Poison City

 

The men were in a state of slight panic and chaos, clearly not enough for Marcus to do what he was trying to do. They were moving further and further away from the children, but there was still not enough room for him to go in, grab the children and leave. There were at least six or seven children on the ground, so he would at least need to first commandeer one of the SUVs to transport the children. It was by far not a good plan, but it was the only plan he could think of right now. He had his gun with him and one full magazine of 10 bullets, but that would be all of his firepower left. He should have taken more, but the thought would not be of any help now.

 

Most of the men were hiding behind the SUVs, and the three men in robes that were waiting earlier were dangling their beads in hand. Marcus could not see any signs of Qi from most of the men, the only ones that could be a threat were the three men in robes and two of the men who got off the bus, as he could see from the way they moved around that they at least knew some basic martial arts.

 

After a short moment of hesitation, he picked a few more pieces of broken stones from the edge of the platform, infused them with his Qi, and threw all of them at the SUVs and the ground around them. He did not want to taunt them too much, just to scare them away, or at least push them to positions far enough so that he could rescue the kids, without having to expose himself earlier than he had to.

 

“Whoosh!” “Woosh!” “Bang!” Most of the stones thrown landed on the SUVs and the ground With the Qi infused in them the stones exploded on impact, denting the vehicle exterior, breaking windows and shooting smaller pellets and sharp pieces in all directions. A few of the men were even slashed and bruised by the pellets, and blood gushed out from their wounds. But two pieces of stone were blocked by two of the men, one was in a robe, and the other was a tall man that brought the children here.

 

“The water!” The man in a robe that caught the stone yelled: “It’s in the water!”

 

Before they could rush towards Marcus, he already slammed the edge of the space and launched himself up from the edge of the platform. A loud roar exploded from his lungs, and with his two hands swinging in the air, two claw marks made of Qi shot down at the two men who caught the stones. These two were no doubt strong foes, judging by the ease with which they blocked the stones.

 

The two men grunted as they used their Qi to try to block the claw marks. The attacks exploded upon impact again and threw them on the ground. Before the rest of the men could get close, Marcus took his gun out and pointed at the other men: “Back off! Stay there!”

 

“Who are you?” One of the men in robes asked Marcus in a low but menacing tone.

 

“You took my son.” Marcus did not need to try very hard to fake a deeply furious tone, and with his hairs all over his face: “I’m here to bring him back.”

 

“Then you can.” Another man in a robe said to Marcus: “With your skill, you’d have a place amongst us too. You don’t want us as your enemy, you’d want us as your friend.”

 

“Shut up.” Marcus pointed his gun to the side to tell them to step away from his route to the SUVs: “Get over there, don’t you try anything!”

 

“That’s a cop gun.” One man that might have knowledge and experience of martial arts that came off the SUVs tilted his head to the side: “So, you’re a cop? In this very district? What are you, going rogue?”

 

Marcus just waved his gun one more time: “Back off!”

 

“You have no idea what you’re doing.” The man in a robe blown away earlier by Marcus’ claw attacks stood up, coughed and said to Marcus with a hoarse, clearly injured voice: “You’d think we are the bad guys here. But no, we are all the good ones. We are saving this city from a terrible fate. The city is cursed, and to save it and all the people living here sacrifices need to be made.”

 

“Shut up.” Marcus did not respond, then pointed his gun at one of the men : “Give me the keys.”

 

The man exchanged looks with his cohorts, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys carefully. And as if he was about to pass up something valuable, he tossed them to Marcus in an extra careful manner. Yet while they were in the air, two of the uninjured men in robes immediately raised their right hands wrapped in beads at Marcus.

 

At the same time, two streams of smoke shot out from these two men’s palms. And the next moment, several pale crying and moaning skeletal faces appeared, surrounding Marcus ready to attack him from different angles.

 

Marcus swung his right arm across the space in front of him with his hand in a chopping form. A blade of Qi was unleashed, instantly cutting through and obliterating some of these skulls. But at the same time, the other skulls all came at him from the flanks.

 

Just when Marcus was about to defend himself against these skulls, two other men charged forth at him with weapons in their hands. One in a sleeveless shirt was wielding a curved short sword, and the other in a loose silky shirt was wielding a metal chain with a sharp end in the far tip like a long whip.

 

The sharp metal end of the chain shot at Marcus with the flip of its weirder’s fingers. If hit at a point blank range, with the speed and the Qi infused on it, it could have pierced through a normal human’s body. Though this attack came right after the attack of the smoke skulls, Marcus still sensed it incoming and the position at which it aimed. He was able to move out of its way just in time. But the sharp tip of the chain still collided with the barrel of his gun and bashed the gun away. His fingers immediately loosened and retracted to let go of the gun to prevent his hand from being ripped apart.

 

The rest of the skulls opened up their jaws and tried to bite into Marcus’ body and tear flesh away from him. And he immediately pushed his Qi to form a defensive layer around himself. Their bites were cold and numbing, just like the times he was attacked by other paranormal entities. The curved sword came at Marcus’ neck, the blade was glowing in orange light. It was the Qi of the man in a sleeveless shirt. Marcus immediately lowered his body to avoid being decapitated. His movement was so fast and abrupt that he almost sat on the ground.

 

But this did not break his rhythm of fighting. He immediately bounced his body on the ground using his back and hip, launching a quick kick against this assailant’s stomach.

 

This sleeveless man swung his curved sword with too much strength and energy, and right now the rest of his body was exposed. The kick landed true and firm. A loud boom exploded, and he was sent back flying while flipping in the air.

 

Marcus picked up the car keys from the ground, and with a quick clench of his hand he broke the metal ring that held the keys together. Before his opponents could do anything, he leapt to the side while throwing the keys out at all of the kidnappers.

 

Two men were downed right the instant the keys hit them, and some others started running and scattering from the sight of the scratches the keys left on their legs and waists. The metal chain came at Marcus again, this time sweeping at his ankles. And another man in a robe unleashed another paranormal smoke attack at him, and this time it was not skulls, but a flurry of spikes and tiny spears made of smoke.

 

This attack felt much more threatening than all the others, and Marcus had to push his Qi to dodge once again. If it was him just a few weeks ago, this kind of continual and frequent fast movements would be almost impossible for him. But right now with the new step technique he learned from Master Liaoran, he was able to perform this kind of maneuver. Using a quick step, he lowered his body and launched himself to the side like a cat. 

 

But even with this quick evasion, two of the smoke spikes and spears made of smoke still penetrated his body. The same cold energy seeped into his muscles and meridians from the point where they landed on his body just like the skulls, but faster and more intense.

 

Marcus burst his Qi out in an explosive wave to burn away some of the cold energy in his body as well as the smoke constructs. But the metal chain came at him at this inopportune and vulnerable time, this time aiming right at his chest.

 

The sharp blades on the tip cut his palms and fingers open, blood dropped on the ground, but it did not pierce any skin, not even Marcus’ clothes due to it being grabbed and clamped by both of his hands. But before he could pull on the chain, two other men charged at him with their weapons raised, one of which was the one wielding a curved short sword, and the other was another one wielding two metal batons.

 

Marcus had to sidestep, dodging the slash attack with the curved short sword, but had to take the strike of a baton with his forearms. “Bonk Bonk!” The collision let out two loud sounds like two metal pipes banging into each other. With the protection of his Qi, the bashes did not hurt him that much. Yet the sudden electric shock from them the very next moment just propelled him backwards and made him tumble on the ground.

 

“He’s mine!” The man wielding the curved short sword screamed and charged at Marcus with resenting and a visible desire for payback. His sword left a burning trail in the air as he swung without almost any consideration for his surroundings, even the man wielding the batons had to make way for him.

 

The metal chain shot at Marcus’ legs from the left side while he was eyeing the trail of the burning short sword. The sword swung at Marcus from his right, still aiming at his neck. Marcus had nowhere to go to back off some more - pushing him closer to the edge of the platform. 

 

A cold feeling came from the outer side of his shin, the sharp tip of the chain left a gash on his leg, but luckily it did not damage anywhere critical. The short sword swung through the space just in front of Marcus, without actually touching him. The flames almost ignited his collar and parts of his jacket, and the escaped energy from the swing made patches of his skin feel heated and even burned.

 

“Die!” The sleeveless man screamed with his drool spit flying everywhere, but before he could swing his sword again, Marcus’s left fist landed a heavy strike on his right shoulder. The bone cracking sound could be heard by both.