Love, Gun, Cupid

To Tuna's surprise, Lin Jiade swayed but didn't fall; the training he received in resisting blows had come in handy. He grabbed Tuna's shoulder and slammed him to the ground with a vicious over-the-shoulder throw.

The old swordsman's skills were far beyond what Lin Jiade could match, but Tuna had just had a fierce battle with Kapok. Kapok had better weapons and stronger magical attacks than Tuna, but she lost because of her youth and was successfully injured by him.

The tuna's only target on this mission was Jasmine, so after confirming that Kapok was incapacitated, it didn't finish her off. Even if left unattended, Kapok would die in an hour or two.

Tuna herself also paid the price: she was injured in three places, including her ribs, left arm and calf. After the fierce battle, her breathing became disordered, and in order to avoid Lin Jiade's shooting, she had to forcefully drive her body to dodge.

Lin Jiade encountered the weakest tuna, so he was able to throw him over his shoulder. But the tuna wouldn't give the young man a second chance to humiliate him. He rolled to the side, dodging Lin Jiade's kick from above.

Lin Jiade fired at the tuna, whose sword swept upwards, and the air blade originating from the tip of the sword struck Lin Jiade's shoulder, while Lin Jiade's bullet hit the tuna's already injured calf.

The tuna's air blades tore through flesh, and a piercing pain surged through him, exceeding the intensity of his training with Kapok. Sweat dripped from Lin Jiade's forehead; unwillingly, his hand limply released its grip, and the revolver fell to the ground.

The old swordsman struggled to his feet, his steps faltering, his weapon still stained with the blood of the kapok tree. He took a step within sword's reach, looked at the young man kneeling on the ground, unable to move due to pain, and finally chose to slash at Lin Jiade's thigh.

Lin Jiade suddenly raised his head and raised his left arm to meet the sword's edge. The longsword embedded itself in his flesh, while the vine magic clung to his arm, binding the tuna's longsword to his arm as well.

Chapter 76 Engagement (6)

Lin Jiade tried to pick up his pistol, but Tuna kicked it away, only to find it was a trick by the young man. He feinted, and the square piece of paper attached to his left arm glowed orange.

This was Jasmine's gift, allowing Lin Jiade to use the lightning magic that Jasmine possessed. Then, lightning crackled, and a silver whip illuminated Lin Jiade's vision, relentlessly lashing the tuna's body. The crackling sounds and the stench of burning flesh assaulted Lin Jiade's senses.

Leifa exhausted Lin Jiade's remaining energy. His vision went black, and he fell backward to the ground, panting heavily. After a few seconds, he struggled to get up, but a figure came over and kicked him back.

The tuna was still alive. The old man's handsome and dashing image had been ruined by the two battles. Wounds, stains, and bloodstains made him look like a demon crawling out of hell. He looked at Jasmine with hatred in his eyes.

"You're not allowed to go..." Lin Jiade said weakly, "You're my opponent."

Tuna looked down at Lin Jiade. He was surprised that this kid could use a top-tier spell. This was not a spell that a novice who had only been in the business for a dozen days could master.

Fortunately, Lin Jiade was a novice and had been exhausted by working overtime, so the young man's energy was insufficient to unleash a full lightning spell, leaving the tuna severely injured rather than dead.

Tuna wouldn't make the same mistake twice, so he cast a protective spell on himself to guard against Lin Jiade using unexpected methods again.

He looked at Lin Jiade and asked, "Kid, answer me, what's your relationship with Jasmine?"

The reason why Tuna spoke to Lin Jiade was that he wanted to adjust his condition in preparation for the upcoming decisive battle with Jasmine, as continuous fighting was too strenuous for someone his age;

Secondly, they needed to find out Lin Jiade's identity in order to decide whether to severely injure him but not kill him, or to execute him in front of Jasmine.

“I am her lover,” Lin Jiade replied.

This was enough for the old swordsman to sentence Lin Jiade to death. He said, "Very well, let you keep each other company on the road to the underworld. This is my last act of mercy for you."

"Pity? You bastards... hiss."

Lin Jiade accidentally aggravated his wound, gasped, and cursed, "You've been seduced by money to ruin my and Jasmine's peaceful life. How dare you talk about mercy?"

“I’m not here for the money,” the tuna said. “I have a deep-seated hatred for the red dragon. Six years ago in the Swan Sea, the red dragon and the white dragon had a fight.”

Most people in the know thought it was just infighting between different races, recounting the incident with a sense of amusement. But to me, it was no joke. My wife and my children were caught in the crossfire and lost their lives.

"what?"

"I was 53 years old then, and I was already dreaming about my retirement a few years from now. My son had found a good job and a beautiful partner; he was my emotional support and pride. My wife and I were inseparable, through thick and thin together..."

Overnight, they were all gone, all because of those wretched dragons.

Lin Jiade argued, "But Jasmine didn't kill anyone. She was just a child then. She had already gone to sleep on the night the riot broke out, and was later taken away from the battlefield... She is innocent."

"Does this mean my loved ones deserve to die, and I'm just supposed to calmly accept this outcome?!"

The tuna's voice was hoarse: "Red Dragon, White Dragon, they are all murderers! On the night I buried my loved ones, I swore that revenge would be the meaning of my entire life."

I went home, retrieved my ancestral sword, and picked up the swordsmanship I hadn't practiced since I turned 50. I converted the connections and resources I had diligently built up over thirty years in my public service job into anything that could enhance my fighting ability.

Compared to that swordsman (Kapok) lying on the ground, my talent is mediocre; compared to you, my luck is so bad that I envy and resent you, a younger generation...

"My only advantage over you is my unwavering determination. Therefore, swordsmen of greater strength have fallen beneath my blade, and those with better luck than me now have their fates decided by me."

Tuna raised her sword and pointed it at Lin Jiade's heart, saying, "I have no grudge against you, but since you're on the side of that red dragon's offspring, then die!"

The tuna's life was destroyed by tragedy, so he went mad and tried to create tragedy to destroy other people's lives, even if it was debatable whether that person was his enemy.

Lin Jiade had occasionally seen this classic trope of blood revenge in the news, but now he was experiencing it in real life for the first time. Surprisingly, he didn't have any complicated thoughts; only one idea occupied his mind—

What's it to me?

He didn't kill the tuna's family, so his mind was naturally at peace. As for feelings of empathy or sympathy for his opponent, Lin Jiade simply couldn't possibly have such emotions.

Tuna may have mediocre talent, barely managing to defeat Kapok through willpower and experience, only to be worn down by him, leaving him with just one-tenth of his full strength. However, for Jasmine, who was locked in a stalemate with her opponent, Tuna, with only one-tenth of his fighting power remaining, was still a great threat.

Thinking of this, Lin Jiade gritted his teeth and forced himself to lift his heavy and numb body, desperately squeezing out his potential and concentrating the little energy left in his body in his left arm, wanting to cast lightning magic again.

Lin Jiade's determination to continue fighting was conveyed to the tuna. The old swordsman was surprised by the young man's ability to withstand blows, but considering that the young man had the advantage of lightning magic and could form a bond with the offspring of the red dragon, this little thing was not surprising.

Tuna knew that Lin Jiade's motivation for fighting this far was love, but similarly, he felt nothing for Lin Jiade's love. The old swordsman stepped on his chest, sword tip pointing downwards, and charged towards his chest.

Lin Jiade had just a little bit of energy left to unleash the lightning spell again. This spell might only last for a second or two, but for the exhausted tuna, it would be a weakening effect, making him even less of a threat to Jasmine.

However, the tuna was faster. The moment his arm swung down, Lin Jiade was filled with the thought that "it's all over." The next second, a piercing pain came from his chest.

Lin Jiade was stabbed and thought he was going to die, but a second passed, then two seconds, and he could still feel his heart pounding. He was still alive... He and Tuna confirmed this fact one after another.

The tuna pulled out its weapon in disbelief and saw a dent at the midpoint where Cupid's three feathers met on Lin Jiade's left chest. It was the sacrifice that had taken place in place of Lin Jiade's heart.

"This kid's damn luck..." Tuna cursed inwardly as he raised his weapon again, aiming it at Lin Jiade's chest.

“Thank you, Miss Dujuan,” Lin Jiade murmured.

He took a deep breath, suddenly straightened up, grabbed the tuna's ankle that was pressing against his chest, activated his lightning magic, and silver lightning enveloped the tuna's entire body.

Chapter 77 Engagement (7)

Three seconds later, Lin Jiade lasted one second longer than he had estimated, and collapsed with satisfaction, ready to enjoy the tuna's miserable state... but only his face turned pale, the tuna's shield shattered, but its main body did not suffer any further damage.

“You used up my last protective spell. Now, I can only approach that red dragon offspring in any unprotected situation to cast the dragon-slaying secret technique.”

The old swordsman gasped for breath and said in a hoarse voice, "Alright, you can die content now, and then I'll send your girlfriend down to be buried with you."

The tuna's sword blade pierced Lin Jiade's chest. Lin Jiade's pupils dilated and then contracted. This was the closest he had ever been to death since birth; to be precise, he was only three centimeters away from death.

The tuna's sword remained permanently positioned three centimeters above his chest. Lin Jiade stiffly raised his head, meeting the old swordsman's equally stiff expression.

Lin Jiade could easily picture the scene: two giant swords made of solidified square pieces of paper pierced the tuna's chest. It was Jasmine who noticed the battle on his side, ambushed the tuna from behind, and ended the avenger's life.

He struggled to push the tuna away and saw Jasmine standing there, panting, her hands on her knees. Clearly, the spell that killed the tuna had taken a heavy toll on her.

Lin Jiade gave a weak smile. Just as he was about to thank her, he saw the figure of Drinking Water Brother appear behind Jasmine.

Rewind a little earlier, before the Kapok fell and before the Overtime Workers were ambushed by the Barbary Witch, Drinking Water Bro, as the team leader, cautiously fought Jasmine while keeping a backup plan, preserving the ability to escape from the battlefield.

Jasmine felt she didn't have many cards left, so she was a little pessimistic about the outcome of her matchup against Drinking Water Bro and his team, while Drinking Water Bro also felt the situation was not good.

Among his teammates, the pay-to-win sow can only be used for intelligence work, the Barbary witch is even less useful, the tuna has average combat power but a strong will, but the old swordsman's determination to kill the red dragon's offspring does not meet the employer's requirements.

Overtime Worker is a teammate that Drinking Water Bro admires, but unfortunately, while Overtime Worker has plenty of magical defense, he lacks offensive firepower. Therefore, for Overtime Worker, his four teammates can be considered a bad hand.

He felt a pang of regret. When the employer contacted him, they offered to help him find teammates. He thought it would be convenient and save him the expense of subcontracting the task, so he let the employer recruit people.

As it turned out, the free lunch was indeed not good. The employer found a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp for Drinking Water Bro. Drinking Water Bro regretted it all the time. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

Drinking Water Bro was determined to fight if he could, and run away if he couldn't, so he held back some of his strength. At this moment, his chances of winning against Jasmine were 70/30, but due to the reasons mentioned above, the situation was actually 50/50.

Tuna narrowly defeated Kapok, and the overtime worker suddenly disappeared despite having a significant advantage. Lin Jiade faced off against Tuna, turning it into an ugly war of attrition. Seemingly seeing his lover fighting so hard, the Red Dragon offspring in front of him became as excited as if he had taken some kind of stimulant, forcing Drinking Water Bro to increase his efforts just to maintain the balance.

Drinking Water Bro's fighting spirit waned. He wouldn't betray his comrades, but he also had no intention of dying alongside his temporary teammates. Just then, Drinking Water Bro noticed a series of dramatic changes happening on Tuna and Lin Jiade's side.

When the tuna killed Lin Jiade, Jasmine had to be distracted and used a very powerful spell to kill the tuna, but this also exposed her own weakness.

Her lover was both her strength and her weakness. Without that young man, Jasmine might have been easily defeated by the mercenaries, but it was because of him that she was distracted and left a fatal opening.

With a sigh, Brother Drinking Water released his inner energy, and appeared behind Jasmine like a phantom. He opened his briefcase, took out a syringe sealed with some kind of magic, and plunged it into Jasmine's neck.

The moment the syringe pierced Jasmine, Brother Drinking Water pulled back and barely dodged Jasmine's attack. Nevertheless, Jasmine's claws still grazed his chest, leaving five more scratches from which blue blood gushed.

He saw Lin Jiade staggering towards him with the tuna's weapon. The tuna's weapon had a built-in spell: after being charged with energy, it could unleash a wind blade with a range of 25 meters every few minutes.

The wound on Lin Jiade's shoulder was caused by the magic attached to this weapon, but the young man was unaware of this. He had simply run out of bullets and, seeing Jasmine in critical condition, picked up a nearby weapon to rescue her.

Drinking Water Guy assesses whether he should kill Lin Jiade: After today, he and Lin Jiade will be enemies, and Lin Jiade might become another tuna-like figure, spending the rest of his life hunting him down.

Since that's the case, why not take action now to sever the chains of hatred?

There are two factors that prevented him from attacking Lin Jiade: First, Jasmine is still alive, and killing her spouse in front of her might not allow him to escape unscathed from the enraged red dragon offspring;

Second, the curse within him was almost impossible to suppress.

The "Water Guy" goes by this funny nickname because he drinks more than 3 liters of water every day, which he claims is used to suppress a curse within him.

Ten years ago, he experienced a betrayal and a strange encounter in an ancient tomb that changed him forever, giving him a way to save his life and a curse.

For the past ten years, he has traveled all over the country, taking on any job he can find, hoping to meet someone who can lift the curse or save up enough money to buy the expensive tools to lift it.

These sought-after items are 93% controlled by the Empire and sold cheaply to magic researchers within the system. Although Drinking Water is registered with the Empire, he is not part of the system, so he can only seek out the remaining 7% in the gray and black markets, which naturally comes at a high price.

After a few seconds of consideration, he avoided Lin Jiade's route and retreated in another direction. He took out his phone to take pictures of the area where the red dragon offspring was located, where two different spells were being cast.

Shortly after, Drinking Water Bro received a call from his employer informing him that his work was complete and the payment would be made soon. Drinking Water Bro glanced at Jasmine again and quickly left the scene.

From beginning to end, he found his employer's task inexplicable, as was the way his teammate (the overtime worker) died. But now that he had the money, he, as an outsider, lost his motivation—the motivation to delve into the secrets behind the task.

Along with the loss, the affection for his temporary teammates was also lost. The deaths of the overtime worker and the tuna could not cause the slightest ripple in Drinking Water Brother's heart. Once the mission was over, these dead people were just strangers in his life. Who would truly grieve for a stranger?

I'll probably grieve for about three minutes, which will make me appear more humane.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: A High Price

Drinking Water Bro has another task to complete in Fuxing City: erasing the memory of the pay-to-win pig. To gain the pig's trust, he had previously revealed some true information, and at that moment, the intelligence recovery plan began to take shape in his mind.

This isn't difficult. He's already controlled the pay-to-win pig with magic, and added another spell before leaving. Now, going back only requires saying a few keywords to completely activate the spell, erasing the pay-to-win pig's memories of him. She'll never remember his existence again.

Just like Touma Kamijou forgot about Misaki Shokuhou.

Drinking Water Bro returned to his hideout, unlocked the door, and found the "Pay-to-Win Pig" washing her hands and face, and even pasting several talismans on her hands. Whenever the game she played updated its gacha system, the Pay-to-Win Pig would perform this strange ritual to increase her luck.

Of course, in the end, the solution to gacha pulls still comes down to spending real money.

This is why the "pay-to-win" girlfriend, who possesses level one magic and can easily make money by doing anything, still frequently eats instant noodles. The "drinking water guy" doesn't care; it's someone else's lifestyle. If anyone's having a headache, it's the "pay-to-win" girlfriend's boyfriend.

The guy who was drinking water felt relaxed. Hearing the noise, the pay-to-win pig turned around, smiled at him, and said, "You're back. Did things go well?"

The man who drank water smiled and replied, "That's all the employer asked for. Now that the task is complete, I'll transfer the money to you once I find a safe place."

Tuna and the overtime worker died in battle, so naturally they didn't get a penny. The Barbary Witch basically contributed nothing, so she got a small reward. The pay-to-win pig deserved a bonus, and the rest was all hers.

This money, besides buying items to lift his curse, would probably be enough to buy a country estate for his retirement. The thought of being able to start taking care of his health in advance made Brother Drinking Water feel somewhat relaxed.