Love, Gun, Cupid

"That's right, you're her girlfriend, so it doesn't matter what you see, right? To truly capture Lin Jiade's heart, you must first capture..."

"Stop, stop, stop! Jasmine is still a child!"

Du Juan replied, "I meant to win over the stomach, Lin Jiade, what are you thinking?"

"I'm talking about my stomach. I know your cooking is terrible, but please, don't abandon the nutritional recipes I made for myself and make those lovingly prepared meals that will send me down the toilet just for some inexplicable competition."

"Are you trying to break my heart? You're trying to kill me!"

Hearing Lin Jiade's aggrieved roar from the bathroom, the two lowered their heads in shame. One of them pushed the door open and locked it.

Lin Jiade's bathroom is very small, without a bathtub. The electric water heater, shower, and bathroom heater take up most of the space. It's fine for one person to stand inside, but when a second person joins, the two figures inevitably overlap on the wall.

"Jasmine..." Lin Jiade quickly stood facing the wall as punishment, "Get out of here, the shower is still on, it won't be good if water splashes on you."

Unfortunately, Lin Jiade's position as the younger brother in the family meant that Jasmine wouldn't listen to him at this moment. Instead, Jasmine pressed her head against his back and flipped him over like a bull in a fight.

Lin Jiade couldn't see, but through touch, he could imagine what Jasmine had done. Sure enough, Jasmine's voice soon sounded behind him: "Am I really that unattractive to you?"

"?! You're still a child..."

Lin Jiade was hugged from behind by Jasmine. Her arms were hot, and cool liquid was flowing down Lin Jiade's back... She cried.

“Don’t reject me,” Jasmine said. “I’m useless. What the cuckoo can help with, I may not be able to help with; what I can help with, someone else can do the same. I’m not even as good as the mimosa or the kapok.”

“There’s no need to be so anxious, Jasmine,” Lin Jiade said.

"I'm your girlfriend, they aren't, so I have to be stricter with myself!"

Jasmine tightened her arms, a dull pain from being restrained emanating from Lin Jiade's waist, along with Jasmine's unease.

The sound of water splashing against the floor broke the awkward silence between the two. Lin Jiade's hand struggled to reach behind his back, wanting to stroke Jasmine's head, but in the end, he touched Jasmine's neck instead.

“You have other ways to show your role in my life, Jasmine. You are a minor, you can’t make mistakes.”

“Heh… a minor.” Jasmine chuckled softly. “You’re really strange, Lin Jiade. You’re clearly infatuated with me because of the parts of me that are different from humans, but now you suddenly treat me like a human.”

Regardless, Lin Jiade had a bottom line, but Jasmine didn't share that view. After a silent struggle and resistance, they reached a tacit compromise.

Jasmine and Lin Jiade took a bath together, and Jasmine scrubbed his back. Her actions didn't stop there. When the water heater's needle went from full hot water to cold water, they came out together, their faces flushed.

Lin Jiade's face was flushed, and Jasmine kept her head down the whole time. Neither of them dared to look at the other. After saying goodnight in a hurry, they returned to their respective rooms.

Du Juan stood at the door of Lin Jiade's bedroom, a half-smile on her face, her expression mischievous, like a mother's reaction after finding something "good-looking" in her son's bedroom.

Lin Jiade was extremely embarrassed. He lowered his head and hurried past. Du Juan called out to him, "Do you still need me to stand guard outside tonight?"

"Yes, yes, thank you for your help."

Lin Jiade didn't dare turn around. He slammed the door shut with his heel, blocking Du Juan's view. He lay on the bed, covering his head with the blanket, memories flooding back, making his cheeks feel even hotter.

At the same time, Jasmine also confronted her memories with 100% synchronization. She didn't understand why she had done those things back then; it was just a moment of impulse, and many things happened naturally.

At three o'clock in the morning, Du Juan, who was guarding outside the door, heard Lin Jiade pull back the covers. Wings emerged from her tank top, and a revolver fell from the wings into her hand. She held the gun, opened the door, and aimed it at the source of the sound.

Lin Jiade was the only one in the room. He stood by the window, staring blankly at the curtains, enveloped in a melancholy atmosphere.

Cupid was silent, yet Lin Jiade could sense her presence. He turned stiffly, looked at her blankly, and his body trembled.

Two seconds later, his eyes cleared, and he looked around, asking with a puzzled expression, "What happened? How did I get here?"

"Lin Jiade, have you ever had a sleepwalking problem before?"

Lin Jiade shook his head: "No, I sleep very soundly."

Du Juan raised her eyebrows in surprise. Things had taken a turn for the worse than she had expected, but the outcome was in line with her expectations.

Then she smiled and said, "I've learned something."

"what?"

Du Juan said mysteriously, "My graduation project will be very exciting."

Chapter Eleven: The Kapok's Admonition

Du Juan settled Lin Jiade down to sleep, and in his dream, Lin Jiade saw a gray phantom. He looked down and found himself wearing a silk nightgown with the neckline open at the chest, his long gray hair loosely tied up with a hair tie.

He opened his eyes, hurriedly threw off the covers, and breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed that the House of Commons was still there. Then he chuckled to himself; this dream was too strange. In the dream, he had actually become a woman.

"Jasmine, if I turned into a girl, would you still love me?"

The absurd dream led Lin Jiade to ask Jasmine an absurd question first thing in the morning. Jasmine swallowed the steamed bun in her mouth and asked Lin Jiade, "Are you bisexual?"

"No, I just dreamt that I became a woman, and this size too."

Lin Jiade gestured to his chest, and seeing Jasmine frown, he quickly waved his hand and said, "I have no complaints about you, Jasmine. Please believe me, think back to yesterday in the bathroom..."

Jasmine nearly choked. She gave Lin Jiade a look that was both resentful and slightly alluring. Unfortunately, she had never experienced romance, so her gaze lacked its power to be effective.

"That kind of gaze only has enough impact when paired with a mature, married woman," Lin Jiade thought.

For a moment, he fantasized about a woman appearing in his life. As if responding to his desires, when he turned on the tap to wash up and looked up at the mirror, a ripe fruit was also looking at him.

The grey woman was hidden beneath a sky-blue robe, her marble-like skin absorbing the surrounding light, her violet eyes fixed on his figure. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, but the mirror blocked out all sound.

Lin Jiade wiped the water droplets from his face, only to see a foolish reflection in the mirror. Undoubtedly, an unidentified phantom had invaded his life, and its presence was growing stronger every day.

He accepted the fact with a slight panic, because he trusted Miss Cuckoo and he had Jasmine by his side, so he had nothing to be afraid of.

Even if female ghosts really exist, with their help, Lin Jiade felt he could become an exorcism expert, with Mr. Lin Shenwei directly behind him.

He told Du Juan about the new developments, and Du Juan was determined to put an end to the chaos around Lin Jiade that night. Lin Jiade breathed a sigh of relief and spent the whole morning with Jasmine.

In the afternoon, he went to the martial arts classroom as usual to get beaten up. Mu Mian was maintaining her weapon with oil and asked without looking up, "Where's the magic potion?"

"I've finished taking it, thank you."

The man in the tight-fitting suit nodded, pointed his weapon at Lin Jiade, and said, "Draw your sword."

Lin Jiade hesitated for a moment: "Although I took the potion, I did not comprehend the related technology."

"When you draw your sword, you gain insight."

Helpless, Lin Jiade could only mutter "One cut, two swords, Ruyi Divine Sword" to materialize the weapon stored in the talisman. The moment he grasped the sword, Mu Mian rushed over.

Lin Jiade's mind went blank, but his body automatically assumed a defensive stance, blocking Mu Mian's fierce downward slash. Mu Mian raised her left arm, and with her right arm following the momentum, grabbed the hilt of her sword and thrust it forward, the slash quickly transforming into a thrust aimed straight at Lin Jiade's throat.

Lin Jiade retreated and parried. At the moment their weapons clashed, Mu Mian changed her moves again by altering her footwork and sword-wielding posture, leaving the threat near Lin Jiade.

Lin Jiade parried three times in a row until he retreated to the corner of the wall. Mu Mian sheathed her sword and instinctively took a step forward, preparing to attack... What were the techniques for attacking again?

"It seems you've already figured it out."

Kapok said, "The knowledge recorded in the Master Magic Records will only be useful to you if there is a strong need. Humans have eight levels of needs, and the need for survival is the most primitive and strongest need."

When I attack, you feel threatened, and your survival instincts become incredibly strong. Driven by this need, you unconsciously extract the easiest-to-learn basic defensive moves from swordsmanship to counter my attacks.

Mu Mian waved, and Lin Jiade then noticed that high-speed cameras, ordinary cameras, and their corresponding equipment were placed side by side in the room.

Mumian opened her laptop and replayed the footage recorded by the camera, revealing the complete details of the previous exchange.

"Is swordsmanship really that advanced these days?" Lin Jiade asked, somewhat surprised.

"In Brilliant City, magic researchers wear vests equipped with sensors and train in multimedia digital training rooms."

These instruments record and monitor various data such as the wearer's cardiopulmonary function and changes in body energy, making it easier for researchers to summarize the wearer's condition based on the data.

A sufficient number of samples will establish a reliable large database for magic researchers. After deep learning, the AI ​​will be able to simulate designated "practice targets" for trainees and continuously optimize their tactics in repeated battles, formulating reasonable and scientific combat plans for them.

“During battle, the battlefield is constantly changing, so magic researchers can’t rely on… wait, you don’t mean to say…” Lin Jiade said.

"At least the Empire's 100,000 master-level magic researchers can receive real-time AI calculation support when they are engaged in battle."

Even if a master-level magic researcher is defeated, the combat data will inevitably be shared within the tactical chain used by the masters. The AI ​​will build a model of the enemy, optimize tactics, and then the masters will adapt a personalized version based on their individual circumstances.

Lin Jiade was generally an optimistic person, but at this moment he helplessly lowered his arms and said, "I can understand how Senior Sister Hehuan feels. The title of master is not because a magic researcher has integrated the most powerful magic through his own arduous efforts;

Rather, it's because the most powerful magic, like products from an industrial assembly line, is integrated into magic researchers.

It's not about 'becoming,' but about 'being decided.' Even the most powerful magic researchers are merely tools for casting spells.

"No, you don't fully understand, because you've never met a master-level magic researcher," Kapok said. "If the training of master-level magic researchers is merely a cold mockery of human agency..."

So, once the training is complete, those master-level magic researchers who are reborn from the ashes represent a denial of our understanding of 'humanity'.

Lin Jiade, if you don't want to doubt the meaning of your path as a magic researcher, then don't look directly at any master-level magic researcher.

If you unfortunately encounter such a person, run, run as far away as possible, and don't look back.

Lin Jiade lowered his head in shame. Senior Mumian thought that he was working hard to make a difference on the path of magic research, but his greatest motivation for learning magic was to break through Jasmine's defenses and prevent her from living a life of widowhood.

How can I explain this to Kapok?

Chapter Twelve: Off-Field Assistance (Bonus Chapter)

He feigned being severely discouraged, secretly glancing at Mu Mian. Seeing that she was already poised for another fight, he dropped the act and said, "Continue?"

"Keep training, correct mistakes, keep training until every technique becomes part of your muscle memory."

Kapok said, "Fortunately, out of 650 million registered magic researchers and roughly the same number of unregistered magic researchers, 1290 million can cope through hard work."

Therefore, hard work is still worthwhile.

Compared to swordsmanship, Lin Jiade desired shooting skills more. He entered the world of magic researchers because of Cupid's shooting, and he also became connected with Jasmine through shooting. Therefore, he had a preconceived yearning for this power of connection between people.

But setting aside his subjective intentions, his actual combat skills were poor: in the scene where he fought against the overtime worker and the tuna, he fired 21 bullets, hitting five, three of which were fired at the overtime worker's helmet at a distance from the target that could not have been missed.

In other words, in mobile warfare, he only hit the target twice out of eighteen bullets. In a life-or-death battle, this is a rather touching hit rate.

Magic researchers outside the system are not allowed to purchase gunpowder weapons and related supplies. If they buy materials and try to make their own, it would be a violation of the law.

He had no bullets; the bullets he had now were given to him by Mu Mian. This was an act that bordered on crime, and He Huan used her connections to cover it up, which allowed him and Mu Mian to remain safe.

He couldn't keep bothering Hehuan and Kapok, and he had nowhere to train his shooting skills. Even the gun itself was just a "toy gun" lent to him by Dujuan.

Compared to the Western cowboy route, the swordsman route developed for him by his senior, Kapok, is more feasible.

"Senior, when will I be able to fully master these technologies and achieve a seamless combination of offense and defense?" Lin Jiade asked.

"It's hard to say. The more advanced and intense your needs are, the faster you can extract knowledge from the magic of the teacher training."

"Human needs have eight levels. The lowest level is the need for survival. So what comes above that?" Lin Jiade asked.

"Safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, self-actualization, and finally, self-transcendence."

Strictly speaking, however, transcending oneself is not a need. Therefore, the standard by which people judge whether a swordsman can be revered as a sword saint is whether his sword intent expresses self-realization.

Lin Jiade was somewhat confused: "Sword Saint, isn't he the one who's the best at fighting?"