Two of a Kind

Night fell.

A graveyard.

A bonfire.

A row of scooters.

A ghost story.

"My biological dad drove a big truck. One year during Tomb-Sweeping Festival, he went alone to visit that old undead's grave. It was raining, and the ground was full of ruts from big trucks. Every step was hard to take."

A girl with an edgy style told the story with great gusto, the flickering flames casting shifting shadows across her heavily made-up face.

"That old cheapskate wouldn't even pay for a bus ticket, so he walked all the way to my place."

"As he walked, he started feeling like something was off. It was too quiet around him. There wasn't a single insect or bird calling, just gusts of cold wind, like someone was blowing on the back of his neck..."

The girl wasn't very educated, but surprisingly, she was a master at telling ghost stories.

And with the graveyard already creepy enough on its own, the atmosphere she conjured up was all the more terrifying.

"Maybe you should stop telling it."

One of the guys with an edgy style rubbed his goosebumps, looking uneasy. "I heard there are demon beasts around here. We should head back."

His words immediately drew jeers from the others.

"You're this scared and you still want to ride a scooter?"

"What's there to be afraid of? I was born with an iron backbone. Demon beasts wouldn't dare act up around me!"

"Like a fierce tiger down the mountain fighting a pack of wolves, a young man's nature is wilder than the sky. Cowards don't deserve to be my bros!"

After getting mocked by his bros, the guy's face grew hot. He sat down, swearing under his breath. "Who the hell's scared? A real man wouldn't even blink at a demon beast!"

The ghost story continued. In the girl's vivid telling, her poor old father felt someone behind him, so he ran for his life. He finally made it out of the graveyard, and just as he turned around, still shaken—

"Hey."

"AAAH!!!"

The sudden voice scared the guys half to death. One unlucky fellow bolted toward the bonfire and yelped when he got burned.

Xu Fang: "..."

Was I really that scary?

Raising his voice a little, Xu Fang asked, "What are you guys doing here so late at night?"

Only then did the guys realize he was a living person. They climbed to their feet, cursing. "The hell! Are you crazy? I can go wherever I want. What's it to you?"

"Yeah! It's the middle of the night, and you're all wrapped up like that. Think you're some big star?"

Xu Fang couldn't be bothered to argue with Muggles. It was beneath him.

"The Hunter's Alliance has issued a Light Alert. There are demon beasts active in this area, and ordinary people aren't allowed in. Hurry up and leave."

One of the guys boasted, "Demon beasts are nothing. People online say all you need to do when you meet one is a sliding tackle, and you'll have dinner for tonight."

Xu Fang was speechless.

Why was there always some weirdo like this in every world?

"So you're a mage, then?" The girl who'd told the story sidled up to him. "Give me your contact info. We can hang out sometime."

She put extra emphasis on the word "hang out." She'd been around for years, but she'd never had a taste of what a mage was like.

She wondered if he was good in bed.

The girl took out her phone to add Xu Fang as a contact. The instant the screen lit up, Xu Fang's expression changed drastically. "Turn off your phone!"

"Screeeee!"

A sharp, urgent squeal rang out. A nearby grave mound burst apart, and a massive Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat charged at them.

Demon beasts were unusually sensitive to humans' electronic devices. The Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat had probably been asleep before suddenly being woken up for a midnight snack.

"Radiance!"

Xu Fang raised a hand and cast a purification spell, halting the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat's charge. He turned and shouted, "You idiots, run!"

The guys were already frozen with fear, standing rooted to the spot.

They'd been protected by the country too well. They'd only ever seen terrifying demon beasts through a screen. How could they have ever seen the real thing?

The Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat's massive body, its sharp teeth, and its extendable, sanity-destroying head left them with an indelible psychological scar.

"The demon beast only eats the slowest one!"

Xu Fang shouted again, and that yell snapped them all out of it.

The guys who'd just been saying that brotherhood was everything scrambled onto their scooters and sped off, terrified that if they were a second too late, they'd turn into rat droppings by morning.

"Brrrm, brrrm, brrrm..."

As the scooters disappeared into the distance, Xu Fang could finally focus on dealing with the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat in front of him.

"Let's try out my new skill on you!" In Xu Fang's Spiritual World, the Golden Star Seeds and the red Star Ring lit up at the same time.

He poured in magical energy!

The Star Path appeared!

A crimson-gold Star Path spiraled around Xu Fang, making him seem as imposing as a Heavenly God in the darkness. Too bad the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat was the only audience. The others were running for their lives toward the city.

"Go!"

Crimson-gold light replaced the Radiance spell from before, enveloping the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat.

Unlike his previous, gentle method of killing demon beasts, the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat let out a shriek of unearthly agony the instant it touched the light. Through the glow, wisps of flame could be seen burning across its body.

Two and a half seconds.

It took only two and a half seconds for the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat to go to its eternal rest. It didn't even leave a speck behind.

"Damn! Seriously?"

Xu Fang was speechless. The Hunter's Alliance had only one standard for determining whether a mission was complete: the demon beast's corpse.

After all, talk was cheap. Without a corpse, how could you prove you'd killed a demon beast?

Besides, demon beast corpses were valuable from head to toe. Mages were happy to let the Hunter's Alliance handle them in exchange for some extra income.

Smack! The fun was over just like that.

"Guess this trip was for nothing... Wait!" Xu Fang froze. He could feel a layer of crimson light circling his seven Star Seeds, though he had no idea when it had appeared.

As the golden light pulsed, the crimson glow turned gold and merged into the Star Seeds.

"This is... the Giant-Eyed Stinky Rat's Remnant Soul!"

It was the only explanation that made sense. Xu Fang had never expected his fusion skill to be able to devour Remnant Souls.

"Looks like I made a killing."

"I'll call this move Crimson Fire Light Array."

Whether a skill was strong mattered for a while. Whether its name sounded cool mattered forever. He couldn't call it something like "Supernatural Light," a name fit for a monk, just because it was more accurate!

If Radiance was like regularly taking eggs from the chicken coop, then Crimson Fire Light Array was like stewing the mother hen along with the eggs—brutal, but nourishing.

Xu Fang was thoroughly satisfied. He was just about to ride his bicycle home and go to sleep when he heard the sound of scooters again.

The guys had come back. They twisted their throttles all the way, and with their mufflers removed, their scooters roared like planes taking off as they headed toward Xu Fang.

What was going on?

Xu Fang frowned. Were these guys really trying to get themselves killed?

He was just about to scare them with a burst of fire so they'd hurry up and get lost when the guys spotted him and let out miserable howls.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!"

"Mage, help us!"

"There's a wolf! There's a wolf in the western district! A one-eyed wolf!"

"Qiangzi's dead! His brains are splattered everywhere!"

"Please save me! I don't want to die!"

The bonfire hadn't burned out yet. Their faces were spattered with blood!