Chapter 262: The Arsonist

Ten minutes ago.

Three kilometers away.

In a dim alley.

A potbellied, bald middle-aged man was fleeing in panic.

Whoosh-

A sound of something cutting through the air came from behind.

The middle-aged man's hairs stood on end.

The next instant, his body erupted with agility and strength that completely belied his appearance. He executed a donkey roll and tumbled aside, continuing to flee at top speed without daring to look back.

A wooden sword appeared in the spot where he had just been standing. A small "Lake" character was carved on the hilt.

The blade was clearly made of wood, yet it sank into the hard brick wall as easily as cutting through tofu.

Then.

The sword was pulled out by a man who was also sprinting at full speed, and he grasped it firmly once more.

He had blue hair, a stern expression, round-framed glasses, and looked to be around thirty years old.

Directly under the Wind Capital Sixth Division, a second-grade sorcerer, Yan Jing.

"Officer! An officer from the Sixth Division!"

The middle-aged man sprinted forward frantically, faint traces of deep brown curse power clinging to his hands and feet as he ran.

While desperately pumping his legs, he shouted out in a pleading tone:

"I really don't know what law I've broken! Why won't you stop chasing me?!"

"I swear, I just picked up an anonymous job on the dark web to come sell some agents! I already left all those agents back where I started, I didn't take a single bottle!"

"Isn't today a rest day? Please, just let me go like you'd let a fart slip!"

As he spoke, he grabbed whatever was nearby and tossed it backward without even looking.

The blue-haired man's footsteps remained locked tightly on his target as he swung the wooden sword again.

A flash of blue sword energy swept out, splitting a trash can blocking the path in two. Shrapnel flew everywhere, though it did slightly obstruct his line of sight.

Yan Jing furrowed his brow, moving with agile precision as he sprinted forward.

- Because it was the weekend, and he'd already been working overtime, running into this guy meant overtime on top of overtime. That was exactly why he needed to catch this bastard as quickly as possible.

"Name, Wang Yan. Code name, 'Arsonist.'"

As he advanced, Yan Jing stared at the back of the figure sprinting swiftly through the narrow alley with his weary, overtime-filled eyes, reciting the man's crimes word by word.

"Spell suspected to be of the [Flame] type. Used his spell to create accidental fires, successively burning four wives to death to illegally defraud high-value insurance payouts."

"After being put on the wanted list two years ago following a tip-off, he went into hiding in the Southern District and vanished without a trace. Suspected of being sheltered by some organization."

"And just now, you were peddling dangerous supernatural agents to ordinary civilians."

"This is your final warning."

Yan Jing's voice carried absolutely no warmth.

"Cease your spell activation immediately and surrender without resistance. If you cooperate with the investigation, there may be a chance of leniency during your future sentencing."

- In his eyes, that heat-laden surge of curse power was far too obvious to miss.

This bastard was putting on a pitiful act on the surface, but he was actually brewing something underneath!

"...Hehehe... The Sixth Division officer, such pretty words!"

"Leniency? It's not that I don't believe you, but once I fall into the Sixth Division's hands, I can see I won't be leaving alive!!"

The middle-aged man suddenly halted mid-step and spun around. All trace of his earlier submissiveness was gone. His tone was fierce, his eyes blazing with a savage light as he raised his hand.

Spell activation!

The next instant, this narrow alley packed with flammable debris suddenly erupted in towering dark-red flames.

The clutter ignited instantly, and the curse power-laden fire spread outward at terrifying speed.

"..."

The firelight reflected off the blue-haired man's glasses, yet it couldn't obscure the blue curse power glow blazing in the eyes behind them.

He couldn't possibly allow fire fueled by such a concentrated amount of curse power to spread freely in a place like this. That would absolutely result in massive property damage.

The other party was forcing him to deal with the fire situation here first.

Yan Jing's mind raced.

- Bold as hell. Just to escape, he dares to start a fire in a place with such severe fire hazards to buy time?

- And... he's definitely far stronger than the records suggested.

According to the case file from two years ago, this arsonist had only been at the mid-stage of the first Energy Level.

But the curse power output behind this wall of flames, along with the curse power enhancement he was applying to his body while running, had solidly reached the level of an early-stage second Energy Level user. Almost no different from himself, a second-grade sorcerer.

For a wild sorcerer with no orthodox inheritance and no idea how his spell had even awakened, his rate of progress was far too fast.

His thoughts raced as blue sword energy continuously flew from the wooden sword in Yan Jing's hand, carrying a water-like quality as it worked to extinguish the flames.

Yet while putting out the fire, he suddenly sensed something through his curse power perception.

No, something was off. His curse power was extremely unstable...

P Agent?

According to the intelligence gathered by the Sixth Division, there really was an enhancement-type agent among the P Agents that could temporarily force someone to break through to the second Energy Level.

However, that type of agent had considerable side effects. Even if he was a sorcerer and not an ordinary person, it didn't matter. He might very well lose his ability to resist on his own in a moment.

The flames died out, and the smell of burning wafted through the air. Yan Jing advanced without hesitation, but the arsonist had already covered another hundred meters or so.

The man seemed to be fleeing with purpose, continuously pressing forward while repeatedly building up his spell to try and light fires, delaying Yan Jing's pursuit.

Sure enough.

Within Yan Jing's perception, the other party's curse power was rapidly withering, as if the agent's effects were just about to wear off.

He swung his wooden sword with swift precision, extinguishing wave after wave of the intimidating walls of fire the man had ignited, while advancing at breakneck speed without any concern for curse power consumption.

Bystanders passing by let out cries of alarm, but they couldn't impede the two men's advance.

In the chase between pursuer and pursued, the distance gradually closed.

Yet as he ran, Yan Jing's expression grew worse and worse, his face becoming increasingly grim.

Because he had suddenly realized the direction his target was heading.

A few minutes later.

The arsonist, seemingly unable to hold out any longer, came to a stop at the end of a narrow alley. Yan Jing, who was just about to catch him, halted about a dozen meters away.

The blue-haired man narrowed his eyes slightly but did not approach any closer.

At the alley's exit, connected to it was none other than a bustling commercial street.

Outside, the crowd was flowing like a river, packed with ordinary citizens going about their business.

Panting heavily, the middle-aged man turned to face Yan Jing. His eyes were bloodshot, and he screamed with extreme emotional instability:

"Stop! Don't come any closer! If you take one more step forward, I'll go on a killing spree! Even if I die, I'm taking someone down with me!"

"I just want to survive! Don't force me to fight to the death with you all!!"

"..."

Yan Jing said nothing.

He stared coldly at the wanted criminal before him, as if he had lost all patience. His center of gravity dropped slightly, both hands gripping the sword hilt simultaneously, raising the blade before his eyes as he assumed an opening stance radiating overwhelming pressure.