Zhan Long-Chapter 261: The Paradox of the Shield and Spear

The sounds of propellers could be heard as I laid low within the ruins. Three military grade helicopters slowly approached, dropping many medics and special force soldiers, all of whom were wielding submachine guns as they swiftly sealed off the area. At the same time, a 50 year old began to approach. On his shoulders was an olive branch with 2 golden stars underneath, which meant that he was a Lieutenant General!

……

The Lieutenant General looked around the battlefield and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Walking up. he asked, “Who is the person in charge here?”

Wang Xin’s face went pale as he stood to attention, “I am, Hangzhou’s special division group leader, Wang Xin.”

“Hello!”

The officer held out his hand to Wang Xin and said, “I am Sun Xiang, Lieutenant General of Nanjing’s military district. I am in charge of the administration regions for the special division’s operations. The events that transpired tonight must not be leaked to the public!”

“Of course, sir!”

“So tell me, what in the world happened here…in this lifetime of mine, I have never seen such a desperate battlefield like this one….”

Sun Xiang clenched his hands, staring over the wilderness around us.

Wang Xin followed behind closely, “The son of a merchant in Hangzhou was killed today and the killer wanted 5,000,000 RMB in exchange for the corpse to be returned. This was meant to provoke us, so we responded with 25 SWAT members to purge their numbers. We didn’t realize the men waiting here to fight us wouldn’t be human…”

“How are they not men?” Sun Xiang asked.

Wang Xin responded, “They had strength and vitality that were unmatchable. Plus, their entire bodies were covered by mysterious fish scales that even bullets couldn’t penetrate through. Their movements were extraordinarily quick and immediately killed 7 people while wounding another 12. Our damages were disastrous.”

“Bullets weren’t able to penetrate their skins?”

Sun Xiang crouched down and flipped over the dead body of one of the monsters. Seeing its skin, he gave a frown. Taking out a pistol, he fired once and sure enough, the bullet didn’t go through. Frowning, he called out, “Bring a body back to the base and find out what makes up their DNA! The Nanjing base will provide additional men for any future operations. Wang Xin, the losses that happened today were far beyond your control, do not put all of the blame on yourself!”

Wang Xin didn’t say anything.

Sun Xiang looked at the monster’s body once more, “The bullet didn’t even go through the outer skin, how could he have been beheaded? The cut was so nice and even, so this was done by a sword. How is this possible?”

Wang Xin lowered his voice, “The Hangzhou special division has a young expert with astonishing strength. His attacks completely ignored the defenses of these monsters.”

“Oh? Who is this expert?”

I slowly stood in front of him, with my left hand still holding Xiao Hei, and my right hand saluting him.

“Young man, was this really done by you?” Sun Xiang asked.

“Yes sir.”

“Not bad…” Sun Xiang’s pupils flashed in satisfaction momentarily before saying, “I didn’t know Hangzhou had their own Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon person, and you’re so young as well. If we had more experts like you, hmph, what would we fear? Kid, what is your name?”

“Li Xiao Yao…”

“Ah…” Sun Xiang jumped.

“Sir, what’s wrong?’

“Its…It’s nothing…” Sun Xiang shook his head, “It’s just that…I had an old friend who spoke of that exact name before. But that happened a long time ago…”

Staring at the dead soldiers on the ground, Sun Xiang said, “Go ahead and give them a good burial, they were good people. Also, send a monster body to to the Tian Xin Corporation and have them help us identify the DNA. They’re experts in this field after all.”

“Yes sir!”

……

11 at night, back at the Hangzhou police station.

After the 7 dead bodies of the SWAT members were transported back, each one of us was still racked with grief and indignation. The injured were still howling, but thankfully, they were all treated and bandaged already. It hadn’t been too long since Wu Lei’s arm was cut off, so the chances of replacing it weren’t low. My own body had plenty of claw marks, but luckily they hadn’t cut into my muscles or bones. However, plenty of scars would remain afterwards.

“Ah…”

Extending my shoulder, I stifled a groan of pain as the medicinal salve seeped into my wound.

Still applying the salve, Shen Bing raised her head to look at me, “Does it hurt?”

I nodded, “Yea…”

“Idiot…” Shun Bing’s eyes were red, “You were an idiot in the past, and you’re still an idiot even now. Why did you charge to the front and get hurt to this extent, wuu…”

I smirked, “Sister Shun Bing, if I wasn’t at the front, then all of the people we are familiar with would be dead. To receive a wound like this in exchange for our friend’s lives, I’d be happy to take this deal any day.”

Shun Bing chose not to answer and continued to attend my wounds.

I made a fist with my other hand and hung my head to look at the bloodstains on the floor. “I thought I was strong enough already to protect everyone. But with this experience, I know how lacking I am now. I could only stare blankly as Wu Lei and his men were attacked, killed. I…I failed to live up to everyone’s expectations…”

Shun Bing stood up and embraced my head into her chest. Whispering gently to console me, she said, “Silly kid, don’t think about it too much. Everyone has a limited amount of power, and you’re not Superman. You have already done all that you could to the best of your abilities; do you know that you‘re the person everyone on the team strives to be? If it weren’t for you, none of us would have had the courage to fight the monsters…”

“But Xiao Lan and the others they…they all died…” After remembering Xiao Lan, I couldn’t help but start crying once more. I had known these very members since 2014, and they all had treated me as a brother, an equal. But just now I had watched them get massacred. Even though I murdered just as many of these monsters, that wouldn’t bring back my friends’ lives.

Shun Bing was shaking slightly, warm teardrops were dropping onto my shoulder as she cried and hugged me.

……

4 in the morning. None of us in the police force were sleepy and instead sat down and stared blankly at each other.

“The autopsy reports have returned!”

Wang Xin ran into the room, his hands holding a document file. “We have information on these people down to the smallest details. There are teachers, workers, and even veterans among the monsters and all went missing 6 months ago due to various reasons, like faking their deaths or just suddenly disappearing. All of them have the mark of the Blood Scythes on them but they’re only a month old. Other than that, their DNA has indeed mutated; a good part of their DNA is still human but the other parts are almost lizard like, which is why they have scales that resemble those of fish.”

“Were they able to identify who is behind this?” I asked.

“They weren’t!” Wang Xin shook his head, “The people we’re up against are more terrifying than we thought. 15 of the monsters have the letter “E” marked on them, while 2 have “D”. They all seemed to have their genes strengthened artificially. This was confirmed by both the researchers at Nanjing and Hangzhou, but their genes were far too complex to figure out. So far we have been unable to find out the specific compositions of the DNA or sources of the DNA. So at the moment, the only thing we can do is to keep up with our defenses, and refrain from any more strike operations. Other than that, the higher ups have placed a huge importance on this case and these mutations. The official name for these mutations will be ‘Artificials’…”

After saying that, Wang Xin exhaled again, “It is my belief that these Artificials will be our most problematic opponents in the future… Also, tomorrow the Nanjing military district will be sending over some elite special force soldiers to augment our task force. I can’t convince them otherwise, so I can only say this to you all: ‘Protect Hangzhou down to the last drop of your blood!”

I nodded, “Yeah, protect Hangzhou…”

……

“There’s still one other matter…”

Wang Xin muttered, he grabbed a gun from the nearby officer, and then pulled out the scales of the skin of an Artificial. “Just a while ago, the Tian Xin Corporation’s weapons department manufactured a new type of bullet and sent it to us. Don’t be mistaken, this is indeed the Nanometer warhead spoken of in legends, which uses the heat generated from impact to melt through the advanced armor of highly technologically advanced weapons. I experimented and found that the Nanometer warheads are able to penetrate through the skin of Artificials. Hmph, they have the shield and we have the spear. Starting tomorrow, the Hangzhou police force will swap out their old ammunition for the new Nanometer warheads. I don’t believe that the Hangzhou force will be unable to grab Blood Scythe’s stinger and pull it out from the underworld!”

The Spear and the Shield refers to the paradoxical tale of the Shield that can block all, and the spear that can pierce all. In other words, the immovable object versus the unstoppable object.

I gave a gentle laugh, “Captain Wang, when will we move out against the Blood Scythes?”

Wang Xin thought for a moment, then spoke, “We have to wait for the higher up’s orders. The leaders of the Blood Scythes are all well known figures of society and they may have positions of high power. If we strike, we must eradicate them all in one fell swoop. Otherwise, we must think about the long term plan or risk getting even more casualties amongst our numbers. We have to wait for the new teammates to help fill our strengths again, or else fighting against these monsters will be impossible.”

Looking at the Nanometer warhead in his hand, Wang Xin thought for a second, “We need a godly marksman as well…”

He looked at me, but didn’t say anything.

I went silent for just a few seconds before saying, “Don’t look at me, my marksmanship can only be considered second-rate…”

Shun Bing laughed, “What? You were Hangzhou’s police force champion shooter for 2 consecutive years. Are you trying to make the rest of us marksmen look bad?”

Wang Xin smirked, “That’s enough, Li Xiao Yao still has another assignment; you should return to the school now. Don’t forget why Tian Xin Corporation was so generous as to give us such a large shipment of Nanometer warheads. It’s because the special relations between you and them. Also, I’ve been notified that you, Li Xiao Yao, have been promoted to vice-leader of the Hangzhou special division and will be able to issue out orders.”

I nodded and thought of Wan Er and Dong Cheng back in Liu Hua Academy. I couldn’t help but feel warm inside. After all this blood and death, I would be able to return to their sides. This was perhaps my sole motivation to move forward now.

……

With a body full of scars, I made my way back to Li Hua Academy in a tired state and passed by the women’s dormitories.

“Ding…”

My cellphone started to ring. Looking at the caller, it was Wan Er. I picked it up and said–

“Wan Er? How come you’re still up, the sun’s almost out…”

Wan Er’s voice came through very gently, “I couldn’t sleep, my heart felt empty inside because you weren’t by my side…”

I raised my head and saw the curtains by a certain window be pulled apart. It was Wan Er standing up there and looking down at me. My bruises and wounds, although somewhat covered, were still easily seen by anyone that bothered to look.

All of a sudden, I really wanted to cry.