Silent Crown

Chapter 158 Riot

In an instant, the entire district was cast into a nightmare. The peace and serenity was gone, replaced by nightmarish spasms and struggles. Buildings were on fire. Illuminated by the flames, the streets crawled with thugs armed to the teeth. Some were the Shaman’s men, some came from other places, and others took advantage of the chaos to break into homes…

In a desolate alley, blood flowed over the stone tiles. Bodies were dragged and thrown into the sewer where they disappeared with the bubbling water.

Amidst the roaring and screaming, the people who had nothing to do with the fighting hid in their homes, trembling. They burrowed under their covers and prayed that this long night would end quickly and that disaster would not fall on them. The dark downtown was thrown into turmoil under the blazing firelight. Even Ye Qingxuan had fallen into some small trouble.

Two figures suddenly appeared before him in the alley, blocking his way. He looked back and saw that the other end was blocked by two men with swords as well.

"I’m just passing by. You don’t have to do this, right?" He sighed. "I’m in a hurry. Can you not waste my time?"

Two muscular men with daggers exchanged glances and laughed. They closed in, eyes fierce. It seemed that it was impossible to communicate with words.

Ye Qingxuan sighed again, fixed his hunting hat and reached out.

Boom! The approaching man flew back, as if they had been smashed in the face with a steel hammer.

The man blocking the entrance was stunned. Before he could react, a black shadow charged toward him at an impossible speed. He raised his dagger instinctively to protect himself. But then an arm swung over, bending the dagger and crashing into his chest. He was slammed against the wall.

Boom! Dust flew and the dagger fell, shattering.

The two men behind Ye Qingxuan froze. They reacted quickly and charged with a yell. Ye Qingxuan turned around, clenched his fist and swung! In an instant, his fist hit a shoulder blade. There was a crack, and the strong man fell to his knees. The other man was flipped over by Ye Qingxuan and was now under his feet. After implanting the Chainsaw monk’s skeleton, the Dungeon Gentleman was able to give Ye Qingxuan enough strength to flatten these thugs. If he ignored the consequences and put all his strength into it, he felt that he could arm wrestle with an elephant.

Doing all these moves and dealing with four men without even needing to catch his breath felt really good. The only problem was…they did not seem to have been dealt with completely.

Wrinkling his forehead, Ye Qingxuan looked down and saw that the men who had collapsed were now climbing back up. Someone picked up a sword and was rushing toward him. Ye Qingxuan reached out and gripped the blade. The steel skeleton in the black gloves slowly closed in around the blade and shattered it. Then he threw the attacker onto the ground. An average man would have been knocked unconscious with that thud, but this man was just dizzy for a bit before he started struggling again.

Ye Qingxuan stiffened his body and broke their right leg. But the strange thing was, they did not scream in pain when their right leg broke and bone pierced through their skin. Their movement did not even slow down. This was not natural.

"What is this?" Y Qingxuan poked their broken bone and saw no painful expression. His brows slowly furrowed. "Do you not feel pain at all?"

Suddenly, he flipped the others over and grabbed one man by the neck, bringing him closer. Under the dim light, he saw that the man’s eyes were bloodshot and crazed. His breath smelled of alcohol, but there was something bitter in the smell, like extremely thick medicine.

"Illegal drugs?" he questioned, suddenly coming to the realization. "Looks like the Indians’ work." At this time, the other guys slowly crawled over.

Ye Qingxuan looked at their zombie-like state and grew helpless. "You guys are so annoying. Do I really have to kill you?"

Boom! Before he could finish, one of their heads was crushed.

Boom! Boom! With two more sounds, the other two men’s heads were crushed as well. Brain matter flew, splattering onto Ye Qingxuan’s shoes.

Under the distant glow of the fire, a burly and inhuman shadow walked into the alley. It easily flattened the thugs on the ground as if it were stepping on bugs. When he walked into the alley, he practically filled up the entire space. It was chilling for one to see this figure walk towards oneself. He then took the man from Ye Qingxuan’s hands, put a hand on the head, and twisted.

Crack. The ripe fruit fell from its stem, blood spewing out.

Ye Qingxuan looked up at the face of the newcomer—as expected, he was wearing a comical and menacing donkey mask. It was the Bloody Butcher.

The Butcher gazed at him and turned to the side, motioning for Ye Qingxuan to lead the way. The giant folded chainsaw was at his back. There were layers of dried blood on it and one could not see its original color.

Ye Qingxuan glanced at him. He could not see the Butcher’s expression under the strange mask, but he just wanted to laugh. The Professor had hired the Butcher to kill him, but now he was taking him to kill the Professor. How interesting.

"Come with me," he said as he took the lead. "There are a lot of people near the factory. To avoid getting too much attention, I…" Ye Qingxuan paused, his voice cutting off.

The youth looked up and saw a man on fire. He ran out of a burning building and rolled on the ground before finally crawling toward a dirty water ditch with a wail. His movements stopped before he reached it. He was dead.

Behind his dead body was an entire street was bathed in light emanating from the dancing flames. Amidst the flames, the crazed and dazed thugs swallowed the drugs and were submerged in ecstasy. They broke into every home and dragged the hiding civilians out…

Ye Qingxuan sighed. He could not walk further. "What a group of scum," he thought.

--

As the fire spread gradually and illuminated the entire downtown, the din was suffused in the ocean wind.

The guards of the only entrance to midtown from downtown—the Tower Bridge—gazed at the fire from afar and readied their weapons. Occasionally, someone with sharp eyes would see the group of armed thugs and would doubt whether his police weaponry had any meaning…if a few dozen men rushed over, the checkpoint would collapse entirely.

Behind the checkpoint, the officer in charge of tonight’s shift had turned ghastly pale. He had received a message that there would be some riots in downtown, but he did not think that it would be this big.

It was like the carnival had come early. The bonfire was lit and the cheering people drank and partied through the night. But instead of flowers, they held swords, and instead of decorated masks their faces were covered in blood.

"These thugs…" He took a step back subconsciously and raised his voice. "Riders, be fully prepared. If someone attacks the checkpoint, push them back! Why hasn’t the message from the headquarters arrived? Do the higher-ups not care about this at all?!"

As soon as he spoke, the clattering of hooves traveled from behind him. He spun around as if his savior had arrived and saw a black horse. The messenger raised a lantern, illuminating the road before him as he galloped through the dark night. The badge of the Royal messenger was on his saddle. It would occasionally bounce up and fall into the light, reflecting a chilling flash.

He had rushed over from uptown, passed through midtown, stepped onto the Tower Bridge and galloped before finally stopping at the gate before downtown. He raised his badge and announced, "Everyone gather and retreat behind the bridge. Call back all riders. All Avalon policemen must stay behind the Tower Bridge!"

The officer was stunned. "Then what about here?"

The messenger gazed coolly at the distant firelight and squeezed out between clenched teeth, "Drop the gate."

"But…"

"Both sides are trash and it’s best if they all die out. Just let them fight each other." He waved coldly, motioning for the hesitant officers to hurry up. "Your task now is to control the chaos and make sure it doesn’t expand. As for these dogs, just let them burn!"

The officer fell silent. After a long time, he sighed and took the hammer from his saddle. Raising it up, he swung it down on the cable before him.

Boom! The hammer buried into the wood and cut the cable in two. The cable whirred sharply as it was pulled by the powerful group of pulleys and flew into the air.

Above the Tower Bridge, the heavy gate hovering in the air shook. Large pieces of rust and metal dust fell. Piercing groans came from the pivots and axis that had not moved in years. Amidst the scraping of metal, the gate fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground, sealing the only path between downtown and the rest of the city. In the chaos behind the gate, someone let out a shocked cry.

The commoners that had been running gasped as the gate fell from the sky, blocking their way to safety. The chasing sounds behind them neared.

"Wait! Wait… we…" A frantic woman shook the gate with all her might. Hopelessness was written all over her bruised face. "Please save us!"

The distant group of thugs with their torches gradually approached while shouting. The infant in the woman’s arms was frightened awake and began crying. The man beside them fell into despair too. He tried to crawl in under the gate.

"You can’t just leave us here! Let us in! Let us in!"

"Stand back! Stand back now!" In panic, the officer yelled repeatedly, "Don’t attack the checkpoint! Do not attack…" But he could not continue. He could no longer bear to look at those pleading eyes. Turning around with difficulty, he gazed at the messenger. His lips quivered as if he wanted to beg on their behalf, but he did not know what to say.

The messenger on the horse seemed to sense his eyes. Sighing, he turned the horse around and uttered the final command, "Kill everyone who attacks the checkpoint!"

--

The fires of the burning buildings along the street had been put out. The only sound in the deathly silence was the wailing that had melted into the wind. The chilling melody wormed into the people’s ears.

A lonely figure stood in the heart of the blood-covered road. He gazed around in silence. Other than he and the Butcher, every other living thing was now lying on the ground. Some were shaking. The horrifying pain from the deepest part of their soul attacked their minds, and now they would forever be submerged in a nightmare, drowning in the black river.

Some had dared to approach the Butcher and now they were broken, scattered all over the ground. He was in the distance, finding the ones who he had missed the first time. He would gently caress the back of their head before wrenching it off. In the end, he gazed toward another street as if he still wanted more…

"Enough, we still have our own thing to do. Avalon is too big for us to take care of everything." The youth’s voice traveled over and the Butcher stopped.

He turned and saw the youth walking in the direction of their final destination, no longer stopping here. The wind carried his hoarse murmur.

"But I think I can understand the Shaman now." The voice was quiet, but cold and resounding. "This city needs to be cleaned up."

--

Ye Qingxuan quickly discovered that having a beast like the Butcher really helped save time and effort. Ghosthand was old and could not perform some physical tasks, but they were all no problem for the Butcher. With his donkey mask, it was clear that he was not a good guy. Ye Qingxuan did not feel bad about ordering him around either. He had paid, after all! The money was from the Shaman, but Ye Qingxuan was still the direct boss.

After he calculated the location of the sewers, the Butcher used his inhuman strength to punch a hole in the ground without much effort. He stuck a head in to look around and then jumped in. Following right behind him, Ye Qingxuan slid down a rope into the darkness.

It was undoubtedly Avalon’s sewage tunnel. There was even a nameplate on the wall with a raised serial code. But it seemed as if it had been abandoned for years.

This was not strange, or rather, Ye Qingxuan had expected this. Ever since Avalon was created, the underground sewage system had been continuously expanded into a vast and complex system. Sometimes even the construction workers would be lost.

When a new tunnel was created, the old one would be abandoned. Some of the abandoned ones were sealed, while others were simply forgotten. After centuries of additions and changes, this place had become a complete maze. No one knew where the water would flow. This was heaven for rats and trash. It was used specifically for hiding dirty secrets.

Hariti’s old lair had been made from an abandoned well in the system. The smuggler that the Professor had killed had something to do with this, too. Being tortured to death was partly his fault.

"It should be here." Ye Qingxuan ran a hand over the moss on the walls. He could feel the powdery texture through his glove. "I don’t know what the Professor is trying so hard to find, but if we go down this trail, we’ll discover something."

As he searched in silence, Ye Qingxuan suddenly halted and lowered his head. He seemed to be able to see something clearly through the heavy darkness.

In the corner was a weathered and withered skeleton on the ground. The skull had rolled into its arms after the neck snapped. Its mouth was open wide to the sky in a leering smile. For some reason, there was something raised subtly on the skull like a broken horn.

The bones before its chest had been broken entirely, as if the man had ran here with the last of his strength after being stabbed by a sword and had finally ran out of strength. And so he had died here in this dark corner.

Ye Qingxuan reached over to pick up a fallen bone fragment. The fragile thing snapped between his fingertips and fell to the ground.

"It’s been at least ten years." The silent Butcher had suddenly spoken in his scratchy voice. The eyes behind his donkey mask shone blood-red in the darkness, as if he could see everything clearly in the dark.

"Ten years?" Ye Qingxuan was stunned. He did not understand how a tunnel that had been abandoned for so long would have a ten-year-old skeleton. He waved his hand and a breeze appeared to blow away the thick dust on the skeleton. It revealed the ragged clothing underneath. It was a thin coverall with a strange design, like the uniforms given to prisoners. Was this a dead prisoner?

Quickly, Ye Qingxuan went further down the tunnel. For some reason, the further he walked, the more unsettled he felt. There was a strange smell in the wind.

"Wait." Ye Qingxuan raised his hand, motioning for the Butcher to stop. He gazed around and his brows furrowed. The smell was not right.

In the tunnel, a breeze came from the distant darkness, bringing with it a pungent smell. It was neither a vile nor fragrant scent. It was the smell that often lingered in a dream. "Disinfectants?" Why would a long-abandoned sewage tunnel have this kind of smell?

Suddenly, Ye Qingxuan felt dazed. Bits of scenes flashed past his mind as if the memories sleeping in the darkness were finally awakened. The ghastly white light, the cold metal bed, the men wearing white robes, the sharp lancet blades in their hands and…the pungent smell of disinfectants. In that unique smell, there was also the smell of blood. Blood.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of Ye Qingxuan’s neck rose and he spun around. Before he could move, the darkness began dancing, disturbed by the wind created by a giant figure. It was the Butcher.

The Butcher stepped forward and expanded his bone saw. When folded up, it was like a giant razor. But after expanding, the bone saw became a terrifying weapon that could split bodies.

Chop! The bloody bone saw swung in Ye Qingxuan’s direction. The sharp edge practically grazed his head!

Boom! As if a bag of water had suddenly split open, something that had fallen from the top of the tunnel was cut in half by the bone saw. It smashed against the wall with a piercing screech.