I am Zhuang Cheng.

It has been more than four years since I awakened my superpower, and I’ve taken the time to reassess my current level.

To evaluate my abilities, it’s essential to establish clear criteria for judgment. The concept of "superpowers" is vast and varied. For instance, if someone’s superpower is "mind reading," it would be unsuitable to measure their level based on how much destruction they can cause. However, my superpower excels in destruction and combat, so I’ll use the hypothetical scenario of how powerful an enemy I can contend with as the basis for my assessment.

Let’s hypothesize: a fully armed and well-trained army from the era of cold weapons appears before me, determined to fight me to the death. Regardless of whether this army consists of 100,000 soldiers or a million, I believe the outcome would always end in my victory. Even if the entire world’s armies were gathered together, I cannot imagine a scenario in which I would lose. This is due to the nature of my superpower—direct and straightforward physical attacks cannot harm me.

What if it were a modern army relying on advanced weaponry? I still don’t think I would be defeated. Bullets, artillery shells, missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons—all of those are ineffective against me. Not even nuclear bombs could kill me.

That said, I’ve never actually been hit by a nuclear bomb, so my confidence in this conclusion is somewhat lacking. Who knows? Perhaps, as some science fiction stories suggest, the human soul operates as an electromagnetic field, and the explosion of a nuclear bomb could disrupt that field, thereby destroying the soul and all.

Moreover, the wisdom of scientists should never be underestimated. In monster movies, there are often scenarios where an apparently flawless ultimate lifeform has its weakness discovered by human scientists. Sometimes, I can’t help but put myself in the position of the monster, thinking that if I truly believed my superpower was invincible, I might one day suffer an unexpected defeat in an unforeseen situation.

As for what would happen if I were to face other superpowered individuals, that’s something I find genuinely hard to judge. As mentioned earlier, the types of superpowers are incredibly diverse. What if my opponent could directly attack my soul? How would I even defend against that?

I’m not a violent maniac constantly fixated on fighting, but in a "transcendent adventure," conflicts with others—even with those like myself—are scenarios that must be considered in advance. Many fantasy stories have depicted similar situations.

I imagine that if there really were a superpowered individual skilled in mind-reading who regularly read my thoughts, they might ask themselves this question: Why does this guy always mention “fantasy stories”?

Or more precisely, they might wonder how I define "transcendent adventure."

I often distinguish between "pursuing supernatural phenomena" and "pursuing transcendent adventures" in my mind. This is because, to me, "transcendence" does not necessarily require the "supernatural."

Everyone’s reality is different. People from thousands of years ago would have considered modern airplanes surreal. Those ignorant of science might view quantum mechanics as something beyond reality, and people living in peaceful countries might think the chaos in war-torn nations is something different from their own reality. As for my definition of a "transcendent adventure," it is an adventure beyond my experience and life—unpredictable and inconceivable.

So, not long ago, when Ma Zao was covered in blood and collapsed in front of me with a real gun, even though she hadn’t shown any supernatural signs at that point, I couldn’t help but take her back to my home.

Yes, transcendent adventures don’t necessarily exist only in fantasy stories; they also exist in the real world. War correspondents in conflict zones, explorers traversing mountains and jungles, mercenaries living on the edge of life and death, even criminals who disrupt societal stability... Even without superpowers or strange phenomena, there are many people in the real world experiencing absurd adventures.

There are also generations of legends in the political and business arenas. Even if the reality I face is monotonous and dull, it doesn’t mean that everyone in the world faces the same kind of reality.

I actually understood this principle when I was fourteen, but…

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I had a dream.

It was a dream I had shortly before awakening my superpower. Of all the dreams I’ve had from childhood to adulthood, this one wasn’t particularly special. I dreamt I was standing in a long corridor, with grey concrete walls surrounding me on all sides.

It looked like the corridor of an abandoned building, with no light bulbs even, yet for some inexplicable reason, I was able to see the surroundings around me, just like a character in a horror game. But this ability only extended to my immediate vicinity—the further ahead or behind, it was as dark as the mouth of an abyss.

A vague premonition arose in my mind, and I began walking forward. Not long after, I found an iron door beside the corridor. I opened it, and inside was an empty room. In the center of the room was a set of wooden table and chairs, with the chair facing the door, and a person sitting on it.

Perhaps because it was a dream, I couldn’t describe the person’s exact appearance or clothing, only that it was a man. As soon as I saw him, my premonition grew stronger. This strange person could grant my wish.

—Do you want power?

The strange person asked me.

—Power?

I replied, puzzled.

—Yes, power.

—The power you’ve long desired, the power of fantasy, the kind that matches your idea of a transcendent adventure.

The strange person tempted me like a devil.

I hoped that I could resolutely reject him, because I had already seen clearly that a transcendent adventure does not need to be pursued in a dream.

The real world has its own brilliance. I only need to abandon fantasies, recognize reality, and work hard to reach that place.

However, at that time, I must not have been strong enough...

More than four years later, I had this dream again, and found myself back in that dark, decaying corridor.

I recognized it as the same dream I had before, and I could even clearly recall every detail of my previous conversation with the strange person. This time, there was no mysterious premonition to guide me. Using my memory, I walked down the corridor and soon found the same iron door, opening it.

Inside the room were the same lonely wooden table and chairs from before, but the strange person was no longer there.

I entered the room, casually closed the iron door behind me, and sat down at the wooden table, observing the surroundings idly.

After a moment, footsteps echoed from outside, growing louder as they approached.

Someone opened the door and walked in.

It was a boy around fourteen years old, with a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar to me. His gaze was alert, his movements tense, exuding an aura of rejecting others.

He was me, another version of me—the me that had not yet grown up.

His eyes focused on me, silently urging me to introduce myself.

I didn’t introduce myself. Instead, I recalled the conversation I had with the strange person from years ago and asked the same question.

—Do you want power?

—Power? he asked in return.

—Yes, power… I consciously used a seductive tone, "The power you’ve long desired, the power of fantasy, the kind of power that matches your idea of a transcendent adventure..."

Upon hearing this, he fell silent, seemingly caught in an internal struggle.

I stopped speaking and silently waited for his response, hoping he would give a different answer this time.

However, this time, I didn’t get an answer.

In the closed room, for some unknown reason, a grayish fog began to appear.

The fog quickly thickened to the point where I couldn’t see anything, not even the boy who was both familiar and unfamiliar, nor my own body.

My vision sank into the darkness within the layers of mist.

Until I opened my eyes and woke up from the dream.

---

It has been a day since the death of the true fallen demon hunter—Agent Kong.

By the time I fought with Agent Kong, I’m not sure why, but at the end, he suddenly screamed, “Impossible, I won’t admit it!” in a breakdown. However, because he finally used a creative move, I was a bit impulsive and couldn’t help but retaliate with a more powerful attack.

I say "move," but in truth, I don’t really have any particular techniques when using my power. I simply concentrated a lot of flames together and shot them out. The consequence, however, was that I accidentally split the abandoned building in half, and the shockwave seemed to have shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

Such a huge disturbance naturally attracted Zhu Shi, who was still handling the room on the fifteenth floor from a distance.

I could only inform her of Agent Kong's death and collect most of the scattered bodies from the explosion. Thankfully, there was still some residual heat from my flames, so it wasn’t that difficult to find them. In fact, this probably wasn’t caused by my attack. I had deliberately spared him, but who could have predicted that he would self-destruct in mid-air after being thrown back? From start to finish, it was completely baffling.

Self-detonation was one thing, but his body even reverted to its human form, which made it seem like I had uncontrollably murdered the innocent Agent Kong. At first, I didn’t know how to explain this to Zhu Shi, so I could only tell her the truth.

Fortunately, Zhu Shi didn’t doubt me. She carefully examined the fragmented remains of Agent Kong’s body, her focused expression reminding me of the last time she deduced that my superpower didn’t originate from the bloodline of demons or monsters. After a while, she seemed to come to a conclusion and acknowledged that Agent Kong was indeed a fallen demon hunter. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

However, regarding the other parts of my explanation, she seemed deeply shocked, struggling to process what I had said.

“So… you’re saying you personally split this building in half? You can also transform your body into flames, and even if your head is severed, you’ll be fine. And even when Agent Kong ambushed you from behind, nothing happened to you…”

“That’s right,” I nodded. “So, can I join Mount Luo now?”