Smoke and the stench of burning flooded the throat. Broken walls leaned at crooked angles, bricks split apart, plaster peeling away. The street was filled with shouts and cries for help.
From beginning to end, the battle had lasted less than a minute.
Several buildings had been destroyed by the Ursus mercenaries' assault, and the entire street had been turned into a sea of flames—partly to block their targets' escape, and partly to hinder any pursuers.
But that inferno did not last long.
"Gather Rain into a Stream!"
The fire hydrants on both sides of the street were forced open. The lower city's public utilities were crude, but at least the most basic firefighting systems still worked. Chen Zhaoqian drew the water blasting out of the hydrants into suspended spheres, then flung them high into the air. In the next instant, the water burst into a torrential downpour.
"This is outrageous!"
Chen Zhaoqian's brows knit tightly together. Those kidnappers, just to delay Lungmen's pursuit, had shown complete disregard for civilian casualties. They had actually brought out high-yield Originium bombs.
She was an Arts caster, not a physician. The only things she could do were keep the female guard in front of her alive—and summon a heavy rain so the blaze would not spread any farther.
"You are... Miss Chen Zhaoqian?"
A guard crawled out of the rubble in a wretched state. After the enemy bombardment earlier, he had only managed to shield Talulah and Lin Yuhsia. He had had no strength left to protect anyone else.
"You're one of Wei Yenwu's men? You know me?"
"Most of us shadow guards know you and Mr. Chen Zhaoming. We know you're related to the young lady's husband's family... I just didn't expect you to be nearby."
The guard looked at Chen Zhaoqian, a flicker of hope appearing in his eyes.
"Since you're here, then Miss Ch'en Hui-chieh and Miss Swire—"
"Missing."
Chen Zhaoqian's flat tone made the guard's face stiffen. It was completely different from the way she behaved around Chen Zhaoming. Toward the Wei family, she had not the slightest trace of goodwill.
"Step aside. Let me check on those two children."
Even with the guards' protection, two seven- or eight-year-old children had still lost consciousness after taking the shockwave from the explosion at close range.
Fortunately, while Wei Yenwu's guards had failed to keep track of Ch'en Hui-chieh and Swire, they had at least protected Talulah and Lin Yuhsia. The two girls were only unconscious; they showed no obvious external injuries.
I wonder how those other two children are doing...
After learning from the guard that Ch'en Hui-chieh and Swire had already been taken, Chen Zhaoqian frowned more deeply.
Now it's up to Brother.
...
At that moment, Chen Zhaoming was already pursuing the enemy in the direction the female guard had indicated.
From the time he heard the first explosion to the moment they arrived on scene, only two or three minutes had passed. But the Ursus mercenaries had moved fast—fast enough to perfectly illustrate what it meant to be well-trained.
And because of that, Chen Zhaoming actually relaxed a little.
"Probably not that old black snake after all."
He had examined the battlefield. The enemy had used Originium bombs, standard Ursus throwing spears, standard Ursus siege spears, and an M31 mortar... there were at least three clearly identifiable types of standard Ursus military equipment present.
It was not that Koschei could not have framed the Ursus military.
It was that if Koschei had made a move, not one of the four guards at the scene would still be alive.
The enemy's level wasn't that high.
Chen Zhaoming reached that conclusion, yet that very conclusion left him puzzled.
In his view, if four little girls had all been together, then the side with the numerical advantage should have been the guards. But in reality, only four guards had shown up.
Three gravely wounded. One lightly wounded.
Of course, there might still have been guards he had not discovered—but the truly unreasonable part was that not a single enemy corpse had been left behind.
When something made no sense, then don't waste time dwelling on it.
Following the direction the female guard had pointed out, Chen Zhaoming ran across the rooftops of the residential buildings, constantly scanning below for traces left by the Ursus men.
That was not difficult.
Because from the start, those Ursus mercenaries had never intended to hide. Once they had captured the two fat lambs—Ch'en Hui-chieh and Swire—they had no plan to remain in Lungmen.
They were trying to escape Lungmen as fast as possible.
Which was undoubtedly the correct decision.
No matter how well a band of foreign Ursus men knew Lungmen, they could never know it as well as the gangs and local factions who had lived in the city for decades. If they dared hide inside Lungmen, it would only be a matter of time before they were found.
And the moment they were found, the two hostages in their hands would not guarantee their safety.
Because what they had done was no longer merely kidnapping.
It was a terrorist attack.
They had blown up civilian housing in Lungmen's lower city and abducted the niece of Lungmen's governor, Wei Yenwu. If only to establish his authority, Wei Yenwu could never allow these Ursus men to walk out of Lungmen alive.
So Chen Zhaoming had guessed correctly.
In less than half a minute of searching, he spotted several Ursus brutes throwing the unconscious Ch'en Hui-chieh and Swire into a van—then immediately flooring the accelerator.
...
"Hahaha, boss, wasn't this job way too easy?"
The Ursus brute behind the wheel laughed as he stomped the gas pedal down.
"By the time Lungmen reacts, we'll probably already be out of the city."
Their original plan had been to finish the battle within five minutes. Who would have thought the four little girls really only had four guards with them? A lot of the preparations they had made had ended up being completely unnecessary.
Now they had finished the fight in a single minute, and that extra time had loosened everyone's nerves considerably.
"They all say Lungmen is some dragon's lair or tiger's den, and that its current governor, Wei Yenwu, is a ruthless hero who defeated Grand Duke Koschei. Looks pretty overrated to me."
"How does that saying go again? In times without heroes, petty men become famous."
"Hahahahahaha!"
The entire van was filled with cheerful laughter.
Even Petrov, whose heart had long since gone numb from one war after another, could not help letting a faint smile creep onto his lips.
In all of Lungmen, the ones he truly feared were those legendary Imperial Guards.
Among the higher ranks of Ursus officers, it was no secret that Lungmen's governor, Wei Yenwu, was in fact a prince of Great Yan, and that half of the Yan Imperial Guard had once been under his command.
But eight years ago, when he fought Grand Duke Koschei for Lungmen, those Imperial Guards had suffered catastrophic losses. Some died, some were crippled, and the survivors were no longer a coherent force.
So Petrov did not worry in the slightest that some Imperial Guard would suddenly appear to block his path.
As long as they reached the harbor district and got out of Lungmen—
then no matter how strong those Imperial Guards were, they would never be able to track them across the wilderness.
By then, the initiative would be entirely his.
What Petrov did not notice was that Ch'en Hui-chieh, who had originally been knocked unconscious by the blast and tossed into the rear compartment, had drowsily opened her eyes.
She looked up—
and saw a familiar figure drawing closer and closer.
All at once, Ch'en Hui-chieh was no longer groggy.
"Dad!!"