Archfiend Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Berserker (One)

At night, half past eleven.

Three cars drove on a road leading out towards the City outskirts. Everyone was in the car with their eyes drooping without exception, their expressions solemn.

The sound of the car was extremely quiet and extremely smooth, as well. As the scenery outside the windows extended further and further to the outskirts, the buildings on either side became more and more infrequent. Everyone's heart was filled with complex feelings.

They were really going to arrest the criminal…...

Their superiors had truly approved of it!

"Old Chen......" Old Zhu was loading up his rifle with bullets, scanning his surroundings, and said lowly: "Could it really be true…… what Captain Xu said, that he was actually requested to come? How was it that the last-minute notification was approved?"

Old Chen held a cigarette in his mouth, and because of the smoke generated, his eyes slightly narrowed. It hung at the corner of his mouth for a good while until he snorted: "I still didn't believe it before…… but now, I really do believe it a bit. Why was our response to Chief Zheng met with ambiguity? Why isn't the Mayor and Municipal Committee Secretary saying anything? If he was invited to come, then everything would've been relayed!"

"He's not a paratrooper*?" Old Zhu pinched a bullet, still a bit reluctant to believe: "How old is he? Even if he started studying from the womb, his work background isn't nearly as long as ours. How is this possible?"

"Whether or not it is, everything will be clear tonight." The policewoman Qin Wanyu took a magazine and loaded her rifle with it, trembling with strength as the magazine made a screeching metallic sound, tidying it on the police uniform on her body: "If you aren't confident, how can I be? I've never even heard of a brat being invited! However, it's no use saying this now. We'll know later on."

After ten more minutes passed, the car stopped. As everyone of the Disciplinary and Reconnaissance Group got out of the car, they were completely stunned.

Ahead of them was an unfinished construction site. It wasn't big at all and there weren't any buildings in the surroundings.

The late night wind poured in from dilapidated window through the ruined corridor and drifted out from the other side, like a countless number wraiths wailing as they revolved around the building. 

It was runned-down building where not even a trace of light could be seen, nor a shred of human presence, like a tremendous creature towering in the darkness, giving people a seemingly sinister and terrifying feeling.

This wasn't much to consider at all. The crux of the matter was the packed encirclement of people parked in front of them!

"Captain…… Captain Gao?" Vice Captain Chen was looking at a man in not so far off distance and asked in amazement: "Why have you come?"

"What, you want to stop me……" Captain Gao laughed towards the side and lifted his chin: "Take a look over there. That's Major Zhou of the military police. Sanshui City's three forces are also stationed here, all of the squadrons are being lead by military officers, all of them have come."

Over a hundred men…… A wire mesh fence that not even a drop of water would be able to escape had encircled the surroundings of the run-down building!

The people of the Disciplinary and Reconnaissance Group glanced at each other simultaneously. 

Had they seen a ghost?

Was this the arrest of a criminal?

Wasn't this using a heavy fist to strike a housefly?

Not to speak of a single criminal, even ten, twenty, no, a hundred criminals absolutely wouldn't be able escape!

The machine guns reflected a dead appearance beneath the moonlight, black in color and deathly still, bearing a sensation that made the courage of men tremble coldly without exception. What kind of criminal required such military weaponry?

"This is fucking crazy!" The end of Old Zhu's cigarette fell out of his mouth, and he observed the current scene in amazement, his lips trembling: "I've handled cases for many years…… but I've never seen a spectacle like this!

Layer and layer doubts arose in his heart. Who had said the criminal was here? The transfer of the entire City's firepower, how had it passed through the City government? What criminal required so much action? Was Batman sealed off inside?**

"You don't know? I still don't know, too!" Captain Gao stuffily swallowed his saliva: "The order that all of Sanshui City's army, military police, and public security have received is: in case something appears within the perimeter of a hundred meters, do not hesitate to shoot it dead on the spot at all costs. Hehe…… In the many years I've been a police officer, I've never heard of such a command!"

"Thing?" Officer Qin keenly caught onto this word and it flashed across her mind, yet she didn't understand any of it. She only felt this command was too strange: "It's not a…… person?"

Who fucking knew?

Vice Captain Chen and Captain Gao exchanged glances, their eyes were a blank field.

"The City government has gone muddle-headed. I heard a paratrooper came to arrogantly play conductor without any purpose." Captain Gao waved his hand: "To move around so many people to arrest a criminal, how great is this kid's background? This is in the fucking defiance of the heavens!" 

"Have we come to the wrong place?" A new police officer's forehead was drenched with a cold sweat. The somber atmosphere of the present scene made him simply not dare to shout: "How about we ask the Group Leader?"

"You guys haven't come to the wrong place." Just as his tone of voice fell, a familiar voice rang out from behind him. Xu Yangyi walked over: "Your mission is to deal with the aftermath."

"Captain Xu!" At this time, how was Vice Captain Chen still of mind to argue with Xu Yangyi and immediately turned his head and said: "Why have these people come?" We're doing nothing more than arresting a killer! Who the heck are they? Captain, Captain Xu! You……"

As soon as he turned his head, his entire being was sent into a daze.

It wasn't only him that was dazed, everyone that got a look was stunned, as well.

Xu Yangyi was standing there oh so serenely. There wasn't anything else like it ordinarily. However…...

He was surprisingly geared in camouflage! He wasn't wearing his police uniform!

"Captain Xu……" Old Zhu was dazed for quite a while and said trill of voice: "Your…… gun?"

"Gun?" Xu Yangyi massaged his fist and locked his slender fingers together, producing a cracking sound: "I don't need one."

"This…… This is the heavy firepower troops you spoke of?!" Vice Captain Chen's voice as he pointed at the encirclement of men before him was unstable: "You transferred the entire city's armed forces?!"

Xu Yangyi glanced at him indifferently, the corner of his mouth faintly turned upwards, yet his next words made Vice Captain Chen nearly leap!

"Stay at the place you should stay, rookie." Xu Yangyi loosened up his shoulder and narrowed his eyes: "Special things…… should be handed over to the specialist to take care of."

Vice Captain Chen held back a breath of air in his stomach, his lips trembled for quite a while and didn't return to his prior expression. He only used his finger to point faltering at Xu Yangyi, his lips quivering in their entirety.

Xu Yangyi paid no heed to him and said into the microphone line he flipped over from his collar: "Ready?"

"No problems…… After you enter, I'll activate the Big Dipper Heaven-Tail Formation immediately and isolate all visual and hearing…… I'm really looking forward to our harvest this time!" Mao Ba'er's familiar voice rang out from the transceiver.

Xu Yangyi nodded and inhaled deeply. His gaze began to turn cautious, and he lift up his hand.

Even if his mind was more discontent, at this moment, a sound still couldn't be heard.

The only sound left remaining was the low humming of the summer night insects. Such a deathly-still silence, a terrifying silence, a tense silence was like that of a tarsal bone maggot, slowly creeping upwards to every person's heart.

Captain Gao's vision flickered and raised his hand. The troops under his command wordlessly raised their rifles.

With another wave of the hand, the army soldiers on the other side raised their rifles. 

"Clip Clip Clip……" Like a silent rallying song, a sonata of firearms, the rifles were loaded.

Xu Yangyi took a long, deep breath, raising his leg and moving forwards.

His silhouette seemed to become weaker and weaker, darker and darker. In not much time, his person couldn't be seen any longer.

"I've already entered the Big Dipper Heaven-Tail Formation. You can relax, pretty boy." A strange laughter could be heard from the transceiver, yet Xu Yangyi didn't laugh, rather he kneeled on the ground with a single knew and took out a piece of bamboo from his pocket. Inside the bamboo floated a liquid that refracted the brilliance of the moon.

"Demonslaying Crossbow? Pretty boy, you're will to part with this capital?"

"If it weren't for you using my money, I would've originally had more than a single crossbow bolt." Xu Yangyi shook his right hand, and with a swishing noise, the camouflaged sleeve on his right-hand side crumbled apart in a flash. An exquisite, rectangular iron case was fastened on to his hand.

"Klack…… Klack!" Following a burst of light noise, a crossbow was tightly attached to his wrist. At this moment, it suddenly began to spring forth like the flapping wings of a tiercel desiring to take flight. At first, it had taken on the form of an iron case, but like a transformer, it swiftly formed an exquisite and compact crossbow!

Taking hold of the crossbow, it's figure wasn't different at all like the ones seen on television. However, it was carved with a kind of mysterious and arcane runes all over its body! In addition, atop the runes were flickering blue edges that made the hearts of men tremble!

On it's flight groove, there was an arrow, simple and unadorned. The iron bolthead was already extremely mottled, it was only that the rust-worn bolthead was dressed in an even more profound talisman. 

"Are you certain the formation is without mishap?" Xu Yangyi asked once more, taking the bolthead and inserting it into the water inside the bamboo pipe without the slightest hesitation. "If the true body of the demon is seen by ordinary people, not to speak of me even graduating, it'll be fortunate if I don't get sentenced." 

"Relax."

Xu Yangyi closed his eyes and tightly pursed his lips.

This was his first demon extermination…… For all his many years of cultivation, he would finally be able to see the result today!

It was a mere psycho killer that had killed twelve people. Its spiritual force fluctuations were extremely abnormal, a madman that had dared to attack the city government. As dusk settled at the end of the day, what trash was it…...

"Let me test out the purity, alright." Opening his eyes, they were already filled with a sinister and frigid killing intent.

A wisp of a deep blue netherworldly flame began to rage in combustion from the bolthead!

The hunting of the night wind blew, and Xu Yangyi lift his hand up reticently.

"Cricket……" Like the chime of a bell and the cry of wildlife, the night wind blew over his hand, and the strange, devilish blue flame the length of his arm whistled out, yet it absolutely didn't die out. Dazzlingly making the moon in the sky lose its color. 

At this moment, the wind moved the clouds and the open area was brimming with killing intent.

A soundless killing intent that could cause people to tremble in silence!

With a wave of his hand, "Swoosh!" a cloud-penetrating bolt, a blue bolthead carrying an eye-dazzling blue tip loudly charged up into the sky! It's splendor was the same as the moon!

"Hum!" The scenery of an azure rainflower with odd, bewitching flame tails dragging a meter in length came into view in the sky. From the bolt, one split into two, two split into four, and four split eight…… In the blink of an eye, the brilliant blaze seemed like the drawn outline of the trajectories of a star chart in the center of the sky, making the starry heavens lose its color.

"Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!" The sound of a shattered sky barraged the ear without end, stony rubble pierced clouds, and raging waves beat against the shore. Streaks of bolts resplendent like shooting stars carrying long flaming tails with speeds that were simply incapable of being caught by the human eye swiftly launched towards the black-painted building.

Streaks of blue flame scars interweaved in the sky and the black clouds pulled back. Like a stratum of blue clouds tearing open the black night, the moon and stars were dim without luminance.  

Yet just at this moment, the run-down building stirred.

Like the entire building was the chasm of the devil's box, countless black shadows suddenly bore out from the pit! In the next second…… everything caused by the bolthead had completely faded away!

The only thing remaining was the blazing curtain formed by the interweaving of the azure flame that colored the entire sky.

In that split second, Xu Yangyi's expression finally turned grave.

His eyes had long ago shot out in that split second, metamorphosing into a red color, taking in the shadow between that flash of time, capturing it entirely within his eyes. 

Numerous black shadows…… Shadows that completely engulfed all of the flames; they were……. serpents.

An endless figure of black serpents shot out like lightning from the runned-down building and then retreated monstrously once more. It seemed the inside had already become the nest of a myriad serpents! 

*Literally "Isn't airborne?" I guess paratroopers in China are serious business

**蝙蝠侠 = this is what the Chinese call Batman, folks. Literally: Bat Hero

Chapter end