Zhan Long
chapter-351

9PM at night. In the secret base of the Xihu district special forces.

At the door, I lifted my head for an iris scan to confirm my identity. The heavily armed guard looked at me and laughed, “Officer Li, you’re here tonight?”

“Yeah. I’m going in.”

“Okay!”

Entering the base, I noticed that everything was painted dark green. This base wasn’t built too long ago. It’s in the depths of the police district, and is hidden very well. It allows our special forces to carry out our missions very secretively. Recently, Nanjing had sent us more forces so that this office would become the main HQ of the Zhejing region. The main objective of the special forces is to carry out missions regarding humans with super energy; Something that the normal police force wouldn’t be able to handle.

……

Under an average-looking small house was the entrance to the base. I entered it and went down a few floors, eventually ending up in the brightly lit training room. A group of special forces members were training with some electronic devices. Beams of red infrared lights landed onto the targets as the computers were rapidly calculating their shooting abilities. I turned around and a female member walked towards me with a smile, “Officer Li, you came?”

“Yeah. Can you take me to the technology department?”

“Okay!”

As we walked, I watched the two other training rooms. The female officer smiled, “Recently, groups of Artificials have been appearing in cities like Shanghai, Xiamen, and Shenzhen. Although we didn’t publicly announce it, the higher ups have already put them on the high priority list. Captain Wang also believes that a calamity will descend upon China. In order to deal with the Artificials’ speed, we’re practicing to master the usage of nano bullets. Because the nano bullets’ ignition can produce very large amounts of heat, they also have the tendency to diverge from straight trajectories.”

I had tried using nano bullets before. They did in fact deflect easily, and it was clear that they tended to curve upwards, so you had to point your gun a bit lower. I looked at her armband and said, “Looks like…..the special forces are changing their name….?”

She smiled and nodded, “Yeah. As expected, your intel is very up to date. Why don’t you just ask Captain Wang. He’s also in the Technology department investigating the recent reports…..”

“Okay!”

……

After walking a bit further, we reached the technology department. The room was filled with computers, and it was basically a gathering place for all the bright minds of the Zhejing region police force.

Shen Bing sat in front of a computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard, searching for some information as Wang Xin stood besides her. I lightly walked over and said, “Captain Wang, you’re here too!”

Wang Xin nodded, “Li Xiao Yao, do you know this Qin Meng ?”

“I don’t.” I shook my head and said, “But his sister is called Qin Yu, a member of the guild I created in [Destiny]. Qin Yu has been trying to find her brother’s whereabouts, and Qin Meng was coincidentally acquaintances with Youyi from [Mass Burial]. These [Mass Burial] members aren’t simple at all. That Dong Feng guy I caught last time was [Mass Burial]’s Vice Guild Master. I suspect that Youyi is also participating in the Artificials case. Connecting the two was simple. Qin Meng has a high probability of being taken to be experimented on. Finding him is very important for us as well; this might be our breakthrough! Oh right, how is Dong Feng’s interrogation going?”

Wang Xin frowned, “Don’t mention it. He won’t talk even if he died. We even invited interrogators from other countries, and it still hasn’t produced any results. The people from Nanjing came over and did a DNA test on him. Turns out, he was an Artificial as well. Two days ago, he broke out of his cell and almost escaped. “

“Damn….” I clenched my fist. “Then what are you going to do about him?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see what the higher ups in Nanjing want…. They’ve put a great deal of importance on Dong Feng. General Sun Xing has been worried everyday about the speed at which the Artificials are evolving at. Dong Feng is the only Artificial that we’ve caught alive. His body is already changed, and we can observe the special DNA strands. This is an ideal test subject!”

I sighed, “Actually, it would be better if we found out who was behind all this from Dong Feng. Find out who’s been supplying them with their equipment and technology. This is the biggest problem. As long as we take them out, this whole case would resolve itself quickly.

Wang Xin nodded. “Yeah I know. But this type of move needs careful planning. You should know all the constraints we have to work under. No matter who it is, they must be one of the big powers in China. If not, it wouldn’t be possible for them to produce so many Artificials out of nowhere.”

I looked over at Shen Bing and said, “Sister Shen Bing. Did you find anything?”

Shen Bing looked at the screen and shook her head, “I can only confirm that Qin Meng entered the bar on Blue Water Street two months ago. Coincidentally, that bar’s owner was the Dong Feng that we caught and after that, all traces of Qin Meng disappeared. I’ve been using cloud computing for a while to try and trace Qin Meng, but all I found was that all of his queries have been encrypted and blocked. Decoding this would take a bit of time.”

I slowly sat down on the chair besides me, crossed my arms and looked at the screen. I finally said, “Sister Shen Bing. About how long will it take you to decode this?”

“I don’t know….” Shen Bing rubbed her eyes. “Probably…probably another seven hours or so?”

“That…..” I gritted my teeth. “I guess Sister Shen Bing has to work overtime tonight. I’ll stay here with you. I won’t be able to rest until we know about Qin Meng’s whereabouts….”

“No way!” Shen Bing lifted her head and smiled. “You haven’t fallen for this Qin Yu right? Otherwise, why would you worry so much about her brother?”

I let out a bitter laugh. “How could I? I just… I saw Qin Yu cry in the game. Both Qin Yu and her mom depend on Qin Meng. This kind of hard-working brother shouldn’t be disappearing like this. If I can, I’ll use all my strength to rescue Qin Meng from the Blood Scythes.”

“Okay! I’ll try my best!”

“Okay!”

I rubbed my eyes and looked at Shen Bing’s shoulders. There was a fresh armband with a five star red flag on it. It was the Hangzhou symbol, and then in large letters, “Guardian”.

Puzzled, I quickly turned and looked at Wang Xin, “Captain Wang, did the special forces change their name?”

Wang Xin smiled and nodded, “Yeah. It was decided a week ago. All of the upper class cities have a special base for the “Guardians”. We won’t be showing ourselves in public so we’re like the secret guardian protectors of the city. How is it? Isn’t the name cool?”

I extended my hand, “Bring it over!”

“Bring what over?” Wang Xin stared.

I stared back. “I’m a member of the Guardian Squad as well. Could it be that I don’t have a designation?”

“Well…..” Wang Xin curled his lips, “Xiao Zhao, go get Li Xiao Yao’s armband for him.”

“Okay!”

The officer who brought me over responded, and quickly returned with a brightly-colored armband. The national flag, the district, and all the other related images were exactly the same as Shen Bing’s. But instead of having GUARDIAN in the middle, all it had was GUARD.

My face turned green and looked at Wang Xin, “Why am I just a guard and not a guardian? What do you mean by this ‘guard’, Boss?!”

Wang Xin smiled, “It’s because you’re our Hangzhou district Guardian Squad’s leader. It was a direct order from General Sun Xing, so of course it’s different. What? You don’t like it?”

I looked at the armband. “Ugh….. Okay….”

On one side, Shen Bing giggled, “What’s so bad about it? The GUARD is pretty cool. It’s like a blessing. A brat like you just can’t appreciate your own fortune……”

I felt my face twitch, “Can I not wear this during the operation?”

Wang Xin shook his head. “You have to wear it. If not, you might be accidentally killed by friendly fire.”

I pursed my lips, “Okay……”

……

I continued to sit in the Technology Department watching Shen Bing work. Her face started to sweat as she continued to decode nonstop. Once in awhile, she would turn and look at Wang Xin.

“Captain Wang, give the National Security Bureau a call. We need the authority to open and check out the C files.”

“Captain Wang, I need the military to authorize my account.”

“Captain Wang, help me buy some midnight snacks. Get me some flavored pork strips, and get Li Xiao Yao some pepper fried pig heart. I know the kid loves to eat that……”

Wang Xin: “…………”

……

We continued until 7 AM the next day, until Shen Bing suddenly pointed at the screen, “I got it!”

“Huh?”

Wang Xin and I both quickly rushed over, and sure enough, there was a portrait of a young man with the series of injection data and responses in the top secret file. This secret document was from a research document, and this man was definitely Qin Yu’s brother, Qin Meng.

Wang Xin clenched his fist. “These human experimentations….. Where are they being conducted?”

“I’m searching through the satellites. Wait a bit!” Shen Bing was sweating profusely. After a few minutes, the screen jumped into action and displayed a map of somewhere in the Hangzhou’s Xihu district!

“Found it! Blue Water Street. It’s a new mall next to that bar, and is currently still being renovated. From this 3-D display, it seems like the lab is in the third floor of the basement!”

“It’s really hidden. So that’s where they were hiding!” The veins on Wang Xin’s arms began to bulge. “I’ve finally found you bastards that turn normal humans into those monsters!”

“When are we moving out?” I asked.

Shen Bing said, “It’s almost the morning. If we move now, we’ll be noticed. Let’s wait until nighttime!”

“Okay!” Wang Xin said. “We’ll strike exactly at midnight! Li Xiao Yao, you’ll lead the group. We must eliminate this research facility in one. However, you must also be very careful; they’ll definitely have some defenses.”

“Got it……….”

……

At this time, my cellphone rang. It was displaying Rainy’s number. After picking up, all I heard was light sobbing——

“Boss, did you find my brother’s whereabouts? I…..I’m worried about him…. My mom just called and was crying…. I…..What should I do? What should I do…..”

I gritted my teeth, “Rainy don’t worry, I’ll find your brother.”