The Interdimensional Reseller – CH162

Chapter 162: Flame Panda

Chu Feng stood by a mountainside, frowning as he watched several people mining rock.

Illya, staring at his compass, said, “Looks like someone beat us to it.”

Chu Feng nodded. “Yeah.”

The miners were holding specialized instruments—likely witch stone detectors. Nearby, a patrol squad of soldiers stood guard, all armed.

Illya frowned. “The witch stone should be under that pile of rocks. To get it, we’d have to move everything off first.”

Chu Feng took a deep breath. “Looks like a lot of work. Forget it.”

This place was clearly under official control. It wasn’t worth fighting over one witch stone. There should be other chances elsewhere.

Illya nodded. “Alright then.”

Chu Feng furrowed his brow. “We’d better pick up the pace.”

Now was the prime window for finding witch stones. If they fell behind, it would be hard to catch up later.

Chu Feng teleported with Illya, and after several more jumps, they arrived deep within a forested mountain.

“Where are we?” Chu Feng muttered.

Illya looked at him suspiciously. “You’re asking me?”

Chu Feng scratched his head awkwardly. He’d been teleporting randomly, and didn’t know where they were now either.

Illya adjusted his device, then said with some excitement, “There seems to be a witch stone nearby. Judging by the energy signature, it’s a fairly large one. But the signal’s a little weak—might be far off.”

“What are we waiting for?” Chu Feng grabbed him and teleported again, following the compass.

“Is this the place? Something feels off,” Chu Feng said, looking at the forest.

Illya nodded. “It definitely is.”

Flames shot up from the forest. Thick smoke surged toward them, making them cough.

The fire was intense, and fire trucks hadn’t arrived yet.

Illya studied the compass. “There may be other ability-users in the forest.”

“Ability-users? Where?” Chu Feng asked.

Illya pointed ahead. “There.”

Chu Feng frowned. “Someone trapped in the fire?”

“Let’s check it out.”

Illya shrouded them both in a misty veil, and they entered the burning forest.

Chu Feng spotted a small panda running fast through the trees.

It was fluffy and round, dashing through the underbrush with surprising speed. Its eyes were full of fear.

“It’s a panda!” Chu Feng exclaimed.

Illya grabbed his arm. “That ‘panda’ is giving off ability waves. It might be the arsonist.”

Chu Feng was stunned. “What? That cute little panda set the fire?”

“Pretty sure.”

“Animals can awaken powers too?” Chu Feng asked.

Illya replied matter-of-factly, “Of course. This one probably awakened a fire ability.”

“But it’s clearly running for its life!”

Illya nodded and said, “That’s not surprising. Awakening fire abilities doesn’t necessarily mean you’re immune to fire. Some people do gain fire immunity after awakening flame abilities, but others still fear fire despite awakening them.

There are even cases in history where someone had just awakened fire abilities, couldn’t control them well, and ended up burning themselves to death.

Chu Feng: “Burned themselves? So is that where the phrase ‘playing with fire gets you burned’ comes from?”

He glanced at Illya and asked, “Can you sense where the shaman stone is?”

Illya frowned and said, “It’s at the center of the flames. It seems to be a very large shaman stone—bigger than any we’ve encountered before—but it’s buried underground.”

Illya suspected that the location of the shaman stone was where the panda originally lived. Living close to a shaman stone helps ability-users grow faster, but newly awakened ones can easily lose control under its influence.

“They’re about to catch up,” Illya said.

The fire was spreading rapidly and was about to engulf the panda. Chu Feng instantly teleported next to it, scooped it up, and sent it to the other realm.

Chu Feng and Illya appeared in the Crescent Village with a panda in tow, immediately attracting a crowd.

“Boss, you’re here? What is that—a bear? Looks weird! Boss, did you bring this thing over to roast and eat it?”

“Boss seems to really enjoy bear paws!”

Chu Feng glanced at Chui Shi and muttered, This guy… This is a panda Can you just eat a panda? Do I look like the kind of person who’d eat one?

“This panda is not for eating. Take good care of it.”

Chui Shi nodded and said, “Alright, but this panda looks so weird! Its dark eye rings are huge—might be poisonous.”

Chu Feng: “You’re the one who’s poisonous.” He gave Chui Shi another look, found him unreliable, and handed the panda over to Shaman Qiu Luo for care.

After meeting with the shaman, Chu Feng immediately went to find Shi Qi and brought her into the real world.

Looking at the blazing fire ahead, Shi Qi asked, “Are we putting out the fire?”

Chu Feng nodded. “Yes.”

“This area’s mountain path is rough, and the fire trucks haven’t arrived. If we wait for them, the fire will go out of control. If it spreads to the village, people could die.”

“You should’ve found a water-ability-user,” said Shi Qi.

Chu Feng rolled his eyes and muttered, I would’ve, if I could find one.

Shi Qi frowned, “I mean, earth can put out fire, sure—but for a fire this big, my power has limits!”

Illya held Shi Qi’s hand and said, “Let’s begin.”

Shi Qi instantly felt a huge surge of power rushing into her, filling her whole body. “This…” She looked at Illya in awe.

Chu Feng glanced at Shi Qi and urged, “Don’t space out—get going.”

Shi Qi raised her hand and activated her ability. A torrent of soil rushed toward the fire, and the flames were barely contained.

“Can you raise some earth walls to cut off the flames?” Chu Feng asked.

Shi Qi nodded, “Of course.”

Building earth walls was her specialty. She usually used them to construct houses, but now she was using them to fight fire. With Illya’s support, she felt her wall-building speed had multiplied.

The power from her palm felt endless. Shi Qi was shocked by the intensity of the energy flowing from Illya.

Soil continued to smother the fire. Small patches of flame were quickly extinguished. Empowered by Illya, Shi Qi felt as though her energy was bottomless. Dust swirled into the air and merged with the rolling fire—it was an eerie sight.

It was Shi Qi’s first time using her powers like this. She felt exhilarated.

The fire rapidly weakened and no longer raged wildly as before.

Illya looked at Chu Feng and said, “We can go find the shaman stone now.”

Chu Feng nodded, “Alright.”

The location of the shaman stone was at the center of the fire, which had now been reduced to scorched earth.

Chu Feng quickly found the shaman stone buried under layers of dirt in the forest. Its aura was faint.

The stone was as large as a washbasin—the biggest shaman stone Chu Feng had ever found.

It was hot to the touch. Holding it in his arms, Chu Feng could feel waves of shamanic power surging into his body.

He thought, This stone is incredible—worth a dozen smaller ones. With this, I can finally take a break.

“The fire trucks are here. We don’t need to deal with the rest,” Chu Feng said.

Shi Qi frowned. “Leave it? But the fire isn’t completely out yet!”

She was used to using her powers to build houses. It was her first time fighting fire, and she found it pretty fun.

Chu Feng said indifferently, “The blaze is under control. Let them handle the rest.” Since the firemen had arrived, there was no need for him to keep doing their job.

Shi Qi nodded, a little reluctant. “Alright.”

At Yunling, several fire trucks arrived. Firefighters worked diligently to put out the remaining flames. The fire had significantly diminished and could likely be fully extinguished in half an hour.

“This is strange. The fire wasn’t as big as expected.”

“Maybe an ability-user interfered?”

“An ability-user? A water-type? But there’s no water around.”

“Probably not water. It looks like it was someone with earth abilities. The soil here seems overturned.”

“Yeah, the ground looks like it’s been plowed—very odd.”

“Look over there.” Some of them spotted collapsed earthen walls.

Shi Qi had erected a few earth walls to block the fire, but they were loose and had mostly collapsed.

“Could this be the work of that earth-type ability-user?”

“To smother a fire with dirt—that would require a powerful ability!”

“No idea who it was. Earth-type users are rare, but they’re said to be quite powerful.”

Several fire trucks worked for quite a while before the flames were finally extinguished.

Chu Feng brought Shi Qi and teleported to the villa. When Hughes saw Shi Qi, he was secretly pleased. “Shi Qi, you’re here too!”

Shi Qi nodded and said, “Yes.”

She appeared calm on the surface, but inside she was filled with excitement.

She had long been looking forward to being assigned to a mission. Unfortunately, it seemed like Chu Feng always forgot about her, never once considering her. Finally, it was her turn.

“What were you two doing?” Hughes asked curiously.

Shi Qi shrugged and said, “We were putting out a fire.”

Hughes nodded and said, “Boss Chu still does firefighting? He’s really kind!”

Chu Feng glanced at Hughes and thought to himself: He only did it because there was something to gain — kindness had nothing to do with it.

Shi Qi looked at the villa and said, “This house is really nice!”

The houses in the other world were taller and grander, but in terms of refinement, they couldn’t compare to the ones here.

Back when Shi Qi followed Lan Hu, she had lived in a castle and seen all kinds of luxurious buildings. Even so, she was still deeply drawn to this villa.

Seeing how excited Shi Qi looked, Chu Feng guessed she probably didn’t want to leave anymore. But with so many people already here, one more didn’t make much of a difference.

After resting for a while in the villa, Chu Feng decided to return to the other world.

Earlier, worried about the spreading fire, he had rushed over and left the panda behind. Now that things had calmed down, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. After all, this panda could breathe fire! Who knows what kind of trouble it might be causing?

It was already rare enough to have a  panda — and this one could even spit fire! It might be the only one like it in all of China.

Though troublesome, such a rare species still deserved proper protection.

Chu Feng brought Illya and returned to the other world.

Shaman Qiu Luo saw Chu Feng and said, “You’re here.”

Chu Feng nodded and replied, “Yeah.”

Qiu Luo shook her head, a little helpless, and said, “I already have so much to deal with. Don’t dump everything on me.”

Recently, many people had joined their side. Qiu Luo was busy managing inter-tribal relations, distributing supplies, researching medicines, and conducting various experiments. He was completely swamped.

Chu Feng gave an awkward smile and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to give the tasks to others — I just don’t trust them. By the way, Shaman, where’s the panda?”

Qiu Luo shrugged. “I let Payne take it to play.”

Chu Feng said worriedly, “That panda has supernatural powers! Payne’s just a kid. Will he be okay?”

Qiu Luo nodded and said, “I know, but the panda’s power isn’t that strong. It can only spit small flames, nothing to worry about.”

Chu Feng was surprised. “Just small flames?”

Qiu Luo nodded again. “Yes. The panda can only spit out flames the size of a fist, and the range is short. After two or three tries, it gets exhausted.”

Chu Feng frowned and thought to himself: Is that all? He had thought it was some kind of elite beast — turns out it’s just a rookie.

But even small flames caused that earlier forest fire? Was this the so-called ‘a single spark can start a prairie fire’?

Chu Feng walked near the villa and saw a few small bears of different species rolling around.

The little panda blended in quite naturally.

Chu Feng watched the panda rolling around with Payne and talking. He frowned slightly, wondering: Can Payne really communicate with the panda?

When Payne saw Chu Feng, he rolled on the ground once and turned into his human form.

Chu Feng looked at him and said, “You’re getting along pretty well with that panda, huh?”

Payne nodded and replied, “We’re going to roast sweet potatoes.”

Chu Feng asked with confusion, “Roast sweet potatoes?”

Payne nodded. “Boss, wanna watch?”

Chu Feng nodded. “Sure, why not.”

He saw several little bears building a simple fire rack. Once everything was ready, the little panda breathed a small flame onto the leaves under the fire pit, and then exhaled deeply, clearly exhausted.

Chu Feng chuckled. “Panda-brand lighter, huh? Not bad at all.”

The panda’s power really didn’t seem that strong. Just one small breath of fire had worn it out.

Since the panda was doing fine, Chu Feng decided to leave it here for now.

Illya nodded and said, “Sounds good.”

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