Chapter 110: Fighting Fire

“……”

The other end of the walkie-talkie fell silent.

"Chen Ling, I don't think you should push yourself too hard," Xi Renjie said earnestly. "Although the [Asura] path has extremely strong physical recovery, stamina cannot be recovered... If you're tired, take a rest. No one will blame you."

Just as Chen Ling was about to speak, a meat chicken roared and charged at him through the thick fog at an incredible speed.

Chen Ling's eyes lit up. He took a swig of wine, and like a trick, sprayed it toward the fire stick. A ball of flame collided with the meat chicken, and a sharp screech suddenly rang out.

"What was that sound?" Xi Renjie was stunned.

Chen Ling didn't answer. He placed the wine jar on the ground, drew his dagger from his waist, and rushed toward the burning meat chicken!

After his stamina recovered, Chen Ling's speed returned to its peak. He swung the fire stick and dagger in succession, constantly slicing off fragrant pieces of meat. Chen Ling bit the meat off the dagger, chewed it, and continued his attack!

His black trench coat danced in the fog. Chen Ling was like an executioner, yet also like a gourmet. His frantic offensive forced the meat chicken to retreat repeatedly, and before long, it was completely buried under the flames.

"Chen Ling, Chen Ling?" Xi Renjie called his name on the walkie-talkie. "Are you alright?"

Chen Ling resisted the urge to eat the roasted chicken on the spot, went back to pick up the walkie-talkie, and answered while chewing,

"It's fine... it's been resolved."

"Are you eating something?"

Chen Ling immediately swallowed the chicken. "No."

Although Xi Renjie was a bit suspicious, he sighed and continued:

"Now the Calamities are mixed into the crowd and are constantly moving, making them hard to hunt down. I can hold on for a while longer. I'm heading east now; you should find a place..."

Before Xi Renjie could finish, another meat chicken burst through the thick fog, roaring as it charged at Chen Ling!

Chen Ling was stunned.

The meat chickens Chen Ling had encountered before either knocked on doors to kill people or hid in shadows to ambush. There were almost none that charged at him like madmen... If it were just one, that would be fine, but having two do this within a few minutes made Chen Ling keenly sense something unusual.

In a flash, Chen Ling didn't have time to think; he drew his blade and engaged in close-quarters combat.

Half a minute later, Chen Ling put away his dagger, his mouth glistening with grease.

He looked at the two broken, roasted chickens on the ground and fell into deep thought... Roasted chicken... No, the behavioral logic of the meat chickens contradicting what he saw before must have a reason. Chen Ling carefully searched everywhere on his person and finally locked his gaze on two things.

One was the wine jar on the ground, and the other was the torch in his hand.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ling ruled out the wine jar because when the second meat chicken charged over, the jar was several meters behind him, and the creature's target was clearly him.

Then the only possibility was the burning torch in his hand...

Are these meat chickens hostile toward fire?

Why?

To test his theory, Chen Ling walked into several houses, found some combustible wood, piled it together, and lit it. A bonfire appeared in the center of the fog-filled street, burning silently.

Chen Ling himself stood by the bonfire, holding the fire stick in one hand and the dagger in the other, his eyes vigilantly scanning his surroundings.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds...

After a brief silence, three screeches came from the end of the street in succession. Three shadow centipedes rushed through the fog at an astonishing speed, heading straight toward him!

Seeing this, Chen Ling's eyes lit up!

He knew he had guessed correctly.

Without hesitation, Chen Ling stomped out the bonfire and lightning-fast charged toward the three meat chickens.

Fire could attract these meat chickens; if it burned for too long, who knew how many would come at once... With Chen Ling's current combat power, dealing with eight or nine was his limit. If there were more, he might become the meat chickens' dinner.

Chen Ling had lit the bonfire just to conduct an experiment. Since the effect of fire was proven, multiple plans had already surfaced in his mind.

This time, Chen Ling didn't use fire to roast them; he used his dagger to kill the three meat chickens cleanly and turned back to walk in the direction he had come from.

……

In the dim hut, the shopkeeper opened his eyes, feeling groggy.

He looked at the unfamiliar ceiling above, lying there in a daze for a while. In his trance, he seemed to see that figure chewing on a centipede again, holding a head and asking if he wanted a bite...

He let out a cry and sat up abruptly, a dense layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

"...Was it a nightmare?"

The shopkeeper patted his chest, still shaken, trying to forget that horrific scene. Just then, the door was pushed open forcefully from the outside!

Thick fog poured in from the doorway, and the figure that had just appeared in his nightmare was standing there, holding a fire stick in one hand and a jar of wine in the other, looking at him calmly.

The moment he saw that demonic face, the shopkeeper's heart skipped a beat, and his face turned deathly pale.

"I'm asking you." Chen Ling shook the wine in his hand. "Do you have any more of this?"

The shopkeeper nodded, still shaken.

"...Yes, I have a warehouse on the north side of the district where all the brewed wine is stored."

"Give me the specific address."

Chen Ling got the address and keys from the shopkeeper and turned to leave, leaving the shopkeeper standing there in a daze, not knowing what had happened.

A few minutes later, Chen Ling walked into an empty vegetable market.

"Brother Renjie, I'm a bit tired."

He pressed the switch on the walkie-talkie and said as much.

As he spoke, he grabbed a plastic bag and started filling it with green onions, ginger, and garlic.

Soon, Xi Renjie's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"It's normal to be tired... Find a place to rest for a while and recover your strength before doing anything else."

Xi Renjie's voice was also very exhausted, but when he heard Chen Ling say he was tired, there was an inexplicable sense of relief in his tone... He wasn't afraid of Chen Ling being tired; he was afraid of Chen Ling pushing himself and then collapsing on the battlefield.

Chen Ling suddenly stopped, picked up a bottle of cooking wine from a shelf nearby, checked the production date, and put it in the bag as well.

"Okay." After saying this, Chen Ling put away the walkie-talkie.

Chen Ling wandered around the vegetable market, picked out a sturdier stick, wrapped the head in a rag towel, soaked it in gasoline for a long time, and then lit it.

A raging fire ignited from the top of the stick, looking like a moving sun in the thick fog. Chen Ling held the torch in one hand and the condiments in the other, walking toward a corner of an empty alley... His fingertips gently tore at his cheek.

When he walked out again, he had transformed into a cold-faced young man, and the black trench coat had changed back into that bright red opera robe, which was particularly conspicuous and eerie in the thick fog.

Chen Ling licked his lips, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his figure turned into a blur, quickly disappearing into the mist.