Kapitel 23: Chapter 23
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Redakteur: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Who's there?" Shao Zifeng demanded out in a low voice.
The rustling stopped and silence returned. Shao Zifeng could almost hear his own heartbeat.
He held the Tang saber horizontally in front of him as he shone the flashlight at the hole in the fence.
Before he could see things clearly, a shadow suddenly lunged out next to his hand.
"Ekkk!" It scared the hell out of Ballie, who was about to curl up into a ball. It called out in anger and embarrassment before it gave chase to the shadow with fire in its eyes.
The small park was overgrown with shrubs and bushes. Shao Zifeng had to stop his chase only after he took a few steps.
He returned to the broken section of the fence and shone the flashlight in the area where the shadow had lunged out.
"Meow!"
Not far from the opening, a white cat was lying on the ground with bloodstains all over its body. It was heaving, so that meant it was still alive. Sensing someone approaching, the cat looked up with much difficulty and stared at Shao Zifeng with its gloomy eyes. It let out a weak cry and begged for help.
...
Ballie was vexed as it continued to chase the shadow in the woods.
It could not believe that something unknown had freaked it out in front of Shao Zifeng.
It did not even budge an inch in front of a monster the size of a millstone, yet it was frightened by an unknown entity.
That was unforgivable.
The more Ballie thought of it, the angrier it became. All it wanted to do now was to pin that shadow under its claws and grind it into the ground.
However, due to Ballie's natural limitation of not having the physical construction suited for long-distance running, the shadow was increasing its distance. Ballie felt a particular kind of anger and pride rising within its being for the first time.
"Awwk!"
It was a descendent of the dragon, but its instincts had been trampling over his dragon pride. At the last desperate moment, it achieved an emotional resonance with Shao Zifeng, and that inadvertently activated the draconic bloodline in its body. It was still timid by nature, but it would not allow any Tom, Dick, and Harry to trample on its ego willy nilly.
Ballie just felt its body temperature rise as its mean eyes lit up with fire, leaving two long red trails. Flames poured out of the gaps between its scales as its body started to burn somewhat, and wherever it stepped on the ground, red paw prints would be left on the grass.
"Awwk!"
Ballie roared in anger, and it felt its unvented anger combine with the energy potion residue that combusted inside its body.
The next second, the surging energy in its body reached a critical threshold. A pair of dragon wings made up of flames formed and spread on its back. Consumed by anger, Ballie kicked the ground with its hind paws and leaped into the air like a shooting star. Sporadic dots of flame burst out as it lunged at the shadow and attacked it.
"How dare you disrespect me, cub!"
...
Boom!
A violent explosion sent Shao Zifeng's heart pounding. Anger surged within him, causing him to lose control and nearly strangle the cat in his arms. Fortunately, his anger went away just as quickly as it came.
"Ballie!"
Screw the security; with the kitten still in his arms, Shao Zifeng ran toward the explosion.
...
The MAD, Sucheng City.
A few agents on the night shift were having supper, which had been freshly delivered to them.
"Brother Wang, you have to try this bacon..." Li, who had a chipper smile on his face, dropped the bacon between his chopsticks into the container, causing some soup to splash out as his face suddenly turned pale.
"Are you okay, Li?" Brother Wang looked at him with concern.
The siren was wailing loudly and the alarm's glaring light was flashing in the room.
"Stop eating. There's been an explosion in Guchang Anju Neighborhood." The leader of a small MAD team put down his chopsticks, brushed down his uniform, and put on his hat while he rose to his feet.
The rest of the team had already gotten ready when the siren began to blare, and they were now waiting for instructions from their leader.
"Captain Feng, I don't feel well. I'm not going." Li forced a smile.
The team leader hesitated for a second before he rushed out with his team.
Li staggered to the doorway of the duty room and looked in Guchang Anju Neighborhood's direction with a gloomy expression.
One of his contracted pet beasts was dead.
...
Shao Zifeng ran to the scene of the explosion and saw Ballie lying at the bottom of the explosion crater. It was looking up at him with an innocent expression. He quickly put down the half-dead cat and carried Ballie in his arms.
"Don't do this next time, understand?" Shao Zifeng chided softly as he stroked Ballie.
At first, he had almost burst out in anger, but when he saw Ballie lying there unhurt and staring at him innocently, his heart softened.
"Eeekk!" Sensing Shao Zifeng's emotional changes and worries, Ballie hissed and hugged his neck with its little paws, albeit only one-third of the way.
As Shao Zifeng felt a sense of relief, something crossed his mind, and he glanced at their surroundings.
He was wide-eyed, and he could not believe what he saw.
The scene was as shocking as it could get; he was standing at the bottom of the crater, which had been the center of the explosion, and all trees within a three-meter radius were gone. Earth had been blown away, and trees that were still left standing were on fire, creating flickering shadows around the area.
"Quick! That way! That's where the explosion was!"
Lights flickered and shone through the woods in the distance as a series of chaotic footsteps approached. The one who was talking loudly and coming toward them sounded as if he was the big brother.
As the lights got nearer, Shao Zifeng, still with Ballie in his hand, swept the cat into his hand and spun around to flee.
While he ran, the saber's hilt in Shao Zifeng's arm swayed in front of Ballie's eyes. Ballie tried hard not to look but still stole a few glimpses of it.
A moment later, it gave up. Reaching its paws out, Ballie hugged the hilt and looked like it was enjoying the experience.
"Eeeek!"
...
In the MAD, a few giant monitor screens were playing the surveillance footage in a conference room. One of the screens was showing the still frame of a hooded man.
The several agents on night duty were being debriefed by Captain Chen Zhenglong.
"This is the situation: we believe that the man in the hoodie is our prime suspect. Whether it is the disappearance of domestic pet beasts or the explosion, all of it definitely has something to do with him, Captain Chen." A non-combat staff who was wearing glasses closed the file in his hands.
Chen Zhenglong recognized the hooded man at once. He was not happy about it, but he did not think that it was proper to summon him again. So, he stood up and scratched his chin in frustration. "Concentrate on investigating the missing domestic pet beasts. Go as deep as you can. I will monitor the hooded man in the surveillance footage myself. Dismiss!"
"Yes, Captain Chen."
After Chen Zhenglong and other MAD agents left, Li was left alone in the conference room.
He appeared creepy because only half of his face was illuminated by the room's lights.
He was staring straight at the figure in the surveillance footage, and a fire burned in his eyes as his lips curled up in a vicious smile.
"Shao-Zi-feng!"
-- Geschenk
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