't talk to Wood. The moment the opponent lowered his head to turn the watch, Mu Mian raised his weapon and stabbed the man working overtime.

Lin Jiade remembered this trick. The first time he went on a mission with the gang, he saw Mu Mian use this spell to take down an alien who possessed a level 3B magic.

Silver threads shot from the sword tip and struck the overtime worker's body. However, at that moment, golden light clung to the overtime worker, and a time wheel appeared beneath his feet, disappearing after completing a full circle.

“It’s the magic of working overtime,” Cupid whispered.

Lin Jiade was startled. He looked around but couldn't find Du Juan. The wind whipped up by the battlefield brought him back to his senses. He saw that the second-stage transformed Jiabanren seemed like a completely different person, charging towards Kapok like a berserker.

The overtime worker's physical fitness reached a new level. Upon getting close, he used two kitchen knives to overwhelm the kapok with a storm-like advantage.

Kapok wanted to pull out a submachine gun, but had to fight with a sword. She used her superb skills to find weaknesses in the man working overtime, but no matter whether she attacked his throat, heart, abdomen, or groin, the tip of her sword couldn't cause any real damage.

"What's going on? Is it a Paladin's skill or did he drink an invincibility potion?" Lin Jiade asked in his mind.

Kapok replied, "Bringing this up again after the War3 remastered version is released would be a bit hurtful."

The "overtime magic" is a new magic created after the Industrial Revolution. As the name suggests, it was a magic specifically developed by the upper bourgeoisie to squeeze more value out of the workers.

Time management is the core of the "overtime magic"—it accelerates the worker's own time by overdrawing their lifespan, thereby increasing productivity.

Lin Jiade was somewhat surprised: "Ah, this kind of evil magic still exists now?"

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Curse Killing (Part 1)

Cupid explained, "The Overtime Magic has been banned. All magic researchers registered with the Magic Registry are not allowed to research or use this magic."