"S."
"B."
"Not bad, Denji. You actually know the English alphabet?"
"Only a few letters. But what does that mean?"
"Sweet baby."
"I don't get it."
"Ino will tell you what it means when he wakes up."
Meng Fan casually tossed the dagger aside.
Then he got into the car.
"Get in. We'll drive over."
"Ino said I couldn't drive it. If it gets damaged, he'll definitely blame me."
"Besides, if he finds out I drove his car, he'll probably give me trouble again."
"Suit yourself."
He floored the accelerator.
The car shot off.
Leaving Denji standing there alone.
"This Honda's pretty decent. I'll just drive it away after we kill the devil."
It only took a few dozen seconds.
The car raced up to the vegetable garden's fence.
"Woof, woof!"
"Oh, how'd you end up in the car?"
"Perfect. I didn't bring a weapon, so let me borrow you."
Meng Fan opened the rear door, intending to use Pochita as a weapon.
But Pochita hadn't forgotten that Meng Fan had eaten all the bread.
And remained hostile toward him.
Just as Meng Fan's hand was about to make contact.
Pochita suddenly bit him.
"Hey, don't touch my Pochita."
Denji came running up, panting.
"You've wasted all your stamina running. How are you going to beat the devil now?"
"Because you wouldn't give me a ride, that's how."
Denji scooped Pochita up and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, are you devil hunters?"
A man in his thirties hurried over.
"That's right. We're top-tier devil hunters."
"Thank goodness. Please, hurry and save my wife."
The Vegetable Garden man pleaded desperately, his face miserable.
"Of course. No problem."
"She's stuck inside the Cucumber Devil's body right now. If you don't save her soon, she'll die."
The man was so frantic he was on the verge of tears.
The countryside was different from the city.
Devils in rural areas generally weren't very strong.
So people always contacted Independent Devil Hunters to deal with them.
Only when a powerful, troublesome devil appeared.
Would the Public Safety Devil Hunters send someone out.
"Go on, Denji. Deal with that cucumber."
"You don't have to tell me."
"Let's go, Pochita."
Denji yanked the pull cord behind Pochita's rump.
A blond boy wearing an eyepatch sprinted forward, holding a chainsaw aloft.
The Cucumber Devil stood seven meters tall and three meters thick.
Like a massive tree.
It was rampaging through the vegetable garden.
Paying no attention to the humans nearby.
Denji wasn't afraid in the slightest.
Treating cutting a cucumber just like cutting down a tree.
He charged at the Cucumber Devil's back, swinging the chainsaw.
The saw plunged straight in, and green juice sprayed from the wound.
Denji had intended to drag the saw through the wound and cut the Cucumber Devil in two.
But the man nearby suddenly shouted urgently, "Stop! My wife's still inside its body! Don't hurt her!"
That made Denji stop instantly.
Having someone inside the cucumber undoubtedly made things harder.
"Ah! That hurts like hell!"
"Damn brat! You're not even afraid of me!"
The Cucumber Devil hadn't expected a human to dare ambush it.
It turned and slapped Denji away.
Meng Fan happened to catch him as he landed.
"How can you let yourself get distracted in a fight? Even if there's someone inside, you have to keep cutting."
"Are you trying to kill my wife?!"
The Vegetable Garden man roared the instant he heard Meng Fan's words.
"We don't want to kill your wife, but we don't want to die either."
"Especially not for someone who might already be a corpse."
"No! You have to rescue my wife, then kill the devil."
"Sure, but it'll cost extra. You've made our job harder, after all."
"I already agreed on a price with that other guy."
"I hate middlemen taking a cut. Just pay us directly."
"Well..."
"Take your time thinking. Your wife and your vegetable garden don't have much time left, though."
The man glanced at the Cucumber Devil, which was about to charge over, and hurriedly said, "Fine, fine! I agree."
"Pleasure doing business."
As soon as the words left his mouth.
The nails on both of Meng Fan's hands rapidly lengthened into blades.
The sharp, white claws gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight.
Whoosh!
He sprang into motion, racing toward the Cucumber Devil like the wind.
At the same time, he bent his legs slightly and leaped more than six meters into the air.
Appearing right before the Cucumber Devil's eyes.
Before the Cucumber Devil could react.
Meng Fan plunged his claws into the area beneath the Cucumber Devil's mouth.
The blades sliced through the Cucumber Devil's flesh as he slid rapidly downward.
Its belly was ripped open in an instant.
Leaving a wound more than six meters long.
Splash!
Its intestines tumbled out along with the man's wife.
Green blood flooded the ground.
"He's so strong!"
At the sight of Meng Fan leaping more than six meters into the air.
And gutting the Cucumber Devil with a single swipe.
Denji could only call him a badass.
He'd thought Meng Fan was merely good at hand-to-hand combat.
But he hadn't expected him to be beyond normal human limits.
He had to be a Fiend who'd made a contract with a devil, too.
But after finishing the fight, Meng Fan didn't come back over.
Instead, he walked over to the man's wife and crouched beside her.
He slipped his hand inside her collar.
"What are you doing?!"
The Vegetable Garden man shouted as he rushed over.
"I'm checking whether she still has a heartbeat."
Meng Fan said with a perfectly straight face.
"Well? Does she?"
"I can't feel anything. I'll have to press my face against her chest and listen again."
"Stop!"
Before the Vegetable Garden man could say anything.
Denji was the first to object.
He seemed like the very embodiment of justice.
But unexpectedly, the first thing Denji said as he approached was, "I'm better at listening for heartbeats. Let me."
"What... what are you doing?"
The man's wife slowly opened her eyes.
The moment she opened them, she saw two unfamiliar men in front of her arguing over something.
"Thank goodness! You're all right."
Seeing that his wife was still alive.
The man quickly threw himself onto her and burst into tears.
The woman looked utterly bewildered.
Unable to make sense of what was happening.
"Thank you. Thank you for your help." The man clasped Meng Fan's hand excitedly.
"You're welcome. We are top-tier devil hunters, after all."
"Oh, right. Turn around for a moment."
Meng Fan suddenly said.
"Me?" The man pointed at himself.
"Not just you. Everyone turn around."
"Why?" Denji asked.
"If you don't want to turn around, I wouldn't mind gouging out your one remaining eye."
"And I'm not joking."
Meng Fan's words left all three people and the dog stunned for a moment.
But then they all turned around in unison.
"No peeking. If I catch you, you'll lose your eyes, too."
"Understood. We definitely won't turn around."
Scared out of his wits, the Vegetable Garden man hurriedly answered.
His arm stayed wrapped tightly around his wife's shoulders.
"All right. You can turn around now."
Meng Fan patted Denji on the shoulder.
Once the three of them heard that he was done.
They turned back around in perfect unison.
The sight behind them instantly left Denji dumbfounded.
He could only exclaim that it was unbelievable!
Before you continue