Among these five people, even Pierce, who came from the simplest background, was now a genius the military was actively cultivating. With that kind of identity, ordinary families wouldn't dare provoke him.
So when Pierce stopped the man from bothering Ember, it was naturally for the man's own good. Although they'd only spent nine days together and didn't have that much time to get to know each other, he still had a general sense of Ember's personality.
If Julian was someone with a kind face but a dark heart, then Ember was a stunning beauty with the heart of a scorpion. Not that she was inherently bad, but only the ones who crossed her would truly understand how bad she could be.
Ember looked at Pierce with an expression that said, 'I finally got a new toy, and you want to scare it away?'
But the man didn't leave. He simply couldn't bear to walk away from Ember.
He'd never met such a beautiful, seductive, and sexy woman before.
Leave? No way.
Even if she told him to get lost—wasn't taming a wild mare like this even more thrilling?
Seeing the man still staring at Ember with lustful eyes, Pierce sighed and didn't say anything more.
Good advice can't save someone seeking death.
Ember looked at Julian with a smile: "Didn't you say you're very famous? Looks like he didn't recognize you."
Julian had bragged earlier, saying there wasn't anyone in Drakoria who didn't know him—especially among the younger generation.
"He clearly doesn't see me at all now."
Julian spoke without even lifting his head, focused on his food.
Women are just trouble—especially someone like Ember. A walking hormone, basically.
Even though she was getting older, almost thirty.
But this age was exactly when a woman's mature charm shined brightest.
Ember stood up, her curvy figure on full display.
At first, the man was overjoyed, but the next second, confusion crossed his face. He sniffed the air, then looked at Ember in disbelief.
"You smell so bad!!"
Ember: (艹皿艹)
'Die, you bastard.'
The smell from Muk's body usually took over ten days to fully fade. Even if you used the best perfume, there'd still be a lingering stench.
A few minutes later, a freshly unconscious "pig head" was born.
Ember clapped her hands and let out a satisfied sigh: "Much better."
By now, the group had pretty much finished eating.
Maybe because Ember had just beaten someone up so fiercely, the restaurant owner didn't even try to stop them when they left. Of course, it was also possible he recognized Julian.
It wasn't until they had all left that the owner called an ambulance.
"Boss, aren't you going to call the police? That guy's the third young master of the Zane family," a staff member asked in confusion.
"Are you blind? Didn't you notice that among the four men with that woman, one of them was Julian?" The boss slapped the guy's head and said angrily.
"What?!!"
The staff member cried out in surprise.
He really hadn't noticed it before. Just like most men, his eyes had been on Ember the whole time.
"Its a pity that such a beautiful woman has body odor."
Thinking back to when Ember came over to pay the bill just now, and he smelled that stench on her—ugh, don't even mention how much it ruined the mood.
Such flawless beauty, but with a major flaw.
---
"You four call yourselves men? You make me, a woman, pay the bill and drive the car?"
In the driver's seat, Ember was so mad her chest was heaving.
In the past, all the men she met were gentlemen—or at least pretended to be. But these four? What the hell even were they?
Was her beauty really that useless in their eyes?
Normally, shouldn't you four be fighting over me out of jealousy, to the point of throwing punches?
None of the four responded to her.
Julian was scrolling through his social feed. He hadn't checked it for nine whole days and had now turned into a "like" machine, tapping likes on every single post without even looking.
Breakups, dead Pokémon, lost loved ones—he liked them all.
Meanwhile, Rowan stared blankly out the left window.
Asher stared blankly out the right window.
Julian sat between the two of them.
Pierce, in the passenger seat, had his eyes closed, resting.
All four heard her—but none of them replied.
Ember: 'These bas*ds.'.
She really missed the days when she was surrounded by a bunch of simps.
"It's raining." ×2
Both Rowan and Asher spoke at the same time as they looked out their respective windows.
Then they turned to look at each other.
Julian put down his phone. Pierce, eyes still closed, turned to glance at them. Ember looked at them through the rearview mirror.
"Honestly, if you two became a couple, I'd totally ship it," Ember said.
Finally, she found an opening.
"Then he can go get a sex change." ×2
Three seconds of silence.
Julian silently pulled out his phone and switched it to video recording mode.
"You go!" ×2
"Hahaha, I'm dying!"
At that, Ember burst out laughing, shaking so hard that even the car began to rock.
Which immediately triggered a flurry of honking from the car behind.
"Drive properly!" ×2
Damn, was there something haunted going on here?
Even Rowan and Asher were confused. Since when had they become so… 'in sync' with each other?
They'd been rivals for over ten years—love-hate relationship and all.
But this kind of synchronization? Totally unnecessary.
Especially with other people around.
When they saw Julian holding up his phone, clearly recording them, both of them reached out at the same time to grab it—but midway, their hands ended up gripping each other.
Ember slammed the brakes and turned around, eyes gleaming as she stared at the two of them: "You two about to make it official?"
Beep beep beep!
The car behind them kept honking.
The two of them instantly let go of each other's hands and turned back to stare out their respective windows.
Not saying a word. Definitely not saying anything else. If they did, something bad would happen.
Julian finished recording: "Hurry up and drive, the traffic police's coming."
He pointed toward the traffic officer who was walking in their direction.
This was a four-way intersection, and with Ember suddenly stopping the car, the officer had obviously noticed and was coming over to check.
"Ma'am, is there a problem?"
As he spoke, he glanced inside the car and saw four men, each with a different expression on their face.
'Such a beautiful woman driving—could it be that she is being held hostage by these four guys?'
Suddenly, the officer's imagination ran wild.
If that really was the case, then this was his chance to be a hero and save a damsel in distress!
"Everything's good, no problem."
Ember quickly replied, trying to drive off, but the officer didn't let her leave.
The more she acted like this, the more it definitely meant something was wrong.
"Take a look."
Pierce took out an ID and handed it to the officer.
Colonel rank!!!
'Damn—so young?!'
This officer used to be in the military too. One look at the ID, and he could tell it was the real deal.
He immediately stepped aside and let Ember drive off.
Julian: 'Sure enough, women really are trouble.'
What's the biggest obstacle on a Trainer's path?
It's not a lack of resources.
It's not your Pokémon having bad potential.
It's not that you're not talented enough.
But women.
The moment you fall for a woman, you're distracted. You have a weakness. Game over.
Julian: 'Strong = Single.'
*****
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