NOVEL NEXT c50 - You're in Trouble!
2 PM.
837th Street, Ancient Medicine Preserve.
Stepping into this area, Shen Han felt as if she had returned to a famous slum in India on the Blue Water Planet.
Various houses and shacks were piled along both sides of the street. The tallest buildings were only three stories high, with the narrowest gaps between houses barely allowing an adult to pass sideways.
Men and women basking in the sun could be seen everywhere on the streets.
Occasionally, one or two hyena-like animals would run past.
However, there was no overwhelming stench of garbage here.
The whole street was permeated with bitter or pungent herbal scents.
“Didn’t expect the Fourth District to have such a place, did you?” Tang Yucai turned to the two Alpha guards.
Now closely following her were Shen Han and Ning Xi, the two S-class Alphas.
Ma Haoyu and the rest of Group 1 were scattered around, following at a distance.
Shen Han had been to worse places before her transmigration. After initial surprise, she quickly adapted to the environment.
Ning Xi, however, was extremely uncomfortable. She could tolerate crawling in mud during training, but the murky air here gave her a subtle sense of suffocation.
“Teacher Tang, your hobbies are truly unique,” Ning Xi commented, pinching her nose.
Shen Han shifted her gaze from the herbal stalls lining the street and urged, “Buy whatever you need quickly. It’ll take several hours to get back, and we shouldn’t be too late. It won’t be safe.”
Hearing her words, Tang Yucai smiled outwardly but inwardly gained some respect for her daughter’s chosen Alpha.
She knew clearly that the other strongly disliked her, but now on the job, her judgment wasn’t affected by negative emotions.
Earlier in the car she had been agitated enough to want to hit her, but now in this unfamiliar, uncomfortable environment, she had become calm and steady.
No wonder she had repeatedly distinguished herself in just a short year. It clearly wasn’t due to luck.
The three wandered the streets for an hour.
Tang Yucai chose several medicinal herbs that looked similar to potatoes – black and emitting a strange sour smell.
As she crouched at a stall carefully examining a root as thick as an arm,
A middle-aged man resembling a vagrant, hands tucked in his sleeves, casually approached their area.
Shen Han sensed something and glanced at him. The ‘vagrant’ quickly looked around, shifting his gaze elsewhere.
“Let’s go browse somewhere else,”
Shen Han grabbed Tang Yucai and pulled her straight towards the other end of the street.
“Wait, wait. That root is what I want to buy,” Tang Yucai said, then quickly instructed Ning Xi, “Help me buy it, keep it safe, don’t lose it!”
Ning Xi grumbled quietly, took out her wallet and began negotiating with the stall owner.
Shen Han glanced again at where the ‘vagrant’ had been, but saw he hadn’t followed.
Her tension eased slightly. As she led Tang Yucai towards the street entrance, she casually asked, “What’s your relationship to the Empress? Why would she have the guard team protect you?”
“I thought you’d keep holding back from asking,” Tang Yucai said lightly.
Seeing the Alpha beside her perk up her ears, she continued in a hushed voice: “I’m her maternal uncle’s son’s elder cousin.”
Shen Han: “……”
As they were talking, a man wrapped in a turban at a stall ahead suddenly turned.
His arm swung out, the triangular scraper in his hand stabbing straight at Tang Yucai’s abdomen.
Shen Han lifted her foot, precisely striking the attacker’s wrist bone. The scraper flew from his hand.
She stepped forward with the momentum, twisting her waist and raising her other leg to kick the man sideways, sending him flying three or four meters.
A faint sound of breaking bones could be heard in the air.
The assailant tumbled into a pile of herbs, unable to get up for a long while.
The commotion they caused was not small.
Seeing a fight break out, the herb vendors on both sides hurriedly retreated without even having time to gather their goods.
Ning Xi had just stuffed the bought root into her bag when she saw the situation with Shen Han and immediately ran towards them.
After just two steps, a crowbar with a curved end swept horizontally towards her.
The ‘vagrant’ Shen Han had eyed earlier now had a vicious glint in his eyes. He gripped the crowbar with all his strength, the veins on the back of his hand bulging high.
If this blow landed solidly, it would break several ribs at least.
But the Empress’s guards were no pushovers, let alone an S-class Alpha like Ning Xi.
She ducked under the sneak attack, then delivered an uppercut to the attacker’s jaw.
“Damn it! Brothers, attack! Kill them!”
With a hoarse shout, several people quickly ran out from the stalls on both sides of the street, wielding iron rods and knives, surrounding and attacking Shen Han’s group of three.
Ning Xi’s skills were among the top in the guard team, so Shen Han wasn’t worried at all.
She pulled Tang Yucai behind her and fiercely attacked the enemies approaching, using forceful moves to take them down in one hit. Each strike directly floored an opponent.
There was no need to use firearms. In less than half a minute, four or five troublemakers were lying on the ground.
The man who had ordered the attack earlier was now wide-eyed with shock.
He realized the people he’d brought weren’t enough for even one Alpha to handle.
So he hurriedly shouted again, ordering everyone to retreat quickly.
Several incapacitated thugs on the ground were dragged away by their pant legs.
For a moment, cries of pain rose and fell.
Ning Xi ran to Shen Han’s side with the medicine bag, urgently asking, “Are you alright?”
Tang Yucai brushed off the mud on her shirt and shook her head, “We’re fine. We probably ran into some small-time robbers.”
Only now did the rest of Group 1, hidden nearby, gather around.
It wasn’t that they reacted too slowly, but that Shen Han’s side had ended the fight too quickly.
By the time they heard the commotion and pushed through the crowd, the thugs had already fled miserably.
“Captain, should we chase after them and bring them back?”
Shen Han glanced at Tang Yucai, who was still cleaning off mud, and said gravely, “No need. Those people were just a mob. We’ll notify the local security team to handle the aftermath. We’re going straight back to base.”
The team members nodded in agreement.
But Tang Yucai paused her cleaning and looked up at Shen Han: “Hold on, I haven’t finished buying my herbs.”
Hearing this, Ma Haoyu immediately felt a cold sweat for Teacher Tang.
For some reason, he felt his boss might explode.
As if confirming the little Alpha’s thoughts, the moment Tang Yucai finished speaking, Shen Han grabbed her shirt collar and pushed her several steps away.
“Hey, hey! Boss, talk it out with Teacher Tang, don’t use force!”
“Don’t be hasty, Captain, let go of Teacher Tang first!”
Shen Han waved off her teammates’ persuasions.
She felt the whole thing was off but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
After taking Tang Yucai aside, she immediately lowered her voice: “Those people may have been amateurs, but they were aiming to kill you. If you still want to wander around aimlessly here, I’ll knock you out and drag you back to base!”
Tang Yucai’s collar was twisted tight, making it hard to breathe. Her face reddened, but she still resisted: “Your job is to protect my safety, not make decisions for me.”
Shen Han laughed angrily at this, slowly releasing her collar.
Then, controlling her strength, she punched Tang Yucai in the stomach.
A sharp pain shot through her abdomen, nearly making Tang Yucai vomit.
She seemed completely unprepared for Shen Han to actually hit her. Clutching her chest and hunching over, she looked at the other with disbelief and obvious threat in her eyes.
“Heh, you still want to tattle on me? Go ahead and try! I’ve been patient with you for a long time!”
As she spoke, Shen Han raised her hand, ready to strike the other’s head.
Tang Yucai quickly grabbed her sleeve, coughing and saying in a tiny voice: “I’m her mother.”
The stomach cramps made even this A-class Alpha with good physical condition slur her words.
“What did you just say?” Shen Han pulled her level and asked suspiciously.
Tang Yucai’s stomach churned acidically. She felt her cheeks salivating continuously as she opened her mouth.
She pulled out a round pendant from her neck, lightly pressed the clasp, and the cover flipped open to reveal a small family photo inside.
Shen Han squinted, looking closely.
Instantly, it was as if lightning struck in her mind!
The small family photo showed four people.
Two young girls stood in front, one of whom was clearly Gu Junwan.
Behind the girls sat two smiling adults. One had features very similar to Gu Junwan, and the other was Teacher Tang, whom she had just punched doubled over.
The air fell eerily silent.
Shen Han stared at the photo, breaking out in a cold sweat, while Tang Yucai had already closed the pendant and tucked it back into her collar.
“You’re in trouble! I’m telling you, I’m going right back to tell her-”
Before Tang Yucai could finish, Shen Han hugged her arm.
Tears glistened in the Alpha’s clear eyes: “Dad! I didn’t mean to, Dad!”
Tang Yucai choked, about to say something when her cheeks soured. She clutched her side and turned to retch again.
Shen Han was nearly scared out of her wits.
She rubbed the other’s back while pleading softly: “Dad, please forgive me just this once. Or… you can beat me up if you want, just please don’t tell her about this.”
Not far away, Group 1 guard members stared dumbfounded at the scene.
They couldn’t hear what the two were saying, only seeing their team captain’s sudden change in demeanor.
The captain’s abrupt switch to a fawning attitude made them somewhat afraid.
At this point, a team member asked very quietly: “Did… did anyone else hear the captain calling him ‘Dad’ just now?”
Ning Xi burst out laughing: “How is that possible? Your ears must be clogged with wax!”
Ma Haoyu, the only one in the group who knew their captain’s Omega was the Empress, suddenly felt as if struck by lightning.
He could read lips, and he had indeed seen Shen Han crying and calling Teacher Tang “Dad.”
“Holy shit! Holy shit! The boss just made her ‘father-in-law’ puke!”