Monarch of the Dark Nights - Chapter 9

Chapter 009: Duan Family’s Code of Conduct

This was the night when one slept and then woke up to find that the world had turned completely chaotic. At this moment, there was nothing left that held Yun Tu back to kill. He didn’t have to worry that the police would come and trouble him tomorrow.

When he just sensed the killing intents, Yun Tu was slightly hesitant. But when two assassins really jumped out, he quickly shook his head.

From an average person’s perspective, the three assassins with knife techniques and movement skills, they could be considered as good. But after one had successfully evolved, their body’s parameters were seen as a digitized number by the Awakened. These seemingly strong average people were not at the same level of magnitude as Yun Tu.

Not to mention that the killing tools in their hands were not sufficient. Yun Tu had an assault rifle as well as an axe. It seemed like the assassins were very confident, and only brought a knife with them.

Killing intent filled the dark night. The gangsters had long been submerged in the underworld, and these assassins were also able to sense other’s killing intent to a certain extent. But since they had rushed out and had exposed themselves in front of Yun Tu, everything was too late for them.

It was one against three. The moment the enemies were ready to act, Yun Tu had moved first agilely as though he was a leopard.

One,

Two,

Three,

Cracking sounds came from the darkness. Within three seconds, 3 assassins’ throat bones fractured. A person’s shadow was then revealed, and turned into Yun Tu’s figure as the three assassins were knocked down.

All secretive acts, and one act to reveal it. However, not too far behind him, a sound of a bike being started could be heard. Yun Tu knew that he was being careless as one fish had slipped away.

He couldn’t find a car at this time and the driver had started his bike and accelerated forward. At present, Yun Tu was unable to chase and catch up to with him solely relying on his leg’s strength. But since he didn’t fully use his strength on the last assassin a moment ago, he still had a living witness.

“Tell me the fucking bastard who hired you! Else, I’ll kill you right now!” Yun Tu dragged the only living assassin directly to his flat and began his interrogation.

“Even if I tell you, I’ll still die, then why the fuck should I tell you, huh?!” Even though he was severely injured, but his mind was still clear.

“You won’t speak, eh? Fine, then I’ll send you home!” Yun Tu smiled as he pulled out an ID card and his temporary residence permit from his wallet.

“What? Send me home?” The man was muddled.

“Take a good look at this axe. I daresay you know this white thing, yes?” Yun Tu pointed at his axe and asked.

“What the fuck is it? Is it…”

He didn’t have the courage to blurt out “zombie’s blood”, as waves of fear struck him after he responded.

“Hahaha, you got that fucking right. Then you can guess what will happen to someone who has turned into a zombie, yes? Guess what? You’ll bite your own parents, your wife, son, brothers, and sisters.”

Although only a day had passed by, various facts had been spread to the public concerning zombies. For thugs and hoodlums who were living in the underworld, they had known about it faster than ordinary people. So when he heard such a threat from Yun Tu, he no longer dared to resist.

“O-O-Okay, I will tell you. But I beg you, if you want to kill me, then kill me. B-B-But, don’t make me a zombie… don’t send me home…”

Each and every individual had things they feared. It didn’t take long for Yun Tu to pry out the mastermind behind this assassination attempt from him.

“Duan Hongshan and Duan Minghui, the Duan Family! It’s them!”

There was no evidence. But at this time, what evidence was needed? If he were to think about it carefully, it could be said that there was only deep hatred and a blood debt between him and the Duan Family.

Duan Minghui used his status and money to strike him at the back and rob his girlfriend. Even though it could be said that the woman was greedy about money, he was framed by planting drugs in his flat, causing him to be sentenced to prison, and have his good future ruined. This was a hatred and debt that couldn’t be wiped out by anyone. Much less that his leg was discarded by someone right after he just got out from jail. The Duan Family must absolutely be related and couldn’t get off this responsibility.

By now, Yun Tu had only ripped Duan Minghui’s ear. And it was only a gentle act. But the Duan Family had sent 4 assassins all of a sudden. This was clearly to claim his life.

Had it been that Yun Tu had yet to successfully evolve after his rebirth, his cold dead body could have been lying down on the ground by now.

These enemies of his were sinister, cruel, and ruthless beyond common sense. The past Yun Tu before the second repertoire would have been scared shitless in facing such enemies. But the present situation was slightly different. Yun Tu’s attitude and conviction now could be expressed in three words, “bring it on”.

“Since you couldn’t kill all the four of us, I believe that Duan Family’s underlings will soon come and kill you. Once they see you as an enemy, the more powerful you become, the more they will be determined to not let you off. This is Duan Family’s code of conduct!” Since he felt that he would die, the assassin’s words that was on his deathbed, really came from his heart. And he unexpectedly reminded Yun Tu to run away after seeing the blazing flaming inside Yun Tu’s eyes.

“The Duan Family has a code, eh? Did they think that I don’t have one?!”

Yun Tu sneered as his axe swung and cut the assassin’s neck and then wiped the red blood from it…

The moment Yun Tu was still interrogating the last living assassin to find his employer and finally confirmed that it was the Duan Family, the Duan Family itself was visited by a core family member in the middle of the night. It was Duan Hongshan’s younger cousin. He was the political commissary of Jiangnan City’s garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Duan Hongyu.

The total number of Jiangnan City’s garrison troops were only a few thousand soldiers. As for how big the influence a regiment military officer had toward bureaucracy, many ordinary people were clueless about this. But for those who knew about the inside story, if the officer with such a military rank were placed in a place with a large army, it could be regarded as only a small fish. However, in the absence of a PLA regional army being stationed in Jiangnan City, officers with such a rank were at a real tiger level. A lot of large ‘grey’ corporations were relying on them as their patron, creating extremely solid connections between military forces that colluded with civilian businesses in exchange for dirty favors.

“The world is changing. Previously we brothers had been cooperating for the purpose of making money. But today, everything will come to an end!” Duan Hongshan thought that Duan Hongyu visited today was to speak about some important business. But he had yet to speak about what important issue was needed to be discussed, his cousin, Duan Hongyu’s first sentence left him bewildered.

“Why do you say that?”

“The government and the military think that the end of the world has come. Maybe it will start from tomorrow. All money, regardless in the bank or in the wallet, will become worthless!!!”

Because they were brothers, Duan Hongyu didn’t want to dally too long. He drank his tea and quickly told him the whole story.

“The end of the world has come and then all money will become scrap paper? Isn’t this the same as saying our amassed wealth for years will be thrown away and become useless?” Madam Duan was shocked.

Upon hearing his brother’s words, Duan Hongshan was unlike his wife and panicked. But still, he also couldn’t respond for a moment. But when Duan Hongyu began to tell him about some of the contents in the military report, with his fast brain, he immediately understood, “Radio and network signals are broken. The Central Government is unable to control the locals, and the most frightening thing, is that people who are bitten by zombies will become zombies. The number of zombies will multiply by several folds, and will increase extremely fast in a very short period of time. And soon, humans will no longer be ruler of this world. Even if there are a few variables and chances of survival, it will be very difficult to obtain or even to confirm. But, there is the possibility of maintaining a normal economy and financial system.”

“Of everything that you’ve said, the key emphasis is not on those issues!”

Duan Hongyu really admired such a fast thought and the ability to emphasize on a lot of important aspects his cousin Duan Hongshan had said. But those aspects were not the key point.

“If these are not the crucial points, then what would it be?” Duan Hongshan immediately asked.

“The zombies’ intracranial can produce an energy crystal which is able to grant superpower abilities to ordinary people. Later on, those crystals perhaps will replace the currency we have right now. At the same time, this also will be the foundation that will develop and be recognized in the apocalypse era.”

After Duan Hongyu had said the most important issue, he took the ashtray from the table and suddenly gripped it powerfully as the thick porcelain ashtray was instantly crushed and crumbled.

“You already have this ability!”

It really could be said that Duan Hongshan’s wisdom was truly not small. Seeing such a demonstration from Duan Hongyu, he instantly commented by expressing his thoughts.

“Big Brother, if you were not family, I would have never let you see this. You do know that I have some friction with the Regiment Commander Jiang in the army. Since the world has yet to change, I need someone outside the army to develop a number of people that will belong to my force.

“Although money will quickly turn into scrap paper, but I believe that you’ve accumulated contacts and influence during your career as an entrepreneur for years. This capital of yours will still be effective in the next few days. I will also try to find a way to get a group of real guys in the barracks to come support you. The era of us brothers have come. Our Duan Family will become the rulers of the entire Jiangnan City…”

Birds would flock with birds from the same kind, and people would fit with the same type of people. From this, it was very obvious that Duan Hongshan’s cousin was more ruthless and vicious than his big brother, with the ability to stay unperturbed to brave the danger and achieve his sky-high ambitions.

On the night of the second day of the apocalypse and the dawn of the third day, a group that had concrete details of information to respond to the apocalypse began to establish their major action plan.

In the previous incarnation, due to having developed a foundation in advance, the Duan Family in Jiangnan was able to recruit a few thousands of Awakened in 2 months, and became the first big guild. At the same period of time, the other strong and powerful guilds were also unable to know the reason.

The army colluded with businesses, military force was altered by intelligence, and firearms reinforced by networking contacts. If Yun Tu were to secretly eavesdrop on these Duan Family’s brothers, he could have understood everything.

However, everything was only a hypothesis. In fact, the conspiracy and machinations being brewed by these Duan Family brothers, outsiders fundamentally knew nothing about it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Note:

The note contains a small spoiler.

[1] I’ve to explain something about the apocalypse, judgment day, and the end of the world terms. I will use these terms according to the narration, flow, and characters. Although the raws in Chinese is the same, but it has different nuances. For narration it would be apocalypse. For some dialogs, it will be the end of the world or the judgment day depends on the people who speak about it.

[2] The same rules also applied to blood crystal, for the first part of the story, sometimes it will be called red pearl/bead depends on the person who perceive it in the story. But later on, after the energy crystal has become public knowledge, it will be called as simply Blood Crystal with grade.