158 Rio (1/2)

In an instant, the entire district was cast into a nightmare. The peace and serenity was gone, replaced by nightmarish spasms and struggles. Buildings were on fire. Illuminated by the flames, the streets crawled with thugs armed to the teeth. Some were the Shaman’s men, some came from other places, and others took advantage of the chaos to break into homes…

In a desolate alley, blood flowed over the stone tiles. Bodies were dragged and thrown into the sewer where they disappeared with the bubbling water.

Amidst the roaring and screaming, the people who had nothing to do with the fighting hid in their homes, trembling. They burrowed under their covers and prayed that this long night would end quickly and that disaster would not fall on them. The dark downtown was thrown into turmoil under the blazing firelight. Even Ye Qingxuan had fallen into some small trouble.

Two figures suddenly appeared before him in the alley, blocking his way. He looked back and saw that the other end was blocked by two men with swords as well.

”I’m just passing by. You don’t have to do this, right?” He sighed. ”I’m in a hurry. Can you not waste my time?”

Two muscular men with daggers exchanged glances and laughed. They closed in, eyes fierce. It seemed that it was impossible to communicate with words.

Ye Qingxuan sighed again, fixed his hunting hat and reached out.

Boom! The approaching man flew back, as if they had been smashed in the face with a steel hammer.

The man blocking the entrance was stunned. Before he could react, a black shadow charged toward him at an impossible speed. He raised his dagger instinctively to protect himself. But then an arm swung over, bending the dagger and crashing into his chest. He was slammed against the wall.

Boom! Dust flew and the dagger fell, shattering.

The two men behind Ye Qingxuan froze. They reacted quickly and charged with a yell. Ye Qingxuan turned around, clenched his fist and swung! In an instant, his fist hit a shoulder blade. There was a crack, and the strong man fell to his knees. The other man was flipped over by Ye Qingxuan and was now under his feet. After implanting the Chainsaw monk’s skeleton, the Dungeon Gentleman was able to give Ye Qingxuan enough strength to flatten these thugs. If he ignored the consequences and put all his strength into it, he felt that he could arm wrestle with an elephant.

Doing all these moves and dealing with four men without even needing to catch his breath felt really good. The only problem was…they did not seem to have been dealt with completely.

Wrinkling his forehead, Ye Qingxuan looked down and saw that the men who had collapsed were now climbing back up. Someone picked up a sword and was rushing toward him. Ye Qingxuan reached out and gripped the blade. The steel skeleton in the black gloves slowly closed in around the blade and shattered it. Then he threw the attacker onto the ground. An average man would have been knocked unconscious with that thud, but this man was just dizzy for a bit before he started struggling again.

Ye Qingxuan stiffened his body and broke their right leg. But the strange thing was, they did not scream in pain when their right leg broke and bone pierced through their skin. Their movement did not even slow down. This was not natural.

”What is this?” Y Qingxuan poked their broken bone and saw no painful expression. His brows slowly furrowed. ”Do you not feel pain at all?”

Suddenly, he flipped the others over and grabbed one man by the neck, bringing him closer. Under the dim light, he saw that the man’s eyes were bloodshot and crazed. His breath smelled of alcohol, but there was something bitter in the smell, like extremely thick medicine.

”Illegal drugs?” he questioned, suddenly coming to the realization. ”Looks like the Indians’ work.” At this time, the other guys slowly crawled over.

Ye Qingxuan looked at their zombie-like state and grew helpless. ”You guys are so annoying. Do I really have to kill you?”

Boom! Before he could finish, one of their heads was crushed.

Boom! Boom! With two more sounds, the other two men’s heads were crushed as well. Brain matter flew, splattering onto Ye Qingxuan’s shoes.

Under the distant glow of the fire, a burly and inhuman shadow walked into the alley. It easily flattened the thugs on the ground as if it were stepping on bugs. When he walked into the alley, he practically filled up the entire space. It was chilling for one to see this figure walk towards oneself. He then took the man from Ye Qingxuan’s hands, put a hand on the head, and twisted.

Crack. The ripe fruit fell from its stem, blood spewing out.

Ye Qingxuan looked up at the face of the newcomer—as expected, he was wearing a comical and menacing donkey mask. It was the Bloody Butcher.

The Butcher gazed at him and turned to the side, motioning for Ye Qingxuan to lead the way. The giant folded chainsaw was at his back. There were layers of dried blood on it and one could not see its original color.

Ye Qingxuan glanced at him. He could not see the Butcher’s expression under the strange mask, but he just wanted to laugh. The Professor had hired the Butcher to kill him, but now he was taking him to kill the Professor. How interesting.

”Come with me,” he said as he took the lead. ”There are a lot of people near the factory. To avoid getting too much attention, I…” Ye Qingxuan paused, his voice cutting off.

The youth looked up and saw a man on fire. He ran out of a burning building and rolled on the ground before finally crawling toward a dirty water ditch with a wail. His movements stopped before he reached it. He was dead.

Behind his dead body was an entire street was bathed in light emanating from the dancing flames. Amidst the flames, the crazed and dazed thugs swallowed the drugs and were submerged in ecstasy. They broke into every home and dragged the hiding civilians out…

Ye Qingxuan sighed. He could not walk further. ”What a group of scum,” he thought.

--

As the fire spread gradually and illuminated the entire downtown, the din was suffused in the ocean wind.

The guards of the only entrance to midtown from downtown—the Tower Bridge—gazed at the fire from afar and readied their weapons. Occasionally, someone with sharp eyes would see the group of armed thugs and would doubt whether his police weaponry had any meaning…if a few dozen men rushed over, the checkpoint would collapse entirely.

Behind the checkpoint, the officer in charge of tonight’s shift had turned ghastly pale. He had received a message that there would be some riots in downtown, but he did not think that it would be this big.

It was like the carnival had come early. The bonfire was lit and the cheering people drank and partied through the night. But instead of flowers, they held swords, and instead of decorated masks their faces were covered in blood.

”These thugs…” He took a step back subconsciously and raised his voice. ”Riders, be fully prepared. If someone attacks the checkpoint, push them back! Why hasn’t the message from the headquarters arrived? Do the higher-ups not care about this at all?!”

As soon as he spoke, the clattering of hooves traveled from behind him. He spun around as if his savior had arrived and saw a black horse. The messenger raised a lantern, illuminating the road before him as he galloped through the dark night. The badge of the Royal messenger was on his saddle. It would occasionally bounce up and fall into the light, reflecting a chilling flash.

He had rushed over from uptown, passed through midtown, stepped onto the Tower Bridge and galloped before finally stopping at the gate before downtown. He raised his badge and announced, ”Everyone gather and retreat behind the bridge. Call back all riders. All Avalon policemen must stay behind the Tower Bridge!”

The officer was stunned. ”Then what about here?”

The messenger gazed coolly at the distant firelight and squeezed out between clenched teeth, ”Drop the gate.”

”But…”