Stepping into the Finale 3

"I'm a Flame ability user. What's the problem with that?"

As I asked this, I remembered telling Zhu Shi about my supernatural ability. She had been shocked that I had defeated the Fallen Demon Hunter through my Flame ability.

And during my clash with the Fallen Demon Hunter, the moment he discovered that I was a Flame ability user, his wariness had immediately dropped by more than one level.

Before that, he had been taking every step cautiously, carefully using feints against an opponent whose ability was unknown to him. Yet afterward, he had boldly closed the distance. It seemed that this was not merely because the unknown had become known, but also because he genuinely believed that Flame ability was nothing impressive.

Could Zhu Shi have thought the same? But I had already told her about the battle. Since she believed the Fallen Demon Hunter was powerful, then I, who had defeated him relatively easily, should not at least have been treated as weak, right?

"The common problem among Flame ability users is a serious lack of defensive power and mobility." Agent Kong gave me the answer. "For ability users like you who manipulate natural elements, especially one like you who manipulates flames, the defining trait is extremely powerful destructive force. Once an opponent takes your attack head-on, they can easily be blown to pieces on the spot. Even if the opponent has formidable defensive power, it's merely a matter of attacking a few more times—provided they obediently stand there like a target dummy and let you hit them.

"Conversely, your margin for error when facing danger is far smaller than your opponent's. Once you embark on the path of a Demon Hunter, you'll have to face countless dangerous anomalies. Some of those anomalies can afford to make mistake after mistake in front of you; you, however, only need to make one mistake to be doomed beyond redemption.

"If you want to travel far down the path of a Demon Hunter, what matters isn't how much success you can achieve, but how much failure you can withstand."

"I see. It's a matter of margin for error..." I understood completely now. "So all I need to do is improve my defensive power and mobility, right?"

"That's what it sounds like, but it's actually very difficult. The forms of danger brought by anomalous entities are numerous. They aren't limited to physical power; there are also mental forces and curses, and even temporal, spatial, and rule-based forces, along with powers that are even harder to understand. That's why I've never envied those Demon Hunters. The world they face is far too terrifying." Agent Kong sighed. "You've personally experienced it too, haven't you? That truly helpless predicament, that despair you couldn't escape no matter what you did...

"Zhu Shi mentioned in her report that the space beneath the cave in the Fifteenth Floor room was a completely isolated alternate space. Not only could electronic signals not pass through, even supernatural connections would be severed. There seemed to be a mental connection between you and the flames you summoned. That should be the conclusion you reached through your exploration, right?"

"That's right." I recalled my experience of being trapped beneath the cave and said sympathetically, "Even with powerful strength, there are times when you can do nothing in the face of unpredictable anomalies... So is that why Zhu Shi opposed me becoming a Demon Hunter in Luoshan?"

Thinking about it, perhaps Zhu Shi had refrained from directly giving me this explanation because she was afraid of hurting my self-esteem.

"Not only that." Agent Kong thought for a moment. "Zhu Shi also deeply hates killing and bloodshed. Even so, she'll still act when she has to... In any case, a Demon Hunter's opponents aren't limited to demonic creatures and anomalies. There are also humans who manipulate magical power to commit evil. Perhaps she doesn't want you to kill anyone."

"But I've already fought the Fallen Demon Hunter?" I countered.

"That's different. First, the Fallen Demon Hunter didn't die by your hand. Second, you didn't defeat him in human form." His voice suddenly turned extremely serious. "With your supernatural ability, killing a human would be incredibly easy. There's a claim—whether it's true or not—that on the battlefields of the modern era, humans find it easier than people in ancient times to overcome the psychological burden of killing one another. Do you know what this claim is based on?"

I had never been to a battlefield, but I immediately understood his implication. "The difference in weapons?"

"Exactly. In ancient times, humans killed with swords and spears. Although ranged weapons existed, people more often had to face one another and plunge weapons into their opponents' living flesh. They even had to hear the enemy's screams up close and watch their agonized expressions. The process was extremely brutal." He spoke slowly. "In modern times, humans use firearms. Pulling the trigger is enough to take an opponent's life.

"Even more detached than the soldiers who use firearms are the powerful people in high positions. They only need to sit in an office and give an order for someone thousands of miles away to die, with even less of a psychological burden. Many powerful figures have harmed countless people—not because they were born cold-blooded demons, but because everything is too easy in their eyes. It's no different from clicking the left mouse button in a strategy game.

"What about you? As a supernatural ability user, you naturally possess 'power' even more terrifying than that of those in high positions. You don't need to move your hands or feet, or even give orders to anyone besides yourself. You only need to form a thought to take the lives of many people... Once you take the first step toward killing, can you really turn back?"

After hearing his words, I couldn't help but seriously reflect.

This was an interrogation of my own soul.

I knew very well that I possessed the power to take another person's life with a mere thought, and I had often imagined myself killing people in the past. At that moment, I simulated the scene of actually killing someone in my mind, repeatedly confirming my resolve.

But whether someone who had lived in a peaceful society could bring themselves to kill decisively at a crucial moment could not truly be confirmed until the moment arrived. And whether, after killing someone with such ease, they would become indifferent to human life and regard people as light, worthless blades of grass and specks of dust was something that could not be known without experiencing it.

As I thought about it, I noticed that Agent Kong did not seem to be waiting for my answer. Instead, he silently gazed into the distance, deeply immersed in his own thoughts.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed my mind. His question did not apply only to me; it applied equally to the Demon Hunters as a whole. Didn't they, like me, possess "power more terrifying than that of those in high positions"?

Perhaps not all of them possessed power like mine, which could turn a human into ashes with ease, but they should have all kinds of methods, such as mental manipulation and curse attacks. Since ancient times, whenever many grassroots heroes rose to power, they would claim that auspicious omens had descended from heaven. Any slight element of coincidence in their achievements would be glorified as the mandate of Heaven, beautified into proof that an unimaginable existence had favored them. That was how they won the support of countless superstitious followers.

If even fraud and fabrication could have such an effect, what about Demon Hunters who truly wielded supernatural powers?

Why, given the existence of a supernatural organization like Luoshan, had history still been dominated by ordinary people? Wouldn't it be more reasonable for the current political system to be dominated by "supernatural beings"? It wasn't that supernatural beings were necessarily better than ordinary people at governing a country. It was just difficult to understand how ordinary people could possibly compete with them in the struggle for power and profit.

To this day, I had never heard of a Demon Hunter causing enormous turmoil in society. That meant a powerful restraining force was keeping them in check.

Was that restraining force Luoshan? If so, how did Luoshan's Demon Hunters ensure that they themselves would not become the source of unrest?

According to Zhu Shi, Luoshan seemed to have fallen into disturbing turmoil recently...

I didn't know whether I was overthinking things because of our current conversational setting, but it seemed as though I could smell a storm approaching.

As an outsider, I had no grounds to investigate Luoshan's internal affairs. Even when I had previously asked why Luoshan concealed information about anomalous incidents from the general public, Zhu Shi had been vague.

It seemed that I still had to become a Demon Hunter first before I could unlock more clues.

Agent Kong pulled his gaze back from the distance, then smiled and said in a tone meant to ease the serious atmosphere, "After saying all that, I actually still hope that you can join Luoshan."

I immediately focused on him. "Why?"

"I'm Luoshan's probe. Unearthing promising Demon Hunters from among the populace is part of my job, but that's secondary. More importantly, I hope Zhu Shi can become your guide, while you stand beside her and help her." His expression softened. "As someone who bears the mission of hunting demons, she's far less strong than she believes herself to be. She's afraid of bleeding herself, and afraid of her opponents bleeding. Even when she kills bad people, she still can't bear it... She's simply too naïve and fragile. If you can support her emotionally, that would be ideal."

"She's my friend's younger sister. If she ever falls into danger, I'll naturally do everything I can to help her," I replied seriously.

"That's good." He nodded happily. "Before long, I'll be transferred to another region. With you looking after her, I'll be at ease."

As we spoke, we had already left the residential district far behind and arrived on the streets near Xianshui University. It was still rush hour. Traffic streamed along the roads, with many pedestrians and students passing by. Breakfast carts were also parked at the intersections, selling hand-grabbed pancakes and hamburgers.

Our conversation involved a great deal of mysterious information unknown to the general public. Yet Agent Kong didn't care whether passersby overheard us, so I relaxed and spoke freely as well. Obviously, even if pedestrians heard what we were saying, they could never take it seriously. Demon Hunters and supernatural ability users were nothing but fantastical, fictional concepts to those who knew nothing of the truth.

Although I was walking through this familiar scenery filled with the atmosphere of ordinary daily life, I suddenly began to develop a real sense that I was "separate from everything in normal society."

This was a taste of loneliness completely different from being isolated beneath the cave.

"Agent Kong, may I ask you something?"

"As long as it isn't something I can't answer," Agent Kong replied.

"It's about the time you pretended to be a police officer."

"Ahem..." An embarrassed look appeared on his face again. "Hasn't that topic already ended?"

"No, I'm not trying to tease you... I want to ask about the girl you accused of being a Serial Killer." I was speechless for a moment before continuing. "I asked Zhu Shi about it before. She said it was a mission you were responsible for and that she couldn't reveal any more information, so I came to ask you.

"Why is Luoshan looking for that girl? Who exactly is she?"