Chapter 029: Wreaking Havoc at Home

The giant toad had originally been facing away from me, but now I saw it slowly turn around, its strange eyes fixed on me. Its large eyes bulged out like glass marbles, and a thin membrane partially covered its eyeballs, leaving them half-open, half-closed as it gazed in my direction. From its stare, I felt a chill seep into my bones.

Suddenly, with a sharp whoosh, an invisible force shot like a whip straight at its left eye. The toad let out a bizarre croak, shuddered, and turned toward the direction of the attack. I glanced that way and saw that it was Shang Wuyong who had launched the strike.

Right then, Shang Wuwei shouted at him, “Hey, brother! Don’t attack the big one!”

Hearing him, I instinctively nodded. Now was not the time to kill the big one—it couldn’t be killed, not until all the smaller toads were dealt with. This was the core of all the evil energy; if it was wounded, it would merely consume some of that energy, which it could then replenish by drawing from the smaller toads.

“Why can’t we attack it?” Shang Wuyong asked.

Shang Wuwei bellowed, “Are you stupid? Seriously, are you dumb? Have you ever seen such a giant toad? This is rare as hell! After we catch it, we can put it in an exhibition and charge people to see it—think of how much money we could make!”

Good grief!

I nearly collapsed in disbelief at his words. An exhibition? Only he could come up with something like that. Granted, the toad was absurdly large and incredibly rare, but the critical problem was: could it even be captured alive? And even if we could, this thing was formed from concentrated evil energy. Exhibiting it? Anyone approaching it would be in serious danger. Besides, if my guess was right, it was just an ordinary-sized toad, swollen grotesquely from the evil energy. Once that energy dissipated, it would shrink back to normal.

“Hey, enough nonsense! Hurry up, or we’ll be out of time!” I shouted at them.

“Oh!” They responded, immediately focusing on the smaller toads now gathering at the edge of the pond, all trying to leap up. Just now, summoned by the giant toad, they’d begun to converge—because it was absorbing their evil energy. That’s why I’d quickly used a talisman to attack and forcibly interrupt the process. The more evil energy it absorbed, the harder it would be to deal with. So, to take it down, the smaller toads had to go first.

But there were too many little ones to kill one by one, which was why I’d told Zhou Beitang to fetch gasoline and burn them. With a pond this size, a little gasoline wouldn’t be enough, so Zhou Beitang had already called a friend from a nearby construction site to bring more.

“Hurry up—find some flammable stuff to throw in, then siphon some gasoline from your car to ignite it,” I shouted to Zhou Beitang.

He quickly complied. Fortunately, the people who’d brought the water pump earlier hadn’t left. They’d been scared off by the swarm of toads but now, at Zhou’s urging, sheepishly returned to help. They hauled out all sorts of things from the Zhou family’s storeroom—wood, chairs, bedding—anything that would burn. The driver who’d brought us even dragged out a whole sofa and hurled it in.

“Keep going! Once you’re done with the storeroom, start on the house—anything flammable, bring it! It doesn’t matter what it is!” Zhou Beitang shouted, his round face slick with sweat. He ran back and forth, lugging a curtain torn from the house, his whole body quivering with the effort.

Soon, the pile of flammables, doused with gasoline from the cars, caught fire quickly.

Boom!

Boom, boom...

As the flames roared up, the toads that didn’t escape in time were incinerated, some of them bursting with sharp pops. Even I couldn’t help but shiver at the sound.

“There! Over there!”

“Yes, right here—throw it in!”

“Quick, pour more gasoline!”

“Light it up!”

“They’re climbing up again—hurry, throw something here!”

Shang Wuyong and Shang Wuwei were clearly exhilarated, finding the whole process a thrill. Hauling out treasured possessions from the Zhou family to burn was an oddly exciting experience for everyone involved—almost like staging a peasant revolt.

What else could we do? This was a private villa, with no other houses for kilometers around. In a crisis like this, there was no other option.

Judging by Zhou Beitang’s expression, he was feeling the pain of loss. Honestly, so was I.

“You two, come help take down that wooden bridge!” I called out.

There was a small wooden bridge spanning the pond, due to be demolished anyway. Better to burn that than their clothes, beds, and quilts. The fire had surrounded the pond, and even the giant toad was hiding under the bridge with the rest.

On hearing me, they set to work. Deep inside everyone lies a seed of destruction, usually kept in check by reason. But now, with everything fair game for the flames, their destructive urges found free rein, and their enthusiasm only grew.

It’s human nature, really—children are just less restrained about it.

Even grown adults harbor destructive impulses. Take, for example, the popular “Smash-a-Bowl Wine” craze online, where you buy a bowl of wine, drink it, then smash the bowl for a brief thrill, maybe record a video for likes. Clever merchants, offering a safe space for that urge.

There are even “rage rooms” set up for stress relief, stocked with TV sets, fridges, monitors, beer bottles, plates, keyboards—guests can smash and bash to their hearts’ content. Take a baseball bat to a monitor, and the satisfying crunch brings real joy—a way to vent and decompress.

Crack! The driver who’d brought us swung a hoe and broke a beautifully carved post from the bridge, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Clearly, he’d been under a lot of pressure lately.

“Burn it! Burn it!”

“More gasoline over here!”

Shang Wuyong and Shang Wuwei were the most eager, especially when they spotted something expensive—they fought over who got to throw it into the fire.

I was tempted too, but as the consultant hired to handle this affair, I had to maintain some dignity. So, even if I longed to join in, I kept my composure, compass in hand, issuing commands from the side and occasionally shouting just for fun.

The little bridge was soon reduced to a heap of splintered wood and thrown into the blaze.

“Mr. Yu! Is there anything else to take apart?” the driver, dripping with sweat, came up to me, obviously not satisfied.

I couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Damn, we really looked like a demolition crew sent to wreck the place.

“Uh… use your best judgment. Anything that burns will do,” I told him.

“Got it!” he replied, then dashed back into the Zhou house for more.

As for Zhou Beitang, whether from exhaustion or heartache, he stood nearby, face twisted in misery, watching the flames below.

“Boss Zhou, there’s no other way! This has to be done—think of it as sacrificing some property to avert disaster!” I said, walking over to reassure him.

“It’s… it’s fine! I don’t mind. Out with the old, in with the new—doesn’t matter!” he forced a smile, though his words didn’t match the pain in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, once all this is dealt with, I’ll help you with your own problem,” I promised him.

“Alright!” he nodded, then, eyes red, shouted, “Take whatever you want! No matter how much it’s worth, if it burns, bring it out and burn it!”

It seemed even he had found a strange sense of satisfaction in the destruction.