Nightmare's Call

Chapter 136: Covert War: Part 1

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Four?” Lin Sheng’s heart skipped a beat. He did not harp on it, however, as he quickly injected the combat memories of the armored soldiers that he had acquired earlier. He then quickly opened his eyes and saw four soldiers wearing silver armor. They were standing before him in the brightly illuminated space in the room.

“Weren’t their armor black earlier? Or is this what the Vault Guards are supposed to look like?” A thought came to mind, and Lin Sheng walked around and observed the four soldiers. “One soldier, step forward.” He commanded in his mind. One of the Vault Guards stepped out, his heavy armor clanked loudly, making way more noise than the Blackfeather swordsmen did. Lin Sheng came close to the soldier and carefully examined him.

The entire armor was silver in color, the upper part was bucket-type chest plate accompanied by a cape armor, and the leg armors at the bottom. They looked not much different from the one he wore in the dreams. He knocked the armor with his hand. It sounded a bit dull, which meant it was a thick piece of metal. “Aside from the color, there are not many changes.”

Lin Sheng then checked the sword and the shield. Still, they were the same as before, except that they had become silver color now.

He checked the thickness of the armor plates; they were as thick as a phalange of the finger. Armor plates of such thickness would be impenetrable even by bullets. He did not know about sniper rifles, though, as he had no experience using it. But, he could imagine that even shots from a weapon as powerful as a sniper rifle would have a hard time making a meaningful dent on the armor.

“The Vault Guards are the most resistant to weapons.” Lin Sheng lamented, however, among the normal human beings, who would possess the kind of strength to wear this heavy metal armor and walked around with it? A phalange of the finger in thickness, which was roughly about 24-mm piece of metal, Lin Sheng calculated in his mind. This kind of thickness was skin to a tank.

Again, he reached to open the helmet visor of the soldier. Under the helmet was the face of a tall man with white hair, white skin, and black eyes. The man looked emotionless, eyes exuding a deadly coldness, and were totally devoid of self-consciousness.

“Your name will be Saladdin from now on. You will be in charge of the Vault Guards.” Lin Sheng commanded.

“Aye!” Saladin dropped to his knee with his head lowered in a gesture of salutation. Saladin meant sturdy and strong in ancient Rehn. Save for if it was under the bombardment of heavy firepower, these armored soldiers were practically an impenetrable fortress.

Lin Sheng did not recall during any time in his dreams he had ever worn this kind of armor. “It seems that the armor has lost a considerable thickness after being exposed to years of corrosion in the vault.” Lin Sheng figured. Otherwise, the armor he had worn would not weigh merely sixty kilograms. It would weigh at least a hundred.

“Now, Saladdin, bring two soldiers with you and follow the crow. Once arriving at the destination, search the city for any non-human creatures and then kill on sight.” Lin Sheng quickly commanded.

“Aye!” Saladin replied aloud with an emotionless expression. Immediately, he and the other two Vault Guards behind him turned into a cloud of black smoke and disappeared out through the opening in the room. The black crow let out a loud caw and then flew straight toward the direction of Huaisha. The remaining one Vault Guard stood unmoved, waiting for Lin Sheng’s order.

“Go to patrol the perimeter. No creatures are allowed to bother me.” Lin Sheng commanded.

“Aye.” The Vault Guard turned around and strode out with loud clanking noise, leaving the monastery ruin and making his round in the surroundings.

Lin Sheng looked around the scene of the ceremony and quickly cleaned up the mess. He felt that his soul was fully occupied again. Just four Vault Guards, yet they had taken up the soul capacity that he had worked so hard to achieve. “Apparently, killing and acquiring a fragment of the soul does not mean that I can make use of this fragment to summon a corresponding monster. I should have acquired more fragments to make a complete soul, then only could I summon a corresponding soldier.” Lin Sheng began to calculate. “Then, how many soul fragments should I acquire to make, or rather summon a complete soul?”

A mansion area in Huaisha.

Body parts were strewn on the floor in the living room on the first floor of a mansion. Blood-spatters were on the walls, sofa, TV, and refrigerator. A middle-aged man with a fat belly was lying on the couch, his internal organs had been entirely gouged out.

Lying on the wooden stairs was the body of a little girl. The flesh on her face, arms, legs, and body, basically all parts that contained tissue had been ripped apart, leaving behind massive bloody open wounds.

When Shad led another two police officers and stormed into the mansion and saw the horrifying scene, one of them instantly turned around and emptied out last night’s dinner. Shad’s brow gently perspired. “It is already the fifth case since yesterday. This is utterly crazy! Absolutely sick!” He mumbled, looking at the two bodies but stopping short of coming near them.

What worried him more was the disappearance of the minister of security, Wayne, together with twenty or so of his men while investigating the murder case. He was still nowhere to be found until now.

Eyewitnesses recounted that they saw some bodies in the woods. But when he led his men to check out the place, there was nothing there except some bloodstains here and there.

“Something had happened to the master of the Azure Heart when he left...” Shad was like a cat on hot bricks.

“Chief... what should we do now?” An officer named Jerde asked in a low voice. Jerde was a veteran of the department; he had seen many murder cases. He had seen far worse, more horrible scenes than this one, so he was not affected by what he saw.

“Now... I must inform my superior! That’s right! My superior!” The first thing coming Shad’s mind was to shift his responsibility, and then apply for a transfer. He could not stay in this goddamn place anymore. Cases kept cropping up continuously. It seemed there was no stopping to it. He began to worry that he might not live long enough to see his term end if he were to continue to stay here.

“Then you’d better be quick. The killer is maniacally fast. So many cases with so many people killed in just two days.” Jerde said with a frightful expression.

“Perhaps we could ask the favor from the White Tarots gang...” The police officer who had just thrown up said quietly.

But Shad did not respond. As chief of the police department, he knew the situation better than anyone else did. The White Tarots had been transferring their assets elsewhere, with only a small part of it still remained locally. After the murder of Chen Hang, the White Tarots had been behaving strangely. Instead of seeking revenge, they had opted to dispose of their assets and moved their money overseas.

“It’s useless.” Shad had speculated that the White Tarots might have been afraid of the killer who had been staying in the dark all this while. But intuition told him otherwise.

Suddenly, the door of the mansion was pushed open as a man, old but hunky and tall, wearing a black sports suit, walked in.

“Chief Shad?” the old man asked.

“I’m Chief Shad. You are?” Shad could sense an unusual vibe on the old man. He must be no small potato, and caution in his attitude would be wise, Shad thought. With too many shits happening, he had started to get paranoid and afraid of causing more trouble for himself.

“I am Dao Ling,” the old man said in a throaty voice, “from Ironfist Society. I’ve visited you in hopes that you could provide information and leads on the murder case.”