Chapter 2: Are You Not a Bit Too Young to Be Doing This
Dr. Alien crawled out of the lab that had been blown apart in two halves. Sitting on the ground, she looked at the few remaining walls and felt a bit suffocated.
Her budget was going to bleed again.
Has she gone too far this time?
Usually, when Pixel Mask escaped from a trap, he would just destroy her evil invention, fix her up with a beating, and throw in an uppercut. He never destroyed the entire lab.
After all, this lab had been legally rented, and she was far more well-behaved compared to other evil organization members.
Without sufficient reason to lock her up long-term, the Hero Association’s policy toward her was never too aggressive.
Dr. Alien was fully aware of this.
Though she enacted various reliable and unreliable evil plans every working day, she never acted recklessly before Pixel Mask showed up to disrupt them. Even during their confrontations, she always tried to avoid harming civilians to ensure that, even if she was imprisoned, she wouldn't end up in long-term enlightenment at Dragon Prison.
She could be considered the anti-role model of a proper evil organization.
Not that she had a choice. Their organization’s leader wasn’t exactly in the right mind, insisting on conquering a city practically surrounded by the Hero Association.
And their entire organization only had four people, including the boss. Even if the Hero Associations of neighboring cities stayed out of it, they wouldn’t have enough people to manage the city after conquering D-City.
So rather than conquering D-City, Dr. Alien actually preferred engaging in a battle of wits with her nemesis, Pixel Mask.
As long as she stayed in D-City and continued the mission of conquering it, a steady stream of evil funds would be wired to her.
As for what she used the funding for…
Since she was the only one here, she could use it however she liked.
She just needed to tweak the financial report a little.
Those so-called plans to conquer D-City were really just excuses to play the hero-villain game with Pixel Mask.
Though the game always ended with her getting beaten up and thrown into the ceiling.
Not that Dr. Alien was dissatisfied with that.
If her conquest plans went too smoothly, Hero Associations from nearby cities would come to D-City to assist, chanting slogans like “No need for chivalry when dealing with heretics—everyone pile on!”
That kind of thing might feel great to chant, but for the so-called heretic Dr. Alien, it was anything but enjoyable.
Villains always had to lose in the end. But if possible, she’d rather be beaten up by a beautiful girl. Was that really too much to ask?
She’d been the one getting beaten all this time, hadn’t she?
As a citizen new to D-City, couldn’t the local hero just humor her a little?
Dr. Alien felt a little bitter.
But being bitter wouldn’t help.
She shook those thoughts out of her head, pulled out her phone, and sent a message to her usual construction crew.
After getting a proper beating from Pixel Mask, it was almost time to clock out.
Normally, she would do a quick cleanup of the lab and head off. But today wasn’t a regular mess. She had to call the construction team for a thorough cleanup, or else there’d be no evil stage to carry out next Monday’s evil plan.
If she couldn’t meet this month’s evil quota, she worried her evil funding might get cut next month.
Dr. Alien stood up, dusted off her clothes, and began tidying up her outfit to avoid wardrobe malfunctions or movement issues.
Compared to her height before confronting Pixel Mask, she was now at least ten centimeters shorter, and her body had also shrunk significantly.
She’d always liked wearing loose clothing. Now with the shrinkage, her upper garment hung off one shoulder, and she had to hold her pants and panties up with both hands to keep them from falling.
Thinking back, she was lucky she didn’t slip out of her clothes completely when Pixel Mask grabbed her by the collar and slammed her into the ground.
That guy must’ve done something to help.
Quite considerate—otherwise she might have crawled out of the rubble stark naked.
Her micro-defense device wasn’t advanced enough to protect clothes not on her body.
She’d better upgrade it.
A girl couldn’t just go around shirtless like a man.
That said, when Pixel Mask picked her up earlier, her panties and pants had been barely held up by her legs. What was meant to be seen and not seen probably got seen by him already.
This might be something she could use.
Dr. Alien’s eyes gleamed as she quietly filed the thought away, already scheming how to make use of the situation.
She finished fixing her clothes, pulled out her phone, and opened the front-facing camera to check her current appearance.
Reflected on the screen was a pink-haired girl.
Possibly from crawling out of the ruins, her seemingly silky pink hair was sticking out in all directions, with a fine layer of dust making it look somewhat dull.
Her bangs were slightly messy. Beneath her faintly furrowed brows, a pair of beautiful sea-blue eyes stared ahead, and beneath a delicate nose, her soft pink lips pressed together gently.
Unsurprisingly, she was exactly the kind of beautiful girl that fit her own preferences.
After all, she had created the Super Invincible Girlification Machine just so even if she lost, she’d be beaten by a cute girl. If Pixel Mask turned out ugly after girlification, that would’ve been a big problem.
Too bad the result was a bit disappointing.
Dr. Alien put away her phone.
She’d check the rest after going home.
A phone camera couldn’t fully capture her new form, and examining her body on the street was out of the question.
Also, the construction team had arrived. The foreman was standing at the entrance, glancing around, occasionally casting odd looks her way. She had no idea what he was doing.
Dr. Alien paused, then realized:
Oh right, she was a girl now. The foreman didn’t recognize her.
She walked over and waved a hand in front of him: “It’s me, Dr. Alien.”
The foreman froze, cycling through no less than ten expressions in just a few seconds.
Luckily, he calmed down quickly. “It’s only been a few days, Doctor. You’ve really changed.”
Dr. Alien sighed. “Nothing I could do. The plan went a little off-script.”
“Understandable. Honestly, if your plans ever worked, we probably wouldn’t be needed anymore,” the foreman jokes.
“Uh…” Dr. Alien looked awkward.
Back when they first met, he’d been scared stiff of her being an evil scientist. Now he dared to joke right to her face.
Dr. Alien suddenly felt like a bit of a failure as a villain.
Maybe she should send him a little “gift” sometime when she is free?
As long as she kept it discreet, the Hero Association wouldn’t trace it back to her.
She changed the subject, pointing at the ruined lab: “Today’s plan might’ve been a bit much… So, your workload might be heavier than usual.”
“Clearly. We used to just fix ceiling holes and kicked-in doors.” The foreman glanced at the wreckage and made a quick mental estimate. “But don’t worry. We’ll definitely have it done before your next workday.”
“Alright.”
It was rare to hear good news, so Dr. Alien let the earlier teasing slide.
“Then I’ll leave you to it. Won’t get in your way.”
She pulled a remote out of her lab coat pocket, tapped it a few times, and her body began to fade.
“By the way, Doctor.”
The foreman called out suddenly.
“If it’s the bill, just send it after you finish. I’ll transfer the money to your card,” Dr. Alien waved.
“No, it’s not about that. Just a little personal curiosity,” the foreman sized her up again. “...Aren’t you a bit too young to be trying to conquer D-City?”
“What did you just sa—”
Before she could finish, Dr. Alien’s body vanished into thin air.
The next second, she reappeared in her home in D-City.
Dr. Alien’s expression twisted slightly.
She definitely needed to send him that little gift when she had time.
She hated it when people called her short.