Chapter 71 VS. the Monster 2 (Third update, please subscribe!)
I must get the clues I need from this strange man in the distance.
That being said, I don't actually know in what form those clues exist. Perhaps this strange person has come across any clues about Asaho's whereabouts in the past two days, or perhaps they might attract Asaho in the future. In any case, I believe that "Asaho, who is suspected of investigating the strange person," will definitely be connected to the "strange person" in some unclear form.
Therefore, I must ensure the other party lives. Either they live to reveal information related to Asao, or they live until Asao is attracted to them.
Zhu Shi will definitely object. In the worst-case scenario, I will have to break with Zhu Shi, or even fight him. Perhaps I should think of a way that satisfies both sides—one that can implement Zhu Shi's ideals while also ensuring my own goals. Think quickly…
Time was of the essence; the strange man was moving away into the distance. I turned to look at Zhu Shi. She was staring intently in the direction of the strange man.
I suddenly noticed that her eyes had become very strange.
It wasn't that her eyes contained strange emotions, but rather that they seemed to radiate a powerful, penetrating force. I remembered; she had that sharp gaze before. Once was when she determined that my superpowers didn't originate from demonic blood, and another time was when she identified Agent Kong's remains as a "fallen witcher" based on fragments of his body.
Zhu Shi closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her gaze had returned to normal.
“Zhuang Cheng, let’s do as Lu Chan said and just kill that weirdo,” she said.
“He’s the second weirdo after Detective Kong. There might be a third or fourth weirdo in Saltwater City. Why don’t we try to capture him alive and interrogate him?” I said, trying to buy time while racking my brains for a “win-win solution.”
Unexpectedly, Zhu Shi revealed his plan first: "Capturing him alive is a waste of effort, and there's no need to capture him alive. I have a way to get clues from him."
"What method?" I asked, surprised.
"As long as his head remains intact when we kill him, we can then have Lu Chan use magic to extract information directly from his brain tissue," she explained.
"Didn't Lu Youxun say that method wouldn't work? The source of the monster's power would destroy that information when it disappeared." I asked, puzzled.
“I am confident that I can stop that destructive process,” she said confidently.
I knew perfectly well she wouldn't lie to me about something like this, but for a moment I still couldn't believe it: "Really?"
She nodded confidently: "Really."
That's great news!
I weighed the options in my mind—if I stubbornly insisted on carrying out the tailing plan, I would only lose Zhu Shi's trust and would no longer be able to rely on Lu Youxun's support. Moreover, even if I continued tailing, I would ultimately be at the mercy of fate, and there was no guarantee that I would be able to wait for Ma Zao. Although I believed that Ma Zao would definitely be attracted, it would be meaningless if it didn't happen within three days.
These three days are merely my countdown, not a countdown to Mazao's contact with the monster. For me right now, time is of the essence. If there's a way to extract information from its mind on the spot, it's better to just kill the monster. Even if this attempt fails, I can still try to find Mazao again with the help of Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun.
In fact, neither "tailing" nor "Zhu Shi's plan" is a completely reliable approach, but if I had to choose, the latter is more in line with my style.
"I understand." With that, I made a final check before the attack. "Just leaving the head is enough, right?"
"That's right..."
While speaking to me, Zhu Shi had already nimbly changed into a raincoat and bamboo hat, and drawn his sword.
Suddenly, she paused for a moment, realizing what she meant: "Wait a minute, are you planning to launch an attack now?"
“Yes.” I focused my gaze on the strange man.
"Isn't this my chance to shine?" she exclaimed in surprise.
It's too late, I've already launched the attack.
Incidentally, this time I don't plan to use that slow-moving skill of "igniting the opponent with my gaze." When dealing with the Fallen Witcher and Agent Kong, which I encountered for the first time, I felt that since I had finally met a supernatural opponent, I should savor the experience. But now that I've established a preliminary connection with Luo Shan, I'm not so appreciative of this kind of opponent.
In my normal form, I can actually use all the skills of my fire elemental form, and their power might not be inferior, but they just aren't as responsive. Some powerful skills that can be unleashed several or even a dozen times in a second in fire elemental form might take several seconds or even ten seconds to unleash in my normal form.
The skill I'm using against that strange person is "summoning flames directly from the enemy's body." To use this skill, I must merge my spirit into the heat of the environment surrounding the target. In fire elemental form, this is as natural as breathing air, but in normal form, it requires complete concentration.
Under my perception, the internal structure of that strange man's torso appeared clearly in my mind. Many people, after reading about human anatomy in their physiology textbooks, have probably imagined how their own torso functions; my current feeling is similar to that imagination. And in that imagined scene, I directly inserted a fireball even larger than his torso.
The consequences of an immense heat suddenly appearing in a confined space are easy to imagine.
The strange figure in the distance exploded right before my eyes.
Like fireworks bursting into full bloom, countless pieces of flesh and entrails, mixed with scorching flames, exploded in all directions, and the football field grass at night was suddenly illuminated by the dazzling flashes for a moment.
Of course, I didn't forget to keep the head. The explosion only scattered the torso, while the head rode the shockwave into the air. My vision couldn't clearly capture such a distant scene in the night, but through my own perception of the environment, I clearly saw a bewildered expression on that face. It's said that a human head can retain consciousness briefly after being severed; it seems the monster was the same.
A short while later, the monster's head slammed into the center of the soccer field like a rubber ball with no bounce. Only then did I belatedly realize that the head might have been smashed—but upon closer inspection, thankfully it wasn't. No wonder it's a body-enhanced head; it's as sturdy as a real soccer ball.
"That's it?" Zhu Shi asked, dumbfounded.
“It seems so,” I said.
"No, it's already too much to just look at someone and set them on fire, but to make them explode with just one look..." As she spoke, she seemed unable to find the words to describe it, and couldn't help but show a speechless expression, "You don't have any skills that are even more outrageous than this, do you?"
"It's not that bad..."
I don't think my skill, taken individually, is particularly complex. And to be honest, Agent Kong's skill of banishing opponents to the shadow world when he can't defeat them is also excessive.
Don't be fooled by how easily I defeated Agent Kong. If I hadn't been able to teleport myself using fire, even with the elemental transformation and other skills that Zhu Shi boasted about, I might still have been defeated by Agent Kong right there.
Through just a few brief encounters, I've come to understand that in this strange world, the key to victory isn't the magnitude of power, but also compatibility. One wrong step can lead to annihilation, and being countered can result in defeat. Lu Youxun, who once possessed unpredictable and powerful abilities, was captured, imprisoned, and studied—likely for the same reason.
However, to say I wasn't happy about Zhu Shi's gracious praise would be a lie. This was the first time I'd formally made a move in front of her, so naturally I hoped to get an extraordinary reaction and approval from her. ...Speaking of which, could she have known that doing this would make me happy and was just trying to please me? Although even if that were the case, I'd still be very happy.
Getting back to the main point, the battle is not over yet.
As mentioned earlier, there are always people more capable than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding. If you become complacent because you think you have some "outrageous skills," you might just be punished by another "outrageous skill" at any time.
And now, it seems I've actually seen such an "outrageous skill".
Just when I thought the enemy had been defeated, the strange man in front of me, who was now only a head, underwent an astonishing transformation.
He has been resurrected.
I'm not sure if I should call it a resurrection. It's like several frames were cut from a movie; he suddenly appeared in that spot, perfectly intact. There was no light or sound, and I couldn't even capture the process. The scattered fragments of the body from the distant explosion also vanished without a trace, as if he had never exploded in the first place.
And it's safe to say that most of this was within the strange man's expectations. After his resurrection, he stood there stunned for a second. It didn't seem to be confusion about his own resurrection, but rather bewilderment about the attack he had just suffered.
He immediately locked his gaze in my direction, then let out a furious roar and charged towards me.
Despite being blown to pieces just moments before, he charged forward without hesitation after confirming the enemy's location, seemingly unfazed by the damage. Clearly, he was displaying some kind of immortality ability. And not the simple, straightforward kind of immortality like "unkillable due to regenerative abilities," but a more enigmatic and mysterious power.
I recalled the blessing power that Asaho had once shown me; she had restored an empty packet of sweet soy milk to its original form right in front of me. Could this strange person before me possess the supernatural ability to reverse time?
The strange man's sprint was thwarted before he could take more than a few steps.
The moment the monster was resurrected, Zhu Shi's figure had already disappeared from my side, like a super soldier whose speed was too fast to catch.
Then a bright sword light flashed from the monster's side and rear, coldly severing his neck. Blood shot into the sky, his head fell to the ground, and only his demonic body continued to move forward due to inertia.
However, all of this vanished in the next instant. As if nothing had happened, the soaring blood and the fallen head disappeared. The demon's body, which was about to fall to the ground due to inertia, suddenly regained its balance, and the head inexplicably returned to its neck.
Zhu Shi chased closely behind him, while a shadowy hammer appeared in his hand. Without turning his head, he swung it fiercely at Zhu Shi.
(End of this chapter)
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