Chapter 559: Lost Control

Moving out of the alley, they find an intersection. At the end of the street was a park. It was not a big park but the design was very beautiful. However, as it was night, no one could be seen there.

Tian Lie examined their surroundings.

The street before them was close to the River Thames. It was the only street in the vicinity.

“Quite a good ambush location.” Tian Lie gave a whistle.

He then pointed toward a bench in the park beside the street. “You three sit down and wait for a bit.”

A complicated expression appeared on Tom Huggins’ face. “You really do not intend to run away?”

Tian Lie did not reply. He simply continued pointing at the bench.

Tom Huggins sighed and pulled his wife, Jenny.

Jenny did not move. Instead, she gently tugged at Lin Leyan.

There was a rather confused look on Lin Leyan’s face as Jenny pulled her along into the park beside the street.

“Sit here.” Tian Lie said coldly. Next, he twirled one of his fingers, cutting a perfect circle on the tiles beneath the bench.

“Stay inside the circle and do not move. Consider this an advice or warning, up to you,” said Tian Lie as he looked at the three of them.

Seeing what happened, Lin Leyan recollected herself and gave Tian Lie a glare. “Have you been watching too much Journey to the West?”

“You are not Tang Xuanzang and I am not the monkey. Trust me; this circle I left here is for your own good.” After saying that, Tian Lie ignored the three of them and strode toward the middle of the street.

“I am sorry, Lin. I got you involved in this.” Jenny cast a highly apologetic look at Lin Leyan.

Lin Leyan bit her lips and looked at her two friends.

“Jenny, just what is going on here? These people, they… … are they really humans?”

A hint of fear flashed across Lin Leyan’s eyes.

Back when they were inside the house earlier, Tian Lie and Nicole did not reveal much of their abilities. However, when Tian Lie was leading the three of them out of the house through the underground passageway, Lin Leyan saw something.

The door to the basement had been locked using iron chains. However, Tian Lie had used his bare hands to tear them off.

He had used his bare hands to tear off iron chains that were two fingers thick.

“Lin, as it is, I have no way of explaining too much about it to you. I can only say sorry… … I will try my best so you do not get hurt.” Jenny sighed helplessly.

…

Beyond the public park, Tian Lie stood somewhere over 20 metres away from the three of them. For some unknown reason, the surrounding streetlamps had simultaneously blinked off.

“All right, come on out. Isn’t this the ambush location that you fellows have prepared beforehand?” Tian Lie then turned to face the empty sky, a lazy smile on his face.

A few seconds later, a figure appeared on the street.

“Who are you? Why disrupt our plans?” There was a very cautious tone in the figure’s voice. “This is Thorned Flower Guild’s matters. If you choose to leave right now, we can still…”

“Enough.” Tian Lie extended his pinky finger to dig his ear. “Enough nonsense. If you have what it takes to represent Thorned Flower Guild, you won’t be so jumpy. Come on over and let me see who would dare attack the guild’s contact person for the British Isles region.”

The other figure hesitated for a moment. After that, he took a deep breath and sneered before saying, “It seems you are unwilling to back off. Fine. I will let you know there is a price to pay for meddling in other’s affairs.”

The figure slowly approached. When there were less than 10 metres between him and Tian Lie, Tian Lie, who was finally able to see who the other fellow was, broke into a fit of laughter.

The man wore an overcoat. Beneath the overcoat however, an [A] class protective suit could be seen. Both his hands were placed straight down as they gripped onto a one-metre long sai each [1]. Weapons like that was a rare sight.

His hair was reddish brown while his face looked pale.

Tian Lie continued laughing. “I was wondering who could it be. Turns out it is you, Zaza. Don’t you always stay in Southern Europe? Why did you suddenly run over to London?”

Next, Tian Lie’s tone took on a harsh quality. “Since when could the people from Southern Europe cross the line and interfere in matters in the British Isles region? And you actually dare to ambush the guild’s contact person? Are you thinking of betraying the guild?”

After Tian Lie called out his name, the man known as Zaza showed a clear look of shock. He raised his brows and said, “You recognize me?”

“Of course I know you.” Tian Lie shrugged. “Out of all the Awakened members Thorned Flower Guild has recruited in recent years, you can be considered one of the best. In terms of strength… let me think, you could probably qualify to be in the top five among the guild’s Awakened members. What, you decided to betray the guild?”

Zaza could clearly sense something wrong with this scenario.

This other fellow had recognized him. He also knew about his strength… … and yet, this fellow maintained that carefree attitude. It was as though this other fellow simply did not see him as a threat.

That could not be right. Zaza was clear on one thing, he, Zaza, was no weakling. He had the qualifications to be recruited into Thorned Flower Guild and was someone in the top five among the guild’s Awakened members. Wherever he went, Zaza was most certainly an expert.

However, this other fellow… … he was looking at Zaza using such an indifferent attitude. Assuming he was not a fool, it would mean this other fellow was an expert among experts, someone possessing a level of strength sufficient to suppress Zaza.

No matter how Zaza considered it, this other fellow did not appear to be a fool.

Having reached that line of thought, Zaza subconsciously thought about retreating and he took one step backward.

“Oh, thinking about leaving? Are you scared now?” Tian Lie smiled and said, “To have the guts to betray Thorned Flower Guild and do something like this, I had thought that you do not know the meaning of the word fear. Have you forgotten what the guild rules are in dealing with traitors?”

“Just who are you?”

Tian Lie rubbed his knuckles and cracked them as he grinned. “Don’t worry, you won’t be able to leave. I do not mind digging out information from your mouth right now. Wait till I bend you over, I assure you I will make it so you would even tell me about the time you wet your bed.”

The infuriated Zaza let out a barking laugh of his own and said, “You do not know the height of the Heavens and the depths of Hell! Enough nonsense!”

“Oh?” Tian Lie smiled. “You will know soon enough… … I should tell you though, this is not our first fight. A few years ago, you had dared to offend me, so I whooped you until you got on your knees and cried for mercy. Hopefully your bones have gotten a little stronger after these few years.”

Zaza was startled. Something abruptly came to mind and he gaped at Tian Lie. “You, you? What did you say? You, you are… … you are?”

…

Nicole sat down in stupor within the ruined living room. The hapless Alice lay limply on the floor, incapable of moving in the slightest.

Nicole had seemingly lost all ability to think. The sounds of siren could be heard coming from the distance. Considering how an explosion had erupted, it was only natural for the residents to make a police report. Police cars and fire trucks were heading for the house.

Nicole however, appeared ignorant to that. She just sat there, mumbling, “Impossible, absolutely impossible, that is simply impossible… …”

A police car approached. However, as the car was about to enter the street, the police car that was speeding over seemingly slammed into an invisible something. The momentum behind the speeding car caused it to flip over as its bumper cracked and the front hood deformed – it was as though it had slammed into a wall.

And yet, there was clearly nothing on the street.

Coming right behind the flipped police car was a second one. This one failed to stop and suffered the same fate. In the end, it too flipped over.

Behind the police cars was a fire truck, which managed to stop itself in time. Seeing the two overturned police cars, the fire fighters quickly got out from the fire truck to initiate rescue efforts.

Ten metres above ground, two Floater Cannons floated in the air and retracted their invisible ray of light.

“Energy shield retracted. Targets entering the zone have been stopped, Calculations show that there are three more targets; they will arrive within an estimated two minutes’ time. Do you wish to continue stopping them?”

After receiving the notifications sent by her Floater equipment, Nicole, who sat inside the living room, finally recollected herself.

She looked around blankly, looking at the house that had fallen to ruins. Some people from the distant houses were seemingly trying to find out what was going on. These people peered out through their windows while others hid behind their windows. Some were using their mobile phones to take photos.

Due to the terrifying sound of explosions earlier, no one dared to move out from their houses.

If this were just an ordinary fire, as neighbours, they would certainly come out to help. However, sounds of gunfire of sorts had accompanied the earlier explosion. That deterred the neighbours’ thoughts of coming out to help.

In Europe, there had been no end to the number of terrorist attacks in recent years. Thus, no one dared to come out.

As a battle hardened veteran member of the Angel Corps, Nicole was able to force herself to calm down despite the shock she was feeling.

She seized Alice up and said, “You will be coming with me. I have many things that I will need to slowly ask of you!”

The two police cars on the street were cleared and the fire truck quickly made its way to Tom Huggins’ ruined house. Several other police cars arrived as well. Police officers bearing live firearms moved in to investigate the area.

They quickly extinguished the flames in the vicinity. However, no matter how hard the police officers tried, they were unable to find any signs of life.

The only thing left there were the ruins and a few corpses.

…

…

The number of police cars rushing toward the scene gradually grew in number. However, when a car moved in the opposite direction, the car’s actions did not alarm the incoming police.

The one driving the car was Tom Huggins while Jenny sat in the first passenger’s seat.

In the back seat of the car was Tian Lie. He had his brows tightly knitted together. As for Lin Leyan, she sat beside Tian Lie, feeling too scared to even breath.

The car drove on for 10 kilometres before stopping by a secluded pier near the River Thames.

After getting off the car, Tian Lie moved to open up the trunk of the car. Next, he pulled out a crumpled figure.

Zaza appeared most miserable. The [A] class protective suit he wore was now torn into pieces and blood covered his face. He appeared to be on the verge of death.

“Enough, stop playing dead.” Tian Lie tossed him to the ground. “The bones in your left leg and left arm are not broken. So, you better get up. If you think playing dead before me is a good idea – you should know what kind of temper I have!”

Zaza opened his eyes and looked at Tian Lie. “This, this is impossible… … you are dead. You clearly died. Guild Leader himself announced your death.”

Tian Lie ignored him. Instead, he raised his hand to check his watch. As a hint of doubt was flashing across his eyes, he noticed the light from a car’s headlight approaching from a distance. A car was speeding toward them.

Next, seeing Nicole hastily emerging from the car, Tian Lie gave a whistle. “Later than I expected. Could those few fellows be that hard to deal with? Or have you grown weaker?”

Nicole ignored Tian Lie. With a pale face, she walked toward the other car, pulled the door and forcibly dragged Jenny out from the front passenger’s seat.

Tom Huggins shouted and jumped out from the other side. He rushed forward to fight off Nicole, but Tian Lie grabbed hold of him and pinned him to the car.

“Don’t touch her! What are you doing?!” Tom Huggins appeared to be on the verge of going crazy. However, he found himself incapable of resisting Tian Lie at all.

Nicole paid him no need and instead pressed Jenny on the ground. She cast an icy stare at Jenny and said, “You do not know? You still do not know?”

“I… … I do not understand what you are talking about.” Looking at Nicole’s eyes, which brimmed with killing intent, Jenny was scared silly.

“Now, use the emergency channel to make contact right now!”

“Eh?”

“Immediately! ASAP!” Nicole suddenly lost control and roared out. “Make contact using the emergency channel immediately! ASAP!!!”

Tian Lie gave Tom Huggins a glance and said, “Be obedient and do not move! I promise you no harm will come to your wife. However, if you act up, I will not be responsible for whatever happens.”

After saying that, Tian Lie loosened his grip on him and moved toward Nicole. “What happened?”

He could see that there was something wrong with Nicole’s state. Her eyes, especially, had already turned red and there were faint traces of tears in them. Tian Lie put away the frivolous smile that he usually wore on his face and said, “What happened?”

“Zero City.” Nicole took a deep breath before turning to look at Tian Lie. She then continued in a quavering voice, “I caught someone from the other team. I heard from her that Zero City… … Zero City…”

“What happened to Zero City?”

“Zero City has fallen!”

Hearing that, the usually fearless Tian Lie was left stunned.

…

1 A sai is the weapon used by Raphael in TMNT. It is that weapon with three pointy ends.↩