Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 557 - 53: The Fire of Retribution

Two hours earlier.

In the old district of Chinatown, San Francisco.

Garbage floated in the pitted sewage, mysterious foul stains smeared everywhere on the gray brick walls, and the air carried the stench of excrement and urine that even the rain could not wash away, nauseating to anyone who smelled it.

In the cramped earth alleys, disaster victims lay unmoving in the gloomy rain, occasionally emitting a couple of hoarse moans.

Raindrops fell into the sewage pits, reflecting the face of a disheveled and dirty child. The cold rain poured down on the child who squatted in the rain like a large black rat, bare-bottomed.

Suddenly, a sharp scolding came from above his head, "You little life-waster, have you no shame?"

The child shivered and ran away without even bothering to pull up his pants.

The chaotic sounds of breathing and footsteps thundered closer,

Strong men with wet cloths on their faces, carrying straw mats on their backs, rushed into the alley. Their faces and necks were streaked with moisture, indistinguishable between sweat and rain. They picked out bodies from among the huddled disaster victims, wrapped them in straw mats and carried them away without any dragging or delay.

"Quick! Quick!" Steward Hu from the Ningyang Guild Hall, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, issued orders in a suppressed voice, "First hide the bodies. As soon as the rain stops, we’ll burn them immediately."

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The train whistle blew, and it stopped slowly amidst the hoarse sound of metal.

The health officials from the Sanitation Bureau, in their neat suits, disembarked from the train one after another, followed by nearly a hundred medical personnel in white quarantine suits. Lastly, the Venomous Snake Detective, Duke Weilang, clad in an eye-catching red outfit, led his team off the train with an air of confidence.

In the drizzling rain, people from the Hesheng Entrance emerged from every corner of the alley, crowding together to block the entry into Chinatown, all with somber expressions on their faces.

A health official opened the car door, scoped the area with an eagle eye, and pulled out a search warrant from his chest pocket, addressing the Hesheng thugs, "The Sanitation Bureau has received a report that there may be suspected violent infection cases in Chinatown. We need to conduct a search."

The Hesheng leader, with a red handkerchief tucked into his front pocket, stepped forward, "Mr. Health Official, there was a fire in Honolulu’s Chinatown recently. The whole street was burned to the ground, and the culprit still hasn’t been caught. Our fellow townsmen have been displaced, traveled here exhausted, and some who were weak couldn’t withstand it and died. There’s no infectious disease."

In a corner, the guys from the guild hall and those from Hesheng whispered among themselves, "This isn’t the first time the foreigners have strong-armed corpses. Last time, using the excuse of the plague, they proposed an ordinance to burn Chinatown. If the bodies fall into their hands this time, whether there’s an infectious disease or not, it will be whatever they claim. The Hesheng brothers should block the Sanitation Bureau, and the guild hall will finish this quickly."

The health official’s face was cold, "I will warn you only once, have your people step aside immediately."

The man with the red handkerchief said hesitantly, "Is there perhaps some misunderstanding here? Why don’t we wait for my boss, Chang..."

Duke Weilang looked up and fired a warning shot into the air, then pointed the gun at the Hesheng thugs.

"Step aside."

The crowd’s expressions changed dramatically.

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough!"

Steward Hu from the Ningyang Guild Hall, sweating profusely, came running over, shouting loudly, "We will cooperate with the Sanitation Bureau’s inspection, let Hesheng brothers clear a path."

He reached the man with the red handkerchief, whispering, "Everything’s been taken care of,"

Hearing this, the man with the red handkerchief finally let the Sanitation Bureau’s quarantine personnel enter Chinatown.

It was undeniable that because of the large influx of refugees, and Chinatown’s already poor sanitary conditions, the environment was filthy and chaotic, with dead rats everywhere. Especially those temporary shelters provided for the refugees, they were filled with a foul stench. Duke Weilang almost vomited from the pungent odor. His disgust was evident, and curses flew from his mouth.

Nearly a thousand refugees were rounded up, and the Sanitation Bureau was set to prosecute them for illegal entry. Furthermore, under the guise of vaccination, they forcibly drove the residents out. Their methods were extremely brutal, but the people of Chinatown had no choice but to swallow their anger.

Finally, when the quarantine personnel took out flamethrowers, claiming they needed to disinfect the houses of Chinatown, the people of Hesheng and the Ningyang Guild Hall realized something was amiss, filled with terror.

The houses in Chinatown were densely packed, and most were crude wooden structures; once a fire started, it would easily get out of control.

A fierce conflict erupted between the two sides.

However, when several heavy bulldozers from the northeast and southeast drove into Chinatown, toppling houses like a child’s building blocks and leaving nothing but rubble and ruins in their wake, Hesheng’s people desperately realized that the Health Bureau’s operation this time was a premeditated attack, leaving them with absolutely no room to resist!

The fire raged uncontrollably, with the dismal rain proving ineffective, and the wind only served to spread the flames further, leading to a complete loss of control over the situation.

As the heavy bulldozers advanced deeper into Chinatown, people fled in all directions amidst their thunderous roars, and the unemotional drivers crushed the ruins under their wheels. Suddenly, one driver saw a man walking towards the bulldozer, against the flow of the fleeing crowd.

The driver sneered and turned on the high beams of the steam lamp, the intense light piercing the morning fog and flashing in front of the man’s eyes.

This was a warning.

Yet, to the driver’s surprise, the man in his field of vision sprinted forward. While the driver weighed whether to follow orders to be indifferent to life or death, his windshield was suddenly obstructed by a shadow, followed by an explosion of blood.

Cha Xiaodao stepped onto the bulldozer, and the bewitching black flames immediately engulfed it.

A steam-powered solo agent witnessed this eerie scene and, without much thought, launched two grenades at the standing Cha Xiaodao atop the bulldozer.

Black smoke shrouded the battlefield, then suddenly, a gleam of gold pierced through the smoke.

The bulldozer was burned down to its frame, but the black flames clinging to it remained wild and unchecked.

Standing in the midst of the flames, Cha Xiaodao, enveloped in golden light like an arhat descending to earth, shook off the shrapnel and then turned to lock eyes with the agent who had launched the grenades.

The agent took a sharp breath and, activating his leg engines, turned to flee.

Cha Xiaodao raised his right hand high and a tongue of flame burst forth from beneath his feet, chasing directly after the agent.

His right hand clenched fiercely!

Whoosh!

The black flame climbed up the right leg of the solo agent, then burrowed into the steel machine.

The agent’s fabric and flesh quickly turned to ash. Propelled by inertia, the solo machine dashed forward a few steps before the legs crisply snapped. The man tumbled to the ground, his fragile neck shattered and his skull flung far away.

Cha Xiaodao’s pupils were filled with bloodshot veins, and his turmoil was fueled by the unsuppressed evil fire within, until suddenly he felt an indescribable wrenching pain in his heart!

"Yan Fu, please take note!"

"Yan Fu, please take note!"

"Your prolonged reading of the Book of Creation and the intense fluctuation of negative emotions have finally triggered a dormant state: the resentment of the Super Ancient Ghost."

"Please calm your mind immediately and utilize all methods at your disposal to resist the mental invasion of the Super Ancient Ghost! Should your body remain under the complete dominance of the Super Ancient Ghost for more than seventy-two hours, you will lose your identity as Yan Fu."

"Your companions have already received the warning from Earth Endurance. Please hold on until their support arrives."

Li Yan had only glanced at the Book of Creation for a few moments before discarding it, and with the presence of the fourth-stage gene "Resistance Vanguard," he showed almost no abnormalities.

But Cha Xiaodao had read the Book of Creation for several nights. He was more prone to emotional agitation than Li Yan, and a spark of heartfire had finally triggered a widespread collapse of his mental defenses.

Cha Xiaodao’s temples throbbed violently, and the black flames at his feet seemed to dance uncontrollably like a writhing pack of snakes.

The roar of the bulldozers, the crackling of flames licking the houses, cries, and roars all mixed together, flooding Cha Xiaodao’s mind.

"Damn it!"

Cha Xiaodao’s vision flickered on and off, and finally, he lost consciousness completely.