Monster Girl World Ch. 16

"Here's the situation," The commander said. "Our goal is to abduct Professor Lea Song, a hakutaku physicist. She's currently being transported by transported by a Special Forces unit of Bharat's secret service. They're planning to fly her from Leh to Ursali. We're going to strike before they get the chance."

Hua looked out the window as she listened to his briefing. There was nothing but flat, arid land as far as the eye can see, with tall mountains in the distance. Not a good place to stage an ambush, but considering the circumstances, there was no room for being subtle.

"The professor's researching new technologies to create magical weapons systems. If you don't capture him, Mongseng's stability will be under threat." He went on.

"If this was just a simple assault on the vehicle, I could probably pull this off solo and save you all the trouble." Hua suggested. She said this out of confidence; she had lot of combat experience in dealing with humans and monsters by herself, and given that these soldiers had no mages on their team, she could handle them alone.

"Maybe, but I want the professor and her daughter returned alive, and unharmed if possible." The commander replied.

'She has a daughter. Of course.' Hua frowned and pulled her hood up over her big red ears.

It wasn't long before they spotted the escort team transporting the professor. As if someone flipped a switch, the men grabbed their disassembled weapons from hidden compartments within the vans and armed themselves. Hua reached into the two holsters strapped to her waist and took out two enchanted daggers.

The two vans, one on each side of the convoy, opened fire on the escorts. Gunfire sounded as the target van's tires were shot out, and it skidded to an uncontrollable stop, nearly tipping over. This caused the rest of the Bharat convoy to stop as well, and the Bharat soldiers immediately opened fire on the Mongseng taskforce. Despite the ambush, the Mongseng team were currently outnumbered and outgunned-but that was why they had Hua on the team.

She jumped out of the van, flames trailing from the bright red fur on her arms and legs as she sprinted toward the Bharat soldiers, daggers out. The soldiers opened fire on her, but Hua was already closing the distance between them, pushing herself faster along the ground by shooting bursts of flame from her feet. Her daggers glowed with fire magic imbued in the metal as she slashed at the first man's face, completely cutting his head in two.

Being born to parents who were both martial artists tended to do some favors to one's fighting ability. Hua practically danced across the road, slashing apart weapons and shoving her daggers into her enemies. She made short work of them with just her daggers, and she took the last two soldiers out with two flaming kicks that engulfed them in flames.

Barely taking a sweat, Hua walked over to the target van where the professor and her daughter were sitting in. Still clutching her daggers, she peered in through the open window, recognizing the middle aged black-haired hakutaku and a smaller girl of the same species sitting in the passenger seats.

"Professor Song?" She said calmly, before she froze stiff.

The woman, who was clutching her daughter tightly, had a vest on, with a big red rune glowing on the front. Hua recognized the magical symbol as a timed explosion spell. A bomb!

"You're a Mongseng agent, aren't you?" Professor Song growled, sweat running down her face. "You won't get me here. I'll die before I got back to that hypocritical government of yours! I've already started the detonation sequence the minute you appeared."

The rune started blinking, signaling that it was about to go off. Her daughter noticed this too and looked up at her mother tearfully.

"Mama!"

Song looked down at her daughter and picked her up, giving her a quick hug before throwing the girl into Hua's arms.

"Please," Song whispered. "Spare my little girl..."

Hua had no time to do anything else but leap back as the rune hit critical and exploded. Hua diverted the flames from around her as the blast wave sent her flying back. The van exploded, taking the professor with it in a plume of magical flames and Hua knew that it was too late for the woman.

"Damn it." She cursed and looked at the girl in her arms. She was knocked out from the force of the blast but was unharmed. But now she was stuck with the daughter of a traitor that was just orphaned.

It was moments like his that reminded her why she also hated this job.

XXXXXX

The girl's name was Meifong. The professor had entrusted her daughter to her before blowing herself to ashes, and as Mongseng wasn't very kind to their orphan population, Hua knew that she was the girl's only chance for survival. So she took the girl under her wing.

It didn't start off smoothly of course. The Mongseng government wanted to take the girl off her hands. "Child protection" they called it, though Hua had a feeling that they wanted to take out their frustrations on the girl for her mother having thwarted them out of the important knowledge she harbored. Hua may have been a hired killer, but even she had her limits, so she left the country and moved to Shai-Feng, Mongseng's rival in the political and military arena.

That was it for her relationship with the Mongseng government and military. She stepped on a lot of toes that day and it only got worse when she killed any mercenaries or Special Forces units sent to take her out. The Shai-Feng government was kind enough to grant her asylum in return for her services, if nothing else than to give their eternal rivals the finger as they snatch up their most important mercenary. And so Hua and Meifong started a new life in Shai-Feng.

"Hey."

"Hm?" Hua blinked as she focused on the present. She was sitting in her kitchen, just enjoying lunch with the girl she was thinking about. "What's up, Mei?"

"You're spacing out. Your food's getting cold." Meifong said, tilting her head cutely. "What are you thinking about? I hope it's not something lewd."

"No," She grinned, reaching over to pull at the girl's cheek. "I'm just thinking of how big you've gotten. You'll be attracting nerds in no time!"

"Stop fantasizing about me, pervert!" Meifong pouted, batting the hand away. "And don't pull on my cheek. I'm not a kid anymore!"

"You're still a cute little kid to me, Mei-Mei." Hua said cheekily.

Meifong had grown since then. Being a hakutaku, her horns were already starting to grow and her curves were starting to fill on now. She was just a little taller than Hua now, and she was only going to get taller when she got into her teens. Add to the fact that she's a very smart girl, and Meifong will be attracting boys like fireflies to a lamp.

As loathe as she was to admit it, Hua was pretty jaded about the world. Wars fought between countries, religious sects, internal conflicts, and even conflicts between monster races. It was the same each generation, and the cycle never ended. Hua wouldn't deny that part of her reason for becoming a mercenary was because she was sick of the status quo and wanted to give it all a finger by killing people.

But Lea Song's daughter, Meifong, had brought a peace of mind to Hua. The trauma of seeing her mother blow up right before her eyes made her lose her memory, and Hua had to be there to fill the void. They worked together on in country missions, with Meifong acting as technical support when she was on missions in Shai-Feng (there were a lot of naughty monster criminals that needed to be taught a lesson). They were inseparable and Hua couldn't imagine a future without this smart little girl.

Hua gave this girl a new life on a whim, and in this chaotic world, she made the decision to kill not just for herself, but for Meifong as well, so that this girl will never have to do so herself.

"By the way, Hua, you're cooking is still bad."

"If you don't like it, you have to eat it!"

"I wouldn't if you didn't empty the fridge right before you cook!"

What a wonderful life she had.