51: Chapter 51 Towering Pillar of Fire

Afternoon classes were the same as usual.

The teacher on the podium droned on mechanically, completely ignoring whether anyone below was listening.

Unable to act freely, Chen Moxuan opened the internal app of the Madman Society again, attempting to analyze some clues from the mission information.

"Why is the mission named 'Awakening'..." Chen Moxuan pondered to himself.

Interpreting it literally, he could think of two highly likely scenarios.

The first scenario was that the Madman Society had some kind of agreement with this Zhang Qing, requiring a token to be presented before the next phase of events could trigger, similar to starting a quest.

Alternatively, this Zhang Qing himself might be in a state of ignorance, needing a token to awaken his memories or something similar.

The first scenario would be fine, but the second one would be quite troublesome...

Right now, the only clue he had was that name.

But the name was also confusing. If even Zhang Qing himself was unaware, then the method of exposing himself to attract the other party would obviously not work.

He could only pin his hopes on tomorrow, searching through all the students surnamed Zhang in the school to find the real Zhang Qing directly.

"Song Xin hasn't replied yet?" Chen Moxuan said, somewhat surprised.

Half an hour ago, he had left another message for Song Xin about the doubts he had encountered, but this time, there was no reply.

Before this, Song Xin had replied to almost every message he sent instantly.

It had made him think for a moment that Song Xin had hired a dedicated customer service representative for him.

However, given Song Xin's elusive behavior, he would have found it strange if she had continued to reply instantly like before.

Chen Moxuan put his phone away, stopped daydreaming, and turned his head toward the window, intending to close his eyes and rest, but he saw several pillars of fire rising into the sky in the distance.

"That direction is... the psychiatric hospital?"

...

Let's rewind time by half an hour.

Inside Qingqiu Psychiatric Hospital in the suburbs of C City.

Having been busy for several days, Master Song stretched comfortably and said happily:

"Finally done."

During this period, she had been in this psychiatric hospital, either disguising herself or altering perceptions, using various means to quietly infiltrate the institution deeply.

At the same time, she had also recruited over a dozen potential Madmen for the Madman Society.

Joining the Madman Society did not necessarily require a Special Ability; as long as one had irreconcilable conflicts with Transcendents, or deeply yearned to change this country, such people were qualified to become members of the Madman Society.

Now, this Qingqiu Psychiatric Hospital appeared to be controlled by the Hero Association, but in reality, it had completely fallen into the hands of the Madman Society.

Once an Awakener was born here in the future, the Madman Society could guide them to join, and if the other party leaned toward the Transcendent camp, they could eliminate the hidden danger before they made a choice.

Song Xin transformed into the appearance of the director and walked steadily toward the office that belonged to Yang Shan.

Before leaving, she planned to take Yang Shan, who was lying inside in a vegetative state, with her.

Yang Shan's Soul had already collapsed under the erosion of Ethereal Spirit Electricity; other than having basic physiological functions, he was no different from being dead.

She still hadn't figured out why the tracking marker hadn't been triggered.

After all, this was a marker placed by an S-Class Transcendent at the veteran level of the Superpower Association; it wasn't something that could be avoided by bypassing the body and destroying the Soul directly.

Those Monsters had lived for thousands of years; it was impossible for them to leave such a loophole.

Song Xin felt she couldn't figure it out on her own, so she thought about taking this precious "sample," Yang Shan, back and handing him over to other Madmen in the Madman Society for in-depth research.

But the moment she opened the door, the scene in the room made her heart tighten.

The room should have only contained Yang Shan, who was lying on the bed receiving nutrient solution, but now there was an additional young man with crimson hair.

She subconsciously looked up, and a large hole had appeared in the ceiling, with scorching lava slowly dripping from it.

Witnessing this, Song Xin understood immediately.

"You guys chat, I won't disturb you." She immediately closed the door, turned around, and ran.

She recognized at a glance that the red-haired young man was the Explosive Flame King from the G District Hero Association branch.

Excluding S-Class, Hero ratings and Transcendent ratings were two different concepts.

Transcendent ratings considered comprehensiveness more; for example, the non-combat B-Rank Transcendent Yang Shan, whose Special Ability would catch even an A-Rank Transcendent off guard if they weren't careful.

If one had a way to resist his Special Ability, then Yang Shan's physical capabilities would only be at the lower-middle level of most C-Rank Transcendents.

But Hero rating standards depended only on battle records and strength.

B-Rank Heroes were powerful in all aspects, representing the batch of B-Rank Transcendents most skilled in combat.

Not to mention that Explosive Flame King was the number one B-Rank in the G District branch of the Hero Association!

His Special Ability, [Formless Tribulation Flame], could release high-temperature explosive flames from any part of his body and control them at will.

In terms of destructive power alone, many A-Rank Heroes could not compare to him.

"How did I get exposed again?"

The current situation didn't allow Song Xin to think too much; she immediately cast an invisibility spell, wanting to escape quickly.

On the other side, after a brief moment of stunned silence, Explosive Flame King reacted.

"So that's how it is..."

He came here simply to find Yang Shan and clarify the situation.

Back then, it was he who instructed Wan Chaoren's assistant to send Chen Moxuan to this psychiatric hospital.

At this moment, having pierced through the ceiling and fallen into the room, seeing the unconscious Yang Shan, and catching a glimpse of the panicked director running out, he instantly realized everything.

He had always been particularly concerned about his brother Wan Chaoren's affairs, so naturally, he knew that the Monster Wan Chaoren had asked him to deal with last time possessed the ability to disguise its appearance.

"It seems there is one more stain to clean up."

Explosive Flame King muttered to himself, clenching one hand into a fist.

In an instant, strands of flames burst forth from all over his body, surrounding him and rapidly forming a scorching vortex of fire.

"Flame Burst!"

A blinding, heaven-piercing flash of fire swept over, and the vortex of flames that originally surrounded his body expanded wildly at a terrifying speed.

Everything within a radius of fifty meters, whether it was thick tables and chairs, sturdy walls, or the unconscious Yang Shan, was instantly engulfed in flames and turned into piles of burning ash.

The building that had originally stood there had a large chunk gouged out by the flames, presenting a shocking hole.

As the raging fire gradually dissipated, this place had already become a desolate ruin.

In the sky, black ash drifted down like snowflakes, thick black smoke permeated everywhere, and the air was filled with a pungent, choking smell of burning.

"You actually blocked it?"

Explosive Flame King was floating in the air with flames spewing from the soles of his feet, surprised.

In the ruins, Song Xin was seen pushing her palms forward with all her might, forming an invisible barrier that had blocked the previous Flame Burst.

"Good thing I withdrew all my Clones in time." Song Xin sighed in relief inwardly.

For the sake of efficiency, she usually created over a dozen Clones to help her with her work.

Only by dispersing the Clones and consolidating her magic power at this moment was she barely able to block the previous Flame Burst.

Several weak groans came from the ruins, but they quickly fell silent.

The raging flames spread, and it looked like they were about to turn the entire psychiatric hospital into a sea of fire.

Explosive Flame King slowly descended from the air, ignoring his surroundings, and stared coldly at Song Xin:

"Damned Monster, if you had sensibly ended yourself, you wouldn't have killed so many people."

"Are you sick in the head! Didn't you kill them all yourself?"

Song Xin retorted without showing any weakness; she had already put away her transformation technique, revealing her original appearance.

Immediately after, she reached into her pocket, took out a long, thin sword, pointed the cold, gleaming blade straight at Explosive Flame King, and scolded angrily:

"You really are the same kind of person as that Wan Chaoren."

"If it weren't for the fact that I've used too much magic power during this time, I could have extinguished you idiot with one sword!"

"What did you say?!" Explosive Flame King was furious upon hearing this.

In his heart, he and his brother were already blood-related, and being told they were the same, he took it as a form of recognition.

But immediately after, Song Xin actually insulted him, which was equivalent to cursing his brother!

This was something he absolutely could not tolerate!

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and the flames around his body were like a surging sea of fire, like a fierce tongue of flame, rushing straight toward Song Xin.