I'm going to admit… I wasn't really thinking anything was going to happen and I was just looking to pass the night uneventfully more because I didn't feel like going back to sleep.
Also… I was kind of mapping out the spots that I could go to to absorb more Qi energy as I intend to do this again tomorrow night to check if the Qi energy replenishes daily or if it even replenishes at all.
That's why I was a little surprised to hear something that sounded like a muffled shout coming from the side when I was passing by the neighborhood's community centre on my walk.
It was cut out so quickly and also really muffled that I almost thought I imagined it.
I was half sure that I had misheard it but I paused thinking what if it was actually real and someone was in trouble?
I turned and started heading in the direction of where I heard the sound, moving at not quite a jog but still faster than a walk.
Following along the outer wall of the building, I moved towards the back where I had heard the sound come from.
As I moved closer, another voice appeared and this time I was sure I wasn't imagining it.
"Quiet… Blame yourself for being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Another muffled sound came right after that and I quickened my pace.
I pressed myself against the wall and pulled up the hood of my windbreaker to cover my head before I peeked around the corner.
I was met with a rather bizarre sight where a guy with features of a lizard was using his lizard tail to wrap around the neck and mouth of another guy. He wasn't a full lizard since he still looked human, just that he had scales on parts of his skin and his fingernails looked more like claws than human nails.
Judging by the cheap suit, the smell of cigarettes and the briefcase that was dropped on the floor by the tied up guy, I'm assuming he was returning home from working overtime and stopped for a smoke when this lizard guy attacked him.
"Let's make things easy, ok? Your wallet and your phone. Hand them over and you'll be able to go back home. How about that?"
The guy that was being held captive mumbled something into the tail, still struggling against his binding.
The lizard guy looked pissed that the guy was still struggling so he pulled back his tail and slammed him against the wall roughly, drawing a pained groan from him.
"Hey. I'm not above just roughing you up and taking what I want from you anyway. So why don't you cooperate a little and this would hurt a little less? Or should I start breaking some bones first?"
Well… That's all I needed to hear.
I jumped out from the corner and kicked off the ground to rush towards the lizard guy.
He managed to spot me out of the corner of his eye and tried to turn to face me but I was already in range when he did so.
My fist flew out and punched him in the abdomen, making sure to hold back so that I don't accidentally kill him but enough to at least knock the wind out from him.
While he was hunched over, I brought up my elbow and slammed it down on his tail, forcing him to loosen his grip on his victim.
The guy fell on his haunches and looked up at me with wide eyes.
"Run," I ordered him, turning my attention to the lizard guy fully.
The guy quickly gathered his things that had dropped on the ground and ran off, muttering a word of thanks before he disappeared around the corner.
The lizard guy let out a growl and furrowed his brows at me, "Who the fuck… You bastard… Trying to be a wannabe hero are you?!"
I narrowed my eyes at him, "You sure you want to do this? I really recommend that you surrender."
"Surrender?! Fuck you!"
He swung his tail towards me, attempting to smack me with the appendage.
I stood my ground and raised my hand, catching his tail in midair.
The blow was stronger than I thought it was but I still managed to stop it from smacking me across the face.
Touching his tail, I had the same feeling again where I recognised that it was the ability to fuse myself with him to steal his ability.
I wondered if I actually wanted to do that since I don't exactly have a desire to transform myself into a lizard to begin with.
If I were to absorb his power and he appears in my jade book… Would the power be permanent and I transform into a lizard as well?
There's still a lot of things that I still don't know how my powers work at this moment so should I just risk it?
While I was still considering my choices, he managed to wrench his tail out of my grasp and tried to throw a punch at me instead.
I raised my hand and parried his punch before rotating my arm to grab his wrist and pulling his arm down.
I then raised up my other arm and smashed my elbow into his arm, breaking the bone in his arm.
He immediately recoiled and held his arm in pain while I sighed at him.
"That's going to be your final warning… I suggest that you just surrender now and turn yourself in or I might need to hurt you even more."
He held his broken arm and growled at me, "You really think you're some hot shit just because of that?"
"You have a broken arm, my guy… Do you need me to break the other arm as well?"
Instead of answering me, he let out a pained groan as he moved his broken arm back into place, straightening the limb.
I wondered what he was trying to do until I heard cracking sounds and he slowly released his arm, revealing that it was now back to normal.
Tsk… This guy has a regeneration ability I see…
That might be a power I'm interested in taking but not if it means I have to grow scales and a lizard tail on me.
Regaining his confidence, he tried to rush me again with his fist raised, throwing a punch aimed at my head.
Since I now know that he was able to regenerate, I decided to hold back just a little less and gave him a gut punch with a little bit more strength.
There was another cracking sound as I no doubt broke his ribs and he fell to a knee while clutching his chest.
Looking at him… I wonder if he has lizard physiology as well?
He looked up at me, "You bas--"
I silenced him by grabbing his face and focused on drawing the heat out of his body.
I wasn't trying to create a fire so it was just pulling heat from him and dispersing it into the air.
He tried to pry my hand off his face but my strength was superior to his so he was unable to do so and it was obvious my ability had already weakened him quite a bit.
In just a few seconds, his resistance all but faded and his eyes closed before he went limp.
I stopped what I was doing and released him, allowing him to flop onto the ground, unconscious.
He even started snoring as he curled up into a ball to preserve his body heat.
Seeing that I managed to subdue him, I thought about calling the police when the sound of a siren came from the main road.
I immediately dove into the shadows to hide behind a pillar before peeking out, right as two men in uniform ran around the corner, one of them with his arms encased with rocks and the other clearly an alien with the horns sprouting from the sides of his head.
I'm guessing the guy I rescued called the police for me and reported this.
The guy with the rock hands paused when he saw the unconscious lizard guy and started speaking to his radio.
"Err… Dispatch? The guy said it was a lizard male, right?"
Some muffled words came from his radio before he nodded, "Yeah… We found the lizard guy… But we don't see the jacket guy. The lizard guy is unconscious though… Must be a vigilante… Yeah, no problem… We'll bring that guy in. No, I don't see the other one around. Probably ran off after he beat him. Yes… Roger that."
The two police officers went ahead to cuff the guy with a set of handcuffs specifically designed to hold awakened people before the guy with the rock hands lifted him up without a sweat.
Both of them then left the scene and I was stuck with another thought in mind.
Vigilante huh?