I Warn You Not to Go Too Far

Fang Cheng strongly demanded that Kanzaki Rin take him to a barbecue restaurant, or perhaps a hot pot place.

Not long after his resurrection, a tidal wave of hunger crashed over him, leaving him barely able to stand and in desperate need of food to replenish his stamina.

However, Kanzaki Rin sternly rejected Fang Cheng's request, citing the need to handle the aftermath of the incident.

This reason was irrefutable, though she did have a bit of a selfish motive—she had suffered heavy losses this time and still had to pay for the rapid-freezing machine; her wallet was essentially hemorrhaging money.

Her money didn't fall from the sky, and she couldn't just let Fang Cheng squander it like that.

"But I'm so hungry I can't even walk... You said you'd foot the bill for post-battle nutritional replenishment; that's the foundation of our cooperation... You can't go back on your word."

Fang Cheng lay flat on the ground, protesting.

Kanzaki Rin crossed her arms and explained, "I only rejected your unreasonable extravagance; I didn't say I wouldn't pay for your nutritional replenishment."

Fang Cheng lifted his head weakly: "Then how are you going to replenish my nutrition? Let's get this straight, SEX is not a form of nutritional replenishment..."

Kanzaki Rin kicked Fang Cheng to cut off his sexual harassment, then turned and walked toward the shredded sedan.

The car had been sliced into pieces by Kuroishi Yuto, but the contents of the trunk were largely undamaged.

Kanzaki Rin rummaged through it, pulled out a sealed bag, returned to Fang Cheng, and opened it to reveal a pile of small, square, individually wrapped items.

Fang Cheng felt a sense of foreboding: "What is this stuff?"

"Military-grade compressed biscuits and energy bars. I prepared them specifically for you."

Kanzaki Rin's tone carried a hint of smugness. She knew full well that Fang Cheng would need to replenish his nutrition after a fight, so she had secretly prepared these cheap yet practical rations.

It wasn't just high-end barbecue that could fill a stomach; junk food worked just as well.

Fang Cheng raged: "Do you have any conscience at all? I risked my life and limb, and you're feeding me this?"

Kanzaki Rin squatted down and tore open an energy bar for Fang Cheng: "Enough nonsense. Eat up, and let's go home."

"I won't eat it! I want barbecue! I want hot pot!"

"I'll feed you."

"Do you think feeding me is some great favor? I'm not a pig, I don't need you to—mmph!!"

Fang Cheng ultimately faced reality and finished off all the compressed biscuits and energy bars.

Surprisingly, the energy bars didn't taste half bad.

Moreover, despite the small portion size, they completely filled his stomach and eliminated the hunger.

What excuse did he have left to bleed the rich dry?

After replenishing his stamina, the two parted ways.

Kanzaki Rin had to stay behind to handle the aftermath; the dozen or so dismembered bikers and the women Kuroishi Yuto had captured were all quite troublesome matters.

She had to contact the Disaster Countermeasure Department to deal with it. Fang Cheng staying behind wouldn't help and would only risk exposing his identity, so he had no choice but to leave first.

Since the car was shredded, Fang Cheng had to take one of the bikers' motorcycles to leave.

He held a critical view of taking things from the dead and felt quite embarrassed about it.

The only pity was that he couldn't take more of them.

After changing into the clothes Kanzaki Rin had brought, Fang Cheng rode the motorcycle home.

Once he entered the city, he was targeted by police patrol drones several times due to his excessive speed, but fortunately, he had the Countermeasure Department ID Kanzaki Rin had given him. He could travel with the permit and didn't have to be hauled off to the Traffic Bureau for driving while underage.

It was past four in the morning when he finally returned home.

After showering, Fang Cheng didn't rush to sleep; instead, he began testing his two newly acquired abilities.

The first was Short-Range Dash, which could drastically increase his speed over short distances and could even be activated consecutively. Its only drawback was that it consumed stamina rapidly, making it impossible to use for long periods.

The second ability was Steel Blood. Kuroishi Yuto had been able to beat Fang Cheng so badly precisely because of this power.

Steel Blood, as the name implied, was the ability to solidify blood into a substance as hard as steel.

Fang Cheng grabbed a fruit knife from the kitchen, sliced his fingertip, and let the crimson blood drip out.

He immediately activated the 'Steel Blood' ability. The bead of blood on his fingertip solidified rapidly, turning into a red crystal identical to the ones Kuroishi Yuto used.

"So hard!"

Fang Cheng tested it with the fruit knife and found the crystal was indeed as hard as steel; no matter how he scraped or sawed at it with the blade, he couldn't leave a single mark.

The crystal solidified into a droplet shape. Fang Cheng liquefied it again and then struggled to solidify it into a spike, just like Kuroishi Yuto had.

After working up a sweat, Fang Cheng finally succeeded in solidifying the crystal into a spike.

[Steel Blood (Training) +1]

Seeing the notification, Fang Cheng was stunned. Could these absorbed abilities also be improved through training?

Then why didn't Advanced Olfaction... Oh, Fang Cheng realized he hadn't trained his Advanced Olfaction at all since getting it, so naturally, there wouldn't be a notification.

He tried Short-Range Dash again, and sure enough, after using it a few times, a Training +1 notification appeared.

This discovery filled Fang Cheng with joy. If he could improve as quickly as he did with combat techniques, his combat power would see a massive boost in a very short time.

However, after trying a few times, Fang Cheng had to abandon the idea of a quick fix; while the Short-Range Dash was manageable, training Steel Blood was far too difficult.

It seemed that long-term practice was required to build up enough proficiency to reach Kuroishi Yuto's level.

Previously, Fang Cheng had been curious why Kuroishi Yuto didn't forge the crystals into armor for defense, as doing so would have increased the difficulty of killing him a hundredfold.

Now that he had obtained this ability, Fang Cheng finally understood: it wasn't that Kuroishi Yuto didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

To make the crystals form armor for close-range defense required an extremely high level of precision and focus.

Kuroishi Yuto hadn't been a vampire for very long, so he couldn't manipulate Steel Blood with such finesse, leaving him capable of only creating crude spikes.

Fortunately, Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin had taken Kuroishi Yuto out at that point in time.

If he had been given more time to grow stronger, the question wouldn't have been whether they could kill him, but whether they could even escape if they ran into him.

Regardless, Steel Blood was an ability with incredibly high development potential.

For Fang Cheng, it was like hitting the jackpot.

He used to envy Kanzaki Rin's superpower, but now he had no need for that, as he could obtain even more and better abilities.

After fiddling with it for a while longer, Fang Cheng began his daily training.

He trained until past eight in the morning, and only after securing his 1 point of physical fitness did Fang Cheng tiredly collapse into his bedding and fall into a deep sleep.

He slept for a full day and night, not waking until the next morning when the incessant ringing of the doorbell finally roused him.

He went to open the door while yawning, only to see Kanzaki Rin standing outside holding a bag of duck blood.

She was dressed simply and wore light makeup, yet she was still radiant and youthful; it was no wonder that the people who liked her could form a line stretching from Edogawa all the way to Shinjuku.

Seeing Fang Cheng open the door, Kanzaki Rin was about to greet him.

Her expression changed instantly, as if she were looking at a pervert with exhibitionist tendencies.

"What are you looking at?"

Fang Cheng scratched himself casually. "Never seen it before?"

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

"You're crazy. Even if you wanted to see, I wouldn't let you."

Kanzaki Rin suddenly raised her hand.

Fang Cheng was startled. "I'm warning you, don't go too far!"

Kanzaki Rin let out a cold snort, pushed him aside, and walked through the door, acting as if she weren't in someone else's home at all.

After Fang Cheng brushed his teeth and washed his face, he came out to find Kanzaki Rin had already tied up her long hair, prepped the duck blood, and taken the vermicelli out of the fridge to soak.

Kanzaki Rin could cook as well, though it was hard to say whose culinary skills were superior compared to Fang Cheng's.

Fang Cheng only liked to cook dishes from his hometown, while Kanzaki Rin excelled at Japanese cuisine, and both felt their own skills were a cut above.

It seemed Kanzaki Rin intended to show off her skills today by making a Japanese-style duck blood vermicelli soup.

Fang Cheng didn't plan on helping; he sat on the sofa and began trimming his toenails with scissors, asking casually, "How did the cleanup go yesterday?"

Kanzaki Rin, who was busy chopping green onions, didn't turn her head. "It was the day before yesterday. Are you muddled from sleeping?"

Fang Cheng pulled out his phone to check, only to realize with shock that he had slept for an entire day and night.

He rubbed his face in annoyance, having wasted a chance to "freeload" some physical fitness.

"How did the cleanup go the day before yesterday?"

"Everything went smoothly."

"Then when do we continue?"

Fang Cheng was already a bit hooked; killing a vampire to gain abilities and resurrection counts was far more exhilarating than playing any game.

Moreover, the longer things dragged on, the stronger the vampires would become. Fang Cheng now agreed with Kanzaki Rin's opinion: they had to nip the danger in the bud as soon as possible.

Kanzaki Rin's movements paused slightly. After a long moment, she said softly, "We need to pause for a while. If things go well, we might not need to take action ourselves ever again."

Thanks to Wo Shi Zhu Pi E Ba and Mysterious Peruser for the tips, (^▽^)