Chapter 12

If anyone had seen the scene at the front of the truck, they would have been utterly shocked. A young man in a school uniform was standing there with his right palm extended, single-handedly holding back the truck. From the dent on the truck's hood, it was clear how powerful the collision had been. Icarus' expression was calm as he glanced down at his shoes. After sliding 30 feet across the road, the soles of his canvas shoes had completely worn away. If Icarus hadn't been wearing shoes, it wouldn't have been a mere collision—it would have been an explosion! Icarus had spent 1,500 years refining his body, and his physical form had long since reached a state of indestructibility. A truck crashing into him was no different from it hitting a mountain. Icarus had noticed the truck earlier and recognized Benny as the man he had encountered yesterday. He had deliberately allowed himself to be hit. This way, he would have a valid reason to defend himself and fight back. With a forceful push of his right hand, the ten-ton truck was sent several feet backward. Icarus walked over to the driver's side of the truck and pulled open its door with a single tug. The loud sound of metal grinding echoed as Icarus yanked open the door forcibly. Seated in the driver's seat, Benny continued grabbing and turning the steering wheel while stepping down the gas pedal frantically. Alas, the truck was no longer functioning. "How is this possible?" Benny's mind went blank when he saw Icarus standing there unharmed. What happened in the past minute had completely shattered his preconceived notions of reality. Benny had witnessed a person being hit by a speeding truck and emerging unscathed with his own eyes. Not only that, he even stopped the truck with sheer strength! Was Icarus even human? This was the kind of thing that only happened in movies or novels! "The truck has broken down." Icarus' chilly voice snapped Benny back to reality. "You... What do you—" Benny didn't manage to finish his sentence before Icarus grabbed his head and slammed it into the steering wheel. A series of dull thuds echoed, accompanied by Benny's screams. After that, Icarus noticed the walkie-talkie on the passenger seat. He picked it up and pressed the call button. Three seconds later, Walter's voice came through. "Benny, is it done? I've already arranged for the guys to meet you." Icarus didn't respond. He just kept slamming Benny's head into the steering wheel. Benny's screams were transmitted through the walkie-talkie. Walter paused for a moment and shouted anxiously, "What's going on? Benny! What happened?" Benny's face was covered in blood, and his screams grew weaker until he finally passed out. Icarus picked up the walkie-talkie with Walter still shouting on the other end. "Come here within 20 minutes, and you can still save him. Otherwise, prepare a body bag for your guy," Icarus said impassively before turning off the walkie-talkie. Icarus looked at the bloodied Benny without a hint of emotion in his eyes. After dealing with Benny, Icarus jumped down from the truck and noticed the stunned female teacher standing nearby. He recognized her. She was Rosalie Dalton, the English teacher for the honors class next door. With her striking looks, Rosalie was very popular at Hindale High. In fact, she was the ideal woman of many of the teenage boys in school. Icarus had seen Rosalie several times in the hallway and had heard her name countless times from his male classmates. What was she doing here? Had she seen everything that just happened? Icarus frowned slightly and walked over to her. "H-Hey. Are you... okay?" Rosalie asked, her eyes filled with disbelief. "Sorry, Ms. Dalton," Icarus said, extending a finger and lightly touching Rosalie's forehead. Rosalie shuddered, and her gaze became vacant. "Go home and get some sleep. You'll feel better afterward," Icarus said. Home? Rosalie stared blankly at Icarus for two seconds, then turned and walked across the zebra crossing. Icarus had used a spell on Rosalie. This spell was very simple and typically only effective on ordinary people. If everything went as expected, Rosalie would go home, take a nap, and upon waking, have no recollection of what had just happened. Even if she retained some memory of what she had seen, she would dismiss it as a dream. After Rosalie left, Icarus looked around and noticed two surveillance cameras at the intersection. Everything that had happened had been recorded by those cameras. Icarus contemplated for a moment and took out his phone. "Hey, Jamie, it's me. I need a favor." ... When Icarus returned to the courtyard and was about to head upstairs, Luna ran out of her house and grabbed his hand. "Icarus, my mom came back this morning. I told her about what happened the other night, and she said she would like to thank you. How about having dinner at our place tonight?" "Sure, it's been a while since I tasted Ms. Webb's cooking," Icarus agreed with a smile. He never turned down food. Luna's mother, Irene Webb, was a beautiful woman with excellent cooking skills. Back when Luna was ten years old, Irene divorced Carl, who was addicted to gambling. She then took on the responsibility of raising Luna on her own. "Sit tight, Icarus. I'll get the food ready in no time," Irene said with a smile as she poked her head out of the kitchen, wearing an apron. "No worries, Ms. Webb. I'll have to trouble you to cook for me again," Icarus said. "Don't say that. It's no trouble at all. Luna told me everything. That night, if it hadn't been for you..." Irene's expression darkened as she bit her lip, unable to finish her sentence. "I'll get started on the cooking. Help yourself to some drinks," Irene said. Luna suddenly noticed that Icarus was barefoot and asked curiously, "Why aren't you wearing any shoes, Icarus?" "I stepped on a rock earlier and broke the soles, so I threw them away," Icarus explained. "Did you step on the rock with both feet?" Luna asked, her eyes wide. "Yeah, I've been having a streak of bad luck lately. I keep running into all sorts of trouble," Icarus lamented with a great sigh. "Let me give you some good luck," Luna said, reaching out to gently pat Icarus' head. A few minutes later, Irene brought the dishes to the table. She made four dishes and a soup. Her cooking skills were top-notch, and Icarus had always believed that her culinary talents rivaled those of professional chefs. During the meal, Irene was all smiles, but Icarus noticed a trace of worry in her eyes. Considering that Irene had invited him for dinner, Icarus was more than willing to help her out. However, since she didn't bring it up, he decided not to ask about it. After dinner, Icarus returned to the second floor. His unit had a small living room and two rooms—one was a bedroom, and the other was a storage room. As he passed by the storage room, he caught a whiff of medicinal herbs and recalled what Ruth had said earlier. The storage room was filled with medicinal herbs he had brought back from the northwestern region. They were the ones that Salazar had grown outside his shack. These medicinal herbs were extremely rare. Many of which had long become unavailable for purchase. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that these medicinal herbs were worth an astronomical fortune. Nevertheless, Icarus had tossed them into the storage room like they were trash. If Salazar knew how carelessly Icarus stashed away his hard-earned medicinal herbs, he would probably be rolling in his grave. "Maybe I have some of the medicinal herbs that are missing from that medicinal formula in here," Icarus thought as he looked at the medicinal herbs in the storage room. Well, since he knew about Jeremiah's condition and decided to help him, he might as well see it through, especially since the Talbot family had already paid him. "I'll have Ruth come by tomorrow to pick them up," Icarus muttered to himself. Late at night, Icarus lay in bed with his eyes wide open as he thought about a few things. At his level of cultivation, it was extremely difficult to make any further progress. Although he was still technically in the refinement phase, he had reached the 9,832nd stage of that phase. Two thousand years ago, Icarus had already reached a point where he could no longer level up his cultivation simply by practicing techniques and absorbing spiritual energy. Icarus had to rely on other methods to level up. Over the past two millennia, he discovered that the most effective way was to consume the inner cores of demon beasts. Using this method, he advanced from the 5,000th stage of the refinement phase to the 9,000th stage. But now, with the depletion of spiritual energy on Earth, demon beasts were becoming increasingly rare. In the past century, Icarus had only found a handful of them. Now, his cultivation had completely stalled. He had been stuck at the 9,832nd stage for a long time. Icarus believed that if he could reach the 9,999th stage of the refinement phase, he would break through to the 10,000th stage and enter the foundation phase. By then, he would be able to achieve the ultimate goal he had been pursuing for thousands of years. Unexpectedly, just as he was approaching the 10,000th phase, demon beasts became nearly extinct. Now, he either had to find another effective method of cultivation or scour the world for the few remaining demon beasts. "Forget it, I won't think about it for now. I have plenty of time, so I'll take it slow," Icarus thought. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come to him. Just then, he heard the sound of muffled sobbing coming from downstairs.