Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter 44: Terrible State

Outside the club there were ten to twenty policemen. The officer in charge of the exterior watched as the ESU armored vehicle barged in. Following that was a consecutive flurry of gunshots. And then… It went quiet.

Did they succeed? But why was there no announcement of their success from the other end of the wireless?

After a long time, the commanding officer heard someone plead for help through the wireless. “I’m Charlie. I need reinforcements. The operation has failed, and Commander Herrington is dead. My comrades are all injured. For God’s sake, please help me, quick!”

The cries for help made the commanding officer pause. The other policemen surrounding him wore expressions that spoke of their shock. They turned to look at the gates, at the massive opening on them after the car crashed through it, and felt incredulous about the current situation.

Why would something like that happen? Six ESU agents, armed to their teeth, all went silent after entering the building. The huge opening was like the entrance to Hell, and entering it was the same as falling into the Devil’s hands.

The group of police officers were looking at one another, bemused, waiting for their commander to issue an order. Listening to the continuous pleas from the agent inside, the commander gritted his teeth and waved. “Provide protection cover alternately. We must save our own at least.”

The policemen gradually grouped together. The policeman at the lead held a large-caliber shotgun up, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Beyond the entrance, glass shards were all over the floor. The policemen observed their surroundings carefully while holding their guns up. They saw the armored vehicle at the center of the lobby. Several dead bodies and injured agents lay on the floor.

“I am Charlie, I’m here. Don’t fire.” The agent named Charlie walked out from the front of the vehicle slowly, dragging another agent injured at the shoulder behind him.

The agent who ended up being kicked was also found. The man fainted after the intense collision. He was still suffering from the side effects of a concussion after regaining consciousness.

How many people attacked them? Why did it look like they had been ganged up on?

“What on earth happened?” The commander followed them in as well. He identified Officer Herrington’s corpse immediately.

Inside the vehicle, the agent that got shot in the head was practically a pile of sludge.

A policeman attempted to track Zhou Qingfeng’s escape path, but he felt his stomach roil at the terrible state of the scene. At the stench of blood, he threw up on the floor.

The doors to the driver’s compartment were open, and the agent who served as driver walked out, trembling. Within less than a minute, he lost three of his colleagues one after another. Two more were injured whilst he was the one who witnessed the entire incident. The trauma was too much for him to bear.

“Officer, it was terrifying. I swear to God that guy’s definitely something more than human. A person who’s so vicious and terrifying is not someone we can go against.” The driver was already on the verge of mental collapse.

“You useless fool!” The commander scolded. “Your comrades are dead, and all you can do is cry? Buck up. We’re going down to catch the suspect.”

Due to the police’s lack of motivation and their dearth of knowledge about Zhou Qingfeng, the commander did not decide rashly to get on with it. After carrying the injured officers and other survivors out of the building, he reported the devastating state of the scene to the headquarters and asked for reinforcements.

After Zhou Qingfeng had fought with the agents to the last second and succeeded, he left the building along with Leila Fox. Now he was facing a problem—to go under the drains or not to—because he had a woman beside him that was strongly against the former.

According to his personal computer, the drainage systems under the city of New York were fully renovated in the year 2025. The liquid petroleum gas, drinking water, rainwater, and wastewater systems were combined together. As a result, the underground drains were all pretty wide so as to allow for easy evaluation and reconstruction.

After barging into the club’s kitchen, Zhou Qingfeng grabbed a plate of steak randomly and stuffed them into his mouth while asking someone to point out the entrance to the drains for him. Leila looked on as Zhou Qingfeng gobbled the food down, shaking her head violently and refusing to go down.

“Listen, Victor, we don’t have to go down there. We can escape with air transport. There’s a helicopter parked on the top of the building, and coincidentally I am an excellent helicopter pilot. This is so much better than using the drains.” Leila Fox said.

“You know how to fly a helicopter?”

“Of course. I do have a legitimate license.”

“But what if we come across a police helicopter? We won’t be able to escape.”

“There’ll be about 10 police helicopters in the air at most, and they won’t all come after us. They might not guess that we would escape through air transport too. There’s only that many entrances and exits to the drains. What, you wanna stay in there all your life if the police block them?” Leila persuaded earnestly.

Zhou Qingfeng thought, ‘I won’t have to stay there my whole life; I only need to be down there for a few hours’. Despite that, it was just as Leila had said: choosing to go down under the drains had a fatal shortcoming to it. If the police blocked the few entrances to the drains left and assigned a team of agents down there, he had no other alternative but to counter them by force.

Brute force was always undesirable whenever he was alone and disadvantaged. It did not mean that he could succeed a second time even if he had succeeded the first time. He must not follow in Xiang Yu’s footsteps[1]; the man had worked hard his own life only to lose everything he had in a failed battle. If he could, Zhou Qingfeng would rather imitate Liu Bang[2]. Although he had been a little cowardly, he had risen up again and again after consecutive losses, as hard to extinguish as a cockroach. That was quite nice too.

“You really know how to fly a helicopter?” Zhou Qingfeng only knew how to drive a car. He had not entertained the thought of taking the airborne route. After Leila nodded, certain, he said, “Fine, let’s take the helicopter.”

The pair of runaway escapees entered the elevator once again, up to the top of the building. A lightweight two-seat helicopter was parked on the helipad.

Leila really was versed in helicopter-flying. The woman put on a helmet, pulled on a few levers, and the helicopter was already started. After the engine was preheated for a while, the helicopter rotor started rotating with a buzzing sound, and the helicopter was propelled up to the air.

This was Zhou Qingfeng’s first time on a helicopter. He looked downward through the side windows. All the buildings and skyscrapers in Manhattan were now below him. Those who were not used to the sight would feel nauseous.

“Where are we going? Do you still want to go to Columbia University?” Amidst the buzzing sounds, Leila Fox asked loudly.

“Yeah. Land somewhere near the university.” Zhou Qingfeng answered as loudly.

“I think you’ve gone crazy. You’re already in this situation, and yet you insist on taking that robot dog. Don’t you know how securely guarded that place is? That site’s a military project. The Department of Homeland Security has assigned a lot of troops there. If you go, you’ll definitely be arrested. There’s no other possibility.”

Leila said all that with conviction, as if Zhou Qingfeng would definitely come across everything she had talked about, but she drove steadily toward the university despite her words.

Zhou Qingfeng took a few looks at Miss Fox and said teasingly, “I think you’re the crazy one. You know that following after me means grave danger, and yet you continue doing it. Why is that so?”

Leila Fox laughed heartily. “Because I like to see you create miracles! I trust that you’re not a fool.”

[1] Original text is “the king of the Chu nation”, which refers to Xiang Yu

[2] Xiang Yu’s rival