Chapter 10: Fire Demon

"Whatever. Wherever the organization sends me, I'll go." Yang Yi shrugged indifferently. "I'm just a brick; wherever they need me, they move me."

Feng Liancheng couldn't help but laugh. "You're a big celebrity and a precious treasure now. If they had discovered your true strength earlier, the Director wouldn't have been willing to bring you to the United Nations to hold up appearances. Now he's regretting it! He wants to negotiate with the UN to swap the dispatched personnel, but the UN is strongly opposed. Now both sides are arguing over it, haha—"

Yang Yi suddenly had the illusion that she had become a secret manual or a divine weapon in a martial arts novel, with everyone in the Jianghu fighting to seize her.

"Rest for a while first. If you want to buy anything, the supermarket downstairs is fully stocked. Even if they don't have it, just tell the supermarket manager, and it will generally arrive the next day. If you want to go out, just call Liu Liu Siyuan directly; from now on, he is your dedicated assistant and driver. If there are other matters, you can contact Director Zhou or Deputy Director Zheng directly." Feng Liancheng smiled. "This treatment is unique in the bureau. Even those who joined our bureau a year early and made great achievements don't have this treatment."

Yang Yi touched her nose and smiled awkwardly. "How can I accept this?"

"There's no need to be embarrassed. Not to mention your abilities, you saved the people of Haibei City and made a great achievement at the United Nations. If you don't deserve it, no one does."

Feng Liancheng left. Yang Yi stood alone by the living room window, staring blankly at the park in the distance for a while.

As if feeling the room was too quiet, she turned on the TV. It was broadcasting a special report on Awakened ones. She changed the channel; a serious-looking host was introducing the dangers of alien creature invasions, calling on the public to report any abnormal incidents immediately by calling a hotline.

She changed to a legal program, reporting on an Awakened one who went on a killing spree for personal gain after awakening, causing huge social impact. The Awakened one's final outcome was handling according to the law—executed by firing squad.

She pressed the remote again. This time it was about good deeds; an Awakened one saved a little girl who fell from a high-rise window and received rewards from the local government and enterprises.

The host, smiling broadly, asked a primary school student, "If you awakened, what would you do?"

The primary school student, looking excited, said, "Having superpowers is so cool! If I awakened superpowers, I would use my superpowers to help everyone!"

Changed to another channel: "Strengthening public security management regulations, guiding social atmosphere..."

From this series of news, Yang Yi sensed that the government was trying to normalize the existence of Awakened ones and make the act of awakening superpowers itself a norm, which aligns with the basic policy of "maintaining stability."

It seemed something had changed, yet it seemed everything was still the same as before.

This familiar feeling made her feel at ease. She didn't like change; she liked a stable, quiet life. Although she occasionally felt it was like a dead pool with no ripples, following a fixed life trajectory gave her a sense of security.

Everything happened in an orderly manner, everything had rules to follow, and everything could be dealt with using logic and reason. She liked this feeling of certainty.

Of course, as a young girl, she often had various fantasies.

Sometimes she wanted to do nothing and just rot.

She also fantasized about renting a mountain peak in the deep mountains of Shenshan, raising chickens, ducks, and pigs, and planting fields, flowers, and fruits. She had telekinesis; even planting thousands of acres of land or raising tens of thousands of chickens and ducks, she could manage it.

Far away from the human world, no conflicts; when idle, just read books and plant flowers. What a beautiful life!

Of course, she also dreamed of a hero saving a beauty, and a prince and Princess living happily ever after.

Or, occasionally, she would dream of being the starting point of a great male protagonist who rules the Earth or the universe and becomes the child of the plane, but as soon as she thought about how tiring and tedious that would be, she quickly gave up. She admitted she had no ambition for a career; she couldn't gain a sense of achievement from these things.

Essentially, she was still a salted fish.

After aimlessly daydreaming for a while, she felt her stomach was a bit hungry and decided to go downstairs to the supermarket to buy some food.

When going downstairs, she met an acquaintance in the elevator—Chen Chen Yushu.

Actually, the two weren't really acquaintances; they just sat next to each other during the meeting at the United Nations and exchanged a few words.

Chen Chen Yushu was a taciturn person. Seeing Yang Yi enter, he raised his eyebrows slightly, then lowered them again, without greeting her.

The elevator was too quiet. Yang Yi summoned her courage and said politely, "You live in this building too!"

"Mm."

Chen Chen Yushu's answer was brief, and silence fell over the elevator.

Yang Yi felt awkward and tried to find something to say. "Which floor do you live on?"

"Seventh floor."

"Where are you going?"

"Training ground."

Yang Yi stopped speaking. The two asked and answered one by one; it didn't look like small talk, but rather like an interrogation. It made no sense that only she felt awkward while constantly trying to liven up the atmosphere.

Fortunately, they soon reached the first floor, and she stepped out of the elevator with long strides.

Just as she was walking towards the supermarket, her phone suddenly rang. It was Director Zhou. Before she could even say "Hello," the other end threw out a string of information one after another, leaving her completely stunned.

————

Jesse Kyle listened to the curses from the other end of the phone line, silently yawned, shrugged as the other party angrily hung up, and put down the phone.

He was a stockbroker. His daily job was to call people browsing stock information online to introduce stock information and tempt them to buy stocks pushed by his company.

To be honest, this job was incredibly boring. Most of the time he spent listening to some unknown person on the other end cursing. He had long wanted to change jobs, but the high cost of living in Jin Shan forced him to do this detestable job for a full two years. He had long become numb to the cursing from the other end of the phone.

The information about Awakened ones released by the United Nations these past few days made him feel excited. On the day the information was released, he ran to the hillside where he usually hiked and tried hard to experiment all day long. For a while he stretched out his hand like Spider-Man trying to shoot webs, then opened his eyes wide trying to shoot heat vision like Superman, and even acted like a wizard from Harry Potter holding a stick like a madman, until the sunset. He realized he might really not have awakened superpowers.

Well, at least the news said everyone has the possibility of awakening; maybe the time just hasn't come yet?

Jesse Kyle boredly put his feet on the office desk, holding the phone to his chest. Today he still had a whole fXXking 129 calls left to make. Last week, because he hadn't made enough calls, the damn manager deducted his commission, causing him to fail to buy a new dishwasher—the old one had been broken for a month, and his cohabiting girlfriend Emma had already worn his ears down to calluses.

Just as he was about to dial the next call, the building suddenly shook. The lights on the ceiling flickered and suddenly went out, and the computer screen went black.

"FXXK! What happened? I was working on a very important report!"

The manager burst out of the office behind the glass partition, angry like a bull, but at this moment no one paid attention to him.

Everyone rushed to the windows to look outside. In the distance, a huge monster covered in flames was slowly walking towards the city center. The entire city trembled under its footsteps.

"Oh God, what is that?"

"Has the end of the world arrived?"

"Is that the alien creature mentioned in the news? Why is it so big? Why did it appear in the city?"

"Oh God, save your lambs..."

Countless people in Jin Shan made the sign of the cross on their chests, praying for God's redemption. They had never been so devout.

But God seemed unable to hear their calls. The monster outside the window—or rather, the Fire Giant, the Fire Demon—continued to stride towards the city center. From its perspective, it didn't seem fast, but from a human perspective, its speed was enough to match a car.

Jesse Kyle's company was on the 23rd floor. If he looked straight ahead, he could only see the monster's chest; only by straining his neck to look up could he see its full form.

On both sides of the Fire Demon's head were two huge sharp horns. Its eyes were red all over, as if there were no eyeballs inside, but two pools of surging magma.

It wore armor of flowing flames, protecting only its chest, back, and crotch. Its powerful arms and thighs were exposed, and it held a crudely made black giant blade in its hand.

Five armed aircraft were circling it from a distance, attacking continuously. The machine gun fire was dense, but it didn't even scratch its skin.

The Fire Demon tried to reach out and swat away these annoying flies, but the five aircraft quickly dodged. When it took another step towards the bustling city, those five aircraft began circling it again, firing bullets.

They received orders from above: their sole objective was to delay its advance until reinforcements arrived.

After this cycle repeated two or three times, the Fire Demon finally grew impatient. It opened its massive maw lined with sharp teeth, emitting a low roar. The sound waves stirred some invisible substance in the air; five helicopters exploded mid-flight. The pilots had no time to parachute. Shards of the aircraft, trailing fire and black smoke, fell from the sky.

The Fire Demon resumed its steps. Along its path, utility poles sparked and crackled beneath its feet.

"What kind of monster is this?" Jesse Kyle heard the manager mutter.

"It's heading straight for us!"

With each step of the Fire Demon, the ground shook more violently, and the building swayed more frequently.

"Run!"

"How? The elevators are dead. We're on the 23rd floor. It's too late to reach the emergency stairs!"

"I need to call Mom. I probably won't make it home for dinner tonight..." Jesse Kyle turned to look. It was Vito, the neighbor at the next seat—a dead-beat otaku, thirty-three years old and still living with his parents.

Jesse pondered whether to call his girlfriend, Emma, to tell her he might never be able to buy that dishwasher she had her eye on.

Just then, over a dozen "Apache" attack helicopters flew in from afar, carrying short-range missiles. Having learned their lesson, they did not approach closely but circled the Fire Demon at a distance of three kilometers.

"Hellfire missiles, prepare to fire!"

"... 5-4-3-2-1-Fire..."

Over a dozen missiles, each 160 centimeters long, spun toward the Fire Demon.

Simultaneously, countless new-model "Hummingbird" drones on the ground surged toward the Fire Demon like moths to a flame.

People on several nearby buildings cheered excitedly. Everyone in Jin Shan received a text message alert: "All personnel must evacuate buildings and the ground immediately and seek shelter in nearby underground air-raid shelters!"

The Fire Demon seemed to possess a degree of intelligence. Watching the missiles and drones swarming around it, it appeared to realize that these small things contained immense power within. The sand-like particles that had brushed its skin earlier had caused a long-forgotten tingling sensation—and these little stones were larger than the previous ones.

The Fire Demon grew slightly impatient. It roared, and a ring of flames erupted around it. Its already massive form doubled in size. Everything within its range was burned to ash.

Dozens of missiles and Hummingbird drones exploded within the flames, failing to complete their mission.

However, three stragglers still flew toward the Fire Demon along their predetermined paths. One struck its chest armor, one hit its arm, and another struck its horn.

Amidst the explosions, the Fire Demon clutched its head. Blood like molten lava seeped through its fingers, and its arm bore a circular wound from the blast.

Gazing at its own wounds, it could hardly believe it. Its eyes, churning with magma, looked somewhat dazed.

Seeing that a single strike had yielded results, the dozen Apache helicopters immediately launched their next attack. Dozens more missiles sped toward the target.

The Fire Demon roared again. The invisible sound waves once more stirred some form of energy. Like invisible rolling waves, the sound reached the armed aircraft three kilometers away. Upon first contact with these waves, the planes immediately sparked and plunged into darkness.

This time, they were prepared. Before the aircraft exploded, the pilots rapidly ejected from the cockpits. Parachutes descended slowly through the air.

"Requesting support! Requesting support! The target can induce explosions using sound waves. Machines cannot approach. Machines cannot approach!"

"Requesting support! Requesting support! The target is now heading toward the center of Jin Shan! Evacuate the crowds immediately! Evacuate the crowds immediately!"

The Fire Demon seemed enraged by the behavior of these ants. It began to run. It needed to vent its anger. In the stone houses ahead, which were slightly shorter than itself, lived many ants.

It strode toward the city center. The ground shifted from a slight tremor to violent shaking.

More and more high-rises rose beside it. The Fire Demon raised its massive black blade and slashed down fiercely. A forty-story building split in half like a block of tofu. Countless ants wailed as they fell from the collapsing skyscraper.

The slaughter had only just begun.