Chapter 55 - 53: Rampant Dragon Eagles? Eradicate the Roots
Chapter 55: Chapter 53: Rampant Dragon Eagles? Eradicate the Roots
THUD!
A bowl-sized dent was smashed into the vehicle’s metal panel, accompanied by an explosion of blood.
The other man in black, who was still holding Miss Ling, felt a cold sweat break out the moment he saw this. He quickly let go and turned to run.
But Wan Ze drove his left leg forward in a vicious slide tackle, striking the man at the calf joint.
CRACK!
The sound of bone snapping rang out. The man in black’s body buckled, and he let out a miserable scream as he collapsed beside the car, his face a mask of agony.
"What’s going on?" Wan Ze asked, looking back.
Miss Ling, still looking shaken, gasped for breath. She pointed at the man in black before them and said hurriedly, "They... they came to capture me. It’s for..."
"The Rain Bell!"
After she said those three words, Wan Ze looked surprised and utterly confused. "For the Rain Bell? Hasn’t that thing already been stolen? Why are they still coming after you?"
"I... I don’t know either," Miss Ling said, her eyes red as she warily scanned her surroundings.
Seeing this, Wan Ze walked right up to the gasping man in black and grabbed a handful of his hair. "Secret Palace?"
"I... I’m not."
"I don’t care who you are! If you want to live, tell me the whole story!" Wan Ze said viciously.
The man in black glared maliciously. "Kid, this is none of your business. You’re courting death—AH!"
His scalp went numb from the agonizing pull.
Wan Ze said expressionlessly, "The Rain Bell has already been stolen. Why are you kidnapping people now? Do you really think you can act with such impunity?"
"I was just following orders..." The man in black’s tone softened slightly.
"Whose orders?"
"It’s—"
BANG!
A gunshot rang out.
The man in black, who had been about to speak, had his head blossom open. He was instantly as dead as could be.
’Silencing a witness?’
Miss Ling jumped in fright.
Wan Ze grabbed her and pulled her behind a nearby car. He had pinpointed the shot’s location almost instantly. He spoke quickly in a low voice, "Go to the Dragon Eagle Martial Arts Hall and find my senior brother!"
"Wan Ze, don’t go—" Miss Ling didn’t want Wan Ze to put himself in danger.
’But Wan Ze was thinking that the Tiger Talisman was connected to legends of Qi Refiners, which is why it could be used for Stealing Celestial Secret.’
’If that’s the case, could the Rain Bell, which seems to be connected to Grandmaster Zhang of the Celestial Harmony Palace, also be used for Stealing Celestial Secret?’
To test this theory, Wan Ze chose not to let the matter go. Before Miss Ling could finish her sentence, he had already shot off like an arrow.
The young man holding the sniper rifle didn’t seem to expect Wan Ze to actually chase after him. The slender, upturned eyes beneath his duckbill cap narrowed slightly.
He knew who Wan Ze was, so he understood how much trouble killing him would bring his organization.
But he raised his rifle anyway.
He decisively pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The ground in front of Wan Ze exploded, leaving a crater. The warning behind the shot was obvious.
Only...
Wan Ze had no intention of stopping at all.
The man in the duckbill cap grew annoyed. He didn’t want to get tangled up and turned to leave, but a hand suddenly clamped down on his shoulder.
He reflexively smashed his right elbow backward.
PAK!
’Blocked!’
The man in the duckbill cap was shocked. Before he could even react, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. He let out a grunt and staggered from the blow. In the next instant, Wan Ze’s arm was wrapped around his neck, choking him. His face immediately swelled to a purplish-red, and he was on the verge of suffocating.
He desperately beat against Wan Ze’s arm, but it was no use.
Just as he was about to pass out, the arm locked around his throat suddenly loosened. The man in the duckbill cap was like a drowning person suddenly able to breathe, and he began to greedily gasp for air.
But before he could recover, the arm across his neck tightened again like a giant python, its power so immense he couldn’t struggle at all.
"You Dragon Eagle bastards won’t be arrogant for much longer! Big Sister will avenge me!"
’Big Sister?’
An image of the mysterious woman he had fought at Lingyun Manor flashed through Wan Ze’s mind.
"So it was you! We let you get away with stealing the Rain Bell, deciding not to pursue it. And now you dare to openly kidnap someone?"
"I won’t tell you anything you want to know! Hah! Go ahead and beg me!" the man in the duckbill cap sneered hideously.
"Oh."
’Fine, don’t say anything.’
Wan Ze’s eyelids lowered, and he suddenly tightened his grip.
CRACK!
The sound of his neck snapping was crisp and clear.
The stunned expression on the man’s face froze in that instant. He had considered countless possibilities but had undoubtedly underestimated Wan Ze’s resolve.
’If he could do it all over again, he swore he wouldn’t have acted so damn cocky!’
Too bad... there were no do-overs.
Wan Ze searched the body.
A wallet, a map, and a brand-new communicator. The communicator had only four call records, all of them to one person... [Big Sister].
The message history was simple and direct.
Big Sister: [Take her alive!]
Wan Ze grew thoughtful. He looked back at Miss Ling, who was still hiding behind the car, and sent a message.
...
[I have your man. Bring the Rain Bell to trade!]
...
He grabbed the duckbill-capped man’s body and shoved it into the nearby car.
Just then, the dead man’s communicator rang.
But Wan Ze ignored it.
After the communicator rang twice, a message came in: [Who are you?]
Wan Ze still ignored it. He stuffed the three bodies into the car and looked at Miss Ling. "Can you drive?"
"Yes..." Miss Ling’s face was pale, as if she were still in shock.
"You drive. We’re going to Dragon Eagle now." Wan Ze then added, "Are you still able to drive right now?"
"I... I can!" Miss Ling took a deep breath, took the car keys from Wan Ze’s hand, and only managed to start the ignition on the second try. The tips of her ears turned red under Wan Ze’s stare.
Once he saw the car drive steadily away from the scene, Wan Ze quickly made calls to both Zhai Jia and Lei Ming.
With the backing of Zhai Jia’s Police Headquarters, the local police department wouldn’t come bothering him.
...
「Dragon Eagle Martial Arts Hall.」
「The Back Courtyard.」
Looking at the three corpses, Lei Ming felt a massive headache coming on. He couldn’t help but look at Wan Ze, and then at Miss Ling.
He had advised Wan Ze before... As a Martial Artist, life and death situations were inevitable, so he shouldn’t be afraid to kill.
’But this... Isn’t the number of people who have died at his junior brother’s hands a bit too high!’
He didn’t dare breathe a word of this to anyone, terrified their master would find out.
After all, when it came down to it, he was the one who had dragged Wan Ze into this mess.
While he was looking vexed, Miss Ling spoke up, "...If Master Wan hadn’t saved me, I might have died without even knowing why... But I don’t understand. They already stole the Rain Bell, so why won’t they leave me alone?"
Lei Ming’s thoughts returned to the present. He frowned and said, "Yeah, why is that?"
Just as he said that, Zhai Jia, who had just finished a call with the Police Headquarters, walked over quickly with a smile. "First a Tiger Talisman, now a Rain Bell? No offense, but you two really know how to stir up trouble, don’t you?"
Wan Ze wore an expression that said, ’It’s not like I had a choice.’
Lei Ming, however, felt wronged. "How is this our fault? First, Tie Shizhe stole the Rain Bell, forcing us to get involved. Then we ran into this other group... And this has nothing to do with us! Miss Ling wasn’t even planning to get it back. They’re the ones being aggressive... They have no fucking martial ethics!"
Zhai Jia chuckled upon hearing this. "So what are you planning to do?"
Lei Ming was at a loss. He looked at Miss Ling.
But Miss Ling looked at Wan Ze.
Wan Ze took out the duckbill-capped man’s communicator and said calmly, "I’ve arranged a meeting. Six o’clock this evening, the abandoned parking lot in the West Suburb. They’re to trade the Rain Bell for their man."
’Trade for their man?’
Lei Ming couldn’t help but glance at the three men who were as dead as doornails, then shot Wan Ze a thumbs-up.
’I told you to learn, not to surpass me.’
’Ah Ze, you’re a fucking badass!’