Zhan Long

Chapter 674 - Mission Failed

The vehicle weaved in and out of the city at a speed neither too fast nor too slow. After we traversed for close to 3 hours, this worn-out truck finally arrived at the #16 bridge over at Yanjiang Avenue just slightly before 6.00pm. This bridge looked to be on the verge of ruins. Out of the many lights on the bridge, only a few were still light albeit rather dimly. Below the bridge was a stretch of gloomy darkness. In the far distance, the river distinctly reflected the rays of the setting sun, it was as though the river had turned into liquid gold

……

The headlights of the car had already been dark for some time when Captain Wang’s voice was heard from the walkie-talkie. “Li Xiao Yao, bring your men and lay an ambush in the underbrush beside the river. You must be absolutely quiet so as not to attract the attention of the men on the bridge. The moment squad 1 fails, you immediately rush in to attack.”

“Understood!”

With a wave of a hand, I said to my squad members behind me, “Follow me and do not make a sound.”

After which, I slowly pushed opened the trunk of the carand crawled onto the ground with barely any sound at all. Behind me, Xing Lie brought the rest of the police members out of the vehicle, and we walked together slowly as a group to the dried ferns next to the river as we prepared an ambush. Similarly too, it was at this moment that 4 Honda CR-Vs slowly came to a stop at the far end beside the river. Shortly after, over 20 men could be seen exiting the vehicles. Amongst them, two could be seen carrying a password secured case. They did not seem to carry anything that gave off light as they were walking with rather heavy steps.

……

Xing Lie squinted his eyes as he said, “Boss, Captain Wang mentioned that this exchange was worth at least $100 million RMB but looking at the current situation, those two cases don’t seem large enough to fit $100 million RMB?”

“Maybe they’re using gold bars, diamonds and the like to do the transaction?” I responded.

“En, that could be possible……”

“Ka Cha!” The sound of someone loading a bullet could be heard from beside me as one of the SWAT members prepared his gun, and aimed it at the men in the distance who were waiting to board the ship. I silently warned him, “Don’t be reckless! Our mission is to provide support and not to be the vanguard! If anyone were to act on their own accord, I won’t let that person off!”

That brat just laughed sneakily as he replied, “Captain Li, just relax. I understand what to do!”

……

I crawled stealthily in the underbrush as I lifted my binoculars to get a better look of the situation. Under the dim light, I could see a very familiar-looking man wearing a jacket amongst the group of more than 20 men. En, his cheekbones were rather high, short-haired, a face filled with cruelty, that’s You Yi. That was truly the only vice-guildmaster of [Thousand Burial] and in reality, one of the most important members of Blood Scythe. Seems like Wei Fan placed a lot of importance on this transaction, otherwise, he would not send You Yi to personally take part.

“Sha Sha……”

You Yi looked around as he stepped on some frail grass patches with his leather shoes before he coldly said, “ Has everything been checked? This transaction involves a lot of money, don’t mess this up. I’ve also heard that there has been some movement from the Hangzhou Police Force and they’ve been following us closely. Boss has also said, if this particular transaction were to meet any issues, he’ll take us in for questioning. If it comes to that, don’t even talk about covering for you, I probably will not be able to save myself.”

A youth with yellow hair snickered, “ Brother You should relax. We’ve been watching the perimeter for a good few days, no one else is here. Even now, we have brothers on the watch ……”

“That better be the case. Why hasn’t that Malaysian gay dude arrived yet?”

“Hasn’t he already arrived?”

The yellow-haired youth then stretched out his hand and pointed into the distance. Sure enough, a yacht could be seen gently approaching in the darkness. None of its lights were on and under the night sky, it looked just like a white leaf floating on the surface of the river. Even after passing beside a rather run-down ship by the river, the ship still hadn’t turned any lights on.

You Yi narrowed his eyes as he said, “Check with our brothers who are patrolling the area again. If there aren’t any issues, we can then proceed with the transaction. Prepare the car so that we can retreat any time. I’m having a rather uneasy feeling about this.”

“Brother You, you’re being too oversensitive! Just relax!”

The yellow-haired youth whipped out his handphone and started to call a few numbers to confirm. One of the men who received the call was standing just right in front of the ferns where we lay ambush. He had jeans on and was currently by the river relieving himself. As soon as the call came, he hurriedly took his handphone out and chuckled, “Brother Sen, there is no movement here. Relax, I’ve been standing here for the whole afternoon and I have not even seen as much as a shadow.”

I took in a deep breath as I lowered my voice to speak into the walkie-talkie. “See that? Little Lie, I want you to equip your silencer onto your gun and take this guy out when Qian Ling’s team starts intercepting.”

Xing Lie nodded his head as he replied, “Understood! But Boss, this brat is only just a lackey on sentry duty. Is there really a need to take him out?”

I clenched my teeth as I said, “ Don’t harbor any feelings of pity for the members in Blood Scythe. In Blood Scythe, there is no one we should spare. I don’t want you guys to meet any accidents as we have lost far too many men already.”

“En, I understand!”

……

Captain Wang’s voice sounded over the walkie talkie, “Squad Leader Qian of Squad 1, prepare to move out! Squad Leader Li of Squad 2, stay in cover as you wait for an opportunity to strike. Squad 3, prepare Armor-Piercing Shells and aim them at the engine of the yacht. Wait for my orders before striking. I want this to succeed in one try and not give them any time or strength to retreat. The moment our operation starts, three Changehe Z-18 helicopters will reach our position in 5 minutes to provide lighting as well as reinforcements.”

As Xing Lie heard this, his face turned blank. “We are even using military helicopters for this? Aren’t we overestimating the strength of the scum from Blood Scythe?”3

I explained, “Blood Scythe has already caused so much disruption and trouble in Hangzhou and her surroundings. We should have made a move much earlier. All of you better be fully alert, we are not fighting against humans.”

Behind me, a few members who had just joined the squad looked at each other in dismay, as they seemed to have issues trying to digest what I had just said. However, they should have known about the existence of Artificials before they entered our squad. It was just simply that they had not witnessed the capabilities of the Artificials.

……

As I saw You Yi board the boat with roughly 20 men, I retrieved a MP5 submachine gun from behind my back. I held my breath as I looked at the commotion that happened in the distance. Winter was coming and with it came strong and extremely cold winds.

“They’ve moved……” Xing Lie said through his teeth as he gazed into the distance.

True enough, a group of men geared in black could be seen following the reeds by the river as they charged towards the cargo ship. Amongst the group, Qian Ling could be seen leading the team in the front with a submachine gun raised in his hands. With this, I ordered, “ Little Lie, attack!”

Xing Lie immediately pulled the trigger. With a soft “pu” sound, the youth on sentry duty in front of us slowly collapsed onto the floor with a gunshot through his heart. Blood poured slowly out of the hole.

Xing Lie chuckled softly, seemingly satisfied with his own performance. “Boss, in 200 metres, my one shot penetrated his heart. This kid ain’t too bad eh?”

I did not respond to his comment, and still focussed my attention on that youth.

“Sha sha……”

He squirmed a bit on the floor before he suddenly got onto his feet. His chest was covered with fish scales while his face turned sinister. It was as though he was possessed by a savage and wild animal, and continuously let loose deep howls with both hands on the floor. The injury on his chest did not seem to bother him as his eyes glimmered with the look of savage fury. He then let out a low growl before he charged towards me with his legs and hands propelling him forward.

“WHAT?!” Xing Lie shouted aloud, obviously stunned.

I extended my hand to cover the muzzle of his gun as I shouted, “Let me settle this!”

Equipping a silencer on my M9 handgun, I lifted my hand and fired a shot.

“Pu!”

After a soft gunshot, that youth’s head was penetrated by the bullet, and created a clean hole at the back of the brain with nothing but fresh blood pouring out. To be honest, I’m not very fond of all this blood-filled violence and killing but I really hate it when innocent people get hurt by these Artificials.

……

Upon observing this scene, Xing Lie could only stare on in shock. “Wh…Why? I clearly fired a shot through his heart, yet I still can’t kill him?”

“Aim at the head to destroy his brain!” I instructed heavily.

“Understood!”

……

In the distance, a sudden roar could be heard with the wind.

“Sheet! Be careful Brother You! We have been exposed!”

Afterwhich, gunshots rang out continuously. The bridge erupted into huge flames. That must have been caused by the Armor-Piercing Shells fired by the huge machine-gun we had. Instantly, the yacht docked by the river had holes in her hull and the engine exploded into flames. They no longer had a path of retreat. Captain Wang truly planned this operation well, and eliminated all the problems together in one fell swoop.

Xing Lie looked on with enjoyment as he saw that the ship had caught fire. He laughed aloud, “Squad Leader Qian has already brought his men from the Nanjing Ops Group into battle!”

On the other hand, there was not a single trace of excitement on my face. I gripped my handgun tighter as I said, “Come, follow closely behind me. Be mindful of your surroundings. I want the scouts to scan our surroundings with infrared rays.”

A group of 25 men positioned in an arc rapidly approached the damaged boat. We, on the other hand, did not dare to make any movement as we did not want to disrupt Squad Leader Qian’s attack strategy. Furthermore, sounds from the helicopters could be heard in the distance. The 3 Changzhe Z-18 helicopters had already arrived in the vicinity and were using their large flood lights to shine at men in the boat, and locked onto the positions of You Yi and ten other men who were probably those “Malaysian Gay Dudes” mentioned earlier by You Yi.

……

He raised his head to take a look at the lights in the sky, You Yi lifted his hand and covered his face with a mask just as his expression was about to turn sinister. He snatched away a submachine gun from one of his subordinates as he showered the sky with bullets in a sweeping motion. He raged aloud, “ Bloody Hell! Stupid Police! Do you think your this trick will make this old one submit? Damn dogs, your father will kill you!”

The heavy machine gun mounted on the helicopter slowly lowered down and locked onto You Yi. Immediately, bullets started to rain down!

“Peng Peng……”

This time, the commotion caused was huge. Large Armor-Piercing Shells directly pierced through You Yi’s abdomen. Yet, this didn’t seem to be fatal to You Yi but instead, made him even angrier. Suddenly, he bent down and started to crawl on the floor and cracking sounds seemed to come from his body. His entire body shape also started to deform and change. Not only did fish scales appear from all over his body, there were even blood-red cones that appeared as thick as a thumb topped by a frighteningly sharp tip. Rather than a bloody cone, it would be better to say that it seemed more like the horn of a unicorn or a dragon. Nonetheless, it made You Yi seem even more bizarre.

“Peng!”

Squad Leader Qian lifted his hand and fired a single nanobullet. However, the bullet just seemed to knock against You Yi’s face, and didn’t leave any form of damage.

Xing Lie looked on from afar and his face was once again filled with shock. “Those nanobullets were not even able to penetrate? How thick is the skin on his face exactly?”

I gritted my teeth as I warned, “Prepare to receive the enemy. Qian Ling’s operation has failed!”

“WHAT!? Boss……”

……

Just when Xing Lie was lost for words, You Yi leaped forward at the speed of lightning, his talons left a deep wound on the abdomen of one of the Special Forces soldiers. That soldier groaned excruciatingly as he fell down onto the floor. What was even scarier was the fact that all of the men by You Yi’s side were all Artificials. One by one, all of them started to transform into beasts with fish scales all over their body that were definitely no weaker than blades.

Qian Ling whipped out his handgun and immediately starting firing rounds towards You Yi in the distance. As he fired, he softly ordered, “ Don’t panic! Save for this leader who is a B Class Artificial, the rest are merely C Class. C Class Artificials are not able to block our nanometer bullets. Kill all of them, don’t leave a single one alive! Capture their f***ing leader alive!”

The corner of You Yi’s lip twitched upwards as he chuckled, “Capture me alive?”

Afterwhich, You Yi leaped off the side railing of the yacht as he rushed fiercely towards Squad Leader Qian with his talons raised.

……

Squad Leader Qian was slightly startled but he slid his feet forwards and gathered his Qi into a cyclone around him. He let go of his handgun and resorted to using his fists. Large amounts of Qi Energy circled around his fist as he suddenly met You Yi’s talon with his fist.

“Bang!”

Under that one attack, Squad Leader Qian’s arm sunk as he took several steps back. The strength of these Artificials was truly too strong. Furthermore, they were the B Class Artificials that we had never seen before.

You Yi laughed sinisterly as he attacked once again at the speed of lightning. Squad Leader Qian hastily brandished his right arm out to block but he never imagined that You Yi would clamp down onto his right arm with both of his talons. He lifted his leg and kicked at Squad Leader Qian’s abdomen as he jeered loudly, “Qi Practitioner eh? You’re still gonna die!”

“Pu pu……”

Fresh blood burst forth as Squad Leader Qian let out a wretched howl that seemed to even affect a person’s inner soul. His entire right arm was in You Yi’s possession now.