"Are you really an Earthling?"
"Absolutely. If I'm lying, you can exchange me for the real deal."
Lin Fei casually waved his left hand.
"In that case, I'll take your word for it."
Qiangwei leaned back against her chair.
"Oh right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet."
"I'm Qiangwei."
"Lin Fei."
"Uh… Su Xiaoli."
Watching the two of them introduce themselves, Su Xiaoli hesitated, unsure whether she should speak up as well. In the end, she still opened her mouth.
"Mm, I know."
"Huh?"
Su Xiaoli looked at Qiangwei in confusion.
"The Super God Academy basically keeps an eye on people like you—those who possess super genes."
"For example, that Liu Kai."
"Of course, there are bound to be some oversights, like super genes that don't belong to the Derma system."
"But Lin Fei is different."
Qiangwei glanced at Lin Fei.
"Not only can we not detect what type of gene he has—we only just found out that there's such a completely unknown super warrior on Earth."
Su Xiaoli listened in a daze.
She understood every word individually, but when they were put together, she couldn't quite grasp the meaning.
Super genes.
Gene types.
Super warriors.
She'd never even heard of any of that.
Still, Qiangwei's attitude didn't seem hostile.
And the atmosphere wasn't tense either.
So she managed to piece together some information.
Turns out, she'd already been on the radar of the authorities that Qiangwei belonged to for a long time.
All that fear about being dragged off and dissected—
She'd basically been scaring herself.
"Wait—so does that mean you're actually targeting A-Fei?" Su Xiaoli asked after letting out a breath, suddenly realizing something.
"Not targeting him. We just want to clarify why Lin Fei came to Earth."
"That's why Old Du asked me to come meet him."
"But if Lin Fei really is an Earthling, then there's no need to ask that question anymore."
"Oh? Your dishes are here."
As she spoke, Qiangwei noticed Rui Mengmeng carefully carrying plates over to their table.
Watching Rui Mengmeng place several dishes neatly on the table—
The steaming heat mixed with the aroma of food wafted up, tickling Qiangwei's nose. Her eyes lit up.
"Looks pretty good."
"You've already ordered, right? Then I'll order a few more."
"Miss, could I have the menu?"
"Ah—okay, sure."
Rui Mengmeng looked curiously at Qiangwei.
When Qiangwei had come in earlier, Rui Mengmeng had gone to greet her, but Qiangwei had told her she'd find a seat herself.
She hadn't expected her to end up sitting at Lin Fei's table.
And yet… it didn't look like they all knew each other very well either.
Soon, Qiangwei finished ordering.
But her gaze lingered on Rui Mengmeng as she walked away.
It made Su Xiaoli's expression turn strange.
What was going on with this waitress?
First A-Fei had been paying attention to her—
And now Qiangwei too.
Wasn't she supposed to be the one with "magic power"?
"Hmm? Is there something on my face?" Qiangwei asked, looking at Su Xiaoli.
"No."
"Then why are you looking at me like that? Afraid I'm going to dissect you?"
"No, it's just… A-Fei was paying attention to that waitress earlier, and now you are too."
"Oh, that."
"Her name is Rui Mengmeng. She's also a super-gene carrier. You can think of her as someone like you—someone with special abilities."
"Only her gene hasn't awakened yet."
Qiangwei did know about Rui Mengmeng—after all, her name was on the list of super-gene carriers.
This was just the first time she'd seen her in person.
She hadn't expected such a coincidence: the restaurant Lin Fei chose happened to be where Rui Mengmeng worked part-time.
"..."
Su Xiaoli was speechless.
All this time, she'd thought she was the only special one—someone who didn't quite belong in this world.
Better not knowing, really.
Now that she did know, she kept running into people like this one after another.
Lin Fei.
Liu Kai.
And now even the waitress.
Were people with special abilities really that common?
And somehow, she felt that Qiangwei herself wasn't an ordinary person either—otherwise she wouldn't talk about all this so casually, as if it were perfectly normal.
She felt a bit powerless to complain anymore.
"So A-Fei… is this why you—?"
"I do know about it," Lin Fei replied, "but that's not the reason."
"Alright, alright."
Su Xiaoli shook her head. Today had just been too much.
She didn't want to think anymore.
"Well, um… your name is Qiangwei, right? Let's eat first."
"Huh? Is that okay?"
"Your dishes will take a while anyway. Didn't you say you haven't had dinner yet? Let's eat a bit together first."
After Su Xiaoli finished speaking, Lin Fei added:
"I don't mind either. After all, you're paying."
"Fair enough."
Qiangwei thought about it—it was her money, after all.
And she'd been in the army before; she wasn't the type to fuss over trivialities.
So the three of them began eating.
Naturally, all the serving dishes were shared.
"Mmm—this is good!"
After trying a few dishes, Qiangwei showed a look of genuine enjoyment.
But that expression didn't last long.
"Xiaoli, this salt-baked shrimp is really good—no wonder it's their specialty. Come on, try some."
"Mm…"
Su Xiaoli looked happy, her charming eyes curving into crescent moons.
Lin Fei was actually picking food for her.
She'd originally planned to pick food for Lin Fei herself when she brought him here.
But now Qiangwei was sitting across from them—and she was an official.
So she'd felt a little awkward about it.
But once Lin Fei placed food into her bowl, her mood lifted immediately, and she stopped worrying about Qiangwei altogether.
"A-Fei, try this chicken too—it's really good."
"And this one—this one's nice too."
"And this, and this…"
Qiangwei: "???"
What was going on here?
Her expression slowly started to crack.
She did think Lin Fei was handsome, and she had a decent impression of him—
But that didn't mean she'd instantly fallen for him.
Nor was she jealous of the slightly ambiguous atmosphere between Lin Fei and Su Xiaoli.
But—
She was still sitting right here, wasn't she?!
Picking food for each other like she wasn't even there?
Could they show her just a little respect?!
At that moment, even the delicious food in Qiangwei's mouth lost its appeal.
"Cough, cough!"
She raised her hand to her mouth and coughed lightly a couple of times.
If you want to show off, go home and do it.
"Did you choke? Want some water?" Su Xiaoli asked with concern.
"..."
Qiangwei fell silent.
"Could it be you want some shrimp too?"
"Oh, I see. You should've said so earlier—hard to tell, but turns out you're the tsundere type."
Hearing Su Xiaoli's guess, Lin Fei teased with a grin.
Qiangwei: That's about enough