164: Chapter 164 Jiang Chen: Don't hug me yet, didn't you see the academician is holding a knife?

Jiang Chen: "Don't hug me yet. Can't you see the Academician is holding a knife?"

The night wind was biting, whipping up dust from the ground that stung against the face.

Yet, right now, above the ruins of Yunding Villa, the air felt as if it had been frozen by liquid nitrogen, so cold that a chill seeped into one's very bones.

Academician Chen Shuyin stopped in her tracks.

She stood less than five meters away from the two, carrying that silver first-aid kit. In the glare of the headlights, her mismatched outfit—a starry evening gown paired with a lab coat—looked both absurd and sharp.

She pushed up her rimless glasses. Those eyes, always filled with reason and logic, were now like a precision scanner, sizing up the silver-haired woman clinging to Jiang Chen from head to toe, inside and out.

There was no fear.

There wasn't even the jealousy one might expect from a woman.

What existed was merely a kind of… scrutiny that made Jiang Wanqiu's skin crawl.

It was just like a veteran butcher examining a prime head of cattle that had just been delivered to the slaughterhouse, looking at its succulent meat.

"Pupil color is abnormal. Iris has mechanical patterns."

"High-density keratinization reaction on the skin surface. Is this the principle behind her bulletproof nature?"

Academician Chen Shuyin murmured to herself. Though her voice wasn't loud, it was clearly audible in the dead of the night:

"So this is the… carbon-based biological specimen that crossed dimensions?"

"It seems that, aside from not having a very functional brain, the physiological structure is perfect."

These words were like a spark falling into a powder keg.

"Specimen?"

Jiang Wanqiu narrowed her eyes.

Although she didn't understand what "carbon-based biological" meant, she understood the contempt in that tone—it was the look a superior gives to an inferior.

In the Wasteland, only she looked down on others; no one had ever dared to look at her like that!

"How bold."

Jiang Wanqiu released her grip on Jiang Chen and slowly straightened up.

She stood in front of Jiang Chen, spinning the high-frequency oscillation dagger in her palm, which emitted a hum hungry for blood.

"Are you that… sewer repairer?"

Jiang Wanqiu sneered, killing intent visible in her red eyes:

"Originally, since Father God pleaded for you, I was thinking of sparing your dog's life."

"But you shouldn't have, you absolutely shouldn't have…"

"You shouldn't have looked at me with those eyes."

"And even more so, you shouldn't have—"

Her gaze shifted downward, locked tightly onto Academician Chen Shuyin's right hand:

"Holding a weapon and approaching within three steps of Father God!"

Academician Chen Shuyin was stunned for a moment, instinctively looking down.

In her right hand, she was holding something she had just taken out of the first-aid kit to deal with emergencies—a laser scalpel.

It was a medical scalpel with a blade made of a high-energy laser beam. It was only as long as a fingernail and emitted a faint blue light, which, admittedly, did look quite a bit like a weapon.

"This?"

Academician Chen Shuyin looked bewildered, raising the scalpel to wave it slightly:

"I detected that you were injured, and there is some residual radiation here. This knife is for debridement…"

"Silence! Deceptive words!"

Jiang Wanqiu wouldn't listen to any explanations.

In her mind, this was the moment the trap was sprung!

"You want to assassinate Father God? You're not worthy!"

"Boom!"

Without another word, the floor tiles beneath Jiang Wanqiu's feet shattered instantly. She transformed into a bolt of black lightning, charging straight at Academician Chen Shuyin with a fierce, unstoppable momentum!

The speed was too fast!

It was so fast that Academician Chen Shuyin's brain hadn't even processed the command to "dodge" before the oscillating dagger, radiating the scent of death, was already closing in on her throat.

If this strike landed, let alone Academician Chen Shuyin, even the Hongqi bulletproof car behind her would be split in two!

"Holy crap!"

Jiang Chen was scared out of his wits.

He knew Jiang Wanqiu was fierce, but he hadn't expected her to be this fierce! And to attack without a word—she had absolutely no sense of martial ethics!

"Wanqiu! Stop!"

Jiang Chen exploded with the fastest reaction time of his life.

He lunged out, but couldn't catch the rampaging empress. In his desperation, he could only roar, his body instinctively lunging forward to shield Academician Chen Shuyin with his own back.

"If you want to kill, kill me first!"

This shout was more effective than an imperial decree.

"Screech—!!!"

A piercing screech of brakes… no, that was the sound of shoe soles grinding against the ground.

Jiang Wanqiu forcibly halted her momentum in mid-air.

The sharp dagger stopped precariously just 0.01 millimeters from Jiang Chen's carotid artery. The biting wind from the blade even sliced off a button from his collar.

"Fa… Father God?!"

Jiang Wanqiu turned pale with fright. Her hand trembled, and the dagger clattered to the ground.

She hurriedly pulled her hand back, looking like a child who had done something wrong, tears instantly welling up in her eyes:

"You… what are you doing?"

"That woman was holding a knife! She's an assassin! She's been lurking in the Divine Realm for so long just to assassinate you!"

"I was protecting the sovereign! Why are you protecting this spy?!"

She pointed at Academician Chen Shuyin, her finger trembling, her face full of disbelief and grievance.

It was like a loyal guard dog biting a bad guy for its master, only to be kicked by the master in return.

"What assassin! What spy!"

Jiang Chen turned around, snatched the laser scalpel from Academician Chen Shuyin's hand, and held it up in front of Jiang Wanqiu, exasperated:

"Open your big, beautiful eyes and look clearly!"

"This is a scalpel! It's for treating illnesses! It's for saving people!"

"She saw you covered in blood and kindly wanted to use the knife to… scrape the bone and heal the poison… no, to debride and stitch your wounds! And you? You just wanted to slit her throat?!"

"We are civilized people! Civilized people use words, not force, do you understand?!"

Jiang Chen felt his blood pressure soaring.

Is this a shura field?

This is clearly a gladiator arena!

If he had been even half a second slower, the Dragon Kingdom's tech sector would have lost a genius tomorrow, and he would have been saddled with the crime of "abetting alien violence," hunted to the ends of the earth by General Qin Weiguo.

"Treat… treat an illness?"

Jiang Wanqiu was stunned.

She stared at the tiny, blue-glowing blade, then looked at the lab coat Academician Chen Shuyin was wearing—though a bit dirty, it was still clearly recognizable as a doctor's attire.

It seems… it really doesn't look like assassin equipment?

What assassin wears an evening gown under a lab coat? Wouldn't that interfere with tactical maneuvers?

"Re… really?"

Jiang Wanqiu shrank her neck, feeling a bit guilty. The killing intent on her dissipated instantly.

"She didn't… want to harm you?"

"Nonsense!"

Jiang Chen rolled his eyes at her, then turned to look at Academician Chen Shuyin, who was standing behind him, pale-faced and trembling in the legs.

"Old Chen, are you okay?"

He reached out to support Academician Chen Shuyin's arm, feeling her trembling slightly.

After all, she was in research; where would she have seen such a life-threatening situation? In that instant just now, the shadow of death had almost gripped her throat.

"I… I'm fine."

Academician Chen Shuyin took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.

She pushed up her glasses, and although her face was still pale, the look she gave Jiang Wanqiu held a hint of even more intense… hostility.

It wasn't just out of fear.

It was more an instinctive anger at having her territory infringed upon.

"Jiang Chen."

Academician Chen Shuyin's voice turned cold. She pointed at the silver-haired woman standing in the ruins, looking innocent yet slightly provocative:

"Is this your so-called… 'Wasteland friend'?"

"Is this the person you spent tens of billions to build a Space Elevator just to hide from?"

"She doesn't look like a friend to me."

Academician Chen Shuyin sneered, looking Jiang Wanqiu up and down, taking in that seductive, battle-damaged bodysuit. Her tone was so sour it could make teeth fall out:

"She looks more like… someone who escaped from a mental asylum, someone with severe violent tendencies—"

"A little lover."

"Who are you calling mentally ill?!"

Hearing this, Jiang Wanqiu's extinguished anger flared up again.

She picked up the dagger, took a step to Jiang Chen's side, and extremely domineeringly linked her arm with his. She puffed out her chest (though the armor was broken, the scale was still considerable) and issued a declaration of the main consort to Academician Chen Shuyin:

"I am Father God's believer! I am his sword! I am his only kin!"

"You weakling who can't even hold a knife steady, what right do you have to point fingers here?"

"Believer?"

Academician Chen Shuyin wasn't about to back down. Although her combat power was lacking, her trash-talk skills were maxed out.

She straightened her collar, putting on her academician airs, her tone dismissive:

"What year do you think it is? Still playing around with feudal superstition?"

"I am Jiang Chen's Chief Technology Officer! I am the second-in-command of Chenxing Technology! I am also his… partner in the legal sense!"

"We have a contract relationship protected by law! And you?"

Academician Chen Shuyin pointed at Jiang Wanqiu:

"An undocumented person without even an ID card? An illegal immigrant?"

"Believe it or not, I'll call the police right now and have the immigration bureau deport you back to that so-called Wasteland to eat dirt?"

"You dare?!"

"Watch me!"

Two women.

One, a violent empress from the Wasteland; the other, a high-IQ female academician from the modern world.

Right there on the messy ruins, with Jiang Chen between them, a spark-flying, tit-for-tat battle of glares unfolded.

The air seemed to crackle with electricity.

Jiang Chen, caught in the middle, felt like an insulator about to be pierced by two high-voltage currents.

On the left was the blade; on the right was the law.

No matter which side he leaned toward, there was no way this matter would end well today.

"Stop! Stop! Both of you, shut up!"

Jiang Chen couldn't take it anymore and roared in a breakdown.

With one hand, he pressed down on Jiang Wanqiu's restless, knife-wielding hand, and with the other, he covered Academician Chen Shuyin's mouth, which was about to continue firing off salvos.

"What are you arguing about?!"

"What time is it? Can you give me a break?"

"My house has been blown to bits! Is now the time to argue?"

He pointed at the huge crater beneath his feet, then at the main building next to it, which only had half a door left, his face full of grief and indignation:

"Look! Everyone look!"

"This is my home! Fifty million! Now it's a crater!"

"Where do I sleep tonight? Huh? Are you making me sleep on the street?"

These words finally made the two women, who were fighting like gamecocks, calm down a little.

Jiang Wanqiu looked at the crater and felt a bit guilty. After all, it was indeed something she had smashed.

Academician Chen Shuyin saw Jiang Chen's exhausted look and also softened a bit.

"Then… what should we do?" Jiang Wanqiu asked in a low voice, "How about… I dig a hole for you in the crater? That's how we sleep in the Wasteland; it's warm."

"Dig your head!"

Jiang Chen glared at her irritably.

"Alright, stop embarrassing yourselves out here."

He glanced at the passersby and influencers in the distance who were still holding up their phones to film, feeling a massive headache.

"Get inside first!"

"Whatever it is, we'll talk about it once the door is closed!"

"Today, if anyone dares to make a move again, or dares to mention calling the police…"

Jiang Chen gritted his teeth and threatened viciously:

"I will… I will blow up the luan bird, and we can all just end it!"

After saying that, he grabbed one with each hand, like a refugee dragging his family, and forcibly dragged these two women, who were capable of destroying the world, into that crumbling villa.

"Bang!"

The door slammed shut.

It shut out all the noise and prying eyes.

But Jiang Chen knew.

The real war.

Was only just beginning.