Chapter 106: High Energy Ahead!

Page 1 of 3

“What manner of demon are you? State your name!”

The icy shout cracked across the air like thunder from a clear sky. A cold blade angled toward the luminous figure as Su Cheng’s killing intent surged, and a cataclysmic clash seemed ready to erupt at any moment.

The humanoid creature before him appeared to be composed entirely of pure energy. From a distance, it was little more than a blurred silhouette. Its radiance was so intense that no one could look directly at it, so Su Cheng calmly pulled a pair of sunglasses from his clothes and put them on.

Seeing Su Cheng actually draw his blade against such a terrifying monster, Thor broke into a cold sweat. He was terrified that the luminous being would unleash some devastating attack and blast him into dust.

“Cheng, don’t be reckless. If you provoke that monster, this won’t end well,” Thor warned him kindly, wiping the cold sweat from his face.

“You still don’t understand. This monster never intended to spare us. Judging from its behavior, it will slaughter every living thing it encounters in order to achieve its goal.”

The reason Su Cheng had shown hostility from the outset was that he had sensed an undisguised, utterly pure killing intent radiating from the monster. Rather than simply await execution, he might as well take a gamble. Perhaps there was still a sliver of hope.

There was another reason as well. Though the luminous being possessed terrifying strength, it did not seem particularly intelligent, and apparently could not communicate normally. That meant there was no way to trick the monster through conversation.

“Demons must die!”

The humanoid creature, being made of energy, possessed no vocal organs. Its voice was transmitted directly into everyone’s minds through mental force.

The instant those words rang out, Su Cheng moved.

His killing intent exploded. A massive black sword aura swept across the air like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

Dark Radiance Wave Slash!

At that moment, spiritual power erupted from Su Cheng’s body, and the force of the wave roared forth. A streak of profound black light, like a meteor chasing the moon, slashed toward the humanoid creature and severed it cleanly in two.

The enormous black sword aura cleaved the glowing humanoid figure through the waist before vanishing into the distant sky.

After delivering that strike, Su Cheng felt as though his entire body had been hollowed out. His spiritual power rapidly withered away.

“Is the monster dead?”

Shock filled the eyes of Thor and the other players. None of them had expected Su Cheng to dare attack such a terrifying, boss-level monster—and actually wound it.

“No. Not yet.”

At that moment, Su Cheng’s gaze suddenly turned cold. The wound carved into the luminous being by Dark Radiance Wave Slash instantly sealed itself. Just as he had expected, the monster possessed an ability akin to that of an elemental Devil Fruit user: it could transform its body into an element and become immune to all physical attacks.

However, Dark Radiance Wave Slash had not been an ordinary physical attack, and it had still injured the creature to a certain degree.

Unfortunately, that level of damage was nowhere near enough to kill it. Instead, the attack had thoroughly enraged the monster.

“Remnant of the City of Mysteries! You shall die!”

A killing intent as violent as a raging sea erupted. A pair of radiant wings suddenly grew from the monster’s back. Its mouth opened wide, and a beam of light shot forth, instantly piercing through Su Cheng’s torso.

Su Cheng’s spiritual power had already been completely exhausted, and his physical condition was rapidly deteriorating. He had no way to evade an attack traveling at nearly the speed of light.

After passing through his body, the beam gouged a scar nearly a hundred meters long into the ground.

“Lowly creature. How dare you injure me? What foolishness.”

As he spoke, the luminous being willed it, and the Grimoire of Demons beside Su Cheng’s “corpse” flew into his hand.

At that moment, boundless despair appeared on everyone’s faces. The injuries suffered by the players were far more severe than Su Cheng’s. Forget fighting the luminous being to the death—they could not even run.

“Monster, go to hell!”

Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat!

A furious burst of gunfire rang out. Even in such desperate circumstances, Thor, Zhang Wei, and the other players refused to beg for mercy. They drew their firearms and unleashed a storm of bullets at the monster.

Facing the rain of bullets, the luminous being extended one hand toward the players. A translucent shield of light appeared before it. The bullets poured against the shield and were deflected in every direction.

The players had little ammunition remaining to begin with. Before long, they had fired every last round, while the humanoid creature remained completely unharmed.

“Are we finished?”

Zhang Wei pulled half a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and took a deep drag to ease his fear.

“Come on. At least I’ll have no regrets about my life.”

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

“Foolish, insignificant creatures. You dare challenge the will of a god? Die.”

The luminous being, which considered itself a higher life-form, was just about to attack Thor and the others when a voice suddenly sounded behind it.

“Hey. Isn’t it a little early to give up?”

Following the voice, everyone saw a figure appear before them.

“Who are you, old man?”

Xu Xiaolong stared in astonishment at a middle-aged man who looked like an ordinary office worker, dressed in a dark suit and tie, with an unshaven face. No one knew when he had appeared inside the dungeon, but he was now walking toward them.

“Lowly creature, you intend to stop me? Do you even know where I come from?”

The glowing humanoid wore an expression that practically screamed, You amoeba-like lowlifes aren’t qualified to speak to me. It looked thoroughly deserving of a beating.

“Heh. You’re nothing more than a low-ranking angel from the Celestial Realm, sent to run errands for others. Do you really think you’re some great and important figure?”

“You…”

The Killing Angel had not expected a human to identify him and reveal his origins in a single breath. Astonishment immediately surfaced in his eyes.

The next second, his voice cut off.

A fist rapidly expanded within his field of vision and, at an unbelievable speed, slammed into his radiant body.

“Impossible.”

Terror appeared across the Killing Angel’s face. It looked as though he had encountered some monstrous existence. His figure transformed into a streak of light and shot backward.

At the instant the Killing Angel was sent flying, the Grimoire of Demons appeared in the middle-aged man’s hand.

With a single move, the monster whose power had driven all the players into despair was instantly knocked out.

Xu Xiaolong stood there dumbfounded, his face filled with disbelief. The others reacted the same way.

Could this office worker actually be Teacher Saitama?

“Cheng, how long are you planning to lie there?”

The middle-aged man calmly stored the Grimoire of Demons in his dimensional backpack and picked his nose as he spoke.

At that moment, Su Cheng’s “corpse” suddenly sat up. He stared at the middle-aged man before them with a complicated expression and said with an exasperated look, “Uncle Yasui, I never realized you were hiding yourself so deeply.”

That was right.

The middle-aged man who had defeated the angel with a single strike was none other than Hikaru Yasui, the man who lived with Su Cheng—no, rented an apartment with him.

When the players saw Su Cheng rise from the dead, a single word immediately sprang to mind:

Zombie.

Of course, Su Cheng had not risen as a zombie. In truth, he had never died.

Five minutes earlier, at the instant the beam fired by the Killing Angel struck him, he had decisively activated the effect of the Medal of Fearlessness, rendering himself immune to fatal damage.

However, by then his spiritual power had already been exhausted. If the Killing Angel discovered that he was still alive and returned to finish him off, Su Cheng would certainly be doomed.

Thus, Su Cheng had played along, lying motionless on the ground and pretending to be dead. While the Killing Angel’s attention was focused on the Grimoire of Demons, he silently summoned a Spirit Wraith to replenish his spiritual power.

Su Cheng’s original plan had been to quietly gather strength, then launch a surprise attack the instant the Killing Angel lowered his guard. He would strike from behind with a Millennium Kill, then join forces with the other players in a desperate counterattack. If everything went smoothly, he had been fifty percent certain of killing the winged bastard.

He simply had not expected Uncle Yasui to suddenly appear inside the dungeon and defeat the Killing Angel with a single punch.

“Wretched creature! Face the wrath of the gods!”

In an instant, a beam of light shot toward Uncle Yasui and Su Cheng from a point a hundred meters away.

“That winged bastard is still alive?”

Su Cheng’s expression changed, and he sprang aside to evade the Killing Angel’s attack.

Before the beam could strike Uncle Yasui, his figure vanished from where he stood. Then, 0.01 seconds later, he appeared one meter in front of the Killing Angel.

Consecutive Normal Punches.

Fists emerged. Killing intent followed.

Su Cheng saw only Uncle Yasui’s arms vanish from his field of vision. Then a chain of explosive booms, like firecrackers bursting one after another, erupted from the Killing Angel’s body.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Then the Killing Angel, formed entirely from energy, was beaten into a sky full of glittering fragments.

After the Killing Angel was eliminated, the game announcement sounded in everyone’s ears.

“Abnormal data confirmed and eliminated. Main quest completed. The dungeon is entering the settlement phase…”

The next second, all five players other than Su Cheng transformed into streaks of white light and vanished from the dungeon world.

Thor and the others had been teleported out of the dungeon and returned to the real world. Why was he still inside? Could that damned system have suffered another bug?

Su Cheng’s heart tightened, and his gaze fell upon Uncle Yasui.

After fighting the Killing Angel in a fierce battle and killing it, Uncle Yasui pulled a bottle of chilled beer from his dimensional backpack and gulped it down.

The corner of Su Cheng’s mouth twitched. Only then did he remember that the old man was also an alcoholic in the real world. After work, he usually bought an entire case of ice-cold beer and drank it in his room.

The pressure placed upon Japan’s working class was enormous. Most office workers enjoyed drinking after work to relieve that pressure, so this was hardly surprising.

Hikaru Yasui did not take the initiative to explain anything to Su Cheng. He seemed to be waiting for Su Cheng to question him.

“Uncle Yasui, you’re not an ordinary player, are you?” Su Cheng thought for a while before finally asking.

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s simple. Leaving aside the absurd combat strength you displayed, there were only six players participating in this dungeon. It would be impossible for the system to insert another player halfway through the game.” Su Cheng slowly laid out his reasoning. “Besides, the timing of your appearance was highly suspicious. You showed up only after the game encountered an anomaly.”

“So am I right in assuming that you’re actually a game administrator? And your job is to deal with abnormalities that appear in the game, such as that winged bastard from the Celestial Realm?”

Uncle Yasui gave Su Cheng an approving glance.

“You’re only half right. I do possess administrator privileges. However, my mission this time was not merely to eliminate that trespassing angel. My primary objective was to recover the Grimoire of Demons.”

“What exactly is the Grimoire of Demons? The reason the Killing Angel appeared in this dungeon world was to obtain it, wasn’t it?”

Su Cheng immediately grasped the key point.

“Bingo. You got it right.”

“The Grimoire of Demons in my possession is actually only a replica. However, because it has been contaminated by demonic aura, it possesses the power to summon a Gate of Demons. To the developers of the game, these sealed artifacts are far too dangerous. They could potentially cause a dungeon world to collapse, so they must be recovered and disposed of.”

Su Cheng nodded. If the players had failed to stop the Gray-Haired Prophet’s summoning ritual in time, allowing the Chaos Knight to descend into this world, the dungeon world would very likely have been destroyed.

And in fact, this was not the first time something like that had happened.

“But I’m not the only one trying to recover these sealed artifacts. Other factions are involved as well.” A helpless expression appeared on Hikaru Yasui’s face. “This replica of the Grimoire of Demons is merely a Class One sealed artifact, the lowest danger level. Some sealed artifacts are so dangerous that even I would not dare approach them recklessly.”

“I see.”

After Uncle Yasui’s explanation, Su Cheng finally understood the full story behind the anomaly. It appeared that situations like the one today might continue to occur.

“Then here’s the question: Why did you deliberately keep me here and tell me all this information?”

Strictly speaking, Su Cheng and Hikaru Yasui were not particularly close. Because the latter often worked overtime, they rarely saw each other and had barely spoken more than a few words. Information about sealed artifacts was presumably not something that could be revealed casually.

“It’s because we’re short-handed. Normally, dealing with a small fry like the Killing Angel would never require me to act personally.”

Su Cheng was stunned. Inwardly, he gave Uncle Yasui a resounding six-six-six. The man’s boast was smooth, layered, and delivered with astonishing depth.

“So you want me to help you recover those sealed artifacts inside the game?”

Having understood the implication behind Uncle Yasui’s words, Su Cheng regarded him warily.

“Let me make one thing clear. We may know each other, but there is no chance I’m going to work for you. I’ll never work for anyone in this lifetime.”

Judging from the information Uncle Yasui had revealed, recovering sealed artifacts was an extremely dangerous occupation.

“Heh. The moment I told you about the sealed artifacts, you lost the right to refuse.” Uncle Yasui seemed to have anticipated his reaction. A sly grin spread across his face.

“I’ve fallen into a trap!”

Su Cheng looked deeply regretful and asked weakly, “Can I pretend I never heard any of this?”

“What do you think?”

“Relax. This was only a special circumstance. Recovering sealed artifacts isn’t as dangerous as you imagine. If you agree to my terms, I can grant you some administrator privileges.”

“And if I still refuse?” Su Cheng asked tentatively.

Uncle Yasui pulled a brick from his dimensional backpack and grinned wickedly.

“Then I’ll find a way to erase your memory.”

Page 3 of 3