26 Fire-type? Dark-type?

When Lu Hao opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a traditional-style carved-wood bed, he knew that he was inside a room in Lu Mansion.

So he had not died, after all? And he did not transform into a zombie either?

Lu Hao had no idea how many days he had been unconscious for, but his body did not feel tired at all. Instead, he was… full of energy?

He looked at the red-brown plume of fire burning in his right hand. Was he so full of energy that he had spontaneously combusted?

"Lu Hao, are you awake?" Su Jin ran into the room and immediately saw Lu Hao looking at his hand in confusion. There was a flame she had never seen before blazing on his hand.

However, the two of them soon forgot all about the flame because Lu Hao realized that Su Jin was crying again.

"Don't cry."

Lu Hao used his lips to kiss away her years. Even Lil Jin's years tasted sweet to him.

Su Jin had been crying out of sheer relief and worry, but she soon sensed something amiss. W-W-Was he… licking her? And really enthusiastically at that!

Crash!

Lu Hao was shoved aside, crashing into the bedpost.

"Lil Jin?"

"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to. I think I used a bit too much force there. Are you alright?" Su Jin felt slightly guilty. She had lost control of her strength in her panic just now.

"I'm fine. Come here."

"Huh? Why?"

"I want to hug you."

Lu Hao reached out and pulled Su Jin into his arms.

"But no more licking, okay?"

He was not a dog, geez, but he kept acting like one.

"Sorry, Lil Jin."

Sorry for nearly losing you again.

"Right, you should apologize. Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

Su Jin was starting to feel hurt again. Although Lu Hao had apologized to her, she somehow felt even more put upon after hearing his apology.

"I've never regretted anything in my life… except this."

After he was scratched, the only thought in his mind was Su Jin. Once he saw her, however, he regretted everything. He regretted the fact that he was going to abandon her again.

"Then promise me you'll never do that again. If you do, I won't save you next time." Su Jin was still angry.

"Yeah, I promise. I'll obey everything you say from now on."

Lu Hao was in a good mood, an unbelievably excellent mood in fact. So this was how it felt like to lose and to find again. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with Su Jin and forget about everything else.

Su Jin pressed down his large wandering hands and then held one up to examine it carefully.

"What's the matter?" When Lu Hao saw how seriously Su Jin was investigating his body, he felt his lower body gradually begin to react.

"If I'm not mistaken, you were using a special ability just now, weren't you?"

"You're not mistaken. I was using this."

Lu Hao used his other hand to ignite a flame just like the one from before, but Su Jin's frown only deepened.

"Lil Jin?"

Was this not the fire-type ability she mentioned before?

"I've never seen a flame like this before."

It looked reddish-brown at first, but when she looked closely, she could see that the center of the flame was deep red and the edges were almost black. She had encountered her fair share of fire-type ability users in the past, and she had even seen fire-type zombies before, but their flames never looked anything like this.

"Is it different from the fire-type special abilities you saw before?" Lu Hao asked curiously.

"Definitely, but I don't know how it's different. Shall we try it out?"

She wanted Lu Hao to experiment with it in the dimension, but there was nothing in here for him to burn. The only things here were the resources she had worked hard to gather, after all.

Lu Hao laughed but did not refuse, leaving the dimension with Su Jin.

It seemed to be almost dawn outside. The sun was about to rise, and the world was extremely silent.

"You were asleep in there for three days and three nights! It's almost morning out here," Su Jin said in a huff.

Time flowed much more slowly in the dimension, making it ideal for recovering in. There was plenty of spiritual energy too, so Su Jin did not take Lu Hao out for treatment. Even so, he slept for three days and three nights. If they were outside, he might have slept for even longer.

"Sorry for troubling you. And… Thank you, Lil Jin."

Lu Hao knew that his wife had saved his life, so he was determined to thank her properly for it at night.

If Su Jin knew what he was thinking right now, she would definitely turn down his so-called 'gratitude'. Unfortunately, she could not read minds. ┓(´∀`)┏

"You're welcome. Come here and roast this frozen duck for me." Su Jin went to the freezer and took out a duck that had been frozen into a block of ice.

???

Was he going to lose his special ability 'virginity' to a roasted duck?

Lu Hao was a little flabbergasted but also rather amused. Well, he was starting to feel hungry anyway.

After that, Su Jin looked at the duck on the plate in anticipation. Would Lu Hao's flames work? Should she have marinated the duck first?

Lu Hao aimed his flames at the duck on the plate, but he did not have full control over the fire. He nearly ended up burning the cabinet. Although he did not set it ablaze, he did still blacken its surface.

…

There was the smell of something burning, and then Su Jin looked at the duck on the plate wordlessly. It had been burned to a char in an instant. She should have known it would not be so easy.

The next second, she lost her cool. Why was the fire not going out?

The duck was already pitch-black, but the flames were still so strong. Even the plate underneath was melting!

Su Jin hastily grabbed a bowl of water and poured it onto the flames. There was a hiss, after which the fire burned away the water instead of going out.

…

"Lu Hao, hurry up and think of something! What if the house burns down?" She did not want to trouble the fire brigade.

Lu Hao tried to control the flames with his special ability, and they immediately went out.

Su Jin heaved a sigh of relief. At least that was over.

"How did you put the fire out just now? Also, why couldn't I extinguish it?" Su Jin asked Lu Hao as she mused.

Could they be like the True Samādhi Fire Sun Wukong encountered on his journey to the West?

No way, that was crazy.

"I think I transformed the flames into my special ability and retracted them into my body," Lu Hao explained.

"Whoa, does that mean you can keep reusing them then?" Su Jin was surprised. That was amazing! As expected of her husband. However, how did he manage to melt that ceramic plate?

Whatever, at least she could rest now. She had been overusing her ability over the past few days, and she had barely gotten a wink of sleep since she was taking care of Lu Hao in the dimension. Thankfully, her ability had improved as well. It was now at late Level 4. 

Su Jin looked at the sun about to rise outside and yawned.

Lu Hao immediately picked her up and walked toward the bedroom.

This was the second time Lu Hao had held her in a princess carry, but Su Jin was still so scared that she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Lu Hao put her down on the bed and kissed her forehead.

"Lu Hao. I…"

Su Jin gripped her blanket tightly.

"I know. Get some sleep, and I'll go clean up the kitchen," Lu Hao said gently.

He was actually being docile for once. Su Jin felt as though she could sleep an entire day and night away if she was outside of the dimension, so she ran back into Lu Mansion and lay in the bed Lu Hao had been sleeping in. Surrounded by his lingering smell, she fell sound asleep.

Lu Hao went to the kitchen and threw the burned mess into the trash can. There was nothing he could do about the charred cabinet, though. Should he just take it apart?

He decided against that in the end, lest Su Jin complain again.

Once he was done cleaning up the kitchen, he took some meat, eggs, and vegetables from the kitchen and began to cook.

When he turned on the stove, he saw that the gas flames were orange tinged with blue, quite unlike his own. He then looked at his red-and-black special ability flames again. Whatever, he could experiment some other time. 

Right now, the most important thing was to cook for his wife.