Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 448 – Are You Sure You’re Not Just Humblebragging?

Lin Fan had just finished giving his final instructions when Zhu Yan was already escorting Wang Shan deeper into the ruins.

Wang Shan’s legs were shaking like sieves, his mouth going “Sister Zhu, Sister Zhu” nonstop, while the remaining few hundred Puppet Soldiers behind him lined up in a long queue like marionettes on strings.

From a distance, it looked exactly like a kindergarten teacher leading her class on a spring outing.

Lin Fan was about to pack up and get moving when his ear twitched.

A streak of light, impossibly fast, cut across the southeastern horizon, dragging a hundred-meter afterimage in its wake.

Light attribute, peak sixth rank.

Lu Yuan.

The streak of light howled to a rapid deceleration about thirty meters from Lin Fan, and a figure stumbled out of the glow, his feet skidding two long tracks across the black marble rubble of the Black Palace, nearly failing to stop in time.

“Boss lady! I’m here!”

Lu Yuan braced his knees and gasped for air, then looked up. The Black Palace was half-collapsed, the ground littered with Dragon Scales fragments and scorched marks. The flagpole was crooked, the lawn burned away, and a faint, unidentifiable stench hung in the air.

“…It’s over?”

Lin Fan glanced at him. “What do you think.”

“I got Chen Dingjun’s distress signal,” Lu Yuan scratched the back of his head. “From the way he was howling like a ghost on the other end, I knew it had to be you causing trouble. I flew as fast as I could for an hour…”

“Flew for an hour, arrived in time for cleanup duty.” Lin Fan summarized with a deadpan expression.

Lu Yuan grinned, showing no trace of shame. “Mainly because you work too fast—normal people can’t keep up with your pace.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept the area and landed on the figure in the distance currently escorting Wang Shan.

Yoga pants, a sports bra, white running shoes.

Tall and well-proportioned, with smooth muscle lines that weren’t exaggerated, and an exceptionally favorable waist-to-hip ratio.

A head of golden hair whipping in the wind, and a long old scar on her back that didn’t detract from the overall impression in the slightest.

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Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes.

“Boss lady, is this your new little sister?” He jutted his chin in that direction. “Nice figure.”

The moment the words left his mouth, his expression changed.

Because the woman turned her head at the sound of his voice, revealing her face.

Golden dragon horns curved out from both sides of her forehead, and a few patches of dark-gold scales that hadn’t fully shed remained on her neck and collarbone.

Deep in her pupils lay a tightly suppressed vertical pupil gleam—clearly not the features of an ordinary human.

Lu Yuan instinctively dropped into a combat stance.

“Relax.” Lin Fan’s tone was calm. “She’s one of us.”

“One of us?” Lu Yuan stared at the golden dragon horns. “Boss lady, you flipped another high-ranking Dragon Clan member?”

“She used to be Federation,” Lin Fan said, choosing her words carefully to sidestep all sensitive details. “You might have even crossed paths in the military.”

Lu Yuan froze.

He took a serious look at Zhu Yan.

“No memory of her. Normally I’d remember a girl this pretty.”

Zhu Yan had already walked back.

When she heard that Lu Yuan had no memory of her, her expression turned subtle.

“Of course you wouldn’t remember.” Zhu Yan’s voice was flat, her fists slowly clenching at her sides. “The Federation’s number one genius—why would he have time to know ordinary, untalented people like us.”

The words carried a sourness that had been brewing for years.

Lu Yuan’s mind buzzed.

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He glanced at Zhu Yan—the Spirit Energy fluctuations of a peak Level 7 cultivator pressed cold against the back of his neck, and the Bloodline Pressure of a top-tier Dragon Clan member was instinctively suppressing every cell in his body.

Then he replayed those four words: “mediocre talent.”

“Hold on.”

Lu Yuan extended a finger, pointing back and forth between himself and Zhu Yan.

“You—peak Level 7, Dragon Bloodline—mediocre talent?”

Then he pointed at himself.

“Me—peak Level 6, ordinary light attribute—number one genius?”

He blinked, his gaze sincere and bewildered.

“Are you sure you’re not just humble-bragging?”

Zhu Yan’s expression darkened even further.

Her mouth opened slightly, as if she wanted to explain—how she’d fought her way from Level 2 to Level 5 with sheer grit, how many days and nights she’d spent in the training grounds trying to catch up to that name.

But in the end, she said nothing.

Instead, a faint dark-gold dragon tail phantom unconsciously extended from the base of her spine, slamming heavily against the ground and kicking up a few scattered stones.

Lu Yuan took half a step back.

Lin Fan stood off to the side, spinning her communicator in her hand, taking in every expression of this first meeting.

Interesting.

The way Zhu Yan looked at Lu Yuan wasn’t simple dislike. There was jealousy in it, and resentment—but more than anything, it was the lingering bitterness of someone who had spent years gazing up at a towering mountain, climbing with all her might, only to realize the person at the summit had never once looked down.

If that bitterness wasn’t handled well, it would become enmity.

But handled well…

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A faint smile tugged at the corner of Lin Fan’s mouth. She pocketed her communicator and stepped forward.

“Alright, stop glaring at each other.” She positioned herself between the two of them. “You two are going to be working together a lot from here on out. Don’t start infighting on my watch.”

Lu Yuan leaned in, lowering his voice with a troubled expression.

“Boss, this woman seems to have it out for me…”

“Whether she likes you or not is your problem.” Lin Fan tilted her head, giving him a meaningful look. “If you can’t keep her in line, you’ll be washing my socks every day from now on.”

Lu Yuan shut his mouth.

That threat carried more weight than any peak Level 7 Dragon might.

Lin Fan retrieved two silver-gray wristbands from System Space.

Copperbeard’s latest work, the same model as the receiver units she’d given Ah Hu and the others. The band surfaces were engraved with fine Runes barely visible to the naked eye, Voidstone’s faint glow flowing through the patterns.

“Take these.”

She tossed one to Lu Yuan and offered the other to Zhu Yan.

“The Rift’s cap is at peak Level 7 now, so I don’t need to distribute as much power to you directly.” Lin Fan tapped the silver tassel necklace around her own neck. “Put the bands on, and I’ll channel Spirit Energy to you continuously through the main unit.”

Lu Yuan slipped the band on without a second thought. A wave of warm Life Aura surged from his wrist into his meridians, and he let out a satisfied breath.

Zhu Yan fastened hers as well.

Then she froze.

The silver-gray band surface, the faint blue Rune glow.

Exactly the same as the one on Lu Yuan’s wrist.

Same position, same color, same size. Completely identical.

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Zhu Yan’s gaze moved from her own wrist to Lu Yuan’s, then back from Lu Yuan’s wrist to her own.

Matching.

Couple’s matching.

A rare, faint flush crept across her perpetually expressionless face—rising from her ears to her cheeks before being forcibly suppressed within half a second.

Lu Yuan, completely oblivious, was still flexing his wrist to feel the Spirit Energy flowing through him.

Lin Fan saw it all.

She said nothing, only turned around, pretending to adjust her sleeve, the curve of her lips hidden behind her white hair.

“Let’s get ready to depart.” Lin Fan’s voice had returned to its usual lazy tone. “The transport is on its way. You’ll head to the capital to meet with Chu Chen—he’ll arrange your follow-up work.”

She took two steps forward, her back to the two of them, then suddenly added another line.

“Oh, and Lu Yuan.”

“Hm?”

“Zhu Yan’s chip contains all of Chen Dingjun’s Bloodline Fusion data. Take better care of her than you would of yourself.”

Lu Yuan glanced at Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan didn’t look at him. She kept her head down, staring at the silver ring on her wrist, her expression unreadable—whether she was irritated or thinking about something else.

“…Understood.” Lu Yuan acknowledged.

Lin Fan walked toward the outskirts of the Black Palace, the sea breeze lifting her white hair and the hem of her dress.

The Blue Star matter was settled.

Next up, the Dragon Spirit Continent.