Act.16 Subversive and Earth Turning
[Part 1: The Zhao Family's Dog]
Everyone knows that Flower Chess Bank is owned by someone surnamed Zhao—the president of the Mercy Society once said that doing money lending business is a specialty of Asians.
Before dawn, you could see four large dogs running wildly back and forth between the pavilion and the market. They all belonged to the Zhao family. Even when the morning market was open, they couldn't act so arrogantly and domineeringly. They could only run around with their collars on before the sun came out.
Like the large dogs in [KINGDOM], these Spanish hounds are accompanied by Madness Butterfly, already bearing the mark of Vita Imprint.
Similar to the layout of Yellow Bull Town in Eleventh District, the City Hall is right next to the Flower Chess Bank. Unlike the colorful and vibrant TV tower fifty meters away, it is dark and deserted.
Four fat, strong, and vicious dogs howled and barked wildly. Tormented by worms in their bellies, they mated in a painful yet pleasurable manner, never to produce any more puppies, yet they still reveled.
Fourteen people were sitting at the bank entrance.
--Those were fourteen homeless people, all of them elderly.
"You bought funds too?"
"No, I bought a dollar-cost averaging plan."
What's the difference between mutual funds and dollar-cost averaging?
"I don't know, but we're all sitting here, so we should be the same, right?"
They came from the tenement buildings behind the shops on the seaside street, and their families all had some spare money. In Eureka, they were the standard middle class, just one step away from joining the rich club.
These Grandfather and women were no pushovers in their youth; they were experts at making a fortune by eating human flesh.
But as I got older, my mind became less clear, and several years ago I listened to the bank manager and bought various products from the Eros Foundation.
Initially, Flower Chess Bank's tellers, sales staff, and account managers specifically tailored a set of sales scripts for these large deposit customers.
They can act like sons and grandsons, providing door-to-door "family-like services" for the elderly, being more filial than a biological son and sweeter than a biological daughter.
Grandfather believed the bank tellers and spent their life savings on these bank-backed products.
"At first, they kept saying it was some kind of strategic partnership, and that the returns were excellent."
"That's all bullshit! I can't get my money back! Who am I supposed to turn to?!"
"Say less, say less."
The Grandfather quieted down and discussed the matter in hushed tones.
"How long will it take to pay it off?"
"It was originally supposed to be seven years, but it was later extended to seventeen years."
"Where do I get seventeen more years? Where do I get seventeen more years?"
"I had 12 million in the bank. Then Xiao Li (the teller who introduced the investment products) said that the money wasn't in the bank anymore, and I didn't know where it went. My son and I argued, and he told me to handle this myself. He doesn't have time, he doesn't have time, he's so busy he's about to collapse."
When the Zhao family's dogs got tired, they lay down next to the bank booth, waiting for the sun to come out so they could go back to their kennels.
Why isn't he talking? He was fine yesterday.
"Oh! He was in the batch that signed."
"What word?"
"Wasn't it originally said that Mercy Society owe us a debt that would take seventeen years to repay?"
"Um."
"The manager of Huaqi told us not to cause trouble or spread the word, and that as long as we signed a document, we could get our money back early."
Who is he?
"He signed it; it was an IOU—meaning the bank Mercy Society's debt, and what about the rest? If the Mercy Society pays us back, we'll pay the bank back, and then we'll even things out, right?"
"Oh! That makes sense!"
"Wait a minute, what if Mercy Society doesn't repay the money?"
At this point, the elderly men and women fell silent, and faint sobs could be heard.
After a while, the smell of blood wafted from the Seaside Entertainment City, and the goldfish flags of the gambling dens fluttered in the wind, accompanied by the sound of wind chimes, which was quite pleasant to hear.
"I find it funny even when I talk about it."
"They're the ones who owe me money! Why should I have to pay them interest in the end?!"
"You did sign it—there's nothing we can do about it."
"You're destined for a crushing defeat, your reputation ruined in your later years."
"Go to hell!"
Hearing the Grandfather's complaints, the Zhao family's dogs immediately jumped to the bottom of the chessboard's bronze signboard and charged at the loudest, most indignant, and most furious dog, which was as strong as a lion.
The first dog bit the old man's leg, holding it but not breaking it, so as not to let him move around and run away. Without a foothold, the old man would lose his strength, thus preventing injury to his other hunting dogs.
The second hound that followed immediately tore at its neck, drank a few mouthfuls of its blood with its brothers and sisters, and then slowly prepared the rest of the body.
Once the body is almost completely emptied, leaving only the heart and liver, it will be prepared for Master Zhao. When the sun rises, the mobilization troops will send the corpse to the Human Meat Factory to be sealed and packaged.
They only ate one person and were very well-behaved, unlike the untamed lower creatures in [KINGDOM], which required Armadillo Hunters to repeatedly use strong commands to manipulate them.
It's likely that the Zhao family's dog could understand human speech and distinguish between friend and foe; otherwise, it wouldn't have eaten more than just this one person.
There were no more voices or words in front of the bank, only sighs and lamentations, more like the barking of dogs.
On the cultural building of the city television station, there was a moon-shaped light sign at the top of the tower, a very beautiful decoration, but it was dark now.
A gust of wind stirred things up, and a few petals fell from the carnations in front of the gardening shop, swirling and tumbling forward with the turbulent current.
Then they saw fourteen or fifteen young men running from the street corner. They were clean-cut and fully armed. As they fled, they nervously glanced behind them. Some of them had fallen several times but didn't seem to care about the pain. They were so worried that they had to see their impending death before they knew it.
The Death God measures 12.7 millimeters.
ASH's muzzle flashes were like wedding fireworks.
--Flowers will be given to the groomsmen, and the sound of the cannons will startle their friends and family.
The armor of these fourteen or fifteen elite soldiers exploded with a thunderous roar, and they tumbled through the long street, their flesh and blood turning to mush from the immense kinetic energy of the bullets.
Those guests who ran a little slower and were at the back of the group, holding guns to fight back, were the first to be shot and fall. They were impacted but not completely dead. When they got up, their legs trembled uncontrollably, and their sternums caved in. However, because of the blood they had been given, they were not dying. They only felt chest tightness, fatigue, and drooping eyelids.
They were forced to a paper-cutting art gallery by Ash's gun, and there they saw a terrifying bloody hand emerge from behind a paper screen.
That's another Death God--
--The crimson gloves gripped the squad leader's arm tightly, pulling him to the side of the screen. Jing Guang's gun barrel, as sharp as a dragon's, killed the squad leader, causing his head to disappear.
Looking ahead along this road, past the Mercy Society's Peace Mansion, the old Tokyo intersection, and Chiba Ward, there are a total of eighteen gambling dens. Countless corpses and rivers of blood line the road.
Following the fire lanes and drainage ditches along the street, and walking out of the alleyway and the food stalls that hadn't yet closed, you wouldn't leave any footprints on the road, because the narrow alleyway had turned the surface completely red.
[Part ② - Kill]
The gunsmith stands at the end of the long, desolate yet vibrant City Hall street.
Xiao Qi had just kicked aside the last corpse blocking his path and raised his gun to aim at the four Spanish hounds.
--The Zhao family's dog immediately understood, smelling the strong pheromones in the air, it whimpered and howled, then cunningly wagged its tail, begging for mercy and flattering.
Xiao Qi opened fire without hesitation.
--The bullet shattered the beast's skull, and the other three hounds immediately pounced.
Hearing the rapid-fire of ASH bullets, Xiao Qi's shoulders and neck trembled, and his movements of sweeping and shifting were difficult and stiff.
The demonic hound was nimble and agile, though it looked fat and clumsy. Its swollen body was light and airy, and it moved like a ghost as it gripped the stone bricks of the pedestrian street.
They recognized the fierce weapons in the hands of Homo sapiens and knew how to escape the gun's lock. Being shot in the shoulder, neck, and buttocks did not slow them down; instead, it made them even more ferocious and they were about to pounce!
A beam of light fell from the large moon-shaped light display on the TV tower—
--Berloberg descended from the sky and landed in front of the gunsmith.
In the blink of an eye, Jingguang's slide gun emptied the magazine like a dragon spitting out pearls, but it didn't cause much actual damage.
The 9x39 bullets blasted into the fur of the three beasts, tearing open fist-sized craters. The hounds seemed like zombies, oblivious to the pain. The lead hound opened its mouth wide and charged forward!
It happened in the blink of an eye!
The gunsmith drew his sword and struck in fury.
--Suddenly, a vertical slash with a slightly deflected angle seized the center line!
A brilliant light burst forth from Mingde's remains, and the radiant stone and the club seemed to understand each other, forcefully splitting the man-eating beast in two!
Without a moment's rest, he advanced with his sword, adopting a bull stance. The second hunting dog that pounced from the side had half its head chopped off. He ordered the gunsmith to shoulder-bump it down, and the corpse was left by the roadside, twitching and trembling, its four legs kicking and thrashing uncontrollably.
The last coward, seeing that all his older brothers and sisters were dead, began to cower in fear.
With a swing of his sword, the gunsmith spilled thick, sticky blood from the spine of Berloberg's blade. The blood, heated to over a thousand degrees, was coated with a thick layer of charred flesh, almost obscuring the light.
With a flick of his sword, the blood transformed into a crimson crescent moon, falling onto the bricks of the long street. At that moment, Xiao Qi finally finished reloading his bullets.
She could reload quickly, but the gunsmith could kill enemies even faster with his sword.
Seeing the hunting dog about to turn and run away, he finally understood why the fourteen or fifteen people at the street corner were fleeing for their lives, but it was all too late.
ASH broke its hind leg, then its front leg, and it staggered headfirst into the guardhouse at the entrance of the pavilion.
The Snow Owl Mobilization Troops guarding the gate was finally awakened from his sleep.
He hastily got up, wanting to speak up for the Zhao family's dogs, but before he could even grip his gun properly, he pushed open the door and went out.
The moment he poked his body out, both the human head and the dog head were cleaved away by Berloberg's sword!
After the gunsmith finished killing the beasts, he had Berloberg strike the long pole blocking the carriage, shaking off the scorched blood and charred peat. Then, the white, flaming blade burst forth with immense fire, as if the spirit residing within the blade was also raging.
Just then, a round human head rolled to the front of the bank. The sun had just risen from the Pompeii Sea, like a golden egg. When the sunlight shone on the corpse, the demon created by the Madness Butterfly immediately vanished, like pine needles thrown into a furnace, turning into golden and red starlight.
The Grandfather who had been demanding payment at the door scattered in all directions, leaving only the lonely remains of the heart and liver, which had been eaten by the hunting dogs.
But it's not over yet, it's not over yet.
The gunsmith looked up and gazed at his eldest apprentice, Haspen, who was waving good news from the window of the TV tower more than 130 meters away. Hasben handed Berloberg back to his teacher and was about to continue his mission.
The eighteen raids on the seaside gambling dens have ended, but this is just the beginning.
Xue Ming and Xiao Qi rushed into the bank, carried out the Eureka headquarters' printing press, tore open the vault door with Berloberg's super-high-temperature blade, and then wrote eight large characters on the bank's entrance.
[Acting Evil on Behalf of Heaven, Ming De]
The Four-Sided Terrace of the Council of Five Kings
--A quiet, deserted corner.
The boss sat at the bar, deliberately avoiding the passengers, and drank with Ling Weng and manager Marcus.
"I have bad news," the lobby manager said while pouring wine for the boss. "Shi Cun Tuozhen dead. He died on the way before the trial could even begin."
Ming De felt no surprise at all. "Kang Que will never spare his life. This guy knows too many things he shouldn't know, which is a good thing."
Manager: "Good news?"
BOSS: "This means the Mercy Society is panicking! We've hit their weak spot and inflicted real damage! We must continue to exploit this weakness!"
Immediately afterwards, the cat jumped onto the table, grabbed a wine glass, and gulped down the wine.
"How did Ishimura die? I want to know the details."
Manager Marcus tried his best to describe the scene, using body language and explanations to recreate the eerie atmosphere.
"Our escort team was about to leave Eureka, still in the vehicle—when Shi Cun Tuozhen suddenly started vomiting."
"Specifically, food came up from his throat, it was disgusting."
"The water and liquid, the pasta paste inside, seemed to have broken free of gravity and floated upwards."
"Then the guy floated up uncontrollably and landed on the roof of the transport vehicle."
"He couldn't breathe; vomit was blocking his trachea."
"He died on the roof of the car, as if he had been crushed by a heavy object. His skin was shriveled, and blood had burst through his capillaries and mucous membranes, seeping into the gaps in the frame."
"This is the power of Kang Que Connor's soul at work!" the BOSS said, continuing to drink.
Marcus asked eagerly, "Should we tell the Nameless Ones this? They probably don't know about this guy's Soul Power."
BOSS: "Yes, contact the White Ape and send over Ishimura's autopsy report and psionic detection results."
After the bartender left, Ling Weng took over the bartender's position.
The good cat started complaining.
Do you know how long I've waited for this day?
Ling Weng remained silent, listening quietly.
"More than seventy years! A full seventy years! It's easy to find a thousand soldiers, but hard to find a good general." The good cat raised its paw and gently shook it. "I'm not angry because of what I've lost over the years!"
"Instead, I could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything! I could only watch my relatives and friends grovel before the enemy's blade, bowing their heads and bleeding! I promised their ancestors that I would give them a peaceful home! But..."
"I can only watch myself grow weaker day by day, holding my breath! I say, Ming De, what you lost before, I will take back completely! I will make the Madness Butterfly Sect understand! I will turn the Heaven and Earth Turning!"
"I will forge a sword! I will forge the anger in my heart into the iron of revenge!"
"I"
Ling Weng: "Let's drink, let's drink. Brother Cat."
You drink first!
The boss pushed the cup away in disgust, seemingly unsure how to continue after saying so much.
Ling Weng raised his wine cup and brought it to the jeweled throat and neck, the wine spilling over the gold and silver, finally landing on the carpet.
The good cat thought for a long time, then picked up the cup.
"I'll drink it."