After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 36

After nearly another ten minutes of fighting, Qin Xian and the Student Council President had pinned every cat anomaly to the floor.

The creatures were in terrible pain, yet no matter how they struggled, they could not break free of the iron stakes. They even forgot to attack the enemies around them with their flames and blades. All they could do was howl in agony.

Yuan Fengying frowned down at them. “They don’t seem to be dead. What do we do? Leave them pinned here and come back to clean them up later?”

“No. Wait a moment.”

Qin Xian stepped forward and crouched beside the anomaly Brother Huang had become. He searched the remnants of the man’s clothing until he pulled a talisman from one pocket.

A bizarre pattern had been drawn across it in blood. The material itself felt strange as well.

Yuan Fengying leaned closer. “What is that? Are talismans actually real?”

“It’s only a vessel for storing an anomaly’s power. Its form changes from place to place according to local legends and beliefs. People here believe in paper talismans, so paper talismans become the vessel.” Qin Xian turned it between his fingers. “Except this isn’t really paper. It’s probably human skin.”

Sharp intakes of breath sounded around them.

Yuan Fengying clenched her fists. “Human skin? How many people have they killed? Damn it. We have to capture them as soon as possible!”

Qin Xian rubbed the sheet of human skin between his fingers. Silently murmuring an apology, he gripped it in both hands and tore it down the middle.

The moment it ripped, the skin talisman crumbled to ash.

The screaming cat monsters abruptly went still. In perfect unison, their bodies collapsed limply to the floor.

Several wisps of black smoke drifted out of the corpses, faintly taking the shapes of cats. They gave two soft cries, then swiftly vanished into the air.

“Were they… set free?” one officer asked blankly.

Qin Xian rose, looking at the place where the cats had disappeared. “More or less. This type of Ghost Path talisman probably absorbs malice from its surroundings. They ordered those men to torture and kill cats. The men’s malice and the cats’ suffering were both stored inside the talisman. Once released, that power instantly turned on the perpetrators and transformed them into anomalies.”

“And they thought it was some wonderful treasure,” Yuan Fengying said. “The Ghost Path certainly knows how to manipulate people. I’m afraid the others may be carrying things like this too. Come on. We should keep moving up, shouldn’t we?”

Qin Xian had already set off. He added one warning: “Someone upstairs may have transformed into an anomaly already. Be careful.”

The top floor of the building held two conference halls. When they arrived, all was silent. Only cigarette butts, liquor bottles, and food wrappers littered the floor.

The door to one hall stood open. Beyond it lay darkness.

Qin Xian slipped to the rear entrance first. Using the back row of seats as cover, he peered inside.

A stage stood at the front, normally used for public demonstration classes, teaching competitions, and performances. More than a dozen students now lay motionless in its center, possibly unconscious.

Two enormous monsters paced beneath the stage.

One was a gigantic toad wearing glasses and holding a pointer. The other was a stone statue with two heads, one male and one female, resembling the stereotypical image of a pair of parents.

Qin Xian explained the situation to the others.

“If I had to guess, I’d say the toad might be weak to fire,” Yuan Fengying said. “But what do we do about the stone statue? Bullets definitely won’t work…”

“We also need to consider what they represent,” Qin Xian said. “The toad is probably a teacher, and the statue represents parents—the most extreme kind of both. By that logic, they might not attack people who sit quietly and don’t move.”

“That’s only a theory,” he added.

“But you understand anomalies better than we do. The logic seems sound.” Yuan Fengying thought for a moment. “We’ll split into two teams. Most of us will draw the monsters away, while the rest rescue the students onstage.”

* * *

Inside the conference hall, the two monsters paced idly back and forth, their footsteps heavy against the floor.

Qin Xian hid behind the slowly shifting fourth row of seats. Through a gap, he watched two officers creep toward one side of the stage.

The monsters did not notice them, but an inexplicable unease had settled over Qin Xian.

Everyone else was focused on the wandering anomalies, yet the students lying on the stage were equally abnormal.

The two monsters had done nothing except guard them. They never approached the students, nor did they take any other action…

There was no time or opportunity to test the situation properly. They could only move one step at a time.

One officer beside the stage signaled Yuan Fengying.

She and three others immediately pulled their triggers. Bullets flew toward the monsters’ eyes and hearts.

Bang!

One of the toad’s eyes burst. It flattened itself against the floor, gathered its strength, then sprang.

Yuan Fengying and the others looked up to see its tumor-covered belly descending from above.

“Run!”

They fled in panic. The toad crushed a huge swath of seats beneath it.

Red light shone from the statue’s eyes.

“Which disobedient little piece of trash did that?!” it roared.

Qin Xian flung out his whip and hooked the rods supporting the curtains on either side of the stage.

The screws tore loose from the ceiling with a series of cracks. More than three meters of curtain came crashing down and wrapped around the statue.

“Damn you! Just wait until I catch you!”

The cumbersome statue struggled. One arm ripped through the fabric.

It was about to seize the curtain and tear it away when Qin Xian’s whip looped around its arm, preventing it from moving.

Qin Xian hauled the whip taut and entered a contest of strength with the statue. Its power was terrifying. His feet scraped across the floor as he was dragged steadily backward.

But the distraction gave the rescuers enough time to reach the students.

Then something changed.

“Mr. Qin!” Yuan Fengying cried. “They passed out! A ring appeared, and it keeps expanding!”

Qin Xian whipped his head around. One glance was enough to tell him what it was.

He pulled even harder on the whip and shouted, “Get outside, now! That ring is the real Domain! The school may have been a decoy meant to mislead us. It was never the Domain. Anyone can enter the school as long as they kill the security guard at the gate. Go call for help and get the students outside to safety first!”

Yuan Fengying understood. She had no idea how the enemy had disguised the school as a Domain, but the true Domain was spreading. They had to keep the students outside from being swallowed by it.

She turned and ran. The remaining officers stayed with Qin Xian, doing everything they could to hold off the two anomalies.

But the ring continued expanding from the stage. Anyone who stepped inside it closed their eyes and collapsed where they stood. Even the two anomalies vanished the instant the ring touched them.

Qin Xian looked down at the black circle beside his feet and stepped into it without hesitation.

The Student Council President stood to the side and considered it for a moment. Then he stepped in too.

When Qin Xian regained consciousness and opened his eyes, he found himself standing before a villa.

It was five stories tall and far larger than any ordinary villa, with an unreal, almost dreamlike beauty.

Five other young people stood outside with him, four men and one woman, none looking older than eighteen. Every face was bewildered.

Qin Xian lowered his eyes to his hands. The wounds and calluses had disappeared. His skin was fair and smooth, untouched by the passage of years.

The others were already crying out.

“Xun Guangfan? Is that you?”

“You’re Yu Jie?! Oh my god, man, why did you turn into a kid?”

“Look who’s talking! You’re a kid too! Wait—are you Wu Piaopiao? Are you… All of you… No, all of *us* got younger!”

The officers touched their own faces and bodies in amazement. Then they turned toward the aloof-looking boy beside them, whose face could easily make him the heartthrob of any school.

Xun Guangfan asked uncertainly, “Are you… Mr. Qin?”

The beautiful young man raised his delicate chin and nodded.

Xun Guangfan immediately pressed, “Mr. Qin, what happened to us?”

“We entered the Domain, that’s all. Domains generally have their own rules. They force anyone who enters to become part of them.”

Qin Xian surveyed the area as he spoke.

There was no sign of the Student Council President. He did not know whether the thing had made it inside.

“What do we do now?” Xun Guangfan asked. “Enter the villa? Shouldn’t we be more careful?”

He peered warily at the building, but the glass door revealed nothing inside.

Qin Xian walked straight toward the entrance. Before he could reach for it, the door suddenly opened.

Everyone took half a step back, instantly on guard.

A fashionably dressed girl stood in the doorway. Like them, she appeared around eighteen.

Qin Xian recognized her as one of the students who had been lying on the stage.

Holding a gaudy phone, the girl looked them over. “Oh, we’ve got newcomers. Come on in.”

Her voice was still youthful, but her behavior carried the awkward affectation of a teenager imitating an adult.

“Are you a student from City No. 1 High School?” Xun Guangfan asked.

The girl froze. Her face twisted.

“What the fuck did you just say?! I finally escaped that place, and now you’re making me think about it again! That’s one of my triggers, you stupid piece of %*#—go die, you ￥(&)!”

She turned around and stormed into the villa without another glance.

After being cursed out of nowhere, Xun Guangfan stood stunned.

“Is that what people call… a problem student these days?”

Before any of his companions could answer, another voice cut in.

“I’d advise you not to say the word ‘student.’ We’re all free people now. We don’t need to study, and we don’t want to study anymore. If you’ve come here, you have to obey the rules.”

A boy stood inside the doorway. A cigarette hung from his lips. He took a deep drag.

“What rules?” Qin Xian asked.

The boy blew out a smoke ring and smiled.

“There’s only freedom here! Wake up whenever you want, sleep whenever you want. Play games, smoke, drink—do whatever the hell you like! But you’re not allowed to be a goody-two-shoes, you’re not allowed to mention studying, and you’re not allowed to interfere with anyone else.

“Come on. Enjoy a life of true freedom.”