Chapter 12: The Girl and Aisha

Returning to the place he had initially agreed upon with Yin Haitao, Li Mingxing found that the Russian girls had already recovered from their paralyzed, poisoned state. Yin Haitao had also disposed of the stolen truck far away and was now watching over the Russian girls.

When he saw Li Mingxing enter, Yin Haitao whispered, “Sir, these women seem rather odd. They appear remarkably calm.”

Li Mingxing glanced at the Russian girls and saw that they were indeed as Yin Haitao had described—standing quietly, not speaking, not moving, simply waiting for either of them to decide their fate.

Sensing the atmosphere, Yin Haitao tactfully withdrew and closed the door behind Li Mingxing.

Li Mingxing was surprised by Yin Haitao’s discretion, but he walked a slow circle around the Russian girls. Observing them, he realized that more than half of the fifty had received military training. Even among the nine girls who had appeared last with Aisha, four bore the aura of soldiers who had undergone enhanced training.

The rest, though different in demeanor, were by no means weak. Any one of these girls could easily handle one or two ordinary people.

Yet now they simply stood before Li Mingxing, expressionless, regardless of what he did or said.

This puzzled Li Mingxing. He could not fathom what these Russians were playing at, and since he didn’t share their language, he finally approached Aisha.

At this moment, Aisha seemed to recognize Li Mingxing’s identity. Though she remained motionless, the surprise in her eyes did not escape his notice.

With a smile, Li Mingxing placed a black magic crystal in Aisha’s hand and said, “It seems I’ve rescued you yet again.”

Perhaps it was the effect of the black crystal, but Aisha suddenly spoke in the common tongue of darkness, “Sir, I must thank you for saving me twice, but this time you have brought serious trouble upon yourself. You’ve sabotaged the plans of the Russian mafia, do you understand?”

Li Mingxing was astonished that Aisha could speak the common tongue, and he immediately asked, “Can you explain exactly what’s going on? And before that, could you perhaps have your companions sit and relax? Their current state is rather…”

“Weird, isn’t it? It’s useless to ask. They’ve all been specially trained. This is already a relaxed state for them,” Aisha sighed. “If we were in Russia, they wouldn’t move for a whole day, even standing like this.”

“My God, what exactly are you people up to?” Li Mingxing couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s nothing special, just covert spies and assassins. Officially, they are trained to behave this way, but in truth, each of them is linked to a contact. Once a signal is received, they will do whatever is required,” Aisha said helplessly. “Including me, we each have a unique contact.”

“Is there any way to break this connection?” Li Mingxing pondered aloud.

“There is. Each of us is bound to one contact, and only that person knows the link. If that person is killed, we’re free,” Aisha replied without hesitation. “But until the contact signals us, we don’t even know who ours is.”

“Couldn’t you just be hidden away somewhere nobody would find you?”

“That’s impossible. We all have some kind of tracking device on us. No matter where we hide, even at the ends of the earth, they can find us,” Aisha shook her head.

“What about that mysterious world?” Li Mingxing suddenly asked.

“They probably can’t find us there. But since I came back last time, I haven’t been able to return,” Aisha said, lowering her head.

“If I could send you there again, would you want to go?” Li Mingxing looked into her eyes.

Aisha looked up at him and realized he was not deceiving her. She nodded eagerly, “Of course. I never want to live like this again.”

“Very well, then. You’ll be my follower. As for the others, I’ll see if they can become my troops. If not, I’ll settle them in my city. My city isn’t exactly that mysterious world, but as long as it doesn’t fall, no outsiders can enter,” Li Mingxing said, confident in his city’s security.

Hearing this, Aisha grew excited and quickly explained Li Mingxing’s plan to the Russian girls in their own language. At first they were skeptical, but with Aisha’s assurance, they finally cheered with joy.

Seeing their excitement, Li Mingxing couldn’t help but smile. He had Yin Haitao continue watching over the group, then took Aisha with him into the mysterious tavern.

Back in the mysterious tavern, Li Mingxing saw a crowd gathered around Mida Ling’s stall. It was clear that both apprentice heroes and their followers were intrigued by Mida Ling’s secure business model.

Mida Ling was so busy that even when she spotted Li Mingxing from afar, she couldn’t spare a moment to greet him.

Understanding the situation, Li Mingxing simply smiled at her and led Aisha to the Demonization Pool.

“Take off your clothes and bring the black magic crystal,” he instructed Aisha upon arrival.

Yet as soon as the words left his mouth, Li Mingxing realized something was off. Previously, he had only brought two men here for spiritual form transformation. That had been unremarkable, but now, asking a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl to undress felt inappropriate.

Aisha, however, was unfazed. She stripped off all her clothes right in front of Li Mingxing, then turned confidently in a circle before jumping into the pool with the black magic crystal in hand.

Seeing Li Mingxing blush from Aisha’s boldness, the two pool attendants burst out laughing. But the laughter soon faded as they noticed that instead of transforming immediately, Aisha expelled a blue substance from her body.

Observing this, both attendants snorted, “They really are daring.”

Li Mingxing asked, “What happened here?”

“It’s nothing. Just a mental control spell with tracking and controlling abilities. But when someone undergoes spiritual transformation, this magic is purged, so we can spot it right away,” one attendant explained, now more polite after recognizing Li Mingxing’s status.

Hearing this, Li Mingxing realized he still had forty-nine Russian girls in a similar predicament. If they could be transformed in this way, perhaps the Demonization Pool could be used.

But then he recalled another issue: each transformation required a black magic crystal, and he didn’t have forty-nine more of them.

This led his thoughts to the third type of troop he had heard of—spiritualized soldiers. He had never seen them, but Raymond had mentioned that this type involved bringing real-world troops into the inner world, where they would fight using spiritual forms. How these troops were created, and how many crystals were needed, was beyond Li Mingxing’s knowledge.

Still, not knowing didn’t mean he couldn’t ask. Li Mingxing turned to one of the attendants.

At first, the attendant seemed reluctant to answer, but upon noticing something about Li Mingxing, he smiled. “Don’t you have a Blood Soul Crystal? With one of those, you can convert a fifty-person unit. The class and race aren’t based on talent like followers; they’re all the same—basic rank one, two fixed skills. Their development depends on your training, but they’re only considered troop units. To convert them into followers, you’d still need to use black magic crystals.”

Only then did Li Mingxing grasp the Blood Soul Crystal’s purpose. No wonder the beautiful bartender had warned him to keep its secret—clearly, it was an opportunity reserved for a chosen few.

As he considered when to bring the remaining forty-nine Russian girls for conversion, Aisha emerged from the pool.

But the sight of her spiritual form startled Li Mingxing. From the pool climbed a three-meter-tall white bear.

The two pool attendants were also stunned, but when they saw the mysterious markings on the bear’s shoulders, they laughed and reassured Li Mingxing, “Don’t worry. This is just a druidic transformation—she’ll change back soon enough.”