Constellation Door

Veteris Institute of Silver City.

Yuan Shuo breathed out heavily and stood up, walking to the door for a look outside. “I wonder if my student is still alive!”

No answer was forthcoming from Hu Hao, whereas Li Meng was as blunt as usual.

“Maybe he’s dead. Why don’t we go take a look? These people won’t dare kill Night Watchers! We’ll bring back his corpse if he’s dead and maybe kill a few if the enemy is weak…”

Her words grated on the ear, but Yuan Shuo decided to forgive her after hearing the last sentence. The little girl didn’t have much in the way of brains, but her heart yet burned with the fires of passion. She was even willing to go after the enemy…

Perhaps the Night Watchers needed a batch of hotblooded youngsters like her, ones who didn’t think too much or were burdened with too many reservations. All they were concerned about was building their reputation through killing the enemy whenever the opportunity presented itself. That wasn’t bad either.

Hu Hao plainly thought more than Li Meng as he remained quiet. He mused over many more misgivings. A racket sounded in the man’s ear and the Night Watcher sighed after listening for a while.

“It looks like… it’s the end of the road for Liu Long!”

Yuan Shuo looked at him. The Night Watchers pulled from an adequate intelligence network. Sometimes, matters he lacked knowledge of were recorded in their files as the Inspectorate came under their jurisdiction as well.

“Liu Long gathered his old battle comrades and killed three Darkmoons! However, the organization sent more than usual this time and now the supernaturals are also after him. He won’t survive the night!” Hu Hao fell into a despondent silence.

This was the law enforcement captain of the Inspectorate that they spoke of! They came from the same system, but there was nothing that he could do about it. It was only himself and Li Meng here. They could protect themselves if they remained in the residence; there was nothing but death waiting for them if they left!

Yuan Shuo also kept quiet. Was this Liu Long’s last dance? Should he… take action now?

The professor took a step forward after a deep inhale. To hell with it! As dumb as Liu Long might be, he’d given a lot to Silver City all these years. Even if Yuan Shuo felt that such efforts were futile, the man’s contributions could not be written off!

He had to save Liu Long!

……

Within the city.

Liu Long ran from more than one supernatural pursuer. Numerous scarlet shadows burrowed into him time and time again. His face was ashen and strength drained out of his limbs. Agitating his blood over and over again won him temporary reprieves at too high of a cost. These intangible things were more difficult than supernaturals to put down!

Damn it! What are these things?

They couldn’t be beaten to death or obliterated. A Sunderer’s boiling blood could only expel them, not kill them.

The singular thought on his mind right now was to reach the city’s outskirts. He might stand a chance if he made it to the meeting point! If he couldn’t… he had to keep these people occupied, at the very least. Their mission was a success if Liu Yan arrived.

When it came down to it, killing three Darkmoons with the capabilities of a Sunderer was an immensely worthwhile trade. Just as Liu Long prepared his final stand, the ground trembled in front of him. The Ghostface who could travel through earth popped up to obstruct his way.

Liu Long regarded the enemy frostily. This setback was meaningless, he would kill whoever stood in front of him!

A gunshot broke through the air just as he prepared to put his life on the line. It seemed to be a signal as it was echoed by countless guns!

A middle-aged man in an Inspectorate uniform stood on a tall building in the distance. Imperiously surveying the city through the darkness, he gripped a gun in his hand. Three sword-shaped medals dangled from the left breast pocket covering an overweight body.

Inspectors were one star, commissioner inspectors two star, and chief commissioner three star. Li Hao was a one star—he would remain so even if he was promoted to a first rank inspector. Liu Yan and Liu Long were two stars. There was only a single three star in all of Silver City—the Inspector General of the Inspectorate. A true personage of immense authority, he outranked the entire city.

And he was here!

The superior who wanted Liu Long to give up Li Hao was here! He’d fired the first shot from the roof of a building. A uniform patter of footsteps sounded through the rain. It was an entire division of ten thousand troops!

The Inspectorate! It mobilized when Liu Long found himself at the end of his tether!

“Supernaturals are not permitted in restricted areas of Silver City! Trespassers will be executed without question! The Inspectorate bears an unshakable responsibility to settle the ruffians assaulting the city! My countrymen, chaos is upon us today! Shut tight your doors and windows. Come to the Inspectorate for compensation of all losses once disorder is quelled!” the inspector general declared in ringing tones from the rooftop.

Ten thousand guns fired in unison to punctuate his words. Battalions of Inspectorate elites fired upon incredible beings with magical abilities!

Sure, some of you can fly, swim through the earth, walk through fire, or dance with lightning… but we are the Inspectorate!

Bang bang bang!

Gunshots ripped through the dead of night. No sleep would be found in Silver City tonight!

“Silver City Inspectorate!” shrieked a flying Ghostface. “You are but mortals, how dare you assault supernaturals! Does the city wish to be razed to the ground?!”

He changed direction for the building with the damned fatso on it. This was insane! How dare the law enforcement agency of a puny Silver City mobilize en masse! Ten thousand guns firing at once actually killed a supernatural with the disjointed barrage! How did the Inspectorate dare send their people out??

This was a war between supernaturals!

Although mundanes possessed hot weapons, once the supernaturals collected themselves and sent their scarlet shadows out, these ordinary fools would die in large swathes!

Were they crazy?! No one expected that they would be involved!

“You want to raze us to the ground?” sneered the fatty. “You talk a big talk!”

He pushed off his feet and launched himself into the air, unsheathing a massive sword from his back. Pointing it at his would-be attacker, he hurtled toward the supernatural!

“Remember my face! The one who kills you tonight is Inspector General Mu Sen of Silver City!”

The fatty was number one in the agency. Everyone knew his predecessor was an expert that guns and blades could not touch, but few knew that the current inspector general was also a heavyweight to be reckoned with.

He soared into the air and slashed with his blade!

The incoming supernatural’s eyes widened. He thrust his palm out, directing a wave of mysterious power with the aura of a peak Darkmoon!

Supernaturals who could fly were incredibly strong. This one rivaled Liu Long and had left a bloody mark on the deputy chief’s back. If it wasn’t for Liu Long being familiar with the terrain and able to continuously dodge and evade his pursuers, he would’ve died to this one’s hand a long time ago.

Nothing kept Fatty Mu Sen in check. A loud rumble accompanied his slash and internal force exploded with the ringing of bones and meridians. He parted the rains and hacked through the mysterious power!

“KILL!” he roared!

KABOOM!

A bomb rose into the air and detonated near the fatty!

RUMBLE!!

The explosion lit up the sky, irradiating the void with light. A shockwave barrelled into the flying supernatural and dispersed his mysterious power. He floundered and fell out of the sky.

“Bastard!” he snarled, glaring at Mu Sen who was also plummeting from the sky. This guy attacked only for the purpose of keeping him still for a single second! Fatso was creating an opportunity for the bomb to throw him off balance—he wanted to commence the fight on the ground!

Ghostface forcefully regained his balance and erupted with mysterious power again. He wanted to tell the mundane this was a ridiculous flight of fancy. Supernaturals were larger than life! They were invincible and far outstripped anything a martial master could do! Martial masters could not hover in the air, but supernaturals could!

BAM!

Projectiles whizzed past them! A company of one hundred inspectors flooded out of nearby houses and fired indiscriminately into the air.

There weren’t that many bullets given the number of men, but all of them firing at the same time made it difficult for the supernatural to pull off a perfect evasion. Even the descending Mu Sen caught a stray bullet, but utilized the momentum to throw himself back up into the sky for a second slash!

“Get down there!” he leered. “We’ll blow your balls out if you fly any higher!”

BAM!

Mysterious power and martial dao collided once more! Both sides lost their balance this time and fell toward the ground. Fear finally crept into Ghostface’s heart. There were one hundred people with guns below them, he would be turned into a sieve! Darkmoons were only Sunderers and Sunderers were not impervious to hot weapons. He couldn’t withstand a hundred people with guns!

“Mu Sen!” he roared angrily.

“Mu Sen!” a companion in the distance called out coldly. “Silver City will be put to fire and sword if you dare kill him!”

KABOOM!

Thunder and lightning ripped through the air as the speaker blew a hole in a small apartment building. Terrified shrieks and wails sounded when the building began to split apart. This supernatural was forced to use mundanes as hostages upon seeing that his comrade might be killed.

“Call for a retreat! Otherwise, we’re hidden in all corners and can strike from the shadows. What will Silver City do then?”

An anguished look appeared in Mu Sen’s eyes as he glanced at the supernatural about to land, then in the direction of the teetering apartment building.

This was the sorrow of the Inspectorate!

They were strong enough to fight the enemy, but their weapons were useless once supernaturals melted away from the battlefield. The latter killed mundanes with horrifying efficiency and devastation if they were of a mind to.

Such incidents had taken place before. The Inspectorate wouldn’t be so wary otherwise and be so concerned with closing the net too tightly around supernaturals! They could do whatever they wanted, but the agency couldn’t!

Mu Sen sighed inwardly. There was nothing he could do either. Just as he’d said to Liu Long, they could either choose to protect one person or an entire city. Other people might be able to let emotion drive their actions, but those in charge could not.

Liu Long, this is all I can do!

“Retreat from Silver City or you will have a struggle to the death on your hands!” he roared. “If you do not retreat, all twelve thousand guns and three hundred cannons of the Inspectorate will duel you to the last! Piss off! Go out of town if you want to fight! One death in the city is no different from a dozen or hundred! Don’t back us into a corner!”