Beginning with the Ubume Bird Chapter 281

Chapter 281: Chapter 7: Mother and Child in the Trenches

The crimson sunlight grew more intense, then suddenly dimmed, as the vast sunset that blanketed half the sky sank beneath the horizon, its ruddy clouds rolling back in retreat, heralding the approach of nightfall.

Black Spotted Lizards emerged from the sand dunes, their vertical pupils reflecting the image of a crooked, crumbling black skyscraper.

Half of the skyscraper was buried in the sand. Its rusted, indistinguishable steel skeleton was welded with scraps of metal. Flickers of firelight shone through the cracked windows, surrounded silently by poplar trees stripped of their bark.

In front of the deserted skyscraper, there was a series of Chinese characters, English words, and Tibetan script written on arrow-shaped wooden signs, alongside a revolver embossed with roses.

Kuang Zhuoma.

The Dodge Tomahawk had traveled a long and weary road to finally arrive here.

There were several piles of ashes on the ground, and the yellowed scraps of paper made it clear that someone had been using books from inside the building as fuel. A gust of wind revealed a half-burned, hardcover book with only half of its cover intact, bearing the title “Gospel Accor.”

Li Yan felt a moment of daze; he had just been battling a heavy combat aircraft comparable to the Su-27, yet now he was back to the same, ever-present post-apocalyptic ruin.

This world was not technologically backward, but it was excessively barbaric.

An old man clutching an Uzi submachine gun and wrapped in yellowing bandages emerged straight-backed from the distorted wooden door. He pointed the muzzle obliquely at Li Yan, his expression unfriendly.

“We have come here for the license granted by Kuang Zhuoma,” Afafu declared, her voice rising first. Half her face was hidden in her cloak, strands of millet-colored hair draped over her chest, cradling a swaddled infant.

Such licenses, any company with substantial strength would craft and issue to Wilderness Hunters they recognized and who had made outstanding contributions. Hunters often had to complete corresponding commissions to obtain them.

The more powerful the company, the more difficult the commissions. These ranged from exploring mineral veins and clearing radiation beetles from urban ruins, to killing the leaders of enemy forces–nothing was off-limits.

And possessing a license from a renowned, major company not only symbolized status but also granted acceptance and hospitality from the organization and its allied powers.

A third-ranked Wandering Deity, even aiming for a license from Pompeii Armaments, would find it well within reach.

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The old man's vulture-like gaze greedily swept over the silver-gray Dodge Tomahawk and Afafu's pale neck, before shifting to Li Yan's face, where it was met with a fiercely intense stare that startled him.

Regaining composure with a mix of shame and annoyance, the old man grimaced and muttered, “There's no commission for you here, get lost.”

Li Yan, arms crossed, turned to ask Afafu, “Does Kuang Zhuoma have any fighters?”

Caught off guard, Afafu hesitated before replying, “No, in the entire area B, only Danzuo Automobile and Pompeii Armaments have those things. This place is just a forward base for Kuang Zhuoma…”

As Afafu uttered the words “No,” Li Yan began to step forward, and by the time she reached “just a forward base,” he was only four or five meters away from the old man.

The bandaged old man's eyes turned cold, and he pulled the trigger without hesitation. But before he knew it, a massive force hit him head-on, his Uzi submachine gun clattered to the ground, and his entire face was seized by Li Yan as he lunged forward!

Li Yan showed no mercy as he smashed the old man's face into the poplar fence. Blood sprayed and by the time Afafu finished saying “forward base,” it was all over.

“Oh my God.”

Afafu bowed her head, covering her face. But the child in her arms cooed and giggled, dimples appearing on the chubby little cheeks.

Suddenly, gun barrels appeared in the windows, at least seven or eight red dots aimed at Li Yan's head, neck, chest, and other vital spots.

A flippant whistle carried down from the third floor of the building.

Li Yan looked up to see a woman in a black tank top by the window, wearing army green pants that hugged her curves, sporting an inch-long buzz cut, holding a rifle with her right eye buried in the scope while absentmindedly chewing gum.

“Let him go.”

The old man's face was still grasped by Li Yan, his whole body seemingly unconscious.

Faced with the pressing gun barrels, Li Yan shrugged his shoulders and released his grip, allowing the old man's body to slide down.

“Very good~”

The buzz-cut woman's mouth curled up in a smirk, and a copper-yellow bullet, 12 millimeters in diameter, was fired from the chamber!

Thwack!

The rugged rocks were shattered, the red fragments flying everywhere, and dust roiling, but Li Yan had vanished.

Where is he?

The woman leaned out the window to look around and didn't spot Li Yan. She frowned slightly.

“Wei Dan! He's running towards you!”

Someone called out from a room above the woman's head.

The buzz-cut woman, named Wei Dan, felt her pupils contract as she pushed off the windowsill with force, tumbling backward as her lithe figure hung in midair. Suddenly, a muscular arm reached in from outside the window and grabbed Wei Dan by the ankle with a snap!

“Come here!”

Li Yan yanked back, pulling the woman straight out of the window, and the two tumbled down together.

Within the skyscraper, there were at least six sharpshooters with “Wanderer” genes. The brief entanglement of the two falling would have provided them enough time to shoot and turn the leverage-less Li Yan into a sieve, but the risk of not harming Wei Dan made it unlikely.

“Third-ranked Wandering Deity!”

The people from Kuang Zhuoma immediately considered the possibility.

Falling from the sky, Li Yan shook his head as if nothing had happened, his knee pressing against Wei Dan's chest, a pistol against her neck.

Wei Dan's mouth and nose bled, but she seemed in high spirits, her eyes glaring fiercely at Li Yan as if she wasn't gravely injured.

“I mean no harm. I just want a license from your company. Whether it's to complete a commission for your company or to trade for it, I accept. The prerequisite is proper respect,” Li Yan stated.

A voice from above the building called out, “We don't accept any requests from persons of unknown origin. Leave now, and I'll pretend nothing happened.”

Li Yan spread his hands in resignation, “Origins can be clarified over time. If there's a need, we can become friends. What do you think?”

“If it were a normal situation, I would agree with you, but not at this critical moment. I'll say it again, please leave immediately.”

Li Yan squinted his eyes. The other party had made a definitive statement, and he didn't have many options.

Suddenly, Afafu spoke: “We are not of unclear origin.”

She stepped forward: “We are from Black Star. We've run into a bit of trouble, we don't ask for help, only for fair treatment.”

After speaking, she gestured to Li Yan with her eyebrows and whispered, “That nameplate.”

Li Yan, with his arms folded, stared at Afafu for a good while before handing her the silver nameplate.

Afafu placed the nameplate in the palm of her hand and raised it high.

“Black Star?”

The pitch-black window opened, and a square-faced man with thick eyebrows appeared through it, easily two meters tall, with shoulders as broad as the head of an adult male, wrapped in a coil of steel cable. He jumped down from the crooked building, the steel cable in his hand coming to life, clinging to the rusty iron frame, and with a grating squeak, the robust man landed steadily on the ground.

Name: Yin Xiong

Third-order Special Forces: Iron Hand

Note: Unlike the common Genetically Modified Agents used by “Dual Gun Savior” and “Wandering Deity,” the production of special genetically modified agents either requires endangered irradiated flora and fauna, or extremely rare minerals, or is concocted by chance in non-mass-produced batches. Therefore, special forces are also synonymous with rarity and strength.

After carefully inspecting the silver nameplate in Afafu's hand, Yin Xiong's expression softened a bit. He glanced at Li Yan and said indifferently, “On behalf of Kuang Zhuoma, I offer an apology. I guarantee that the incident just now won't happen again. Can we let my people go first?”

Li Yan slowly stood up and walked to Afafu's side: “Now, can we talk about the matter of the permit?”

Yin Xiong looked down and pinched his knuckles: “Do people from Black Star really need to muddle through area B with a Kuang Zhuoma permit? Isn't your own permit valid in all sixteen war zones?”

Afafu handed the baby bundle to Li Yan and whispered to him, “Let me handle this.”

Li Yan glanced at the baby in his arms, shrugged his shoulders, and let Afafu take over.

Afafu stepped forward, her voice calm: “The incident happened so suddenly, I don't have Black Star's permit with me, and I didn't have time to go back for it.”

Yin Xiong raised an eyebrow: “Go back? Where can you go now?”

He crossed his arms: “The four refuges, two research centers, and the headquarters of Black Star in area B are all overrun. Your colleagues are being hunted down by Medicine Buddha's men. Where can you go?”

Afafu felt a sudden squeeze in her heart, not only surprised by how timely Kuang Zhuoma's information was but also fearful that Yin Xiong had potentially revealed her weakness to Li Yan.

Her face stiffened as she glanced at Li Yan, noticing him making the child laugh with his finger play, seemingly oblivious to Yin Xiong's words.

The calmness on Li Yan's face seemed to give Afafu confidence. She pursed her lips and boldly dropped her cloak, her long hair falling down, and smiled at Yin Xiong: “Where I can go is not important. What matters is, does Kuang Zhuoma think that Black Star or Medicine Buddha will ultimately win this war?”

Yin Xiong was taken aback and then chuckled: “Personally, I believe in Black Star, but I can't speak for Kuang Zhuoma.”

“We don't need you to decide for us; we just need a permit,”

Afafu said calmly.

Yin Xiong pinched his fingers and pondered for a moment before finally saying, “Give me some time.”

Afafu smiled, revealing her teeth, and gestured for him to proceed at his convenience.

Yin Xiong placed the unconscious bandaged old man on his shoulder and gestured for Wei Dan and himself to leave.

Wei Dan picked up the rifle from the ground, spat out a bloodied loogie, and said to Li Yan, “I hope we can cross swords again.”

Li Yan, who had been playing with the child, looked up at Wei Dan in surprise and nodded with a smile: “Sure.”

Wei Dan said nothing more and left, shouldering the rifle and following Yin Xiong closely.

After Kuang Zhuoma's men had left, the atmosphere between the two became somewhat awkward.

Afafu licked her lips and began dryly: “I didn't mean to hide this from you, nor did I lie. I was truly scared…”

“It's okay,” Li Yan returned the baby to Afafu. “Do you believe that I have amnesia?”

“I, I do believe.”

Li Yan raised an eyebrow: “Really?”

Afafu pursed her lips and said nothing.

“So that's not important. The prerequisite is that I can help you, and you can help me,” Li Yan said and fell silent.

This woman claimed to be a researcher for Black Star, yet she was in such dire straits, she and her child grasping a break-action shotgun without bullets, looking for food in a refuge for displaced people. He never asked her for the reasons behind her situation in the first place.

Later, when Danzuo Automobile broadcasted over the radio, vowing to clear out the displaced people and not hesitating to deploy a fourth-order soldier like “Black Buddha” for relentless bombardment missions that spared none and omitted no mistakes, Li Yan had already grasped the general outline of the events.

He had long understood that Afafu was in trouble, and it was no small matter. Her previous words even hinted at dragging him into this as well.

However, her actions were generally measured and did not breach Li Yan's psychological defenses.

Besides, without this woman, Li Yan really would not know where to find clues to Shuishu Park.

Afafu looked up: “Even though it may sound naive, please believe me, the friendship of Black Star is more valuable than you can imagine. Medicine Buddha's people rashly starting the war; it was just that we were caught off guard. They have no chance of winning!”

“I'm more concerned about where Shuishu Park is,”

Li Yan said with a half-smile.

While the two were talking, a man with a Mohican hairstyle came out from the abandoned building, waved at Li Yan and Afafu: “Yi has made a call to the higher-ups. Kuang Zhuoma is willing to provide permits for the refugees of Black Star, but it won't be for free.”

Chapter end