Chapter 184: The Cyborg

The man was stunned. He had just convinced himself no one was around, and suddenly someone dropped out of the sky.

In an instant, he quickly turned and pulled his mask and hat back on. He clearly didn’t want to attract any attention.

Shi Ji’s landing had left a deep crater in the ground. The shattered pavement made the whole scene look pretty intense. He thought he had made a clean escape, only to look up and see a tall man in a uniform, wearing a hat and mask, staring right at him.

Shi Ji instinctively assumed the guy was sent to chase him down.

Feeling awkward, Shi Ji’s tense expression eased a bit, and he flashed the man an embarrassed grin.

“Heh… uh, no worries, no worries. I didn’t mean to break the glass. I just… dropped something in there, so I was—”

Before Shi Ji could finish explaining, the man suddenly appeared in front of him, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. His hand was already reaching toward Shi Ji’s head.

A bright flash shot out, followed by a massive shockwave, slamming right into Shi Ji. The surprise attack caught him completely off guard.

Boom!!!

The shockwave from the man’s palm wasn’t huge—about a meter in diameter—but it was enough to completely engulf Shi Ji. The blast hit with the intensity of a laser beam, tearing through the air and even blasting straight through the tall building next to the Star Alliance.

Dust and debris filled the air, making it impossible to see anything.

The sheer force of the impact was loud enough to catch the attention of everyone at the Star Alliance.

Not wasting any time, the masked man darted into a nearby thicket, disappearing from sight.

What the man didn’t know was that just as he vanished, a head poked out from the swirling dust and debris. And no, it wasn’t a bald head—Shi Ji’s hair was still very much intact.

Shi Ji stood up. He was completely unscathed, with his left hand still casually resting in his pocket.

He couldn’t help but feel baffled. He had only said a couple of words, and the guy attacked him out of nowhere. That was just plain unreasonable.

But as his puzzled expression slowly shifted, a smile crept across his face.

“Still… that guy was probably a cyborg, huh?”

Right before the attack hit, Shi Ji had clearly seen mechanical joints in the man’s hand.

“Heh! I don’t care who you are, you can’t just randomly attack me and then think you can walk away like nothing happened. It’s not that easy.”

As he said this, the bracelet on his wrist buzzed with a notification.

Shi Ji glanced at it—Lin Xinyan was calling.

“Oh, Xinyan. What’s up?”

“Uh… you didn’t run into Blade, did you?”

Shi Ji immediately understood what Lin Xinyan was getting at, and a warmth spread through his chest. It had been a long time since anyone cared about him like this.

“Nope, didn’t run into him.”

He said this mostly to keep her from worrying and didn’t want to blow the whole situation out of proportion. Given Blade’s status and reputation, Shi Ji figured he wouldn’t go around telling people what happened anyway.

Lin Xinyan sighed in relief on the other end of the line.

“Good, good. By the way, where are you right now?”

Shi Ji glanced at the towering Star Alliance building. 

“Oh, I’m still near the hospital. Why, what’s up?”

“Well, since we’ll be working together tomorrow, the instructor wants us to stay at her place tonight so we can head out early in the morning. I’ll send you the address. When you’re done with whatever you’re doing, come over, okay?”

Shi Ji was about to respond when he suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps nearby.

“There he is! Hurry up!”

The shouting was loud enough that Lin Xinyan heard it too.

“Shi Ji, what’s all that noise? I thought you were at the hospital.”

Her question left Shi Ji feeling a bit awkward.

“Oh, uh, yeah… I’m right outside the hospital. Just had a little run-in with some thugs trying to rob someone. I’m about to teach them a lesson. Anyway, Xinyan, I’ll call you back later and head over then.”

He quickly hung up, hoping to dodge any more questions.