First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 281: True Gods Don’t Possess, Beating the H*ll Out of the Kitchen God

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Flames danced wildly through the cracks left behind by the Path of Jinche.

Sparks floated upward, and the dark sky was replaced by fire-red.

The firestars wove together, forming a tornado that linked heaven and earth.

A shadowy figure gradually took shape inside the vortex.

As Feng Shang screamed in unbearable pain,

the ritual tablet shot upward at speed.

The phantom finally revealed part of its form.

A round-collared official robe of fire took shape.

with a wide-footed black headcloth crown,

features obscured, body plump and regal.

With a raised hand, it caught the flying ritual tablet.

Waves of heat surged forth.

A mighty presence exploded.

Lu Ding looked down to see Feng Shang, charred by the consequences of summoning a god, crawling forward on the ground.

His heart skipped a beat.

This wasn’t possession.

And judging by that pressure... this might actually be the Kitchen God himself...

With his current realm and combat power,

fighting this Kitchen God phantom would be tough.

But it didn’t matter.

Deputy Director Chu was still around.

He’d lend a hand.

Sure enough, Lu Ding saw him—

shield-bashing the Taiji,

spinning around to smash the Huangji’s head open,

then stepping forward with a half-stride,

raising a long spear overhead—

—ready to throw.

In that moment—

the spear lit up white, illuminating the sky and earth.

And flew!!

“GET BACK TO YOUR OWN DAMN REALM!!”

The spear moved like a dragon in flight—unstoppable.

Talismans and divine runes coiled around the shaft.

It pierced straight into the Kitchen God phantom, pinning it back.

Lu Ding’s expression shifted slightly.

Time to go.

He stomped the ground—it shattered beneath him.

Within a kilometer radius, the earth cracked apart.

Lu Ding, in Divine Avatar form, leapt high and dove down, pulling back a fist like a drawn bow.

His mountain-like fist came crashing down on the Kitchen God.

Zzzzzzz!!!

That was the sound of Lu Ding’s fist being seared by the fire robe covering the Kitchen God.

The pain surged.

But Lu Ding’s fists came down like torrential rain.

In a real fight to the death, there was no need for words—only fists.

It’s either you die, or I do.

He mounted the body, took the dominant position.

Elbows smashed down hard.

Ignoring the burn of flames—

fist after fist, elbow after elbow—

bludgeoning. Crushing.

BANG BANG BANG BANG...

Watching this,

Feng Shang crawled even faster.

Rage and disbelief surged in his chest—

Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE. How could he suppress the Kitchen God?!

The Kitchen God is a GOD!!!

BOOM!!

One of Lu Ding’s punches was suddenly caught in the Kitchen God’s grip.

Though its face was unclear, and no voice was heard,

Lu Ding could feel it:

The Kitchen God was pissed.

HUMMMM!!!

With a thunderous shockwave,

a dark red halo lit up behind Lu Ding’s Divine Avatar’s head—

taking the form of a Heavenly Light Manifestation.

Black smoke billowed.

Above in the sky—

a stone stele abruptly fell,

smashing into the Kitchen God’s forehead.

Etched in three massive characters:

SHI GANDANG!!

The crushing force was terrifying—

the Kitchen God had no choice but to release him.

Lu Ding broke free.

He knocked the stele aside, grabbed it—

his other hand swiped down and locked the phantom’s throat with his claw.

With a roar, he raised the Shi Gandang stele.

DONG DONG DONG DONG...

It was now Lu Ding’s weapon of choice.

He bashed it again and again—

leaving mark after mark on the Kitchen God’s head.

He could feel “the old guy’s” struggle growing weaker.

Lu Ding yanked the stele high over his head—

this final hit would send him off!!!

Spiritual Qi surged.

Black mist swirled.

The stele slammed down!!!

BOOM!!!

An explosion rocked the sky.

The shockwave swept outward.

A mushroom cloud rose with a deafening roar—

blotting out the heavens.

And at the very center of the blast—

Lu Ding was blown back into his original form.

The damage was severe.

His whole body felt stunned—

a constant ringing filled his ears.

No one had told him the Kitchen God would explode!

Inside the giant crater,

Lu Ding, bare-chested, stood back up—shaking his head.

Barely regained clarity.

As he soared into the air—

a scorched figure stood before the altar flame,

holding the ritual tablet,

casting a gaze his way.

“Lu Ding!!! You’ve destroyed decades of my work!!”

When he was a child,

Feng Shang had been just an ordinary person—

until one day, he accidentally discovered this ritual tablet inside the family stove.

That was how he first established a faint connection with the Kitchen God.

The tablet—

saved his life.

The tablet—

turned him from a talentless nobody into who he was today.

It was because of this tablet—

that he had hope,

hope of finally taking control over his own freedom and life.

But!!

But decades of effort—

were utterly destroyed by Lu Ding.

The painstakingly cultivated Fireball Children—slain by Lu Ding.

The repeatedly failed, trial-and-error creation of Mourning Garb—also brutally killed by Lu Ding.

And now, even if he managed to complete Calamity Star,

it wouldn’t be enough to defy fate anymore.

But at the time—

if he hadn’t summoned Mourning Garb,

he probably would’ve died on the spot.

Even with the ability to summon the Kitchen God,

under Lu Ding’s relentless onslaught,

he couldn’t bring it out in time.

Feng Shang had never expected Mourning Garb to fall so fast.

After much struggle, he finally reached the altar flame, managed to summon the Kitchen God—

only for 749 Bureau’s Deputy Director Chu Tianbao to spear it first.

Then Lu Ding followed up with a brutal rush attack—

wielding that Shi Gandang stele,

and straight-up blasted the Kitchen God to h*ll!!

Feng Shang hated Lu Ding with everything he had.

“It was you! You’re the one who didn’t let me go on being human, you...”

Lu Ding raised his hand.

A formless slash sliced through the air.

Feng Shang’s scorched body was severed at the waist—blood sprayed through the air.

He looked down at the wound.

Lu Ding’s voice rang out:

“Next time, try saying less sh*t.”

“I already had a pretty good idea what you were gonna say.”

A bitter smile appeared on Feng Shang’s face.

His body slowly tilted toward the roaring flames of the stove.

A final thought lingered in his heart:

If I can’t be human... then I’ll become Calamity Star,

roam the earth as a spirit, and from now on... I...

SMACK!

His falling body was snatched mid-air—

a hand gripped him and held him suspended.

Lu Ding’s voice:

“I guessed what you were trying to do, too.”

“Next life, remember—if you get a chance like this, just dive straight into the fire pit.

Don’t waste time giving me a whole monologue exposing your plan.”

Situations like this—

they always boiled down to someone like Feng Shang,

giving up being human and trying to fuse with this furnace,

which might look like just part of the scenery—

but in truth, who knew what the h*ll it really was.

Or maybe, trying to fuse with whatever’s inside the furnace.

Then transform into some monster.

If that’s the case—

Lu Ding could just catch him, right?

Wasn’t that simple enough?

Feng Shang couldn’t beat Lu Ding at his peak—

now that he was split in two and falling slowly,

you think Lu Ding couldn’t catch him?

Classic setup.

In TV dramas, the villain watches the hero fall in slow motion,

they even give it a long dramatic close-up.

Then the hero goes dark mode, powers up,

and takes the villain down.

But Lu Ding didn’t think of himself as the villain.

And Feng Shang wasn’t the protagonist.

So—he’d give Feng Shang no chance to power up or transform.

With one motion, he flung half of Feng Shang’s body high into the air.

Lu Ding raised his hand.

Path of Jinche brewed within it.

Maybe sensing death approaching,

Feng Shang’s mind grew bitter.

Even facing a dying enemy—

he still wouldn’t let his guard down...?

Hundreds of slashes rained down on the body.

Chunks, fragments, scraps—

his dismembered form scattered in the sky, reduced to ash and powder...

Finally,

Lu Ding summoned a gentle breeze—

and blew the dust far, far away.