Chapter 21 : Why Are You Everywhere?

“Ah!“

The sudden turn of events caused the gray-haired man’s adrenaline to surge again.
It seemed that the massive amount of adrenaline had allowed him to regain some of his senses.
A cold wind blew out from the torn ventilation duct, drying the cold sweat on his body.

“Get lost!“

The girl’s horizontal kick hit the claw.
Scale patterns appeared where her calf made contact with the claw, and it actually sparked!

The frequency of her heartbeat gradually decreased.
White scales slowly appeared on the girl’s face like a tide, and a bone-chilling cold instantly filled the entire emergency exit, centered on the girl.

‘No! I can’t release my demonic energy!’

The cold sensation of the sophora flower bracelet on her wrist suddenly tightening made the girl realize something.

‘This is the city center commercial district. If I release my demonic energy here, the Demon Suppression Division will immediately detect it.’

The pounding of her heart came from her chest again.
The snake scales on her skin receded like a tide.
The patterns engraved on the back of the sophora flower bracelet’s petals glowed with a cyan light, suppressing the dissipating demonic energy back into her pores.

The owner of the claw shrieked and wanted to retreat, but was suddenly grabbed by the girl and yanked down.
The demon fell from the ventilation duct with a clatter of clanging metal.

Her demonic energy was retracted back into her body, seeping into her blood vessels and causing the red blood cells to stir.

This was a little trick Guan Qing had taught her last night.
As long as she controlled her demonic energy to only circulate with her blood in her blood vessels, she could maintain a human form while gaining a physical fitness that was incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Although the girl was not yet proficient in this trick and would have a faint amount of demonic energy dissipate, she could completely suppress this trace of dissipating demonic energy with the help of the sophora flower bracelet.

It wasn’t until the dust kicked up by the falling of the shattered ventilation pipe had completely settled that the girl could see the appearance of this Resentful Demon in the faint green light of the emergency lamp.

It was the image of a nightclub girl in a red dress and lipstick with black hair—if one ignored her pale skin and the black patterns covering her entire body.

The girl casually picked up a steel pipe from the ground beside her and spun it in her palm, creating afterimages.

If she were in her snake demon form, the girl could rely on her snake demon’s instincts to fight.
But in her human form, she could only rely on her reaction and the physical fitness brought by the circulation of her demonic energy to fight.

The sharp blade and the steel pipe made contact.
The rusty iron skin peeled off like a snake’s shed skin.
The sparks that flew from the clash of metal reflected the object embedded in the Resentful Demon’s fingernails.
It seemed to be the remnant of a victim’s earring.

Black patterns surged on the skin revealed at the torn part of the Resentful Demon’s red skirt.
The black blood vessels wriggled under her pale skin like earthworms.

‘It looked pretty disgusting.’

The girl thought, and spun to avoid the rapidly approaching claw, then swung the steel pipe and smashed it towards the Resentful Demon in the red dress.

The Resentful Demon’s long fingernails shimmered with a captivating luster.
Each swing was knocked away by the girl with the steel pipe.

But each time, its claws could cut off a section of the steel pipe.

Sparks and iron filings fell to the ground one after another.
When it swung its claws for the fifth time and cut off a section of the steel pipe, the girl suddenly stepped back.
Then, with a twist of her body, she stabbed forward with the sharpened steel pipe.

“Puchi!“

The sharpened half of the steel pipe accurately pierced the Resentful Demon’s wrist!

If someone else were here, and if he also played “Xuanhuang Ji,” he would probably be able to see that the move the girl used was a common move of the Snake Demon Swordswoman in the game, “Spiritual Snake’s Tongue Flick.”

The girl didn’t know how to fight and had little combat experience.
Her only experience was when she had directly killed the demon disguised as a senior by the lake, relying on her snake demon’s instincts.

So she could only rely on her physical fitness to imitate the various moves she had seen in games or movies.

Fortunately, in her demonic energy boiling state, her physical fitness was at a level that ordinary people couldn’t understand.
Even if she was just imitating game moves, her muscles would find the most ideal way to exert force on their own.

This allowed the imagined moves to be executed, and even achieve good results.

The girl’s calf muscles tensed like a bowstring.
Her newly bought canvas shoes scraped against the ground, creating a smell of burnt rubber.
The next moment, she spun and kicked the steel pipe.

“Clang!“

The sound of metal vibrating echoed in the stairwell.

The steel pipe, under the girl’s kick, pierced the Resentful Demon into the wall.
But the Resentful Demon seemed to be unharmed as it pulled out its wrist.
Black patterns surged and filled the wound.

Then, octopus-tentacle-like black meridians suddenly stretched out from under its skirt, each end growing an eyeball the size of a baby’s fist.

‘Ordinary weapons couldn’t cause effective damage to demons at all!’

“Damn it…“

the girl spat.

‘Do I have to release my demonic energy?’

But the next second, a sharp blade suddenly tore through the fire door, and the flying cold light condensed into a single point in the blink of an eye and rushed towards the Resentful Demon!

The figure holding the saber leaped over the fragments of the fire door, the bronze beast mask on his face shimmering with a faint green light in the emergency light.

The cold light fell, and three of the Resentful Demon’s seemingly indestructible claws were cut off.

“Wah!“

The Resentful Demon suddenly let out a shriek like a baby’s cry.
Its black hair coiled around the fire hydrant like a living creature, and in a blink of an eye, it twisted the rusted metal into a pretzel.

“Splash!“

The moment the fire hydrant was twisted open, water suddenly burst out, creating a man-made downpour in the stairwell that instantly obscured the girl’s vision.

When the girl opened her eyes again, the Resentful Demon and the gray-haired man who had been slumped on the ground were gone, leaving only the figure of the saber-wielding man in a black casual jacket and a bronze beast mask.

‘Xu Zhi?!’

‘Why is he everywhere!’

“Tsk, why are all the recent demons so good at running away!“

Xu Zhi sighed softly, the bronze beast mask muffling his voice.
He turned his head to look at the girl.
“Are you okay?“

“Are you a civilian exorcist?“

Xu Zhi sheathed his long saber, which was still glowing with a faint blue light.
At this moment, there was not a trace of demonic energy on the girl.
But to be able to fight a demon and even suppress it at one point, he felt that the girl should be a civilian exorcist.

“I’m fine!“

The girl coldly dropped a sentence, wiped the water droplets from the ends of her hair, and turned to leave.
She didn’t want to see Xu Zhi, this childhood friend who could put a knife to her throat, again.

Xu Zhi scratched his head.
He felt that this girl seemed to be avoiding him.
He didn’t seem to have offended this girl, right?

But as the girl passed through the shattered fire door, the light from outside fell on the tear mole at the corner of her eye, making Xu Zhi’s heart suddenly throb.

It was as if he had seen this girl somewhere before.

The water droplets fell to the ground and shattered into transparent flowers.
A faint scent of osmanthus filled Xu Zhi’s nasal cavity, dispelling the foul smell unique to demonic energy.

The wet jacket was stuffed into a bag by Bai Ling.
She then wrung out the water-soaked mask and stuffed it into her pocket.

When she returned to the nightclub, the DJ was still working hard, and the low-frequency sound waves made her liver tremble.

Although that Resentful Demon had escaped, Xu Zhi’s appearance meant that the Demon Suppression Division had arrived.
Then, it was best to leave the rest to the Demon Suppression Division.
She, a demon, had better leave as soon as possible.

Bai Ling casually picked up a mojito from the table and downed it in one go.
The crushed ice in the glass slid down her esophagus and into her stomach.
The cold sensation eased the restless demonic energy in her blood vessels.

“Wow! Did you fall into a river?“

Lin Xiao Xia suddenly grabbed her wet collar and exclaimed.

Bai Ling slapped her hand away and wiped the corner of her mouth with her fingertips.

“The fire sprinkler in the restroom went crazy.“
She casually made up a reason.
“What bad luck. We should go, right?“

She looked around and found that Chengzi was not there.

“Where’s Chengzi?“

“She said she was going to the rooftop for some fresh air.“

Su Jiu Li said while reapplying her lipstick in a small makeup mirror.

‘Rooftop?’

Bai Ling suddenly looked up.
In her vision, the black line mixed with the smell of tequila pointed to the ceiling.
The rooftop was right above.

“You guys wait for me outside! I’m going to the restroom to dry my clothes!“

Bai Ling suddenly sprang up, grabbed her shopping bag, and ran out.

“Didn’t she say the fire sprinkler in the restroom went crazy? Wouldn’t she be taking another shower if she went?“

Lin Xiao Xia and Su Jiu Li, who were left at the booth, looked at each other.