ACIFITFDB – Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Damn These Little Brats Who Play Favorites…

“Ah, I’m not sure exactly what happened. I’m not perfect either, I’ve definitely encountered some setbacks.” Xun Guangfan’s gaze drifted, his expression clearly indicating he had something on his mind.

However, Qin Xian, who usually paid no attention to others’ personal affairs, pressed further, “If you were chosen to challenge the grotesque, you must be quite outstanding. Have you killed any grotesque beings?”

Xun Guangfan clenched his right hand tightly and said with self-mockery, “No, it’s just that we’re short-handed right now. I haven’t killed any grotesque beings. How could an ordinary person like me be a match for them?”

Qin Xian nodded, “It seems your psychological shadow stems from here. I don’t know what you experienced, but it’s normal for ordinary people not to be able to kill grotesque beings. You don’t need to blame yourself too much.”

“No.” Xun Guangfan shook his head and looked at Qin Xian, “If I had been decisive, I could have completely defeated it, but I was timid…”

“I see. It appears your moment of timidity caused someone’s death. Was it a loved one, a friend, or a comrade?”

Qin Xian’s voice was exceptionally cold. He watched Xun Guangfan’s suddenly pale face and constricted pupils without a hint of sympathy.

Xun Guangfan didn’t understand, “Mr. Qin, what exactly are you trying to do? Honestly, I’m very envious of you. If only I had your ability and mindset, I wouldn’t be afraid of any grotesque being, no matter how terrifying, and would have the ability to defeat it.”

Qin Xian chuckled, “How can anyone have this ability from the start?”

Xun Guangfan said dejectedly, “I know. I’m sorry, Mr. Qin also experienced many terrible things to gain his current strength. It’s just that I’m a bit obsessed. I can’t stop. If I had been more outstanding and had a better mindset from the beginning, perhaps I could have stopped that grotesque being from killing my neighbor, my friends, and my family. Why was I scared then? I should have just pulled out my gun! I’m such a damn failure!”

“Mm-hmm. It seems my experiment was successful.”

Xun Guangfan blinked at Qin Xian’s words. He looked up with a wry smile, about to protest, when he saw Qin Xian pointing behind him.

He immediately turned his head and saw a person identical to him standing in the shadows, slowly raising a gun in his hand.

Xun Guangfan cried out in alarm, “Be careful!”

The imposter ‘Xun Guangfan’ raised his gun and fired. Qin Xian dodged nimbly, while Xun Guangfan scrambled to find cover.

Qin Xian avoided the bullets and shouted to the students causing a commotion downstairs, “Don’t come up! It’s nothing serious.”

Xun Guangfan felt extremely confused by everything that was happening and asked anxiously, “Mr. Qin, what’s going on? What did you do?”

Qin Xian replied, “I was just trying to interpret the mindset of the deceased. It seems the condition for triggering death in this domain is self-negation.”

Xun Guangfan was impressed, “So you specifically brought me up here to dig into my wounds just to test this?”

He felt a pang in his chest and commented, “As expected of you, you’re truly… So, what do we do now? Should we take care of this imposter?”

“Since you created it, you should resolve it yourself.”

“Huh!?”

Qin Xian looked at Xun Guangfan, who’s eyes were wide with disbelief, and kicked the charging imposter. However, his leg passed straight through the imposter ‘Xun Guangfan’s’ body.

“See? You have to deal with it yourself.”

Xun Guangfan gritted his teeth, peeked out from behind cover, and fired, but the imposter dodged it directly.

Qin Xian reminded him from the side, “This is also a grotesque being, but apart from not being easy to kill, its abilities should be exactly the same as yours.”

If it’s not easy to kill, how is that the same?!

Xun Guangfan tried to shoot again, only to find the opponent, as if telepathically connected, stood up and raised their guns simultaneously.

The next second, both of them froze and quickly retreated.

Qin Xian commented, “As expected, both are equally cowardly.”

Xun Guangfan: “…”

He wasn’t angry this time, but rather found a hint from it. Since the opponent’s behavioral pattern and abilities were the same as his, perhaps it would be useful if he didn’t fight like himself.

Could he find a role model? Imitate Qin Xian? Forget it, he didn’t know him well, and he probably couldn’t imitate him anyway. It might be better to switch to Captain Yuan Fengying.

Captain Yuan was an elite who had been transferred to A City just last month. She didn’t work at their police station, but she had trained all the police officers and soldiers in A City. She was a true all-around warrior.

Could he really be like her?

Qin Xian watched from the side, his expression indifferent as if he had no stake in it.

The imposter and the original were both hiding behind a load-bearing pillar on the fourth floor, nervously aiming their guns at each other’s movements. Just as Qin Xian was about to yawn from boredom, Xun Guangfan suddenly rushed out from behind the pillar. The imposter hesitated and immediately fired several shots at the lunging shadow, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Xun Guangfan’s jacket.

Xun Guangfan himself ducked low and rushed directly to the imposter.

After several shots, the imposter couldn’t dodge in time, his hand was mangled, and the gun fell at Qin Xian’s feet. But what sent a chill down Xun Guangfan’s spine was that the damaged hand was slowly regenerating.

He didn’t have that kind of ability!

Qin Xian spoke up, “Aim for the head.”

Xun Guangfan instinctively obeyed, raising his gun to aim for the imposter’s vital spot, but this guy had also received the hint. With his hand not fully recovered, he grabbed the gun and brutally broke Xun Guangfan’s finger holding it.

“Ahhh!” Xun Guangfan screamed. The gun fell from his hand and dropped from the fourth floor.

He was disarmed!

“You still have your fists,” Qin Xian reminded him again.

Damn it! I’ll risk it!

A trace of madness flashed across Xun Guangfan’s pale face. He recalled the ferocity of Qin Xian, Yuan Fengying, and some elites from the center during their battles. What if his hand was broken? As long as he could still move, he’d fight first!

Qin Xian exclaimed, “Huo!” and watched as the kid, with strength he didn’t know where it came from, leaped up, pinned the imposter to the ground, and started punching him directly in the face with all his might.

The two quickly became entangled, fighting with primitive, bone-crunching punches, from one end of the corridor to the other. However, the grotesque being’s recovery speed was too fast, and Xun Guangfan slowly began to lose ground.

Panting heavily, he was hit hard in the eye. In a dizzying blur, he saw Qin Xian mouth the words: “Bite it to death.”

Xun Guangfan roared, lunged forward, and tightly embraced the imposter. He opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on ‘his’ neck, tearing away flesh and blood. The imposter screamed, his blood vessels and nerves exposed.

Watching the bloody scene, Xun Guangfan’s eyes turned red. He used his fingers to dig into those blood vessels and violently tore them apart. Arterial blood spurted out like pressurized tap water, staining the nearby wall red.

The imposter collapsed with his mouth agape, turning into a mass of black mud and disappearing.

Xun Guangfan, covered in blood, sat on the ground. He closed his eyes, wanting to faint.

“Wait, I suggest you stand up and wash off the blood. It’s quite frightening,” Qin Xian suddenly appeared and yanked him up from the ground.

Xun Guangfan staggered a few steps and steadied himself. He glanced at Qin Xian with some resentment, unable to speak.

“After you wash off the blood, call your colleagues up here and continue the experiment. Let’s see if two or more people can summon grotesque beings simultaneously and attack each other’s grotesque beings.”

Xun Guangfan’s eyes suddenly brightened, and he nodded before entering his room to clean himself.

Indeed, when the one being tormented was someone else, the motivation was always infinite.

An hour and a half later, in a room on the fourth floor, the unlucky individuals who had been summoned were panting on the ground. The room was stained with blood everywhere. Qin Xian stood by like a robot, heartlessly concluding, “If grotesque beings are summoned simultaneously, they can attack each other’s grotesque beings. Then, we should summon all the students’ grotesque beings in one go.”

The police officers lay like corpses on the ground, unresponsive. Xun Guangfan, however, had recovered some strength and asked, “Why do we have to summon our inner demons using negative emotions? Shouldn’t we try to avoid triggering them at this point?”

“Inner demons?”

“Don’t you think this thing is very similar to the inner demons in cultivation novels?”

“Indeed.” Qin Xian quickly accepted this explanation and continued, “Because the key to the formation of this domain lies with these students. It is their negative emotions that created this place, so killing the inner demons is likely the way to leave. Rather than one-on-one, it’s better for everyone to summon them together and use strategy to defeat them.”

Xun Guangfan asked, “We can leave after defeating the inner demons? But I don’t see any signs of leaving right now.”

“You can try going down to the first floor.”

The group quickly went downstairs. Qin Xian was immediately swarmed by chattering students.

“Boss, what were you guys doing on the fourth floor? Was there a gunfight?”

“Wow, why is there blood on you? Did you find the killer?”

“What are we doing next? I want to go home…”

Qin Xian placed his raised index finger to his lips, and the surrounding students immediately quieted down, with one or two blushing. Xun Guangfan, standing nearby, also perked up his ears, waiting for Qin Xian to speak.

“Ask him if you have questions. I have other things to do.”

Qin Xian pushed the stunned Xun Guangfan forward and then slipped away from behind.

Xun Guangfan: “…” Impressed.

“Hey, kid, say something! What are you standing there for?”

“Why could you go to the fourth floor and I couldn’t? Is it just because you’ve been a subordinate for longer?”

Xun Guangfan: “…”

Damn these little brats who play favorites.