Chapter 173
What else should I do?
Chen Huai'an's mind was in a fog. With nowhere to turn, he instinctively pulled out his phone.
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he opened the hidden album.
Looking at the game screenshots he had secretly captured, it was a life full of vibrancy and color.
“Smack—!”
He grabbed his belt with one hand and tore it apart.
…
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Chapter 186: Do You Also Wish to Have a Connection with Me?
Just as Chen Huai'an was ready to enjoy life.
A chill crept up his back, accompanied by a sinister growl.
“Let me see who dares to ruin my empire and slay my porcelain maiden!”
Chen Huai'an whipped his head around.
There, on the rock wall behind him, a massive white porcelain face was rapidly taking shape.
Compared to the porcelain maiden's bright, delicate features, this face exuded a solemn grandeur—narrow eyes, a wide, square mouth, and thick lips that bore two dabs of rouge in the center, adding an eerie contrast to the pale porcelain visage.
That mouth was just too big. Wasn’t there a slightly smaller option?
Chen Huai'an thought it was a pity.
Meanwhile, the porcelain mother on the rock wall had already extended a claw towards him.
“Do you also wish to have a connection with me?”
Chen Huai'an tilted his head and suddenly drew the Black Scale Sword.
Swish—!
A streak of crimson sword energy sliced through the air, severing the ghostly hand.
Shattered porcelain sprayed black blood, splattering across the entire wall.
This strike startled the porcelain mother, who glared at Chen Huai'an, his face smeared with black blood yet still strikingly handsome. She etched his image into her memory, realizing that she had just descended and her power had not yet fully returned to its peak. Engaging this monster now would likely yield no benefits—she felt a twinge of retreat.
“Interesting! I’ll remember your face. Let’s see what happens next!”
With that, the porcelain mother began to withdraw into the rock wall.
But ten zhang away, the shadow of a demon charged forward.
Boom—!
A sword plunged into her face.
“Cackling! Don’t go! Right now, become the cornerstone of my ascension!”
Black blood erupted from the wound on the porcelain mother’s forehead.
Chen Huai'an yanked his sword out and immediately thrust it back in.
His arm swelled into a bizarre arc, his wrist taut like a spring ready to snap, and in less than a second, he had thrust dozens of times.
There was no technique, no sword intent; he was swinging the Black Scale Sword like a hammer, yet it still made the porcelain mother howl in pain.
The already crumbling porcelain ruins could no longer withstand the onslaught, and the rocks of the dome began to collapse.
The porcelain mother had never encountered such a frenzied human before.
If she couldn’t provoke him, she could at least avoid him, right?!
Ignoring the stinging pain on her face, she dared not continue fighting Chen Huai'an at that moment. She hurriedly retreated, making a swift escape.
Chen Huai'an spent the next ten minutes drilling into the wall.
Once he had vented his pent-up rage, he calmed down, and his blank mind began to think again.
“Who am I? Where am I? Did I do this?”
Chen Huai'an stared at the suffocating ruins around him, utterly bewildered.
A gust of wind blew by, and his work pants fell to the ground.
“Hey, where’s my belt? Who the hell stole my belt?!”
…
…
“Governor Chen, are you saying you killed dozens, if not hundreds, of general-level porcelain maidens in the underground ruins?”
In the J Province Demon-Slaying Division.
Chen Huai'an, Xiang Xiaoyuan, and Zhao Ying sat on one side, facing Huang Gubei and Lin Chen.
“I know this is hard to believe,” Chen Huai'an said, clasping his hands, his expression serious and earnest. “But it’s the truth.”
“Uh, we completely believe in your strength,” Huang Gubei paused, cautiously asking, “But do you have any materials to prove this? You know, after we hunt demons, we usually obtain some materials from them. These materials can be exchanged for resources and serve as strong evidence of our demon-slaying.”
“I don’t have any,” Chen Huai'an shook his head.
“This could be arranged,” Huang Gubei pressed his lips together.
“Really, I don’t have anything.”
He would have liked to keep some materials as proof.
The problem was, he had devoured all the porcelain maidens, leaving not a scrap behind.
Where was he supposed to find materials now?
“What about your battle recorder?” Huang Gubei suggested as a fallback.
Chen Huai'an tilted his head, recalling a fragment of a memory—his swollen muscles tearing through his clothes, the battle recorder falling from his chest as he was too engrossed in the fight to notice, and he accidentally crushed it underfoot.
Xiang Xiaoyuan placed some fragments of the battle recorder on the table, pursing her lips and awkwardly smiling, “Maybe we can try data recovery?”
“The card is shattered; it can’t be recovered.” Huang Gubei pulled out the twisted, deformed memory card, sighed, and turned his gaze back to Chen Huai'an. “Governor Chen, we fully believe in your strength and experiences, but the issuance of rewards requires approval from headquarters. If you could provide even a little evidence, we could report back to headquarters, but right now…”
Crackle—
Electric arcs danced in Chen Huai'an's palm, a smile spreading across his face.
He twisted his foot on the ground, and boom—!
The alloy floor shattered instantly, and the entire office sank three inches into the ground.
The atmosphere in the conference room fell silent.
“Uh,” Huang Gubei quickly retracted his words, swallowing hard. “How about this? Why don’t you provide some clues? We can’t let you work for nothing.”
The implication was clear.
Since Chen Huai'an couldn’t produce materials or battle records as proof, he might as well fabricate some information, like claiming there was a stronger evil behind the porcelain maidens or that they were tied to some secret.
Whether it was true or not didn’t matter.
Such information could still earn him some reward.
“Killed is killed; didn’t kill is didn’t kill.” Chen Huai'an snorted coldly, unfazed. “A gentleman earns his wealth through proper means. I don’t need to resort to deception to gain rewards. I want what rightfully belongs to me!”
Uh, did something strange just slip into that statement…
Huang Gubei had no time to ponder, only managing a smile to placate this powerful figure’s emotions:
“Governor Chen, the funds for the J Province Demon-Slaying Division are jointly controlled by the Lin family and headquarters. I wasn’t a governor before, and I certainly don’t have the authority to allocate funds now, which is why I told you to go through the proper channels… Otherwise, I would have transferred the money to you already.”
“Stop with the nonsense; I have my own ways to prove it.”
Chen Huai'an narrowed his eyes, a flicker of menace sparking in his electric gaze.
“To be honest, there is indeed an old monster behind the porcelain maidens. I had a run-in with that old monster, and it has already fled! Only that old monster knows how many porcelain maidens I’ve killed, and I’ll bring her here!”
In truth, he didn’t even know how many he had killed.
After all, he had been out of his mind at the time and had torn his belt off, only aware that he had met the basic requirements of the first volume of the Tianmo Gong (Heavenly Demon Technique).
He just needed to go back and consolidate his understanding to fully master it.
“I see!” Huang Gubei quickly prepared a way out for Chen Huai'an, smiling broadly. “You’re saying there’s a stronger evil behind the porcelain maidens! Just this piece of information alone, I’ll make sure you get at least ten million! You’ve really helped our J Province Demon-Slaying Division!”
“Ha, don’t believe me?”
Chen Huai'an stood up with a cold smile.
“After midnight tonight, I’ll bring that old monster here. Just don’t be scared!”
Lin Chen frowned as she watched Chen Huai'an’s retreating figure.
“Me, me?”
That mysterious evil—what connection did it have with Chen Huai'an?
Why does everyone love to refer to themselves as ‘me’?
She tried to link Chen Huai'an with that grotesque demon claw but found it a bit far-fetched.
Chen Huai'an’s powers were sword energy and lightning, both of which had nothing to do with evil spirits. Especially lightning, which was known to counteract evil.
There was no way Chen Huai'an could be related to that mysterious evil.
“However… is it just my imagination?”
Her gaze slid from Chen Huai'an’s backside to his long legs, murmuring to herself:
“Feels like Chen Huai'an has grown taller…”
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