At the sight, a powerful sense of danger welled up in Bolong and the others.

Bolong and Linu'an reached for their waists at the same time.

The phantom in the flames flickered. A fierce gust swept toward them, and Linu'an fell to the ground without a sound.

Bolong drew his pistol, aimed at the monster engulfed in flames, and roared as he pulled the trigger. “DIE!!!”

“Heeheehee!”

The creature let out an eerie laugh. It tilted its head slightly to dodge the first bullet, then shot out a hand like lightning and grabbed Bolong’s right hand and the barrel of his gun. Its speed was astonishing.

The second shot went into the sky.

Pain shot through Bolong’s hand. The heat was so intense it nearly set his mustache alight.

Bolong was stunned with terror, his grim features twisting almost beyond recognition. He couldn’t imagine how someone nearly six-foot-three could be subdued by a creature the size of a child.

What the hell was this thing? Why could it suddenly move? What had let it regain the ability to move?

Bolong had been a soldier and had faced death more than once. Realizing his gun was useless, he grabbed the terrified ladyboy beside him and shoved him toward the monster.

Little Butterfly shrieked, flailing wildly as he watched helplessly while he hurtled toward the mass of flames.

Gussy clicked its tongue and casually knocked out the “cannon fodder” Bolong had shoved its way.

Taking advantage of the opening, Bolong turned and ran without hesitation. He knew he couldn’t fight it alone. He had to contact every nearby security team at once and bring them in to suppress the evil creature.

Bolong poured nearly all his strength into his legs and sprinted as fast as he could. Even so, he could feel the heat behind him growing stronger.

In the span of a single breath, Gussy caught up with Bolong. The flames still hadn’t gone out.

“Time to use the Flame Fist!” Gussy swung at its target.

Bolong’s spine gave a sharp crack. He cried out and crumpled to the ground, where he lay motionless.

Gussy held back a little and didn’t strike to kill. It still wanted to ask Bolong a few questions.

It had planned to take Bolong with it, but then noticed they were within the compound’s surveillance cameras’ range. A dozen armed soldiers were closing in.

Gussy glanced at Bolong lying facedown, extinguished the flames around itself, and fled.

It wasn’t in any shape to fight right now. It needed to replenish its energy.

Gussy pulled a piece of burlap from the warehouse, fashioned it into a simple robe, and draped it over itself.

It searched the warehouse for a backpack, put the ladyboy’s phone and Linu'an’s gun inside, then gathered a few basic supplies.

Then it set the place ablaze.

The sun sank below the horizon, and night fell over the compound. The unusual glow of a fire woke everyone.

The warehouse was on fire, and the flames were huge.

The patrol realized the blaze was too large for one or two people to put out, so they had no choice but to report it.

The captive workers in the work area stopped working. Their team leaders herded them into groups of two or three, each carrying fire extinguishers and buckets, and sent them running toward the warehouse.

Gussy replenished its energy to 25% amid the flames. Seeing more people rushing toward the fire, it didn’t stick around to fight. Using the night and thick smoke for cover, it escaped the scene and made its way back to the cell where it had been held.

Thanks to Feng Cai and the others, Gussy had regained its freedom. They’d done their part, so Gussy would keep its promise and help them escape.

……

Bai Yong lay on the ground, covered in wounds. In the darkness, his body began to grow cold.

The despair and hatred in his heart had numbed into nothingness. He waited for death to come.

After an unknown amount of time, a glimmer of light reached his eyes. Someone had come in carrying a lamp.

Hah. Here to dispose of the bodies? I’m not fucking dead yet.

He struggled to open his eyes. Pain clouded his thoughts, and his vision wavered.

In the dim light, he saw a pair of small, delicate feet, with slender ankles and skin so pale it was almost translucent. Above them were soft, youthful calves, their skin faintly gleaming in the weak light, smooth and tender like freshly peeled lychees. The thighs and waist were wrapped in a crude burlap robe, lending the figure a particular lightness and supple grace.

This person wasn’t one of the thugs.

Was this a hallucination before death? Had the Grim Reaper come to take him?

He managed to lift his head. His gaze moved upward and finally settled on the figure leaning slightly over him, its face hidden in shadow.

“You…”

“Tell me what happened.” Gussy pointed at the bodies strewn across the floor.

“Are you… the Flame Sovereign? Did you succeed?” Bai Yong asked, struggling to speak.

Gussy nodded.

“Those beasts found out we’d killed one of their men and attacked us right away.”

Bai Yong recounted the nightmare they’d been through. About half an hour after Gussy left, a thug on patrol discovered their dead companion and immediately informed the higher-ups and the mercenaries.

Then a group of men stormed into the cell with guns. The Shorty and the Skinny tried to escape, but they were shot dead.

The others were too terrified to move.

The thugs tied up the rest and used all kinds of torture devices to interrogate the survivors.

Even though they told the thugs everything about Gussy, the men still thought they were lying and killed several of them in brutally cruel ways.

By the time they got to Bai Yong, the thugs had mostly learned what they wanted to know. They didn’t try to kill him, but stabbed him several times, avoiding his vital organs.

After the torture, they didn’t even bother bandaging Bai Yong and the others. They left them there to die.

That was right. In the thugs’ eyes, these captive workers were already dead.

After hearing Bai Yong’s account, Gussy slowly looked around.

The cell looked as if it had been washed in blood. The Skinny and the Shorty’s bodies had been thrown into a corner. Brain matter mixed with blood oozed from the bullet holes in their heads.

The long-haired man had died of blood loss. His body was covered in wounds of all sizes. The short-sleeved man was missing all ten fingers. Gussy looked closely and saw them in his stomach. The thugs had clearly cut off his fingers and forced him to swallow them. The two people with hypothermia were dead too. Most of the others had likely died under torture as well. Their twisted expressions showed how painful their deaths had been.

“I’m sorry. We… told them everything… so they wouldn’t torture us…” Bai Yong said weakly.

Looking at the bodies around it, Gussy felt a knot of irritation rise inside. This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go. Normally, it would swoop in and save everyone, then lead them out of here. But what had actually happened?… It had promised to make their wishes come true, and now reality had slapped it in the face.

“I understand…” Gussy’s pale feet stepped into the pool of blood. It paused in front of each body for a moment, studying how they looked.

Life was so fragile, especially in this den of sin.

Using the bandages and disinfectant it had gathered from the warehouse, Gussy cleaned and dressed Bai Yong’s wounds, making sure he wouldn’t die from blood loss or infection.

Gussy handed Bai Yong two bottles of water and a bag of biscuits. Then it declared with a grand flourish, “Today, the Flame Sovereign shall liberate this compound! Heh heh, I am omnipotent!”

Bai Yong took the water and food and stared blankly at Gussy, so stunned he even forgot to say thank you. He didn’t come to his senses until after Gussy had left.

“You’re my savior.”

Following the compound’s electrical lines through the darkness, Gussy found the work area’s security room.

Most of the people in the compound were busy fighting the fire, so there were few people near the security room.

Gussy silently took down the guards on duty, then entered the security room.

It sat in front of an old-fashioned surveillance terminal, pulled up footage from near the generator area, and found footage of Feng Cai from a few hours earlier.

After sending Gussy into the ventilation duct, Feng Cai limped over to the corner of a nearby building and hid.

He thought no one would find him for a while. He hadn’t realized the area was under surveillance too. Before long, two mercenaries arrived with guns.

When Feng Cai spotted them, he panicked and ran in the opposite direction.

The mercenaries didn’t waste time. They raised their guns and fired, hitting Feng Cai and knocking him to the ground.

Wounded, Feng Cai struggled to crawl along the ground. One of the mercenaries came close and fired another shot into his head.

Feng Cai died on the spot. The other mercenary kicked the body and rolled it over.

The two mercenaries stood there smoking for a while, then dragged the body into a vehicle and drove off.

It was confirmed: Feng Cai was dead too.

Gussy’s gaze turned cold and sharp. Thanks to the memories of its original body, it recognized the mercenaries’ weapons.

They were using AK-12 assault rifles, with an effective range of 500 meters. The footage was too blurry to tell which caliber they were using.

These rifles were highly lethal at medium range. Three to five mercenaries working together could lay down covering fire across a wide area.

Gussy could kill them from a distance with energy beams, but that kind of attack consumed a huge amount of energy. It wouldn’t use one lightly.

Gussy switched the surveillance feed to the area around the warehouse fire.

The fire was mostly under control. Several makeshift fire engines had uncoiled high-pressure hoses and were spraying water into the flames and thick smoke.

Gussy checked the other areas too. Based on what it saw, there were at least a hundred mercenaries in the compound. If it could break through these defenses, it could liberate the entire compound.

It had a plan.

After putting out the warehouse fire, the compound director led a search, but they found no bodies and no sign of the “evil spirit.”

Fortunately, they found Bolong and the others.

Linu'an and Little Butterfly had only passed out and weren’t seriously hurt. Bolong, however, was badly injured.

His spine was broken, and his upper body was twisted at an angle. He looked utterly miserable.

They rushed Bolong to the compound’s hospital. After examining him, the doctor regretfully explained that unless something extraordinary happened, he’d spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

“Kill it! Kill that monster! Do you hear me?!” Bolong, his upper body wrapped in bandages, gave the order over the phone in a hysterical voice.

Bolong was terrified of Gussy and hated it to the core. A storm of emotions raged inside him, and he was now absolutely furious.

His spine was broken, and he’d lost all feeling in his lower body. He’d survived, but all the pleasures of life were now beyond his reach.

That evil spirit had to be destroyed. After that, he’d settle the score with the people at the farm!

“Director, the soldiers are ready!” the mercenary commander replied. “Humanoid, looks like a twelve-year-old girl, immune to fire, as fast as a cheetah… Those are the ‘evil spirit’s’ characteristics?”

“That’s right. Damn thing’s clever. Use your best weapons, and don’t let it escape! There’ll be plenty of money in it for you afterward!”

“Understood.”

After hanging up, the commander looked up at the pitch-black sky, then at the warehouse area still smoking in the distance. His brow furrowed deeply.

He wasn’t good at fighting monsters.

He split half the mercenaries into ten teams, with eight to ten people in each. He left another three-tenths at the hospital to protect the director, and assigned the remaining two-tenths to maintain order and prevent a riot.

The commander spread the teams out to patrol the compound, then headed for the security area with his personal guards. He wanted to keep track of everything happening inside the compound in real time.

As soon as he reached the security area, the commander sensed something was wrong. Several guards lay strewn across the entrance.

The guards were also the thugs and administrators. They doubled as enforcers and accomplices in the scams.

“Teams Seven through Ten, converge on the security area. Teams Three through Six, take up positions on its four outer sides. Teams One and Two, hold your positions!”

The commander signaled to the people beside him to stay alert. They all understood, chambered their rounds, and crouched by the wall to watch.

The other teams arrived in pickups and on motorcycles. They entered the security area from four directions, but there was no sign of the evil spirit.

There were obvious signs of a break-in, and the computer at the surveillance terminal had been completely destroyed.

“It’s gone.”

“Boss, these thugs are still alive!”

They threw water on the unconscious men one by one to wake them, then questioned each of them. None knew a thing. They hadn’t even seen the evil spirit before it knocked them out.

“It’s clever. It knew to destroy the cameras so we couldn’t find it. It likes to attack from behind, but it doesn’t kill…” The commander tried to work out the evil spirit’s behavior and reached the wrong conclusion: perhaps it wasn’t very good at killing people.

“Checkpoint Twelve reporting. Checkpoint Twelve reporting. The gas station is on fire. We’ve spotted a figure that may be the evil spirit.”

The commander received the report and immediately replied, “Teams One through Six, surround the gas station. Teams Seven through Ten, follow me. Unassigned personnel, maintain order. All squads near the gas station, report your numbers!”

The captive workers had barely managed to put out the warehouse fire, and they were all covered in soot. Before they could even catch their breath, they were herded off toward the gas station. That place was on fire too.

Gussy stood amid the flames, its clothes untouched. It kept the glowing spots on its surface below their ignition point.

This place stored plenty of gasoline and diesel. It could fuel vehicles and generate power for the park, and fires weren’t likely to break out here. It was the perfect place for Gussy to recharge.

The gasoline provided an abundance of energy, and Gussy’s energy level quickly reached 60%.

Gussy knew it was surrounded by mercenaries, but it wasn’t the least bit rattled. It picked up gas cans and hurled them outside, spreading the fire across the main street.

Blocked by the flames, the first squad to arrive stopped at the perimeter, afraid to go any farther.

“Squad One reporting. The six o’clock direction from the gas station is blocked by fire. We can’t advance. Awaiting further instructions.”

“Hold your position and wait for reinforcements. Open fire if you spot anything evil.”

“Copy!”

Squad One set up a defensive line. But fearing the flames might suddenly spread to where they were, no one was willing to climb onto a roof and serve as the high-ground team. In the end, they formed a diamond-shaped perimeter on the spot.

Watching Squad One’s movements through the flames, Gussy didn’t force its way through. Instead, it headed toward Squad Two.

Squad Two had eight men and was driving in from the nine o’clock direction along a narrow road in a gray pickup. The terrain here was relatively complex, and the light was dim. Gussy lay in ambush by the roadside. The moment the pickup approached, it slipped underneath and clung to the vehicle like an octopus.

Several strands of hair slipped through gaps in the undercarriage and reached into the vehicle, finding the ammunition box with pinpoint accuracy. They pulled the pins from four M67 grenades. The grenades used M213 delay fuzes and had a lethal radius of five meters. Inside the relatively confined pickup, their destructive power would be fatal.

Gussy detached itself from the undercarriage and watched the pickup drive away, softly counting down. “Four… three… two… one… Boom!!”

The roar of the explosion smashed the pickup apart from the inside out. The shockwave tore through the windshield first. The three mercenaries in the back hadn’t even reacted before shrapnel riddled them, while the men in the truck bed were swallowed whole by orange-red tongues of flame.

Thick smoke seeped through the gaps in the twisted doors, carrying the acrid stench of roasted meat mixed with melted plastic.

As the mercenary leader drove along, he suddenly heard an explosion. He realized it had come from Squad Two’s direction.

“Squad Two, what happened? I heard an explosion over there. Squad Two, respond immediately!”

There was no reply.

“I repeat: Squad Two, respond immediately!”

Still no reply.

The mercenaries in the other squads looked tense and uneasy. They’d realized one thing: Squad Two had been completely wiped out.

What kind of enemy were they up against?

“Shit, we came here to make money, not risk our lives!” someone muttered.

“Boss, what do we do?” one of his trusted men asked.

The mercenary leader replied, “Squads Three and Four, cover us. Squad Two was close to us. Squads Seven through Ten, set up a defensive line around Squad Two. Open fire if you see anything unusual. Squads Three and Four, report your positions…”

Before the mercenary leader could finish, the pickup’s windshield suddenly burst into a web of white cracks. The driver was the first to go down, and the pickup skidded across the ground in a crooked S-shaped path. The trusted man crouched by the guardrail was flung out of the vehicle by the force of the bullet’s impact. He dropped down at once, but a shot from above still struck him in the back of the head.

The mercenary leader huddled in the truck bed, his mind completely blank. Squad Three was supposed to be over there. Why were they shooting this way? Had they hit one of their own by mistake?

“We’re taking fire over here! Squads Three and Four, what the hell are you doing? Can’t you see we’re on your side?!” He switched on the radio and demanded furiously.

Only silence answered over the channel.

A deep fear gripped the mercenary leader. He wasn’t a martyr. He was afraid to die. He still wanted to make money and enjoy himself.

He shoved the driver out of the cab, kept his head down, slammed on the gas, and turned around to flee.

“Fall back! Now!”

He figured his subordinate was right. They hadn’t come to the park to die for it. Some things were best left within their capabilities.

At that moment, all the mercenaries broke and ran. From beginning to end, they never even saw the enemy.

In the distance, Gussy held a rifle and watched the fleeing mercenaries through a window. “Huh? They’re running already?”