The Natives of This World Are Fierce

"Sigh... I’m spread way too thin!"

With that sigh, Qin Xiaoxia walked out of the airport with Su Su and the Red Demoness, leaving only Doudou behind to drag a large suitcase.

Su Su was as youthful and radiant as ever. The Red Demoness wore a wide-brimmed hat and a Secret Realm disguise; otherwise, she would have drawn far too much attention.

"Big Cousin! I protest! This is child abuse! How come you guys don’t have to carry any luggage?!"

Doudou waved his little fists, dragging the suitcase along at high speed, but he still couldn’t quite keep up with the two women and one man ahead. They appeared to be strolling casually but were actually moving faster than an average person’s jog.

Qin Xiaoxia turned his head and gave Doudou a bewildered look.

"When did you get a suitcase? Did we even bring anything onto the plane?"

Doudou chuckled, "Hehe," and scurried a few steps closer. With the proud air of someone showing off a treasure, he unzipped the suitcase to show his Big Cousin what was inside.

"See! Look, it’s full of food! There’s even seafood!"

No wonder the suitcase was so large and strange. It was actually a special cooler, with tiered compartments inside holding all sorts of meat and seafood, complete with freezer packs.

"Hehehe, you stole this, didn’t you?"

Doudou immediately bristled.

"What? You call this stealing? The guy was pushing a whole cart of these boxes out of the airport, and he was sweating buckets. He was clearly exhausted, so I was just helping him lighten his load!"

"Besides, I’ve had it for this long and no one’s come looking for it. He obviously didn’t want it anymore!"

Doudou spewed a pile of fallacies with righteous indignation, showing not the slightest intention of returning the goods.

BONK! A loud thump, like the beat of a drum, landed squarely on Doudou’s head. Only pain could teach this little rascal a lesson.

Qin Xiaoxia glanced back into the airport terminal. It was a sea of people hurrying to and fro. Even with his superhuman eyesight, he couldn’t spot anyone carrying a similar box.

He reached out and touched the suitcase, then paused, clearly taken aback.

"Fine, you can hold onto it for now. We might even have to go find the owner later... Heh!"

"If we’re going to find them, we’ll do it after we’ve eaten everything!"

The certain Little Elf refused to yield.

...

In River County’s Hillview Park District, a sign had now been erected outside that read "Floyd Biological Research."

Of the four Quasi-Knights, Otto was still working as a security guard at Hercules Company, though he had been promoted to Baru’s old position.

Jack and Joseph, taking advantage of their now superhuman memories, had qualified for advanced studies at two foreign universities in preparation for future plans.

That left only Jenny, Mark, and Joey to clean the entire park district from top to bottom, preparing for their Mentor’s arrival.

This time, however, he hadn’t asked them for an airport pickup; Qin Xiaoxia simply took a cab straight to the park’s entrance.

"Holy shit, these guys found such a badass place. It feels even more impressive than the Association’s Secret Place in Qingzhen!"

Su Su nodded in firm agreement. While she didn’t think it was better than a *true* Association Secret Place, she was still thoroughly surprised that Jenny and the others had found a location like this.

"This place can’t be cheap, right?"

"Is money something *we* need to worry about? You vulgar, busty girl!"

"You... you..."

Sister Su was so furious her chest heaved, leaving the taxi driver gawking. But after he drove away, he found he couldn’t quite recall his passengers’ faces. He only remembered a beautiful girl, a child dragging a large suitcase, and seemingly, two other people.

"Hey, Mentor! Feiya! Doudou!"

An excited voice, accompanied by the sound of approaching footsteps, came from inside.

Jenny and the others rushing out to greet them managed to stop Su Su just as she was about to explode.

"See this? The foundation we talked about last time helped us get it. It’s like a dream! Mentor, it looks like our biological research project has some serious potential!"

As they welcomed the group into the park, they began reporting on the major events that had occurred recently.

Mark spoke rapidly, recounting the whole story of how they rented the park. The moment he mentioned the Sun Foundation, Su Su understood everything.

When she explained it to Jenny and the others, they all cried out, "Oh my god," feeling like fools who had been putting on a clown show.

They figured they hadn’t just embarrassed themselves in front of their Mentor, but in front of all their like-minded comrades in Dawn as well.

Jenny recalled how calm, composed, and handsome Zhao Chen had looked the whole time, while she had been busy bragging about their research project. Her face couldn’t help but burn at the memory.

’Oh god, he was one of us, and they didn’t even say anything! How am I ever going to face him again?’

"Hmph. Women."

Doudou dragged his large suitcase, sticking close to his Big Cousin who was wandering around the garden. He had just turned his head back to watch where he was going when he found the Red Demoness’s exquisitely otherworldly face less than a centimeter from his own.

"Doudou~ Do I count as a woman?"

’I don’t even know if you count as a person!’

"Yes, yes, of course you count!"

It was a rare moment of Doudou speaking such an accommodating, insincere compliment. He quickly scurried to catch up with his Big Cousin, lest the Red Demoness start asking more strange questions.

In the entire Association, only Qin Xiaoxia and the Red Demoness could keep Doudou in check—one through sheer force, the other through sheer weirdness.

It was only then that Jenny, Mark, and Joey realized there was a fourth person with their Mentor, Su Su, and Doudou.

The Red Demoness dropped the power of her disguise, revealing her true form and smiling at the three of them.

With her long crimson hair and a beauty that was both delicate and otherworldly, her lips were as red as blood and her skin as white as snow. She seemed to be wreathed in a fine mist, yet she was also faintly veiled in an aura of sanctity. It was a beauty that simply didn’t seem to belong to the mortal world.

"Hello, everyone. I am the Red Demoness."

Her voice was melodious and sweet, like a lark’s song carrying on an echo.

Even Jenny, a woman herself, felt as if she’d been struck by a powerful electric shock. As for Mark and Joey, their breathing simply stopped.

Since her activation, with every bit more real she became, the Red Demoness grew that much more ethereally beautiful. To someone who had never seen her before, the first sight was truly stunning—to say nothing of the natural charm that came with her Sea Siren talents.

After just a few seconds, the misty vapor mixed with Magic Power once more, dulling her "lethality" so it wasn’t quite so fatal.

"Stop fooling around. We have work to do."

Having seen enough, Qin Xiaoxia hurried them along and headed for the main building.

With its flowers, grass, and water features, the grounds were quite lovely. The building was a bit old, but it was a vast improvement over the place in Qingzhen, which hadn’t even had electricity to start with.

Because they were short on time, even though the place had been cleaned, the main building’s grand hall had been cleared out and left quite empty at Qin Xiaoxia’s request.

The front part of the hall, excluding the rear section, was over a hundred square meters—just about the perfect size for the Sealing Technique.

"Alright, everyone, stand back."

Then, Qin Xiaoxia also stepped back, leaving only the Red Demoness in the center.

For a task like engraving a Secret Realm Technique, as long as she was here, he didn’t need to do it personally. His role was just to provide support.

Three strands of long, red hair detached themselves and floated around the Red Demoness. From the perimeter, Qin Xiaoxia extended his right hand. Purple Magic Fire transformed into a long, burning serpent that coiled around the three strands of hair in mid-air.

Amidst the flames, the hair and Magic Power coalesced into a glob of reddish-purple, gel-like Shaping Material.

With no need for a preliminary "base draft," the instant the Shaping Material formed, the Red Demoness began to weave her Magic Power, accompanied by a soft, singing voice.

The reddish-purple crystal automatically extruded fine filaments that, guided by the vibrations of her song, gradually drifted through the air to form a complete Technique.

"Hmmmm~~~~ Mmm~~~~~~"

As the final note of her hum faded, the Technique descended in the next instant, covering the floor and flaring with light.

Shockwave-like halos of light radiated from the center in successive waves, like ripples in a pond. The resulting gust of air sent everyone’s hair flying and continued all the way to the outer courtyard walls.

Jenny and the other two were completely stunned, their minds filled with a sense of ’I don’t get it, but that was awesome’.

At this point, Qin Xiaoxia, who had been observing, made his move.

A thin chain on his right arm, which had looked like a decorative bracelet, slid down his wrist. In a fraction of a second, it transformed into a long, black whip.

FWOOSH!

Purple flames erupted in an instant, forcing the five onlookers back several more steps.

As if by telepathy, the Red Demoness raised a hand, pulling a blurry shadow of a crow up from the Technique on the floor. At that exact moment, Qin Xiaoxia flicked his wrist. The long whip became a blur as its tip tapped the crow shadow’s open beak.

A purple, mirror-like surface formed, expanding as the crow shadow grew.

"Dinsa~ Lanoman!"

"Dinsa~ Lanoman!"

The Red Demoness and Qin Xiaoxia chanted the Magic Language in unison. The immense Magic Power they summoned kicked up a storm.

At that moment, the Secret Realm in Los Angeles and the Main Secret Realm far away in Qingzhen both unleashed their power. Within the two distant, mirrored surfaces, threads of Magic Silk shot through space, weaving through the Void to link the two Secret Realms together.

A translucent ripple emanated from the center, forming a boundary membrane of woven Magic Power in the air. The membrane expanded in an instant, stopping only when it reached the outer courtyard walls.

In that instant, all outside noise vanished. Even the light seemed to dim.

Unlike the conventional process for Sealing Techniques, which involves weaving the Magic Power *after* engraving the lines, the Red Demoness’s pioneering method integrated the Technique-weaving *before* the engraving, allowing the Secret Realm to unfold immediately after. It was a success on the very first try.

But while this was a meaningful breakthrough for any being passionate about studying Secret Realms, for the Red Demoness and Qin Xiaoxia, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as the successful connection of the first link in the Secret Realm Ring.

"Woohoo! It’s a success!"

Seeing everyone still in a daze, Doudou was the first to jump in with some flattery.

"Time to celebrate with a feast! Yaaay!"

Finally snapping out of their shock, the others began to cheer as well, celebrating the official establishment of the Dawn Los Angeles Branch.

Doudou already had a plan: he would use the box of meat and seafood he had "acquired" to make a celebratory barbecue.

Hearing his proposal, Qin Xiaoxia was reminded that he should probably open the box and inspect its contents.

"Alright, alright, let’s see what surprises are inside!"

...

That night, in a bustling entertainment district of Los Angeles, seven or eight coolers identical to the one Doudou had taken were neatly arranged in the back room of a high-end nightclub.

A Caucasian man knelt to one side, trembling in fear.

"Boss... you gotta believe me, I really don’t know when one of them went missing..."

On a sofa in front of him sat a burly man covered in tattoos, surrounded by a circle of expressionless thugs.

"Then where do you think you left it? Your house, maybe? Or the police station?"

The voice was calm, but it sent a chill straight to the kneeling man’s heart.

P.S. Second Chapter for Sunday.

The third Chapter will likely be out late, so go on to bed!