Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 590: Why Don't You Kick Me Too?
"Since you admitted it so honestly, I guess I'll reluctantly choose to believe you for once."
Steven shrugged casually as he looked at Lin Yuhsia, who already looked thoroughly bullied to the brink of collapse.
"Besides, bullying an idiot isn't very fun. I doubt you could've figured out those secrets anyway."
Having achieved his objective, Steven naturally decided to stop while he was ahead instead of continuing to torment her further.
Turning around, he casually began walking toward the end of the alley.
Now that even Kazdel had started making moves, the reactions from the other factions probably wouldn't be far behind.
"So where are you going now?" Lin Yuhsia hurried after him from behind.
"I've got some… personal matters I need to deal with first. If possible, I'd like to finish that before coming back to continue being your guide."
Steven could fool around all he wanted, but the information she'd just learned still had to be reported to her superiors.
Putting aside anything related to Rhodes Island, the mere appearance of a Damazti in Lungmen was already something she absolutely had to confirm with her father immediately.
"If you want to go report everything to your bosses, just say so." Steven replied without even turning around.
"I'm heading to see the big rat and that Wei guy anyway. We can go together."
"Honestly, they're probably already searching for me as we speak."
The little calculations in Lin Yuhsia's head were obvious enough to him.
But since this entire situation was something he had intentionally orchestrated in the first place, there was no reason to stop her.
"Huh? Didn't the cooperation discussion already end?"
Lin Yuhsia frowned slightly.
If Steven intended to go with her personally, then she suddenly couldn't understand what he was planning anymore.
If he truly wanted to keep what had just happened a secret, shouldn't he stay as far away from her father and Chief Wei Yenwu as possible?
"Obviously not for that."
Steven grinned as he rubbed his chin.
"They've probably already received a warning from Kal'tsit too."
"You know… regarding the thing Damazti and I were discussing earlier."
"No matter what, I should at least go see what stance they plan to take."
"And while I'm at it, maybe squeeze some benefits out of them too."
The smile on his face remained perfectly calm.
But the words coming out of his mouth made Lin Yuhsia feel as though the world had suddenly begun spinning around her.
Wait.
Hold on.
From the sound of it…
Was she literally the only person who didn't already know about this whole mysterious conversation?!
She had endured all of Steven's bullying while desperately protecting what she thought was some crucial classified intelligence—and now it turned out everyone else already knew?!
So the clown this whole time… was actually her?!
Lin Yuhsia froze on the spot.
It genuinely felt like a giant red clown nose had suddenly appeared on her face.
Only after standing there blankly for several long seconds did realization finally hit her completely.
From the very moment that Damazti appeared—
Steven had been setting her up.
All of this—every single bit of it was just to watch her embarrass herself.
What the hell was wrong with this guy?!
She stared at Steven's back with an expression full of hesitation, grievance, and unspeakable frustration.
In the end, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
With an angry burst of speed, Lin Yuhsia suddenly dashed forward and launched an absolutely textbook flying kick straight toward Steven's back.
She no longer cared whether this guy was absurdly strong or held some terrifyingly important status.
If she didn't vent the fury currently boiling inside her today, then her state of mind would probably never recover properly again.
What surprised her, however, was that she had already prepared herself for two possibilities:
Either she'd miss entirely—or Steven would casually counter and slam her into the ground.
But instead, the solid sensation that traveled back through her foot felt like she had kicked a block of steel.
She had actually landed the hit.
And not only that, Steven's body genuinely staggered forward from the impact, nearly losing balance and faceplanting onto the ground.
"Y-You…"
Lin Yuhsia stared blankly.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
Only after asking the question did her rationality finally begin returning.
And once she realized what she had just done, her voice slowly became quieter and quieter.
If she had actually injured Steven with that kick… wouldn't that cause a huge problem?
From what she had gathered from Steven's earlier conversation with the Damazti, there seemed to be some incredibly important matter that only he could handle personally.
Looking nervously at the figure that still hadn't turned around, Lin Yuhsia suddenly felt genuinely worried that he might actually get angry over this.
Even if it merely affected his arms deal with Lungmen, that would already be a serious issue.
What made it worse was that, despite clearly being the one in the moral right here, she somehow still ended up worrying about the very guy who had been bullying her nonstop.
Realizing that, Lin Yuhsia could only let out a helpless expression.
Thankfully, when Steven slowly turned around, he still wore that infuriating smirk that instantly made her fists itch.
"Feeling better after kicking me?"
Steven casually rubbed the spot she had hit.
"Then let's call it even, alright? I might have bullied you a tiny bit too much earlier."
"But you already kicked me once, so we're square now."
To Steven, Lin Yuhsia's kick had barely felt heavier than a massage. The reason he had staggered at all was simply because he deliberately played along.
After all, what he'd done earlier had been just a little excessive.
Still, this was just friends messing around.
Once the hitting was over, everyone could laugh it off and move on.
At least for now, Steven genuinely considered this pink-haired mouse girl the first real friend he had made in Lungmen.
Someone this fun to tease wasn't exactly easy to come by.
If he pushed things too far and ruined the relationship completely, wouldn't she just become a one-time-use interaction?
Finding another person this entertaining to mess with later would be much harder.
"You're… not angry?"
Lin Yuhsia looked honestly surprised by his answer.
From her perspective, that kick had been completely merciless and honestly pretty excessive.
More importantly, the damage to his pride should've been far worse.
Yet Steven looked utterly unconcerned about it, and nothing about his reaction seemed fake.
"What's there to be angry about?" Steven shrugged.
"It's just friends fooling around."
"If you still feel bad, then let me kick you once too."
To Steven, the least valuable thing in the world was pride.
That stuff was fake, troublesome, and practically useless.
Aside from making life more annoying for yourself, he genuinely couldn't think of any practical function it served.
Of course, if Lin Yuhsia really insisted on compensating him…
Steven's gaze drifted downward slightly.
Even hidden beneath her skirt, the curve of the girl's petite rear remained impossible to ignore.
Honestly, her figure looked slim and small overall, so why was her butt that shapely?
Did she specifically train for that or something?
That soft, heart-shaped curve…
A kick there would probably feel pretty interesting.
As Steven rubbed his chin while entertaining such random weird thought, what he received in return was a second retaliatory kick straight to his shin.
"In your dreams!"
"And who's friends with an annoying guy like you anyway?!"
"We're only working together because our interests happen to align, that's all!"
"And this trust between us is extremely fragile, so I hope you'll take good care of it!"
Clearly having noticed Steven's incredibly rude gaze, the girl viciously got her revenge.
Yet despite the sharpness of her words, her tone carried far more embarrassment and youthful annoyance than actual anger.
To anyone listening, it sounded less like a serious argument and more like playful banter between close friends.
Steven simply smiled after hearing her response.
Realizing she was being tsundere again, he chose not to expose the little mouse girl's stubborn pride and instead immediately shifted to negotiating something else entirely.
"How about this?"
"You get to kick me ten times, and I only kick you once."
"If that still doesn't work, touching once is fine too!"
"Get lost!"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M