Clang.
Bang!
He Li shot the face-sized chrysanthemum, its petals scattering across the ground.
The grinning demonic face also exploded in an instant.
Bai Fei's urgent voice came through He Li's earpiece, "He Li, did you shoot? Did you find the demon? What's the situation?"
He Li reloaded his gun, looking at the scattered petals, and said,
"The chrysanthemum situation is excellent!"
"What situation is excellent? Wait! What do you mean by 'excellent'?" Bai Fei suddenly realized.
He Li coldly watched the black mist slowly drift out from under the petals. Then, a large amount of black mist converged, forming the terrifying girl's face from before.
"It means there's no big problem. How about your side?"
Bai Fei hesitated and said, "My situation is a bit complicated. There's a large mass of plant roots in the basement, all tangled together, emanating demonic energy from within, like..."
"A time bomb?" He Li provided the perfect analogy.
Bai Fei: "...Exactly."
"Can it be dealt with?" He Li asked again.
Bai Fei replied, "I don't know. I've scanned it and sent it to Min Liang. We need Min Liang to analyze the data and find a solution."
"Alright, after I kill this demon, I'll come down."
Bang!
He Li fired another shot at the demonic face.
However, this time the bullet didn't shatter the face; it passed straight through, blasting away a corner of the rooftop.
"Huh?"
He Li was stunned. The shotgun didn't work. Was it because it had no physical form, so it couldn't be hit?
No!
The demonic face he saw when he opened the door earlier was shattered by him. How could this one not be shattered?
As He Li pondered why the demonic face couldn't be shattered.
The ghostly face, drifting in mid-air, gradually transformed into the face of a delicate young girl. First, her expression was blank, then she looked at He Li with gentle eyes and asked, "Little brother, do you like flowers?"
In the darkness, a pale woman's face, floating in mid-air, asked him with a gentle expression if he liked flowers.
He Li fell silent. He was contemplating whether he should talk to a floating human face, even though this face was delicate and pretty.
Immediately after,
The petals on the rooftop slowly floated up, gathering beneath the woman's face. A few seconds later, the petals coalesced into a girl's body, shapely and tall, with the crimson petals transforming into a red dress.
He Li put his shotgun back and extended his palm towards the female demon.
The female demon smiled seductively, "Little brother, do you like flowers too?" As she spoke, she also extended her pale hand towards He Li.
He Li shook his head, grabbed the female demon's wrist, and said, "I don't like flowers."
"Oh?" The female demon seemed slightly surprised, then a hint of shyness appeared in her eyes, "Then do you like me?"
He Li took a step forward, directly grabbing the female demon's neck with his left hand and pressing her to the ground.
"Ah! What are you doing?!" The female demon panicked, realizing she couldn't break free from He Li's grip.
He Li released his right hand from the female demon's wrist, clenched it into a fist, and said softly, "My fist is very strong. Bear with it, it'll be over soon."
Boom!
The fist, imbued with Li Qin's gravity ability, directly smashed into the female demon's head.
The entire three-story building trembled, and even the ground around the Shi Gongguan vibrated.
He Li raised his fist again and struck down.
Boom!
Bang!
The female demon's body exploded, and the entire rooftop was covered in crimson chrysanthemum petals.
He Li clapped his hands, the job done. The female demon didn't even have time to scream throughout the entire process.
Li Qin, who had been watching, also clapped his hands and said with a smile, "He Li, you really have no mercy for beautiful women."
He Li retorted, "If I had mercy, I'd become fertilizer in a flower pot in no time."
Li Qin said, "There's a saying: To die beneath the peony, even as a ghost, one is still romantic."
He Li pointed at the petals on the ground and said, "These are chrysanthemums."
Second floor of the basement,
Bai Fei flipped open his watch face and scanned the root system that occupied nearly half of the basement.
Each root was as thick as an arm, with countless roots intertwined to form a large oval root mass.
Inside the root mass, red light pulsed as if breathing.
"White-eyed wolf, what's the result?"
Min Liang's muffled voice sounded, "This is a Jiesheng Flower, belonging to the Ghost Wood系. It's a Level 4 demon. It has no inherent attack capabilities, but it contains demonic energy. Its pollen is hallucinogenic, and prolonged inhalation can cause living humans to become demonized."
"According to the records, the seven members of the Shi family in Shi Gongguan died mysteriously one after another 20 years ago, leaving only the youngest daughter, Shi Yu, who also passed away from illness ten years ago."
"After the entire Shi family of seven died, their business and inheritance were managed by a distant nephew of Mr. Shi. Shi Gongguan was one of the inheritances, but it had been vacant and abandoned ever since."
Bai Fei nodded and asked, "So, how should this Jiesheng Flower be dealt with?"
Min Liang said, "Wait a moment. The headquarters' data bank has files on dealing with Jiesheng Flowers. I'll check. Don't act rashly for now. This Jiesheng Flower contains demonic energy. If handled improperly and the pollen spreads, the entire Beiling Dao within a five-kilometer radius will be covered by the pollen."
Bai Fei immediately became nervous. He wasn't afraid of Level 4 demons; he had killed many. But the Jiesheng Flower before him was not a demon that could be killed by force.
As He Li had said, this thing was a time bomb with a coverage radius of the entire Beiling Dao region.
Bai Fei anxiously awaited Min Liang's answer, while also worrying about He Li's situation upstairs.
At this moment, He Li was standing at the rooftop entrance, looking with confusion at the middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared on the rooftop.
The man was robust, dressed in an expensive suit, with a slicked-back hairstyle and frameless glasses, exuding a sense of violent refinement.
Just as He Li was about to speak,
The man spoke first, "Hello, my name is Luo Kun, Chairman of Shi Feng Group, and also the owner here."
He Li nodded, "Oh, hello. My name is He Li, and I'm a civil servant, working here."
Luo Kun jumped down from the rooftop edge, passing by Li Qin. He couldn't see Li Qin's mocking gaze. His eyes behind the glasses stared intently at He Li and asked, "Did you kill my sister?"
He Li pondered for a moment, "Your sister was a demon."
Luo Kun looked sadly at the scattered chrysanthemum petals and said in a low voice, "So, you killed her!"
He Li nodded earnestly, then said, "I told you, I was on official duty."
Immediately after,
He Li added, "Not only did I kill her, but I'm going to kill you too."
Luo Kun looked up. He looked at He Li, who was carrying a shotgun, and sneered, "Why do you think you can kill me? That gun? Or is your awakened ability only at the first stage of gene lock?"
He Li shook his head, raised a finger, and pointed at the communication earpiece in his ear, "Because we have high technology."
As the words fell,
He Li took a step forward and pulled open the rooftop door.
The moment the door opened, Bai Fei shot out from inside, rushing towards Luo Kun.
A flash of silver-white blade light, blood splattered, like the crimson chrysanthemum petals that had scattered earlier.
...