I consider my superpower to be quite ordinary, but I’ve never said I’m weak.

Although I haven’t gone all out, based on my expectations, if I were to take things seriously, I could probably destroy a whole street with a single fireball without much effort. However, does having immense destructive power mean I’m highly skilled? Not necessarily. When I was trapped in the basement, what helped me escape wasn’t destructive power capable of destroying the entire basement—it was analysis and reasoning.

So, I have doubts about whether my strength could be classified as "strong." Who knows what the average strength of Demon Hunters is, and what the specific criteria for evaluating strength might be? Perhaps many people would evaluate strength based on "how big a crater you can make on the ground." But I can’t view it that way anymore.

"You have such a powerful ability, yet you’ve never revealed it to those around you?" Zhu Shi suddenly grew suspicious after calming down. "So many people criticize you, saying you’re crazy. Have you never thought about getting revenge on them?"

"Since you have this 'killing with your eyes' ability... No, you don’t even need to be there. With just the intention, you could ignite the target you want to take revenge on from several kilometers away. Whether you inflict light or heavy burns is entirely up to you, and no one would suspect you at all, right?"

Seeing her growing suspicious, I intentionally played along with her words and said, "So there’s a way to do that? Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it next time."

She stared at me.

"That was a joke. Don't worry, I never thought of doing something like that," I reassured her.

She glared at me for a while, then relaxed her shoulders and sighed, saying, "I hope that's the case. I don’t want to see you turn into a fallen Demon Hunter..."

"Thanks for the concern," I replied. "So, you're saying that the fallen Demon Hunter wasn't a traitor from your side, but someone who was already using extraordinary power to do evil from the start?"

Because the title was "fallen Demon Hunter," when I first heard it, I assumed that the person had originally been a part of the righteous forces, but then fell and became a brutal murderer of humans. But since I could easily transition into being a "fallen Demon Hunter," it seemed like the same could apply to him.

Zhu Shi nodded and said, "Yes. His first appearance was eight months ago, during a murder case on the fifteenth floor. He was the killer."

I still had some doubts about the origins of the fallen Demon Hunter, but I asked the question that was most important to me: "From your perspective, was he strong or weak?"

"…He’s considered powerful." Zhu Shi gave a very clear answer. "Mount Luo roughly categorizes Demon Hunters into four levels, from strong to weak: Formation, Existence, Disintegration, and Emptiness. Most Demon Hunters are at the 'Disintegration' level, while the fallen Demon Hunter is at the 'Existence' level, and he also possesses very comprehensive physical enhancement abilities. Even within the 'Existence' level, he's a top-tier one."

Formation, Existence, Disintegration, and Emptiness—these are Buddhist concepts used to describe the four stages of the world's formation to destruction.

"Formation" corresponds to the birth and formation of the world, "Existence" to the world after formation, where it remains stable and sustained, while "Disintegration" and "Emptiness" refer to the stages of decline and ultimate destruction, where nothing remains.

Even though "Mount Luo" is a Taoist concept, the Demon Hunter rankings are based on Buddhist concepts, which feels a bit odd. But then again, the mutual influence between Taoism and Buddhism has historically been quite common.

Zhu Shi added, "I started handling the fallen Demon Hunter case just a week ago. Before me, two Mount Luo Demon Hunters had already been killed by him."

"He's that dangerous?" I was shocked.

"Very dangerous." As she spoke, she analyzed the situation for me. "Since your superpower can damage the Fallen Demon Hunter's body, it means your attack methods are at least at the 'Existence' level. This kind of power is rare even among Demon Hunters."

"Then, according to your view..." I asked the question I was most concerned about, "Do you think I could join Mount Luo?"

To my surprise, she immediately frowned deeply. "You want to join Mount Luo?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Is there a problem?" I was taken aback.

"With your personality, it’s not surprising you would want to join Mount Luo, but..." She hesitated for a moment. "I suggest you don't join Mount Luo, especially at this time... Mount Luo is in great turmoil, and there might be internal conflict soon. I can’t go into details, but in short, I advise you not to join during this turbulent period."

Turmoil? Conflict? I was immediately intrigued. Unknown internal conflicts in a supernatural organization sounded very enticing. I could tell she was trying to protect me by advising me to stay away from the chaos. I could only apologize, but whether I would get involved or not would depend on how much I learned about the situation.

However, her expression seemed very resistant, so I switched to another issue that had been on my mind: "Does Chang'an know about your work as a Demon Hunter in Mount Luo?"

"He doesn't know. Not only does he not know I'm a Demon Hunter, but he also knows nothing about our world."

Her words made me happy, but not because "Chang'an doesn’t know." It was because she referred to "our world." As a Demon Hunter, she had explicitly connected herself to my world, making me feel like I was being recognized in some way.

She continued, "Also, I hope you don’t tell him. About my job, or anything related to the supernatural."

"Is it a secret? But he’s already encountered the supernatural phenomena in the Fifteenth Floor room, right?" I pointed out. "Ultimately, why does Mount Luo want to conceal information about supernatural matters from the general society?"

"I don’t really know how to explain it to you, but you’ll likely feel the same way I do eventually." She sighed. "As for the Fifteenth Floor room, that was an accident, and we had no choice but to accept it. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go take care of the ritual array and the basement."

"Ritual array? Is that the magic circle?" I pretended not to have overheard her conversation with Agent Kong.

"Yes." She nodded. "However, the ritual array and the basement may not be directly related. The latter is still an unknown event. You don’t have experience handling true supernatural incidents, so I’d suggest you don’t get involved..."

At this point, she noticed something suspicious. "Hmm? Wait a minute, where did you say you encountered the Fallen Demon Hunter?"

I didn’t immediately answer her question. Instead, I proactively provided her with information about the basement.

"The basement is actually connected to the ritual array. I’ve solved the mystery of the basement’s appearance—the answer lies in the missing symbol of the array. The letters on the carpet just happened to complete the missing part. So every time the carpet is placed over it, the basement shifts between appearing and disappearing."

"Ah?" She was stunned for a moment, then instinctively asked, "But the carpet and the floor aren't on the same plane, are they?"

"It doesn't matter if they're not on the same plane. Even if it's below the basement, as long as the symbol is completed in the corresponding position, the basement can be reopened." I patiently explained. "But there are other unresolved issues, like how the entrance to the basement disappears after someone enters. I haven’t figured out why this happens yet. If you plan to go in, you’ll need to be cautious about that..."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on..." She finally snapped back to her senses, staring at me in disbelief. "Can you first explain... how you know that even below the basement, you can reopen it, and why the entrance disappears once you go in?"

"Because I went in."

"You went in!?" She suddenly exclaimed loudly, then realized her overreaction and quickly calmed down. "Aren't you afraid you might never come out?"

"That’s not important."

"No, this is important..." She grumbled.

I continued, "Anyway, since you plan to deal with the basement, I'll give you all the information I know..."

Then I started sharing everything I knew.

In truth, I hoped she wouldn't deal with the basement just yet so that I could continue investigating the other unknown parts of it. But for one, I still didn’t know if the basement’s existence would affect Chang'an, who had been exposed to it. Two, rather than opposing her, I preferred to make things easier for her, aiming to build a good relationship with her and the forces behind her, which were likely part of Mount Luo. As I said, I know where my priorities lie.

As she listened to my firsthand experience beneath the basement, her gaze grew increasingly strange.

After I finished, she let out a long sigh. It took her a while to process everything, and when she finally did, her expression became hollow.

"I always thought you were just really into ghost stories. When people said you were crazy, I thought they didn’t understand you the way I do. They were completely wrong about you..."

"Regardless of whether they misunderstood me, we've only met a few times offline, right?" I asked, confused.

She asked, looking completely certain, "Don’t we chat online all the time?"

That was only online, though.

She did often talk to me about Chang'an online, and we communicated a lot. But the internet is still the internet. Without even seeing each other's faces, how could we be sure of each other’s true feelings? I couldn't keep talking to my friend's sister about all my failed ghost story investigations when the latter was the main focus of my life.

She couldn’t be the type to fall for online scams easily, could she?

It seemed like she had been seeing me as a good friend all along, while I was just now realizing it, which made me feel a bit guilty.

"But now I must admit, the one who truly misunderstood was me," she said, sounding defeated. "When I heard that you awakened your superpowers a long time ago, I even thought that the reason you've been so persistent in pursuing ghost stories all these years was because you yourself are proof of the existence of the supernatural. Now it seems I was wrong about that."

"No, that's pretty much the case," I replied. "Without superpowers, I’m not sure I would have been able to keep going until today."

"Whether or not you believe in the existence of supernatural things, and how deeply you obsess over them, are two different matters," she shook her head. "Now I’m truly convinced, that whether or not you have superpowers, you would have kept going no matter what."