Rong Fu was furious and full of regret. If he'd known, he'd have kept that crappy face-writing power—at least it had some practical use!
His power was developed to a high level by now. A long time ago the cooldown had been enormous: he could only copy a new one every other day. Now he needed just a few minutes, and where a copied power used to last only an hour, it now lasted a full day, or even a little longer.
Which was exactly why he'd gotten more and more reckless, copying whatever caught his eye. And now he was finally tasting the bitter fruit.
But a few minutes was still time—the woman's husband had already come out of the kitchen hauling a rolling pin!
The proprietress snatched a broom from the corner and rained blows down on him. "Order me? Go order your own mother!"
With a "bang," Rong Fu sprang clear in the nick of time; the broom smashed down on the table and shattered bowls sprayed everywhere.
Head Chef Jin's rolling pin was already aimed at his skull.
Rong Fu threw up an arm to block. The chef's strength was no joke either—the blow actually left his forearm stinging.
His vicious streak was roused, and his eyes turned savage.
He whipped out a side kick that caught the broom dead center. With a crack, the broom snapped in two, and the proprietress was knocked staggering back into the counter, aghast.
This man's a formidable fighter even without his power!
"Whack!" Rong Fu caught the rolling pin in one hand, murder in his eyes. "You're asking to die!"
Head Chef Jin had no time to guard at all; Rong Fu's fist was already buried in his chest, and the man flew back like he'd sprouted clouds, slammed into a table corner, and brought a whole spread of dishes down with him, groaning in agony on the floor.
The proprietress flew to her husband's side. In that moment the couple regretted it bitterly: why had they never bothered to exercise? Why had they wasted their spare time on mobile games? Was this payback for all the kills they'd fed and all the fights they'd gone AFK in? Well, now they'd fed a kill in real life!
Rong Fu grinned viciously, cracked his knuckles, and stepped forward. "I only meant to teach you two a lesson and be done with it. But since you're asking to die..."
His gaze crawled up and down the proprietress, the meaning impossible to mistake.
She spat back through her teeth, "Go get off on your own mother!"
She dug a piece of candy out of her pocket and hurled it hard at the floor.
The wrapper burst open, and a brilliant light lit up the whole restaurant.
Rong Fu was nearly blinded; he threw up his hands to cover his eyes, and the couple had already fled out the door like the wind.
"Fuck!" Rong Fu clapped a hand over his eyes, tears streaming and unstoppable.
This dumbass power can moonlight as a flashbang? Those bastards actually thought of that!
Now he was thoroughly enraged. Heedless of the street outside, he charged out the door after them and launched a flying kick at their fleeing backs: "Die!"
A faint golden light swept past the couple, and a fist rose to meet the kick.
"Bang!"
Rong Fu staggered twice before he found his footing, and looked up to see a Huluwa also stumbling back—three steps before it steadied itself.
"Third Brother!" Head Chef Jin's face lit with joy, then he said urgently, "This man's dangerous—be careful!"
Chu Ge drew a deep breath and watched the Rong Fu across from him with a grave expression.
Dangerous was right. He's a serial killer with years of esper duels behind him; his physique and combat experience are nothing a rookie like me can match.
But he'd stepped up all the same, without a moment's hesitation, and had even told the two plainclothes cops to stay out of it—hide first, call in the cavalry, and only then come.
Because Rong Fu was in a killing frenzy and probably wouldn't think about running just yet. The moment the plainclothes officers showed themselves, he'd bolt, and the handful of them couldn't hold him.
I have to hold him off myself, until Lin Wuyang arrives with a large squad—with guns, ideally!
The two young cops knew where the crux of it lay too: this was no time to go out and spook the man. While urgently reporting to Lin Wuyang, they watched Chu Ge facing the enemy alone and felt like they were watching some superhero of the city.
Damn, people like this actually exist these days?
The guy across from him is a murderer!
Rong Fu was sizing Chu Ge up too, and he too looked a little grave. The Huluwa mask carried a trace of strange power that blocked his mental probing, so he couldn't read what was behind it—but the faint golden glow suffusing the man, and the force behind that exchange of fist and foot, told him this was a formidable enemy.
So Black House isn't all jokes after all.
He slowly drew a dagger.
Chu Ge: "Fuck!"
Rong Fu wasted no breath on words. He simply closed in and drove the dagger at Chu Ge's midriff with ruthless precision.
Chu Ge's footwork moved on instinct; a slight turn of the body and the strike had already slid past him, with a flair that nearly drew a cheer from Head Chef Jin and his wife.
Heaven only knows I'm already soaked in cold sweat inside. My body reacted faster than my brain—going by my own reflexes, I'd never have dodged that at all. And because of it, though I dodged and could have seized the opening for a counterblow, I missed the chance completely...
If Qiu Wuji saw this, I'd never hear the end of it. What kind of garbage fighting is that?
Rong Fu's experience was far greater than his. Once the thrust was evaded, the dagger whipped back around in an instant and just grazed Chu Ge's forearm.
A faint clang of metal on metal rang out, and Chu Ge's forearm bore only a pale mark—not even the skin was broken.
The two broke apart, and delight rose in Rong Fu's eyes. "So it's a body impervious to blades! Now that's a good one!"
Chu Ge: "..."
"I've had my fill of hauling around a food-summoning power that doubles as a flashbang. Yours is coming with me!"
Chu Ge felt nothing himself, but he saw light flicker faintly across Rong Fu's body.
He really copied it?
Copied what? Yours truly doesn't even know what my own power is.
Chu Ge actually felt a flicker of anticipation and curiosity. He wouldn't summon Qiu Wuji, would he? If Qiu Wuji really popped out, wouldn't she smack my head into a watermelon? Then a little unease followed. What if he's copied a whole parallel world—another Qiu Wuji?
But then Rong Fu was clutching his head in agony, staggering on his feet. "What the hell is this garbage of yours...?"
Chu Ge: "?"
Whatever's happening to him, this is no time to pass up a free beating—does he really think I'm that dumb?
Without another word Chu Ge charged in and kicked straight at Rong Fu's face.
Rong Fu barely swung the dagger across to stop the kick. Chu Ge withdrew the foot and swept it instead, landing a heavy sideways blow on Rong Fu's cheek.
With a "bang," Rong Fu crashed into the side wall. He couldn't spare a thought for the pain in his body—his head felt like it was splitting open.
Where the hell was the "impervious to blades"? The parts that ought to hurt still hurt, and his head was worse—like countless needles churning inside it, tens of thousands upon thousands of fragments of information rushing in, stirring him to the edge of madness.
What kind of power is this...?
The sheer volume of information in an entire world, flooding in without end—how was an ordinary esper supposed to withstand that?
Cultivation? Qi Refining? Tribulation? A world divided into the Nine Provinces, the Great Qian Kingdom at its center, immortal mountains hanging beyond it, immortals coming to examine disciples... A plain youth... Countless faces, countless words, countless techniques rampaging through his head in a tangled, shapeless mess. What the hell is all this?
When he tried to work out how to use this power, something in the back of his consciousness vaguely informed him: first, go write a book.
Rong Fu: "???"
Write a book? Yours truly can't write a book! No—even if I could, I'm in the middle of a fight here! By the time I finish one, the grass on my grave'll be three chi tall!
A fist the size of a pickling jar swelled huge in his vision, trailing faint golden light. With his mind in chaos, Rong Fu dodged too slowly and took the punch square.
Chu Ge held fast to Qiu Wuji's teachings and did not hold back in the slightest. With a "bang," he watched Rong Fu sail up along the wall like a kite with its string cut, a mouthful of blood spraying out into the air—and the sheer thrill of fist meeting flesh made even Chu Ge's pores open up in bliss.
Why the other man had turned into an idiot standing there taking hits no longer mattered.
This feeling matters way more!
He strode after him, straddled Rong Fu, and went to work with his fists. "Hitting my rea—hitting my friends? And you pull a knife? Screw you—so copying powers makes you hot shit?"
Head Chef Jin and his wife and the two plainclothes cops stood frozen a short way off, jaws hanging, watching this rampaging Huluwa. Every one of them was dumbstruck.
Who's supposed to be the boss here, and who's supposed to be the Huluwa?
Footsteps sounded, and Lin Wuyang arrived with a great crowd of men and surrounded the area. One look at the scene and he was stunned too; instinctively he'd assumed the one getting beaten was Chu Ge—had it been turned around like this?
This old classmate who holes up at home typing all day caught a wanted fugitive single-handedly?
Lin Wuyang hurried over and pulled Chu Ge back. "Constable, that's enough—any more and you'll beat him to death!"
Chu Ge stopped and looked at what was left of Rong Fu's face, then spat. "And you still dare bully people with that 'hair in disarray, eyes unyielding' look? Go die!"
Rong Fu was barely breathing, without even the strength left to plead his case.
Lin Wuyang said nothing.
That was just a little blurb I made up off the top of my head.
Chu Ge gulped down a few breaths, then felt something and turned his head. Qiu Wuji stood gracefully in the distance, watching him, a smile on her face.
Every last bit of the savagery in Chu Ge's heart settled in an instant.
So she had been protecting him in secret all along.