Chapter 1392
Chapter 1392: Demonic!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The passageway leading to the second floor of the trial ground was soon found. There was a pond filled with lotus leaves in the middle of the jungle, and after all the bone monstrosities were eliminated, a device similar to an elevator rose from the center of the pond. At the same time, a pontoon bridge leading from the shore to the elevator also lifted into position.
Xia Fan had the three suspects wait by the shore as he went to pick up Cheyenne from where he had left her.
“How did you recognize them?” Xia Fan asked after meeting up with Cheyenne again.
Cheyenne ground her teeth. “It’s very simple. That golden-bearded man has a tattoo on his neck, the mark of wanted criminals in the Union. Anyone with said mark is without a doubt a criminal that had once committed heinous crimes.
“The lock-shaped tattoo meant they should be permanently sealed in a space cryogenic station. The only reason why they were not sentenced to death was to store their DNA.
!!
“A criminal who was subjected to permanent cryogenic storage has now appeared on Camelback Island, so it is obvious that he must have escaped from their cryogenic cell in space, and must be a very dangerous individual.”
Xia Fan nodded slightly. There were not that many special ability users, and the Union would not automatically kill off all special ability users who had committed crimes. Instead they had established some remote cryogenic stations out in distant star systems, and threw the convicts into cryogenic storage in space permanently. That way their DNA could be extracted were a need were to arise.
That golden-bearded man was actually a fugitive from a cryogenic station for criminals!
That was something Xia Fan had not expected. People who had been subjected to cryogenic storage had committed very serious crimes, and yet the man did not take any actions, even at the end. Xia Fan had no idea what his special ability could be, or how high ranked he might be.
This could very well be trouble!
—
Reuniting with the three men by that elevator, Xia Fan said with a laugh, “Me and my colleague will be in charge of clearing the way ahead, while you three need only follow behind us. What do you think?”
Cheyenne was startled. Clearing the path was more dangerous, so she had no idea why Xia Fan would choose that option.
However, just as Cheyenne was about to object, she saw Xia Fan secretly winking at her, signaling her to keep quiet.
Sure enough, the three suspects were elated. The fat elder said, “Truly, you two are elite investigators from the Special Bureau! We shall leave it all up to the both of you.”
They were looking at Xia Fan like he was a fool. No one would take the initiative and volunteer to lead in such a dangerous place! Xia Fan choosing to do just that was a very foolish decision, in their view!
At the top of the elevator were five jewels. Each person who entered caused one to light up.
After all five of them entered and the jewels were all shining, the elevator’s doors shut with a bang and it began a rapid descent. It was probably a magnetic elevator, given how it descended so quickly.
—
After only several seconds, Xia Fan and the other four found themselves far deeper down, somewhere tens of kilometers underground.
Exiting the elevator, Xia Fan saw that they were no longer in a vast jungle, but standing on a single straight path.
A canyon ran down the middle of red hills on both sides. There were plenty of dark caves peppering the base of the hills that had appeared all along the mountainside. Perhaps strange monsters would be emerging from those caves soon…
“A straight path probably means we don’t have to kill every enemy. We should be fine as long as we make it through expediently. Follow me closely!” Xia Fan loudly announced with a big grin on his face.
With that, he picked up Cheyenne and had her straddled across his shoulders like he was a horse. He then whispered to Cheyenne, “Listen to my commands later. We might need you to use your Wind special ability soon.”
Cheyenne was startled, but just nodded grimly.
The truth was, though Cheyenne had been doing investigative work for three years with the Bureau, she was actually no match for Xia Fan in terms of her special ability or rank.
Cheyenne was at Intermediate Star Base rank, and her special ability was Wind. The biggest distinguishing trait of the Wind special ability was how it could create chaos; it was capable of turning one’s surroundings into a dust storm, and using the power of the Wind to hamper enemies’ attacks. It was considered to be a combat support-type special ability.
Xia Fan’s speed ability was considered one of the most powerful combat abilities known to the universe. Out of all the martial arts, only speed was king! The reason Chief Jerry had Cheyenne and Xia Fan become partners and sent Cheyenne’s original partner Qin Zimo off to fly solo was all because he felt that the special abilities of Cheyenne and Xia Fan were very complementary!
As for Senior Investigator Qin Zimo and his ever-grim face, his experience and ability already qualified him as more than competent enough to accomplish assignments on his own.
“Let’s go!” Xia Fan shouted and charged ahead with Cheyenne on his shoulders. Although carrying someone lowered Xia Fan’s speed slightly, he was still able to achieve an astounding pace that left the three men unable to catch up, no matter how hard they tried.
Xia Fan could smell the wild beasts again, and he quickly warned Cheyenne, “Here they come!”
With a rush of wind, several bone monstrosities leapt out from the caves in the bottom of the hills on both sides of them.
Compared to the first floor of the trial ground, the bone monstrosities here appeared to be a different species of beast. They were much bigger, with just their skeletons over two meters tall. The bone monstrosities from the first floor had not been even a meter tall. The ones upstairs were likely a species of wolf, given their skeletons, while the bone monstrosities on the second floor were probably a more powerful lion or tiger species.
The ferocious beasts were not afraid of death, leaping out from the caves and dashing right for the five while roaring fiercely.
“Use your special ability and prevent the enemy from getting near us,” Xia Fan whispered to Cheyenne.
Cheyenne did not understand what Xia Fan was trying to do, but she did as she was told.
Extending her slender arms, a great flow of air magically shot forth from her hands. Sand and pebbles were instantly stirred up in the center of the valley, obscuring the vision of the beasts. Coupled with the impact from the blast of air, their advance was also slowed down rather significantly.
The enemy’s charge was slowed, but Xia Fan’s speed was not affected at all!
Though he was carrying Cheyenne, he was like a sly loach, slipping away from the encirclement of beasts time and time again, leaving the three men behind him to deal with them instead.
The three suspects were so mad that they were cursing his mother inwardly!
They wished they could slip away from the beast horde as deftly as Xia Fan, but they simply lacked the ability to do so!
This was the reason why the Speed ability was so powerful! Xia Fan could slay everything quickly if he wanted to, but he could run away when he did not! It was not like anyone could catch up to him anyway, and no one was more limber than him!
He could attack by advancing and defend by retreating. The unreasonable Speed ability allowed Xia Fan to be an invincible force right from the get-go!
“Waaahhhh!” The three suspects were wailing in impotnent rage. Forget that Xia Fan could run faster than them, he was even constantly attracting even more of the bone monstrosities to them!
It was really immoral; there was sabotaging people, but never had there been anyone doing it to Xia Fan’s degree!
The beasts that Xia Fan kited, upon realizing that they could not catch up to him, naturally grew frustrated. What would they do when frustrated? What else but vent on the three following behind Xia Fan who were not as fast!
This second floor of the trial ground exploded with activity after Xia Fan mischievously messed around with it!
Anywhere anyone looked, all they could see were crazed and ferocious beasts crashing out like waves of seawater, thronging as they surrounded the three suspects.
“Faster, you guys! I’m waiting for you all in the front!” Xia Fan shouted out loud from afar.
The three of them practically vomited blood in their exasperation when they heard his comment!
How could any of them catch up to Xia Fan at the speed he was going?!
As the pressure worsened, there was no way they could prevent the attacks from the beast horde by just depending on the strength of the fat elder and the lanky man. The three were hanging barely by a thread now.
“Quick, help!” Sweat was already pouring down the face of the lanky man as he glanced at the golden-bearded man carrying the bamboo basket, who was constantly bobbing and weaving to evade attacks, not once retaliating.
“Hmph!” The face of the bearded man turned livid. He knew that if he did not act, his life might be in danger, and so he let out a roar and tossed the bamboo basket on his back to the side.
With a crunch, the bamboo basket splintered! A powerful force exploded from it!
Two scary humanoid puppets jumped out from the splintered bamboo. The puppets were ashen all over, and a lot of their skin tissues had already deteriorated and rotted away. Their purely black eyes had no shine of life in them.
These puppets were small in size, like young children, but they were absolutely crazy in a battle!
They were like evil demons that tore open the beasts’ chests, using their great strength to directly rip their enemies into pieces!
They were fast, possessed great strength, and their diminutive stature granted them a unique dexterity to their movements, plus their methods were quite cruel…
Cheyenne’s expression changed drastically as she said to Xia Fan, “That’s Demonic Puppetry!”
Xia Fan had not imagined that his plan to force the golden-bearded man to use his special ability would actually reveal this incredibly cruel special ability!
Not only did the demonically enchanted puppets appear, the bearded man had also seemingly instantly turned into another person. The golden hair on his head and his full beard all turned the color of fresh blood. His eyes were like those of those child puppets too, turning completely black as fangs grew out from his mouth.
That was Demonic Puppetry!
Normal puppetry was just the control of lifeless props, but Demonic Puppetry controlled life itself!
“Aoooo!” The bearded man let out a wild howl and charged into the midst of the monstrosities with the two puppets, actually scaring the beasts silly! They began to tremble uncontrollably!
The moment a demon-type special ability was unleashed, the user was no longer a human, but a living demon!
If the ferocious beasts had gone crazy, then the bearded man was essentially an absolutely insane demon! Just his Aura was enough to suppress all the beasts!
*Crunch~*
*Crunch~*
The bearded man and his two puppets slew the beasts like they were chopping up vegetables and fruits. Thanks to the muscles and blood of these beasts being transparent, the battlefield was not drenched in a sea of red, because the puppets did not just pull out the guts of the beasts, they even used their mouths to rip and tear…
Frightening! Unimaginably fearsome!
Even Xia Fan, someone who had only smiled since he was born, felt his lips were beginning to turn rigid.
It was no wonder this bearded man had been sealed in the cryogenic space station by the Union. Such a savage individual would likely bring about an apocalypse if he was left alive!
“He’s able to control two demonic puppets, which means he’s at the Star Base rank. Have no fear, we still have a chance!” Xia Fan reassured Cheyenne.
The scoundrels from the Holy Tomb planet had inculcated the need to be a good person to Xia Fan since he was just a baby, but that was only secondary. More importantly, the scoundrels wanted Xia Fan to be able to survive, and that was their most sincere blessing to Xia Fan.
Growing up under such tutelage, Xia Fan had a desire to live that was far greater than the average human. The more difficulties he faced, the more Xia Fan would face them with greater tenacity, and so his fighting spirit was even greater than before.
Cheyenne nodded after freezing up for a moment, but the expression on her face was more distraught than Xia Fan had seen on her before. As an investigator who had received elite training, she was very much aware just what it meant running into a demon-type special ability user.
—
The battle soon ended.
Xia Fan had relied on his strength to slaughter the bone monstrosities in the first floor of this trial ground, but here on the second floor, Xia Fan had inadvertently forced a true demon to show his face! The bearded man with the demon-type special ability had killed tens of thousands of the beasts in his frenzy within a very short time!
Not a single corpse on the battlefield was left intact, because not only did the bearded man massacred them all, he had slaughtered them madly!
The faces of the lanky man and fat elder revealed cold smiles. The bearded man returned back to hsi normal appearance after he was done butchering the beasts, acting like nothing had happened. It was just that there were now two murderous puppets standing beside him. Looking at the expressions on their faces, neither was the little girl from the Jiang Family who had been dismembered.
The bearded man approached Xia Fan.
Xia Fan maintained his smile, but he could not help but secretly clench his fist.
There was a blank expression on the bearded man’s face, but his eyes were profound with meaning. He placed his thick palm on Xia Fan’s shoulder and said in a somewhat mocking tone, “Well done, kid.”