From the end of the world

Chapter 42: Fallen Demon Hunter vs. Super Power 5 (Fourth Update)

Unlike the people with special abilities I met in the past, I couldn't feel any high-quality soul breath or any fluctuations of magic power from Zhuang Cheng. He was just like an ordinary human being.

This level of feedback is not enough to prove that Zhuang Cheng is really an ordinary person. There are always many people who are good at hiding their weirdness, and perhaps the power that Zhuang Cheng possesses is one of them.

I plan to send a substitute to spy on Zhuang Cheng. At the same time, I must investigate the room on the 15th floor.

In fact, I don't think the cave in the room on the fifteenth floor is the entrance to the future. It is more likely to be the entrance to other different spaces. Its manifestation is completely different from the effect that the ritual array should show in theory. It should be the result of the ritual array being activated incorrectly.

But even if it was an incorrect activation, it was activated anyway. Zhu Shi will dispose of the ritual array the next day. I must find out the reason why the ritual array was activated before that.

In fact, if I could, I wouldn’t even want to tell Zhu Shi about the existence of the ritual array, but I can’t do it.

After all, it was Zhu Shi who asked me to investigate the room on the fifteenth floor. I couldn't lie about what I saw and heard, because Zhu Shi could get information from Zhu Changan and Zhuang Cheng. Killing them on the spot would only bring trouble to me. As Agent Luo Shan, I couldn't help but ask Zhu Shi to handle this strange incident. That would violate my duties and would seem very unnatural.

Therefore, I could only suggest Zhu Shi to delay the handling of the case after submitting the application. When she rejected it, I suggested she find someone else to handle it.

Weird phenomena like caves are not something that Zhu Shi, who specializes in combat, is good at dealing with. It is more reasonable to hand it over to the White Impermanence, who is better at it. If the obstructionist is replaced by the White Impermanence, I can also easily eliminate it and eat high-quality souls.

However, Zhu Shi took the danger of strange events too seriously, and she was overly kind and responsible. As long as there was danger in her area, she didn't want to let others bear it. Similar situations had happened several times in the past. When I saw her expression, I knew that my plan was hopeless, so I had to give up struggling.

Just in case, in order to ensure my alibi, I sent the stand-in out after I met Zhu Shi at night. When the stand-in arrived downstairs of the room on the 15th floor, I saw Zhuang Cheng coming out from there through the senses connected to the stand-in.

Obviously, Zhuang Cheng, who is keen on weird things, is also interested in the room on the 15th floor. This time he really hit the tiger's mouth, and I immediately ordered the stand-in to test Zhuang Cheng's skills first. However, the stand-in had a grudge against Zhuang Cheng for a long time, and couldn't wait to show up.

Because I suspected that Zhuang Cheng had strange powers, I told my stand-in to be careful. He listened to my advice and carefully probed Zhuang Cheng. However, he still made the mistake of being too aggressive. When he found out that Zhuang Cheng was a fire power user, he rushed forward impatiently.

Speaking of the Stand's recklessness, even I didn't expect that Zhuang Cheng is actually different from most users of fire abilities. He can ignite his opponents with just his eyes.

And until he revealed his power, I still couldn't feel the fluctuation of mana from him... No, to be exact, I could feel that his flame had a very strong fluctuation of mana, but he, as the source, showed no such signs.

Mana is a general concept. Whether it is the energy required to cast a spell or the power of the spell itself, it can be considered mana. Even superpowers are within the definition of mana. Although the sources of mana vary greatly, some are soul power, some are life force, and some are even kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, etc., in short, as long as there is power in motion, there will definitely be fluctuations. It is impossible not to have.

Could it be that the source of the flames was not him, but some external object he was carrying? But even if it was an external object, I should be able to sense it as the source when it was activated. Those flames were like rootless water that appeared out of thin air, which puzzled me.

I can only accept it as a fact - there are so many inexplicable things in this weird world. Perhaps this is also a certain attribute of Zhuang Cheng as a person with special abilities. There is no other way but to accept it.

After being hit, the Stand wanted to escape by using shadow transfer. I wanted him to continue to test out more information about Zhuang Cheng's abilities, so I prohibited him from using shadow transfer. However, he seemed to be so frightened after being burned that he lost control and ignored my verbal orders to run away on his feet. I originally wanted to force him to turn around and attack Zhuang Cheng, but at this time I discovered something new.

Even out of Zhuang Cheng's sight, the flame still entangled with the double. I watched for a long time before I finally concluded that there seemed to be a spiritual connection between this flame and Zhuang Cheng. Although I don't know whether it can extend its perception, it is still possible to continue to add fuel to the flame along the connection.

Unfortunately, this is the only information that the stand could find out. After Zhu Shi arrived at the battlefield, I retrieved the Heart Seed remotely to prevent it from falling into Luo Shan's hands.

In fact, this information alone is valuable enough. Based on the overwhelming power that Zhuang Cheng showed in defeating the Stand, as long as I devour him, it will be enough for the Heart Seed to break through to the next stage.

Not long after, I got new information from Zhu Shi.

Zhuang Cheng personally entered the cave in the room on the fifteenth floor, but the entrance and exit disappeared unexpectedly and he was almost trapped to death.

However, he found a way to solve the dilemma with his own strength and survived...
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I've been through similar desperate situations.

Having similarly been trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation from which there was no escape, I can understand the fear, the despair... and the regrets that are as abundant as the sea.

So I can understand Zhuang Cheng's feelings.

Although Zhu Shi lamented to me on the phone about Zhuang Cheng's calm attitude in the face of strange events, it is obvious that no one can remain calm in such a situation unless they are completely crazy. So do I, and so do Zhuang Cheng. I guess Zhuang Cheng must have spent a lot of effort to control his panic, and when he told Zhu Shi about his experience, he also worked hard to suppress his lingering fear in his heart.

If it were me, I would also want to show off in front of Zhu Shi. Zhu Shi is a woman with outstanding appearance and figure, so it is reasonable for a man to put on airs in front of her. If I were ten years younger, I might also pursue Zhu Shi.

At the same time, I also admire Zhuang Cheng very much. In the past, I couldn’t even do this level of superficial work.

And I didn’t escape death by my own strength in the past. Perhaps it was because of his confidence in overcoming difficulties that he was able to barely maintain his dignity. From this perspective, besides admiring him, I was also a little jealous of him.

His unknown fears were hidden under his decent appearance, and perhaps I was the only one who could understand him. Thinking of this, I could not help but feel an indescribable closeness to Zhuang Cheng.

In the early hours of the morning, I finished my surveillance work at Zhu Changan and went to the room on the 15th floor. Although there were agents guarding nearby, they were not wary of my colleague. I entered the room easily and wanted to try to open the cave with the new information provided by Zhuang Cheng.

But this time it still failed. The magic circle itself has become complete, but it still requires a very high luck factor to successfully open the cave. The reason why Zhuang Cheng was able to succeed is probably that there are additional factors that he has not been able to discover. And I don’t have time to continue exploring, so I can only give up here first.

After Zhu Shi and Zhuang Cheng arrived one after another, I approached as if I had just arrived, and then brought Zhuang Cheng to the abandoned construction site near Xianshui University, hoping to spy on more details of his abilities through the evil spirits there.

Understanding Zhuang Cheng does not mean not killing Zhuang Cheng.

In order to allow the Heart Seed to break through to the next stage, I will not let go of this opportunity.

However, there seemed to be no evil spirits in the abandoned construction site from the beginning, so I had to switch to the second plan and summon my own shadow clone to attack Zhuang Cheng and observe how he used his abilities from close range.

Zhu Shi had written and submitted a report on Zhuang Cheng in the evening. Although Zhuang Cheng's ability was mentioned, he only wrote "it's just an ordinary fire ability". This should be to help Zhuang Cheng keep the details of his ability secret. When I talked to Zhuang Cheng on the way, I showed my extra understanding of his ability just to spy on him.

Even if he asked me why I knew all that, I had prepared an excuse in advance. But it seemed that Zhu Shi had never taken credit for it. She was such a clueless girl. My efforts were in vain.

There is only one piece of information I really want to find out, and that is whether Zhuang Cheng has a countermeasure against a sneak attack from behind.

Since Zhuang Cheng can ignite his opponent with his eyes and his attack power is so strong, then a sneak attack from behind is naturally the most correct solution. In the battle between the stand-in and Zhuang Cheng, he also tried to use Shadow Strike to launch an attack from behind, but was avoided.

I couldn't tell whether it was Zhuang Cheng's good luck or he could really sense what was behind him. In addition, the shadow thrust changed its attack route in the middle of the attack to avoid Zhuang Cheng's flames, from attacking from behind to attacking from the left side of the foot. Maybe Zhuang Cheng reacted to this change.

In my combat experience, the most taboo thing is vague statements like "maybe", I must get a definite statement. So I let one of the clones attack Zhuang Cheng from behind, while I attacked the clone with a pistol. The purpose of the latter was to prevent Zhuang Cheng from questioning why I just watched after successfully dealing with the sneak attack.

This was a successful spying. Zhuang Cheng had no reaction to the sneak attack from behind, and by saving his life, I increased his trust in me.

I didn't expect that he had hidden his strength in the last battle. His firepower could be increased to this level, enough to destroy my clone in an instant.

However, even with such powerful firepower, his shortcomings are still pitifully short.

The moment the blade cuts his neck, no matter whether he is holding a pistol, a cannon, or even a missile in his hand, it will be useless.

So, I took advantage of the moment when he turned around and let his guard down.

I manipulated part of my arm to transform into a monster-like blade and cut off his head.

After a human is decapitated, the head will remain conscious for several seconds.

To prevent him from setting me on fire with his eyes before he died, I swung the blade into his eyes again and directly crushed his brain tissue.
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The fluctuation of magical power generated by Zhuang Cheng's previous battle with his clone must have attracted Zhu Shi, and she will be here soon.

Can't stay here long.

I turned around and planned to leave immediately.

What I said to Zhuang Cheng before, "I will be transferred to other areas," was not entirely a lie. I did plan to leave Xianshui City after completing the breakthrough.

From now on, I will no longer be Agent Kong of the Luoshan Probe, but the weirdo Kongda.

However, after taking only two or three steps, I realized something was wrong.

Normally, when I kill a human, I should be able to feel the soul entering my body. Especially when it comes to the soul of a superpower, the feeling of it entering should be particularly obvious. But now I don't feel like I'm capturing a soul at all, it's like...

It’s as if Zhuang Cheng is not dead yet.

Just then, I felt the air behind me being heated.

There was a sound of burning from where Zhuang Cheng fell, and the flames spread to the front of me.

(End of this chapter)