I understood Chang'an's current emotions. Suddenly, two people had been burned to death in front of him, and the killer was his own friend. His feelings were undoubtedly very complex.

Even I wasn’t entirely unaffected by this. However, the sentimental and sorrowful part of this situation could be dealt with later. Right now, the most important thing was to handle the situation at hand as quickly as possible.

"Chang'an, listen to me, I..."

Just as I was about to continue, a new development occurred.

Through the information conveyed by the flames, I sensed the two bodies nearby rapidly transforming into something else. I turned to look, and saw that the two bodies had instantly turned completely black.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the charred blackness caused by the flames, but rather a blackness as if they had been soaked in ink. The two men in black suits, who had originally had pale yellow skin, white shirts under their suits, and dark blue ties, now had all those "extra colors" completely smeared with black.

I recognized this "black"—it was exactly like the shadow-like substance released by the Fallen Demon Hunters in the past.

Once fully transformed into black, the two bodies immediately lost their shape, turning into a viscous black liquid that spread across the ground, and then, like fading shadows, they disappeared into thin air.

"They disappeared?" Chang'an stood stunned for a moment, then asked, "They're... not human?"

At the end, he glanced at me, then let out a sigh of relief.

"...That's what I wanted to ask."

I approached the place where the bodies had vanished, crouched down, and touched the ground, but I couldn't find any remnants of the shadow-like substance.

The two men who had tied up and beaten Chang'an were definitely connected to the Fallen Demon Hunters, and their form made me think of the demons that had attacked me before. Looking back now, it was likely that the demons I had encountered in the past were summoned by Agent Kong from the shadows, or were some kind of avatar or entity.

But Agent Kong was already dead—where did these guys come from?

Was the Fallen Demon Hunter incident still not over?

What was the purpose of kidnapping Chang'an? Was it just to drag him out and beat him up?

I turned my head and glanced at the ropes that had bound Chang'an to the wooden chair. The ropes burned and snapped in mid-air, freeing Chang'an. He struggled to prop himself up. It seemed that the previous beatings had left him a little dizzy.

He stared in disbelief at the severed ropes, then looked at me, as if he wanted to ask a lot of questions but didn’t know where to start.

"Chang'an, how did you get involved with those two guys?" I asked.

"I can't figure it out either..."

Under my guidance, he tried to focus on his own situation.

Unfortunately, he seemed just as clueless, his mind still muddled by the series of sudden changes.

"I was just going out to eat near the school, and suddenly I don’t know who knocked me out from behind. When I woke up, I was brought here, and for no reason, I kept getting beaten up..." He looked at the place where the two men had disappeared, then continued, "I thought it was someone I had offended in the past, and they were just giving me a 'lesson.' I even wondered if they had gone too far this time, but I didn't expect..."

Actually, I wasn’t entirely without that suspicion myself, and now I understood why the "fireflies" had taken so long to send a signal.

As a fragment of my spirit, the "fireflies" probably had the same "preconception" about Chang'an as I did—that it was normal for him to get into trouble outside, and it wasn’t surprising if someone took him away for a beating. If those two guys hadn’t really intended to beat Chang'an to death, the "fireflies" wouldn’t have seen this as a life-threatening situation for him.

"Think again, besides the basement in the 15th-floor room, have you encountered anything else strange lately?" I prompted.

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"Strange things..."

Chang'an sat on the ground, wrapped his arms around himself, and lowered his head, deep in thought.

Suddenly, his expression shifted.

I knew him too well. The moment I saw his reaction, I immediately understood what he was thinking.

"It seems you have some idea. Go ahead, tell me, I'll help you," I said.

Upon hearing that, he looked up, his expression a mixture of emotions, and said, "A Cheng, if I tell you... what will you do?"

I responded, puzzled, "Of course I'll help you. Didn’t I just say that?"

"Will you kill someone?" he asked in a low voice. "Just like you killed those two guys earlier."

"You saw it yourself—they weren't human," I replied.

"But at first, you didn’t know they weren’t human, did you?" he pointed out.

"So... what are you saying? Because I’m capable of killing, you don’t want my help?" I had a bad feeling.

As expected, Chang'an's stubbornness kicked in. He said, "When you were in danger, you didn’t let me help you, did you? As for this situation... I already have a clue. I can handle it on my own."

"That’s not the same thing! As you saw, I have superpowers and can deal with strange creatures. Do you?" I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing in his situation. "If you have them, show me and convince me. If not..."

However, no matter what I said next, Chang'an wouldn't listen. Once he got into this state, no one could change his mind.

I had no choice but to try a different approach. I walked to the door of the warehouse and called Zhu Shi.

Zhu Shi had two phone numbers—one for her daily social life and another for her identity as a demon hunter. She had given both to me.

At university, she was the gentle and approachable student Zhu Shi; in Mount Luo, she was the strong and cold demon hunter Zhu Shi. Her friends from one life knew nothing about the other.

I couldn’t help but feel that Zhu Shi seemed to be living a double life, like a masked hero.

Now, I was dialing the "Demon Hunter Zhu Shi" number.

When the call connected, Zhu Shi’s calm voice, fitting her demon hunter identity, came through: "Is this Zhuang Cheng? What's going on?"

If I had dialed her "student Zhu Shi" number, I wondered if she would have greeted me as "Senior Zhuang"... As that thought crossed my mind, she continued, "Actually, I was just about to contact you as well, it’s about the Fallen Demon Hunter..."

She had something going on too? While curious, I prioritized my own situation: "What I need to talk to you about is also related to the Fallen Demon Hunter, and it involves Chang'an."

"What?" She was startled for a moment, then quickly said, "Tell me more, I'll listen!"

I briefly explained everything that had happened on my end. After hearing it, she immediately said, "Send me your location, I’ll come right away!"

She hung up the phone in a hurry. I opened the chat app and sent my location to her before returning to Chang'an.

Chang'an was still sitting on the floor resting, and it was hard to tell how much his condition had improved, considering his bruised face.

He looked at me and apologized, "I’m sorry. You came to save me, and yet my attitude towards you earlier was so bad..."

I replied gruffly, "If you really feel sorry, then give me all the clues."

"…By the way, you're actually a superpower user? You really shocked me..." He changed the subject, "When did you become a superpower user? Could it be that the basement emitted some weird radiation, and after you came into contact with it, you awakened your powers..."

Seeing him deflecting the topic, I sighed and answered, "About four and a half years ago, at the end of my third year of middle school."

"So early..." He was stunned. "…Come to think of it, during that time, you were always studying Taoism and magic, and suddenly you gave it up, focusing on ghost stories and urban legends... It turns out that wasn’t because you failed, but because you succeeded..."

How did he know so much about me? I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him about this.

But as he said, the reason "lighting a candle with a glance" was my last attempt wasn’t because I was planning to "give up if it didn’t work this time," but because I had awakened my powers.

Actually, after that, I did continue to gather and study materials on Taoism and magic, but it was just a cursory glance, so I didn’t count it as part of my attempts. Instead of continuing to "try my luck," I decided to focus on researching the superpowers I had at hand. That was my thought.

"Zhu Shi will be here in a little while. You should think carefully about how you’re going to explain your situation to her," I said.

"Zhu Shi?" Chang'an was stunned. "Why is she coming?"

I wasn’t sure why Zhu Shi was coming either. According to what she had said before, she had kept her demon hunter identity hidden from Chang'an. Was she planning to come as an ordinary person this time? What could she do as an ordinary person?

Luckily, my worries were unnecessary.

Soon, Zhu Shi appeared in our line of sight.

Perhaps to showcase her demon hunter identity in front of Chang'an, she had changed into a brown-black cloak and conical hat, with a black-and-red sword strapped to her back, walking into the warehouse like an ancient hero, her posture dignified.

For a moment, Chang'an seemed unable to recognize his own sister. When Zhu Shi approached, he belatedly showed an expression of utter astonishment.

It seemed he had a vague premonition. Sitting on the ground, he tentatively asked, "Sis... why are you dressed like this?"

Zhu Shi didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she carefully examined Chang'an’s bruised face. After a long sigh, she took out a piece of white talisman paper from her sleeve and threw it toward him.

The talisman didn’t land directly on Chang'an’s body but disintegrated in midair, turning into countless sparkling white dust particles. When the white dust came into contact with Chang'an’s skin, the bruises on his face began to miraculously fade. In just a few seconds, his face was completely restored, as though he had never been injured at all.

Still in a daze, he touched his face, then looked up at us, his gaze shifting back and forth between his friend (me) and his sister (Zhu Shi).

After a long while, he said, almost in disbelief, "So... both of you are actually superpower user, and I’m the only one who didn’t know anything?"