Chapter 73: Flame Chen
Flame Chen took several rapid breaths and said:
"Exactly, I killed her once. Remember, if you fight Xi, her usual crystallization isn't that scary. As long as your resistance is high enough, you can avoid it. What's truly terrifying is the moment Xi dies—she completely crystallizes and then explodes. You absolutely must not be touched by those flying crystals. Getting hit leads to what happened to me. This crystallization doesn't require any judgment and keeps worsening."
Flame Chen was a smart man. He knew he might not survive this ordeal, so he shared the intelligence he'd paid for with such a painful price, giving Su Xiao some preparation when dealing with Xi.
Undoubtedly, this information was extremely important. It not only confirmed that Xi had a resurrection ability but also let Su Xiao know her killing move in advance.
"Lancers really are unreliable. Looks like I'm stuck with Luck E today."
Though Flame Chen didn't have much time left, he showed no fear or despair. Instead, he joked about his identity as a lancer. The look in his eyes was that of someone who had seen through life and death, living only for one purpose.
"A sis-con like me might not be worth regretting."
Flame Chen laughed. He thought of his younger sister, his gaze both gentle and somewhat complicated. Strangely, despite Flame Chen being so severely injured, his sister Ya had never appeared.
This was Flame Chen's order. If his sister saw him like this, things would get out of hand—she'd turn into a murderous demon in no time.
"Let me state upfront, this treatment method of mine has a very high chance of death."
Though Flame Chen wasn't a mage, he had too much fire element within him.
"It's fine. Either way, I'm dead meat. Even if there's only a 1% chance, I'll take it."
"Alright then."
Su Xiao took out a bottle of gum, poured one piece into his mouth, and started chewing. [Extra Gum], White quality, Effect: Chewing restores 15 mana points per minute, stops working after 5 minutes of chewing, maximum one piece per chew.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy clung to Su Xiao's hand as he pressed his finger against Flame Chen's fully crystallized arm.
"What the hell!"
Flame Chen suddenly sat up, but Su Xiao stomped on his chest, pinning him back to the hospital bed.
"Just... let me... die quickly..."
Before Flame Chen could finish, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy spread into Flame Chen's body, activating the fire element within him along with a crystalline, translucent energy.
This crystalline energy was the culprit behind Flame Chen's crystallization. It was Xi's ability—Crystal Energy, converted from mana. One mana point could be converted into ten Crystal Energy points. When Crystal Energy was released outside the body, it formed crystals. With this conversion ratio, Xi must have a massive reserve of Crystal Energy.
Crystal Energy was a type of inert energy, while mana, chakra, and nen energy were active energies. Both types had their advantages. Active energy had a broader range of applications, while inert energy was more stable and wouldn't cause energy rampages or similar issues.
Choosing this extremely stable energy was related to Xi's personality. That woman hated uncontrollable things.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy didn't find it too difficult to devour Crystal Energy. The hard part was doing so without killing Flame Chen from the true damage caused by the Cyan Steel Shadow energy's energy devouring process.
The true damage from Cyan Steel Shadow energy devouring Crystal Energy was nothing short of terrifying.
Fortunately, Yogurt, the chief healer of the Inscription Gate Adventure Group, was present, so Flame Chen wouldn't die immediately.
But don't think that would save Flame Chen's life. A few seconds after the Cyan Steel Shadow energy entered Flame Chen's body, Su Xiao noticed traces of it eroding toward Flame Chen's brain.
Su Xiao tried his best to control this, but Flame Chen had too much fire element, causing the Cyan Steel Shadow energy to instinctively push toward his brain.
A small amount of Cyan Steel Shadow energy entered Flame Chen's brain, and his tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open.
Just then, an anomaly occurred. Large black patterns appeared on Flame Chen's face. Seeing these patterns, Su Xiao felt they resembled sealing techniques from the Naruto World. Flame Chen had apparently sealed something in his brain.
A corner of the sealing technique shattered, and Flame Chen's eyes began to lose their light.
Meanwhile, in Flame Chen's consciousness, he was sitting in a pitch-black room.
"This is..."
Flame Chen's pupils contracted. Memories he had hired someone to seal away in his brain began to surface, a flood of recollections.
A family of four. In the living room, a teenage boy sat on the sofa replying to messages on his phone, occasionally grinning foolishly—the kind of smile of first love. This was Flame Chen as a youth. Beside the sofa, a barefoot girl secretly peeked over. She was a bit younger than Flame Chen, with similar facial features—clearly siblings. Catching her peeking, Flame Chen quickly put away his phone. The girl laughed, as if she'd caught him red-handed.
Flame Chen glared 'fiercely' at the girl, mouthing silently: 'Tell Mom and Dad, and I'll beat you up.'
His sister got angry, tilting her head with a hint of tsundere, completely ignoring her brother's threat, and shouted: "Mom, my brother has a girlfriend!"
Flame Chen was scared out of his wits, his phone falling into the crack of the sofa. The message on it read: "Honey, my ugly sister is peeking. Talk later."
In most older brothers' perceptions, no matter what their sister actually looked like, in their eyes, she was always 'ugly'~
The memory ended there, and the next scene appeared.
In a hospital, Flame Chen sat anxiously on a plastic chair in the hallway. His parents were beside him, but his sister was missing.
Soon, the doctor came out of the ward with Flame Chen's sister. The once lively girl now behaved strangely, tilting her head to look at Flame Chen with a gaze that felt utterly foreign to him.
The psychiatrist's conclusion was that Flame Chen's sister had mild schizophrenia, with the split personality showing antisocial tendencies and violent tendencies. They recommended hospitalization for observation.
The memory jumped again.
Blood. A blood-dripping dinner knife. A girl covered in blood, her eyes vacant. Beside her, a middle-aged couple lay dead on the floor. In the corner, a trembling teenage Flame Chen cowered.
A day later, Flame Chen, weak from hunger, stood up. He looked at his sister, then at his parents' bodies. He remembered his father's dying words: 'Help your sister. Don't hate her. It wasn't her will.'
The memory jumped again. Inside the Reincarnation Paradise, at the gathering place of the Inscription Gate Adventure Group.
Flame Chen sat at the head of the table. The dozen or so members seemed afraid of him. Rumors said Flame Chen had killed his own family and forcibly imprisoned his sister—a perverted sis-con. In truth, Flame Chen had no sis-con tendencies. His sister's original personality had vanished when she killed their parents. What remained was a female lunatic with antisocial tendencies and violent tendencies. Flame Chen didn't even want to see her, let alone be a sis-con. Yet, in a certain sense, this female lunatic was still his sister.
Tragic experiences made people strong. Take Flame Chen, for example. He did everything a brother could: earning money to support his sister, secretly disposing of the unidentified bodies that occasionally appeared at home.
This was the full story of 'sis-con' Flame Chen. If anyone was the real pervert, it was his sister.
In Flame Chen's consciousness, he sat on a chair. To his left was darkness, to his right was light. He was in the gap between light and dark.
The sealing technique gradually restored itself, and Flame Chen's memories receded. This was a necessary evil. With those memories, he often couldn't resist the urge to kill his crazy sister. Yet the concept of family told him he couldn't do that. In a place of miracles like the Reincarnation Paradise, there might be a way to restore his sister's dead personality. That was one of Flame Chen's motivations.
After the painful memories were completely sealed, fabricated memories appeared in Flame Chen's mind. This was his masterpiece, costing him 100,000 Paradise Coins. Though his real memories were sealed, an idea kept telling him: don't touch his sister—she was 'dangerous.' She was incomplete, missing a personality. Only by restoring that personality could he have his complete sister. At that time, he must unseal the memories, which would reveal many things.
Sis-con Flame Chen, a Flame Spear Knight. Whoever touched his sister was challenging his sis-con soul. Then Flame Chen became a madman. Many contractors knew this.