CHAPTER 109 (3): EMERGENCE OF FLAME DEMON

At this point, the heat was already enough to instantly kill the average person, and forest fires had begun to appear.

However, they still had to continue onward because countless bodies belonging to both humans and animals had to be buried. Otherwise, with the temperatures so high, the unburied bodies would be sure to give rise to a plague.

Furthermore, the roads still had to be repaired. Otherwise, they would be like insurmountable ravines to the average person.

They had traveled for several hundred kilometers without seeing a single living person.

There was one particular village situated in a valley between several volcanoes, and it had truly been decimated, with not even a single resident managing to escape.

The more they saw, the more their resentment toward the Church of the Self-Righteous grew.

They had laid waste to vast stretches of land and taken countless innocent lives, and all for what?

Regardless of what their purpose was, this was unforgivable.

Up ahead was a cliff that was riddled with cracks, clearly teetering on the edge of collapse, and Yuan Jingjiang ordered everyone to stop here and preemptively destroy the cliff so that it would no longer pose a potential hazard.

The cliff face was already bulging outward, and it clearly wasn't going to require much effort to bring it down.

A few administrators immediately flew forward to carry out Yuan Jingjiang's orders, but right at this moment, the entire cliff collapsed on its own with an almighty boom.

Huge clouds of dust were hurled up into the air, severely hampering visibility.

Fang Che immediately rushed forward to position himself in front of everyone as he yelled, "Look out!"

He could already see several rays of gleaming light through the thick cloud of dust.

He drew his saber and slashed it through the air, forming a radiant barrier of saberlight.

This was a very familiar scenario for him, something that he had experienced countless times in his past life. Demonic church members loved staging ambushes at locations affected by natural disasters, aiming to kill Protectionists and Guardians sent there on search and rescue efforts.

Hence, Fang Che had been looking out for something like this the entire time.

A string of loud clangs rang out as several hundred sharp needles fell before Fang Che, all of them clearly tipped with lethal poison.

Yuan Jingjiang was also slashing his sword through the air to ward off the oncoming projectiles, and the two of them were like a pair of walls that shielded all of their colleagues.

Only now did the other administrators realize what was happening, and they immediately spread out to form an encirclement before closing in toward the collapsed cliff from all directions.

However, the enemy was already gone, having retreated right after staging their sneak attack.

Clearly, the enemy was going to be very difficult to deal with, and this was a very concerning sign for everyone.

They didn't fear enemies that came out into the open to confront them, but enemies that were constantly taking shots at them from the shadows were a huge pain to deal with.

They had been sent here to assist in the disaster relief efforts, so they couldn't just not do anything, but as soon as they did something, they ran the risk of being ambushed.

"Take care of the cliff first," Yuan Jingjiang ordered with a stoic expression. "You did well there, Administrator Fang."

Much to Yuan Jingjiang's surprise and elation, Fang Che had reacted even faster than he had.

Fang Che had sprung forward as soon as the cliff collapsed, as if he had anticipated an ambush, while Yuan Jingjiang had only realized what was happening upon catching sight of the gleaming projectiles flying through the air.

This was a fundamental difference.

"I just had a hunch," Fang Che explained. "It already felt suspicious to me that the cliff hadn't collapsed when it was in such terrible condition, and the fact that it collapsed as soon as you issued the order for it to be demolished immediately set off some alarm bells in my head."

He had spoken at a sufficient volume for everyone else to hear, and they all nodded in approval of his alertness and foresight.

Yuan Jingjiang was very pleased.

He knew that Fang Che was intentionally doing this to impart valuable experience upon everyone. It didn't seem like much, but it may just save some of their lives.

***

Some time later, everyone arrived at a mountain pass that was completely blocked shut by fallen rocks, and right beside it was a deep valley.

Some of the administrators began clearing away the fallen rocks, while the rest stood on lookout duty.

By the time they were done, everyone was already exhausted. They had traveled a long way to get here, performing rigorous manual labor under sweltering heat the entire way, and these fallen rocks were remnants of collapsed mountains, so each one could easily weigh multiple tons, even dozens of tons.

Yuan Jingjiang ordered for everyone to take a rest, an order that was eagerly followed by everyone.

Jing Xiuyun and the other female administrators were so exhausted that they sat straight down onto the ground, only to instantly spring back up again with alarmed yelps.

The ground here was burning hot, and they had to put something down beneath themselves to be able to sit in relative comfort.

Zuo Guanglie was sitting together with Fang Che, drinking out of a water pouch.

"Why do you think those bastards are doing this, Brother Fang? Surely they didn't cause a natural disaster just for the sake of it!"

"I don't know," Fang Che replied as he meticulously scoured his surroundings.

Zuo Guanglie heaved a faint sigh. For some reason, Fang Che had been very cold and distant to him of late.

They had been like close brothers not long ago, yet all of a sudden, it was as if their relationship had reverted back to when they first met.

This was very puzzling to Zuo Guanglie, and he had been trying to get closer to Fang Che again, but with each step that he took forward, Fang Che would take a step back.

Zuo Guanglie couldn't help but heave another forlorn sigh at the thought of the twenty merit points that Fang Che had been awarded with during his second-rank administrator promotion ceremony.

It was no wonder that he had become so cold and withdrawn after such a humiliating incident.

He would just have to be more patient and slowly remedy their relationship over time.

***

Right at this moment, Fang Che suddenly sprang to his feet and yelled in an urgent voice, "Everybody, stand up!"

He had just noticed that the withered branches and leaves on the ground were moving.

Everyone stood up with perplexed expressions as Fang Che drew his saber, then used its tip to flip over a dried leaf, one that didn't appear remarkable in any way to everyone else.

Several small insects were instantly revealed beneath the leaf. They were long and slender, resembling thin lines, and they were the same color as the withered leaves that they were using for camouflage. They were hideous in appearance, and as soon as the leaf was flipped over, the insects beneath them instantly sprang up directly at Fang Che's face!

The insects were sliced into two with a slash of Fang Che's saber, and everyone else immediately sprang into action as well.

"Gather all of the leaves and burn them!" Fang Che yelled.

A film of cold sweat had already materialized on his forehead.

"These are Fire Thread Insects that can burrow into one's body, and they carry lethal poison!"

Everyone had immediately stood up at Fang Che's first warning, with the exception of a single person.

His body had gone completely stiff, and his face was slowly turning the same color as the withered leaves.

He was already dead.

He was an administrator at the Hall of Protectionists, and he was normally quite a messy person. True to form, he hadn't even bothered to clear away the leaves beneath him before sitting down.

Fang Che immediately yelled for everyone to get back, then flipped over the dead administrator's body to reveal that his backside had turned a charred black color.

A forlorn look appeared on Fang Che's face as he uttered an apology, then pushed the administrator's body into the fire with the back of his saber.

His body instantly erupted into flames, and everyone looked on in astonishment as his skin and flesh quickly receded to reveal the skeleton underneath.

At the same time, clumps of Fire Thread Insects burst out of his stomach, and they began screeching and writhing in agony as they were incinerated into ashes by the scorching flames.

Everyone shuddered at the harrowing sight.

They had never even heard of such a devious insect before.

"These Fire Thread Insects are bred by people from the demonic churches, and once they find a host to burrow into, they'll reproduce at rapid rates, instantly turning one into hundreds, even thousands! If there are any other bodies, do not bury them! They must be incinerated right away!"

Jing Xiuyun and the other female administrators were horrified, and they frantically began dusting off their backsides for fear that any Fire Thread Insects may have settled there.

The thought that they had almost suffered the same fate as the deceased administrator made them want to throw up, and their knees were weak from intense fear.

At the same time, they were feeling itchy all over their bodies, as if there were Fire Thread Insects crawling over their skin, and it was a terrible sensation.

Despite the weakness in their knees, they didn't dare to sit back down, so they could only lean on each other for support while trembling in disgust and horror.