Chapter 81 Maybe I Could Counterkill (3/10)
Tracing north from the border of Lu Country, until the perspective reached the distant Amur City, crowds were gathering in the streets.
This was the seventh murder case in the past two weeks; the victim was the owner of a butcher shop who, after drinking at night on his way home, was brought down by the killer ripping open his throat, and his body wasn\'t discovered until the next morning.
The rakshasa security officers separated the onlooking crowd from the scene. Many in the crowd closed their eyes and fervently crossed themselves at the sight of the tragic state of the body, praying to the Lord for protection against evil.
Two security officers were conducting a preliminary examination of the body, one responsible for recording, the other for confirming the details:
"Name?"
"Vladimir Yuryevich Zukovsky."
"Age?"
"54 years old."
"Gender... male, occupation?" Experience tales with empire
"Butcher shop owner."
"Physical characteristics?"
"Facial skin is grayish-white, eyeballs sunken, lips and nails are cyanotic, and lividity is relatively light—It seems a significant amount of blood was lost after death."
"Injuries on the body?"
"The face and hands bear bite marks, seemingly caused by rodents, non-fatal; there is a contusion on the back of the head, presumably from being struck down, also non-fatal; the throat has been torn open, with traces of sharp teeth ripping, and the trachea and carotid artery are severely exposed, which are fatal wounds."
"Good, I think that\'s about it. It\'s another damn vampire murder case."
"Are you planning to go to church for a cross?"
"No, I only trust my old buddy." The burly rakshasa officer stood up and patted the service gun at his waist, "Do you think those who mimic vampires can take a magazine of my bullets?"
"I doubt it, unless they are real vampires." The other officer also stood up and turned to look at the surrounding crowd, apparently looking for eyewitnesses.
His gaze settled on a young woman and he suddenly called out:
"Hey! Little Khitan! How come I see you at every murder scene!"
Anna looked at the rakshasa man with an expressionless face, her eyebrows slightly raised, and asked coldly:
"So what? You can\'t find the murderer, so you plan to pick a scapegoat from the onlookers?"
"Hey, I\'m not framing anyone." The middle-aged rakshasa man cleared his way through the crowd and approached Anna, his smile somewhat murky, "I am just reasonably suspicious as a security officer and want to invite you as an eyewitness to come to our security bureau for a cooperative investigation, that\'s all."
"Is that right, swine?" Anna\'s Rakshasa language was already very fluent, mixed with plenty of the local slang and curse words, "I have no intention of cooperating with your corrupt investigation. Unless you can produce a damn arrest warrant and slap the handcuffs directly on my wrists, you\'d better roll your pigtail and get the hell out of here early!"
"That\'s not up to you." The rakshasa officer reached out for her shoulder but was counter-grabbed by Anna on his wrist. With the Wood Bending Charm strengthening her grip, his eyeballs instantly bulged, and his face contorted in pain.
"What\'s wrong?" His colleague noticed something was off and stood up.
Anna released his wrist, stepped back slightly, and prepared herself for another strike.
The rakshasa officer gritted his teeth and reached for the service gun at his waist only to be promptly stopped by his partner:
"Calm down. You don\'t want to make the news, do you?"
"I was just going to teach her a lesson. Damn Khitan bitch."
"Not now, though."
Seeing that the other party didn\'t intend to pursue or draw a gun, Anna let out a scornful snicker and then turned her head and disappeared into the crowd.
It was only on her way home that her expression gradually darkened.
Owing to the recent spate of murders, the entire city had begun to tense up. Social media was constantly criticizing the Public Security Bureau for its incompetence, while the higher-ups in the bureau were shifting all the pressure onto the ground-level agents, causing them to look at everyone as if they were a murderer.
Local residents\' unease was also on the rise, with xenophobic incidents becoming increasingly common. The first to bear the brunt were the Kievans and Jews, followed by the people from Lu Country and Goryeo.
Although Anna couldn\'t understand why vampires had to be foreigners, she knew all too well that the rakshasas around here didn\'t adhere to any kind of courtesy or restraint. When someone insulted you as being bad seed, you\'d better act like one, or you would suffer for it.
Clenching her teeth, she pulled out her phone and started texting someone.
In Jinling Prefecture, Jiangbei Province of Lu Country, at the Zhendong National Defense Academy.
Yan Yu once again received a message from Anna, who seemed to have made him her confidant, probably sending him more messages each day than she spoke to her own father.
In fact, the deterioration of social order was not limited to Amur.
As the progress of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence deepened, some people with the talent for practice, the Transcendents, had begun to notice their own differences from others.
In places like Lu Country where the grassroots order was relatively stable, the public might not feel much yet. But in Siberia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, South America, and those places where official governance was weak, civilian Transcendents had begun to emerge, attempting to challenge the public order that had once constrained them.
After all, let\'s not forget that orders are widely accepted because they have sufficient violence to punish those who violate them. Now that the violence is dispersed... it\'s no wonder that order wavers.
After replying to Anna\'s text, Yan Yu stood up and looked over at Lin Ning, who was taking a rest:
"Continue?"
"Continue!" Lin Ning adopted a fighting stance.
Although Yan Yu had suggested that she needn\'t delve too deeply into the intricacies of combat skills, lately, she had seriously watched videos on military boxing, and the posture she posed appeared quite professional.
But so what, can you beat me, little Lin Ning?
"Let\'s change the way we practice," Yan Yu suddenly called out to her, "from now on, you\'re not allowed to use the other four spells, only the Impact Curse to attack me."
"Why?" Lin Ning immediately showed a puzzled look, "If I can\'t use the Wood Bending Charm, then if you just activate the Earth-Element Sturdiness Curse, won\'t I have no way to respond?"
"I won\'t activate the Barrier Charm either," Yan Yu replied, "We\'ll only use Impact Curse against each other, while using the Three Arts: Cloud Ascension Technique and the techniques to dodge and pass through walls to evade each other\'s Impact Curse."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"I suppose that\'s fine," Lin Ning was still a bit confused, "but I\'ve been practicing the Metal-Element Impact Curse for a long time now, and there\'s hardly any time to practice other Attack Spell Techniques like the Curved Curse, Flame Curse, or Runescript. Isn\'t it better to ensure that the Five Spells are all proficiently practiced first?"
Grade-grinders need to tackle problems in all subjects to be at ease; what\'s the point of just focusing on one subject?
"Let\'s do it this way then," Yan Yu said with a smile, "As long as you manage to hit me with the Impact Curse in a real combat simulation, I\'ll acknowledge that you\'ve fully mastered the skills of the Impact Curse, and I\'ll allow you to train in other Curse Techniques. How about that?"
"Sure!" Lin Ning immediately became enthusiastic and said with high spirits, "I accept the challenge!"
"As for the combat simulation venue, we\'ll set it there," Yan Yu pointed toward the practice area for the Cloud Ascension Technique in the distance.
It was an environment simulating urban warfare with numerous houses, low walls, alleys, and obstacles, where it would be easy to find cover against the opponent\'s Impact Curse shots.
If it were a duel in an open space, even using only the Impact Curse, I definitely couldn\'t beat the captain now. But in that extremely complex battlefield, if I get a bit lucky...
...perhaps I could turn the tables?