Chinese Martial Arts: My Super Beast Clone

The rickshaw stopped at the north gate of the city.

The rickshaw driver was a tall, thin man with a dusty gray towel draped around his neck. He glanced back at Lin Hai.

"Sir, we've arrived."

Lin Hai jumped out of the car and picked up the suitcase.

During the day, the area around the North Gate is bustling with activity, crowded with people selling pastries, repairing shoes, and fortune telling. But at night, the shops close, and even the streetlights are sparse, creating a stark contrast to the daytime prosperity.

"Master, wait here for me." Lin Hai took out a few copper coins from his pocket and handed them over. "I have something to take care of, I'll be back in a quarter of an hour."

The driver took the money, weighed it in his hand, and beamed with joy.

"Alright, sir, you can go ahead without worry. I'll wait here."

Lin Hai nodded and turned to walk towards the fork in the road to the left of the North Gate.

The fork in the road was narrow, with thickets of bushes and overgrown weeds on both sides, making it quite desolate. Aside from the occasional daytime shortcut taken by someone, even stray cats avoided it at night.

After walking about 300 meters, the fork in the road led to a wasteland with a large patch of waist-high shrubs growing against the base of the city wall.

Lin Hai stopped and looked around.

Once he was sure no one was around, he squatted down, laid the suitcase flat on the ground, and snapped open the brass clasp.

The moment the suitcase was opened, a slight rustling sound came from the bushes.

A figure darted out of the bushes at incredible speed, almost gliding along the ground.

It's a dragon lizard.

Under the moonlight, its skin appeared to be the same color as the surrounding bushes, and the color only began to slowly change and return to its original skin color after it left the bushes.

The last time I saw it, it was only about 1.2 meters long, but now it looks to be over 1.5 meters long, and its body has become much thicker. The claws on its forelimbs are sharper, and the scales on its body are layered and gleam with a cold light.

During this period, it was released to hunt in the wilderness outside the city, and its growth rate was faster than he had expected.

The dragon lizard was curled up in the suitcase, its tail coiled twice before it could barely be tucked in. It raised its head, its vertical pupils facing the forest, and flicked its tongue.

Lin Hai reached out and touched its big head.

"Do me a favor."

He closed the lid of the suitcase, fastened the brass buckle, and then, carrying the suitcase, walked back along the same path he had come by. His pace was neither hurried nor slow, just as it had been on the way there.

At the north gate, the tall, thin rickshaw driver was dozing off against the handlebars when he heard footsteps and sat up abruptly.

"Sir, you're back!"

Lin Hai placed the suitcase on the footrest and got into the car.

"Go to East City, Second Junior High School."

"Dongcheng?" The driver was taken aback. "Sir, that's not close at all. It takes at least half an hour to get there."

"Master, hurry up, I'll give you two more copper coins when we get there," Lin Hai said.

The driver immediately perked up and grabbed the handlebars.

"Alright! Hold on tight!"

The rickshaw wheels rumbled rhythmically over the cobblestone pavement. Lin Hai leaned against the back of the rickshaw, his gaze fixed on the street scenes flashing by on either side.

The rickshaw headed east, passing through a large part of the foreign city.

About half an hour later, the driver slowed down.

"Sir, the Second Junior High School is just ahead."

Lin Hai looked up and glanced at it.

Under the moonlight, a gray brick wall stretched out. Inside the wall were several school buildings with blue bricks and gray tiles, all unlit except for a lone lamp lit at the gatehouse.

"Don't stop, go around the school once."

The driver responded and continued pulling the cart along the wall.

Lin Hai's gaze swept over the inside of the wall. The main gate faced south, the gatehouse was lit, and to the east was a playground, very open with almost no buildings to block the view. To the north was a ditch, and there were several obvious damages to the wall.

West side.

His gaze froze.

Outside the western wall was a grove of sycamore and camphor trees, their dense canopies blocking most of the moonlight. Not far from the wall stood a three-story brick building.

dormitory.

Lin Hai memorized the location.

"Go forward and stop at the side door."

The rickshaw traveled another hundred meters or so before stopping in front of a small iron gate on the west side. A padlock hung on the gate, its surface showing signs of wear and tear, indicating it wasn't used much.

One of the streetlights outside the door was broken, making the light dim.

Lin Hai got off the rickshaw and paid the driver, adding two extra copper coins as agreed.

"Alright, Master, you can go now."

The driver took the money and hesitated for a moment.

"Sir, this place... is quite remote. Are you alright traveling alone?"

"fine."

The driver didn't ask any more questions, turned the rickshaw around, and disappeared around the street corner.

Lin Hai stood alone outside the side door.

There were still a few pedestrians on the road. Lin Hai stood facing the wall, pretending to be waiting for someone.

The footsteps faded into the distance.

Lin Hai looked back and saw that the street was empty.

He squatted down, laid the suitcase flat on the ground, and unfastened the brass clasp.

The moment the lid was lifted, the dragon lizard darted out.

Then, it climbed up the wall, and the color of its skin and scales began to change. The original color quickly faded and was replaced by a grayish-white color that was almost identical to the gray brick wall. Even the texture of the brick seams was faintly visible on its body.

Three seconds later.

Lin Hai stared at the wall for a moment, but he could no longer find the dragon snake lizard.

If he hadn't been able to sense the mental connection with the dragon lizard, he would have thought the dragon lizard had disappeared.

The dragon lizard was climbing along the wall, slowly but silently. Its claws dug into the cracks in the bricks, its body pressed tightly against the wall, the entire movement resembling a grayish-white shadow slowly flowing across the wall.

The dragon-snake lizard quickly climbed over the wall and then disappeared swiftly inside the enclosure.

Lin Hai stood up and closed the empty suitcase.

The dragon-like lizard moved towards the dormitory building, about fifty meters... forty meters... thirty meters...

Before long, it found a hiding place.

In my perception, the dragon-snake lizard was lying on a stone platform with a wide field of vision, and it had entered a state of lurking in the flower bed on it, only sticking out half of its head to watch the dormitory building under the moonlight.

Lin Hai opened his eyes and looked around.

Across a narrow street from the side entrance were several closed shops. Next to the shops was a dark alley, at the entrance of which were several wooden crates.

A cool night breeze swept in from the alleyway. He turned up his collar and tucked his hands into his sleeves.

and so on.

When they commit another crime, we can follow their trail to their hideout. Perhaps there we can find the missing Zhang Xiaowan.

In the night breeze, Zhang Xiaowan's face appeared in his mind. She was a girl with two braids and two dimples when she smiled. Every year during the Spring Festival, she would come to the Lin family with Uncle Zhang to pay her respects, carrying a handful of fruit candies for Lin An in her pocket.

Lin Hai clenched his fists tightly inside his sleeves.

In the distance, the sound of the City God Temple bell drifted over, deep and lingering.

On the street outside the alley, one or two drunkards occasionally staggered past. In the distance, the barking of stray dogs echoed.