Because You Made Me Department Chief!

An overwhelming force slammed into the Faceless One, blasting his body into pieces that scattered in every direction!

What mycelium? What king? None of it could withstand this punch!

Li Fan stood atop the Bronze Hanging Coffin, looking down at the Faceless One's scattered remains and Huo Lei before him. His face was full of fury.

A single glance was enough to make anyone feel that his rage was about to burst forth.

Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire—anger!

Li Fan understood. Though it looked like a physical technique, this was still the mental power of Eight-Heads.

It was a violent release of mental power in the form of anger.

"What the hell are you!?" Tai Sui's many faces turned grave as they cried out in unison.

At the same time, its hands and feet moved, crawling from the altar onto the Earthen Platform Palace as it watched Li Fan warily.

On the ground, the Faceless One's shattered body writhed rapidly. In the blink of an eye, white strands of mycelium drew it back together, and he stood again.

The Faceless One was seething with rage too. Powerful anomalous mental radiation surged out, sweeping toward Li Fan like a tidal wave.

Phantoms of execution platforms appeared all around them. On each platform, a bound person endured all kinds of torture.

Cannon branding, the comb punishment, waist severing, being torn apart by chariots, flaying, death by being boiled in a cauldron, lingchi, and more.

It was as if the whole area had become a hell of punishments.

Even the slightest exposure to the anomalous mental radiation made the Cleaning Association members feel unwell.

The investigators at the edge of the underground palace, still struggling to break through the mental barrier, fared even worse. Many let out agonized screams on the spot, and wounds appeared on their bodies.

These terrifying punishments swept toward Li Fan in the form of anomalous mental radiation!

"Those who betray their sovereign and rebel deserve the harshest punishment!"

Li Fan's body twisted strangely as he slowly approached the Faceless One.

He made only the slightest sidestep, yet evaded every one of those mental attacks!

The Faceless One, however, felt the fury emanating from his opponent engulf him completely. His muddled consciousness was overcome with terror.

Compared to the other man's fury at the entire world, his so-called kingly wrath was no more than a stream before the raging ocean.

In the blink of an eye, Li Fan was standing before the Faceless One, his expression stern.

"A petty king of the mortal world dares to act so insolently? The king of ants dares to challenge me!?"

As he spoke, the eight glowing spheres hovering beside Li Fan revolved, and another merged with his head.

Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire—sorrow!

Li Fan reached out and gently brushed his palm across the Faceless One's face, almost as if caressing it.

The next moment, a burst of violent force exploded at the point of contact. The Faceless One's head jerked sharply to one side, snapping his neck and flying away!

His once deathly pale body crashed to the ground, turning red in an instant like a cooked shrimp.

Li Fan held his palm just above the Faceless One's body and immediately felt powerful mental energy surging out, drawn into his own body.

This mental energy came from everyone in Gu City who feared the legend of King Dian Li, as well as from the online viewers watching Legend of the Dian King tonight.

Normally, it wasn't easy to obtain so much mental energy.

Most of it flowed into Li Fan's subconscious.

Eight-Heads' will was greedily drinking in the energy too, letting out occasional moans of satisfaction like a thirsty woman.

"Shut up," Li Fan scolded it in his mind.

What did it think my brain was?

A new head quickly grew from the Faceless One's body, but he could no longer move. Wrinkles appeared on his face, sketching out the contours of his features.

This time, his expression wasn't angry. It was sorrowful and despairing!

He looked like a tyrannical king who had suddenly realized that, though he was the most powerful person in the world, there were gods above humanity!

Endless sorrow engulfed the Faceless One.

In the blink of an eye, his body had grown far more shriveled and withered, no longer carrying the might he'd displayed at first.

Everyone present felt the pressure from deep within their minds ease.

The mental pressure of an anomalous king had vanished.

All that remained was the terrifying pressure of the Collector.

Li Fan rolled his neck with a satisfied stretch, relishing the feeling of his whole body being cleansed by mental energy.

Then he pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his waist.

They were the handcuffs from the Prison of Suppression Stele.

The Faceless One let out a muffled roar. The remaining anomalous mental radiation expanded violently once more, preparing to unleash his final strength.

The king's curse!

"Click."

A chill settled around his wrists. The rusty handcuffs had closed around both his hands.

The curse he had just gathered vanished in an instant.

A strange force within the handcuffs could suppress his anomalous mental radiation.

Li Fan took hold of the Faceless One's hands and said earnestly, "Comrade Dian King, you're under arrest."

The outline of a mouth appeared on the Faceless One's face. He moved it a few times, but nothing came out.

He was completely stunned by what had happened.

This powerful, brutal anomaly had only just awakened within a chaotic consciousness. Now, through his own confused will, he realized that he seemed to have lost all his power.

The Cleaning Association members and Huo Lei were all utterly shocked by the scene before them.

While the Faceless One stood there dazed, the key-shaped mark on Li Fan's right hand glowed softly. The Gate of Suppression opened in an instant, and he tossed the Faceless One inside.

Since he'd been arrested, he might as well go quietly to prison.

The tremendous mental pressure from King Dian Li had now vanished completely.

The Cleaning Association members hadn't even seen what had happened. One moment the powerful anomalous king had been there; the next, he'd disappeared, as if he'd never existed!

The tide of strange Shell Currency that had been harassing them, along with the frenzied, undead corpses, instantly lost their leader and came to a halt.

They became ordinary artifacts and corpses.

Though they had long known how powerful the Collector was, only now did they realize he had many more powerful secrets they knew nothing about.

His depths were unfathomable!

Without even turning his head, Li Fan said, "You all, leave first."

The Cleaning Association members hurriedly acknowledged him and prepared to leave the now utterly silent underground palace.

The chief culprit had been eliminated, and the strongest anomaly had been dealt with effortlessly by the Collector.

A battle that had once seemed so terrifying had been resolved with ease as soon as the Collector showed his true strength.

The way he toyed with his opponents only made the Cleaning Association members revere him even more.

It was no longer simply a matter of following orders without question. His word was now absolute.

In their haste, Mother still remembered to pick up the two shriveled heads the Collector had tossed aside. She put them both in the black suitcase, then hurried away with it.

Now that King Dian Li had disappeared, the underground palace, which had been sealed off, began to loosen. The others broke through an exit and quickly fled the palace.

Li Fan gave a savage grin and turned toward Huo Lei's enormous Tai Sui body.

He moved at no great speed, but Huo Lei felt as if his body had been pinned in place. He couldn't even escape.

When Li Fan reached him, Huo Lei suddenly lurched the remains of Tai Sui's body toward him. Its many arms spread wide, trying to absorb Li Fan into itself.

Li Fan moved like lightning. Just as the Tai Sui Huo Lei controlled was about to touch him, he was already taking apart corpse after corpse and scattering them to the side.

From a distance, the remnants of Tai Sui looked like a blossoming white flower, with the falling corpses like petals.

Li Fan stood at the center of this Flower of Corpses.

In the blink of an eye, only the core of Tai Sui remained: an amalgam formed from the flesh and bones of more than a dozen corpses.

All the corpses resembled Huo Lei, and they stared at Li Fan in terror.

Feeling their fear and drinking in the mental energy steeped in it, Eight-Heads' consciousness sighed with satisfaction.

He punched, and they shattered!

One of the corpses making up the amalgam was torn away. The remaining Huo Leis all grimaced in pain.

"This is for the victims at Guangming Mall, for the boy who went to buy shoes, for the cashier who had a movie date with his girlfriend, and for the auntie who protected a child."

He punched, and another Huo Lei was destroyed!

"This is for the members of the archaeological team who died horribly, and for their families."

He punched, and more Huo Leis were destroyed!

"This is for the poor souls who disappeared on the subway, and for the lives that were twisted out of shape!"

Li Fan advanced step by step. Violent mental force surged from his fists, shattering the final amalgam.

In the blink of an eye, only one Huo Lei remained, curled up on the ground, trembling, weak and helpless.

At last, he understood why so many members of the Unity Society turned pale at the mention of the Collector.

Li Fan smiled and leaned toward Huo Lei, speaking in a low voice.

"Here's a secret: I was the one who foiled your repeated attacks on the Anomaly Bureau. I was also the one who destroyed Snake Concubine."

Huo Lei jerked his head up, utterly shocked by the revelation. He asked in a trembling voice, "Why... Why would you do this?"

Weren't they all bad guys?!

Li Fan's expression turned savage. A violent, destructive mental pressure crashed into Huo Lei as he said coldly, "Because you made me department chief!"

(I've recently noticed many readers complaining about cliffhangers. I really didn't mean to do that. You've probably noticed that I tend to end a chapter when the scene or camera shifts, then start the next chapter directly in a different scene. In a way, the chapter ending serves as a transition. But since some readers have said it makes for an uncomfortable reading experience, I'll try to improve and keep the climactic scenes together whenever possible. Thank you for your criticism and suggestions!)

Votes~~~