The commotion caused by the earlier battle within the neighborhood was extremely loud, with shockwaves from my flames and the demon pulling out and hurling streetlights. In terms of noise level from a single event, ordinary construction work couldn’t compare to this degree of disturbance.

As a result, it wasn’t long before some residents from the surrounding apartment buildings began peering out from their balconies and windows.

To avoid being stopped by anyone, I quickly left the neighborhood.

At the same time, I kept a close eye on the demon’s movements a kilometer away.

After submerging itself in the river, the demon quickly realized something was wrong. Like the underwater combustion phenomena demonstrated in middle school chemistry classes, the flames entwining its body refused to extinguish.

That horrifying goat-like face instantly twisted into an expression of utter terror and despair. Under the hellish agony of the burning, it spewed out a series of panicked air bubbles. Then, struggling to escape, it crawled onto an empty riverbank, once again letting out a heart-wrenching scream of pain.

It was clear that it desperately wanted to do something but had no idea what to do. It had fled my line of sight and even submerged itself in water, yet the flames still wouldn’t go out. It couldn’t calm down to think, as the burning pain was likely boiling its brain.

Its only remaining escape route now was the basement in the fifteenth-floor room. If it could get to the basement below, it would sever the connection between me and the flames. But it seemed like it hadn’t considered this, or perhaps it didn’t know how to access the basement or understand its special properties?

After howling in agony for a while, it finally managed to gather a sliver of reason and dashed away again, heading further from the neighborhood.

What a remarkably resilient body, and an equally tenacious will to survive. A normal person burned to this extent would probably have been drained of all their mental strength by now—not that I’ve tested it myself, of course.

To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed by the actual performance this demon had shown.

From the start of the battle until now, all it had displayed before me were physical attacks. Even its shadow attack earlier, despite appearing mysterious and enigmatic from a visual perspective, ultimately turned into a physical blade to strike at me. Isn’t this kind of use a bit dull? Are there no other more bizarre skills it can unleash?

Could it be that the fighting style in its world is all like this? Or is it simply a low-level grunt?

Judging from its current decision-making, it seems to suspect that it hasn’t put enough distance between itself and me, which is why it’s still being burned. Although escaping to the other side of the ocean wouldn’t help, I need to retrieve it later, so I can’t let it run too far.

I stopped in place for now, raised my right hand toward the distant figure a kilometer away, and clenched my fist tightly.

The flames entwined around its body suddenly seemed to come alive under my control. The flames on the outer sides of its legs rushed inward, eagerly burrowing into its muscles.

With a thunderous boom, its legs exploded on the spot. Unable to brake in time, its body tumbled helplessly into the roadside woods, rolling a considerable distance before finally coming to a stop.

It pressed its hands against the leaf-strewn, muddy ground to support its body. Since I had no intention of damaging the surrounding environment, even though it was engulfed in flames and had fallen in a place filled with flammable debris, the fire showed no signs of spreading.

It glanced back at its exploded, severed legs and suddenly let out a deranged laugh.

"Zhuang Cheng, you're watching me, aren't you?!" it shouted at the empty night sky, its voice filled with madness. "If you’ve got the guts... if you’ve got the guts, just end it! Kill me already!"

"That won’t do," I replied, knowing it couldn’t hear me from a kilometer away. "You still have your uses."

Moments later, I arrived at the wooded area where the demon lay.

It was sprawled on the ground, motionless. Its entire body was charred black, resembling a piece of smoldering coal. It looked dead, but I knew it was still alive. After all, aside from its legs, I had only used the flames to damage its skin and muscles, intentionally avoiding its internal organs. I could even sense its deliberately subdued breathing through the flames.

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Perhaps it had been burned so badly that most of its pain nerves were already dead. Out of a certain curiosity in the past, I once looked this up online (let’s not discuss why I was researching that kind of information). Since human pain receptors are primarily distributed in the epidermis and dermis, the depth of a burn doesn’t necessarily correlate with the level of pain. Some patients with severe burns actually feel little to no pain. I couldn’t help but wonder if this demon’s physiological structure in this regard was similar to that of humans.

“You’re still conscious,” I said, taking the initiative to speak. “I have some questions for you. If you’re willing to answer, I can hold off on burning you.”

The demon didn’t respond. I took a few steps closer.

When the distance between us had narrowed to only four or five meters, it suddenly pushed off the ground with its arms, springing up and launching itself straight at me.

“Zhuang Cheng—!!” it roared, its voice filled with thick, venomous hatred.

It seemed this was its last desperate attempt. Since it was within my expectations, I felt no surprise. However, what happened next was something that greatly exceeded anything I had anticipated.

Just as I was about to counterattack, a white light shot out from behind me, grazing past my shoulder and striking the demon squarely in the torso. The demon was sent flying backward like a ball powerfully kicked by an athlete, crashing into a nearby tree with such force that the tree bent under the impact.

This time, it seemed the demon wasn’t pretending anymore—it had truly lost consciousness.

Who did this?

I immediately turned around to look.

On the other side of the woods, a figure holding a sharp sword was approaching slowly.

The clouds drifted across the night sky, finally revealing the moon. Its light poured into the bamboo grove, illuminating the figure’s face.

It was someone dressed like an ancient warrior. The person wore a brown-black straw raincoat and a matching conical hat, with a black-and-red sheathed sword slung across their back. The longsword, however, was held in their hand, its tip angled toward the ground, radiating an aura of poised readiness, as though it could strike at any moment.

Judging by how this person had just stepped in to assist, they probably weren’t an enemy. To be honest, I felt their intervention was unnecessary, but the experience of having a mysterious stranger step in to fight injustice was novel, and I couldn’t bring myself to view it negatively. Still, even if I believed they weren’t an enemy, the other party might not see it that way. Perhaps I should introduce myself first to show I had no hostile intentions.

"Hello," I began, breaking the silence. "I am Zhuang—"

Suddenly, the person seemed to get a clear look at my face and exclaimed, "Zhuang Cheng?"

It was a young woman’s voice, and it sounded oddly familiar.

"You know me?" I asked in surprise. "Who are you?"

The other party hesitated for a moment before raising a hand and removing her conical hat, revealing her true face.

At that moment, I was even more surprised—shocked, even. The emotional ripple I felt now far exceeded what I had experienced upon first encountering the demon.

The revealed face belonged to someone I knew.

In my memory, that face always seemed gentle and obedient, evoking images of streams, clear springs, and misty lake surfaces—delicate like an ink painting. Most of the time, she would go out of her way to avoid any conflicts that might arise in human interactions.

But now, while her appearance hadn’t changed at all, her aura was completely different. She exuded the commanding presence of a gallant swordswoman, someone who would confront any dispute with straightforward determination and grace.

“…Zhu Shi?” I uttered her name.

The person before me was none other than Zhu Shi, Chang’an’s younger sister.

“This… is this your doing?” she asked hesitantly, glancing at me, then at the demon lying collapsed nearby, her tone filled with disbelief.

“No, wasn’t it you who just took it down?”

Of course, I understood what she truly meant—she was simply trying to buy herself a moment to calm the storm within her.

“What I mean is, these burn injuries on him…” At first, her tone carried a hint of disbelief.

But gradually, she composed herself, regaining her composure as her voice steadied: “—are all your doing?”

Her way of speaking was quite different from the Zhu Shi I remembered, even her tone seemed unfamiliar. In comparison, her previous manner of speaking now felt like she had been putting on an act of innocence. Perhaps what she was showing now was her true personality.

I had mostly calmed down as well, analyzing this new version of her as I gave a straightforward reply: “Yes, it was me.”

She studied me for a moment, then sheathed her sword and cautiously asked, “Are you a demon hunter too?”

“A demon hunter…? No, I don’t do that kind of work,” I replied. “If I had to label myself, I suppose I’d be a superhuman.”

“That still counts as a demon hunter,” she said, to my surprise.

Also counts as one? The term "demon hunter" wasn’t new to me; it seemed to refer to a specific profession. Could someone without formally working in that role, merely possessing extraordinary powers, also be called a “demon hunter”? The idea felt a bit off to me, but it triggered an association in my mind.

No wonder Zhu Shi’s voice had sounded so familiar—her voice was identical to the demon huntress I had spoken to over the phone earlier with Agent Kong.

Zhu Shi was that demon huntress!

Shocked, I quickly realized a critical issue—

The demon huntress, Zhu Shi, was affiliated with Mount Luo, which was likely an official supernatural organization. Didn’t that mean it would now be nearly impossible for me to keep the demon for myself?

Is there any way to reclaim the demon…? No, that would be short-sighted. The official supernatural organization had just revealed its presence before me, and here I was still thinking about a random demon of unknown origin. If I wanted to learn more about the strange world of the supernatural, wouldn’t it be better to approach them directly?

And Zhu Shi was my friend’s younger sister—this connection was practically a gift from the heavens!

I immediately focused all my attention on Zhu Shi.

“I forgot to reintroduce myself. I’m a demon hunter from Mount Luo, responsible for the safety of this area,” Zhu Shi said in a very formal tone. “I have many questions to ask regarding you taking down the fallen demon hunter earlier. May I know if you’re available now?”