Chapter 173 : Chapter 173
173. Two-Dimensional Hengdian!
“Hey, cut it out.”
The moment the city appeared in view, Lu Zheng’s eyes lit up with excitement.
During these past several hours of flight, Yi Ning had relentlessly teased him from every possible angle. And Lu Zheng—powerless to counter her antics—couldn’t find a way to retaliate effectively.
If he did respond…
Yi Ning would take that as a sign of “getting flustered” and slap all kinds of bizarre accusations onto him, tagging him with fake labels and escalating the teasing even further.
But if he didn’t respond…
Yi Ning would just circle back and use those earlier incidents to mock him again and again, leaving Lu Zheng frustrated and stifled.
And unfortunately for him, during this boring journey through the sky, Yi Ning had nothing but time to spare.
So the moment Lu Zheng saw the city, he couldn’t wait to cut off Yi Ning, who was just about to start another round of jokes at his expense, and pointed in the direction of the city.
“Look over there—it’s a city!”
“Huh?”
Yi Ning gave Lu Zheng a weird look, then followed his finger to where he was pointing.
But all she saw was the same endless forest stretching as far as the eye could see.
Was this guy so overwhelmed by her teasing that he was making up an excuse just to get her to stop?
A rather dark and suspicious thought popped into Yi Ning’s mind.
Still, despite thinking that, she generally trusted what Lu Zheng said.
So within seconds, she shook off that suspicion.
The discrepancy in what they saw likely came down to the difference in their physical abilities.
Lu Zheng’s body, after all, was in a whole other league compared to hers.
But the difference in visual range wasn’t something she couldn’t fix.
She reached into her pocket, fumbled around a bit, and pulled out a bottle that looked like hand cream.
Then, gripping the cap with two fingers, she tried to mimic a certain legendary drummer’s trick of unscrewing a bottle with two fingers.
Unfortunately, Yi Ning had neither the strength of a monster nor the wrist power of a female hormone-fueled beast, so she could only puff up her cheeks in frustration and pout, adorably turning into a little bun-faced girl before handing the bottle over to Lu Zheng.
“Open this for me.”
Lu Zheng took her “hand cream” and twisted it open effortlessly, then thoughtfully squeezed some of the white cream onto her hand.
“What is this?”
Lu Zheng asked curiously.
“Dun dun dun dun!”
“Binocular Hand Cream!”
Yi Ning said proudly as she rubbed the cream between her fingers, then made a circular shape with her hands in front of her eye like a spyglass.
“Just rub this on your hands and you can turn them into binoculars!”
She closed one eye and focused through the circle.
Her vision zoomed rapidly, and soon enough, a walled city appeared within the ring formed by her left hand.
“Oh wow, there really is one!”
Yi Ning was thrilled.
The next second—“Holy crap! What is this—Two-Dimensional Hengdian?!”
She couldn’t help but let out a curse.
And honestly, you couldn’t blame her. The city in her binocular vision looked way too familiar.
Standard flat terrain. A C-shaped river splitting the city. A perfectly round wall enclosing it all.
It was practically etched into her DNA at this point.
As she piloted the helicopter, Yi Ning slowly rotated her hand, observing the city from different angles.
Soon, a small circle of people gathered in the streets caught her attention.
“Ooh! There’s a fight going on down there!”
“One guy and one girl—and the guy’s getting his ass kicked by the girl!”
Yi Ning gleefully began narrating the scene for Lu Zheng.
“No, no, don’t fight like that!”
“Grab her hair! Kick his crotch! Why are you fighting so politely?! Show me some brutality—I want blood!”
“Yes! That’s it, that’s it! Hit harder!”
“Wait—what’s she doing now? Is that allowed?”
“Oh! Nice! Very good! Keep beating him!”
Yi Ning absentmindedly licked her lips, looking like a bloodthirsty spectator.
Clearly, she was taking full advantage of her binocular hand cream to enjoy a free aerial street fight broadcast.
Lu Zheng was getting a little itchy with curiosity himself.
A street fight between alien folks? He wanted to see too.
But his vision wasn’t good enough to catch the details at that distance.
“Hey hey hey, what’s happening now?”
So he tugged on Yi Ning’s sleeve and asked her to continue commentating.
But the moment he spoke up, Yi Ning clammed up.
She only let out the occasional cheer when the fight reached a dramatic point.
Totally on purpose.
Lu Zheng’s temper flared.
He huffed and tossed the hand cream back at Yi Ning, crossing his arms and turning his head away.
It’s just a fight, right?
What’s the big deal?
He, Lu Zheng, had seen not just one-on-one fights between men and women, but also all-out street brawls. Heck, he’d even joined some!
What was so impressive about this?
But then he paused mid-grumble.
How the hell did Yi Ning tell the genders of aliens?
Wait a second…
He quickly turned back to ask Yi Ning about the locals.
“Oh, this planet seems to be like the Blue Star—the civilizations here are human... oh, wait, the woman in the fight has pointed ears. Looks kinda like the elves from Japanese-style fantasy adventures. So, humanoid species, I’d say—”
“Whoa!”
Yi Ning gasped before finishing her sentence.
“It’s over—the elf girl beat the guy down to his knees and is dragging him toward what looks like an inn!”
“Croak! She’s gonna make him a ☆slave, no doubt!”
Yi Ning squirmed in her seat with excitement, making the entire helicopter wobble.
Lu Zheng quickly reached out to steady her, afraid she’d crash the thing in her frenzy.
After watching the epic brawl, Yi Ning scanned around the city a bit more with her makeshift binoculars. Once she confirmed there was nothing else exciting to see, she put her left hand down and fully refocused on piloting.
Even though it had only been a day, she was already missing soft beds and delicious food.
Tonight—she was sleeping in a hotel!
Soon, a wide road came into view. Lu Zheng felt the pedals under his feet suddenly get heavier.
It seemed they had finally exited the forest—his superpowers were back in action.
Yi Ning used her binocular hand cream one more time to scan the road, confirming it led directly to the city they saw earlier. Then she turned to Lu Zheng to discuss their next move.
“Should we fly right to the city gate, or land and walk?”
“Let’s walk,” Lu Zheng suggested. “Didn’t you say this planet’s civilization is like a Japanese-style fantasy? What if they’ve never seen anything like this helicopter, and it freaks them out?”
Yi Ning nodded approvingly: “Lu Zheng, my son! That is exactly what I was thinking!”
BONK!
Lu Zheng smacked her on the head, and a bump slowly rose from her scalp.
He wiped his fist clean.
This brat just couldn’t stop asking for a beating. If he didn’t smack her once in a while, she’d never behave.
Yi Ning sulkily landed the helicopter, then sulkily followed Lu Zheng out, sulkily packed all their supplies into the pockets of her lab coat, and finally sulkily picked up the helicopter itself and stuffed it into her pocket.
Once everything was packed, Yi Ning pointed indignantly at the bump on her head, put her hands on her hips, and demanded with righteous fury:
“Aren’t you forgetting something you should say to me?!”