Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 436: Night of Wind and Tides (16)

Dragon Raja 3

The gunmen should’ve regretted encountering these two instead of Caesar and Chu Zihang. While Caesar and Chu Zihang were fierce fighters, their goals were straightforward: to defeat their opponents. Finger, on the other hand, fought like a rabid dog—he wouldn’t stop until his enemies were down, and even then, he’d bite a few more times for good measure.

Zero looked down at Finger, shocked. His combat abilities exceeded her expectations and his own self-assessment. He wasn’t just a good horse—he was a combination of a fierce rhino and a nimble leopard! To pull off such an acrobatic evasion and counterattack in mere milliseconds required reflexes and physical prowess at the peak of hybrid capabilities. Most importantly, it took nerve—facing down overwhelming odds without hesitation, daring to strike with precision and power.

Finger had done just that. No wonder he’d once been rated as an A-Rank. Even Caesar and Chu Zihang might not have done it better.

Zero shot a puzzled glance at Finger, but he didn’t notice. He was too busy furiously kicking the fallen gunman and cursing up a storm, ranting about the gunman’s ancestors. Zero could only surmise that his fall to F-Rank had more to do with his mental state than his physical abilities.

The arriving gunmen were shocked. The hallway was filled with choking dust, the walls riddled with bullet holes. Through the haze, they saw a monstrous figure over two meters tall, viciously kicking their fallen comrades. It had a huge head and an elongated torso, looking nothing like a human.

Terrified, they raised their guns and fired, their shotguns kicking up clouds of dust as the pellets struck the walls. They couldn’t see anything, but they didn’t dare stop shooting. They knew that some exceptional hybrids were hiding in this club, and the best way to deal with them was to drown them in a storm of bullets.

Their magazines emptied, and the gunmen switched to their sidearms while reloading their shotguns. “That much firepower should have ended the fight, right?” they thought. Even if their opponent had the hide of a rhinoceros, they should have been blown to pieces by now.

But suddenly, a swift shadow leaped from the dust, landing on top of the gunmen. They didn’t even have time to raise their guns, never expecting such agility from their opponent. Judging by its size, it should’ve weighed over 200 kilograms, like a charging bull. How could a bull leap so lightly? Almost simultaneously, another dark figure burst through the dust, charging straight at them. The gunmen fired their handguns, focusing on the charging figure.

Bullets struck it with a sharp ping, but the creature seemed unharmed. It barreled through the gunmen, knocking several to the ground before kicking them with brute force, employing a wild dog’s savage fighting style.

The remaining gunmen tried to help, but the figure from above struck one of them with an elbow, using the momentum to leap again. A spinning kick hit another gunman in the throat, while the figure snatched a combat knife from the belt of a falling gunman, landing on the back of the rampaging one.

Finger discarded the metal plate he had used to shield himself from bullets and grabbed two shotguns. Zero struck one gunman across the face, bending down to snatch another combat knife from his waist.

The twin blades spun in Zero’s hands while Finger positioned the shotguns at his waist.

“Big size freaked you guys out, didn’t it?” Finger grinned, suddenly crouching and launching forward.

The shotguns roared, and Finger rocketed towards the remaining gunmen like a cannonball, while Zero’s twin blades carved through the air in a dazzling arc.

This tactic was extremely dangerous—any mistake would doom the other—but at that moment, Finger and Zero moved in perfect sync, like a pair of dancers.

Finger spun through the crowd of gunmen and suddenly stopped. Almost simultaneously, the gunmen collapsed. Zero had precisely struck their carotid arteries with the back of her blades, rendering them unconscious in an instant. The gunmen had completely misjudged the situation—Finger’s intimidating stance, with the twin shotguns blazing from his waist, made him seem like a rolling tank. In such close quarters, shooting back would’ve meant mutual destruction. The gunmen weren’t prepared to die alongside a madman. Even among fearless warriors, that would not be considered a noble death, so they instinctively dropped to the ground to avoid the bullets. In reality, Finger’s shotgun blasts had been aimed slightly high, and the real threat was Zero’s blades.

After all, these gunmen weren’t death servitors. Unless absolutely necessary, Cassell College operatives wouldn’t use lethal force against them.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zero said. “Osho’s target isn’t Takamagahara. He’s after the god in the Red Well.”

“Wasn’t the god’s embryo killed by your mercury and firebombs?” Finger grumbled, stomping on the fallen gunmen in frustration.

“Look outside… Mount Fuji has erupted. That volcano has been dormant for centuries, and its awakening coincided with the discovery of Takamagahara’s ruins, which also triggered the underwater volcanic eruption.” Zero gazed out the window. The western sky was ablaze, as if a massive furnace had ignited across the earth, its glow turning the clouds red. “Only the revival of a god could cause such drastic changes to Japan’s climate. We underestimated the vitality of that life form.”

“Understood! Woof, woof, woof!” Finger barked playfully, charging down the hallway.

Lu Mingfei, carrying Chime, waded through the waist-deep water. They had finally made it out of the flooded basement to the main hall, but the hall had also turned into a giant water pit. Water sloshed around them from all sides, and Lu Mingfei shouted for help, but no one responded.

In the distance, gunshots echoed. The world was in utter chaos.

Chime was growing weaker from blood loss. No matter how strong his desire to see his brother was, his human body had its limits. He was pale, almost transparent, light as paper, and he clung to Lu Mingfei, barely able to hold on, as if he could slip away at any moment, carried off by the water. The only sign that he was still alive was the tight grip he had on Lu Mingfei’s shoulder. Chime held on because Lu Mingfei was the only person who could bring him to his brother.

But Lu Mingfei was so exhausted that he could barely carry this frail “sheet of paper.” He was so tired that he wanted to cry. He had always known he was weak and powerless, but he hadn’t realized just how weak and powerless he was. Without Lu Mingze’s help from the shadows, he couldn’t even fulfill this simple wish for Chime. Chisei was just upstairs in this very building. Can’t you stop your stupid gunfight and break through a couple of floors to see your brother? He’s about to die! You’re so powerful, can’t you summon a hovercraft to save him?

He’s waited for so many years to meet you. Even though he hates you for killing him, he still wants to see you. Can’t you show a little heart and come see him? Lu Mingfei was so angry and exhausted that he wanted to scream curses.

The lights all went out, leaving only the damnable sound system still playing a Chinese song:

“Who in this life, can live without regrets? Through the long, long night, thinking of that familiar face, remembering the weary world, no longer young, barely making it through another year… yet the one you long for still hasn’t appeared…”

The song was so heartbreaking, it felt like it could shatter one’s soul.

“I can’t… I really can’t keep going,” Lu Mingfei gasped, hands bracing against the wall as he struggled to catch his breath. “How about you wait here for a bit, and I’ll climb upstairs to get someone to save you. I swear I’ll come back—can a member of the Communist Youth League lie to you?”

Chime didn’t respond. He didn’t have the strength to answer, but his hand was still tightly gripping Lu Mingfei, as if all the strength left in his body was concentrated in those few fingers.

“Alright, alright… I get it. Fine, we’ll keep going. We’ll find your idiot brother…” Lu Mingfei sighed, grabbing Chime’s arm and hoisting him higher.

They made their way through hallways, storage rooms, and lounges, swimming through the pool-like dance floor that had long since been submerged. The Tokyo cityscape set on the stage was half-drowned, matching the current state of the city. Only a few emergency lights still worked, and in the dim glow, their vision was almost useless. They had to rely on their hearing, but the constant gunfire both ahead and behind made it impossible to tell where it was coming from. Lu Mingfei, who was already a bit directionally challenged, had no idea where the stairwell was.

The most annoying thing was the sound system, which had probably short-circuited due to water damage. It played a Jacky Cheung song, followed by a few seconds of emergency radio alerts, then switched to the soulful singing of Japan’s classic love ballad prince Koji Tamaki, before randomly cutting to Japanese comedy skits. It left Lu Mingfei on the verge of both crying and laughing out of sheer frustration.

Suddenly, the music stopped. Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he could now hear the direction of the gunfire more clearly. Just as he strained to listen, he heard a familiar sound: a “click,” like the sound of a needle dropping onto a vinyl record.