Romance of Dragons and Snakes Chapter 37

 Crane styled Wingchun, Euros and guns

“Turn on your lights! First unit, second unit, snipers, commando, move move move!” Cao Yi’s commands had been barely louder than a whisper, but everyone had heard it loud and clear.

With a swis.h.i.+ng sound, several lights were turned on, illuminating the dark factory with a bright light.

The very moment the spotlights s.h.i.+ned onto the dark factory, it instantly exploded with an uproar. Although it was some distance away, but the night wind had carried the sounds to w.a.n.g Chao’s ears as if a nest of mice had been startled awake.

Before w.a.n.g Chao and the people he was protecting had even stepped out of the car, the other policemen had already jumped out. Charging out from the cars, they flashed their lights onto the dark factory and flew towards it with their guns poised.

“This…is some high quality movements. These police officers are not just any run of the mill ones.”

At this sight, even w.a.n.g Chao couldn’t help but sigh to himself in admiration, “If it’s just some criminals hiding away in that factory, would they be able to escape from the hands of justice?”

Imagining himself in the shoes of the criminals, w.a.n.g Chao’s imagination went wild as he began to run through a quick mental simulation. In the end, he only had a single conclusion: If he was in the factory, he only had a 10% chance of escaping.

From the movements of these forces, w.a.n.g Chao wasn’t even sure if they were police, SWAT, or even the militia.

With these movements, w.a.n.g Chao couldn’t imagine just what type of criminals they were trying to capture. All he knew was his own mission to protect the female newsreporter.

He was an outsider after all. Even Cao Yi wouldn’t disclose sensitive information to him.

Zhu Jia was a th.o.r.n.y rose that was very problematic in such a sting operation like this. At the same time, she was an untouchable person that one could not offend. With such a combination, it was natural to try and find a scapegoat.

“Hurry up and follow them, what are you doing?! Follow them quickly and bring up your camera! We absolutely have to have the first-hand shooting of this.” Suddenly, Zhu Jia flew forward with her male cameraman with a microphone in hand. Putting on a helmet as well, she followed behind the other police officers.

Without wasting any time, w.a.n.g Chao ran after them with his pores sealed shut and his hair standing up on the ends. With his ears ready to hear all and his eyes ready to see everything, his entire concentration was put to the limit.

On the other side, when Cao Yi saw Zhu Jia follow up behind them, a bitter grimace was on his face. he knew that advising her would be useless since his words would become a weapon instead.

But even with that, he shook his hands and ordered for two SWAT to follow them from behind.

These two SWAT members were the two that had first tested w.a.n.g Chao. They were both strong and rich with experience. With such a valuable skillset, Cao Yi could rest a.s.sured; but just before he could relax, his walkie talkie blared into life.

“Reporting to the chief, this is the commando squad. We’ve entered the factory and was met with resistance. Opposition doesn’t have any high caliber weaponry, just pistols. Awaiting for further instructions!”

“Force your way through!” Cao Yi ordered as he spat out the four words coldly.

Zhu Jia and w.a.n.g Chao followed their way into the factory smoothly without coming across any trouble. With the police upfront, they could clean away any trouble.

This abandoned factory had to have belonged to an old company. The brick walls were collapsed everywhere with tall gra.s.s and rats being seen in every corner.

Bang bang bang! A series of gunfire filled the open air and broke the previous silence in the courtyard.

The male reporter began to quiver in fear at the sound of the gunfire, his camera shaking along with him.

“Just what the h.e.l.l are you good for! Being scared by such a small sound, have you ever thought about the war reporters? If you don’t film everything, then your bonus will be cut!” Zhu Jia spoke with excitement, “Aim the camera at me.”

As soon as the camera s.h.i.+ned on her, Zhu Jia underwent a transformation of appearance, “Fellow audience, I am….currently at the scene of an underground drug trafficking ring…right now our brave officers are fighting it out with the evildoers right now….”

After introducing herself, Zhu Jia waved her hand to show off the scene behind her where several men had already charged in again.

Each room was extraordinarily dark despite the light flas.h.i.+ng on it from the outside. Countless of gunfire could be heard as w.a.n.g Chao watched several squads bring out sub-machine guns. Setting themselves against a stable wall, they began to shoot into the darkness with the repeated rounds of bullets.

Ta ta ta! Ta ta ta! The intense barrage continued on for another minute in a clear attempt to prevent any of the screams of the dying criminals from being heard. Waving his hand, one of the police commanders ordered several men to charge into the rooms.

“Suppression by gunfire, how valiant!” This was the very first time w.a.n.g Chao had seen a true gun battle. When he saw just how rapid the sub-machine gun was spitting out bullets, even he had been startled.

At the same time, ang Chao had compared his martial arts to the gunfire, “What did the masters of the Republic of China era feel in front of such firepower? Master Cheng Tinghua, did he feel the same way I am feeling? Master Huang Feihong, when he was enlisted in the Marines and became disillusioned with martial arts, did he feel such a feeling like this?”

A profound feeling that was unclear on what emotion w.a.n.g Chao was truly experiencing burst out of w.a.n.g Chao’s thoughts.

“Everyone’s gone, who do we go with?” Seeing the officers all scatter, the male reporter blinked his eyes in fear.

“Head towards the most recent burst of gunfire!” Zhu Jia began to run without wasting any words. With that, the entire group began to ran towards the closest concentration of gunfire.

Upon opening the door, an abandoned workshop could be seen with several rusting machinery lying about. From the s.h.i.+ning light outside, the environment on the inside was barely visible.

Casting an eye inwards, w.a.n.g Chao could see several bodies with as many holes a hornet nest laying about all over the place with blood leaking downwards.

A stinking amount of blood filled the air and combined with the rotten smell of mold. With these two smells, several of the reporters began to feel the need to vomit.

“Wagh!” One of the male reporters had already began to puke.

w.a.n.g Chao had already seen death before. Back when Cao Jingjing was kidnapped, the long haired man he had used the Three Pace Pounding Fist Jin on had died.

Although the kidnapper had died mainly because his hair had been caught in the fan, it had been caused by him. But now he had seen death before, allowing him to stay calm.

“Head on in, how useless are you!” Zhu Jia had felt nothing either. With a single curse, she called for people to follow her as she walked past the dead bodies inwards.

Just at that moment, bang! A single shot of gunfire could be heard from the other side of the door. With a single howl of pain, one of the male reporters fell down to the ground.

The bullet had shot through his arm.

“Get down!” The two SWAT members barked out before dropping to the ground themselves. Swiftly rolling to the corners, they took out their guns and began to fire as well.

At this crucial moment of self preservation, the two SWAT members obviously wouldn’t charge upwards to protect Zhu Jia. This type of honor would be considered a martyr’s death.

The chivalrous hero protecting another in a rain of gunfire was rarely seen elsewhere other than real life.

With cries for their mothers, the other reporters dropped to the ground and dared not to peek their heads up.

w.a.n.g Chao had been quick as well. Both of his hands flew forward as well as his legs. In a single movement, he took Zhu Jia to the ground and protected her with his body.

Needless to say, w.a.n.g Chao’s ability with Taichi had already reached a high level. In this downwards push, Zhu Jia could only feel her body grow light for a moment before seemingly floating to the ground gently.

Then, w.a.n.g Chao’s body came cras.h.i.+ng down against hers, causing her heart to leap in shock.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and get off! I know how to lie down!” Zhu Jia knew the situation clearly, but she was unable to accept the situation she was currently in and immediately cried out in fury.

Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from the other door once more, bang! A single bullet came flying down before falling against w.a.n.g Chao’s body with a painful sound.

The two SWAT members fished out their pistols and shot into the door without any apprehensions about it.

“Hurry up and get up, now! The men inside are already dead, let’s go!”

Zhu Jia jumped up with a hurry and took one of the cameras thrown aside from the cameraman. Then, she began to feel her way to the rear where the door was.

“This woman is gutsy, does she even mind her life!?”

w.a.n.g Chao’s body leapt up and followed after her.

Entering through the doors, there was yet another workshop with stools in the center next to a table. On the table were various bags of flour like powder.

Aside from that, there were also three officers on the ground groaning.

The three officers hadn’t any gun wounds, but looking from how they had lost their ability to stand, they were evidently knocked out from someone.

Apart from this, there were several other random dead bodies lying about.

A good majority of them were shot dead while a few others were still struggling to breathe.

“Drugs!” The moment when w.a.n.g Chao saw the items on top of the table, he immediately thought about the drugs he had always seen on TV.

Cras.h.!.+ Suddenly, a single body flew up, forcing w.a.n.g Chao to push Zhu Jia away. All he could see was two portable suitcases before the man pounced towards the window like a snake. Opening the window, he flew out.

Outside the window was a collapsed wall. And right outside of that was a field of corn that was then followed by a giant mountain.

It was summer so the corn wasn’t fully mature yet. But the stalks were tall enough to tower of a person.

During the day, it would have been hard to see anyone, but in the night, it would have been impossible.

Cao Yi had some people surround the corn fields, but since it was so large and they didn’t have enough people so it was impossible to cover every place.

The first wave of officers that were sent to the area had already been killed.

This meant that this wasn’t any regular criminal gang.

“Hurry up….chase them….” A single officer could sense that they were close and called out weakly to them.

“I’m fine, hurry up and go!” Zhu Jia could see him too and fiercely pushed w.a.n.g Chao off her chest.

When w.a.n.g Chao saw the man jumped out the window, he could tell that he was an expert. This caused an itchy feeling to well up within his heart.

And with the moonlight s.h.i.+ning down, w.a.n.g Chao could see that the man was holding two suitcases before he jumped out the window. There wasn’t any guns to be seen.

“Within these two suitcases has to be something good, maybe money!”

The room contained only men without the ability to fight so there was no immediate threat to Zhu Jia. With the rest of the officers coming in, there would be even less of a danger.

After a.n.a.lyzing the situation for a moment within his mind, w.a.n.g Chao suddenly leaped out the window like a monkey picking a fruit.

This was a part of the monkey form.

Climbing over the wall, w.a.n.g Chao arrived at the corn fields. With a motion like a snake through a field of gra.s.s, w.a.n.g Chao’s figure flickered through it in a few quick steps.

In less than two minutes, he had already traveled far from the room. The other side of the building still rang out with the occasional sounds of gunfire, but nothing too fierce.

By this point, the man with the two suitcases was already back within his sight.

The corn fields had already reached an end. There was only a mountain with no path remaining. By this point, the man had already known that someone was chasing him. Immediately stopping in place, he set down the suitcases and turned around. Extending his arms, he resembled like a crane as he faced w.a.n.g Chao.

The man’s figure suddenly transformed, his fists turned into beaks and shot towards w.a.n.g Chao’s throat.

w.a.n.g Chao could only feel a sudden gust of wind before a.s.saulting his throat as if he was choking.

“An expert!” When the expert had made a move, he had been caught unaware. But seeing just how the mysterious man moved, w.a.n.g Chao knew that he was up against an expert he couldn’t take lightly.

His left hand formed an eagle’s claw and protected his throat to prevent it from being pecked out.

Bang! Although he had managed to contain the beak like hand, the five fingers suddenly loosened up and expanded. w.a.n.g Chao could only feel the power within the hand swell up as it clamped down onto his own.

The other man’s hand had made his pores well up to resemble a strange looking glove.

“Another internal pract.i.tioner! This guy’s Jin is stronger than mine! Not only that, but even his martial arts is stronger and more advanced than mine.” w.a.n.g Chao had a decent amount of fighting experience, so in that brief moment of contact, he had been able to understand.

Unable to feel the enemy’s potential movements, w.a.n.g Chao could only retreat backwards. Unfortunately for him, the enemy hadn’t retracted his hand. His beak hand transformed into a claw and latched onto w.a.n.g Chao’s arm before putting force onto his grip.

“Not good!” w.a.n.g Chao could sense that the power from the enemy go down his waist and into his legs, causing them to weaken and him to crouch down involuntarily.

This was the result of having his own potential movements sensed by the enemy.

Knowing that his situation wasn’t looking good, w.a.n.g Chao’s hands transformed to form a knife edge. With blood coursing through his veins and his knee resting on the ground, he pressed hard against the ground to propel him to the side.

At last he was back on stable grounding. Like a slippery fish, he was able to relinquish the enemy’s hold onto him.

“Eh?!” The enemy hadn’t let w.a.n.g Chao out from his sight. The arm that was holding w.a.n.g Chao’s arm was thrown to the side before w.a.n.g Chao’s knife hand tried to stab into his waist. With that, the man let out a sound of surprise.

Pa! Turning his body, the man slammed his fist against w.a.n.g Chao’s knife hand. Swaying to the side, w.a.n.g Chao felt his hand go numb as if he was stabbed by a ball cactus.

“Hidden Jin!” w.a.n.g Chao’s surprise was in no small amount. If his opponent had truly reached the Hidden Jin stage, then he would be no match for him.

But after some time, w.a.n.g Chao felt that while his arm had went numb, he didn’t lose his fighting strength. This had meant that his opponent had only just reached the point of Hidden Jin and was not yet fully capable of using it.

Otherwise, an expert at the stage of Hidden Jin would have been able to strike with a pinpoint accuracy of a needle and like lightning. With a single strike, the nerves would be shot, rendering the muscles unable to exert force.

But with the opponent not yet at the Hidden Jin stage, w.a.n.g Chao could be a.s.sured that he had a chance. Carefully, he began to circle around the enemy using the footwork of Bagua.

The opponent’s martial arts had been unbelievably fierce. Sticking up close and using Longfist way of fighting. He would always attack him from the front side with popping sounds from each blow like the waves slapping against the sh.o.r.es.

After five exchanges, w.a.n.g Chao had finally made out the man’s true ident.i.ty. He was a middle aged man around 30 years old with a round face and a build that was not too muscular. However, he looked as if he was filled with energy.

But when his opponent saw w.a.n.g Chao was only just a youngster, he couldn’t help but feel shocked.

“Wingchun?” The enemy’s style of fighting was similar to Xingyi Quan, but the way of fighting was more spiral like with a penetrative amount of power. Moreover, the fists would generally come very close to the body before issuing power towards the shoulders.

“You have good eyes!” The middle aged man took a step back and let out a breath of air. Then, like a crane grabbing at a snake, he struck.

w.a.n.g Chao stepped to the side before circling around as he used the monkey stance to leap up into the air. Dodging the strike, he used the Smas.h.i.+ng Fist to strike back.

Pa pa pa pa! Fists struck against fist four times before w.a.n.g Chao felt his arm go numb once more. A strong amount of energy transmitted through to his back and then down to his vertebrae, causing him pain.

The enemy was using Wingchun which was based off the fight between a snake and a white crane, his style specifically was focused on the white crane aspect.

Wingchun was very prevalent in the coastal areas, but the true teachings were rarely pa.s.sed down. Only Bruce Lee at the time had truly learned it.

Taichi had the art of pus.h.i.+ng hands, Xingyi Quan had the art of the twisting hands, Bagua the rotating hands, and the Crane style Wingchun focusing on the art of coiling the hands. There were others that were hard to deal with, but all focused on listening to one’s Jin and potential movement. It could even be said that all internal pract.i.tioners were interlinked with each other through martial arts.

w.a.n.g Chao had finally came across such an expert at the coiling fist. Not only was he unable to feel his potential movements, but he had nearly been swung to the ground.

“I’ve really came across a true expert this time!” w.a.n.g Chao felt a large amount of pressure and excitement within his chest. Leaping upwards, he began to go all out.

The middle age man was fighting harder and harder as well. His fists were like a hurricane and nearly covered w.a.n.g Chao via a series of combos that forced w.a.n.g Chao back.

After 10 exchanges within the corn field, w.a.n.g Chao leapt out.

“It’s unfortunate this is a wide open s.p.a.ce.” w.a.n.g Chao thought to himself, “Otherwise, I’d have been mowed down long ago.”

The two suitcases had been kicked open, revealing bills and bills of money.

The bills were not RMB, and neither was it the American dollar. It was purple in color and had a circle of rings. On the top right, there was a 500 printed on it.

This was the high face value Euro!

The two men continued to fight, but after two minutes, the other man began to grow frantic. His attacks began to grow more frantic as his desire to kill w.a.n.g Chao and continue on his way grew stronger.

But w.a.n.g Chao hadn’t been forced by back him and instead continued to travel around him.

This wasn’t a wrestling match where there was a legal and illegal strike. If the man wanted to strike w.a.n.g Chao dead, it would not be easy.

Just at that moment, the corn maze began to snap with sounds as a figure came walking out.

It was Zhu Jia!

“c.r.a.p!” w.a.n.g Chao immediately realized the situation was going to h.e.l.l.

Sure enough, once the man saw her, a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile overcame his face. Disengaging from w.a.n.g Chao, he charged at Zhu Jia.

But Zhu Jia wasn’t afraid. Lifting her hands, several pops rang out! Pa pa pa pa pa pa! A series of gunfire could be heard as the middle aged man’s body began to distort as if spinning around a pole.