Dragon Clan: Starting with the Azure Dragon Fruit

"You're scaring yourself. You're scaring yourself."

He kept telling himself to keep going, but his steps quickened.

The streetlights ahead flickered on and off, emitting a buzzing sound.

A long shadow was cast from the corner onto the concrete road.

It was a middle-aged woman in tattered work clothes, her body strangely hunched, as she slowly emerged from the shadows.

The moment Gao Yuan saw the other person clearly, his blood almost froze.

The woman let out a wild, gurgling breath.

Her neck extended all the way to the back of her hand, with large areas of skin cracked open, and bluish-gray scales growing out from under the skin, with half-dried bloodstains still hanging from the edges.

The fingernails that were originally human have become keratinized and turned into jet-black claws.

Those eyes reflected a chilling, dark golden light under the lamplight, utterly devoid of reason.

Amei smelled the lingering scent of dragon blood on Gao Yuan's body.

To the out-of-control Deadpool, this was a delicious meal with an enticing aroma.

Her breathing suddenly became heavier, her dark golden vertical pupils locked onto Gao Yuan, and she lowered her body, adopting the posture of a wild beast pouncing on its prey.

"Don't come any closer! Don't eat me! I stay up all night every day, I have a ton of health problems, and my flesh is all sour!"

Gao Yuan screamed in terror and turned to run away as fast as he could, but the withdrawal symptoms were so severe that his limbs were weak and unresponsive.

He hadn't run far when he stepped into a puddle and fell to the ground.

The sound of the wind behind her suddenly drew closer, and Amei, on all fours, covered a distance of more than ten meters in just a few steps.

At the critical moment.

A figure leaped down from the second-floor awning and landed in front of Gao Yuan.

"Clang!!!"

A piercing clang of metal clashing rang out, and sparks flashed and disappeared in the darkness.

Lin Yuan, wielding a Tang sword, executed a textbook-perfect "Iaijutsu: Intercepting Stream," sending the zombie-like Ame flying.

At the same time, footsteps came from the shadows nearby.

Chu Zihang walked out slowly, holding the long sword upside down, his golden eyes silently igniting in the darkness.

On the brick wall to the right, Nono, carrying a baseball bat, nimbly leaped down.

Gao Yuan, who was slumped on the ground, was completely stunned.

During the day, in the restaurant, he assumed they were just young masters and ladies playing detective games in Chinatown.

He is a superhero who can descend from the sky and hunt monsters in the darkness.

Chapter 47 Amei

On the other side, Amei, who had been thrown by Lin Yuan, crashed heavily to the ground, but the powerful vitality brought by her half-dragon transformation allowed her to get up almost instantly after landing.

Then a roar like that of a wild beast came from its throat, and it pounced on all fours again.

Lin Yuan advanced instead of retreating, slashing diagonally with his Tang sword.

Although the Tang sword in his hand was not sharpened, with the added power of his terrifying explosive force, once it hit, the enormous impact would be enough to break the opponent's cervical spine.

Just as the blade was about to touch Amei, Lin Yuan looked at her face, which was somewhat distorted by the scales, and her turbid dark golden vertical pupils. For some reason, a strange feeling flashed through his heart.

In the depths of his eyes, I saw a person trapped in an abyss, as if peering out through a fence.

For no apparent reason, Lin Yuan's wrist slightly turned.

The originally fierce slash turned into the blade striking Ah Mei's side.

With a single blow, Amei staggered, her body flying sideways due to inertia, knocking over a nearby trash can.

Before she could regain her footing, Lin Yuan pressed down with his feet, maintaining a distance of one body length to suppress her.

The Tang sword in his hand moved like a fish between Ame's claws, each touch perfectly disrupting her point of attack.

Under the perception of sight and hearing, everything around is stretched into clear, slow-motion frames.

After a few moves, Lin Yuan figured out his opponent's strength. After taking six bottles of medicine, Amei's stats were indeed far superior to Xiong Yi's back then.

Each collision between the blade and the claws caused Lin Yuan's tiger's mouth to go numb slightly. The inhuman destructive power forced him to constantly reinforce the blade with Armament Haki in order to barely keep the cheaply crafted Tang sword in his hand from breaking.

He secretly weighed the situation and realized that his body, which had only been back in training for a little over ten days, was indeed at a disadvantage in a pure strength contest.

However, being at a disadvantage in strength does not prevent him from killing. If he only wants to kill his opponent, he has at least ten ways in mind.

After figuring out the opponent's maximum strength, Lin Yuan took a moment to look back.

Chu Zihang had already sent Gao Yuan, who was shivering, away, and was now standing guard with Nuonuo, carrying a long sword.

Before taking action, they had discussed that Lin Yuan would take the lead in attacking after the target was spotted, and if he couldn't suppress the enemy, Chu Zihang and Nuonuo would then find an opportunity to help.

But all three of them knew very well that this tactical plan was more for the team's psychological comfort.

In battles involving dragon blood, numbers are never the deciding factor; absolute dominance through bloodline and violence is the only truth in the world of hybrids.

If even Lin Yuan's strength can't handle this Deadpool, then even if the two of them were to join in, they would at most be adding two more dishes to the enemy's menu.

Just then, Amei rushed over again, but Lin Yuan blocked her attack.

During the brief standoff, he took a moment to ask, "It felt strange fighting her. Is becoming a Deadpool truly irreversible?"

Chu Zihang stared at Amei, who was attacking wildly under the flashing blades. Deep in his pupils, he saw the overpass in the torrential rain and the dark shadows that twisted in the rain.

His lips moved slightly, as if he was about to say something.

But before he could speak, Nuonuo interrupted Chu Zihang's thoughts.

"Don't take any risks, Lin Yuan." Her voice held a hint of concern that was barely perceptible.

"She's become a Deadpool to a very high degree, and this state is absolutely irreversible. Even if the people from the Execution Department arrive now, they can only carry out her humanitarian extermination and give her a quick death."

Lin Yuan parried Ame's claws, used the momentum to slide backward a few meters, creating a safe opening.

He looked at the beast before him, which had completely lost consciousness and whose only remaining instinct was to kill and eat.

I know Nuonuo is right, but an indescribable restlessness still churns in my chest.

The kind of battle he longed for was one where he fought to the death against true powerhouses—that was the kind of thrilling, exhilarating combat that would get his blood pumping.

What is this? A woman who has been alienated by life and turned into a monster.

Nobody cares about her, just like this cruel world that never cares why the lowest ants grow fangs.

Lin Yuan gently exhaled a breath of stale air, and the rise and fall of his chest gradually subsided.

"understood."

The moment he finished speaking, Lin Yuan appeared beside Amei.

In the instant they passed each other, so fast that not even a glint of cold light could appear, the blade had already grazed Ah Mei's neck before returning steadily to its sheath.

The next second, in Chu Zihang and Nuonuo's sight, Amei's low growl abruptly stopped.

A thin, dark line of blood shot out from the side of her neck and splattered onto the red brick wall behind her.

The body covered in bluish-gray scales stiffened instantly, like a machine whose power had been forcibly cut off. After shaking violently twice, it crashed heavily to the ground with a "bang" and remained motionless.

Nuonuo and Chu Zihang were both stunned and stood there.

In the battle just now, Lin Yuan had the upper hand the whole time.

They were also certain that he would win this battle.

But no one expected that this battle would end so suddenly and in such a bizarre way.

too fast.

It was so fast that even dynamic vision enhanced by dragon blood couldn't catch the trajectory of Lin Yuan's sword strike.

Just then, the streetlight overhead, which had been flickering incessantly, emitted a loud crackling sound as its filament burned out.

After a burst of electric sparks, it went out completely.

Thick darkness poured down like a tidal wave, engulfing the wreckage on the ground.

Almost at the same time, the Azure Dragon Fruit that had been dormant within him awakened.

This time, the plundering was no longer confined to the crude form of bathing in black blood.

Strands of invisible energy flowed into Lin Yuan's body through the air.

Amero's transformation level is very high, and the energy he provides far exceeds that of Xiong Yi before.

Lin Yuan could clearly feel that the recovery progress of the Azure Dragon Fruit had accelerated, and his physique, which was still in the recovery period, had also been significantly strengthened.

Their strength has improved considerably, which should be a cause for celebration.

But Lin Yuan's expression was somewhat indifferent.

He just stared quietly at the corpse on the ground, which had already become nourishment.

As life passes, those hideous Deadpool features gradually fade away.

The bluish-gray scales disappeared back into the skin, the twisted and outward-facing bones slowly returned to their original positions, and the jet-black sharp claws returned to their normal nails.

In the end, all that remained lying there was a middle-aged woman with a withered face.

She was so thin she was almost unrecognizable, with sunken eyes and swollen knuckles from years of strenuous labor.

Chu Zihang and Nuonuo walked up from behind Lin Yuan. The three of them remained silent for a moment, just staring at the corpse on the ground.

In the end, it was Nono who broke the somewhat oppressive silence first.

The red-haired little witch let out a long sigh of relief, took out her phone, and tried to make her tone sound relaxed and efficient: "I'll call President Zhou of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. I'll leave this matter to him. This will solve a big problem for him."

As she spoke, she turned on the screen: "As for the Sackler family who are behind the distribution, that's beyond our control. Let's hand the laptop over to the college and let those old guys on the board of trustees handle it. The Camarilla has a lot of influence..."

Before he could finish speaking, the corpse on the ground suddenly twitched.

The right hand, which had been tense, slowly relaxed.

A brass key rolled from her palm to the edge of a dirty puddle.

A red string was tied to the end of the key, with a transparent pendant commonly found in dollar stores hanging from it.

Lin Yuan squatted down and fished it out of the mud, gently wiping away the stains on the plastic shell with his thumb.

There was a photo booth picture pasted inside the pendant. It was of a little girl who was seven or eight years old, with pigtails that were so big they could barely be held together.

The little girl, with two patches of rosy cheeks from the high altitude, was facing the camera with a wide, innocent smile.

Chapter 48 Profile

Lin Yuan turned the pendant over; the back read 203.

This was Ah Mei's room number at the brothel. Lin Yuan silently put the key into his pocket.

At this moment, two vans without license plates drove up to the alley entrance. After the headlights shone on Lin Yuan and his two companions, the vehicles quickly pulled up, and five or six burly men filed out.

These people were subordinates of President Zhou of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. They were highly qualified. After a brief exchange with Nuonuo, they immediately began to take action with clear division of labor, collecting the body and cleaning up the area in just five or six minutes.

Compared to the Chicago patrol officers who were perfunctory during the day, these guys were much more efficient and quick, clearly not the first time they'd done something like this.

After everything was cleaned up, the man in charge went to the back door of the car to wash his hands, then walked to Chen Motong's side and bowed slightly: "Ms. Chen, Chairman Zhou instructed that the Chamber of Commerce will take over all the follow-up matters. Your share of the compensation will be deposited into your account no later than tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing the words "compensation for hard work," the chewing gum bubble that Nono had just blown popped with a "pop."

She glanced to the side somewhat guiltily, but thankfully neither Chu Zihang nor Lin Yuan noticed.

Nono secretly breathed a sigh of relief, gave a vague reply, and quickly sent the group away.

"Alright, mission accomplished." Nono clapped her hands, trying to lighten the mood.

"You guys go back and get a good night's sleep. There's nothing much to do tomorrow, so just go about your own business. See you on the CC1000 train."

"You guys go back and rest first." Lin Yuan glanced at the depths of Chinatown, in the direction of the brothel.

"I want to go to her house and take a look."

"What are we going there for? The people are dead, the matter has been resolved, we helped the whole Chinatown, now it's time to settle the score." Nono was a little confused.