Book 3 Chapter 44 – The Punishment

　　"Zeng Qian! Come out if you want to kill me!" Li Yiming yelled as loudly as he could. He looked at the rotting corpses around him; the street near the entrance to Fengyuan neighborhood had turned into a scene of h.e.l.l on Earth.

　　 A military helicopter flew by above his head. 'Looks like the government received the news. I wonder if they started evacuating.'

　　Before Li Yiming could give it more thought, however, the helicopter suddenly deviated from its course and crashed into a skysc.r.a.per. A loud bang was heard, and what remained of the helicopter crashed down to the ground along with blocks of concrete adding. It seemed like the end of the world had begun. 'Even those in the air aren't spared… Zeng Qian…'

　　Li Yiming's heart burned with anger. It was spite he had never felt before. He hated Zeng Qian for what she had done, hated the guardians for what they were able to do, and hated Heaven's Laws for allowing such a thing to be done. 'She's ma.s.sacring the entire city… again! Is this what guardians are made for? Destruction and killing rather than protection?'

　　The loud roar of a car engine was heard. An Audi appeared in a street corner nearby. It stopped right in front of Li Yiming a drift that seemed barabaric in its suddenness.

　　"Big Beard?" A sword appeared in Li Yiming's hand, his hand glowed purple as he prepared himself for a fight.

　　"I'm also looking for her." Big Beard kicked the car door fly open and walked down the car. He looked at Li Yiming coldly.

　　"You're not with her?" Li Yiming frowned, lowered his sword, but the purple light in his hand did not go away.

　　"She disappeared after what happened back at the park. If I knew she would do something like this, I would have killed her back then." Big Beard shook his right hand and moved around. The metallic components of what looked like a heavy machinegun gradually climbed up his forearm from the tip of his fingers, turning his hand into a weapon he could use at will.

　　"Li Yiming, Zeng Qian is in the south of the city. She's fighting the camouflager!" Qing Linglong's voice came from Eyegla.s.ses' transmitter. With dawn breaking, Eyegla.s.ses had gone to sleep, and Qing Linglong was the one who continued the search for Zeng Qian.

　　"South?" Li Yiming looked southward

　　"What's happening? Big Beard asked.

　　"Zeng Qian is in the southern part of the city. She's fighting the camouflager," Li Yiming answered truthfully. Big Beard was no enemy of his, at least for the moment.

　　"Get on." A metal chest appeared in front of Big Beard. The chest melted into a puddle of liquid metal after falling to the ground. The substance covered Big Beard's body and gained in size until it became a giant mech of about five meters tall that gradually lifted itself off the ground by spitting fire from its back.

　　Li Yiming hopped aboard in a hurry and grabbed one of the metallic bars on the shoulder of the mech avoid falling off. After a burst of fire from the back, the mech flew toward the southern part of the city. It traversed Shangbei in almost an instant and arrived at a neighborhood over which dark clouds loomed. A black tornado whirled ravaged the neighborhood, and b.e.s.t.i.a.l roars could be heard coming from within it.

　　"It's Ya Yu. They're over there!" Li Yiming yelled when he heard the inhuman roars

　　"They're all there. The camouflager, Bai Xi, and Ya Yu. They know that we're here." Big Beard's voice came out of the mech. Amplified by the speakers attached to the mech, Big Beard's voice sounded robotic and colder than ever.

　　The combat unfolding below them pitted Ya Yu against a black tornado apparition. The camouflager and Bai Xi stood quietly in the distance, waiting with hands behind their back while the old man Duan Mu hid behind them, terrified by what he was witnessing.