ACIFITFDB – Chapter 23

“Hey, I heard a relative of yours was in that building? How are they?”

“They were a safe distance away, not seriously injured. But their neighbor on the second floor was miserable, reportedly blown into pieces and still not fully reassembled.”

“Damn… that’s terrifying. How did it even explode? The news said it was a gas explosion?”

“It was indeed natural gas. But, someone deliberately ignited it. A single LPG tank wouldn’t cause such a massive explosion. Someone brought several tanks into their home and lit them all at once. People heard maniacal laughter before the explosion.”

“Ah??? Is some mentally unstable person seeking revenge on society? If they catch them, won’t they be unable to prosecute?”

“I hope they get the death penalty, or better yet, be cut into a thousand pieces. Hey, don’t you think things have been a bit too chaotic lately?”

Qin Xian meticulously picked out green peas from his lunch tray and slowly ate them.

It seemed like an accident caused by a mentally unstable person seeking revenge on society. Grotesque beings rarely killed in such a manner; they preferred to torment people, savoring their fear and despair.

But it wasn’t impossible. This horrific incident had plunged the entire city into panic. If more similar events occurred, the whole city would be shrouded in gloom, and the influence of the grotesque would grow.

The atmosphere in this area was noticeably unsettling.

Qin Xian put down his chopsticks, paid, and headed straight for a nearby dark corner. He weaved through various alleys before arriving by the Longyuan River.

There was a stretch of mudflats here, very close to the residential building that had the incident, but it was sparsely populated and damp. In some places, the weeds were taller than a person, and the ground was littered with illegally dumped construction waste. It was a perfect spot for disposing of bodies… or attracting something foul.

Qin Xian pushed aside the grass and stood on a few concrete slabs, gazing towards the affected building. As night fell, the foul things began to appear. He heard rustling in the grass, something sticky slithering closer on the ground.

It had crawled out of the river, leaving a long, slimy trail behind it. It silently approached an unsuspecting human and formed a vague humanoid shape, reaching out to choke the person.

But the human suddenly turned their head, their eyes devoid of any panic.

Qin Xian saw a face that was clearly that of a drowned person, pale and swollen, emitting a disgusting, fishy odor.

He frowned, tightened his grip on the whip that suddenly appeared in his hand, and lashed out. The whip’s impact felt sticky and slick, easily slicing through the grotesque being’s body, cutting it in half at the waist. However, the creature seemed unfazed by being cut. Its two halves quickly enveloped the whip and began crawling towards Qin Xian along it.

The whip suddenly vanished. The grotesque, deprived of support, plopped to the ground and relentlessly slithered after Qin Xian.

Qin Xian retreated a couple of steps, speechless, not rushing to attack. The thing moved too slowly to ever hit him. It was better to find its weakness first. Generally, these kinds of creatures were quite afraid of dry environments…

He raised his eyes and locked onto a pile of construction debris not far away. There seemed to be a patch of sand in the middle. On the sand, several torn woven bags had spilled out a lot of white powder – lime. This chemical product was highly effective against these low-level, water-based grotesques.

Qin Xian was about to jump off the concrete slab when he suddenly smelled another scent besides the fishy odor, like liquefied gas.

In the dim light, several – no, many – blackened hands suddenly emerged from the grass. A humanoid shape, completely black, was crouched in the grass. Seeing Qin Xian discover them, they raised their heads, their blackened faces contorting into grotesque smiles.

These were the people who had died in the explosion! Their skin was mostly burnt, and they bore horrific wounds from the blast.

Qin Xian threw his whip out again, wrapping it around the neck of one of the grotesques and swinging it towards the water ghost behind it.

When the two grotesques collided, the blackened monster let out a strange cry, and its body violently exploded from within. Fire, burnt flesh, and slime splattered everywhere. Qin Xian leaped off the concrete slab at top speed, dodging beneath it, but a bit of his clothes was still inevitably splashed.

“Tsk.”

Qin Xian pursed his lips, not caring about the mess. He picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the charred corpses.

These were newly born grotesques. Although the explosion had been devastating, triggering another one was simple.

A larger stone thrown at them could cause them to explode, like playing Minesweeper. After a few stones, the dark grass erupted in brilliant sparks, and the grass quickly caught fire, illuminating the entire area. Amusingly, these charred corpses and the water ghost were not allied. The flames clearly suppressed the water ghost, forcing several heads that had emerged from the river back down.

Qin Xian used his whip to clear away several charred corpses from a distance, and as he fought, he suddenly chuckled and said, “Who told you guys to do it like that? So stupid it’s funny.”

The grass not far away rustled, and the sounds of arguing humans could be heard.

“Are they there? Let me see who you people are.” Qin Xian headed directly towards the grass.

But after taking only two steps, a spark suddenly flashed from the grass, followed by a loud “bang.”

In a moment of urgency, Qin Xian shifted his head in mid-air. A bullet grazed his face, leaving a linear wound that immediately began bleeding, the blood trickling down his face and into his mask.

But it wasn’t over. Just as Qin Xian was about to retreat, “bang,” “bang,” “bang!” Three shots rang out in succession.

Guns!? Who could get their hands on a gun in a society with such strict gun control!? Qin Xian had only encountered these a few times even in Infinite Stream Worlds.

He quickly found cover and hid. Bullets struck the stones at his feet, sending shrapnel flying.

The enemies on the other side, presumably confident that having weapons meant victory, giggled and stood up, approaching Qin Xian’s position.

“Heh, a weakling with a gun is still a weakling,” Qin Xian sneered, wrapping his whip around a charred corpse’s neck.

Two thugs holding guns, about two meters away, were smugly approaching Qin Xian’s hiding spot when they suddenly saw a clawing, charred corpse flying towards them. They froze. One of them instinctively fired. The bullet hit the charred corpse’s body, and fire suddenly erupted from it, exploding with a “bang.”

Qin Xian only heard two screams, and it sounded like they had scrambled back into the grass.

“Idiot! Shooting that thing makes it explode, are you trying to die!?”

“Woc, who knew he’d use these charred corpses too… Damn, low-level things are useless. If they can’t help, they just cause trouble.”

“Hurry and get rid of those charred corpses. Guns are better anyway…”

Qin Xian’s eyes darkened. Someone was indeed behind this bombing, and judging by their words… they could control these low-level grotesques?

“Got rid of them, got rid of them. Huh? Where did that kid go?”

“Let’s finish this quickly, I hear the police!”

The two quickly stood up, guns in hand, searching for Qin Xian’s trace. But hidden by the night and the grass, they failed to notice the target standing just one meter behind them.

Qin Xian coldly observed them.

Two young men, dressed in simple, cheap t-shirts and casual pants, with dyed hair, tattoos, and cigarette packs in their pockets. They looked like ordinary hooligans. Ordinary hooligans with guns?

Seeing the two probing forward with their guns, Qin Xian lost patience and whipped their necks.

“What was that noise?!”

“What, yue!!”

The whip tightly coiled around their necks, making them roll their eyes. They frantically reached for the whip on their necks, but it had barbs. Touching it scratched their fingers painfully, and their neck skin was already torn, leaving their hands bloody.

Qin Xian stomped on one of their chests and leaned down, asking, “Who are you people? Why did you attack me?”

Their faces and necks turned red from being choked. One of them gritted his teeth and said, “We won’t tell you… uhh!!”

Qin Xian increased the pressure of his foot, feeling the ribs beneath him sink slightly.

“If I press any harder, your ribs will break and pierce your lungs. The police are coming soon. If you don’t want to die, answer my questions.”

His back to the moonlight, his face was completely in shadow. Only the emotionless eyes and the bloodstain on his right cheek could be vaguely discerned, making the two thugs tremble.

“No… we can’t say, we’ll die.”

Qin Xian observed their expressions. One was fat, the other thin. The thin one had his eyes closed, gritting his teeth and remaining silent. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and slapped the thin man’s face with such force that the thin man’s head twisted, and he immediately passed out.

The fat one trembled even more violently, starting to beg, “Sorry, sorry, please let us go!”

Qin Xian sneered, “Then answer my questions, or I’ll kill you right now.”

With that, he hooked the guns they had dropped on the ground with his finger and aimed the muzzle directly at his temple.

The fat man’s tears and snot streamed down his face. He stammered, “Someone hired us to kill you!”

Qin Xian asked, “Who?”

The fat man opened his mouth but couldn’t make a sound. He blinked, then began to struggle frantically.

Qin Xian frowned, “Are you part of an organization? Did you do the LPG explosion?”

The fat man struggled and squeezed out two words: “Yes, yes… Tong Gui Dao…”

“What is Tong Gui Dao?”

“It’s a new sect. They are descendants of Heavenly Masters. If you join, you can learn ghost-controlling techniques and control demons and monsters! This world is about to be devoured by monsters. Only by mastering ghost-controlling abilities can you survive!”