Chapter 724
Qiao Yifeng was in the midst of running forward with everything he had when the wall of fire suddenly burst out without a single warning. He rapidly halted his advance. However, he was unable to completely stop his forward momentum and both he and Yu Jiajia, who was in his embrace, ended up falling down the ground.
The two of them tumbled on the ground twice, nearly making contact with the wall of fire. Yu Jiajia, feeling part of her hair getting scorched by the incoming heat wave, shrieked out and got up, using both her hands and legs to back away.
As her knee had struck a piece of rock when she fell earlier, even the minor movement brought upon her a heart-wrenching sensation of pain.
“Who is it? Come out!”
Qiao Yifeng pulled out the laser handgun that Qiao Qiao had given him just now from his chest and fired two shots at the wall of fire. However, it was ineffective and the wall of fire continued to rage on.
“Naturally… … someone who wants to kill you.” The voice snickered. “Just put down that broken gun in your hand. It is useless.”
Qiao Yifeng quickly got up. Maintaining a crouching posture, he looked around. However, with the exception of the wall of fire raging before him, there was no one else there.
Gritting his teeth, he picked Yu Jiajia up. As he was about to run back through the route that he had taken earlier, another wall of fire, looking identical to the one blocking his way forward, burst out to block his return path.
Immediately after that, another two walls of fire appeared on either side. The four walls had sandwiched both Qiao Yifeng and Yu Jiajia in the middle, leaving not a single gap in between.
“I have already told you! I do not know where Zero City’s survivors are! They have not contacted me at all! Why won’t you believe me?!”
Qiao Yifeng looked around, at the four walls of fire, sweat emerging non-stop from his face. He was not just sweating due to the heat coming from the fire, but also from anxiety.
“Zero City’s survivors? What does that have to do with me?” The voice began laughing. “Didn’t I make myself clear just now? I am here to kill you.”
“You…” By then, Qiao Yifeng had realized that something was amiss.
In the past, the Awakened ones from the three guilds had never directed attacks meant to kill at him. Although they had killed the Awakened bodyguards that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild sent to protect him, they had never launched their killing moves at Qiao Yifeng.
They wanted to capture him alive and interrogate him for the information that they want. Qiao Yifeng knew, were it not for that, he would have died long ago.
At present, however, this person…
He was not someone from the three guilds.
“Are you very curious as to why I want to kill you?” A trace of amusement could constantly be heard in the voice. However, in Qiao Yifeng’s ears, that trace of amusement brought with it an incomparable amount of resentment.
“Because, the lives you owe must be returned.”
“The lives I owe? What lives!” Qiao Yifeng was in a state of confusion. Embracing Yu Jiajia tightly, he shouted, “Come out! Don’t just hide about!”
“At a time like this, you are still so concerned about your daughter. How touching,” the voice ridiculed. “It reminds me of… … a certain couple.”
On an empty space within the four walls of fire, two human figures slowly emerged from the ground.
The two human figures were made of fire and it was impossible to get a clear view of their faces. However, it was possible to tell through their outlines that one was a male and the other was a female.
As the space within the walls of fire was not that big, the appearance of the two flaming figures sent a wave of heat toward Qiao Yifeng and Yu Jiajia, causing them to instinctively take a few steps back. However, there was a raging wall of fire behind them.
The two flaming figures did not attack Qiao Yifeng. Instead, they simply stood there.
“How is it? Do they look familiar to you?” said the voice in a calm manner. “If you still cannot remember…”
Qiao Yifeng’s rate of breathing began turning ragged as he watched the two flaming figures move. It would appear as though they were running and hiding, begging for their lives.
A sword of fire flew out from the wall of fire to strike the female figure’s neck. The flames on the figure were cut and a head-shaped clump of flames flew up into the sky before falling down beside the fallen body.
After decapitating the female’s neck, the sword did not disappear. Rather, it made a turn and pierced its way into the male’s chest.
The momentum behind the sword lifted the male’s body up to fly together with the sword before slamming heavily upon the wall of fire behind it. Next, seemingly under the control of an invisible force, the sword gradually pierced deeper.
Although no sound came from the male figure, his movements was enough to tell Qiao Yifeng that he was struggling in pain while begging for mercy. However, his actions proved futile.
His struggles gradually weakened. As for the sword, it continued to slowly pierce into his body, not stopping until its hilt was buried into the man’s body.
The man’s head finally hung down, his whole body nailed to the wall, like a freshly-made insect specimen for display.
Qiao Yifeng felt as though his scalp had just exploded. Although heat waves continued blowing his way ceaselessly, he felt as though his body had suddenly fallen into a cave filled with ice.
He had seen this image before.
Although he was not there at the time, the images taken then had been sent to Qiao Yifeng.
“You… you are…” Qiao Yifeng’s lips trembled and a hoarse voice spoke out, “Soo Soo?”
“So, you remember it.” A tiny figure walked through the wall of fire and into the open space. Even though the flames on the wall continued to rage, her figure appeared completely undamaged by the flames.
Soo Soo was smiling, an expression on joy on her face. However, her pair of eyes were as cold as ice.
“Soo Soo…” Qiao Yifeng spoke up. However, in addition to Soo Soo’s name, he could say nothing else.
“Enough. There is no need to explain anything.” Soo Soo maintained the smile on her face. “I know. You believe that this action of yours is supported by a good reason. Traitors must be punished, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. Daddy and Mommy betrayed you fellows. Thus, you needed to clean up the traitors and have them pay the price for the things they have done. Mm… … this is very… … very reasonable.”
“But…” Soo Soo waved her hand and the two flaming figures and even the sword nailed to the wall of fire disappeared in an instant. They flowed into the surrounding walls of fire. “Do you know how I felt when I witnessed my beloved Daddy and Mommy die?
“Uncle Qiao?”
Qiao Yifeng stared blankly at Soo Soo. The little girl standing before him, her voice, her smile, her appearance, all of them were clearly that of his foster daughter, Soo Soo. However, the chilling iciness and resentment seeping out from her pair of eyes were things that he had never seen before.
“You should understand, when you kill someone… … you must pay it back with a life. It is the inviolable truth of this world, regardless of where or when, this truth will never change,” said Soo Soo. “Are you prepared?”
“Soo Soo…” Qiao Yifeng held Yu Jiajia tightly, his teeth having bitten his lip to the point of bleeding. “Just kill me! Let Yu Jiajia go. This has nothing to do with her!”
“No, you are mistaken.” The look of elation on Soo Soo’s face grew as she gently shook her head. “I don’t intend to kill you.”
“What?” Qiao Yifeng was taken aback.
“Do you know? I had wanted to kill you for quite some time now, but…” Soo Soo sighed. “I really do not want Qiao Qiao unnie to become sad. She has always loved me and treated me like her own biological little sister. If I kill you, if I kill her father, she will certainly feel very, very sad. I want my revenge on you alone, but if doing so causes Qiao Qiao unnie harm… … I would really be incapable of doing it.”
“Qiao Qiao?” A puzzled look flashed across Qiao Yifeng’s face. “Chen Xiaolian’s guild member? What are you talking about?”
“You see? You have completely forgotten about Qiao Qiao unnie.” Soo Soo revealed a sweet smile. “You have completely forgotten that she is… … your daughter. Instead, the only daughter in your memories, is…”
Soo Soo extended her white and tender hand to point at Yu Jiajia, who was trembling in Qiao Yifeng’s embrace. “Isn’t this excellent? With this, I can let you taste the same misery as me without bringing any harm upon Qiao Qiao unnie.”
“You… … what are you planning?!” Qiao Yifeng had finally realized what Soo Soo wanted to do. “This has nothing to do with Jiajia! I was the one who gave the order to deal with your parents! If you want to kill someone, just kill me!”
“Naturally, that won’t do.” Soo Soo flicked her finger left and right. “It hadn’t been easy for me to think of such a good method. It also wasn’t easy to get such a good opportunity. Do you think I would give up? However, I have one good news for you, Uncle Qiao.”
She stared at Qiao Yifeng for a moment. However, before he could question her, she gave a sigh of disappointment. “That is… … Xiaolian oppa and Qiao Qiao unnie will not be held up by those guys for too long. I do not want them to stop me. Thus, I will not be torturing you for long. Being killed by flames is instantaneous, but for you…”
Soo Soo raised up her right hand and a small, blazing phoenix emerged from the palm of her hand.
“You will live in pain for the remainder of your life!”