Chapter 11: For Whom to Tame, For Whom to Rage
Late at night, the coffee shop began to fill with customers.
Many of them, male and female, glanced repeatedly at a perfect woman sitting in the corner while sipping their coffee or milk tea, yet no one dared sit too close under the weight of her commanding aura.
Diana, like a striking vision, rose from her chair and spoke to Barbara across the table. "That's all I wanted to say. Nothing else, I'll be leaving now. It's late, and my child will be worried at home."
"What… you have a child?!"
Cups clattered to the floor across the café.
Several men and women who had been planning to flirt froze, their carefully composed expressions replaced by shock, despair, and helplessness.
Barbara herself was stunned by the revelation, realizing Xi Nian's place in Diana's heart.
Who would have thought that a god could truly become a family member to a human?
Barbara studied Diana for a long moment before whispering, "You can't hide it from him forever."
"Of course not," Diana replied with a faint smile, her flawless face serene. "When he turns eighteen, fully grown, I'll tell him everything he wants to know. Whatever life he chooses will be his own, and I will respect his decisions. But for now, I won't allow anyone to disturb his life."
Her eyes flickered coldly as she turned and walked out of the café, boots clicking on the floor.
"He's just an ordinary human boy," Barbara muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. Remembering Diana's words, she smiled and whispered, "Xi Nian… how did you do it? I'd really like to meet you one day."
How could a child of man tame a goddess?
…
Outside the café, Diana looked up at the snow drifting from the night sky, her thoughts turning to Xi Nian.
Was he hunched over the table doing homework, sitting on the couch watching TV, or already asleep in his bed?
No matter which it was, Diana suddenly wanted to see him. She wanted to kiss his face, hold him gently, and live those ordinary days she had cherished for sixteen years.
"So, I am afraid too," she whispered, letting snow melt in her hand.
Earlier that morning, when Barbara showed Xi Nian photos of Diana from decades past, Diana had felt fear, just like Xi Nian had—afraid that learning she was the descendant of gods and had lived hundreds of years would make him see her as a monster, breaking their life together.
That was why Diana had hidden her true identity as Wonder Woman.
Buying a hamburger from a nearby shop, Diana returned home. Seeing police cars parked on the street and officers patrolling, she felt a foreboding sense of danger.
She hurried into the elevator and back to her residence.
Diana took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. A cold wind rushed in through the shattered balcony window, tousling her black hair.
The living room was filled with severely damaged furniture, and the floor showed obvious signs of trampling and cracking.
From Diana's perspective, her hidden armor and weapons—Starlight Tiara, Guardian Bracelets, Sword of Hephaestus, Godly Shield, and Lasso of Truth—were all gone.
"Something's wrong," Diana said calmly, hands clenched, her divinity swelling to the forefront.
…
Meanwhile, Xi Nian, perched on the church rooftop above the smoldering city battlefield, looked down in disbelief.
"Could it really be her?"
He stared at the battleground below. Spider-Woman had pulled back her hood, revealing the lower half of her young face.
She looked exactly like his childhood friend—Gwen Stacy.
If not for her restraining the mighty Abomination with webs while perched on a ten-meter-high wall, Xi Nian might have already uncovered Spider-Woman's identity.
But her voice didn't match.
"Could it just be a resemblance?" he wondered, before the battle below took a sudden turn.
Nearby webs snapped under tension, and more webs, though still attached to buildings, collapsed as the walls they were anchored to crumbled.
Rumble!
The building Spider-Woman sat on fell, sending her tumbling. She tried to swing with her web mid-air, but a massive green hand smashed through, gripping her waist like iron pincers, trapping her completely.
In the dust, cold, terrifying green eyes opened.
"Let me go!" Spider-Woman screamed, but the hand didn't budge.
The monstrous strength reminded her of the cross-dressing psycho she had encountered earlier on a rooftop.
Abomination grinned menacingly. Under its three-meter-tall frame, Spider-Woman seemed as small as a baby.
It didn't release her left hand. Raising the other, it pressed her right hand into the grasp of the left, tightening inch by inch. Blood leaked from her clenched lips as her movements weakened.
Abomination was going to crush her alive.
Gwen's legs dangled, her strength fading, consciousness dimming.
"Am I going to die here? Wait… I haven't even worn the white wedding dress yet…"
Her thoughts faded into darkness.
But at the very last moment before losing consciousness, she heard the most familiar voice of a boy.
"Let her go!"
A flash of silver split the black night sky and red flames.
Abomination wasn't prepared for an attack. Even knowing someone was coming, it didn't care—heat weapons couldn't pierce its defense, much less a simple blade.
This time, it was wrong.
Shing!
Xi Nian's vintage sword pierced its closed, hardened eyelid, shattering the eyeball. A section of the blade plunged completely into Abomination's eye socket.
Impossible.
Abomination froze, its remaining eye widening, staring at the silver-haired boy descending onto its massive arms.
"I'm curious. Monster, do you feel pain?"
Xi Nian's face was calm, showing no emotion. That very calmness revealed the strange fury he carried.
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