The next day, Mo Jiaxing and I went to the police station to report my so-called "disappearance." My words about almost complete memory loss, tears, and my age allowed us to easily fool the local police, and they promised to look for hunters or at least their corpses. However, the chances of successful searches were incredibly slim, despite the special characteristics. Namely, one of my parents definitely had to have a European or similar appearance, as I myself was a half-breed, looking more European than Asian. But even so, I didn't think they would have a great chance of finding anyone; after all, I didn't tell them the names of my parents, or even what they might look like, absolutely nothing, citing memory loss. Only that they were hunters and went hunting, nothing more. In fact, I didn't actually know this and couldn't know what kind of parents this body had.
The original Mo Fan had entered his body, his environment, so for him, nothing much changed, except for the existence of magic. In fact, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to change his destiny and take revenge on the Mu family. He also claimed that he had a plan to defeat everyone through his diligent studies, but with his brains… As for me, this was definitely not my body; I looked completely different at seven years old. Although the color of my hair and eyes remained the same, they were as black as the night sky, just like before. But otherwise, it was a body different from mine, although I had to admit that it was quite cute, unlike my old one…
At the police station, they also suggested leaving me in an orphanage until they found someone, but I successfully convinced Mo Jiaxing to keep me with him for now. This also didn't cause any particular problems; a few tears and puppy eyes, and he gave in again, just like yesterday. Although he doubted the idea of adopting me, it was only a matter of time. Besides, according to the law, Mo Jiaxing couldn't do it yet; he had to wait about three months. Which was very convenient, as it was the end of May, and summer vacation was starting, and the adoption considerations would fall during a time when I didn't have to go to school. This meant I could easily go to the same class as Mo Fan, which was very important for keeping an eye on him.
When we returned home, only Jiaxing Xia was there, and the lover-boy had run off to play with his friends. Well, that was even better. Mo Jiaxing left for work almost immediately, having taken time off for the trip to the police station, leaving Jiaxing Xia and me alone. She was mainly busy with household chores, cleaning, cooking, laundry… To avoid arousing suspicion, I helped her at first, but then she politely asked me to leave, as I was only getting in the way. This was exactly what I needed; I was too weak now, and any street gang would be too dangerous for me, let alone monsters. So, I decided to dedicate my time to training and developing my musculature. Fortunately, in my previous life, I had some self-defense training, so I was pretty good at fighting. Another reason for my behavior was the plan to improve my relationship with Mo Fan, and for that, I needed strength!
After that, the days dragged on one after another, no different from the previous ones. Mo Fan left home early in the morning and returned late in the evening; it was the same with Mo Jiaxing, who worked constantly. In the two months I lived in this world, I only caught a couple of his days off! Mostly, it was just Jiaxing Xia and me at home, who also continued to do all the housework, although it was difficult for her due to the stroller. I tried to help her as much as I could and was willing, and at the same time, I grew closer to her and formed a strong friendship. As I thought, Salan, Ye Chan, had left them not long ago, so Jiaxing Xia was in a depressed state and often cried. Once, I tried to ask her about her past, but nothing useful came of it. She only said that she lived with her mother, moving from place to place until her mother met Mo Jiaxing and left her here. It was amusing that they lived in Xi'an for some time before moving to Bo City. For ordinary people, this fact would have gone unnoticed, and Jiaxing Xia herself would hardly remember it at the right moment, but for me, who had read the original, it was interesting news. Although it was completely useless, as it could have been predicted. On the other hand, it could indicate how long Salan had been preparing her grand ceremony.
As for me, these two months were very fruitful. To feel confident, I trained tirelessly and achieved significant results, developing good musculature and strength. Also, over time, I completely got used to my body and didn't feel the discomfort of a sudden decrease that I had before. But this was only a small part of my preparations for the grand plan of friendship. Besides this, I went out to walk separately from Mo Fan, exploring the neighborhood and its inhabitants. Specifically, I was interested in the hooligans and their leaders. They occupied a key place in my plan. Over time, Jiaxing Xia also started going out and walking with Mo Fan, although she did it rarely and for a short time. This was largely due to my influence; I helped her cope with her mother's departure and persuaded her to go out with everyone. Although it looked funny coming from me, who was in the exact same situation, I excused myself by saying that I believed they would come back for me because they promised, not just disappeared in the middle of the night.
And so, after two months of work, the final preparations for the friendship plan remained. I had another month before my parents would be considered dead, and Mo Jiaxing would have to either adopt me or I would go to an orphanage. Having lived with them for two months, I was finally convinced that I needed to influence Mo Fan somehow. Of course, a good relationship with Jiaxing Xia was a good support, and thanks to it, I could gradually influence Mo Fan himself, but he was more suspicious and somewhat contemptuous of me. So, it was impossible to change the situation much in a month. And Mo Jiaxing would most likely consult with him before making a final decision, not Jiaxing Xia. So, fully winning him over was one of the key tasks!
For this purpose, on another day when Mo Fan and Jiaxing Xia went to play at the Mu family villa, I headed down a small hill to where the hooligans usually gathered, humiliating whomever they wanted. They were afraid to approach the villa itself. After a month of observation, I had figured out their structure a bit and found out where they usually gathered, as well as how they usually got there. Of course, it would be incredibly foolish to go straight to their gathering; even though I had gotten stronger and got used to my body over these couple of months, it was still not enough. How can a seven-year-old talk on equal terms with a fifteen-year-old brute, who has nothing but alcohol in his brain and thoughts of asserting himself at the expense of the little ones?
My target was a ten-year-old boy who usually played a secondary role but had a group of good acquaintances and lived not far from the Mu family villa. I had even heard him complain a couple of times to the children who lived on or near the villa, pure envy, which was very easy to play on. But for my plan, I needed to remain unnoticed and unrecognized. In fact, it was much easier than it might seem at first glance. Stealing a black cap, a medical mask, and clothes from a store was not a problem for me; I had to get things like that in my previous life. So, it was almost impossible to recognize me by my clothes or face, and as for my voice… If I hadn't been able to change it skillfully, like a professional announcer, I probably wouldn't have lived to be twenty. So, slightly adjusting my voice and making it more girlish was not difficult. I also stole women's clothes, jeans, and a floral blouse. Considering my scrawny seven-year-old physique and the fact that at this age, girls and boys don't differ much, he wouldn't be able to recognize me at all during the execution of the plan.
I waited for him a little way from his house, in an alley through which he usually walked to a nearby construction site where their whole gang hung out. Thanks to the well-chosen time, I didn't have to wait long. Soon, a rather short boy with a nasty face, a typical sycophant and flatterer who hated his life, appeared at the entrance of the alley. I had seen such people many times; they were the easiest to control and the easiest to deceive, typical losers who were used by everyone. Not much better were all-encompassing good guys like Mo Jiaxing. At least they did everything from a pure heart, not from overflowing rottenness.
"Oh, little one, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you here before," he said in a voice full of disdain, probably thinking about whether to beat me up and take all my supposed money, or something else. I had stolen pretty good things, specially for this image; the main thing was that he immediately thought I was an ordinary girl, which was what I expected.
"Big brother, don't look at me like that, I just wanted to tell you something I recently found out," I said in a sweet girlish voice, smiling under the medical mask.
"Ha-ha-ha… And what does a little thing like you want to tell me?" he smirked smugly, feeling complete control of the situation.
"Don't you want to mess with those idiots who live at the villa and were lucky enough to be born in such a place?" I immediately asked, in a voice full of contempt and hatred.
"Huh? What do you mean?" the guy immediately became serious. "Even if that's the case, what business could a little thing like you have with them?"
"Recently, they came into the area where I live and bullied me! I want them to suffer the same fate!" I said seriously, with open hostility, like a capricious little girl.
"And you want big brother to deal with them for you?" the guy asked, surprised. "Better get away from me with this, I'm not interested in helping little brats! And it's not as easy as you think!"
"Perhaps, but what if I pay you and tell you where and when to find them? Big brother doesn't like those scum either, or am I wrong?" I asked with a smirk, taking a hundred yuan from my pocket, which I had gotten from a game machine. For this, I had to work hard under the cover of night. In general, preparing for this plan was quite difficult, but at the same time, I needed to gain Mo Fan's trust, otherwise, I might end up in an orphanage, which would go against my plans!
"Now that sounds interesting…" he said, smirking, immediately grabbing the hundred yuan and pushing me quite hard towards the trash cans. "So, where are these idiots going to be?"
"Ouch!" I squeaked, just like girls do in such situations, and forced out tears. "Ahem… ahem… In three days, they're going for a walk, I don't know exactly how many of them there will be, but they'll go through." After that, I told him the street where I decided to lead Mo Fan and the others when we all went for a walk together.
"And how did you get such information?" the guy asked, slightly incredulously, fiddling with the money he had taken from me and counting it.
"How? How? Of course, I followed those scoundrels and yesterday I heard that they were planning to go for a walk there!" I said confidently, with slight indignation.
"And you think I'll believe you?" he said even more contemptuously, approaching me with a smirk on his face. "Maybe it would be easier to beat you up to let off some steam?"
"I'm afraid that won't work, big brother," I said, kicking him between the legs, so he doubled over, and I tried to leave the alley as quickly as possible, throwing back at the last moment. "If you don't believe me, check it yourself! I can always find someone else, more agreeable and brave!"
"Ha-ha-ha… You bitch, if they're not there, I'll find you and take revenge for everything! My older brother knows a lot of games with girls, and he has a rich imagination!" he said, recovering from the pain; after all, I hadn't hit him hard, and it was mostly fear and shock that allowed me to slip away skillfully.
Ignoring him, I left the alley and returned home, getting rid of the clothes on the way; after all, they were stolen, and if they were found, it would be difficult to explain everything. In fact, I had a couple more guys in mind from several local gangs to whom I could turn. I would even say that I was lucky that there were so many dissatisfied people here that ordinary people lived next to "gods"! But even if that hadn't been the case, I would have come up with something else. And so, even if the plan with this guy didn't work and he didn't believe me, I would try another one, who might be more agreeable, or use more convincing methods of persuasion… I might not be able to compete with a fifteen-year-old, but I could definitely beat a ten-year-old who could fight somehow, with my experience.
The next day, I began preparations to complete my plan; for this, I needed to persuade Mo Fan to take me for a walk, preferably with Jiaxing Xia as well. This was very easy to do, and as a result, we agreed on the very day I had planned. All the actors were in place; all that remained was to play the play itself. Two days later, as agreed, the three of us went for a walk; Mo Fan mostly led us, and I had no complaints, as we were going in the same direction we needed to. Incidentally, it was the way to Zhang Xiaohou's house; I had initially chosen the location based on this.
"Brother Fan, hello! Hello, Sister Jiaxing Xia," a rather scrawny guy with tousled hair, who was easily recognizable as Xiaohou, the future general of the Chinese army and one of the strongest mages in the world, ran out to meet us.
"Hello…" Jiaxing Xia replied shyly, in a quiet voice.
"Monkey, hello, you're always rushing somewhere," Mo Fan said, smirking, waiting for Xiaohou to run up to us himself.
"Ha-ha…" he laughed awkwardly. "Brother Fan, and who is this guy?" Xiaohou asked, pointing at me, pushing Jiaxing Xia's stroller.
"This is Jiaxing Yun, he's been living with us for some time…" Mo Fan said with some irritation. "Father asked me to take care of him, so I decided to show him our city."
"Ah, I see… Nice to meet you, my name is Zhao Xiaohou, or just Xiaohou," he said, smiling broadly, extending his hand to me.
"Uh-huh… Nice to meet you… I'm Jiaxing Yun…" I said, shaking his hand, pretending to be flustered.
"Brother Fan, where are we going now?" Xiaohou asked enthusiastically.
"I don't know yet, I haven't decided…" Mo Fan said, thinking.
"Maybe I can choose where to go? I really want to see what's down that street," I said, pointing in the direction where I had arranged to meet the hooligans, pretending to have chosen the direction randomly. If they didn't fail, or make a mistake with the time, we should meet them there.
"Yeah, there's nothing interesting there…" Mo Fan shrugged.
"Really?" I said, surprised and disappointed. "Maybe we should check it out anyway?"
"Why not? Anyway, Brother Fan, you haven't decided where to go? We can go there and decide on further actions along the way," Zhao Xiaohou suggested.
"Eh, alright, let's go…" Mo Fan waved his hand and led us there as if he were our leader.
As we walked, Mo Fan and Xiaohou mostly chatted, sometimes drawing me or Jiaxing Xia into the conversation. In particular, they talked about how I ended up in Mo Fan's house and what happened afterward. I wasn't too worried about it; the only thing I was waiting for and hoping for was the appearance of the hooligans. After all, if it didn't work out now, it would be difficult to try again, and time was limited. After about half an hour, we had walked quite far from the villa without noticing, and I, slightly adjusting the course, had practically led us to the very place we had agreed upon. It was a quiet street with no passersby and a couple of alleys where one could hide, a perfect place for an ambush. Neither Mo Fan nor Xiaohou noticed anything special, chatting peacefully with each other.
"Ha-ha-ha… A good catch… And indeed, a bunch of kids from the hill have come to us," a familiar, cheerful voice was heard from one of the alleys, as the sycophant guy emerged from it, leading five other guys aged eight to ten.
"What do you want!" Mo Fan declared seriously and even a little menacingly, covering Jiaxing Xia, and me as well, while the group of young thugs slowly surrounded us.
"What do we want?" smirked a rather strong guy standing next to the sycophant. "Just to beat you up, that's all! Little idiots who live at the Mu family villa and think they're the coolest!"
"Ha, and who is this little girl sitting in the stroller? What do you think, if we throw her out of the stroller, can she come and get it herself?" asked another guy, about nine years old.
"Ah, you scoundrels! Who will let you even touch my Jiaxing Xia with a finger!" Mo Fan roared. "Jiaxing Yun, take Jiaxing Xia away from here while you can, you can't help anyway!"
"Okay," I nodded, then turned and ran back in the direction of home, saying to Jiaxing Xia, "Hold on!"
"You two, go after them," the sycophant said, pointing at two members of the group who looked the weakest.
"Who will let you!" Xiaohou stepped forward, standing next to Mo Fan.
"Ha-ha-ha! You have enough problems of your own!" said the brute, stepping forward.
Everything was going exactly according to my plan; it wasn't that I planned to be actually sent to drag Jiaxing Xia away from here, but that's what I was counting on. In the worst-case scenario, I could have dragged her away myself. And so, Mo Fan showed that he had at least some semblance of intelligence, which was good. As for those two pursuers, it was not a problem for me; I just needed to run far enough so that Jiaxing Xia wouldn't get hurt.
"A-a-a… Brother Jiaxing Yun, you're running too fast!" Jiaxing Xia said worriedly, gripping the armrests and widening her eyes.
"I think this is enough…" I said, exhaling, after running three hundred meters at full speed, turning onto another street where there were slightly more people than nothing. "Jiaxing Xia, wait here, I'll go help Brother Mo Fan," I said, turning to the noticeably out-of-breath pursuers.
"Ha-ha-ha… Think you can help them in time? I bet they've already been beaten to a pulp!" one of the pursuers said, breathing heavily. "Now we'll beat you up and bring the girl back to the boss!"
"Ah, let's see," I smirked, also breathing heavily, but unlike them, I felt much better; it wasn't for nothing that I had been exercising for the last two months.
Without saying anything more, I quickly closed the distance between us and sent one of them to the canvas with one precise blow to the stomach. The poor guy doubled over, completely not expecting such a blow, and not having time to react due to the long run, especially for their age. The second one, standing next to him, tried to avenge his friend and swung his fist at me, but received a knee to the stomach and also doubled over, clutching his stomach and gasping for air. One blow to the back, and they were already lying on the ground, unable to move.
"And now get out of here!" I said confidently, kicking them a couple of times. "Jiaxing Xia, go home, we'll be back soon," I said, turning to her, deciding that it would be safer this way, and there were more people here; although my little scuffle wasn't noticed. But if she went another hundred meters, she would reach a busy street where the hooligans wouldn't be able to reach her.
"O-okay…" Jiaxing Xia replied, slightly frightened, and quickly pushed the stroller towards that very street. I, without paying much attention to the beaten and writhing hooligans on the ground, ran in the direction where Mo Fan and Xiaohou had stayed.
"You're all still on your feet! Hahaha! Let's see your faces when our guys drag that girl here!" - The voice of a sycophant was heard from around the bend. Peeking in, I saw Mo Fan and Xiao Hou beaten and surrounded by four older guys.
"You're only so confident when your friends are behind you? Let's fight me one-on-one and we'll see who's stronger!" - Mo Fan said defiantly, with a smile on his face.
"I'm with you, Brother Fan." - Xiao Hou said just as confidently, standing back-to-back with Mo Fan. I just smirked, shaking my head at the sight of this pair, who weren't about to give up even when surrounded. It was typical of them, though. To their credit, they had worn out the four bullies considerably. Without a second thought, I ran out from behind the bend, after catching my breath and recovering my composure, and lunged at the guy closest to me. He stood with his back to me, about ten meters away, so I quickly jumped towards him, crouched slightly, and kicked him hard in the knee. A cry of pain rang out as the guy's legs buckled and he almost fell, and everyone else turned their attention to him. But it was too late, pushing the base of his back slightly forward, I grabbed his shoulder with my other hand and threw him backward with force, so he hit his head on the asphalt and almost lost consciousness, screaming and writhing on the ground, clutching his head.
Everyone fell silent and shocked, watching as I easily took one of their guys out of the game. I didn't stop there and quickly lunged at another guy standing nearby, nine years old, who stood with his mouth agape. Unfortunately, he came to his senses in time and managed to block my blow to the stomach, but he couldn't escape the trip. Losing his balance, he fell on his backside, after which he received a kick to the face, which he couldn't block so easily. As a result, he joined his friend, writhing in pain, clutching what was likely a broken nose. But paradoxically, by this point, I was completely exhausted and could barely stand. The adrenaline that had flooded my blood at the start of the fight had subsided a bit, and all the fatigue from the entire brawl fell upon me. The scariest thing was that the two remaining opponents were the oldest and most serious. Fortunately, Mo Fan, though he shot me an angry glance, prepared for another round. I could only smirk and prepare for the possibility that I would be beaten more than anyone else. After all my pointless heroism, I had only enough strength left to stand on my feet somehow.