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Chapter 144: Arrival in Hong Kong
Hong Kong under the shroud of night was no longer the brilliant Pearl of the Orient.
A halo of dark red light, like clotted blood, loomed over Victoria Harbour. The skyscrapers, once bustling and prosperous, were now pitch black, standing like silent tombstones.
And in the center of that dead silence, atop Victoria Peak, a dark red palace defying all laws of physics floated quietly.
Black mist swirled around it—an aura of evil so pure it was suffocating.
The supersonic fighter jet hovered at an altitude of a thousand meters, the intense air currents causing the fuselage to tremble slightly.
"My God..."
Captain Black gripped the control stick tightly, his throat dry as he looked down at the hellish landscape below.
"Aiya!"
Uncle pressed his face against the porthole. "That is Shendu's domain. He is absorbing fear, absorbing the despair of this city. Every second, he is getting stronger."
Jackie unbuckled his seatbelt, his face pale as he looked at Uncle.
"What should we do?"
"Idiot!"
Uncle backhanded Jackie on the forehead. "Find a place to land! Uncle needs to set up a Chi Magic formation. Only Good Chi can neutralize this kind of evil!"
Through the beam of the searchlight, one could see dense clusters of black dots writhing beneath the floating palace.
It was the Shadowkhan.
Thousands upon thousands, endless and infinite. They crawled out from the city's shadows like a black tide, submerging the streets and mountain roads, guarding the palace like stars surrounding the moon.
.....
Deep within the palace, upon the throne.
A pair of scarlet, slit pupils suddenly snapped open.
Shendu was coiled upon the massive stone seat, his dark red scales shimmering faintly in the darkness. He felt the vibration of the "iron bird" overhead, and more importantly, he felt an aura within it that made him uncomfortable.
Sharp. Domineering.
It was that human woman who had cut him before.
"Truly a lingering insect."
Shendu let out a low growl. His voice echoed through the empty great hall, shaking the dust from the stone pillars.
"Since you are in such a hurry to die, then become my nourishment."
He raised a claw and waved it casually downward.
Boom!
The Shadowkhan below instantly rioted.
Countless red eyes lit up in the darkness, resembling innumerable ignited will-o'-the-wisps. The originally static black tide began to boil. They spread upward along the mountain terrain, and some winged Shadowkhan soldiers even took flight, pouncing toward the fighter jet.
"They're coming up!" Black roared, yanking the nose of the jet upward. "Hold on tight! I'm activating the weapon systems!"
"Save it."
A cold female voice interrupted him.
By the cabin door, Gion held the handle with one hand, the fierce wind blowing her long pink hair straight back. She looked down at the scalp-numbing black ocean below, her eyes holding not a trace of fear, only a faint disgust.
"With that quantity, you wouldn't finish shooting them with your little machine guns even if you fired until next year."
"Then do you have a bright idea, Ms. Gion?!" Jackie shouted, clutching the handrail.
"Simple."
Gion let go of the handle, letting her body lean out of the cabin.
"Just kill them all."
"Hey!!" Jackie reached out in terror, but grabbed only air.
The figure had already vanished into the night sky.
From an altitude of several thousand meters, Gion fell without a parachute, like a pink meteor plummeting straight toward that black ocean.
The wind pressure shrieked in her ears.
Gion narrowed her eyes, her Observation Haki spreading out instantly.
The things below had no physical bodies, no heartbeats, not even the breath of life. They were puppets made purely of shadow and malice.
"Interesting."
Gion adjusted her posture in mid-air, her right hand resting on the hilt of Konpira.
Pitch-black Armament Haki flowed instantly, covering the entire longsword; even the scabbard was dyed with a metallic sheen.
Since they were shadows, she would crush them with a more domineering power.
Fifty meters from the ground.
The Shadowkhan below had already spotted the intruder falling from the sky. Hundreds of sharp claws raised simultaneously, forming a briar patch of death.
"Moonwalk (Geppo)."
The air beneath Gion's feet emitted an explosive sound.
Her body, originally falling at high speed, came to an abrupt halt in mid-air, defying inertia as she hovered above the heads of the Shadowkhan.
Then, she drew her sword.
Clang!
A crescent-shaped golden slashing wave descended from the sky.
No fancy techniques, just pure power and Haki.
BOOM!
The slash crashed into the center of the Shadowkhan, like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Dozens of shadow soldiers didn't even have time to scream before they were shattered by the Haki into primordial black mist. A gully several meters deep was plowed into the ground, sending crushed rocks flying.
Gion landed lightly, her tall military boots clicking crisply against a piece of rubble.
The surrounding Shadowkhan paused for a split second, then surged forward like madmen. Ninja stars, katanas, and claws covered the sky and earth.
"Too slow."
Gion's eyes were cold.
Shave (Soru).
Her figure vanished into thin air from where she stood.
The next second, she appeared in the middle of a group of shadow soldiers ten meters away.
The sword light bloomed like a lotus flower.
Pfft pfft pfft pfft!
A series of dull bursting sounds rang out.
The bodies of over a dozen Shadowkhan were severed at the waist simultaneously. There was no blood at the break points, only dissipating black smoke.
"So... so amazing!"
On the fighter jet in the sky, Jade was pressed against the window, her mouth wide enough to fit an egg.
Even from this distance, she could see the pink figure weaving freely through the black tide. Every flash of the sword cleared a massive area.
Those Shadowkhan, which rendered Section 13 agents helpless and were immune to physical attacks, were as fragile as paper toys before this woman.
"This isn't scientific..." Captain Black looked at the thermal imager on the screen, muttering to himself. "Her bio-energy reaction... is practically like a humanoid nuclear reactor."
"Quickly, find a place to land!"
Uncle hopped anxiously, waving a dried pufferfish vigorously in his hand. "She is consuming stamina! That is Shendu's territory; the Shadowkhan cannot be killed off! We must use magic!"
Black gritted his teeth, maneuvering the fighter jet to dive toward a flat area near the peak.
"Hold on! We're making a forced landing!"
Roaring loudly, the fighter jet touched down on a platform a few hundred meters away from Gion.
The moment the hatch opened, Jackie rolled out, assuming a classic defensive stance.
"Bad day, bad day, bad day!"
As soon as Jackie landed, before he could even stand steady, three Shadow Ninjas rose from the shadows on the ground, raising gleaming katanas to chop at his head.
He instinctively shrank his neck, rolling along the ground with the momentum. He kicked off a nearby stone pillar with both feet, bouncing up to perform a sweep kick that tripped two of them, then backhanded the third ninja in the mask.
Poof!
The Shadow Ninjas turned into smoke and dissipated.
But more shadows were gathering.
"Uncle! Hurry up!" Jackie shouted behind him while parrying flying shuriken. "There are too many of them!"
"Do not rush Uncle!"
Uncle sat cross-legged on the ground, completely ignoring the howling cold wind and the sounds of battle around him.
In front of him sat the stone mortar emitting green smoke. He grabbed a handful of dried gecko tails and sprinkled unknown powder into the mix.
"Impatience is a great taboo in magic! One more thing—Jade, bring me the pufferfish!"
"Coming!"
Jade, carrying a backpack larger than herself, moved nimbly through the pile of rocks, treating this entirely like some exciting game.
She pulled a dried, shriveled pufferfish specimen from her bag and threw it hard at Uncle.
Smack.
Uncle caught it steadily, then immediately used the pufferfish to whack Captain Black, who was nearby trying to shoot the shadows with his pistol.
"Ow!" Black clutched his head. "Old gentleman, this is a war zone!"
"Idiot! Bullets are useless against shadows!" Uncle glared, his eyes wide. "Only Good Chi can drive away evil!"
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