She Is Not Human

Chapter 15

"Oh?" Max kept his cool, not showing an ounce of fear even with all the dangerous stuff on that fat guy. He casually stared at the fat man's face for a few seconds. "Mutual destruction?"

"Exactly. I want her spot..."

Before he could finish, the fat man let out a scream as Max's fist slammed into him hard in the gut. The attack was quick and brutal; at such close range, even a trained soldier would struggle to take it, let alone this guy with all that extra weight.

The door burst open as the fat man flew into the hall like a cannonball.

"Used as a human projectile and still acting smug," Max said nonchalantly, clearly not interested in hearing any of the fat man's demands.

With everyone watching closely, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Maya's hand. With his other hand, he gently patted her back.

"Don't worry. I'm here now." His voice dropped low but had that familiar charm of his.

Maya tightened her grip on him, feeling warmth radiate from his body straight to her heart—a sensation she found surprisingly nice.

"You! Who do you think you are acting so crazy here?" People in the hall weren't as chill as Max; someone stood up to give him an earful.

As soon as they saw the fat man go flying in, all the bodyguards sprang into action. If they hadn't realized right away that he was just another person, there might have been bullets flying everywhere in no time!

Max chuckled and looked up. "So I'm being wild? Not your cup of tea?"

"You..." The guy who tried to scold Max got pulled back down by someone else before he could say anything more.

"That dude is one of the mayor's guests—he's Dr. Max! You know, that infamous doc who doesn't save lives."

Once people heard this about Max's reputation, they fell silent.

At least four years ago, everyone still remembered that incident. A director from the Energy Bureau asked Max to help his infertile mistress, but Max turned him down. Furious and embarrassed, the director sent some shady guys to teach Max a lesson.

What happened next? Nobody really knows. Three days later, they found the director stripped n***d and hanging from a flagpole at the Glorious Building, with "I'm impotent" written all over his stomach. Many people still remember it like it was yesterday.

Talk about humiliation for a guy!

Even though there wasn't any proof, lots of folks suspected that Max was behind it. The weird part? The director never went after anyone in the end; he just asked for a transfer out of town—which was great news for his political enemies.

After that incident, Max's reputation took on a life of its own. Unfortunately, he vanished around that time.

But why is he back now?

"What? Keep going. Don't mind me."

Max had made everyone go quiet without even trying; he didn't seem bothered at all. He led Maya inside but paused after taking just a few steps to scan the room.

"Oh yeah, I should mention—there are some people you can't mess with."

Max's tone was calm enough, but there was definitely an edge to it. Maya felt countless familiar and unfamiliar eyes on her right away, but she only had eyes for Max and couldn't look away from him.

When Max held back his anger, you could feel his energy shifting most clearly. For Maya—who felt like she hadn't eaten in ages—it made her want to devour him right then and there.

"Keep staring at me like that and someone might swipe your stuff," he warned casually.

That got everyone's hearts racing as they quickly shifted their focus back to what mattered in front of them.

The hefty guy who'd been kicked across the room was finally getting up; his eyes lit up as they landed on the soul bottles nearby.

Like a hungry tiger spotting prey, he lunged forward and grabbed one tightly against himself.

"Ha ha ha! I got it! I still got it!" He was hunched over a bit, clutching the bottle like his life depended on it, eyes wide and round, showing off his teeth at anyone who dared to come close.

Michael walked up to the chubby guy, his friendly smile fading as he switched to a serious tone. "Mr. Lewis, you really need to put down your bet. There are rules here."

"I won't! I'm not just gonna sit around like an i***t waiting for my turn. Whoever grabs it first gets it. And if any of you try to take it from me..."

He paused for dramatic effect, reaching for the switch that would open the bottle. "I'll make sure you regret it!"

Michael frowned again. "I'm telling you one more time—please don't break the rules."

But Lewis didn't care at all. He turned toward Max and sneered, "You think you can kick me? Just wait!

Once I get in touch with the supreme being in mechanical space, you're toast. You think you're so tough? Pfft! You're nothing compared to a robot. We're all nothing!"

As he ranted on, he suddenly noticed something moving in front of him and quickly turned his head.

That's when Michael hit him with this small hammer used during auctions. A sharp pain shot through Lewis's ribs and knocked him out cold right away.

It looked like Michael barely pushed him aside gently.

But if someone from the dark side had taken a closer look at poor Lewis lying there, they'd see that what seemed like just a little nudge actually broke some ribs and messed up his insides—snapping his spine and even cutting off some nerves.

The technique was super advanced; clearly done by someone who's been around in shady circles for way too long.

"I hope everyone can keep things under control," Michael said as he lowered his hand while several silver-masked bodyguards came over to carry away Lewis's body without making a sound or drawing attention from anyone else.

"Please go back to your seats." Michael flashed another gentle smile but when he caught sight of Maya walking in, there was definitely some resentment flickering in his eyes.

He had heard that the master took a hit because of this girl, which is why they moved on the plan so quickly. This sudden shift brought a ton of uncertainties. The master had never made such a risky call before. It seemed like this little girl was something special.

Everyone in the room had their own thoughts at that moment.

Lewis was one of those new rich guys in City 9. Everyone knew he struck it big by dealing with energy waste lately.

But for someone like him, who didn't have deep connections among the elite, the old-timers from established families looked down on him.

Still, even with all that snobbery, processing energy waste could be super profitable. If done right, it holds massive commercial potential.

Lewis brought in quite a bit of cash for City 5 every year and was seen as an important player when it came to wealth.

But then this auctioneer went ahead and did something brutal right in front of everyone, and nobody stepped up to stop him.

A lot of folks silently started thinking about Michael, who was running this gambling event.

Those who were planning to jump in, like Lewis, and grab what they wanted immediately dropped those ideas fast.

Mayor Smith, sitting up in the VIP room, felt pretty troubled about everything going down.

He hated that his cut would shrink if Lewis got taken out. But seriously—was this fat guy's head stuck somewhere? Who else would he mess with but Max?!

Mr. Anderson is just too mysterious all around. Right now, no one at the top knows how to deal with him properly.

So all they can do is tread carefully and keep things friendly between them. But Lewis actually dared to talk back to Max!

Let's not even get into that part! The real kicker is how foolish he was trying to grab that bottle! If it were really easy to take something like that, don't you think all these big shots would've already done it? How could he possibly think it'd be his turn? What an i***t!

Now that Michael has made his move, Mayor Smith, as the top guy in this city, can't just jump in. Wouldn't that be like waiting for people to laugh at him?

Mayor Smith can't interfere or even speak up. He's not really sure what's going on between Michael and those young folks from City 5 who came with him.

It might be fine for regular officials and businessmen, but since he represents City 9 of the Radiant Organization, Mayor Smith knows a bit about one standout among those younger members from City 5.

That would be Thomas Martinez—the only son of the Scarlet Organization's leader—who's been making some pretty flashy appearances around different cities. It's clear he's hinting at stepping into his dad's shoes soon.

The three major powers in human space are kind of keep each other in check. The Radiant Organization and the Scarlet Organization have been rivals for ages.

One side is all about fighting for humanity's freedom, while the other wants to create a normal society under robot control and calm down any rebellious thoughts among people. They've never really gotten along well.

If something goes down with others in Mayor Smith's area, it doesn't matter much to him, but if anything happens to Thomas within his territory? That would be a big no-no! If an investigation follows, it could spark another huge clash between these two organizations.

What a headache! Mayor Smith wishes he could just wrap up this weird situation already and kick everyone out so he can finally relax.

In one corner of the room, there was a middle-aged guy with a tired-looking face talking quietly on his phone.

"Miss, do we need to keep watching?"

"Nope," replied a cold female voice from the communicator. "The 'Drunken Life' d**g works great, but it's only effective on someone like Lewis."

The middle-aged man nodded. "Yeah, even though 'Drunken Life' can bring out deep desires inside people, it struggles against those who have strong willpower."

"Drunken Life" and "Dream Death" are two secret drugs created by the Yun family that have become legends in nightclubs and entertainment spots.

A cup of "Dream Death" can get you blissfully drunk to the point of death, while a cup of "Drunken Life" lets you forget all your real-life troubles and just be free.

"Don't forget to grab what we need from Lewis. Ten times the concentration of liquid nitro is hard to come by. We can't let anyone catch on."

"Got it, Miss."

The middle-aged guy paused for a moment and asked, "Miss Rodriguez seems pretty down. Did she mess up that task you gave her?"

"I never thought Barbara would pull it off. But with her personality, making some noise is always good."

"What about Maya?"

"We'll deal with that later. First, I want to know why Max—who's usually so low-key—suddenly decided to act all high-profile in front of everyone. It can't just be a warning for people to stay away from his precious sister, right?"

"Yeah, I'll check into it right away."

While others were deep in thought, little Eric couldn't take his eyes off Max and Maya holding hands. He had chased after her but lost sight of her for a bit.

Then he saw her walk in with another guy wearing something different. Honestly, he felt kind of let down.

Especially when he saw Max's fingers running through Maya's black hair—his bony fingers moving gently like they were handling something fragile.

And Maya didn't seem bothered at all; instead, she was looking at him with this intense gaze. Clearly, something was going on between them.