Chinese Martial Arts: My Super Beast Clone

The third night.

A wind picked up in Yangcheng, making the power lines on the utility poles hum and rattle.

Lin Hai did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged on his bed in his room, his eyes closed, his breathing long and deep. But his entire being was connected to the Second Kingdom, dozens of miles away, through that invisible spiritual bond.

The dragon-snake lizard lay motionless in the stone flower bed opposite the dormitory building, having been lurking there for three whole days.

It blended into the night like a real stone.

It's past midnight.

This is the time of day when people are most tired and the night is deepest.

Lin Hai's mind also relaxed a little due to the fatigue and waiting of the past few days.

Just then.

A faint fluctuation came from the other end of the mental connection.

Lin Hai suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.

coming!

Through his mental connection with the dragon-snake lizard, he saw three dark figures sneaking up to the west wall.

They were dressed in close-fitting black night clothes, their faces covered with black cloth, only their eyes were visible.

These three people moved with lightness and agility, clearly possessing martial arts skills, and their teamwork was excellent, making them no ordinary thieves.

After landing, they didn't linger at all. Crouching low and pressed against the shadows of the wall, they quickly made their way towards the dormitory building.

The dormitory building was completely silent.

Three dark figures clung to the outer wall of the dormitory building and climbed onto the second-floor railing. Their movements were frighteningly practiced; from the start of their climb to their entry through the window, the entire process took no more than twenty seconds.

About four or five minutes later.

Three dark figures climbed out of the dormitory window, but one of them had an extra bulging sack on his back.

The three returned the way they came and slid down the rope, their movements as clean and efficient as ever.

Instead of using the side gate, they climbed over the wall again.

Just as the three of them climbed over the wall, Lin Hai gave the Dragon-Snake Lizard a command through mental connection.

Keep up!

The dragon-snake lizard lying on the stone platform moved.

It slowly climbed down from the stone platform, and the scales, color, and texture on its body surface instantly turned into the same dark gray as the ground.

It clung to the ground, blending into the shadows, and silently followed the three people.

The distance was always maintained at around thirty meters.

This is a safe distance; it's neither easy to be spotted nor easy to lose track of.

Outside the wall, a rickshaw was parked.

Unlike ordinary rickshaws, this rickshaw's canopy was covered with a thick black cloth, making it completely airtight.

The three men roughly shoved the sack into the car, then pulled on the handlebars and hurried westward.

The dragon, snake, and lizard followed closely behind, passing through alley after alley.

The other party headed west.

North District...

That was one of the most chaotic areas in Yangcheng, a melting pot of all sorts of people. Factories, slums, and gang headquarters were all crammed into that area.

To the east of the North District is Yangcheng Wharf.

The rickshaw sped along the streets and finally stopped in front of a courtyard with a sign that read "Fuxing Rickshaw Company".

A dim yellow lantern hung by the courtyard gate, swaying in the night breeze.

The man pulling the cart knocked three times on the courtyard gate in a specific rhythm.

"Squeak!"

The courtyard gate was opened a crack from the inside.

The three men pulled the rickshaw and quickly slipped inside.

The dragon lizard climbed onto the roof of Fuxing Auto Shop from the side.

Its claws gripped the edge of the tile, and its body crawled in the shadow of the roof ridge. Its scales had turned the same gray-black color as the old blue tiles.

It silently approached the center of the roof, gently pried open a loose tile with its front paws, revealing a narrow gap.

Below was a spacious main room, where flickering candlelight illuminated the figures of a dozen or so men. Some sat on benches smoking pipes, some dozed off against the wall, and some were drinking and eating meat around a square table.

A stench, a mixture of sweat and cheap liquor, could be smelled even through the cracks in the roof tiles.

The sack had been thrown on the ground, its opening wide open.

Inside was a female student in a school uniform, her hair disheveled, her face pale, and she was unconscious.

A burly man with a fierce face walked over, bent down, picked up the female student, and carried her under his arm like a bag of rice or flour.

"Hey, this batch of goods is pretty good."

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and the words that came out of his mouth were filthy.

Several people nearby joined in the laughter.

As he spoke, he walked toward a small hut in the corner of the yard.

The moment he pushed open the wooden door, through the crack and the sliver of light shining from inside, Lin Hai saw the scene inside the room.

In the cramped space, a dozen or so figures lay haphazardly, all of them female students in various school uniforms. Their hands and feet were bound with thick ropes, their mouths were stuffed with rags, and their eyes were closed, their condition unknown.

Lin Hai was all too familiar with one of the pale faces.

Her two braids came undone and clung messily to her cheeks, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth.

It's Zhang Xiaowan.

The burly man threw the female student inside, then slammed the door shut, cutting off Lin Hai's view.

Lin Hai felt a chill rise from his tailbone and rush to the top of his head.

In his mind, Zhang Yuanshan's face, which had aged overnight, overlapped with Zhang Xiaowan's face.

On the roof, the dragon-snake lizard still lay there, like a lifeless tile.

The sounds of men talking and laughing drifted up intermittently from the courtyard.

"What did the boss say? When are we going to make our move?"

"What's the rush? Let's wait for the last group to return. The boss said the Japanese ship has arrived at the dock, and we must get this 'goods' onto the ship before dawn."

"This batch of goods is really good; they were all sourced from the gates of those girls' schools. The prices offered in Tianjin are also high."

"What's the use of being high up? The lion's share still goes to the Japanese and the higher-ups. We'll just get the scraps."

A voice lowered slightly: "I heard that the Japanese have opened a brothel in the Tianjin concession, and they're going to use drugs to blind these female students and turn them into blind prostitutes."

"Holy crap, that's brutal?"

"What's so ruthless about it? In our line of work, you can't stand firm without being ruthless. These students have studied for years, and they're so arrogant. If you blind them, they'll behave."

The medicine blinded her...a blind prostitute...a Japanese man...

Lin Hai's fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

These people, no, these beasts!

He forced himself to calm down.

We must find a way.

Lin Hai took a deep breath, suppressing his surging blood and qi.

There is one person who needs to be notified.

Uncle Zhang!

Lin Hai made up his mind.

He had the dragon-snake-lizard keep a close eye on this spot, while he slowly withdrew from that mental connection.

Just as he was about to leave, through the dragon-snake-lizard's senses, he heard that specific knocking sound coming from outside the courtyard gate again.

With a creak, the courtyard gate opened.

Another rickshaw covered with a black cloth was pulled in, also dragging a bulging sack.

Not long after, another one arrived.

Lin Hai dared not delay any longer, quickly put on his clothes, and left the house quietly without making a sound.