Chapter 697. Demonstrating (2)
A dragon was descending.
This dragon that shone in white, sometimes in yellow, lights continued to descend lower and lower as its lengthy body twisted and writhed. It was as if its sole mission in life was to purify everything in this world. And when it slammed into the ground, everything before its eyes was swept away. Of course, the dragon itself wasn't spared from the destruction, either!
KA-BOOOOOM!
KA-BOOM!
Explosive noises went off one after the other.
“Uwaaaaaaah?!”
Zhang Dajing's explosive scream and the ear-splitting noises from vehicles colliding against each other intermingled in the night sky to create a bizarre symphony.
The unfortunate part of this situation was that Zhang Dajing was in no position to savor this impressive orchestral performance!
Zhang Dajing's body was violently shaken around like a block of ice trapped inside a trained bartender's cocktail shaker. Or was it more apt to call him a piece of laundry stuck inside a spinning washing machine?
If he hadn't put on the seat belt at the last second... He'd be personally testing the sturdiness of the van's interior with his own body right about now!
If he survives tonight's adventure, Zhang Dajing swore he'd become the ambassador for road safety and gladly extol the virtues of wearing seatbelts. However, for now...!
“Uwaaah?! You f*cking bastards! You insane motherf*ckers! Uwaaaaah?!”
For now, getting out of this situation alive took his top priority!
Bang! BOOOOOM!
Cars continuously rammed into Zhang Dajing's van. Like a pack of wolves pouncing on a helpless prey, these things unhesitantly attacked his vehicle!
'Heok?!'
Zhang Dajing's eyes powerfully quaked. The van's frame was steadily getting crushed. Its front had already been crushed out of shape. His current problem was with the damaged front gradually pushing inside the cabin and crushing the front seats!
At this rate, Zhang Dajing's legs might get trapped behind the seats, making it impossible for him to do anything!
“Uwaaahk!” Zhang Dajing screamed while urgently unbuckling the seatbelt. And then, he threw himself into the rearmost seat of the van boasting comparatively larger space. Zhu Gang followed suit and also jumped in there after instantly figuring out Zhang Dajing's intentions.
Unfortunately, that was a mistake.
SLAAAAAAAAM!
Zhang Dajing wasn't sure what rammed into the van this time. However, he was at least certain of this one thing. It couldn't have been an average-sized vehicle.
How did he arrive at that conclusion? Simple. If it had been an average-sized car, this huge van wouldn't be rolling around like this!
“Aaaaaahk?! Ouch, ouch! Dammit!”
Zhang Dajing cried out in pain after finally testing the hardness of the seats and the ceiling with his head, back and various other parts of his tender body. He had been yelping in pain for so long that he could taste blood welling up in his throat.
'You... You uncultured motherf*ckers!'
Shouldn't people calling themselves martial artists fight using their martial knowledge?! What the hell was up with this method of attack!
“Aaaahk!”
From behind Zhang Dajing... No, at this point, he couldn't tell if it was behind, front, or even above! Anyways, he could hear Zhu Gang's desperate scream. Even if one was a martial artist, they still required a solid footing first before being able to utilize their martial techniques. In other words, everything Zhu Gang had learned so far was completely useless inside a rolling van!
“G-grab something! Anything!” Zhang Dajing reached out and grabbed the nearest seat cushion. 'Goddamn it! Who was the maker of this van, again?'
Zhang Dajing desperately clung on while praying that the seat wouldn't suddenly come loose from the frame. His dizziness reached extreme heights, causing something in Zhang Dajing's stomach to well up and threaten to burst free.
Creak, creaaaak, tumble...
The madly-tumbling van finally came to a stop. The frame creaked and shuddered from the torture. After sensing that the momentum had finally died down, Zhang Dajing cautiously opened his eyes.
'Is it finally over?'
It felt like he had fallen to the depths of Hell only to climb back up somehow. He'd have turned into a mulch if this craziness had continued for another minute or so. At least, it ended here, so...
“N-no, it can't be...!”
Unfortunately, nothing in this world was that easy. Zhu Gang noticed first their trouble was far from over and whimpered quietly.
Zhang Dajing finally sensed something was still off and hurriedly turned his head to look. Every window in the van had shattered, which should've been great for visibility, but all the crushed and bent metal obscured Zhang Dajing's view instead. He couldn't easily see much of anything outside.
As for the sight visible through the front of the crushed van, it was something rather familiar.
'Okay, so... Where have I seen that scene before?'
Maybe it was from a movie? Although the truck's paint scheme was a little different, its overall shape was...
“Sob, sniffle...”
“...Oii, Stop sniffling like that.”
Vator tore the van's crumpled chassis open, allowing the two trapped men to climb outside.
Zhang Dajing plopped down on his butt and gasped for air. “I, I really thought we were going to die, sir!”
“Tsk...” Vator tutted before turning his head.
Whether the enemy thought any further attack was meaningless, or maybe this was the plan all along... The blinking and flickering river of headlights stopped moving.
“Hmm...!” Vator cocked his head side to side.
Crack! Crack!
Every time his large head moved, noises akin to bones breaking resounded out.
“Been a while since I last received such an amusing warning shot.”
Zhang Dajing urgently looked around. “W-where is Mister Jin-Ho, sir?”
“Right over there. Don't tell me... Were you expecting something as dumb as my master meeting his end through a car crash?”
Zhang Dajing quickly raised his head at Vator's snarky reply.
Kang Jin-Ho was indeed standing tall in the distance, looking as if nothing had happened so far. He was silently staring at the ocean of headlights. Looking at his calm appearance made Zhang Dajing instantly embarrassed about raising such a fuss earlier.
'N-no, hang on. That dude won't die regardless of what the threat is, so...'
The severity of the threat that could unsettle them was different. Unlike Zhang Dajing, Kang Jin-Ho would've been unfazed by a row of cars gunning for him. Actually, he'd still remain unimpressed by bombers packing the skies above!
So, the bastards who came up with this idea of ramming Kang Jin-Ho with a bunch of cars were the weird ones here!
Zhang Dajing gruffly spat out, “And I heard that the Chinese could get utterly batsh*t insane, too!”
Vator tutted again. “...You're also Chinese, you fool.”
“Oh, you're right...” Zhang Dajing sheepishly scratched his head. He had a brief identity crisis after hanging out with only Koreans recently.
“By the way, isn't this weird, sir?” Zhu Gang muttered grimly.
“Mm?” Vator turned his head to look at Zhu Gang.
The demonic cultivator, who had been grimacing in silence until now, raised his voice. “This is not how Chinese martial artists operate, sir. I assure you, we don't resort to such unsophisticated ways of attack like this.”
Zhang Dajing nodded in agreement. “He's right, sir. Even if I have to question whether some random demonic cultivator knows anything or not...”
Vator grew confused when even Zhang Dajing agreed. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the car right at the front of the pack. Someone was climbing out of it.
The man smoothly exited the black sedan and leisurely walked in front of the vehicle before mouthing a cigarette.
Click...
“Fuu-woo...”
After the soft click of a lighter rang out, the familiar gray smoke wafted into the cold night air. The man silently puffed away a couple of times before tossing the lighter and a pack of cigarettes at Kang Jin-Ho. “Here. Have a smoke.”
'That's... Japanese?'
Zhang Dajing's eyes grew slightly wider in confusion. Although he didn't quite catch what was said since it went by too fast, he still could recognize the language spoken. And it was definitely Japanese.
'Our enemies this time is... Japanese?'
But why? Why were the Japanese here?
'N-no, wait. It's possible for them to be here. Sure, why not... Even so! Don't they realize this is not their country? Those insane sons of b*tches!'
It was true that China and Japan were 'respectfully' staying out of each other's way until now. However, that story only applied when the members of the Chinese and Japanese martial societies remained in their respective motherlands.
When your neighbor, who you hadn't paid much attention to until now, suddenly intruded into your backyard to urinate all over the place, would you sit still and do nothing?
Click!
Kang Jin-Ho mouthed the cigarette and lit it up. The gray-white smoke leaked out from Kang Jin-Ho's shut mouth. But the incoming breeze instantly scattered the smoke away.
“That was a nice little greeting,” said Kang Jin-Ho while tossing the lighter and the packet back at the Japanese man. Then, he leisurely puffed away at the cigarette.
The bright headlights should've obscured the much-smaller cigarette light out of existence, yet that crimson glow seemed so much more striking for some reason.
“So... How do you wish to die?”
That was a quiet and unassuming declaration.