Chapter 122 - 30: Ahead of Time!

Chapter 122: Chapter 30: Ahead of Time!

"If I were just an ordinary Fierce Level, I might have already become a dish on the dining table," Feng Yin thought, his gaze icy. At this moment, his resolve to kill every Mad Seed he encountered was firmer than ever.

He suppressed the urge to vomit, tearing his eyes away from the sickening "banquet." Walking out of the room, he pulled out his phone and dialed his master’s number.

The call connected quickly.

Xie Jingyuan’s calm voice came through. "Feng Yin? What is it?"

Feng Yin took a deep breath and spoke rapidly. "Master, I ran into a Mad Seed."

"Hmm!?" Xie Jingyuan’s voice immediately grew tense. "Are you hurt?"

"I’m fine," Feng Yin replied softly. "But I killed a few Mad Seeds. Is that going to be a problem?"

Hearing that his disciple was unharmed, Xie Jingyuan let out a sigh of relief, his tone returning to its usual composure. "Killing a Mad Seed is doing a public service. How could there be any problem?

"Send me your location. I’ll inform our colleagues at the Demon Extermination Association over there and have them head over right now."

Feng Yin obediently gave him the location.

Realizing his disciple was in the suburbs, Xie Jingyuan felt somewhat puzzled and asked for the reason. Feng Yin then recounted the entire series of events, starting from when he discovered Zheng Xing and Lu Shuang tracking him.

"Are you saying..." Xie Jingyuan’s voice sounded strange. "You can smell a bizarre stench on a Mad Seed?"

Feng Yin gave a sound of confirmation. Vaguely guessing something, he asked in return, "So, Master... Can’t normal people smell their unique scent?"

"No, they can’t," Xie Jingyuan replied sternly. "I have killed countless Mad Seed monsters, and I have never noticed any special smell from them.

"Unless they undergo strict genetic testing, it’s extremely difficult for anyone to directly detect a Mad Seed before it reveals its true form."

Xie Jingyuan’s tone turned solemn. "The fact that you can smell their unique scent even when they are in human form—this ability is extraordinary.

"Remember, you absolutely must not tell anyone about this before I return, not even the colleagues from the Demon Extermination Association who are on their way!"

Hearing his master’s warning, Feng Yin immediately realized the value of his ability.

It was obvious that people who could identify a Mad Seed like him were incredibly rare in this world, if they existed at all. Just thinking about it was enough to understand the stakes. If those man-eating monsters, who could perfectly masquerade as humans, found out about someone who could accurately expose their identities...

They would likely hunt him down at any cost.

And it was completely unknown just how many Mad Seeds were currently hiding in this world.

After exchanging a few more words with his master, Feng Yin hung up the phone.

He stood in the villa’s courtyard, looking at the pile of Mad Seed corpses. He frowned as he smelled the unique stench lingering in the air.

Suddenly, his gaze paused.

Something was wrong. One was missing. It wasn’t that a corpse was missing. It was that he had killed one too few.

Following the distinct stenches in the air, Feng Yin arrived at a room that looked like a kitchen.

His icy gaze swept across the area.

Aside from some cooking utensils, seasonings, and bloody kitchen waste, it was obvious that he wouldn’t find anything else.

However, Feng Yin’s mind was perfectly clear.

"A Mad Seed escaped. It ran away before I even arrived.

"It was the Mad Seed responsible for cooking the meal..."

Feng Yin’s thoughts raced.

Although he didn’t know the strength of the escaped Mad Seed, it was definitely a cautious one. Letting someone like that get away was not a good thing.

Feng Yin silently memorized the scent of this unseen Mad Seed.

The escapee probably already knew who he was from Zheng Xing and Lu Shuang. However, it certainly wouldn’t know that its identity—which it assumed would never be exposed—would have nowhere to hide in front of his nose.

"As long as this guy is still active in Coastal City," Feng Yin thought. "As long as it dares to appear in front of me..."

Contemplating this, he backed out of the kitchen and returned to the courtyard.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, two solid black, low-key yet serious-looking vehicles—a sedan and a small van—drove into the villa’s courtyard.

Feng Yin glanced at the color of their license plates; they used the same special plates as the Celestial Essence Security Bureau.

The vehicles slowly came to a halt in the open space in front of Feng Yin.

Two people quickly stepped out from the back seat of the sedan. One was a middle-aged man in his forties, and the other was a young woman around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

The middle-aged man had an amiable face, while the young woman looked cold and serious.

The back doors of the van-like special vehicle swung open, and several people wearing uniforms and gas masks scrambled out. Holding various instruments, they nodded at Feng Yin in greeting before running straight toward the gruesome pile of Mad Seed corpses on the ground.

From their gait, one could vaguely tell that these were Superhumans with at least a Fierce Level physique.

Feng Yin recalled what his master had told him about the Demon Extermination Association.

It was a semi-official organization. Everyone employed there, even the primary logistics personnel, was at least at the Fierce Level. The reserve combat personnel were at the Fierce Upper Level.

As for the official main combat elites, they were dispatched from the nearly one thousand registered Instant Level powerhouses in Celestial Essence.

By now, the two people from the sedan had walked up to Feng Yin. They were both wearing long gray trench coats over what looked like black leather bodysuits rather than short sleeves.

A single glance was enough to tell that they were on a completely different level from the operators currently collecting and processing the Mad Seed remains.

Feng Yin felt the sweltering heat in the air, then looked at their outfits, his expression turning somewhat odd.

"Wearing this in the dead of summer... Aren’t they torturing themselves?" he thought.

As if guessing Feng Yin’s thoughts, the amiable middle-aged man smiled faintly. "Don’t worry, we’re wearing the Demon Extermination Association’s Elite combat suits. Especially this piece underneath..."

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Feng Yin. When Feng Yin politely waved it away, the man took it back, lit it, and held it between his lips.

Pointing to the black leather suit beneath his trench coat, he continued, "This combat suit utilizes the Xuan Guang Group’s military-grade Enhanced Clothing technology. Not only is it refreshing and breathable, but when it enters Overclocking Mode, it can effectively boost physical functions. It can even enhance an Instant Level physique by twenty percent."

Blowing out a smoke ring, he raised an eyebrow at Feng Yin. "Black tech. You get it, right?"

Feng Yin nodded slightly.

He had seen on the news that the Xuan Guang Group was preparing to launch a "civilian-grade" Enhanced Clothing line. It was said that under its sports mode, it could stimulate muscle work through exclusive technology, allowing the elderly to possess physical functions comparable to young people.

He hadn’t expected this technology to already be in military use, let alone be capable of amplifying a Superhuman’s strength.

It sounded just as good as the exoskeletons used by the Angsa Alliance and the Ousu and Soviet Countries.

In this world, various factions and nations were exceptionally passionate about elevating the combat power of the Single Soldier.

The middle-aged man reached out to shake Feng Yin’s hand. "You must be Master Xie’s true disciple, Feng Yin. You certainly have a striking appearance. I’m Qu Chengfeng, just call me Old Qu."

He pointed to the young woman beside him. "Shen Linglan, my deputy. A famous genius among the younger generation."

Feng Yin nodded at the beautiful but cold and dignified young woman.

Neither of them had any intention of conversing further. However, Feng Yin found her features somewhat familiar, though he couldn’t recall where he had seen her before.

Meanwhile, Qu Chengfeng looked at Feng Yin with a smile. "Xiaofeng, if you don’t mind, could you walk me through what happened? Don’t worry, Master Xie already briefed me. He said not to press you on things you can’t clearly explain, so just tell us what you can."

Feng Yin nodded. Omitting the fact that he could smell the Mad Seeds and how effortlessly he had slaughtered his opponents, he provided a basic rundown of the entire event.

...

...

Around ten o’clock that night, a black sedan pulled to a stop at the main gate of Feng Yin’s residential community.

Carrying his sheathed Dragon and Snake Sword, Feng Yin turned back to look at Qu Chengfeng. "Brother Qu, thanks for your hard work. I’ll be going now."

Qu Chengfeng smiled and nodded at him. "You’re the one who worked hard. Fighting and killing six Mad Seeds in one night is truly impressive. Master Xie’s disciple is indeed out of the ordinary."

Feng Yin gave a light nod, not dwelling on the topic. After a polite farewell, he stepped out of the car.

The Demon Extermination Association’s sedan subsequently drove away.

Inside the car, Shen Linglan, who had held her tongue all night, looked at Qu Chengfeng. "This Feng Yin hid quite a few things in his story. It’s full of massive loopholes."

Qu Chengfeng chuckled, leaning back against his seat with a long sigh. "Xiao Shen, his story might have loopholes, but as Master Xie’s true disciple, he definitely isn’t an enemy. Besides, Master Xie already gave us a heads-up, so don’t obsess over it."

Shen Linglan nodded slightly. "I know. I’m just curious about what exactly he’s hiding."

Qu Chengfeng waved his hand. "Let alone what he’s hiding, a Lower-Rank Mad Seed starts off with a physique comparable to a Fierce Upper-level Martial Artist. To take down six Lower-Rank Mad Seeds, even with the assistance of Enhanced Clothing, you would have to expend quite a bit of effort to clean them up.

"Yet this kid didn’t even tear his clothes. Are the young geniuses nowadays really this freakishly talented?"

A hint of indignation surfaced on Shen Linglan’s cold face. "If it were a series of one-on-one consecutive battles, I could effortlessly wipe out that trash, too."

Qu Chengfeng looked at her with a half-smile. "Have you no shame? An Instant Level comparing yourself to a Fierce Level."

Shen Linglan fell silent.

...

...

Meanwhile, Feng Yin didn’t pay much attention to his interaction with the Demon Extermination Association.

According to his master’s arrangements, he would only register to join the organization after winning the championship of the Rising Star Tournament and officially ranking as a Fierce Upper Level.

That was a matter for the future; there was no need to dwell on it now.

With his master’s special instructions in place, others wouldn’t pester him too much, either.

Despite rushing about today, he wasn’t particularly exhausted. However, Feng Yin didn’t stay up late. He quickly took a shower and lay down on his bed.

Xie Jingyuan had told him before that while practicing swordplay during sleeping hours was beneficial for enhancing one’s physique, it did nothing to nourish the spirit.

Spiritual Strength originated from the brain, and the brain needed rest.

If he aimed for the Ultimate Level or an even higher realm, he had to start paying attention to protecting his brain early on.

He should temper his body with all his might when it was time to train, and rest well when it was time to rest. Only this aligned with the laws of nature and the human body.

Right before falling asleep, Feng Yin glanced at the back of his right hand again.

Ever since he killed those Mad Seeds, the mark on his hand—which only he could see—had been flickering all night.

...

...

Falling, sinking—

...

...

Feng Yin’s vision suddenly lit up.

He looked up and scanned his surroundings, taking in the familiar scenery of the carriage, lost in thought.

"To think that I entered early..." he mused.