No Hero Side Stories 5: Good Child, Bad Child, Part Two

posted in: No Hero Side Stories | 5

No Hero Side Story: Good Child, Bad Child

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)


Good Child, Bad Child, Part Two—translated by Doza (proofread by Arcedemius and Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)

“Let’s start sparring straightaway. But you have to control your strength. Don’t tear your Lin-yéye apart,” Lin-yéye said after some consideration, as he gazed at Ri Xiang Ye’s arms and legs with a knowing look.

Ri Xiang Ye hurriedly assured him, “I definitely won’t!”

After saying that, as if he was afraid that Lin-yéye would back out, he quickly moved his arms into position, adopting a perfect tai chi stance. However, compared to Lin-yéye’s pose, it was slightly lacking in ease and composure.

Previously, even though the slow-tempo combat was full of techniques that used the opponent’s strength against them, because of the slowness of it, it could not be applied to real combat and was more like a form of training instead.

Sparring was slow sometimes, quick at other times. Pushing, pulling and parrying were used to defend, and also had the additional benefit of completely disrupting your opponent’s fighting rhythm. Thus, pushing, pulling and parrying were also offensive moves that emphasized turning your opponent’s advantage to your own, and converting your opponent’s strength into your own strength. The more powerful the enemy, the stronger you became!

Ri Xiang Ye felt that his eyes had been opened, but was also even more certain that it did not suit him. To turn your opponent’s advantage to your own meant that your opponent first had to have an ”advantage” before you could take it. In other words, defense before offense. However, all along he had focused on offense, in order to crush the enemy in the first few moments and avoid unexpected incidents from happening.

As he observed the quick strikes used in tai chi, Ri Xiang Ye suddenly thought of the rapiers that Charles used. The slender blades were unable to withstand very large impacts, so Charles’s fighting pattern was usually to let the enemy attack first, and then he would deflect the opponent’s weapons or directly hit them as he slid past them. He hardly fought with his opponent head-on.

If I let Charles come here to learn tai chi, he would definitely be able to learn much better than me, wouldn’t he?

“Lin-yéye, can I bring my butler along next time to learn tai chi from you?”

When both of them had stopped, Ri Xiang Ye immediately decided that even if he annoyed Lin-yéye, he would continue to pester him until he agreed!

“Butler?” Lin-yéye laughed out loud. “Bring him along! If he isn’t suitable, then no matter how much you beg me, it’ll all be in vain. But if he is a good student, then I will beg him to learn instead!”

After he said this, he continued rather dismally, “Young people nowadays, each and every one of them have modified their bodies until it looks completely different. They have become astonishingly powerful. If you don’t learn tai chi for at least eight to ten years, don’t even think for a moment about trying to stop a single hit from a modified limb. Who would still be willing to take time to learn tai chi?”

When he heard this, Ri Xiang Ye merely smiled. Charles would definitely be willing to spend a lot of time to learn. Who knew how many years he had spent just to learn to be a butler!

After saying goodbye to Lin-yéye, it was about time to go back, perhaps even a little late. Ri Xiang Ye could only jump up onto the rooftops and take a shortcut back. The moment he returned home, he opened the door and shouted, “I’m home.”

“Young Master, welcome home.”

Behind the door, the butler with his never-changing smile, passed him a clean, white towel.

“Young Master, there’s a commercial for briefs. Do you want to take it?”

When he heard this, Ri Xiang Ye turned his head back to look at Melody. The latter blinked at him innocently with huge eyes, with her excessively long fake eyelashes fluttering.

“What’s wrong? Young Master, you don’t mind revealing a little bit more, right?”

Ri Xiang Ye hesitated for a while. Finally, he sighed and said, “I don’t mind, but Gēge will mind a lot. If Gēge sees the commercial, I will have to stop him from killing a lot of people again.”

Melody curled her lip and suggested, “Then, a pajamas commercial. It’s a vest with boxer shorts, and it’s the cute type too! This should be fine, right?”

Ri Xiang Ye looked at Melody. She was always instigating him to do things that would make his brother angry. Worse was that unless she really went overboard, he didn’t want to object in the slightest. Doing these sort of things gave him a rush of excitement, just like street racing.

Having thought that, Ri Xiang Ye couldn’t resist stepping harder on the accelerator. The sound of the wind whistling past filled his ears, and he had the illusion of racing with the wind.

“Yahooo!” The motorcycle under the two of them cried out cheerfully, “Ah Ye is awesome. Go faster, faster!”

The speed did not increase, but he turned the handlebars and made a fast turn. The tires screeched against the asphalt. The centrifugal force was alarmingly strong. If Ri Xiang Ye were not a cyborg and Melody were not a vampire, the two of them would have already been sent flying.

After the corner, only when he felt himself calm down from the excitement and tension, did Ri Xiang Ye reply, “All right, I’ll take it.”

“Long live the young master!” This time it was Melody’s turn to let out a shout.

At this speed, the two of them did not take long to arrive at their destination.

Ri Xiang Ye got off the motorcycle. Of course, he did not need to consider the issue of where to park. Even if he wanted to park somewhere obediently, he still had to see if DSII was willing to behave and stay there.

“I really am a naughty boy. I’m always making Gēge mad.” Although he had agreed, Ri Xiang Ye still felt guilty.

Melody sympathetically caressed Ri Xiang Ye’s face. “Young Master, the good boy Young Master… leave that side to the daytime’s Mr. Butler! Right now, you’re with Melody, and wearing Dark Sun’s clothes. Later on, you’ll also have to beat the crap out of those criminals! Young Master, no matter what benchmark you use, you aren’t considered a good child at all!”

Night time in the city was naturally the time when the heroes were busy. It just so happened to be a Saturday, too. Ri Xiang Ye was already aware that he would have to fight the entire night.

Indeed, I’m not exactly a good child. He smiled at Melody, but possibly because he had already transformed into Dark Sun, his smile was cold.

“Young Master, it really looks a bit chaotic today. How about I follow you?”

After extending her head out slightly to observe the situation in the street, Melody felt quite unhappy. It was clearly already very late at night, but why was there still a crowd of people in the street? Two gangs were exchanging fire, while some people were gathered around them, watching and loitering around. Dropping the matter that they weren’t running and were even watching from the side, just what were they planning to do with so many weapons in their hands?

“No need. These people will run off once I throw a few punches. Melody doesn’t need to do this sort of work.” Ri Xiang Ye replied without any hesitation.

Melody laughed. “Serving tea isn’t my job, fine. But why is beating people up not either?”

“It isn’t!”

When she heard this, Melody asked softly, “Then to the little young master, what does ‘Melody’ do?”

Ri Xiang Ye pondered over it seriously and organized his thoughts clearly before answering her, “Melody hides in the darkness and helps me stop attacks that are hard to defend against or that cannot be fought. She isn’t a person who clears the way ahead for me.”

“Understood.” Melody did an old-fashioned curtsy, even though her mini-skirt really didn’t have much room to be held out. Then, she slowly backed away and retreated into the darkness, just like the answer that Ri Xiang Ye gave.

I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?

Ri Xiang Ye was always worried over this problem. Even though it had been many years since his brother had rescued him, he was still different from an average person in many ways. Usually if it wasn’t that he had said something wrong, it would be that he had asked the wrong question.

“Melody,” He couldn’t help but call out to her.

“What’s wrong, Little Young Master?” Even though he couldn’t see her, he heard her unhurried reply.

Ri Xiang Ye did not ask any further. The answer was clear from Melody’s tone—she was extremely happy. It was exactly like when Charles heard him say that sentence “I really cannot do without you.” He had been so happy that the corners of his mouth lifted up by more than twice the usual angle.

Ri Xiang Ye’s mood also lifted. He patted DSII, getting him to open the trunk, and then took out a deadly energy gun and slipped it into the gun holster on his thigh. He also took out another two guns that used bullets. He glanced at the side of the motorcycle. I probably won’t need to use the Death Scythe today.

He walked out of the small alley where he had left the motorcycle. As he walked, he took out a taser and immediately fired a shot ruthlessly.

The sound made by the taser was not loud, so no one paid much attention to it amidst the chaos on the street. Ri Xiang Ye fired off ten shots in succession before he finally caught the attention of a group of people.

Brawls were normally very easy to break up. He only had to strike down about a quarter of the people, and then they would more or less disperse.

Actually, Ri Xiang Ye normally did not get involved with brawls. He would usually inform the police and let them handle it. However, the circumstances behind this fight were different. Both gangs had already been fighting for a period of time, and many areas all over the city had been affected. Arresting them amounted to nothing as the main leaders couldn’t be caught. Instead, fighters from the gangs had filled the lock-ups. Even the police couldn’t fully deal with them.

It had already stirred up a commotion and caused unrest among the populace. If there came a time when the citizens got dragged into the fighting, it could turn into a massive bloodbath on the spot. It was simply too risky.

That was why, for the first time ever, Ri Xiang Ye intervened.

He walked straight in, disregarding all the chaos and danger around him. Sometimes, he would also take a step to turn aside, evading all the bullets, knives, and swords. In these kinds of fights, energy blades were not commonly seen.

When he had walked to the dead center of the battle, Ri Xiang Ye switched to his energy gun. He raised the power output to the maximum, and shot it into the air. In an instant, the night became as bright as day. Everyone was blinded by the flash of light. When their sight returned again, they immediately caught sight of the red and black figure.

“Dark Sun is here—!” Screams arose.

Like a tide, everyone quickly retreated. If it had been other heroes that came, perhaps they would not have backed away so quickly. However, this was Dark Sun. The hero who had gained the title of Grim Reaper because of murder.

Ri Xiang Ye allowed them to retreat. He merely stood there with his guard up, in case anyone was delusional enough to attack him. At the same time, he was also deciding on the direction he should head towards next… There were two sides, so which side should he go after?

First, he glanced in both directions. Then, instead of choosing a side, Ri Xiang Ye angrily roared, “Both sides, come here!”

The street was silent for a while. Then, a few figures from completely opposite directions stepped forward. However, they didn’t dare to get too close to him, and also used the shadows to conceal their figures.

“What are you doing? Are you going to confess or do you want me to investigate?” After saying this, Ri Xiang Ye added expressionlessly, “Just take note, my way of investigating may not be very gentle.”

“… Territorial disputes.”

“Bullshit!” Once he heard this reply, Ri Xiang Ye’s tone turned angrier. “If you want to die then tell me. I’ll send you off on your way right now!”

“… Using the chaos to hide our smuggling business transactions.”

“Oh?” Ri Xiang Ye said coldly, “Looks like you guys don’t want to leave alive today.”

Both sides were quiet for a while. When Ri Xiang Ye raised his energy gun once more, they finally sighed and started talking.

“After Cornell died, the boss position for the western district was left empty for a long while. Originally, the person who could catch the culprit that killed the previous boss would be the next boss. But the culprit didn’t leave behind a single trace! The situation was messy enough already, but the eastern district came to interfere!”

Catch the culprit? If he can find E.X. whom the Church couldn’t find for ages, and can even defeat him, then he probably wouldn’t need to bother with the mafia boss position.

The people on the other side loudly protested, “Our young boss is the previous boss Cornell’s son. He has the right to be the western district’s boss!”

“Like hell…”

And then in front of the hero, the gangs on both sides actually started arguing again.

5 Responses

  1. Uncommon Sense

    I think there’s a mistake. He’s not a bad child, he’s a badass!

    I mean, good and bad have layers of subjectivity, so I don’t really think Ah Ye is doing anything really bad. He’s good for helping the public and protecting them from his brother, criminals, out of control fights, and his brother.

    • Minty

      I think good or bad child depends a lot on obedience. I think Ri Xiang Yan was a “good child” on everything unrelated to his brother but absolutely not a good person. After all, he had to be listed more than once on things Ah Ye protects people from. Ah Ye may be good, but he is a “bad child” for being disobedient.

  2. Kamui

    Frankly, the word ‘naughty’ and Ah Ye just don’t go together. If Ah Ye is naughty, then the world would never celebrate Santa…but bada**is pretty accurate, I will agree with Uncommon Sense.
    You guys missed the oxford comma after ‘pulling’ in the fifth paragraph.
    Thanks for the release!

Leave a Reply to KT Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *