Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 596: Chapter 595: All I Can Bring You Is Fire and Death

”This must be the place,”

Standing before the gate entwined with vines, Fang Zheng raised his head to look inside. The entire estate was pitch black, utterly silent as though the villa was uninhabited.

However...

”Why do foreigners always like to build their homes in such godforsaken places?”

Fang Zheng glanced around and couldn’t help but comment. The mansion was basically far removed from the city center, and what’s more, it was situated in a forest beyond the highway. Not to mention, just going out to buy a burger would probably take a thirty-minute drive. If someone fell ill, they probably wouldn’t even have time to dial emergency services...

Oh, it was also the perfect place for murder and secret chamber mysteries on a deserted island.

”If there’s a heavy snow in winter, it would be just like playing detective,”

Fang Zheng murmured to himself as he vaulted over the four-or-five-meter-high wall next to him. Although there were surveillance cameras on top, they seemed to be out of power, rendering them and the alarm devices useless.

Under the cover of night, Fang Zheng leaped over the wall like a ghost. He quickly scanned the area and soon locked onto the place with the strongest stench of blood. Holding his weapon tightly, he slowly made his way towards the house within the estate.

The main doors of the mansion weren’t closed but wide open. Fang Zheng could even see two men in suits sprawled on the stairs. Judging by their appearance, they were probably the security guards here. They might have tried to flee from the terrible enemy, charging crazily out of the door, but it was to no avail; their brains, riddled with holes like a honeycomb, spoke clearly of their fate.

What’s with vampires using guns these days? Can’t you stick with tradition?

Fang Zheng looked at the corpses with a weird expression, unsure of what to say. Look at Count Dracula in ”Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” such grace with transformations, use of magic, and mists. So why were modern ones resorting to firearms?

But thinking it over, Fang Zheng suddenly realized he didn’t know much about vampires’ combat methods at all. His understanding of these creatures came mostly from movies and some documents, which only talked about their traits and habits rather than how they fought.

Maybe it’s normal for vampires to use guns?

Shaking his head, he discarded the thoughts in his mind and stepped into the pitch-black house.

”Tap... tap...”

Fang Zheng didn’t bother to quiet his footsteps, walking through the corridor as if he were an invited guest attending a soiree. Blood was everywhere, and there were even mangled corpses. It was evident that the vampires had begun a massacre upon entering, working their way from the door and not stopping at that...

”Ugh...!”

As Fang Zheng passed by the dining room, a low growl accompanied the sudden lunge of a ghoul dressed like a chef, its white apron already dyed red with blood. The ghoul raised the kitchen knife in its hand, lunging towards Fang Zheng.

But before the knife could descend, a streak of sword light flashed by, and the next moment, the ghoul’s head flew backward while its headless body thumped to the ground, reverting back to a cold corpse.

Yet this wasn’t the end, quite the opposite. The attack seemed to be a signal, and soon, Fang Zheng saw figures slowly appear from both ends of the corridor, blocking his path. Judging by their attire, they must have been inhabitants of the estate, but now, these individuals had become corpses, clutching swords, sticks, and even pitchforks, their eyes emitting a bloody red radiance.

”Such bad taste,”

Seeing the ghouls before him, Fang Zheng’s expression darkened slightly. He could tell they didn’t die simple deaths. Instead, they were brutally murdered for someone’s amusement, and after death, their bodies were desecrated, ending up in this twisted state.

In that case, there was only one thing left for him to do.

”Rest in peace,”

Watching the ghouls closing in from both sides of the corridor, Fang Zheng closed his eyes. Then, he raised the greatsword in his right hand and thrust it with force into the ground!

”Boom!!”

Bright, scorching flames erupted from below the floor, spreading like a surging flood from Fang Zheng as the center toward both sides of the corridor. The slow-moving ghouls didn’t even have a chance to react before being devoured by the flames and turning into charred remains.

And just then...

”Aaaaah!!”

Suddenly, a desperate scream burst from the flames. Hearing the scream, the corners of Fang Zheng’s mouth curled up. He turned to see a figure in the corridor behind him frenetically dashing out of the fire, rushing towards the staircase on the other side in a blind panic.

Watching the figure flee, Fang Zheng sneered and then pulled out his greatsword. As the Pitch Black Greatsword was extracted from the ground, the fierce flames spreading in all directions were absorbed back into the greatsword as if time had reversed, vanishing without a trace.

This was also one of the skills Fang Zheng acquired after mastering the power of the Primordial Fire. Strictly speaking, in the real world, the burning of Primordial Fire isn’t destruction, but absorption. Just like what Fang Zheng had done to Alucard before, at that time, he had incinerated Alucard’s body along with the power it contained, but these powers didn’t vanish. On the contrary, they ”transformed” into firewood, absorbed by the flames and then stored within Fang Zheng’s soul.

In other words, the flames in reality take on the task of ”extracting” and ”refining” power to become ”firewood,” while the flames that truly consume this ”firewood” exist within Fang Zheng’s soul.

What’s more important is that these flames are completely under Fang Zheng’s control, which means... if Fang Zheng doesn’t allow it to extinguish, then it will never go out. It will keep burning, absorbing the power and body of the one it clings to, transforming them into Fang Zheng’s firewood... until the target has been drained to the point where not even a drop of essence remains.

”Aaaaahhhhh!!!”

The shadow frantically rushed to the second floor, rolling on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames on his back, but to no avail. Rather than being snuffed out by his rolling, the flames seemed to grow even more intense.

”What’s going on? What happened? How did you end up like this?”

Staring at the wretched sight of the shadow before her, a brown-skinned woman’s eyes widened in surprise, and she couldn’t help but ask, while upon hearing her voice, the shadow also lifted his head———it was a white male. He had dirty, matted curly hair, and his attire looked like that of an alternative punk. Originally, this man had a bit of handsomeness to him, but now, his twisted expression had completely wiped away what little good looks he had left.

”Damn it, stop asking these questions, get water, help me put out the flames on my back!”

Grinding his teeth, the man clenched his fists. At first, he had thought the other was just a common thief or perhaps a policeman of some kind, but he hadn’t expected that young man to possess such power! Damn it, could he be someone from that agency everyone talked about? How did they find him so quickly?

Witnessing her companion’s dire state, the brown-skinned woman began to panic. She hurriedly ran to the next room, brought back a cup of water, and splashed it onto the man’s back.

”Aaaaahhhhh!!”

The moment the water touched the man’s back, he screamed as if someone had doused him with sulfuric acid. Far from extinguishing the flames, they blazed even fiercer!

And just then, a voice came from behind the two.

”Vampires can’t touch water... Don’t you even know the basics?”

”You...!”

Upon hearing that voice, the man swiftly turned around, pulling out the handgun he had stashed behind him, and aimed it at the newcomer. He was confident enough to take this vile creep down. After becoming a vampire, the man knew he had gained immense strength. His reflexes, his vision, his speed, were all far beyond that of a normal human!

As long as he pulled the trigger, no one could stand before him!

No ”one”.

”Swish!”

What happened?

The man stared dumbfounded at his right hand. The moment he turned around, he felt as though his right hand had suddenly lost all strength. And when the man focused his attention on his right hand, using the vampire’s unique Dark Vision to observe, he realized———his right hand was gone.

Only a severed wrist remained.

”Aaaaahhhhh, my hand! My hand!!”

Cradling his severed wrist, the man began to wail, but before he could do anything else, the Pitch Black Greatsword pierced through his body, followed by flames that engulfed him, reducing him to ash in an instant.

”This amount of energy wouldn’t be enough to run an electric bike for a day.”

Observing the ash before him, Fang Zheng frowned, then turned his gaze towards the trembling second vampire.

”Mmm... I hope you can give me a surprise...”

”No!!”

Seeing Fang Zheng approaching, the woman screamed in terror, then turned around and crashed through the glass, jumping straight out from the second floor.

”Bang!!”

However, the woman had barely leapt out the window when a gunshot followed, and the next moment, her head burst open.

Blood and bits of flesh scattered, splattering the ground.