Rebirth from the Ashes

Red pushed open a door.

Inside was a circular hall.

At the center stood a massive biological cultivation tank, now mostly destroyed.

Beside it hovered an enormous white fireball.

At the very core of that fireball stood a blonde beauty.

Xia Yupeng and Delta stood about ten meters away from the fireball, carefully observing the blonde woman’s reaction.

“Boss, it’s been a while and there’s still no response.”

“Nothing’s going wrong, right?”

Delta rested a hand on his chin, tilted his head, pressed his lips together, hesitated for a moment, and finally asked.

“It’ll be fine.”

“If something were going to happen, it would’ve happened at the start.”

“Just wait.”

Xia Yupeng had both hands in his pockets.

The flames reflected in his eyes as they wrapped around the girl.

His tone was calm and confident.

At that moment, Red had already walked up to Xia Yupeng’s other side.

She turned her head and glanced sideways at him.

“So this is the innocent woman who was abused?”

“Huh?”

“Where did you come from?”

Xia Yupeng nearly jumped out of his skin.

He hadn’t noticed Red’s presence at all.

Delta’s hand moved instinctively to his waist, as if to grab a weapon.

His fingers closed on empty air.

There was nothing there.

Red stared at the two of them for a moment.

Then her face broke into an incredulous smile.

“Don’t tell me you can’t recognize me just because I changed clothes.”

Xia Yupeng and Delta exchanged looks.

Xia Yupeng lowered his head and began to think.

Delta watched him for a moment, his expression dimming.

He took a step back.

But after glancing at Xia Yupeng, he suppressed the urge to run.

“Boss, this is—”

Delta tried to speak, but Xia Yupeng raised a hand to stop him.

“Don’t tell me the answer.”

“I can figure it out.”

“Judging by the voice, it’s someone I know.”

“And a beauty, too.”

“Coming to see me at this hour…”

“Wait, let me think.”

“Zhang Miaomiao?”

“Right?”

Xia Yupeng tested the name uncertainly.

“No.”

Red’s expression turned slightly ugly.

She didn’t think she looked that unremarkable.

This level of outfit change should still be recognizable.

“Li Xueying?”

“This time I’ve got it right, haven’t I?”

“You know other women too?”

Red suddenly understood why that so-called fiancée was so on edge.

So he was a repeat offender.

“Can you give me a hint?”

“I’ll definitely get it right this time.”

Xia Yupeng’s face looked on the verge of tears.

“Forget it.”

“It’s not really something that needs to be kept secret anyway.”

Red placed a hand over her chest.

In the blink of an eye, the white T-shirt and shorts she was wearing shattered into glowing leaves.

They scattered away in the air.

Her familiar Magical Girl outfit appeared instantly in their place.

“Ah.”

“It’s Red.”

Xia Yupeng’s expression fell apart in that instant.

He looked like someone who had just learned that his favorite cute idol was actually a man.

“How many girls do you even know outside?”

Red couldn’t help asking.

“Why ask that?”

“You actually care about my situation?”

“Don’t tell me—”

Xia Yupeng leaned closer with a sleazy grin, clearly enjoying himself.

“I ran into your receptionist downstairs.”

“She treated me like a total stranger and wouldn’t let me in.”

“Then some fiancée of yours showed up.”

“She slapped me without even saying a word.”

“And then there’s Zhang Miaomiao, Li Xueying…”

“So I was thinking.”

“You’re not some kind of playboy, are you?”

“Is that so?”

“Then sorry about that.”

“I’ll talk to them when I get back.”

“And lastly—”

“What’s going on with her?”

Red pointed at the woman trapped inside the flames.

“That’s H-130, a robot.”

“Her individual name seems to be Vena.”

“I’m planning to hand the bottled flame over to her for analysis.”

“So you called me over here just to be a bodyguard?”

What Red meant was obvious.

If Vena turned into something like the bomb-type monster that attacked her school last week, Red would deal with it.

“How could that be?”

“That thing was crude junk we planned to scrap from the start.”

“This one’s got proper safety guarantees.”

Xia Yupeng shrugged, looking completely in control.

Red crossed her arms.

She shook her head, about to say something else.

“Vena looks like she’s done.”

Delta’s words cut her off.

Vena floated quietly inside the fireball.

She looked like a baby sleeping peacefully in the womb.

Her expression held no panic or fear at all.

It was hard to believe she was something created by human hands.

The fireball trembled slightly.

Then, at the moment Vena opened her eyes, the flames flowed inward with her breath.

They vanished into her body as naturally as air.

Looking closely, aside from her blonde hair turning black, she looked no different from before.

She was still as exquisite and perfect as a doll.

A dreamlike companion.

She descended slowly.

Her feet touched the clay-laid floor lightly.

Like a ballerina settling into position.

“You really dragged a robot into this?”

“Yes.”

“Our people have an extremely low compatibility rate with [Flame].”

“Regardless of age or gender, they go berserk the moment they touch it.”

“They attack anything nearby.”

“As for monsters, they’re about the same as the young master.”

“We couldn’t make progress.”

“That’s why we ended up using a robot.”

“No.”

“To me, she doesn’t look like one.”

“Of course.”

“That model was literally designed as the robot closest to humans.”

“A companion robot.”

Xia Yupeng spoke with genuine pride.

As a scientist, he couldn’t help admiring the sheer effort behind such a creation.

The downfall of Tianmeng Robotics Technology Co., Ltd. was something he truly regretted.

“Vena.”

“Come over here for a moment.”

Xia Yupeng waved at her.

Vena was still examining the sweat on her palm. She reacted immediately.

“Yes, my— boss.”

After the brief slip of the tongue, Vena corrected herself.

She turned and started running toward Xia Yupeng.

What she failed to realize was that under the influence of [Flame], her body had been reborn.

It was no longer comparable to her original mechanical frame.

Strength.

Durability.

Speed.

All on a completely different level.

She took only a light step.

Her body shot forward like a cannonball.

“What—?!”

Xia Yupeng raised both arms to protect himself and tried to retreat.

But Vena’s speed was far beyond what a researcher like him could evade.

Delta reacted instinctively.

He stepped in front of Xia Yupeng.

If he put all his energy into defense, he could probably block it.

As for what came after—

That’d be too late to worry about.

This counted as a workplace injury, right?

Could he claim insurance?

The oncoming wind pressure whipped Vena’s hair into chaos, partially obstructing her vision.

Even so, she could clearly see herself hurtling toward Xia Yupeng.

Her central processor ran at full speed.

One second after launch, she began calculating the final possible outcomes.

After 0.01 seconds of analysis, she stabbed one hand into the ground mid-flight, trying to brake herself.

Her fingers gouged a long scratch into the floor.

But her speed barely dropped.

Just as she prepared to initiate her second plan—

An invisible force seized her.

Her speed plummeted.

She came to a stop one or two steps in front of Xia Yupeng.

Vena hadn’t yet understood what happened.

Then a burst of unrestrained laughter rang out nearby.

Red held one hand in the air.

Her other hand covered her mouth as she laughed.

“Sorry.”

“When you came flying over just now, your expression was way too funny.”

“I couldn’t hold it in.”

Vena’s data contained a memory.

She once went to an amusement park with a former owner.

They rode a roller coaster.

He secretly took photos.

She remembered how the rushing wind could distort a person’s face into something absurd and comical.

“It’s fine.”

“Thank you.”

Vena said politely, still suspended in midair.

After the false alarm, Xia Yupeng silently thanked himself.

Calling Red over today really was the right move.

He sincerely admired his own foresight.