Strictly speaking, this was my first time killing someone.

  But whether it was because I had done many things in the past that were close to killing, or because the person I killed deserved it, I felt nothing about it in my heart.

  Or perhaps it was because Agent Kong was right—killing was simply too easy for me.

  With just a slight thought, I could reduce a person to ashes.

  There was no bloodshed in the process, no screams to be heard—only a fsh of fire.

  The one being killed might not even have time to experience the pain of death.

  As a result, I, the killer, naturally felt no sense of reality, let alone guilt.

  I didn’t see this as a bad thing.

  In the future, I would likely continue to fight others and might encounter situations where I had no choice but to kill again.

  Feeling nothing was far better than developing resistance to it—or worse, an unnecessary obsession with it.

  That said, on the other hand, I did experience a strange sensation.

  It wasn’t an emotional change, but rather a shift in physical perception—after truly taking a life, my supernatural ability seemed to have undergone a subtle transformation.

  What was happening?

  I moved my hands and feet in surprise, trying to sense the flow of my supernatural ability.

  The ability itself was functioning without issue, but it felt as though something foreign had been added—something I couldn’t quite identify for now.

  Seeing me take the initiative to kill, Zhu Shi seemed like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she remained silent and merely let out a long sigh.

  By the way, I didn’t completely reduce the Shadow Swap Oddities to ashes—I made sure to leave at least part of its head intact.

  This was something Ma Zao would need for her investigation into the Creator of Oddities.

  Under Jin Yu’s complicated gaze, I handed the head over to Ma Zao, then turned to Patrol Lu and said, "Let’s disband here. We’ll regroup once Ma Zao has results."

  Patrol Lu had no objections and left the area without another word.

  Chang’an, however, seemed like he had something to say.

  That was fine—I had something to tell him as well.

  With the existence of the demon-hunting family and the blood of supernatural creatures in his veins, Chang’an was destined to delve deeper into the world of the strange.

  Meanwhile, Ma Zao’s presence had already been exposed to various forces.

  Because of that, there was no longer any need for me to uphold the lie I told Chang’an when we parted in the past.

  I pulled him aside for a private conversation and took the initiative to reveal the true reason why I had distanced myself from him before.

  Besides, I had always been worried that my "Firefly" ability might bring disaster upon him.

  Now that his personal crisis had been resolved and he would likely continue to pass through the Zhu family residence’s barrier, I no longer needed to use "Firefly" to monitor him.

  "No wonder you suddenly started acting so strange st time—it turns out you were dealing with all this," Chang’an said in realization.

  "Yes. That’s why it’s best if you stay away from me from now on," I replied.

  He nodded in agreement.

  "I understand. I’m not actually stupid—I wouldn’t do something that turns me into a burden to my friends or makes them worry about me for no reason."

  Was he really serious about that?

  Did he actually have that kind of awareness?

  "But… if I become stronger in the future—like if I gain enough power to protect myself through the sealed demon blood or the inheritance of the demon-hunting family… By that time…" He hesitated.

  I finished the sentence for him. "By that time, let’s be friends again—just like before."

  That’s what I said, but to avoid bringing him unnecessary danger, it would still be best to keep our interactions to a minimum in the future.

  I thought this was a suitable parting remark, but his reaction was strange.

  After hearing my words, he paused, then looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite understand.

  “Just like before… huh…” he murmured to himself.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled.

  He shook his head at first, then smiled and said, “Well then, see you next time.”

  And with that, we parted ways.

  -----------

  Not long after, Patrol Lu called to briefly update me on the situation at the nightclub, marking the conclusion of the Shadow Swap Oddities incident.

  Although I had caused quite a commotion inside the nightclub while capturing the oddity, the nightclub owner had not chosen to flee.

  Whether it was due to a ck of caution, a willingness to perish alongside the club, or simple indifference, she remained.

  As a result, the w enforcement team was able to arrest her smoothly after dismantling the establishment.

  During the agents' interrogation, she openly admitted to her crimes without hesitation—including matters reted to Jin Yu.

  Why had she allowed Jin Yu to work at the club despite knowing the true identity of the Shadow Swap Oddities?

  The answer was that it wasn’t just Jin Yu who wanted to use her body to create bckmail material against her father—the nightclub owner also needed that leverage to counter the oddity that had been forcing her into cooperation.

  She had always despised the Shadow Swap Oddities but had been powerless against its tyranny in the past, something that filled her with deep resentment.

  She had seen through the oddity’s obsession with crossing social css boundaries while maintaining a normal human identity and believed this bckmail material would be enough to ruin its social standing.

  However, obtaining such leverage was a double-edged sword.

  A rational person would realize that the oddity might flip the table and use violence to retaliate against her defiance.

  In the end, this so-called leverage was nothing more than a bomb that could just as easily destroy her.

  As it happened, she really wasn’t a rational person.

  In the past, just because her husband had cheated on her, she came up with the idea of sending herself into the red-light district as a form of revenge.

  That alone was enough to prove that, at her core, she was just like Jin Yu—a completely unhinged woman with a few screws loose in her head.

  She never cared whether the methods she chose might end up destroying her.

  Whatever idea she came up with, she acted on it immediately.

  From another perspective, one could say she had incredible decisiveness—though it was the kind that left people speechless and wanting to "stay far, far away."

  "Women are always incomprehensible, and she’s about as extreme as they come."

  Before ending the call, Patrol Lu sighed over the phone.

  I felt his view on women was rather biased.

  Had he suffered a major loss at the hands of a woman before?

  We walked out of the small grove.

  Chang’an was likely heading back to the Zhu family residence, but Zhu Shi didn’t go with him.

  Instead, she stayed with me and Ma Zao.

  Ma Zao found a discarded pstic bag by the roadside and put the head inside.

  She seemed to still be processing everything that had happened, occasionally gncing at me.

  When I asked her what she was thinking about, she hesitated for a moment before deciding to be honest with me.

  "That man named Lu Chan said earlier that all men have two great fantasies…" Ma Zao looked at me seriously.

  "Zhuang Cheng, do you also want to be held like a child by a younger girl, as if she were your mother? You've helped me a lot and have always been kind to me. If you want, I can hug you too."

  Hearing this, Zhu Shi, who was walking beside us, nearly tripped and fell.

  I looked at Ma Zao—her delicate, budding beauty, her slender and soft frame—and, surprisingly, felt just the slightest bit tempted.

  However, the righteous gaze of someone with proper social awareness nearby forced me to rein in my thoughts.

  Maintaining a strict and upright demeanor, I politely declined.

  Ma Zao seemed to remember that Zhu Shi was still present and hastily added, "If you ever need it in the future, you can come to me privately. Something like this—I can do it for you anytime."

  "No, no, no! This is absolutely weird!" Zhu Shi couldn’t hold back and interjected.

  Then, turning to me, she said, "Also, Zhuang Cheng, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while now…"

  "You mean about the killing?" I was already prepared for this confrontation.

  "Of course, I want to talk about that too, but that can wait. Right now, I have another question," she said.

  "When the Shadow Swap Oddities attacked you during the interrogation, why didn’t you dodge? His attack speed was fast, but judging by your reaction afterward, it seemed like you never intended to dodge from the start."

  "There was no need to dodge, was there?" I replied.

  "Even though he was maniputing shadows, it was still a physical attack at its core. You know the nature of my body—those kinds of attacks don’t work on me."

  "That’s a dangerous way of thinking, Zhuang Cheng." She spoke with a serious tone.

  "Your elemental transformation is indeed an incredible ability, but souls are extremely fragile. The body acts as both a seal and a shield for the soul. When you transform your body into natural elements, you’re essentially leaving your soul completely unguarded.

  "We Demon Hunters can imbue our attacks with spiritual damage simply by focusing our energy with the intent to harm the soul. I imagine your soul is far stronger than that of a normal Demon Hunter—otherwise, the fmes created from your spirit wouldn’t be as powerful as they are. That being said, destroying it likely isn’t as easy as it would be for others.

  "But even so, when you enter your elemental state, your soul remains completely unguarded. This is probably your only weakness. You shouldn’t rely on your immunity to physical attacks to recklessly endure enemy strikes without any precautions."

  "Is soul-based combat really that common among Demon Hunters?" I hadn’t expected that the very type of attack I feared most could be so easily executed.

  "Yes." She nodded.

  "The two Oddities we fought earlier probably didn’t know the technique to attack the soul, and as for Agent Kong, he likely didn’t have the time to use a soul attack before you burned him to death with your overwhelming firepower. Otherwise, even you would have felt some degree of soul damage.

  "Honestly, I should have warned you about this earlier. But because this is common knowledge among Demon Hunters, it never crossed my mind to expin it to you—it’s a kind of cognitive blind spot, I suppose.

  "But you don’t have to worry too much. Since soul attacks are widespread, so are items that provide soul protection. I’ll do my best to collect some powerful ones for you in the future. As long as you equip them and stay alert to enemy attacks, you’ll be fine."

  "Thank you," I said seriously.

  Zhu Shi nodded, then looked at the pstic bag in Mazao’s hand, which contained the Oddity’s severed head.

  She asked, "Ma Zao, earlier you told Lu Chan that you needed a week to find out where the Creator of Oddity conducted physical examinations on his creations. That was a lie, wasn’t it?"

  "It was a lie." Ma Zao nodded.

  "I don’t trust him, and he seems extremely fixated on the Creator of Oddity and the Humanitarian Division. To be safe, I didn’t tell him the truth."

  "Then how long will it actually take?" Zhu Shi asked.

  Ma Zao, full of confidence, said, "It’s hard to determine an exact timeframe, but as long as I investigate with the mindset of approaching an Oddity Incident, I should be able to uncover the location before we miss our opportunity."

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