The red-haired demon's patience snapped. He gathered his qi, preparing for a devastating attack.
Fang Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, recognizing the shift in their tactics. As the Xiao demon unleashed his attack, it obliterated a nearby store couple of feet downward, in a burst of energy.
Debris flew everywhere, and for a moment, it seemed Fang Chen had been caught in the blast.
But then, as the dust settled, Fang Chen appeared behind the red-haired demon with his fingers coated in a strange, ethereal qi. "Nice try, but you'll have to do better than that."
Before the Xiao demon could react, Fang Chen's fingers moved with blinding speed, poking at various points along his body. "A little touch here, a pinch there..."
The Xiao demon froze in shock; "What... what have you done to me?" He found himself unable to unleash qi any further.
Fang Chen grinned, leaning in close. "Just a little trick I picked up as a doctor. You've been immobilized. Can't use your qi now, can you?"
With a swift chop to the neck, Fang Chen knocked the Xiao demon unconscious.
As the other Xiao Demons turned to see what had happened, they found only empty air. Fang Chen and their comrade had vanished without a trace.
The leader cursed under his breath as his eyes scanned the surroundings. "Find them! He couldn't have gone far!"
...
...
Officer Zhang stepped forward with a look of disbelief and suspicion. "You... you just caught him like that? Without any help?"
Fang Chen shrugged. "What can I say? I'm resourceful."
Fang Chen slouched in the metal chair with legs crossed and arms folded behind his head like someone lounging at home rather than someone being interrogated for subduing a wanted demonic criminal.
Across the table stood Lieutenant Xiomei, stiff-backed, arms crossed with her expression carved in absolute seriousness.
"Let me get this straight," she said slowly, as though speaking to someone who was mentally impaired. "You—Fang Chen—seventeen years old—managed to take down a Xiao Demon by yourself?"
"Yes, except for the 17 part," Fang Chen replied without hesitation.
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"No," he said with a shrug, "but you asked, didn't you? I answered. Mortals tend to not appreciate honesty."
She slammed her palms on the table. "Stop calling people mortals!"
Fang Chen blinked innocently. "Oh? Habit."
Her eyebrow twitched.
Two other officers stood by the wall, both visibly confused. They exchanged glances, trying to maintain professionalism but failing miserably.
"So," Xiomei continued, "the others escaped in which direction?"
Fang Chen raised one finger as if giving a lecture. "Northwest. Two fled through the broken skylight. One phased through the ground using a shadow-step technique your officers clearly couldn't detect."
She narrowed her eyes. "If you saw all that, why didn't you go after the others?"
"I already caught one." Fang Chen yawned. "I don't work for free."
One officer gasped. Another choked. Xiomei's face darkened.
"You're unbelievable."
He smiled sweetly. "You're beautiful."
Her cultivation wavered for a split second.
The two officers snapped their gazes toward her with shock. She regained her composure in under a second.
"Answer seriously."
"I am serious."
"About the demon, Fang Chen!"
"Oh." He nodded. "Yeah, I'm serious about that too."
The officers groaned in exasperation.
Xiomei exhaled slowly through her nose, reminding herself she was a Lieutenant of the Pekking Police Department, not some flustered academy girl being charmed by a boy half-smiling at her like a fox demon in human skin.
"Just tell the truth," one of the cultivator officers finally said, unable to hold back. "A normal student doesn't just… knock out a Xiao Demon, kid."
Fang Chen raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer a lie then?"
"No! We want the truth!"
"That was the truth."
Xiomei pressed her thumb to her forehead. "Why are all problematic people drawn to me…"
Fang Chen leaned forward slightly with a mischievous expression. "Because you're stunning. Troublesome beauties always attract trouble."
She froze again.
Before she could respond, a loud scoff echoed through the room.
A tall male officer who had been glaring daggers at Fang Chen ever since they brought him in, stepped forward. His expression was stiff with jealousy and barely concealed anger.
"That's enough kid," the man growled. "Stop flirting with the Lieutenant and stop playing around with us."
Fang Chen didn't even look his way. "I wasn't playing."
The officer strode forward, grabbed Fang Chen by the shoulder, and yanked him upright. "Do you think this is a joke?!"
The room tensed instantly.
Xiomei moved to intervene—
"Officer Jun—don't—"
Fang Chen's posture didn't change. His expression didn't shift. His voice remained soft.
"I'll give you three seconds to remove your hand."
The officer scoffed. "Oh yeah? And what—"
"One."
Xiomei's pupils shrank.
"Two."
The officers exchanged frantic glances.
"Don't—!" Xiomei tried to warn him.
"Thr—"
Before Fang Chen finished, he moved.
Just one palm.
One lazy, gentle palm pressed onto the officer's chest.
BOOM.
The man shot across the room like he'd been hit by a spiritual cannon.
He smashed into the reinforced steel holding cell on the far side, causing the bars to bend inward from the impact. Dust and sparks rained down.
Every officer in the room froze.
"W-What the—"
"H-Holy—"
"How did he—?!"
Xiomei stared with a stunned look. Even the cultivator officers who were Profound Stage 2 practitioners, were staring wide-eyed.
Fang Chen sat back down calmly. "I told him to take his hand off."
The room was silent.
Not a single officer dared approach him again.
Xiomei swallowed while fighting the instinct to treat him as a threat. "Are you… a rogue cultivator?" she asked quietly.
Fang Chen tilted his head. "I'm just me."
It wasn't an answer.
But the terrifying part was that he said it like it was. Despite how absurd it was, the thought that everything Fang Chen had been saying all this while might be true, struck her.
But how could it be? He was only a kid...
Eventually, protocol forced Xiomei to let him go. He was a minor. And they had no grounds to detain someone who, technically, had committed no crime.
She escorted him to the front desk personally.
"You're free to leave," she said sharply, maintaining professional stiffness. "But this isn't over."
"Of course not." Fang Chen pulled a piece of paper from a pen holder on the counter, wrote something neatly, then handed it to her.
"My number. Call if you need help catching the other demons."