I'm Not Shouldering This Blame

Chapter 8

Magic Eyes

The alarm belatedly rang, echoing through the floors. The surviving sprinklers extinguished the fires throughout the hotel.

The outside of Pearl Hotel was full of spectators, as ambulances and firetrucks arrived. There were those who suddenly had cuts and bruises all over their feet from broken glass, or who had fractures like they had fallen.

Nobody could tell what had happened.

In the stairwell, Geng Tian was staggering when the pain in his head suddenly disappeard. He remembered that he wanted to try opening the door but didn’t know how. Then the door suddenly opened. Was it an ability that appeared out of thin air?

His gaze fell on the latched door of this floor and with a snap, the door opened. Geng Tian was stunned and couldn’t help stepping back.

“What’s wrong with me?” Geng Tian looked incredulously at his hand.

“...”

Li Fei had a pale face and his eyes were half closed, with blood trickling down from the corner of his eyes.

Geng Tian vaguely remembered that he was being helped down, then something unknown happened and there were successive waves of heat that made him uncomfortable, but this was disturbed by the cold sweat from his severe headache. At that moment, he saw Li Fei lean against the balustrade while bleeding and refused to ponder to his strange ability anymore.

“I’m fine.”

Li Fei opened his eyes. His mood was far less calm than what he showed on the surface. The power of the flames from the terrorists’ explosion was circulating in his body.

It was an intangible force, but he could feel that it was there. If Li Fei closed his eyes, he could see that Geng Tian’s body also had a power, but the colour was shallow and it was concentrated on his brain.

“My eyes might be affected by the impact of the explosion... You and I, we can’t go to the hospital.”

Geng Tian made a tight expression at Li Fei’s second sentence. He couldn’t tell if Li Fei also had an ability, or if it was because he didn’t want his injuries to be photographed by the reporters at the scene.

Geng Tian covered Li Fei’s head with his jacket, helped Li Fei down the stairs and mingled with the panicked crowd that was fleeing the hotel.

However, their actions were a step slow and the scene had already been blocked off by the police.

Pearl Hotel was holding a charity auction tonight. There were key members of government agencies attending, so security checks were in place. When the time stagnation occurred, the group had entered with explosives so the security had no effect. Now that something so big happened, the security immediately called for police reinforcements.

“Don’t leave the hotel. The wounded will be taken care of by medical professionals.”

The police officers onsite coordinate to carefully protect the explosion area.The panic stricken people gathered on the third floor restaurant while complaining.

“Please give your name and ID, if not, please provide your room number.” The person in charge of taking attendance saw that Geng Tian and Li Fei weren’t wearing hotel uniforms. Geng Tian looked like an ordinary citizen, but he was immediately on guard against such questions.

Li Fei took off the jacket covering his head and reported his room number.

It wasn’t necessary to hide this. The information was checked against the hotel’s information and verified that it was correct. The police officer saw the blood on Li Fei’s face and asked if he was injured and needed treatment.

“It doesn’t matter, it is just some scratches.”Li Fei replied absent-mindedly.

There were some guests escorted to the restaurant who weren’t as calm as Li Fei. Someone angrily shouted when they were asked a question. “Don’t you know who I am? I am Xiao Yaqin, how can I be the culprit?”

A woman was clutching her injured arm. Her skirt had blood stains and dust on it, while her high heels broke, so she was limping.

Li Fei made a slight noise. Geng Tian misunderstood his meaning and rushed to explain. “I don’t know about this matter. You agent didn’t say anything.”

Xiao Yaqin could be regarded as a first rate domestic actress, but she was a big problem for Li Fei. Many years ago when Xiao Yaqin debuted, there was speculation about a scandal with Li Fei. Recently, her acting career was declining so she dug up the speculation about an ‘old love.’ In addition, she openly said on a variety show that the target for her future marriage partner was Li Fei.

This coincided with when Crow was about to be released. Out of consideration for publicity, Star Entertainment Media didn’t intervene. Xiao Yqain was smart and a good performer. She didn’t fabricate any evidence of their relationship so if Li Fei stood up and said there was nothing between them, it would seem like he was deliberately lying.

It was impossible for the charity dinner to be held right now, so she couldn’t forcibly ‘frame’ Li Fei by having photos posted online to invite speculation.

Xiao Yaqin was a star in the spotlight. Such people were always prone to being conceited, and she thought that all Chinese people under the age of 40 should know her.

Everyone knew that the entertainment circle was beautiful, and there really were some actors or actresses that weren’t known. Therefore, anyone who obstructed the investigation would be re-questioned.

Xiao Yaqin was indignant when she suddenly saw Li Fei not far away, causing her eyes to light up. “Li Fei! I lost my ID in my room. Please come and help confirm my identity!”

She could just report her room number, but Xiao Yaqin was acting like she was being subjected to a great grievance. Setting aside Xian Yaqin’s tone, speaking as if she and Li Fei shared the same hotel room...

The investigator might not know Xiao Yaqin, but the rest of the people in the restaurant did. This situation might be chaotic, but they didn’t forget to look in Li Fei’s direction and gossip. The public’s mentality was always like this.

This naturally made Geng Tian angry so he said it a hoarse voice. “Miss Xiao, Dean had hit his head and is dizzy. You can just verify your room number.”

Xiao Yaqin looked stunned, as if she couldn’t believe that Li Fei would abandon her like that.

The crowd whispered. In some of their eyes, Li Fei was now a ‘rubbish man’ and people looked at him contemptuously. (TL: slang for men who are selfish, irresponsible or play with other’s feelings). Only the people who knew there was a charity dinner tonight in the hotel thought that things might be different.

Xiao Yaqin didn’t actually say anything or slander Li Fei. However, the scandal was already present in the onlooker’s minds and she was a good actress, so her expression made people think things that didn’t happen.

Geng Tian felt an oppressive feeling in his chest. He saw someone secretly take out their phone. Due to the angle, Li Fei couldn’t be seen but Xian Yaqin didn’t care about being photographed. Geng Tian wanted to stop this, but he couldn’t.

After her verification finished, Xiao YAqin made a lonely face and limped past Li Fei. She wanted to stop at his side by didn’t dare, making a hesitant expression before taking a few steps back to finish her ‘performance.’

Geng Tian’s face stiffened as he listened to people muttering. “Too attractive. Even if he is injured, not even helping her.”

“He really closed his eyes and isn’t looking.”

Geng Tian could only stare angrily at Xiao Yaqin, who was wondering where he assistant was.

Li Fei wasn’t in the mood to take care of things around him. Every time he breathed, he could feel the power in his body moving.

The awakening of his ability was like a nightmare. He could see the flames moving and then everything turned into slow motion. The flames were squeezed out of the building and gathered outside the hotel, shining brightly.

At that moment, Li Fei had felt that the pillar of fire around Pearl Hotel was an extension of his power, and his to control.

He was almost lost in that immense power as he sunk deeply. If it wasn’t for his strong self-control, his mind would’ve been lost. Then it would be hard to say if Pearl Hotel would even still exist.

The moment that Li Fei awakened, there was a dark atmosphere in the distance. It breathed like a dragon sleeping in the abyss that opened its eyes and glared angrily—

“Well.” Li Fei held his forehead. Just recalling that power caused fluctuations. He felt very uneasy while the power in his body leapt with excitement.

It wanted to bite, to conquer, to completely overcome that source of power in the distance.

Two behemoths awakening in a small territory, it was bound to cause some strife.

Xiao Yaqin was performing to the gossiping crowd when Li Fei frowned and blood emerged from his eyes again.

“Ah!”

“A doctor, come quickly!”

There were screams, while Li Fee could clearly ‘see’ the surroundings.

His vision had increased when he opened his eyes. He could see the faint outline of objects in the medicine box carried by the paramedic running towards him, as well as the shadow of the human skeleton.

Apart from him and Geng Tian, the rest of the power in the restaurant were black and white, with no abilities at all.

***

By the time the Abandoned World disappeared, red haired Jack had run three blocks.

He calmed his breathing and immediately entered a Starbucks on the side of the street. He randomly ordered a drink and pulled out his phone in a corner, acting like nothing had happened.

Ah, he needed to go over the firewall to use foreign websites. After sending out an email marked as urgent, Jack pulled his hair with annoyance.

Not only did Li Fei have a S rank ability, he also had the devil’s eyes. It emerged after awakening and any disguises were invalid in front of it.

After the original fire, many fans of the books gathered together on the Internet to talk about the book and how to escape from those with the inhuman powers.

When it came to Li Fei, there was only one point.

Don’t be seen by him, don’t be seen by him, don’t be seen by him—important things were said three times.

So when Jack saw Li Fei on the staircase of the 14th floor in Pearl Hotel through his binoculars, his first reaction was to turn off the light and not let Li Fei see him.

It was only after turning it off that Jack remembered Li Fei might not have awakened yet, so he couldn’t see...

But he didn’t dare take the risk! Fortunately, before the start of the book, the Abandoned World was the place where their abilities could be used to the fullest. However, any smart person who read the book wouldn’t take the risk.

Jack had come to Huai City in order to awaken in the Abandoned World.

Now the Abandoned World disappeared ahead of schedule, and he didn’t show any signs of getting an ability after returning to the real world. In addition, Li Fei unexpected awakened so it was more disturbing than the original plot.

Jack groaned and grabbed his forehead. He was sure that he would be slammed into the wall by his companions if he returned home.

Then his phone let out a ding dong sound, indicating a new email. Jack quickly grabbed his phone and clicked to view it.

The email from across the ocean had only a few words. Jack was stunned as more sweat dripped down his forehead.

The email stated that after repeated research, they thought the two great awakenings in Huai City were related to Chinese S rank people. Originally, Li Fei shouldn’t have appeared in Huai City. This meant that in addition to Li Fei, there might be another future S rank person hiding in Huai City..

S rank abilities weren’t a cabbage that could be picked up on the roadside. For a long time, people in the book and fans outside the book thought that China had only one S rank capable person, and that was Li Fei.

If Li Fei was removed, the only left was naturally the real BOSS of Black Abyss...