Chapter 369 - 242: Global Social Death (Part 2)

The Cyan Flame Burst in front of Zhou Chen, and the explosive force sent him flying backward to dodge the sweeping halberd blade.

The spreading flames ignited Liu Ling’s Demon Wood Armor, turning him into a human torch in an instant. He ejected from the armor as his Long Halberd surged with a dark light. Three shadowy orbs of lightning shot toward Zhou Chen, while Liu Ling himself landed gracefully and summoned a new suit of Demon Wood Armor.

SHING!

The Thunder Strike Blade was drawn.

A horizontal slash of the blade easily shattered and absorbed the three orbs of lightning. In response, brilliant purple arcs of electricity crackled to life along the Thunder Strike Blade.

Zhou Chen stylishly sheathed his blade in mid-air. The Cyan Flame abruptly flared, enveloping his entire body.

On the ground, a ball of Cyan Flame materialized to Liu Ling’s left. He swung his Great Halberd at it without hesitation, only to strike empty air.

’Crap!’

A jolt of alarm went through Liu Ling. Behind him, pale, flowing flames flared and died, revealing a figure that had appeared out of nowhere, already in an Iaijutsu Slash stance.

The Thunder Strike Blade was drawn.

—Slash!

The blade shrieked as it was drawn. A brilliant flash of lightning and fire erupted from the scabbard as the sharp Tachi cut through the air, streaking across Liu Ling’s back.

The Demon Wood Armor, as hard as a special alloy, was easily torn apart, but the blade transmitted no sensation of cutting through flesh...

Liu Ling dove forward in a desperate scramble, rolling once on the ground before quickly regaining his footing. At the last possible moment, he had once again used the Demon Wood Armor to eject himself forward. The clothes on his back were shredded; it had been a dangerously close call.

He knew just how potent Zhou Chen’s flames were. With only half of his strength remaining, he was certain he couldn’t withstand the burning of the Spiritual Fire.

"Tsk. Can’t you just stand still for me?"

Zhou Chen clicked his tongue in annoyance. Beneath his feet, the Cyan Flame erupted like a tidal wave. Liu Ling retreated rapidly to avoid being scorched, but the wave of fire pursued him relentlessly, spreading like a wildfire.

Liu Ling swept his Great Halberd, carving a deep trench in the ground. A wall of crackling, dark lightning erupted from the gouge, blocking the advance of the fiery wave.

"Chengzi, hurry up and help me stall him!" Liu Ling roared.

"But... but it hasn’t been ten minutes..." Chengzi was torn. If she acted before the time was up, she would be breaking their deal, and she wouldn’t get the massive sum of fifteen million.

Liu Ling was clearly losing. Sacrificing his Demon Wood Armor twice in a row had taken a huge toll on him. At this rate, he would be completely defeated within a few more moves. He shouted anxiously, "Help me, and I’ll give you thirty million! Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it!"

Thirty million! It was as if Chengzi could hear the sound of countless Gold Coins raining from the sky. Forgetting all about her deal with Zhou Chen, she prepared to jump in and help.

But just then, from within the sea of licking, dancing flames, Zhou Chen’s figure abruptly vanished.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder, and a soft sigh sounded by her ear. "You’re so terrible at this. Don’t you have any self-awareness?"

The Cyan Flame entered her body, and with it poured a brilliant starlight.

Amidst the searing pain of her spirit being burned, Chengzi’s mind cleared. She found herself again, feeling as though she had just woken from a long, strange dream.

"Help me keep Liu Ling busy," Zhou Chen said, then vanished again.

Snapping back to reality, Chengzi thought of her earlier greed, and a blush crept up her face. Her hands, however, didn’t hesitate. She slung the automatic rifle from her back, aimed at Liu Ling, and opened fire. RAT-TAT-TAT.

With Chengzi’s help, and with Liu Ling already at a severe disadvantage, it didn’t take long for Zhou Chen to burn the Cyan Flame into his opponent’s body and restore his consciousness.

"I... Holy shit!!!"

After returning to his senses, Liu Ling stood stunned for a moment before letting out a string of curses. He realized he had just been part of something absolutely insane.

The kind that would go down in the annals of history.

In front of a global audience, he had spent god knows how many hours scrubbing Daisy in the bath!

Just thinking about the broadcast footage and the cringey, sweet nothings they had whispered while flirting was enough to make his vision go dark. A tingling numbness spread across his scalp, his hands and feet turned to ice, and he felt as if he had plunged into an Abyss, into a frozen cavern.

The Sword Forging Competition was a global livestream. A. GLOBAL. LIVESTREAM!!!

This was f*cking... This was f*cking global social death!

’It’s over. I’m completely finished. My reputation, my image, all my female admirers... Dad and Grandpa are definitely going to kill me. I’m a dead man walking...’ Liu Ling’s face was ashen as he stood rooted to the spot, completely soul-crushed.

"What’s wrong with him?" Chengzi asked as she walked over, completely baffled.

Liu Ling’s reaction seemed a little extreme.

"Er... um... ah... well... Hiss... It’s a little hard to explain. You’ll get it once you’re out of here."

Zhou Chen coughed twice, deciding not to expose the embarrassing details, thus helping Liu Ling preserve his last shred of dignity. He conjured two Tinfoil Hats and handed them over, changing the subject. "Hurry up and put these on. It seems they can block the effects of the mental pollution and keep you from being controlled again."

"..." Chengzi put on the Tinfoil Hat with a strange look on her face. ’I can’t believe these things actually work for something like this,’ she thought. ’No wonder Zhou Chen was unaffected.’

Liu Ling remained petrified on the spot, looking as if he had died and turned to stone.

Zhou Chen thoughtfully placed the Tinfoil Hat on his head for him, then glanced into the distance. The battle over there had just concluded.

It was too late to save Yan Wu.

In just eight moves, Yao Hu defeated the enraged Yan Wu, knocking him out of the event.

From a hundred meters away, Zhou Chen locked eyes with Yao Hu, his expression grim, meeting the other man’s arrogant stare.

’Getting Yao Hu to snap out of it won’t be easy,’ Zhou Chen thought. ’He knows the Attributes of my Cyan Flame, so he most likely won’t engage in close combat. He’ll fight with his Magnetic Gloves, focus on wearing me down, and then look for an opportunity for a one-hit kill...

’On our side, Liu Ling is suffering from a case of global social death and is basically a zombie right now, so I can’t count on him... Chengzi is at full strength, but her main gear is with Han Danqing. Her personal combat ability is next to nothing, so she’s no threat to Yao Hu. It looks like I’ll have to take the lead again.’

As thoughts raced through his mind, Zhou Chen calculated his chances. He had less than a twenty percent certainty of waking Yao Hu.

"What do we do?" Chengzi whispered.

Zhou Chen’s mind raced as he assessed the situation. ’Do we fight him head-on, or should we retreat for now?’

"Zhou Chen."

Just then, Yao Hu spoke.

He said in a heavy tone, "Use your fire. Burn me."

"What?" Zhou Chen froze.

Yao Hu didn’t repeat himself. He just stood there, waiting quietly.

’He’s asking me to burn him?’ Without hesitation, Zhou Chen activated the Cyan Flame. The sea of fire converged into a straight line, surging toward Yao Hu like a long, fiery dragon.

Yao Hu stood his ground, allowing the flames to swallow him whole.

Zhou Chen seized the opportunity and made a wish. "I wish for Yao Hu to return to normal."

Fortunately, he had accumulated a massive amount of "wish value" from the Sword Forging Competition’s audience. Otherwise, there was no way he could have afforded the cost of one hundred stardust.

One hundred motes of stardust lit up and shattered into brilliant light, flowing through the connection forged by the Cyan Flame and into Yao Hu’s body. He was instantly freed from the mental pollution’s control.

"Ngh... So I really was being affected."

Yao Hu slapped his forehead, then conjured a Tinfoil Hat and put it on.

In the distance, Zhou Chen asked in surprise, "You were aware of it?"

He was the first person who had realized he was being affected!

"Yes."

Yao Hu nodded slightly. "Ever since we stepped into Akita Town, my intuition was constantly sending me warnings. After a while, the warnings stopped, and I didn’t think much of it. Looking back now, it’s likely we were all being affected from the very start. Later on, I had a nagging feeling that something was off. The fight with Yan Wu just now is what helped me regain some of my clarity.

"...It seems my mental discipline is still insufficient. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it right away."

’What an absolute beast...’ Zhou Chen was speechless with surprise. He guessed that even without his help, Yao Hu would have eventually detected the pollution and broken free using his own formidable Willpower. It was only a matter of time.

"Let’s go to the municipal building," Yao Hu said, "The mayor knows a lot. He was the one who proposed cornering and killing you."

Yao Hu walked over to Zhou Chen. "Using your Flame Jump will be faster."

’It also consumes more energy to transport four people...’ Zhou Chen grumbled internally but didn’t refuse. The pale flame ignited, folding around the four of them like the petals of a huge, beautiful flower.

「Not long after, the four of them arrived at the municipal building.」

At Yao Hu’s direction, Zhou Chen used Instant Teleportation to go directly into the mayor’s office.

However, the sight that greeted them made them fall silent, their brows furrowing in unison.

The mayor was lying in a pool of blood. He had been dead for a long time.