Chapter 57: Return

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Return

It had only been four months since he had transmigrated, and he had already eliminated two sources of Demon Qi. Li Ye felt like a genius among Time Travelers.

Therefore, the remaining eight months were shaping up to be his own private vacation in the Otherworld.

After all, Li Ye now represented the strongest Martial Force in this world—the kind of power where if he said he didn’t eat beef, the whole world would slaughter its cattle for him.

No one dared to defy his will, and no one could kill him. All the top experts in the world combined wouldn’t be enough for him to slap aside with one hand.

To earn his forgiveness, Yu Hai and the other Grandmasters had knelt unflinchingly at the entrance of Sirius Valley for seven days, without food or water.

Despite being sustained by Demon Qi, the men were still a wretched sight—filthy, disheveled, their mouths full of sores. They were almost unrecognizable.

Li Ye magnanimously forgave them.

He might not trust them, but he wasn’t petty enough to kill them all over a temporary defection.

In a life-or-death crisis, choosing to survive is human nature.

’Ever since he’d arrived in this world, hadn’t he also thought of hiding and running away when faced with the two sources of Demon Qi?’

A few months ago, he was just an ordinary person.

In a few more months, he would be leaving this world. He had gotten used to having these people around; after a bit of disciplining, they would be even more compliant...

Yu Hai and the others were weeping with gratitude, swearing to heaven and earth that they would never betray Lord Li again. However, no one dared to ask about the whereabouts of the Dragon Flesh. Since they had chosen to betray him on the battlefield, it was only natural that Li Ye would have consumed the dragon himself.

They had to bear the consequences.

It was just a pity that they had missed such a great opportunity.

Regret filled their hearts. Fortune favors the bold; if only they had been more proactive from the start.

With a Great God like Li Ye holding down the fort, Xiang Ying’s death didn’t cause much chaos in the Chu Country, and the league continued as scheduled.

In addition to the major leagues in the Chu Country, Li Ye brought in the smaller surrounding nations to participate, turning the Planet Cup into a World Cup...

The battle against the two sources of Demon Qi made Li Ye realize that Derived Skills were a Demon Hunter’s true ace in the hole.

Although his three Derived Skills had all been awakened in life-or-death situations, the same wasn’t true for other Demon Hunters.

The activation of Derived Skills was highly random.

No one knew the pattern for triggering Derived Skills. Some Demon Hunters held a demon for months without activating a single one.

Of course, it was also possible they had activated one and chosen to hide it. Some Derived Skills were simply better off not being revealed...

In a world plagued by Demon Qi, anything could happen!

Therefore, Li Ye wanted to use the league as a way to try and activate a new Derived Skill—at least a positive one that would improve his public image a bit.

He had plenty of time on his hands now anyway, so he could study the demons at his leisure.

Li Ye successively introduced the transfer market, coaches, football merchandise, a football association, and every other industry related to the sport.

He even went so far as to travel thousands of miles to find nations on another continent, introducing football to them without minding their less advanced civilizations...

In the end, aside from replenishing some Demon Qi for his Team Emblem, he didn’t trigger any new Derived Skills.

This couldn’t help but disappoint Li Ye a little.

Time passed in a flurry of activity.

Just as the world became unrecognizable, its original Martial Hero civilization thoroughly replaced by one centered around football, Li Ye’s time to return finally arrived.

Accompanied by a powerful sense of spatial distortion, Li Ye returned to Earth.

He reappeared inside a massive, transparent glass enclosure.

Outside the glass enclosure, a group of heavily armed Demon Hunters had their guns aimed at him, on high alert as if facing a formidable enemy.

Li Ye keenly sensed the presence of at least seven or eight individuals on site whose strength was no less than his own. They were positioned at different locations, sealing off all his possible escape routes.

It was the field instinct of an elite player; the hairs on Li Ye’s neck stood on end, and he subconsciously clenched his fists.

Yang Feng’s voice came from a speaker overhead. "Li Ye, don’t be alarmed. We mean no harm. We are just confirming whether you have lost yourself.

"This is a necessary procedure. Do not be alarmed, and do not resist. Now, slowly raise your hands above your head. We are going to perform a full-body decontamination..."

Li Ye’s expression darkened, but he obediently raised his arms.

Considering how terrifying Demon Qi and demons were, he understood that this process was indeed necessary.

But for some reason, after risking his life to come back, being treated this way still left a sour taste in his mouth...

A cloud of mist sprayed out from all directions, enveloping his body and decontaminating him from head to toe.

Yang Feng’s voice continued, "What is your name?"

"Li Ye."

"What is my name?"

"Yang Feng."

"What was the name of your third-grade math teacher?"

"Liu Chunhua."

"Chickens and rabbits are in a cage. There are 10 heads and 30 feet in total. How many chickens and how many rabbits are there?"

"Five rabbits and five chickens."

"What is the second rule of the Demon Hunter codex?"

"Never reuse the same demon. Reusing a demon will accelerate the rate of Demon Qi corrosion."

"In a world overrun by demons, what is our fundamental national policy?"

"Defeat the demons and ensure the survival of as many people as possible."

"What was the name of your first love?"

"Ding Panxia."

"Imagine you walk into a room, and in that room is a table. What shape do you think the table is?"

"..."

One question was thrown out after another. They were varied and bizarre, covering all sorts of fields: humanities, geography, science, history, psychology, and sociology...

Li Ye patiently answered the questions.

While answering, a strange thought suddenly occurred to him.

’Does the Demon Hunting Bureau even have any instruments to detect how much a person has been corroded by Demon Qi? Or can they only rely on psychological evaluations to determine if someone is still sane?’

’Yang Feng’s questions were more like a psychological trial...’

His own reserves of Demon Qi were not low. If there really were such an instrument, it should have detected it the moment he appeared.

The questioning lasted for about half an hour. The mist dissipated, and Yang Feng stopped his inquiries.

Then, a series of light beams scanned him from all directions.

Once the scan was complete, there was a series of clicks and clanks as the floor split open and a one-foot-square platform rose from the center.

Yang Feng’s voice continued, "Li Ye, place the Demon Team Emblem you’re carrying on the platform in front of you."

Li Ye took out the Team Emblem and placed it on the platform. The emblem remained completely inert the entire time.

In fact, the Team Emblem hadn’t communicated with him at all since his return.

A glass case rose from around the platform, slowly enclosing the Team Emblem.

The moment the Team Emblem was completely covered, Li Ye felt a vast power rapidly drain from his body. A long-lost sense of hunger and fatigue washed over him.

He yawned subconsciously, suddenly overcome with the desire for a long, deep sleep.

When a demon is recovered, more than half of one’s Demon Qi is lost. Li Ye had expected this, but he still felt a sense of loss. He sighed to himself, ’Power from an external object is ultimately not my own!’

However, he was thankful that his Inner Strength, which far surpassed the Grandmaster Level, was still there, as were his Derived Skills. Because he had developed three Derived Skills, a considerable amount of Demon Qi still remained in his body...

After the Team Emblem was sealed, the platform sank back into the floor.

The atmosphere outside finally relaxed. The heavily armed Demon Hunters holstered their weapons.

The few auras that had made Li Ye wary disappeared one after another, but he could still faintly sense one that remained locked onto him. The Demon Hunting Bureau hadn’t truly lifted its surveillance.

"Welcome back, our great hero." Yang Feng walked in from the doorway, clapping. He looked at Li Ye with a warm, disarming smile and pressed a button outside the glass door.

The massive glass enclosure rotated and sank into the ground, and Li Ye once again breathed the air of Earth.

"Li Ye, I know you have a lot you want to say, but the first thing you should do is get a full meal, have a good, long sleep, and let yourself completely relax." Yang Feng said with a smile before Li Ye could speak. "We have all the time in the world now..."