Chapter 23: Chapter 17: Escape from Death

Hearing Yan Fei’s words, the burly man became immensely angry and shouted loudly, “You damn guy, you really killed my brother.”

Yan Fei replied indifferently, “Your brother tried to kill me but ended up killed in self-defense. I was just striking back to protect myself.”

As Yan Fei spoke, he reached into his chest, but in the Universal Space, he found Xiao Kong’s corpse and pulled a ring off his finger. After wiping it on Xiao Kong’s clothing, he pretended to take it out from his chest and threw it to the burly man, saying, “You should recognize this, right? I found this ring on his body.”

The burly man caught the ring and saw that it was indeed an item from his brother’s possession. His rage was uncontrollable as he yelled, “Where did you put my brother’s body?”

Yan Fei pointed down to the cliff below and said, “That night, he chased after me and was killed in my ambush. Then I threw his body down there. At the time, seeing that the ring was somewhat valuable, I kept it as a souvenir.”

The burly man asked with a serious expression, “Besides the ring, did you find anything else on him?”

Yan Fei shook his head and said, “After I killed him, I was somewhat scared, so I took the ring and threw his body down from here without looking for other items on him.”

The burly man suddenly calmed down and said, “Take me down to find my brother’s body.”

Yan Fei waved his hand and said, “You see, this is a cliff, and there are no ropes. How can we go down?”

The burly man, seemingly impatient about something on his brother’s person, didn’t wait for Zhang Baocheng’s men to arrive. He pointed ahead and said, “There’s a vine on the cliff; we can go down by holding onto it.”

Yan Fei said somewhat helplessly, “Alright, then!”

The burly man stamped his foot on the ground, producing a loud boom, and a huge crack appeared on the platform. He said, “You’ve seen my strength. With just a flick of my finger, I can kill you, so don’t try any tricks, or you’ll regret ever coming into this world.”

The burly man pulled up the vine on the cliff, yanked it a few times, and finding it sturdy, he said, “You go down first; I’ll be right above you. If you try anything funny, I’ll immediately break the vine and you’ll be left without a trace.”

Yan Fei, without saying a word, grabbed the vine and started to climb down, and the burly man, fearing deceit, quickly followed, maintaining a distance of five meters between them.

As the two descended more than fifty meters, the burly man saw an odd smile on Yan Fei’s face. He was taken aback and then saw a Drone suddenly flying up from beneath the cliff. Knowing it was a trick, he exerted force and instantly broke the vine, sending Yan Fei quickly falling downwards.

Yan Fei let go of the vine in his hand and pushed against the cliff wall, swinging to the side, then pushed off again to swing out once more. Finally, he did a somersault in mid-air and caught another vine more than ten meters away, swinging far off.

The moment when Yan Fei fell and swung away after grabbing another vine happened in just the blink of an eye. As the burly man broke Yan Fei’s vine and prepared to climb back up, he saw the Drone start firing Steel Ball Bullets, and on instinct, covered his eyes with his arms. However, these Steel Ball Bullets were not aimed at the burly man; they were aimed at the vine above him.

Greatly shocked, the burly man realized that while the Steel Ball Bullets could not break his defense, they could easily attack the vine. More than twenty Steel Ball Bullets hit the vine consecutively and finally broke it. With the vine gone and no support, he suddenly fell downwards.

With an angry roar, the burly man forcefully grabbed onto the cliff’s stones, his hands instantly getting scraped and bloody, but this slowed his descent. He alternated hands quickly to grab the rock face, trying to steady himself. The Drone followed him downwards, turned its guns, and began firing Steel Ball Bullets at the burly man.

The burly man, hanging in mid-air, had no place to dodge and was repeatedly hit by the Steel Ball Bullets. Although they didn’t penetrate his body, the pain was immense, and he could no longer hold onto the cliff, falling down the cliff and disappearing into the pitch-black abyss.

Only after a while did a scream come from below. Only then did Yan Fei finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With the cliff terrain map provided by the Drone Avatar, Yan Fei meticulously planned to finally finish off this terribly formidable enemy. The burly man was a bit careless, and the items on his brother distracted him, causing him not to notice Yan Fei’s set up, otherwise, he would have been the one killed tonight.

There were actually two vines on that cliff. Yan Fei was very clear on their positions. The burly man, unfamiliar with the area and affected by the darkness of the night, naturally failed to notice the other vine and thus fell.

After making a move to grab another vine mid-air, Yan Fei’s injuries became more severe. He rested on the cliff, holding onto the vine, and after regaining some strength, he began to climb down. The muscular man belonged to the Mysterious Organization, and Yan Fei had to go down to check if the man had left any incriminating evidence on his body; otherwise, if such evidence fell into the hands of the Mysterious Organization, he would never have peace.

Clinging to the vines, Yan Fei climbed down. He had descended more than a hundred meters before he finally reached the bottom of the valley. The valley floor was covered in random stones, all stained with blood — yet the muscular man’s corpse was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, Yan Fei felt an unusual airflow behind his head. He leapt forward, but it was still a step too slow; someone grabbed his neck from behind. He slammed his elbow back, hitting the person in the abdomen hard. The person let out a cold grunt but did not release Yan Fei, instead tightening the grip on his neck even more.

Yan Fei looked back and saw that it was indeed the muscular man. But now, the man was covered in blood, a horrifying sight, with even an eyeball bulging out. Yan Fei was frightened; could this man still be human? To survive a fall from over a hundred meters, was this some kind of demon?

Yan Fei’s elbows kept pounding the muscular man behind him, but the man’s arm squeezed tighter and tighter. Yan Fei began to see stars and could not breathe, and his strength rapidly diminished. Luckily, his Drone Avatar was hovering right above, and at Yan Fei’s command, the drone began firing Steel Ball Bullets at the muscular man.

Previously, the Steel Ball Bullets were unable to penetrate the man’s defense, but after the man had fallen to the bottom of the valley and sustained serious injuries, the protective white light had vanished, leaving him defenseless against the bullets. The Steel Ball Bullets hit the man, penetrating his body and inflicting severe damage.

Suddenly, the grip on Yan Fei’s neck loosened. The muscular man could no longer withstand the attack of the Steel Ball Bullets. He rolled over and quickly hid in a small cave at the bottom of the valley. The drone flew over, ready to continue the attack, but discovered that because of the angle, it could not reach inside the cave.

With the man taking shelter at the entrance of the cave, Yan Fei dared not approach rashly. The man looked as if he were on death’s doorstep, but his strength was still terrifyingly formidable. Yan Fei was no match for him.

It took a while for Yan Fei to catch his breath and resume normal breathing, while the muscular man also rested in the cave, trying to recover from his injuries as best as he could. The situation had reached a stalemate.

After a while, the muscular man coughed loudly in the cave and said, “Despicable kid, you’re dead meat. You have no idea how powerful my backing organization is. Just one word from them, and you’ll have nowhere to be buried. Moreover, I’ve just sent a distress signal outside. Zhang Baocheng’s men will soon be here; you won’t be able to escape.”

Yan Fei felt anxious. The muscular man was still alive and buying time. If Zhang Baocheng’s men really arrived, and with him severely injured, the odds would be stacked against him. He had to leave this place first. But before leaving, he definitely had to kill the muscular man; having seen his face, it would be a huge problem if he escaped. Yan Fei began to think of a plan and started browsing the items in his Universal Space, then he saw the plastic Gasoline cans he had prepared, and his eyes lit up. He had stored two cans of Gasoline in the Universal Space previously and used one in Zhang Baocheng’s basement to burn the evidence against him; now, there was one can left. Since the man’s hiding place was at the bottom of the valley, the lowest point of the Terrain, even though the drone couldn’t attack him, with Gasoline in hand, Yan Fei had a new idea.

Yan Fei took out the Gasoline can, poured it out, and the Gasoline flowed into the cave following the terrain. The muscular man inside smelled Gasoline and immediately sensed trouble. He shouted loudly, “You little rat, what trick are you playing?”

Once the Gasoline had all flowed into the cave, Yan Fei took out a lighter, ignited it, and said, “I didn’t lie to you just now; your brother was indeed killed by me. Now you can set off to the Netherworld to join him.”

The muscular man finally realized that the liquid flowing in was Gasoline, and he let out a long howl, attempting to rush out of the cave, only to be driven back by Steel Ball Bullets from the hovering Drone.

Yan Fei tossed the lighter, creating a beautiful arc before it landed on the ground and ignited the Gasoline in the cave with a ‘boom’.

The cave was small with no depth, and as soon as the Gasoline caught fire, the whole cave was engulfed in flames. Then Yan Fei heard the muscular man’s scream as he emerged from the cave, ablaze. The drone fired Steel Ball Bullets again, knocking the man to the ground.

The muscular man rolled on the ground, roaring in anger. As the fire burned, his body gradually stopped moving, and in the end, he was motionless. Even as Steel Ball Bullets hit his body, he had no response; he was utterly dead.

The muscular man’s body was charred by the fire, and his clothes and belongings were burnt to ashes. So even if he had any evidence against Yan Fei on him, it was completely eradicated by the fire.

It was only then that Yan Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief. The strongest Expert he had ever encountered had finally died as a result of his schemes. Reflecting on it, the muscular man had enough Strength to kill him; a moment of inattention and it would have been Yan Fei lying dead tonight — truly a case of life and death hanging by a thread.

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Thanks to book friend Old K Brother Luo for the reward!