The Fire Was Lit

Damn it. He was sure he could catch me?

What a load of crap!

Chen Feng knew the Director had to be far stronger than the Nurse or Professor Sheep, but the way he acted as though Chen Feng was already in his grasp still pissed him off.

After thinking it over, Chen Feng told the others, "Every Imposter in the city is hunting us now. Let's keep a low profile for the next month. At the very least, we should wait until things die down."

"Don't worry about food. The first floor of the Internet Cafe has snacks and drinks, and there's money in the register. If we have to, we can buy a few cases of instant noodles and sausages from the supermarket next door. Getting through a month won't be a problem."

"I just don't know if you can stand staying inside for a whole month."

Fatty thought he'd misheard. "Are you kidding? Playing games at an Internet Cafe, eating snacks, and drinking soda every day—and I'm supposed to endure that? Even an emperor couldn't ask for more."

Yellow Hair's eyes lit up too. "Forget a month. I could stay here forever!"

Only Li Guolong asked, "Brother Feng, aren't you going to report this to my dad?"

Right. I forgot about that.

Chen Feng explained, "Your dad won't believe us about the monsters."

Li Guolong looked uneasy. "Then are we just going to sit here and do nothing about all the students they took back?"

Fatty quipped, "Would standing up help?"

Li Guolong shot Fatty a glare, and Fatty promptly shut his mouth.

Chen Feng had given Li Guolong's question some thought.

He didn't believe that greater power came with greater responsibility. But even if he set rescuing people aside, Professor Sheep had killed him twice. There was no way he could let that go.

Chen Feng made him a promise. "Give me one month."

Li Guolong bowed solemnly. "Brother Feng, on behalf of everyone trapped at the academy, thank you."

After the Trio went off to play games, She Qingqing asked Chen Feng, "Are you going back to settle the score with them in a month?"

Of course!

Chen Feng nodded. He planned to spend points to activate the month-long B-Rank Hero Training Plan.

Once he had mastered it, he would turn Professor Sheep into lamb skewers and pound that Dean Ox into beef balls.

She Qingqing sighed. "I hope you succeed."

Chen Feng caught her meaning. "You're leaving?"

She Qingqing nodded. "Yes. You knocked me out once, but you also saved my life. We're even."

"Are you going home?"

She Qingqing made a rare joke. "To a temple, actually. I have a run-down one in the Deep Mountains."

Chen Feng hadn't expected her to joke, so he smiled too. "Given up on worldly life? Not inviting me this time?"

"I could invite you. My abandoned Bodhisattva Temple is a little shabby, but it's safe. If you want meat, we can catch wild chickens in the mountains and fish in the river. We could grow crops, too..."

When she finished, She Qingqing turned her gauze-covered eyes toward Chen Feng. "But you won't say yes, will you?"

Chen Feng fell silent.

Run away with a beautiful Demoness and live a peaceful life like something out of The Peach Blossom Spring?

Honestly, the idea tempted him.

But then he thought of everything he'd seen:

The Skin Forest when he first went up to the third floor.

The footprints appearing out of nowhere in the flooded hallway when the Water Ghost first chased him.

And Zhu Xianxian bursting with spiders, Professor Sheep's smile that never reached his eyes... The list went on.

Those horrors could have haunted him for life. Yet when Chen Feng recalled them now, he felt no fear. His heart raced, and adrenaline surged through him.

I'm enjoying the thrill of gambling with my life.

She Qingqing had no taste for killing and wanted a quiet life. Chen Feng, on the other hand, was drawn to danger and craved excitement. They were never going to walk the same path.

"See you if fate allows, Qingqing."

She Qingqing flicked out her long tongue. "Sure. In a hundred years, when you're dead, I'll come sweep your grave."

Tch!

Once I unlock the Cultivation System, we'll see whose grave gets swept.

After seeing She Qingqing off, Chen Feng summoned the system.

[Save successful!]

[You have spent points to activate the B-Rank Hero Training Plan. For one month, complete 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run every day.]

[Push-ups +1. Current total: 1]

[Push-ups +1. Current total: 2]

...

[Kilometers run +1. Current total: 8]

[Kilometers run +1. Current total: 9]

Chen Feng was running back and forth along the second-floor corridor when he suddenly heard a horn outside.

Someone's here!

Cautious, Chen Feng pulled back a corner of the curtain and looked down. Four people in white coats were climbing out of a van. Ignoring the seal posted on the Internet Cafe's entrance, they began prying open the metal roller shutter.

"They really found us."

"Was it a prediction ability? Or did they mark us somehow?"

Chen Feng had no time to think. He hurriedly told the three at the computers:

"Turn off the computers! Take a key each and follow me to the third floor."

"Quick! Move!"

They raced up the stairs. As soon as they reached the third floor, they saw human skins strewn across the room.

"Ah!"

With a scream, Yellow Hair, who had the weakest nerves, fainted on the spot.

Fatty had never seen anything like it. Trembling, he asked, "B-B-Brother Feng, I thought the third floor was full of sand and timber. How did it turn into this?"

"Don't be scared," Chen Feng told him. "The monster here died ages ago. Even its seventh-day mourning is over. It's perfectly safe."

Fatty looked at the bloodstains and human skins covering the floor. "Brother Feng, are you sure?"

Chen Feng nodded. "Absolutely. No matter how powerful that director or professor is, they can forget about getting in without a key."

That reminded Chen Feng of something. "An Imposter caught me outside the Internet Cafe once, but those things have no intelligence. The hospital shouldn't know we're hiding here. Did anyone see you come in?"

"No," Li Guolong said firmly. "We came in late at night. There wasn't a soul on the street."

Huh? Then that's strange.

Chen Feng eyed them suspiciously. "You didn't do anything else while you were on the computers, did you?"

Li Guolong seemed to remember something, and his expression stiffened.

After Chen Feng pressed him, he learned that Li Guolong had posted several messages online exposing what went on inside the internet-addiction academy and warning people not to send their children there.

Fuck. Idiot!

Chen Feng kicked Li Guolong to the floor. "Monsters took over this city long ago! Posting that was like handing yourself over to them!"

"Tell me!"

"Are you trying to get us all killed?"

Fatty rushed to plead for him. "Brother Feng, don't be angry! Guolong meant well. He knows he was wrong. He's a sinner, his sins are grave, his deeds are unjust, his actions devoid of mercy..."

"Stop, stop, stop."

Chen Feng was baffled. "Fatty, what the hell are you talking about?"

But just then, Chen Feng found he couldn't control his own mouth either. Nonsense spilled out of it. "My sins are grave, my deeds are unjust, my actions devoid of mercy..."

Li Guolong continued, "Doomsday. The end of all things. The end of the world is coming."

Even the unconscious Yellow Hair murmured in his sleep, "As sinners, only by burning away every sin before the Holy Cow can we reach heaven."

Before the Holy Cow? Cow? Could that mean Dean Ox?

This is bad.

Chen Feng clapped a hand over his mouth, but the words still slipped through his fingers.

Damn it! I'm hiding in another space, and his power still reached me?

Chen Feng suddenly felt hot all over. The temperature around him began to climb rapidly.

What's happening?

Chen Feng noticed flames springing up on Fatty, who had finished reciting the words first.

He was on fire!

Fatty's eyes filled with terror. He slapped at his body, trying to put out the flames, but it was no use. He tried to call to the others for help, yet nothing came from his throat except that ceaseless chant.

Soon, flames leaped up from Chen Feng's body too.

Nothing hit me. No fireball, nothing. But I'm burning anyway.

So reciting those words makes us spontaneously combust!

Chen Feng activated the Sandevistan without hesitation.

Za Warudo!

As time slowed, the flames on Chen Feng's body seemed to freeze.

I'm dead either way. Might as well fight him!

Enduring the searing pain, Chen Feng sprinted downstairs. He would try to kill the Director before he burned to death.

After activating the Sandevistan twice in succession, Chen Feng reached the first floor.

Sure enough, four people in white coats stood there, muttering under their breath.

Which one is Dean Ox?

With no time to spare, Chen Feng stopped worrying about it. He punched each of them once.

Strangely, all four were pathetically weak. One punch each shattered their skulls and killed them.

His real body was that weak?

Chen Feng deactivated the Sandevistan, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he realized the flames on his body hadn't vanished. They were burning hotter than ever.

And his mouth was still chanting. "My sins are grave, my deeds are unjust, my actions devoid of mercy."

He can use his ability after death? Some kind of dying curse?

Still baffled, Chen Feng burned to a heap of charcoal.