Chapter 43: The Flash of a Sword Under the Night Sky (Revised)

  The night sky was like an unmoving iron curtain, tightly covering everything in the sky. In the biting cold wind of winter, countless emerald green fir branches were swaying violently, and occasionally one or two withered branches would be broken off by the repeated shaking, making a crisp cracking sound in the silent, icy world.

  The high walls of the "Mei Hua Laboratory" park are like a straight earth dragon, looming in the dark night, and the cold air can freeze any exposed creature into an ice ball. Under the clear and cold starlight, clusters of residual snow accumulate between the valley grasses, occasionally reflecting a tiny bit of light, making it even more chilling to look at.

  It was already the second half of the night, and in the duty room, under the dim yellow light of the incandescent lamp, two burly white men were huddled close to the hot radiator, drinking scalding coffee to keep themselves awake, their eyes half-closed and slowly nodding off, their bodies straining to press down on the thick wooden chair back, one foot on the ground and the other propped up on the table, the two front legs of the chair hovering in mid-air under the weight of their massive bodies, making a rhythmic creaking sound. Their mouths were humming some indistinct tune, chatting sporadically as if to while away the slow and chilly night.

  Outside the duty room, from a distance came the "kick-ri-ta-la" messy footsteps. By listening to the movement, it was clear that a group of people were walking while complaining in low voices about something, seemingly targeting the white people enjoying warmth and hot coffee inside the house, while they had to endure the biting cold wind invasion in this quiet and empty huge courtyard on patrol. In order not to let those two guys have it too easy, when entering the duty room, they intentionally turned on the flashlights in their hands, shining them randomly on the glass window of the duty room, while stomping heavily on the cement road surface with the hard soles of their shoes, producing a crisp and loud noise.

  Inside the duty room, two white men were very displeased with the teasing. One of them slammed a coffee cup on the table, causing the dark brown liquid to splash out, some of which splashed onto his hand, scalding him and making him yell "Ah!" in pain. He stormed over to the window, yanked it open, and shouted: "You damned bastards! What are you doing? You're jealous of us, you deserve to freeze to death, you bastards!"

  The people outside making trouble burst out laughing, jeering at the angry white man with snickers and sneers, then walked away with a "hiss". The white man slammed the window shut with a "bang" and said to his companions in an irritated tone: "Damn it! It's always like this, these damned Orientals! Uncouth yellow monkeys!"

  Another guy who was also disturbed let out a sigh and said, "Forget it, Little Jie. You know our boss is an Easterner, so it's best not to say things like that in front of others, or you'll get fired! At least we don't have to drink the cold northern wind outside, just ignore them!"

  The indignant white man muttered to himself that his precious drink had been wasted, grabbed a towel to wipe the coffee off the back of his hand, and then sat heavily back down in his chair. He picked up the newspaper on the table, but couldn't even read two lines before he impatiently threw it back down.

  On the low street lamp, in the dark and gloomy building, a guy with a black scarf covering his face, revealing only two eyes, put down the sniper rifle - a "Springfield 1903" rifle equipped with a 4x scope. He didn't even turn around, but said in a playful tone: "Boss, those little rascals are really something! They're always causing trouble every night, don't those white guys get anxious?"

  In the darkness, someone spoke in Mandarin with a thick Northeastern accent: "These kids are idle and will get into trouble if they don't find something to do. It's freezing outside, it's really unbearable! You guys also need to be on high alert, these days have not been peaceful, there are always some people who can't wait to stir up trouble, don't let your guard down or you'll end up in a mess, the boss is not in a good mood!"

  The masked man sneered, "I'd love to have them come! Anyway, we're idle either way. How can our training be effective without actual combat? Let's use these guys as practice and study the ten great tortures of your Whisker Squad to see if they work!"

  The big boss suddenly stretched out his gloved hand and slapped him on the head, scolding: "You little brat, be honest with me! You're not big but your tone is huge, can you handle that thing? Next time I'll take you to see it, guaranteed to scare you pants off!"

  The masked man sneered, one hand rubbing the spot where he had been hit, his head tilted to the side with his right eye against the scope, the gun barrel resting on the half-open window frame, slowly rotating, suddenly, he stopped in the direction of a dark corner wall in front of him, his hand on his head lightly tapped an OK sign, and said in a low voice: "Boss! There's movement!"

  Someone quickly moved to another window in the dark, a telescope was quickly raised towards the direction where the gun was pointing, took a look, and quickly lowered it. He lowered his voice and said: "Damn! Those little rascals outside have sneaked in again! How could they get in so easily? Inform the second team, get ready to work!"

  In the darkness, a faint rustling sound suddenly came from the footsteps rubbing against the ground, and in an instant, it was blown away by the cold wind blowing through the window. A black shadow flashed beside another window on the other side of the building, and the next moment, a lit incense stick appeared in the center of the window, quickly drawing a strange symbol before disappearing instantly.

  Almost simultaneously, on the roof and under the eaves of a building far away, seven or eight black shadows moved silently. They were all wrapped in green or black clothes, moving swiftly like rabbits and agilely like cats. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the darkness beyond the reach of the streetlights. From high above, it could be seen that two groups of people dressed in this way were surrounding the place where the sniper rifle was previously aimed at from all sides in a fan shape.

  The walls of "Mei Hua Laboratory" are as high as three meters, with a smooth surface brushed with cement on the outside, without any place to grasp or climb. Generally, people cannot climb over it without the help of ladders, poles or claws, and there is also a half-meter-high iron wire mesh around the top of the wall, which is electrified with high voltage. Outside, there are guards patrolling day and night with dogs. This is simply a military-level defense, and without extraordinary skills, it's impossible to get in.

  But even so, in recent times, there have been some things that can't be told to others that have been coming out here and there, and somehow people have been infiltrating through various means. Especially during the summer and autumn seasons, the endless fields of corn around the laboratory are all tall and strong, and no matter how many patrol teams there are, it's impossible to patrol such a vast area of tens of thousands of acres. As for climbing over walls and barbed wire, ordinary people may not be able to do it, but it's definitely not impossible for determined and prepared individuals.

  But in the depths of winter, there is nothing here, the fields are all bare and empty, except for a few clusters of fir trees and cypress trees in the distance. There are also some withered shrubs, but they are all at a considerable distance from the wall. If one observes carefully, the view is extremely broad, and it's really not easy to hide in this kind of weather.

  Even so, the sniper noticed something was off in the faint light. On the barbed wire fence, a piece of fabric suddenly appeared, covering part of it. The next moment, a black shadow emerged from behind and swiftly touched the object on the fence before falling down, landing silently like a leaf. In an instant, he waved his hand, and the object on the fence disappeared. The whole process took no more than three seconds.

  On the building, the sniper saw this scene and couldn't help but say in a low voice: "Boss! This guy is incredible! What kind of light work is this? So neat! What's he holding in his hand? How come he didn't get electrocuted?"

  "Shut up! Keep a close eye on him! Dammit! What's going on with those kids outside? If anything happens tonight, just wait and see how I'll deal with them tomorrow!"

  The words had barely fallen when someone else spoke up from the shadows: "Boss! News has come from the north! Something's happened!"

  "Interesting! This time it's a bit clever! Is it a diversion or a pincer movement? Let me take a look! You, kid, keep an eye on them while they work! I'll go check out the other side!"

  The sniper raised a big thumb without making a sound, and it was unclear whether the boss had seen or not. The house made a few soft noises before falling silent.

  Under the cover of night, the two teams merged to form a group of fifteen or sixteen people in a fan-shaped formation, surrounding the first black shadow that had climbed over the wall. They advanced in triangular formations, quickly moving to seal off all dark corners and then rapidly pushing forward. Before long, they had surrounded the black shadow in an area with a diameter of less than fifty meters, where there was no way out except for the high walls and the outer walls of several buildings.

  Both sides hid in the shadows, seemingly unaware of each other's presence, but one side seemed to have an invisible hand manipulating their positions on the chessboard, moving in tandem with a nearly impenetrable defensive net.

  The dark shadow that came over the wall hid in the black shadow between the surrounding wall and the nearest building for as long as two or three minutes, giving the besiegers around him space and time to deploy and close in. By the time he wanted to move, the initiative was no longer in his hands.

  The three people closest to the inner circle suddenly rushed out, and the person at the bottom of the inverted triangle formation waved his arm. A 50-centimeter-long baton burst out like a poisonous snake, breaking through the air with a sharp whistle, heading straight for the black shadow's shoulder and neck. The two men behind him split left and right, each holding a baton to sweep across the black shadow's waist and legs! The three people cooperated seamlessly.

  A dark shadow suddenly sprang up, and in the black night, a sharp knife light burst out, cutting through the air with a heart-piercing scream. In just a flash of an eye, the three attackers' batons were cut into two segments. The knife light flashed again, and the three men let out a muffled hum as they fell backwards!

  A low, hoarse shout squeezed out of someone who had fallen to the ground: "Hard stubble!"

  Before the words had fallen, the second group of people suddenly rushed up. The leader shook his hand and flew out a baton, drew back his arm and pulled out a long-handled, thick-backed, straight-bladed large knife from behind his head. The snow-white blade edge rose with a deliberately suppressed loud shout, and from top right to bottom left, it was a swooping slash: "Whoosh" - just one knife!

  A dark shadow swooped down like a night owl, the short figure darted forward with a long-handled spear, aiming at the opponent's chest and charging forward with a swift and fierce momentum, as if an arrow shot from a bowstring. It was actually a move that preceded the big knife chop, relying on its extremely agile footwork and the length of the blade to strike first, stabbing into the body with a "dang" sound, clashing with metal, and then spinning around to slash upwards, just in time to block the second person's long-handled spear!

  The third person slashed upwards from below, using the back of the knife to sweep away the long blade that was about to strike him. He then turned his wrist and pressed down on the knife head for another diagonal slash! The black figure retreated a step, suddenly reversing direction and charging towards the surrounding wall.

  In the darkness, a third group of people blocked their way. One of them shook his hand and threw a dark object at the black shadow's face. The black shadow let out a strange cry and with a swift swing of its long blade, cut it in half. But unexpectedly, this thing that came with such force was actually empty inside and exploded with a "puff" sound, filling the sky with powder.

  Hei Ying covered his face with one hand and angrily shouted: "Ba Gua!" He swung his blade and rushed forward, but unexpectedly a large net came flying towards him from the front.

  The dark figure suddenly jumped up, and with a swift motion of his hand, he drew a cross-shaped cut on the net, creating a 50cm-wide opening in the middle. With an agility reminiscent of a monkey, he stretched out his body and slipped out through the gap. In the chaos, he also swiftly slashed at the arm of the person holding the net on the right side.

  Suddenly, a long stick swept across the air, and the black shadow that had just poked its head out dodged too late. A dull thud hit it right on the forehead, and with a muffled groan, it fell to the ground like a stone, making a "thud" sound. The tattered net immediately came down from above, and the stick followed up with another blow to the black shadow's wrist, producing a crisp cracking sound of broken bones.

  Before the black shadow could even cry out, five or six batons came down on his head and face with a flurry of "thwacks", instantly striking over a hundred times. By the time the people in the back rushed up to stop it, the black shadow was already lying motionless in the net, like a puddle of mud.

  The crowd quickly dispersed, and in less than a minute, everything had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a layer of white lime. The next moment, the patrol team rushed to the scene with flashlights, but found that everything had already been cleaned up, leaving no signs of anything.