A few more days passed after that.
And during those few days, there wasn't a single quiet day at Sylvia's villa. Today was no different.
"Gao!"
Amid the sound of gnawing, the green-furred puppy once again sank its teeth into Fang Li's arm.
Unfortunately for it, before it could bite down properly, a hand reached out, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, and lifted it into the air.
"Woof! Woof woof!" The puppy immediately began struggling with all its might.
Fang Li paid it no attention. He simply narrowed his eyes at the little dog dangling from his hand and said, "Looks like biting people has completely become a habit of yours. Why don't you just stay a dog for the rest of your life?"
His mocking tone naturally sent Tatsumaki into a furious rage.
As Fang Li and Tatsumaki started wrestling with each other again, Sylvia and Fubuki exchanged glances from the side. Both of them could see the helplessness in each other's eyes.
"We literally just told her not to provoke Fang Li..."
"That's asking too much of Big Sister..."
Sylvia and Fubuki could only watch from the sidelines, practically giving up.
At first, the two of them had constantly acted as mediators, trying to stop Fang Li and Tatsumaki from fighting whenever their arguments escalated. But Fang Li and Tatsumaki seemed to have been born incompatible with each other; somehow, they always ended up arguing over the smallest things.
Eventually, Sylvia and Fubuki simply became spectators, only stepping in when the two of them actually looked ready to start fighting for real. As for harmless squabbles like this one, they had already become part of everyday life at the villa.
"Woof! Woof woof woof!"
Despite being held by the scruff, Tatsumaki continued barking furiously at Fang Li.
Fang Li ignored her and looked toward Fubuki instead.
Fubuki immediately understood what he wanted.
"She says, 'It's all because of you! You turned me into this! Is this what you wanted?!'" Fubuki translated. "At least, that's what Big Sister is saying."
"Is that so?" Fang Li curled his lips. "Too bad that wasn't actually my intention. I'd call it an unexpected bonus."
That seemed to make Tatsumaki even angrier. She struggled desperately in his grasp, looking as though she wouldn't stop until she'd bitten Fang Li several times.
Seeing her like that, Sylvia couldn't help laughing.
"Well, I can't really blame Tatsumaki-chan for being angry," Sylvia chuckled. "After all, Fang Li has been taking over all of her work these past few days."
Turning Tatsumaki into an animal had been exactly what Fang Li said it was: revenge. Although Tatsumaki hadn't managed to hurt Sylvia, she had still attacked her. If Fang Li didn't retaliate, then he wouldn't be Fang Li.
What he hadn't expected was that his little act of revenge would come with another benefit: the Hero Association had ended up handing a large amount of work over to him.
"Big Sister is essentially the Hero Association's ultimate weapon. Normally, she has to deal with a huge number of incidents almost every day, and most of them are at least Demon-level disasters," Fubuki explained quietly. "Now that Big Sister has suddenly disappeared, it's only natural that the Hero Association would panic."
That was exactly what had happened. Because Tatsumaki had been turned into an animal, the Hero Association couldn't get in touch with her. All the major incidents she was supposed to handle began piling up, leaving the Association scrambling to deal with the situation.
And these were disasters; naturally, they weren't the sort of incidents that could simply be postponed. Since they couldn't contact Tatsumaki, the Hero Association had no choice but to assign her workload to other heroes.
And the person they chose first was Fang Li.
"You and my Big Sister fought her head-on before and neither of you lost. You also dealt with a Dragon-level disaster, so it's only natural that the Hero Association thought of you first," Fubuki said to Fang Li and Sylvia. "But Sylvie is also busy with her work as an entertainer, so she can't keep handling the Association's assignments. That makes Rakshasa the more important candidate."
As a result, all the incidents that should have been handled by Tatsumaki over the past few days were handed over to Fang Li. The lowest of them were Demon-level disasters, and some were even major Dragon-level incidents.
Because of that, Fang Li had recently dealt with quite a few high-level Mysterious Beings and gained a substantial number of Killing Points.
That was certainly an unexpected bonus, and it was precisely why Tatsumaki was so angry.
"Woof! Woof woof!" Tatsumaki barked at Fang Li again.
"She says, 'Hurry up and turn me back to normal,'" Fubuki translated once more. "At least, that's what Big Sister is saying."
To be honest, Fang Li was rather curious about how Fubuki could understand exactly what Tatsumaki was trying to say. But when he thought about it, Tatsumaki's superpower was psychokinesis; it wouldn't be particularly strange if Fubuki had some way of interpreting psychic signals or communicating telepathically.
So Fang Li decided not to bother with such trivial matters. He simply smiled at Tatsumaki, who was still struggling in his grasp.
"Well, isn't this great, Senpai?" Fang Li said leisurely. "Whether it's to give the rookies some training or just to give us rookies who came out of nowhere a chance to show what we can do, I don't think that's too much to ask, right?"
"Woof! Woof woof!" Tatsumaki immediately started barking furiously.
"'If you're a rookie, then stay out of the way! Stop getting in everyone's way! Without me, you can't accomplish anything!'" Fubuki translated with a complicated expression. "That's what Big Sister is saying."
Judging from her expression, Tatsumaki probably said things like that to Fubuki all the time.
"But the truth is actually the opposite, isn't it?" Fang Li said to Tatsumaki without a care. "Look at what's happened these past few days. Even without you, the Hero Association has continued operating, the world is still peaceful, and someone else has taken care of your work. One more person doesn't make much difference, and one less doesn't either. So just keep being a pet, Senpai."
With that, Fang Li tossed the little dog in his hand toward Sylvia.
"Guh!"
Tatsumaki immediately started thrashing around again, only to be caught and held tightly in Sylvia's arms.
"You two should stop arguing at least once in a while," Sylvia said with considerable exasperation. "I still have a program to attend later, and Fubuki is coming with me. That means I'll probably have to leave the two of you here alone. But with the way things are going, I'm honestly worried that by the time we come back, this entire area will have disappeared."
"A program?"
That caught Fang Li's attention.
Just as Fang Li was about to ask what she meant, his phone suddenly rang.
"Woof!" Tatsumaki barked furiously.
Judging from the timing, the call was probably from the Hero Association again.
Ignoring Tatsumaki's outrage, Fang Li turned around and answered the phone. "Hello. This is Fang Li."
The person on the other end immediately began speaking urgently.
After listening for a while, Fang Li's eyes suddenly flashed. He picked up the remote control from the sofa and switched on the television.
A news report was already underway.
(End Of This Chapter)
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