Under the dim yellow light outside the cheap inn, the gentle mask on Jason’s face peeled away like cheap paint.
“Go home? Lily, don’t be such a buzzkill.”
Jason lowered his voice, carrying a nauseating, sticky tone.
“Didn’t we agree we’d properly ‘talk’ about the debts your father owes?
“Come inside, have a cup of tea, and we’ll discuss it slowly. I promise I’ll send you back very soon.”
He deliberately emphasized the word “debts”, his tone full of threat.
The young girl Lily trembled lightly from fear. She seemed to want to struggle, but upon hearing about her father’s debts, she didn’t dare resist loudly.
Soon after, the two entered the cheap inn.
From a distance, Jiang Lin observed in secret and didn’t follow immediately.
“Little Black, can you still lock onto that cultist’s aura?”
Little Black indicated there was no problem.
Jiang Lin waited until the cultist’s aura moved upstairs and entered a room.
After observing carefully and repeatedly confirming that no one was following or watching him, Jiang Lin leapt between the buildings in the alley and finally reached the window of the cultist’s room.
Noticing that the window wasn’t fully closed, Jiang Lin listened for a moment and confirmed that only the cultist and the little girl were inside.
But he didn’t hear much—just some soft rustling of clothes, a few thud thud impacts, and muffled “mmph mmph” struggling sounds, as if someone’s mouth had been covered.
Jiang Lin stopped waiting.
He flipped in through the window with practiced ease.
His movements were smooth and flowing, as if he’d trained for this countless times.
However, the moment he entered the room, he saw a scene that shocked him to the core.
The cultist—who moments ago had looked like a hungry wolf—was now being pinned to the floor by the little girl!
And not in any “special position,” but rather with the cultist firmly restrained on the ground using an extremely professional grappling technique.
Something white was stuffed into the cultist’s mouth.
Judging by the fact that the girl had one bare foot and the other still wearing a white sock, it seemed she had shoved her own sock into his mouth.
The muffled struggling sounds Jiang Lin heard earlier were coming from the cultist!
Connecting this with the earlier rustling of clothes and the thudding sounds, it was obvious that after the girl subdued him, the noises were from the cultist’s struggles.
Jiang Lin stared at the scene, completely stunned.
His brain short-circuited.
What… was going on here?
The “little girl” was equally surprised when Jiang Lin came in through the window.
She cursed bluntly:
“[Traditional profanity], why the [traditional profanity] is there another one?!”
Jiang Lin recalled her timid, fearful behavior in the restaurant and during the tailing, and felt the contrast was… extreme.
Before he could react, his Chronowalker’s Evil Eye showed several magical chains about to lash toward him.
Without thinking, Jiang Lin hurriedly declared his stance:
“Wait, wait! I’m on your side! On your side!!
“I saw this guy daring to prey on an underage girl, so I came to stop him!!”
Hearing that, the magical chains in his vision vanished.
The “little girl” looked surprised and sized Jiang Lin up.
She clicked her tongue.
“Pretty righteous, huh.
“Tch, what kind of man is so [traditional profanity] pretty—prettier than women?”
Hearing this, Jiang Lin felt it was strange coming from her mouth.
Her tone didn’t resemble that of a girl younger than him at all.
She continued:
“Alright, he can’t mess with me. Nothing for you to do here. You can go.”
But Jiang Lin hadn’t followed this far just to walk away.
“What are you planning to do with him?”
He pointed at Jason on the floor.
“How am I dealing with him?”
The knee pressing down on Jason’s neck increased its force slightly. Jason’s face flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead.
She said disdainfully:
“I have my own way. This has nothing to do with you, Mr. Good Guy. Go find other fallen girls to fulfill your hero fantasy.”
Jiang Lin frowned, carefully observing her movements—as if trying to see through the shell she was wearing.
“So you’re using this little girl’s identity to eliminate people connected to her father’s creditors. Have you thought about what happens to her afterward? What if others behind him come looking for trouble? Have you considered the consequences?”
He probed deliberately.
He couldn’t tell whether she was someone else in disguise, so he pretended to have seen through her “skin” and questioned her directly.
The “little girl” looked over in surprise.
She examined Jiang Lin again.
“Not sure how you figured it out, but I’ve got my own solution. Don’t worry about it. Go back where you came from.”
The more she tried to chase him away, the more Jiang Lin’s suspicions grew.
“Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me? Why don’t we take him to the Temple together? Don’t worry—I’ll stop at the door and let you take all the credit.”
Her brows knit even tighter.
“What do you mean? Do you think I care about that little bit of credit?”
“Then why are you chasing me off?”
“The waters here are too deep. You can’t handle it.”
“If I were afraid of this kind of trouble, why would I have followed in the first place?”
“This involves secret cults.”
She finally grew impatient and dropped the bomb, clearly trying to scare Jiang Lin off.
But she saw no surprise on Jiang Lin’s face—as if he already knew.
“So… you know he’s a cultist, right?”
Jiang Lin asked.
He’d been probing all along to see whether she knew Jason’s identity and her real purpose for following him here.
If she just wanted to help the girl’s family, there were far easier ways.
Now it was her turn to be shocked.
“You knew he was a cultist?”
Jiang Lin nodded matter-of-factly.
“Why else would I follow him?”
Hearing this exchange, Jason—pinned beneath the “little girl”—widened his eyes.
Wait—was his cultist identity really that obvious?!
“Are you with the Temple?” she asked.
Jiang Lin shook his head, then nodded again.
“Sort of… I guess. What about you?”
He asked back.
After hesitating, she replied:
“Sort of… I guess.”
They exchanged a look, both having formed guesses about each other’s identities.
“You’re not from Emerald City? You came here specifically to deal with cultists?” she asked.
“That’s right. You too?” Jiang Lin replied.
She nodded, looking unsurprised.
The two shared a you-know look.
Then Jiang Lin asked:
“There aren’t any recording crystals here, right?”
She shook her head, looking at him appreciatively.
“I checked as soon as I came in—this room doesn’t have any. Didn’t expect you to be this cautious too.”
After a pause, she added:
“Even if one were hidden so well that I missed it, I’ve got an accessory that interferes with recording crystals. Anything within twenty meters stops working—at least it won’t capture our faces.”
Jiang Lin nodded in relief.
After exchanging glances, the two almost simultaneously condensed the same rune:
【Saint·Concealment Rune】!
As expected.
Seeing the identical rune, both confirmed the other’s identity.
They didn’t remove the rune on their bodies—it might attract the attention of high-tier experts.
Instead, they revealed this proof of identity.
It wasn’t 100% confirmation, but the chance of error was now extremely small.
If the other was a follower of some other evil god or demon god… then it was just bad luck.
Someone who could prepare to this degree and act so convincingly couldn’t be avoided anyway.
Since forming this rune in the Temple before hadn’t caused any issues, it was safe to assume condensing it didn’t count as actively exposing their identity.
Still, Jiang Lin was surprised.
So the quest “Eliminate the Cultists of Emerald City” didn’t involve just him as an apostle.
If other apostles solved everything and he did nothing, would the quest still count as complete?
He had no way to verify that for now.
After confirming Jiang Lin’s identity, the “little girl” stopped hiding.
Her body began to change.
Bones cracked loudly as her roughly 1.5-meter frame writhed and expanded.
As her body swelled, her upper clothing burst apart, revealing solid, powerful muscles.
Finally—under Jiang Lin’s stunned gaze—she transformed into a burly man over two meters tall!
“Hahaha! Turns out you’re a teammate!”
He laughed heartily.
His rough voice sounded like someone had once locked Song Xiaobao in a chokehold.
Jiang Lin knew she wasn’t really a little girl—but he never expected the contrast to be this extreme.
Even the gender was different!
And the scene was… hard to look at.
Because it seemed he hadn’t stuffed larger clothes inside the disguise—he was now wearing only a short skirt stretched to its limits and a woman’s bra that survived purely due to elasticity.
This guy… his disguise was that thorough?
Seeing those things on a hulking brute was deeply unsettling.
At the same time, as the man returned to his original size, Jason—still pinned—felt an even stronger crushing pressure.
And hearing that rough voice, he nearly wanted to die.
He’d come for a little girl—so how had he ended up being the little girl?!
“Want me to hold him while you change?” Jiang Lin asked, eyes averted.
He refused to recall the shy, timid behavior he’d seen earlier.
Imagining this hulking man in women’s clothes making those expressions was… unbearable.
“Hahaha, thanks!”
Jiang Lin took over restraining Jason while the man changed into clean, well-fitting clothes.
Only after the change did Jiang Lin look back.
The eye-searing lingerie was gone, replaced by coarse cloth clothes that accentuated his knotted muscles.
He stretched, joints cracking, then walked up beside Jiang Lin, flashing a toothy grin.
Jason twisted his head to look—and seeing the man’s rough face, his desire to die intensified.
Especially remembering how he’d flirted with him earlier, making him giggle and even groping him—
Even if he survived tonight, Jason was sure he’d have PTSD around girls forever.
Of course, he doubted he’d survive at all.
“Brother, what should I call you?” the big man asked.
Jiang Lin thought for a moment.
“Just call me Matthew.”
The man rubbed his chin.
“Matthew… huh. Then you can call me Lilith.”
At that, Jiang Lin, the restrained Jason, and even Little Black in Jiang Lin’s pocket all stared at him strangely.
The big man’s brows shot up.
“What? Can’t I be called Lilith?”
It was a fairly common name.
But on this guy…?!
Who names someone who looks like Li Kui “Lilith”?!
Seeing their disbelief, the big man launched into a tragic backstory:
“I already had six older brothers. When my mom was pregnant with me, the family desperately wanted a girl. But I was born a boy again. My dad couldn’t afford to raise another one, so he just raised me as a girl—dressed me in girl’s clothes, even gave me a girl’s name…”
He told it with deep emotion, making it weirdly convincing.
But… couldn’t you just change your name yourself?!
Why be this honest?!
It even made Jiang Lin feel awkward about using “Matthew.”
Still, Jiang Lin suspected he was just dodging giving his real name.
But seeing how firm and indignant he looked, Jiang Lin didn’t press further.
“So… Lilith…” Jiang Lin began.
The big man replied gruffly:
“Yeah?”
Jiang Lin hesitated, staring at him, still unable to accept the name.
“Big guy… how do you plan to deal with this cultist?”
Jason’s eyes widened behind the sock, ears practically perking up as he listened.
Rate on N.U.
