Chapter 53: The Person Before Me Is the True Monster!

"You… you… you…"
The mermaid demon desperately wanted to ask, "Have you no manners, young man?"
But it didn’t dare.
Just moments ago, the young man before it had raised his fist, as if he meant to strike its head again, scaring it half to death.
His fist was a thing of fire and destruction—just the lightest brush against its eye had made the flesh around it feel as if it were roasting, the skin splitting and the flesh tearing.
If he truly smashed its head with that force, wouldn’t that mean certain death?
The mermaid demon’s densely packed teeth had all shrunk back; its face now appeared to be that of a pure and proper beauty.
Yet this beauty seemed to have suffered much, her face full of grievance, tears trickling down, blood still dripping from her severed lower half.
Her tail and everything below had been thoroughly ruined by Lin Yi. The mermaid demon’s pitiful, teary appearance might even have evoked a pang of sympathy.
Hoarse, she continued to sing, her tone thick with sorrow.
Lin Yi was dissatisfied.
Why was her voice so hoarse now?
Footsteps sounded.
Someone was coming.
The mermaid demon’s wretched state meant little to Lin Yi, but for others, it was quite the opposite.
Take Bai Zhanting, for example—he looked at the mermaid demon as if he wanted nothing more than to finish her off.
When Bai Zhanting and the others entered, they were stunned on the spot.
None of them had expected that Lin Yi wouldn’t be bullied as they had feared. On the contrary… Lin Yi looked completely unscathed.
In stark contrast, the mermaid demon was a miserable sight.
In their shock, Bai Zhanting and his team checked Mi Sitian’s breathing; once they were sure he was alive, they all breathed out in relief.
Then they looked at Lin Yi with new eyes.
Someone took out an energy detector and began scanning, quickly discovering that the mermaid demon really had broken through.
The chains, a combination of electricity and talismanic power, could no longer contain her. In her frenzy, the mermaid demon had broken free from some of her bonds and managed to launch her attacks.
While using her powers, she absorbed Mi Sitian’s blood, strengthening herself and making it even easier to escape.
Her abilities could permeate and invade; that was how Lin Yi had been drawn in as well.
Now, the energy detector showed that the mermaid demon’s baleful energy had reached 6,125 points.
And that was with her body battered and her lower half completely blasted away.
All the data confirmed that the mermaid demon had indeed surpassed the level of a B-class monster, becoming an A-class threat.
Such was the peril of the Demonic Prison—those fiends and monsters not completely subdued always risked breaking through and evolving.
That Mi Sitian survived today was thanks to Lin Yi.
Had Lin Yi not arrived, Mi Sitian would have died long ago.
Bai Zhanting regarded Lin Yi and laughed heartily. “No wonder the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation has hailed you as a once-in-a-generation genius. Just look at how you’ve reduced this A-class mermaid demon—your strength is on par with the best A-class martial experts.”
“I’ll report this incident. You’ve saved a colleague and contained an A-class demon’s escape attempt. That’s easily worth a hundred contribution points, enough for you to be promoted to a Level Two Warden here in the Demonic Prison. Congratulations, Lin Yi—and thank you.”
Lin Yi was still a little dazed, promoted for reasons he barely understood.
Afterward, when Bai Zhanting sought to kill the mermaid demon, Lin Yi requested she be kept alive a few more days—he still wanted her to sing for him.
His words made everyone laugh—was Lin Yi joking?
But deep inside, they were shaken. The mermaid demon, like many monsters with illusory song or hypnotic powers, was notoriously troublesome.

Especially the mermaid’s demonic song—it was a weapon of mass destruction. Under its influence, many went mad or ended up dead or crippled.
Along the coast, the mermaid demon was among the deadliest hunters of humankind.
Yet Lin Yi had actually requested to hear more of her singing, using it to temper himself.
This man was ruthless to his enemies, but perhaps even more so to himself.
Looking around again, taking in the mermaid demon’s tattered body and shattered tail, the group was at a complete loss for words.
They escorted Mi Sitian away.
Bai Zhanting harshly reprimanded the half-bodied mermaid demon, reinforced the chains, locked the cell, and took Lin Yi to the Well of Ominous Fate.
There, a self-service station awaited, where one could claim their badge.
It wasn’t as Lin Yi had imagined, that a master warden from the first level would need to issue it personally.
The badge was part of the intelligent system, though it still required human oversight and strict management.
Once it was confirmed that Lin Yi and the other newcomers had arrived, the system at the Well of Ominous Fate automatically generated badges.
Lin Yi picked up his badge there.
With it, he could unlock cell doors. Lin Yi grinned broadly as he held it.
Bai Zhanting informed Lin Yi that he could now leave, or remain in the Demonic Prison if he wished.
Naturally, Lin Yi chose to continue tempering himself.
There were no fixed hours in the Demonic Prison, and for every hour spent there, one earned 0.1 upgrade points. The longer one stayed, the greater the benefit.
These points were vital for advancement.
Level One staff required a hundred points, Level Two a thousand, Level Three ten thousand, and so on—Level Four needed a hundred thousand, Level Five a million…
By Level Ten, the points required soared into the tens of billions.
Only upon reaching Level Ten could one leave the Demonic Prison!
That was why many staff never left the prison—too many points were required.
Still, many didn’t need to reach Level Ten to leave.
Rules were dead; people were alive.
Usually, earning a hundred thousand or a million points marked someone as a master in their own right, and by then, they’d no longer need to remain a warden.
Unless one had committed a capital crime and signed a life-or-death contract, bound as a warden to atone, with no possibility of transfer.
After receiving his badge, Bai Zhanting quickly explained the rules and reported the incident.
Each badge was for individual use only; after Lin Yi dripped a drop of his blood on it, his details appeared automatically, viewable in his personal file.
He pinned the badge to his tattered suit jacket. Watching Bai Zhanting and the others leave, Lin Yi said nothing and returned straight to Cell 27.
Inside, only the half-bodied mermaid demon remained, her eyes red and swollen, looking every bit the wronged and petulant woman.
She was muttering curses under her breath—curses meant for no one but Lin Yi.
She cursed him by name, imagining his face in her mind, when Lin Yi appeared outside the door.

Now armed with his badge, Lin Yi easily opened the food hatch in the cell door, then reached out and unlocked the door itself.
He opened the hatch first to check on the mermaid demon’s condition.
As the hatch swung open, the energy detector showed her ominous energy was still over six thousand points.
But she seemed mentally drained.
Using her illusory song had damaged her spirit as well; her awareness was dulled, and her senses blunted.
That explained why she kept cursing Lin Yi.
Putting the energy detector away, Lin Yi opened the door.
The sound startled the mermaid demon. She looked up at Lin Yi and muttered to herself, “Illusion, it’s all an illusion. That damned Lin Yi couldn’t possibly return so soon. I sang so many songs, wore down his soul—if I’m hurt, his psyche must be too. It’s mutual.”
She never imagined Lin Yi would return so quickly.
Lin Yi stepped inside.
He thought that after witnessing his methods, the mermaid demon would sing obediently whenever he appeared. But it seemed she was still defiant.
Without another word, Lin Yi punched her in the mouth.
There was a sickening crunch as her densely packed teeth spilled from her jaws, blood oozing from the corners of her lips in a ghastly scene.
“I didn’t say or do anything…”
The mermaid demon tried to defend herself, but another punch answered her.
More teeth fell to the ground.
Lin Yi said casually, “Every time you see me, you are to sing. Didn’t you understand?”
The mermaid demon burst into tears, sobbing as she began to sing, “I love you, love you so, like a mouse loves rice, no matter how stormy the weather…”
Though the song was light and cheerful, her weeping imbued it with a sense of loneliness and desolation.
It was not at all enjoyable. Lin Yi said to her,
“Can your body heal? If it can, maybe you could dance for me as well.”
The mermaid demon continued singing, uncertain whether to reply, fearing another punch if she spoke out of turn.
Lin Yi saw through her hesitation and couldn’t help but find it amusing.
“A demon with such a timid heart—go ahead and speak, I won’t hit you.”
The mermaid demon nodded vigorously and immediately stopped singing. She felt that if she sang any longer, her life would truly end here.
This young man before her was more monstrous than she was.
“I can regrow it—my lower body can regenerate. As long as I’m fed plenty of nourishing things, especially flesh and blood, and best of all something rich in ominous energy…”
“Er…”
Hearing her words, Lin Yi felt a tinge of regret.
If only he hadn’t smashed her so thoroughly—he could have saved her tail and lower body. Alas, it was too late to undo that.
But to go out of his way to find her good food… Lin Yi decided against it.
He’d settle for listening to her music—what more could one ask for?