Chapter 41: CH 41

Fortunately, this look lasted for a only a few seconds before Wu Bingtian continued: “Third place, Zhang Song. Fourth Place, Liu Qingbo…” and he continued on until he named all 20 people.

“…All in all, the written exams and interviews represent everyone’s most intuitive level, but how far you can go in the future is not determined by them. I believe you’ll be able to learn a lot more in this next training course. I hope you’ll make persistent efforts and have the courage to keep climbing! Next, we’ll begin today’s training session.”

Seeing everyone sitting upright with their ears pricked up, he couldn’t help but smile: “The first day of the training course is not from me, but from the Jiang Bureau. Please welcome Director Jiang Jun!”

Amidst enthusiastic applause, Director Jiang Jun walked in. He clasped his palms and motioned for everyone to calm down. He looked around for a while and saw eager eyes and said with satisfaction: “Hello everyone. I’m Jiang Jun. Today’s the first day of your training with the Special Administration Bureau and I have the honor of teaching you. Our theme today is duty, integrity, and efficiency, and how you can make your contribution to the Chinese dream!”

Everyone: ???

It’s not that they had never heard of the origin of this Director Jiang. Rumors swirled that he’s not a practitioner but was someone that was parachute in from another department. He was quite enthusiastic about speaking and talked incessantly every time his mouth opens. Unfortunately, everything he talked about had nothing to do with training. Ba Sang and the others couldn’t help but dozed off after an hour, while Dong Zhi lasted a little longer and only an hour later did he started to get distracted. Li Ying was the strongest and held on until class was almost over. As a result, his eyes were complete glazed over and listless.

Director Jiang spoke for three hours and didn’t even break for a sip of water in between. It wasn’t until Wu Bingtian came back and announce class was over did he stop. As everyone watch the two of them leave the classroom, they all collapsed on their table with a scream.

Ba Sang said in despair: “It won’t be the same kind of course this afternoon, will it?”

Dong Zhi was uncertain: “I don’t think so. Director Jiang must be tired.”

Unfortunately, after their two-hour lunch break, Director Jiang came back and not only didn’t he feel the slightest bit of fatigue, he was actually in higher spirits and went on for another three hours. Everyone felt anguished in their heart and suddenly felt that there was no God.

Even Li Ying, who was the most astute couldn’t bear it.

It was a bit easier to get through the afternoon session. In the evening, Director Jiang finally left. Everyone was afraid that he was going say he’ll be continuing tomorrow, but fortunately, he left without saying anything so it gave them a glimmer of hope.

“Shall we go to dinner?”

At the end of the day, Ba Sang stammered when he spoke. He had to rub his eyes hard in order not to fall asleep and leave a bad impression and had used up almost all his willpower for half of his lifetime. The others didn’t fare much better as Li Ying yawned and asked if everyone would like to have a meal together.

The 20 people in the training class had already form their own circle of friends. Of the ten that had helped Hui Yiguang, Cheng Yuan and another person had failed the interview, leaving only eight people left. Both Dong Zhi and Gu Meiren are friends with Ba Sang so naturally they invited him as well as Li Ying and Liu Qingbo.

The other group was headed by Zhang Song. As a disciple from the Longhu Sect, he didn’t want to “succumb” to Li Ying, a disciple of another sect, so he started his own group and brought several rising stars to his side. There were three people in it. One was name Ou Yangyin, who was good as divination. Another was Zhou Yue, who has come from a line of feng shui masters. Finally, there was a young girl name Xie Qingning. She was secretive about her abilities, so no one knew what she was good at.

These three, like Zhang Song, didn’t want Li Ying to stand out as their “de facto leader”, so they naturally banded together.

In contrast, Dong Zhi who came in second on the interview and first in the written exam attracted the most attention but had no intention to lead. When Li Ying invited him, he felt relieved.

Li Ying asked them what they wanted to eat. After Director’s Jiang “poison” today, no one had an appetite. Seeing as everyone was lacking interest, Li Yi suggested they go to a hot pot restaurant not far away. It was also convenient as people can eat as much or as little as they want.

After climbing the stairs all the way down and condemning the inhumanity of the Special Administration Bureau for their refusal to fix the elevator, everyone finally reached the back door. When they went out, Dong Zhi let out a sound of surprise.

“Left something behind?” Ba Sang asked.

Dong Zhi pointed to the position of where the guard would usually sit and said: “The uncle is gone?”

Except for him, no one else lives in the Special Administration Building so they didn’t realize the importance of his position and how he was always there. Ba Sang casually remarked: “Maybe he went to dinner.”

Li Ying and the others had already walked further ahead so Ba Sang and Dong Zhi hurried their steps to catch up. As soon as they left the alley, everyone was stunned.

At this time, it should have been the liveliest hour as rush hour had just started. White-collar workers should be heading off from work, children heading back from school, traffic police should be abound directing the congestion, and tourist exploring the city, all converging around the area. The streets should be filled with a mixed of cars and bicycles showing of the vibe of a bustling metropolis.

Yet no such scene appeared in front of them.

The bustling streets were empty. A car suddenly drove in the middle of the road and its door flung open, but there was no driver or passengers inside. Briefcases, water bottles, and even armbands from volunteers were discarded and scattered everywhere on the ground.

The center of the country, the heart of the city, was now completely desolated in this moment. It was as if a countrywide emergency was in effect, and everyone was on lockdown.

“What happened… what’s going on?” After a few seconds, Chi Banxia recollected herself.

Dong Zhi remembered his encountered in Yangcheng and said: “I broke into an enchantment set up by a demon before thinking that I had traveled through time and space. It’s very similar to the current situation we’re currently in!”

But were demons really rampant to this point? They were in the center of the capital, just right outside the Special Administration Bureau. Who would dare create an enchantment like this?

Everyone was shocked hearing Dong Zhi’s words.

“No,” Li Ying rejected: “If you look, extending from here, it will mean that most of the capital is completely empty. I have never heard of a demon that has such great ability!”

“Let’s go back to the Bureau. It must be safe there!” A young man suggested. His name is Xiang Yongnian, but Dong Zhi wasn’t familiar with him.

“I don’t suggest…” Before Li Ying could finish, Xiang Yongnian had already turned around and hurried to the backdoor of the Special Administration Building and his figure quickly disappeared form everyone’s sight.

Li Ying made an ugly expression: “I suggest everyone continue forward. We are practitioners, not ordinary people. We must find out what happen. If there’s a situation, it’s precisely where we are needed.”

“I agree.”

“Me too.”

Everyone else, including Dong Zhi, nodded.

“What!!!” At this moment Xiang Yongnian’s scream came from the building.

Everyone’s expression changed slightly. As they were hesitating whether to go investigate, Xiang Yongnian had already run out again. He covered his neck with one hand and blood kept flowing out of his fingers, quickly soaking his collar as half his shoulder was completely covered in blood.

“Zombies! There’re zombies in the building!”

The color of his complexion drained, as if he was a ghost, and he wailed loudly before collapsing in front of them motionless.

“Everything was fine when we were going downstairs moments ago!” Someone shouted in disbelief.

“Could this be a trial for us?” A different person questioned.

Perhaps it was. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain how the entire world had seemingly changed after they went downstairs.

Ba Sang walked towards Xiang Yongnian slowly while the others stood back. Everyone wanted to know what happened to him. When Ba Sang got close to the body, he squatted down and reached towards its nose, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

He was taken aback, and his body reflexively wanted to retreat but he was gripped tightly. Among the men in the group, he could be considered the strongest, yet Xiang Yongnian’s strength was far superior to his that he couldn’t break away. As soon as he was about to use his other hand, he saw his opponent slowly raise his head. His eyes were soulless and blue veins were bulging from the area where he was bitten. There was a gaping hole in his neck as blood still flowed freely, yet all Xiang Yongnian did was stare intently at Ba Sang. Suddenly he rushed towards him intending to bite him on the shoulder when Ba Sang kicked him in the chest, causing him to fly four meters away. It didn’t seem like he was affected as Xiang Yongnian slowly got up and walked towards Ba Sang again.

He had clearly become a zombie!

Ba Sang let out a whistle and a vulture came out of nowhere, swooping past everyone’s head as it swept towards Xiang Yongnian. When his opponent wanted to pounce on Ba Sang again, the vulture pecked directly at Xiang Yongnian’s head. He threw himself onto the group and finally remained motionless.

Everyone was frightened and confused. They didn’t know whether they should continue forward or return to the Special Administration Building. Before they had the chance to think, two more figures appeared at the back door, walking towards them, stumbling in their steps.

One figure was missing an arm and the other was missing half his neck. Their pace was slow but looking at them was still a terrifying sight.

Gu Meiren exclaimed: “I recognize him. When I came to register on the first day, he was the person who registered me!”

Not everyone in the Special Administration Bureau had extraordinary skills. With regards to this person, he was just an ordinary staff member in logistics.

They couldn’t help but ponder whether this was a trial or a real emergency. There was no sign at all.

After those two figures, more shadows emerged at the doors as zombies started to pour out. Without a second thought, everyone turned and ran.

Dong Zhi wanted to go back to the Special Administration Building to check up on Long Shen and Zhong Yuyi, but the large swathe of zombies that appeared had now block the path. He was pulled hard by Ba Sang and had to run along with him. The zombies speed were relatively slow so they quickly left them behind.

When everyone reached the sidewalk across the street, they stopped at the corner and all bent over holding their knees as they gasped for breath.

“How could…this kind of thing happen?!”

“Could it be a training exercise?”

“But I have never heard of this part of the training in the past years!”

“It’s impossible to tell. Otherwise, what kind of sudden training is this?”

“But what happened to Xiang Yongnian just now and those staff member… It’s so realistic… It’s hard to imagine that it’s fake. Is Xiang Yongnian really dead?”

Everyone continue discussing and some were showing trace of helplessness.

Liu Qingbo scoffed at the reaction of these people: “Whether it’s training or reality, isn’t this the time when we’re needed the most? What are we panicking for?!”

Li Ying gasped: “Qingbo is right. Boss Wu and the others are much more skillful than us. Even if this is reality, they have the means to get away. Instead of worrying about them, we should focus on ourselves. Going forward, we need to adjust our mentality and cannot treat this as just a training exercise. We have to think of it as real. Think about what happen to Xiang Yongnian just now. Do you want to end up like him?”

These words made everyone’s faces suddenly serious. The sense of mendacity intertwined with the tragic death of one of their companions gave rise to a sense of crisis that was both terrifying and humorous.

In any case, everyone dared not take things lightly any longer.

Li Ying looked around at everyone: “What do you think?”

Liu Qingbo said: “I suggest dividing into two groups to investigate the situation, then agreeing to a place to meet.”

Dong Zhi said: “I think with the current situation, it is better for us not to be separated for the time being, because we don’t know how serious it is yet.”

Liu Qingbo sneered: “Even if there are zombies, they’re just zombies of ordinary people. Or is it you’re afraid you’ll not be able to protect yourself and end up like Xiang Yognian?!” When he wasn’t in front of the leaders of the Special Administration Bureau, he immediately erected all his spikes.

Dong Zhi pulled on Ba Sang’s arm and showed it to everyone. There was a bruise with five finger marks clearly indented on it that was left by Xiang Yongnian just now. Being able to leave such a mark showed just how much strength he had used at that time.

“The known situation now is that when we’re attacked, we can be injured and bleed. They may be ordinary people turned into zombies so you’re not taking it seriously but what if there are other unknowns? The zombies could turn into beasts or evolve into something more frightening in a short period of time. The more people we have, the greater out strength!”

Not everyone can deal with zombie either. People like Gu Meiren’s and Chi Banxia’s abilities are not useful when it comes to handling zombies.

“You’re right. We better not separate for the time being!” Li Ying nodded as he agreed with Dong Zhi’s words.

Liu Qingbo showed dissatisfaction but didn’t say anything in the end. Gu Meiren and Chi Banxia breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Ying asked Gu Meiren and Chi Banxia to walk in the middle while he and Liu Qingbo lead the way in front and Dong Zhi and Ba Sang handle the back. There were two other people with them. One was named Chen Xun, and the other Liu Si, who were on the side encompassing the girls.

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At first, they stumble upon a few corpses that had fallen on the side of the road, but the further they walked, the more corpses they encountered. The scene was like everyone had scattered from the downtown area and was eventually overtaken by zombies and died on the road as they tried to run away.

Everyone reluctantly went towards the corpses to check on them and found that they were still warm. The touch felt so real that it didn’t seem as if this was some kind of exercise. The deaths of so many people were appalling. Some had missing limbs while other resurrected as zombies and wanted to attack them and was suppressed.

The streets were empty and occasionally the anti-theft alarm from cars would blare in the distance. It had startled everyone at first but eventually they got used to it and they would turn a deaf ear whenever they hear it now.

The sky gradually darkened and some of the streetlights came on while others were broken, which put an invisible layer of pressure on everyone’s hearts. This was truly like hell on earth and didn’t seem to be a training exercise at all. Their hope was beginning to fade as haziness took over.

Dong Zhi thought about the missing Long Shen and his mood became heavier. Others were not much better than him, but they all tried to prevent their mood from sinking to the deepest level of despair as to not affect the efficiency of the team.

Li Ying suddenly stopped and listened.

“You guys, did you hear anyone yelling for help?” He asked uncertainly.

“I heard it.” Chi Banxia said.

Everyone else nodded.

Ba Sang said: “It seems to be at three o’clock!”

Li Ying said: “Lets go and take a look!”

No one had any objection, so they headed that way. The sound of shouting grew louder as they got closer. Eventually they came upon a commercial building. The building was brightly lit, and corpses littered around the door. At the intersection next to it, the traffic lights were still working, adding to the unreal-like scene.

Blood marks covered the once bright and clean glass door that left everyone in shock. Li Ying and Liu Qingbo entered first followed by the others.

The building was a mall that mainly sold high to medium end products. Goods scattered everywhere and not a single salesperson was in sight. Perhaps people took advantage of the chaos and ransacked the place since they found empty containers everywhere and glass that displayed gold and jewelry was broken into and most of the items in them were missing.

Could a training exercise be realistic to this extent? Doubts started to creep into everyone’s hearts.

After passing through the shopping mall, they finally show people that were shouting for help. There were more than a dozen people on the other side that were mainly women and children. They piled up clothes hangers and cabinets forming a circle that surrounded them and each was holding onto some makeshift weapon, like clothing poles or fire extinguishers. They all had panic-stricken expression on their face.

On the other side of their barricade, zombies roared at their prey that couldn’t be seen or eaten. With the arrival of Li Ying and the others, the zombie found new targets to focus on; ones that were not blocked by obstacles and could be easily reached by their fingertips.

The zombies turned around and rushed towards them. Liu Qingbo held tightly to his sword as he jumped a few steps when he saw this. The long sword in his hand unsheathed and he slashed it at the zombie’s neck, taking off its head. It flew high and bounced on the ceiling before falling to the ground and rolling away.

Liu Qingob was imposing yet elegant manner was like a rainbow as he slashed several more zombies in a single breath, which was more efficient than Li Ying who was burning them with talisman fire. Ba Sang cooperated tacitly with Dong Zhi. As Dong Zhi controlled the zombies’ movements with his Sunlight Talisman, Ba Sang took the chance and broke their necks.

Unsurprisingly, Gu Meiren’s flute had no effect on the zombies, while Chi Banxia’s witchcraft could somewhat control them, but it worked very slowly, and she was out of breath just after a short while.

There was also Chen Xun, who’s good at martial arts1. It would be fine if there were only a few zombies to deal with, but his two fists could not beat four hands2. He was powerless when he was besieged. Fortunately, Liu Si was there to assist him. Taking out a whip, he snapped it at a zombie’s neck, and with just one flick, he broke its neck. Dong Zhi had to do a doubletake when he saw this as he thought of Old Zheng from the Northeast Branch.

1Horizontal Training (横练) Three method of practice: boxing, martial arts, and horizontal training method. It’s referred to as the “three trainings”. It’s basically a mix of kungfu + boxing.  See lore for details || I’ll be referring to it as martial arts.

2(双拳不敌四手) Idiom referring to one person cannot be a crowd (AKA being outnumbered).

When the women and children saw their saviors, they were overjoyed. Seeing all the zombies had been wiped out, they got even more excited and shouted loudly.

“Come here!”

“Come in to avoid them!”

When the team had finally resolved the last zombie, they retreated into the barricade. The place was originally a jewelry store that had now been transformed to accommodate around a dozen people. With Li Ying and the others, it caused the space to become a lot more crowded as now more than twenty people were inside.

“What the hell is going on?!” Liu Qingbo asked anxiously.

A teller wearing a uniform from a luxury brand answered his question: “I don’t know. I’m on duty tonight so I came over half an hour early. Not long after, the colleague who I was taking over her shift left, then suddenly I saw her running back being chased by several zombies1…”

“They’re called jiangshi1. Jiangshi2 are not the same as zombies.” A young girl corrected her.

1Clarity: There’s two terms being used here. The teller is calling them [Jiangshi] (僵尸) which refers to the Chinese hopping zombie/vampire while the young girl corrected her saying they are zombies [Sangshi] (丧尸) as the normal zombies that most people think of. Both translate to zombies, but they are different types.

2[Jiagnshi] (僵尸) Chinese hopping vampires/zombies. They are reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. See lore for details.

The teller continued: “I saw my colleague being thrown down and bitten to death by those zombies and the whole mall erupted in chaos. I was so frightened that I hid in the fitting room and didn’t come out until a long time later and ran into them.”

“There are also more zombies outside. I came from outside but ran in here to avoid them. Later we had to bar ourselves in here since we could no longer leave until you guys came!” The young girl said.

Hearing their stories, it seems that these people and their experience were pretty much the same. No one knew where the zombies came from and how.

If the zombies spread this quickly that it could take out an entire police force, wouldn’t an army stand no chance?

Dong Zhi and Ba Sang looked at each other as they seem to have the same thought. They both felt it was odd as they thought to themselves: ‘Could it be that it’s really just a training exercise? But then how could they explain all these people that are in front of them?’

This wasn’t a blessing that they found this suspicion, but it invariably increased their vigilance. Even if it was a training exercise, it only showed that the level of practice this time was very high to the point where they could possibly lose their life at any moment. No one wanted to be the next Xiang Yongnian. What they wanted to do was pass this training period smoothly.

“There’s more than that!” A middle-aged woman shivered as she cried: “I was outside just now and saw something that had a red body and could lie on walls. I saw it jumped from the eaves of a building towards a person as it pierce their head with its claws…”

“Licker*! That’s a Licker!” The young girl cried out so loudly that it made her voice hoarse.

*A fictional creature from the Resident Evil series. The Licker has lost the use of its eyes and cannot track prey by sight. Their super-developed hearing, however, more compensates for the loss. Upon detecting potential prey, it will attack full force with teeth, tongue and claws, often alerting others of its kind in the vicinity as well.

“What is a Licker?” Li Ying asked with a frown.

The girl was so scared that she stuttered her words: “It’s from… that’s right, a movie… American movies…”

“There’s a series of American movies called “Resident Evil”, which is based on the game. It mentions the Licker in it. They have much stronger mobility and attack power than zombies and are difficult to deal with.” Dong Zhi clarified, helping the girl out.

The girl nodded desperately.

As soon as he finished speaking, the ceiling collapsed with a bang, startling everyone, but nothing came through. Seeing that all his companions weren’t in good shape, Li Ying said: “Let’s take a break here for now and plan for our next step.”

No one had any objections. They all sat on the floor and didn’t care much about it. Zombies could vaguely be seen passing by from outside. The women and children were frightened so Li Ying let them stay in the inner area of the barricade, while their group sat on the periphery.

“I’m questioning if this is a training exercise for an emergency situation. If that’s the case, what task do we need to achieve in the end?” Chen Xun, who was usually taciturn, suddenly spoke.

Chi Banxia glanced at the group of ordinary people before she hesitantly said: “Could it be that we need to protect them?”

Liu Qingbo said: “Maybe we need to go back to the Special Administration Bureau, but we just now went in the opposite direction.”

While talking, another piece of ceiling collapsed not far away. This time, everyone thought it was just a building issue, so they didn’t pay much attention to it. Suddenly, in the next moment, a black indistinguishable creature jumped out from the hole in the ceiling behind their backs and landed directly into the middle of the crowd.

The young girl screamed as her shoulder was bitten and her entire body was picked up. The monster moved so quickly that Li Ying and the others only had time to grab onto her ankles.

Liu Si attacked the monster with his whip causing it to throw the girl’s body at him with a flick of its neck. This forced him to catch the girl and prevented him from landing any more shots giving the chance for the monster to attack its next target.

Another monster suddenly swept down from the ceiling and pounced onto the middle-aged woman who was fleeing from fright. It happened to be in a blind spot where Li Ying and the others had no time to rescue her. The monster’s claw pierce directly into the woman’s head as it bellowed out a scream and withdrew it claws that was covered in blood. The body of the woman fell limply as the monster licked the blood on its claws.

The fragile alliance instantly fell apart. Everyone screamed and hid behind Li Ying and the others for protection.

Dong Zhi found that compared to the zombies before, these monsters- although their appearance is not the same as the Lickers in the movies, their combat capabilities was indeed much higher than ordinary zombies and they seem a lot smarter as well. They specifically targeted ordinary people and deliberately hurt them, but not kill, causing the other ordinary people to scream and panic, thereby disturbing Dong Zhi’s focus and judgment.

He grabbed a talisman and threw it at the monster that was rushing towards him. The talisman burned in mid-air and shot like a rocket heading towards the center of the monster’s forehead. The monster quickly reacted and turn sideways to avoid it as it used one of its claws to grab it. Fortunately, Dong Zhi was prepared and had thrown out another Sunlight Talisman. The talisman made contact with the monster and burst into flames. The monster roared in pain and turned around to retreat, rushing towards the others.

With his sharp sword in hand, Liu Qingbo was invincible. He didn’t take these monsters seriously at all as any of them that approached him was easily cut down by him. Three monsters seemed to be aware of his lethality, so they gradually stopped approaching him and turned to other targets instead.

Ba Sang summoned his vulture to fight the monsters but their mobility was more agile than his vulture. Under their claws, the vulture was wiped out within a few swipes. Chen Xun was in an even more precarious situation since he had to fight them with his bare hands. His clothes were ripped in several places showing off wounds form the monster’s claws.

Chi Banxia and Gu Meiren were protected in the middle. Gu Meiren kept trying to control the monsters with various flute sounds and finally found a tune that could slow them down for a few seconds. This was enough time for Li Ying and the others to quickly counterattack.

Chin Banxia’s witchcraft had no effect so she could only serve as everyone’s eyes and ears, pointing out to the team any sneak attacks being made.

Finally, with everyone’s combined efforts, they were able to kill two monsters while a third one escaped with injuries. Everyone was exhausted from the battle, and all collapsed on the ground, laying there immobile.

Kinky Thoughts:

Interesting turn of events…

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Horizontal Training (横练)

Referred to as the “three trainings”, it encompasses:

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[Jiangshi] (僵尸)

Also known as the Chinese hopping vampire/ghost. It’s a reanimated corpse in Chinese legends. They are typically depicted as a stiff corpse dressed in Chinese shroud and moves around by hopping with its arms outstretched. It kills living creatures to absorb their qi, or “life force”. It usually moves at night and during the day would hide in their coffin or dark places.

The Qing Dynasty scholar Ji Xiaolan mentioned in his book Yuewei Caotang Biji (閱微草堂筆記) (c. 1789 – 1798) that the causes for a corpse to be reanimated can be classified in either of two categories: a recently deceased person returning to life, or a corpse that has been buried for a long time but does not decompose. Some causes are described below:

You can read more about it at the Wikipedia link.

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Licker

The Licker is a fictional creature from Capcom’s Resident Evil series. It first appeared in the video game Resident Evil 2. It has appeared outside video games, including in films. It is one of the most iconic creatures in the game series, as result of a further mutation in zombies infected with certain strains of T-virus. This process is known as V-ACT. The Licker is noted for its large, exposed brains; lack of skin; sensitivity to sound and their eponymous tongues.

The Licker has lost the use of its eyes and cannot track prey by sight. Their super-developed hearing, however, more compensates for the loss. Upon detecting potential prey it will attack full force with teeth, tongue and claws, often alerting others of its kind in the vicinity as well. Weapons that emit very little sound, such as the bowgun, are especially useful.

There are also different forms of Licker. Once it has ingested flesh it will mutate into a stronger, faster hunter. It has been regarded by critics as the most terrifying monster in Resident Evil.

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