Chapter 530: Touching the “untouchable”
<
<
<
<
<
‘Wait a minute…this leg…’
Zhen Xing had reinforced his own leg with aether and used it to catch the foot of the abusive nobleman mid-stomp.
A loud sound akin to metal clashing metal echoed through the air as the two forces made contact with one another, catching the attention of many of the people in the immediate area.
It was also in this moment though that Zhen Xing confirmed that this guy was using his aether to make his stomps hit even harder than what was necessary.
‘This son of a bitch…,’ Zhen Xing cursed, ‘at least I had the decency to not use my aether on people who couldn’t take it…not that it was better, but still.’
<
The young nobleman was just about to yell at Zhen Xing to identify themselves again, possibly scold them for interfering in his business, but before he could finish asking, Zhen Xing had lifted his foot with a touch more force and caused the noble to lose his balance, forcing him to take several steps backward towards the table he was sitting at to regain it.
Naturally following the nobleman’s movements, Zhen Xing saw four other people sitting at the table behind him, all of whom had this air of arrogance to them similar to the nobleman.
Albeit, their demeanor were drastically different.
<
<
<
<
<
<
“Hmmm.”
The only one who hadn’t said anything was a girl with a sour look on her face and an aura to her that suggested that she was more than willing to wring someone’s head off their shoulders if they so much as breathed in her direction.
Zhen Xing wasn’t entirely sure, but he assumed this girl to be the leader of this group of bozos.
(Un)surprisingly, these people that this Lei Zhong guy was sitting with didn’t move to assist him in the slightest. If anything, they found the plight of their friend to be amusing.
So much so, that if Zhen Xing had his eyes elsewhere, he would’ve noticed that his actions had drawn the attention of the local city guard. They were just about to come over and interfere, but they stopped when the girl with the sour look made a gesture with her hands. At which point, they just went back to pretending that nothing was happening and went back to their usual patrol route.
The people sitting next to the girl noticed this action, but proceeded to bring their focus back on the brewing conflict.
<
<
Regardless, after regaining his balance, Lei Zhong had a furious look on his face as he began to stare daggers at Zhen Xing.
<
<
Zhen Xing had no idea where all of this bravado was coming from, since this was out of character for himself, but he had to admit…it felt pretty good.
‘Huh…no wonder Zhen Hai liked to throw himself into other’s affairs so often.’
However, despite whatever Zhen Xing was feeling about his words and actions, the people on the receiving end of it felt differently.
Not because of the content of his words, but by the way he said it.
Literally.
<
<
<
<
<
<
What Lei Zhong just called Zhen Xing was a derogatory term for, specifically, people that had Roaring Tide ancestry but were born in a place other than Roaring Tide.
Evidently, Zhen Xing had never heard of this term used against him before, so being called “brackborn” was confusing at most.
He had a feeling it was insulting, he just didn’t know why.
‘Wait…did I just get called a-‘
“Xiao Xing! Are you okay?!”
<
Just as Zhen Xing was about to wrap his head around the insult, his cousins came running behind him to make sure that he and the slave girl was okay…mostly.
Zhen Yue, Zhen Hai and Zhen Tai went over to Zhen Xing’s side to see if he needed back up, while Zhen Guo and Zhen Feng went to go check on the girl.
“Xiao Xing, what the fuck?,” Zhen Yue asked in a whisper, “I expect this sort of behavior from Zhen Hai, but not you.”
“I’m not even going to argue against that so…good job man!,’ Zhen Hai praised.
“Dude, what has gotten into you? You usually never do the gung-ho action thing,” Zhen Tai asked.
“I…I don’t know,” Zhen Xing answered honestly, “it just felt like I had to…do something.”
“Oh boy.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“She is not in good shape,” Zhen Feng stated while looking over the wounded girl, “her bones are all messed up and these bruises are real-”
<
<
Unlike Zhen Xing and the others, Zhen Yue was a bit more read on the culture of the Pearl Scale Empire and Roaring Tide as a whole, meaning she was bit more familiar with the slang than was necessary.
<
Apparently the term <
<
With this declaration made, Lei Zhong went rushing straight towards Zhen Xing, his fists sparking with lightning aether.
[Thundering Decapitator!]
_____________________________________________
[Looks like I was right. It is in the director’s blood to attract trouble. But now the question is, should I get involved?]
Several dozen feet behind the Zhen Clan scions and the scene of a young man beating a slave girl, Razorstella was watching the lot of them with a pensive look in her eyes.
The reason for her pensive attitude?
The understanding that actions had consequences.
[Huh…on the one hand…the director would’ve definitely done something by now and probably cold clock this guy, or have one of us do it…but on the other hand, he’d also say something about not wanting to cause a scene with any of the local powers in fear of messing things up for his grandfather…] Razorstella asked herself.
[Then again, he had made it clear he didn’t like the idea of slavery and would definitely be the type to try and fight it with violence…probably…]
As a kaijin, Razorstella was more predisposed to take action, in essence, to throw herself into a situation where she could get into a good brawl or five.
However, she also understood the concept that actions had consequences.
She could sense that the aura coming off one of these affluent dickheads was a touch similar to the auras of Zhen Wang and Zhen Li, meaning that they were probably related to them at minimum or cultivated similar formulas.
Either way, that meant that whomever these guys were affiliated with, at least one of them was related to the Zhen main clan and was probably not to be messed with.
However, any careful planning and weighing of options were thrown out the window the moment the director’s cousins decided to pick a fight.
[Oh shit.]
Razorstella was originally going to just sit back and watch the violence unfold, until she heard this line:
“No, but I am the son of the Lei Family, one of three subordinate families to the Zhen Clan and a Third Ring Aether Master and I will not be insulted like this any further. Have at thee!”
At which point, she realized something hinky was about to go down.
[Shit…I should probably contact the director…]
_____________________________________________
The Present
Now understanding just how bad the situation was, Zhen Liu immediately made preparations to bolt out of his room and the hotel to see if he could unfuck whatever situation his cousins had rolled themselves into.
‘Oh you stupidly heroic fucks. I get wanting to do the right thing and having a change of heart, but doing it this brazenly leads to issues!’
However, just as he was about to leave, he realized there was a significantly smarter plan of action than just running there himself.
‘Apologies for cutting your break time short, but-‘
[Say no more milord, we’ll make sure your cousins get out of this in one piece.]
[Been…awhile…since…we…fought…mortals…]
[Time for us to put on a hell of a show!]
