It's Heating Up

Damn it. You're so sure you can catch me?

That's a hell of a claim!

Chen Feng knew the director had to be far stronger than the Nurse or Professor Sheep. But the man's attitude—as if Chen Feng wasn't even there, as if he already had him—still pissed him off.

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

"Don't worry about food. There are snacks and drinks on the Internet Cafe's first floor, and money in the register. If we have to, we can buy a few cases of instant noodles and sausages from the Supermarket next door. Lasting a month won't be a problem."

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

The fat guy thought he'd misheard. "Holy shit. Playing computer games in an Internet Cafe, eating snacks and drinking soda every day—and you're asking if we can stand it? 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."

Uneasy, Li Guolong asked, "Then what about all the students they took back? Are we just going to sit here and do nothing?"

The fat guy cut in, "Want us to stand up instead?"

Li Guolong glared at him, and he promptly shut his mouth.

Chen Feng had thought about Li Guolong's question.

He had no lofty belief that great power came with great responsibility. But even if he wasn't doing it to save anyone, Professor Sheep had killed him twice. He couldn't let that go.

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

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

After the Trio went to play games, She Qingqing asked Chen Feng, "You're still going after them in a month?"

Of course!

Chen Feng nodded. He planned to spend Points to activate a month of the B-Rank Hero Training Plan.

Once he'd mastered it, he'd carve Professor Sheep into lamb skewers and pound that Dean Ox into meatballs.

She Qingqing sighed. "I hope you succeed."

Chen Feng heard what she wasn't saying. "You're leaving?"

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

"Going home?"

In a rare moment of humor, She Qingqing said, "To a temple, to be precise. I have a run-down one in the Deep Mountains."

Chen Feng hadn't expected her to joke. He laughed too. "Seeing through the mortal world, are you? Not inviting me this time?"

"I could invite you. My abandoned Bodhisattva Temple is a little run-down, but it's safe. If you want meat, we can catch wild chickens in the mountains and fish in the river. We could even grow our own food..."

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

Chen Feng fell silent.

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

Honestly, the idea was tempting.

But then he thought of those scenes:

The Skin Forest he'd seen the first time he went up to the third floor.

The footprints that had appeared out of nowhere in the water when the Water Ghost first chased him.

And Zhu Xianxian, whose body had erupted with countless spiders; Professor Sheep, whose smile never reached his eyes... on and on it went.

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

I enjoy the thrill of gambling with my life.

She Qingqing was born disliking violence and preferred a quiet life. Chen Feng was drawn to danger and relished the excitement. They were never going to walk the same path.

"Until we meet again, Qingqing."

She Qingqing stuck out her long tongue. "Fine. In a hundred years, when you're dead, I'll come tend your grave."

Tch!

Once I unlock the Cultivation System, we'll see who tends whose grave.

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 honk downstairs.

Sounds like someone's here!

To be safe, Chen Feng carefully pulled back a corner of the curtain and looked down. Four people in white coats were getting out of a van. Ignoring the seal posted on the Internet Cafe's entrance, they started prying up the metal roll-up door.

"They really found us."

"Can one of them predict things? Or did they mark us somehow?"

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

"Shut those computers down! Take one key each and follow me to the third floor."

"Quick, move!"

They thundered up the stairs. When they looked up, they saw human skins scattered throughout the room.

"Ah!"

With a scream, Yellow Hair, the least able to handle the sight, fainted on the spot.

The fat guy had never seen anything like it. Trembling, he asked, "B-B-Brother Feng, I thought the third floor was all sand and wood. How did it turn into this?"

Chen Feng told him not to worry. "The monster here died ages ago. Even its first seven days after death have passed. It's perfectly safe."

The fat guy 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 won't get in without a key."

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

Li Guolong assured him, "No. We came in late at night. There wasn't anyone 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 turned uneasy.

Only after Chen Feng pressed him did he learn that Li Guolong had posted several messages online exposing what went on inside the Academy, warning people not to send their children there.

Damn it, you idiot!

Chen Feng kicked Li Guolong to the floor. "Monsters took over this city ages ago! Doing that was practically handing yourself over to them!"

"Tell me!"

"Are you trying to get us all killed?"

The fat guy hurried to plead for him. "Brother Feng, don't be angry! Guolong meant well. He knows he was wrong. He is a sinner, his sins are grave, his deeds are unjust, his acts are without compassion..."

"Stop, stop, stop."

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

But then Chen Feng found he couldn't control his own mouth either. Nonsense spilled out. "My sins are grave, my deeds are unjust, my acts are without compassion..."

Li Guolong continued, "The end. The end of everything. The world's final hour is coming."

Even the unconscious Yellow Hair murmured in his sleep, "As sinners, only by burning away every sin under the Holy Cow's witness can we enter Heaven."

The Holy Cow's witness? Cow? Could that be Dean Ox?

This is bad.

Chen Feng covered his mouth, but the words still slipped between his fingers.

Damn it! I'm hiding in another space, and they can still get me?

Chen Feng suddenly felt heat spreading through his body. The temperature around him began to climb rapidly.

What's happening?

Chen Feng noticed that flames had suddenly sprung up on the fat guy, who had been the first to finish chanting.

He was on fire!

The instant the fat guy realized it, terror filled his eyes. He slapped at his body, trying to put out the flames, but it did no good. He tried to call to the others for help, yet his throat produced nothing but the chant.

Soon, flames sprang up on Chen Feng too.

Nothing hit me. No fireball or anything. But I'm burning anyway.

So the chant makes us burst into flames!

As the thought flashed through his mind, Chen Feng activated Sandevistan without hesitation.

Za Warudo!

With time slowed, the flames on Chen Feng's body seemed to freeze in place.

If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well take him down with me!

Enduring the searing pain, Chen Feng sprinted downstairs. He meant to try killing the director before he burned to death.

After activating Sandevistan twice in succession, Chen Feng made it to the first floor.

Sure enough, the four White Coats were there, muttering incantations.

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.

Their real bodies are this weak?

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

And his mouth still hadn't stopped chanting. "My sins are grave, my deeds are unjust, my acts are without compassion."

Their ability still works after death? Some kind of death curse?

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