Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 37: Crane styled Wingchun, Euros and guns

“Turn on your lights! First unit, second unit, snipers, commando, move move move!” Cao Yi’s commands had been barely louder than a whisper, but everyone had heard it loud and clear.

With a swishing sound, several lights were turned on, illuminating the dark factory with a bright light.

The very moment the spotlights shined onto the dark factory, it instantly exploded with an uproar. Although it was some distance away, but the night wind had carried the sounds to Wang Chao’s ears as if a nest of mice had been startled awake.

Before Wang Chao and the people he was protecting had even stepped out of the car, the other policemen had already jumped out. Charging out from the cars, they flashed their lights onto the dark factory and flew towards it with their guns poised.

“This…is some high quality movements. These police officers are not just any run of the mill ones.”

At this sight, even Wang Chao couldn’t help but sigh to himself in admiration, “If it’s just some criminals hiding away in that factory, would they be able to escape from the hands of justice?”

Imagining himself in the shoes of the criminals, Wang Chao’s imagination went wild as he began to run through a quick mental simulation. In the end, he only had a single conclusion: If he was in the factory, he only had a 10% chance of escaping.

From the movements of these forces, Wang Chao wasn’t even sure if they were police, SWAT, or even the militia.

With these movements, Wang Chao couldn’t imagine just what type of criminals they were trying to capture. All he knew was his own mission to protect the female newsreporter.

He was an outsider after all. Even Cao Yi wouldn’t disclose sensitive information to him.

Zhu Jia was a thorny rose that was very problematic in such a sting operation like this. At the same time, she was an untouchable person that one could not offend. With such a combination, it was natural to try and find a scapegoat.

“Hurry up and follow them, what are you doing?! Follow them quickly and bring up your camera! We absolutely have to have the first-hand shooting of this.” Suddenly, Zhu Jia flew forward with her male cameraman with a microphone in hand. Putting on a helmet as well, she followed behind the other police officers.

Without wasting any time, Wang Chao ran after them with his pores sealed shut and his hair standing up on the ends. With his ears ready to hear all and his eyes ready to see everything, his entire concentration was put to the limit.

On the other side, when Cao Yi saw Zhu Jia follow up behind them, a bitter grimace was on his face. he knew that advising her would be useless since his words would become a weapon instead.

But even with that, he shook his hands and ordered for two SWAT to follow them from behind.

These two SWAT members were the two that had first tested Wang Chao. They were both strong and rich with experience. With such a valuable skillset, Cao Yi could rest assured; but just before he could relax, his walkie talkie blared into life.

“Reporting to the chief, this is the commando squad. We’ve entered the factory and was met with resistance. Opposition doesn’t have any high caliber weaponry, just pistols. Awaiting for further instructions!”

“Force your way through!” Cao Yi ordered as he spat out the four words coldly.

Zhu Jia and Wang Chao followed their way into the factory smoothly without coming across any trouble. With the police upfront, they could clean away any trouble.

This abandoned factory had to have belonged to an old company. The brick walls were collapsed everywhere with tall grass and rats being seen in every corner.

Bang bang bang! A series of gunfire filled the open air and broke the previous silence in the courtyard.

The male reporter began to quiver in fear at the sound of the gunfire, his camera shaking along with him.

“Just what the hell are you good for! Being scared by such a small sound, have you ever thought about the war reporters? If you don’t film everything, then your bonus will be cut!” Zhu Jia spoke with excitement, “Aim the camera at me.”

As soon as the camera shined on her, Zhu Jia underwent a transformation of appearance, “Fellow audience, I am….currently at the scene of an underground drug trafficking ring…right now our brave officers are fighting it out with the evildoers right now….”

After introducing herself, Zhu Jia waved her hand to show off the scene behind her where several men had already charged in again.

Each room was extraordinarily dark despite the light flashing on it from the outside. Countless of gunfire could be heard as Wang Chao watched several squads bring out sub-machine guns. Setting themselves against a stable wall, they began to shoot into the darkness with the repeated rounds of bullets.

Ta ta ta! Ta ta ta! The intense barrage continued on for another minute in a clear attempt to prevent any of the screams of the dying criminals from being heard. Waving his hand, one of the police commanders ordered several men to charge into the rooms.

“Suppression by gunfire, how valiant!” This was the very first time Wang Chao had seen a true gun battle. When he saw just how rapid the sub-machine gun was spitting out bullets, even he had been startled.

At the same time, ang Chao had compared his martial arts to the gunfire, “What did the masters of the Republic of China era feel in front of such firepower? Master Cheng Tinghua, did he feel the same way I am feeling? Master Huang Feihong, when he was enlisted in the Marines and became disillusioned with martial arts, did he feel such a feeling like this?”

A profound feeling that was unclear on what emotion Wang Chao was truly experiencing burst out of Wang Chao’s thoughts.

“Everyone’s gone, who do we go with?” Seeing the officers all scatter, the male reporter blinked his eyes in fear.

“Head towards the most recent burst of gunfire!” Zhu Jia began to run without wasting any words. With that, the entire group began to ran towards the closest concentration of gunfire.

Upon opening the door, an abandoned workshop could be seen with several rusting machinery lying about. From the shining light outside, the environment on the inside was barely visible.

Casting an eye inwards, Wang Chao could see several bodies with as many holes a hornet nest laying about all over the place with blood leaking downwards.

A stinking amount of blood filled the air and combined with the rotten smell of mold. With these two smells, several of the reporters began to feel the need to vomit.

“Wagh!” One of the male reporters had already began to puke.

Wang Chao had already seen death before. Back when Cao Jingjing was kidnapped, the long haired man he had used the Three Pace Pounding Fist Jin on had died.

Although the kidnapper had died mainly because his hair had been caught in the fan, it had been caused by him. But now he had seen death before, allowing him to stay calm.

“Head on in, how useless are you!” Zhu Jia had felt nothing either. With a single curse, she called for people to follow her as she walked past the dead bodies inwards.

Just at that moment, bang! A single shot of gunfire could be heard from the other side of the door. With a single howl of pain, one of the male reporters fell down to the ground.

The bullet had shot through his arm.

“Get down!” The two SWAT members barked out before dropping to the ground themselves. Swiftly rolling to the corners, they took out their guns and began to fire as well.

At this crucial moment of self preservation, the two SWAT members obviously wouldn’t charge upwards to protect Zhu Jia. This type of honor would be considered a martyr’s death.

The chivalrous hero protecting another in a rain of gunfire was rarely seen elsewhere other than real life.

With cries for their mothers, the other reporters dropped to the ground and dared not to peek their heads up.

Wang Chao had been quick as well. Both of his hands flew forward as well as his legs. In a single movement, he took Zhu Jia to the ground and protected her with his body.

Needless to say, Wang Chao’s ability with Taichi had already reached a high level. In this downwards push, Zhu Jia could only feel her body grow light for a moment before seemingly floating to the ground gently.

Then, Wang Chao’s body came crashing down against hers, causing her heart to leap in shock.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and get off! I know how to lie down!” Zhu Jia knew the situation clearly, but she was unable to accept the situation she was currently in and immediately cried out in fury.

Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from the other door once more, bang! A single bullet came flying down before falling against Wang Chao’s body with a painful sound.

The two SWAT members fished out their pistols and shot into the door without any apprehensions about it.

“Hurry up and get up, now! The men inside are already dead, let’s go!”

Zhu Jia jumped up with a hurry and took one of the cameras thrown aside from the cameraman. Then, she began to feel her way to the rear where the door was.

“This woman is gutsy, does she even mind her life!?”

Wang Chao’s body leapt up and followed after her.

Entering through the doors, there was yet another workshop with stools in the center next to a table. On the table were various bags of flour like powder.

Aside from that, there were also three officers on the ground groaning.

The three officers hadn’t any gun wounds, but looking from how they had lost their ability to stand, they were evidently knocked out from someone.

Apart from this, there were several other random dead bodies lying about.

A good majority of them were shot dead while a few others were still struggling to breathe.

“Drugs!” The moment when Wang Chao saw the items on top of the table, he immediately thought about the drugs he had always seen on TV.

Crash! Suddenly, a single body flew up, forcing Wang Chao to push Zhu Jia away. All he could see was two portable suitcases before the man pounced towards the window like a snake. Opening the window, he flew out.

Outside the window was a collapsed wall. And right outside of that was a field of corn that was then followed by a giant mountain.

It was summer so the corn wasn’t fully mature yet. But the stalks were tall enough to tower of a person.

During the day, it would have been hard to see anyone, but in the night, it would have been impossible.

Cao Yi had some people surround the corn fields, but since it was so large and they didn’t have enough people so it was impossible to cover every place.

The first wave of officers that were sent to the area had already been killed.

This meant that this wasn’t any regular criminal gang.

“Hurry up….chase them….” A single officer could sense that they were close and called out weakly to them.

“I’m fine, hurry up and go!” Zhu Jia could see him too and fiercely pushed Wang Chao off her chest.

When Wang Chao saw the man jumped out the window, he could tell that he was an expert. This caused an itchy feeling to well up within his heart.

And with the moonlight shining down, Wang Chao could see that the man was holding two suitcases before he jumped out the window. There wasn’t any guns to be seen.

“Within these two suitcases has to be something good, maybe money!”

The room contained only men without the ability to fight so there was no immediate threat to Zhu Jia. With the rest of the officers coming in, there would be even less of a danger.

After analyzing the situation for a moment within his mind, Wang Chao suddenly leaped out the window like a monkey picking a fruit.

This was a part of the monkey form.

Climbing over the wall, Wang Chao arrived at the corn fields. With a motion like a snake through a field of grass, Wang Chao’s figure flickered through it in a few quick steps.

In less than two minutes, he had already traveled far from the room. The other side of the building still rang out with the occasional sounds of gunfire, but nothing too fierce.

By this point, the man with the two suitcases was already back within his sight.

The corn fields had already reached an end. There was only a mountain with no path remaining. By this point, the man had already known that someone was chasing him. Immediately stopping in place, he set down the suitcases and turned around. Extending his arms, he resembled like a crane as he faced Wang Chao.

The man’s figure suddenly transformed, his fists turned into beaks and shot towards Wang Chao’s throat.

Wang Chao could only feel a sudden gust of wind before assaulting his throat as if he was choking.

“An expert!” When the expert had made a move, he had been caught unaware. But seeing just how the mysterious man moved, Wang Chao knew that he was up against an expert he couldn’t take lightly.

His left hand formed an eagle’s claw and protected his throat to prevent it from being pecked out.

Bang! Although he had managed to contain the beak like hand, the five fingers suddenly loosened up and expanded. Wang Chao could only feel the power within the hand swell up as it clamped down onto his own.

The other man’s hand had made his pores well up to resemble a strange looking glove.

“Another internal practitioner! This guy’s Jin is stronger than mine! Not only that, but even his martial arts is stronger and more advanced than mine.” Wang Chao had a decent amount of fighting experience, so in that brief moment of contact, he had been able to understand.

Unable to feel the enemy’s potential movements, Wang Chao could only retreat backwards. Unfortunately for him, the enemy hadn’t retracted his hand. His beak hand transformed into a claw and latched onto Wang Chao’s arm before putting force onto his grip.

“Not good!” Wang Chao could sense that the power from the enemy go down his waist and into his legs, causing them to weaken and him to crouch down involuntarily.

This was the result of having his own potential movements sensed by the enemy.

Knowing that his situation wasn’t looking good, Wang Chao’s hands transformed to form a knife edge. With blood coursing through his veins and his knee resting on the ground, he pressed hard against the ground to propel him to the side.

At last he was back on stable grounding. Like a slippery fish, he was able to relinquish the enemy’s hold onto him.

“Eh?!” The enemy hadn’t let Wang Chao out from his sight. The arm that was holding Wang Chao’s arm was thrown to the side before Wang Chao’s knife hand tried to stab into his waist. With that, the man let out a sound of surprise.

Pa! Turning his body, the man slammed his fist against Wang Chao’s knife hand. Swaying to the side, Wang Chao felt his hand go numb as if he was stabbed by a ball cactus.

“Hidden Jin!” Wang Chao’s surprise was in no small amount. If his opponent had truly reached the Hidden Jin stage, then he would be no match for him.

But after some time, Wang Chao felt that while his arm had went numb, he didn’t lose his fighting strength. This had meant that his opponent had only just reached the point of Hidden Jin and was not yet fully capable of using it.

Otherwise, an expert at the stage of Hidden Jin would have been able to strike with a pinpoint accuracy of a needle and like lightning. With a single strike, the nerves would be shot, rendering the muscles unable to exert force.

But with the opponent not yet at the Hidden Jin stage, Wang Chao could be assured that he had a chance. Carefully, he began to circle around the enemy using the footwork of Bagua.

The opponent’s martial arts had been unbelievably fierce. Sticking up close and using Longfist way of fighting. He would always attack him from the front side with popping sounds from each blow like the waves slapping against the shores.

After five exchanges, Wang Chao had finally made out the man’s true identity. He was a middle aged man around 30 years old with a round face and a build that was not too muscular. However, he looked as if he was filled with energy.

But when his opponent saw Wang Chao was only just a youngster, he couldn’t help but feel shocked.

“Wingchun?” The enemy’s style of fighting was similar to Xingyi Quan, but the way of fighting was more spiral like with a penetrative amount of power. Moreover, the fists would generally come very close to the body before issuing power towards the shoulders.

“You have good eyes!” The middle aged man took a step back and let out a breath of air. Then, like a crane grabbing at a snake, he struck.

Wang Chao stepped to the side before circling around as he used the monkey stance to leap up into the air. Dodging the strike, he used the Smashing Fist to strike back.

Pa pa pa pa! Fists struck against fist four times before Wang Chao felt his arm go numb once more. A strong amount of energy transmitted through to his back and then down to his vertebrae, causing him pain.

The enemy was using Wingchun which was based off the fight between a snake and a white crane, his style specifically was focused on the white crane aspect.

Wingchun was very prevalent in the coastal areas, but the true teachings were rarely passed down. Only Bruce Lee at the time had truly learned it.

Taichi had the art of pushing hands, Xingyi Quan had the art of the twisting hands, Bagua the rotating hands, and the Crane style Wingchun focusing on the art of coiling the hands. There were others that were hard to deal with, but all focused on listening to one’s Jin and potential movement. It could even be said that all internal practitioners were interlinked with each other through martial arts.

Wang Chao had finally came across such an expert at the coiling fist. Not only was he unable to feel his potential movements, but he had nearly been swung to the ground.

“I’ve really came across a true expert this time!” Wang Chao felt a large amount of pressure and excitement within his chest. Leaping upwards, he began to go all out.

The middle age man was fighting harder and harder as well. His fists were like a hurricane and nearly covered Wang Chao via a series of combos that forced Wang Chao back.

After 10 exchanges within the corn field, Wang Chao leapt out.

“It’s unfortunate this is a wide open space.” Wang Chao thought to himself, “Otherwise, I’d have been mowed down long ago.”

The two suitcases had been kicked open, revealing bills and bills of money.

The bills were not RMB, and neither was it the American dollar. It was purple in color and had a circle of rings. On the top right, there was a 500 printed on it.

This was the high face value Euro!

The two men continued to fight, but after two minutes, the other man began to grow frantic. His attacks began to grow more frantic as his desire to kill Wang Chao and continue on his way grew stronger.

But Wang Chao hadn’t been forced by back him and instead continued to travel around him.

This wasn’t a wrestling match where there was a legal and illegal strike. If the man wanted to strike Wang Chao dead, it would not be easy.

Just at that moment, the corn maze began to snap with sounds as a figure came walking out.

It was Zhu Jia!

“Crap!” Wang Chao immediately realized the situation was going to hell.

Sure enough, once the man saw her, a sadistic smile overcame his face. Disengaging from Wang Chao, he charged at Zhu Jia.

But Zhu Jia wasn’t afraid. Lifting her hands, several pops rang out! Pa pa pa pa pa pa! A series of gunfire could be heard as the middle aged man’s body began to distort as if spinning around a pole.