Chapter 17: The “Idiot” Is Actually Very Strong

“Mei, stop cooking for now, come out quickly. Opportunities to let you see the real strength of your captain like this aren’t that common.”

Running out of the house, and without any courtesy, Kiko raided Yao Bingling’s fridge for beer and peanuts. She found a pretty good spot by the window to watch and blocked Mei, who wanted to stop them.

“It’s fine, it won’t be a big problem.”

“But, Kiana may be a bit dumb, but she’s really strong! No matter how strong the lieutenant colonel is, he can’t possibly be a match for an active Valkyrie.”

Mei’s worry was very reasonable. As weapons against the “Honkai,” Valkyries are not only equipped with anti-Honkai energy factors in their bodies but also possess bodies that have been trained and strengthened by stigmas, surpassing ordinary humans in every aspect.

Take Kiana for example. Don’t be fooled by her usual demeanor—she’s a fierce fighter who can smash battle tank-level Honkai beasts!

“Don’t worry, just leave it to me.”

Just as Mei understood how powerful Kiana was in battle, Kiko also understood how dangerous Yao Bingling was.

With a power armor suit and an array of weapons and ammo, this guy could cripple a Titan mech by himself. By any standard, he was a monster.

Perhaps in his eyes, Kiana was only a light pre-meal exercise.

Yao Bingling had already come down to the yard. Because of his right hand’s injury, he simply held it behind his back, letting his left hand hang naturally. He relaxed, and with a semi-circular walking pattern, slowly closed the distance between him and Kiana.

Kiana could feel it. Although he seemed to be approaching casually, his gaze and gait tormented her. Because deep down, she sensed this approaching figure was not just a person.

It was a large beast.

That beast did not emit killing intent, nor malice toward her—it simply watched and examined her in a fundamentally natural way.

But that gaze was neither friendly nor safe. When a large beast pays attention to a smaller animal, there’s only one thing on its mind… hunting!

Hunting is their survival instinct, just like eating. Would you show killing intent or malice toward your food?

No! That’s what makes it even more dangerous.

Yao Bingling’s manner reminded Kiana of what her father once taught her about Arctic wolves in the snowfields.

The Arctic wolf is said to be the largest wolf species in the world and, unlike other wolves that hunt in packs, they are skilled solitary hunters.

These excellent hunters slowly wear down their prey’s patience, endurance, and mental strength. They wait for the moment it shows fatigue and then strike the killing blow.

Just like Yao Bingling now.

“Annoying memories,” Kiana murmured.

As a child, she was subjected to brutal training from her father, thrown into the snowfields and chased by a pack of Arctic wolves. It was one of her biggest childhood traumas. Yao Bingling’s stalking method stirred up those unpleasant memories.

Growing frustration made the usually impatient Kiana completely restless.

“Have you finished walking around?!”

This sentence unleashed a violent burst of energy.

The concrete under her feet trembled slightly, small gravel and dust flew up in an instant, and her leg muscles generated powerful momentum to move her at a speed that required super dynamic vision to track.

If Yao Bingling’s movement was like a stalking arctic wolf, then Kiana’s charge was like that wild boar attacking last night.

Her attack was neither flashy nor fancy, but heavy and swift. Knowing her legs were at a disadvantage, she refrained from kicking recklessly and instead used straight punches aiming at Yao Bingling’s nose.

“Smack~”

The sound was like a fly hitting another fly, or like children playing a hand-slap game.

Kiana was surprised to see her punch miss the target.

It should have hit his face directly but grazed past his ear, likely because of his raised hand. But how could he raise that relaxed arm with such speed and strength to swat away her punch?!

She didn’t have time to ponder this—his completely non-threatening, teasing look shattered her thought process.

Her eyes sharpened, and she didn’t hesitate to throw a second punch!

Also a fist, even heavier than the first probing strike. Even steel would fly away if hit by it.

But unsurprisingly, she felt an explosion of force at her wrist. Her clenched fist immediately relaxed and its trajectory changed.

Looking over, she saw Yao Bingling’s left hand pressing on her wrist.

Losing control of both hands caused her body to lose balance, exposing vital areas to Yao Bingling.

Head, heart, ribs, joints, eyes—these were all spots that could end the fight instantly, and from his speed and precise interception skills, he could easily strike any one of them.

Yet, he didn’t.

From start to finish, he kept that faint, expressionless smirk and silently watched her lose balance, waiting for her next move.

[Is he underestimating me?!]

“You…”

Feeling underestimated, Kiana’s anger flared. The adrenaline started pumping and her moves became faster and more ferocious.

She quickly regained control, took advantage of his one-handed defense, bypassed it, and grabbed Yao Bingling’s shoulders.

The ground trembled slightly. Like a rabbit, Kiana sprang up, driving her knee with devastating angle and force toward Yao Bingling’s jaw!

He would block it!

Kiana knew, but she also knew the saying: “The arm can’t twist the thigh.” She didn’t believe he could stop her leg with just one hand!

“Thud!”

Yao Bingling’s palm indeed covered her knee, but it wasn’t an immovable barrier as Kiana expected.

Instead, she felt her knee hit a wall, a heavy one pressing down!

“What?!”

To Kiko and Mei watching, the moment when Kiana’s knee met Yao Bingling’s palm seemed frozen in time. The next moment, Yao Bingling’s palm suddenly dropped with a whoosh of wind, and Kiana was pressed back to the ground.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

When her feet hit the ground, powerful force and inertia surged from her soles through her entire body, especially in her thighs where the injury throbbed painfully. Despite this, Kiana yelled out, pulled hard on Yao Bingling’s shoulders, and headbutted his head.

“Nice.”

At that moment, Kiana seemed to hear a compliment from him. The shock and pain that should have radiated from her forehead didn’t appear. Instead, she saw a hand covering her forehead.

Suddenly, she was thrown away!

“What speed is that?!” Mei gasped.

Unlike Kiana’s confused viewpoint, the watchers clearly saw the unexpected headbutt and how quickly Kiana attacked. It was so fast and relentless that if Yao Bingling had noticed it, she would have been hit.

But he still blocked it! His left hand, which just pressed her knee down, shot up like lightning and inserted itself into the less-than-ten-centimeter gap between her forehead and his.

With a faint smile, Yao Bingling, who had been motionless, suddenly shifted sideways parallel to Kiana. This made Kiana’s hands lose their grip on his shoulders. Then he pushed his left hand forward like pushing a box.

Kiana, whose head was caught, immediately flew backward!

Momentarily stunned, Kiana quickly assessed the situation mid-air, rolled, and landed safely to avoid a harsh fall.

In a crouched and half-prone position supporting herself, Kiana did not attack again. She looked at Yao Bingling like a beast staring at a stronger beast.

The brief skirmish made Kiana realize how powerful this former Destiny Operation team member, who was dominant ten years ago, really was.

Although unwilling, she knew a direct confrontation would rarely favor her.

“Stop daydreaming, Kiana. Attack again. You need to use your advantages and exploit my weaknesses.”

Yao Bingling, still forgoing the best time to pursue, tilted his body, raised his left hand with slightly curled fingers, and beckoned Kiana.

“I know that kind of thing… of course, I do!”

“That’s defense, Kiana, defense! The lieutenant colonel can only use one hand, so his upper body defense has to have flaws.”

Mei suddenly shouted this, causing Kiana, who was about to charge again, to pause. Yao Bingling turned his head and looked at Mei with approval.

“Not bad, but you’re missing one point.”

He said.

“Don’t look around so much, me!”

Kiana rushed in immediately, her punches furious and fast as always.

Though the Kaslana family’s combat style focused on gun-fighting, that didn’t mean they were weak at hand-to-hand.

The first punch alone made Yao Bingling’s face change slightly. Though not overwhelmingly strong, the problem was Kiana’s second strike.

Quick and lethal, she aimed a knife-hand strike at the soft spot under his left arm—his armpit!

“Damn!”

Yao Bingling’s left arm caught Kiana’s right wrist, then dropped. He struck her attacking left forearm with an accurate elbow but couldn’t neutralize the force, only deflecting its path.

However, this caused Kiana to be slammed toward the ground.

“Not done yet!”

Yelling, Kiana’s legs exploded with power. She kicked hard off the ground, crashing her whole body into Yao Bingling’s waist. Her deflected left arm wrapped around his waist as an anchor, and using it as a pivot, she swung herself in front of him, wrapping one arm around his abdomen.

Ignoring the pain in her injured legs, she unleashed all her weight and strength. The momentum instantly lifted Yao Bingling’s legs off the ground!

“Ugh!!”

What reckless fighting! Seeing Kiana’s legs begin to bleed from the strain of bearing her weight, even Yao Bingling was momentarily stunned. That brief hesitation turned into a flipped and rolling fight.

He—this man in his thirties—was thrown by this teenage girl!

[What a strong gorilla!]

Stretching his hand to brace himself mid-air, Yao Bingling briefly regained balance, but then his eyes widened.

In this short moment, Kiana charged again!

“Seriously reckless!”

Originally planning to land backwards, Yao Bingling had to push off with force and catapult himself farther away with one hand.

Just after leaving the ground, he felt something like an axe slicing through his hair and saw Kiana nearly sweep his leg!

Not yet standing, Yao Bingling quickly assumed a fighting stance. Within a breath, Kiana’s attacks rained down like a storm.

Twelve consecutive punches: each blocked initially but immediately followed by tricky-angle second punches. After blocking, the third punch struck his body directly.

Yao Bingling’s one-handed disadvantage showed. Defensive gaps forced him to give up blocking non-lethal attacks. Of the twelve hits, he only blocked eight.

Besides, his chest, ribs, and face were all hit solidly.

And Kiana showed no signs of stopping.

Getting serious, Kiana steadily unleashed the power and subtleties of the Kaslana family’s gun-fighting techniques, forcing Yao Bingling into increasingly faster and heavier movements—in other words… he was being forced to fight seriously too.