"What’s your code name at the Sword Bureau?" Shen Yucheng suddenly asked.
Ji Xinghuo was perplexed.
Shen Yucheng’s demeanor was nothing like a deserter; he was calm and composed, showing no signs of panic at being found by a Swordsman from the Sword Bureau. Instead, he chatted with him as if they were friends.
"I hope you can tell me," Shen Yucheng said seriously, "it’s not for my sake, but for your own good."
"What do you mean?" Ji Xinghuo finally spoke.
"Whoever was the first to find me here, possessing such abilities in the Immortal City, definitely wouldn’t be just any Swordsman." Shen Yucheng observed Ji Xinghuo’s face, as if trying to see through the disguise to the true face beneath, and said, "You came sooner than I expected, much sooner. I thought it wouldn’t be until at least tomorrow night that a Swordsman would find this place."
He nodded again, "That’s good."
"It means that your strength is quite formidable, maybe enough to handle future difficulties and enemies."
"Now, tell me your code name."
Shen Yucheng kept talking, leaving Ji Xinghuo utterly confused, but it was clear that he wasn’t bluffing, and his words were pregnant with deeper meaning.
After thinking for a moment, Ji Xinghuo replied, "Xintian."
"Xintian," Shen Yucheng smiled, "finding me today is both lucky and unlucky for you, and that depends on whether your strength is sufficient or not. I have a gift for you."
With that, he slowly took out a thin metal plate from his pocket.
It was a storage device.
Ji Xinghuo’s pupils constricted; the device bore the Star Realm Department’s insignia. As expected, it was this very device that Shen Yucheng used to copy the massive amount of data from the Star Realm Department and kept on his person.
It was the most important target of the mission, even more important than Shen Yucheng himself.
Suddenly, Shen Yucheng tossed the storage device over.
Ji Xinghuo reached out and caught it; his magnetic field perception had already scanned it many times. It was indeed a storage device with no tricks or traps.
Upon grabbing it, as expected, all was safe and sound.
He looked at the storage device in his hand, even more puzzled than before. What he thought was a mission to capture a defector was turning out to be enigmatic.
"The data inside is intact, I haven’t made any copies. You can take it back to the Sword Bureau, and surely someone there can crack the password to prove its authenticity," said Shen Yucheng. Nowadays, data stored whether in the cloud or physical entities all use blockchain technology, leaving a record of each read, write, and modification.
"Lastly, let me warn you: Be careful of the Qianyuan Association." Shen Yucheng mentioned abruptly, his smile fading, "Good luck!"
After speaking, his eyes suddenly turned red, like two flames.
Shen Yucheng’s skin also turned red, his body like a heated iron block. Intense flames burst from all over his body, and his hair was ablaze. His clothes were specially made from high-temperature resistant material, and he wore a pair of gauntlets that gathered blazing flames. His fists were like shooting stars, and his entire being became a fierce flame, darting forward over a dozen meters in an instant, and launching a punch at Ji Xinghuo’s face. The intense windstorm swept the entire room, and temperatures soared as if he were in a furnace.
Ji Xinghuo was already on guard against his opponent.
He immediately threw the storage device into his pocket, actually placing it into his Dimension Stomach.
At the same time, his left hand swiftly drew the "Iron Hammer" from his waist, aiming at Shen Yucheng who was rushing towards him, he fired a calm shot.
In the deafening sound of the gunshot, Shen Yucheng’s figure paused momentarily.
The high explosive bomb detonated on his chest, a layer of tangible flame defense appeared, offsetting most of the bullet’s force, causing little damage—just enough to halt his speed for an instant.
But his fist had already reached Ji Xinghuo.
Ji Xinghuo was shocked within, the power of the Iron Hammer was something he was very familiar with. Not many Super Mutants could withstand it, but striking Shen Yucheng seemed to have no effect.
Microscopic Perception revealed it clearly, the protection on Shen Yucheng’s chest wasn’t constant; it was also a kind of instantaneous burst, similar to a combination of flames and Star Force, using a burst to offset a burst; very clever, but it must have depleted a large amount of Star Power.
Shen Yucheng was a Flame Frenzy.
The core ability of a Flame Frenzy, "Internal Combustion," is the power of mad burst, using Star Power as fuel to greatly enhance strength, defense, and speed.
That shot of mine was just a probe; with Shen Yucheng’s speed, he could easily dodge it.
But he did not do so.
Instead, he chose the most Star Power consuming method to withstand the Iron Hammer’s bullet firmly, which for a Super Mutant, is a very unwise move.
Although the battle methods of Flame Frenzies appear mad, the stronger the Flame Frenzy, the more skilled they are in using their Star Power, making precise calculations to achieve the maximum effect with the least consumption, extending the "burning" time to maintain high combat strength.
Yet Shen Yucheng was acting like the most clumsy Flame Frenzy, completely reckless.
His punch was the same.
In the midst of his rapid thoughts, Ji Xinghuo used Instant Step to retreat more than two meters outside the door.
Shen Yucheng’s punch hit nothing but air, yet the explosive fist power burst forth, the high-temperature shockwave like the trail of a rocket, sweeping the space a dozen meters ahead, incinerating the miscellaneous items in the hallway into ash. The Flame Fist Power punched through the opposite room’s wall, leaving a hole over two meters tall, and the entire building trembled.
"Run! There’s a Mutant fighting!"
The commotion immediately alerted the residents on the floor, with screams coming from the adjacent rooms and people scrambling in a frenzy.
Ji Xinghuo was also within the range of the Flame Fist Power, cyan-gold scales emerged, withstanding the flames as he moved against the tide. In a flash, he appeared at Shen Yucheng’s side, the Thunderbolt Battle Blade slashing out, accompanied by several thick bolts of lightning, covering the surrounding space.