Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 518 - 14: Waves of Flames!

Bang!

The hard arm armor cracked inch by inch, and jagged fragments clinked and clattered to the ground. The eyes of the fallen patrol officer rolled back, and his heavy body fell backwards.

A coffee-colored spherical object, flying in mid-air by the propeller, noticed the fallen officer. Its body split open revealing intertwined red and blue light tubes, and a piercing alarm instantly filled the sky.

Li Yan licked his teeth, and the cold waves enshrouded him and Carl, converging into a huge water orb.

Amidst the intense alarm, the crowd scattered in all directions. Suddenly, at the corner of the street, the sound of "tat-tat-tat" erupting steam came, and a pitch-black tracked steam vehicle, belching rust-red smoke, thundered towards them.

Aboard the steam vehicle, which was completely open to the elements, several white police officers in black hats stood. They just glanced at the scene from a distance, then immediately drew their brass revolvers and started shooting at the water orb while shouting.

"Coincidence? Or is the security of this city really that high?"

Li Yan’s sharp eye emerged from the enveloping waves.

This is the arrogant San Francisco, not the South Seas where the Red Flag covers the sun, nor the Dragon and Tiger Great Ming where one can dominate with the presence of a Governor.

The strong dragon does not suppress the local snake; lingering conflicts or causing fatalities would only bring more trouble to Li Yan’s actions.

It was not yet the critical moment to reveal his trump card; he should maintain appropriate restraint...

Gunfire roared, and bullets raised huge waves on the surface of the water orb. Finally, like an enormous soap bubble, the water orb popped, sending waves splashing, and the water covered the unevenly laid granite on the streets. Mysterously, Li Yan and Carl had vanished.

The patrol officers hurriedly disembarked to inspect the condition of the unconscious victims, and some bewilderedly aimed their guns everywhere but could not find a single suspicious figure.

Steam patrol vehicles spewing smoke and steamed in from every direction, surrounding the entire intersection, making it impenetrable.

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"Thirty years ago, Liang Hui had just arrived in San Francisco. He squeezed into a cramped house with six ’piglets’. The first time my father took me to see him, in the sweltering room there were only a few opium pipes and a red-faced deity statue. Wearing pants with the bottom exposed, Liang Hui fawned over my father like a dog, and only then did he receive a handgun and five sharpened daggers,"

said a man with a pale Irish face, deep-set eyes, and piercing blue irises. The tattoo of an anchor and flames on the back of his rough, alcohol-stimulated red skin, laced with bluish veins, was chilling to behold.

This Irishman took off his felt hat and his pocket handkerchief from his striped jacket. He wiped his nose and said indistinctly, "Thirty years later, he’s an old man near death, yet he indulges his men in killing mine, stealing my goods, and trying to interfere with my business."

Opposite him, sat a well-groomed man in his thirties, with black hair and yellow skin, a neatly tailored suit, and a neatly folded red pocket square.

"I heard Old Master Liang mention this before. At that time, your father, Old Alford and another Irish gang had a violent clash, many died and were injured. When they were looking for a scapegoat, Old Alford thought of us who had just arrived in San Francisco. That night, the Steam Guard entered Chinatown, and a dozen Chinese who had signed the accusation documents died in jail. Your father promised Old Master Liang a large sum of money or an equivalent amount in opium, and Old Master Liang asked for a handgun and five daggers from your father."

The man leaned closer to the table, the red pocket square on his chest bright in color.

"That night, Lord Guan came to Old Master Liang in a dream, saying we don’t owe you anything."

In front of the round table, the two sides were clearly divided, the atmosphere tense and confrontational.

The man with the red pocket square shrugged, "Of course, since Old Master Liang has spoken, telling us to return the goods and the gold to you, we will certainly comply."

He gestured, and his men pulled back the black cloth, revealing stacks of boxes several meters high, untouched, with a small leather case on top.

"Is everything here?"

Little Alford asked coldly. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Get your man to check."

Little Alford tilted his chin up; a man with a tiger’s back and bear’s waist and a bare, shaved head stepped forward, opening a wooden box filled with neatly packaged kraft paper.

The bald man turned and nodded to Little Alford before reaching for the small leather case.

The man with the red bandana pretended to stretch casually, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his lips as he fumbled for a matchbox. Speaking indifferently to Little Alford, he said, "Liang Hui’s illness has improved a lot recently. He heard that the chief deity Domhnall of the Deep Sea Church blesses people, and he’s curious if there’s a chance to join the fellowship?"

Little Alford turned his head away in disdain, "The glory of Domhnall will never shine on the despicable heads of the yellow peril."

The man with the red bandana suddenly whipped out a revolver from under the table; as the gunfire flashed, the bullet’s massive impact sent Little Alford flying backward.

"Motherfucker!"

The man with the red bandana cursed fiercely in Chaoshan dialect.

The man with the vest and shaved head opened the small leather case, only to find it full of pebbles. Gunshots rang out, plunging both sides into a melee!

The bald man turned and roared, pouncing on the man with the red bandana like a bear, his python-like arms strangling his neck!

Desperately struggling, the man with the red bandana’s neck emitted a groaning noise under the strain. In a moment of urgency, he twisted his arm, turned the gun, and pulled the trigger harshly.

Bang!

The bald man stumbled back several steps, while the red bandana’s arm was broken by the huge recoil, and he collapsed on the table, gasping for air with a flushed face.

In a daze, he flipped over to dodge an incoming chair, but his neck was seized, and he was left hanging in mid-air!

The one choking him was a two-meter-tall giant, his face adorned with fins and tentacles and a pair of chilling teeth gleaming. The tattered vest and small blood holes in his ribs revealed he was the burly bald man from before.

A hand covered in scales reached onto the table, and Little Alford used it to stand up.

His skin was even paler, his eyes bloodshot, and the skin upward of his neck bristled with trembling scales.

The crumpled brass bullet fell helplessly from his forehead.

The man with the red bandana widened his eyes in disbelief, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably.

"You just now..."

With a cruel smile on his face, Little Alford picked up the cigarette that had fallen from the man’s mouth and put it in his own, speaking in a slurred tone yet with an unmistakably fierce aggression, "What did you just say?"

Clang~

A Made-in-China twin-barrel lighter lit the cigarette behind Little Alford.

A wisp of smoke blurred Little Alford’s vision, and behind him lay a sea of bodies!

Drip~

The drops of blood hitting the tiles, the edges of the splatter spreading like tentacles.

Still bleeding, the Owl Kiss Twin Blades were tucked behind his waist; Cha Xiaodao whispered in Little Alford’s ear, "He said ’motherfucker.’"