Chapter 16: All Beings Are Equal, Straw Doll Pursues Life
There were over a hundred people, but their formation was somewhat scattered, and their firearms were a mixed bag – handguns, submachine guns, rifles, carbines – truly giving off a sense of being from all nations.
At the front entrance of the Rose Bar, the large door was tightly shut. A leading man in a suit stopped and signaled with his hand, and over a dozen gunmen halted simultaneously.
Two slender figures, dressed in tight black suits and black hoods, with two short blades tucked at their waists, emerged from the shadows.
The two made a gesture towards the leading man in the suit and silently crept towards one side of the bar's windows.
The Rose Bar had two and a half floors. The ground floor was the dance floor for people to party and relax, equipped with booths and tables.
The second floor consisted of private rooms for wealthy individuals to engage in their preferred activities.
The reason it was called two and a half floors was due to the lighting setup requiring a significant distance between the first and second floors.
The windows from the first to the second floor were estimated to be seven or eight meters high. The two black-clad men reached the windows, estimated the height, and one of them directly pulled out a grappling hook with a black rope from his waist.
The three-clawed hook, forged from fine steel, looked no bigger than a baby's fist. The entire hook body was coated in black lacquer, making it seem invisible in the night.
Whoosh! Clink! With two almost imperceptible sounds, one of the black-clad men, pulling the black rope, used his hands and feet, agile as an ape, and quickly scurried up to the second-floor window.
Hanging from the window ledge with one hand, the slender black-clad man fumbled at his waist, pulled out a black wire, and extended it towards the window.
The window was quickly picked open by the black-clad man. He gently pushed open a crack and exchanged a look with the other black-clad man who had also reached the second-floor window by pulling the rope. Both simultaneously drew the short blades from their waists.
As expected, both blades, from the body to the edge, were coated with black light-absorbing material.
The two black-clad men slipped through the window crack like eels. Their movements were fluid and seamless, making no sound.
...
One kilometer away from the Guns N' Roses Bar, on the Rooftop of a thirty-story building, two figures stood. A graceful figure held military binoculars, observing the Rose Bar.
Bina watched through the binoculars as the black-clad men slipped into the bar.
"John, should we help the people in the bar?"
John Wick was currently fiddling with a black sniper rifle, adjusting the scope.
"No, I'm just here to see the Cleaners' strength and incidentally collect a few heads from The Hand!"
John Wick placed the scope's crosshairs on the head of the leading man in the suit. He was not in a hurry to shoot.
As a hitman, John Wick had no interest in getting involved in gang disputes. The reason he was here was because The Hand, like Kingpin, was also one of the twelve seats of the High Table.
As the largest gang organization in Southeast Asia, The Hand monopolized the largest smuggling business in the region, involved in human trafficking and the 'flour' business, and was also the largest assassin group in Southeast Asia.
Such a large organization, any slight disturbance from it was enough to attract the attention of many people.
On the Rooftop of a tall building on the other side of the Guns N' Roses Bar, a man in a black and red tight suit, wearing a mask, leaned against the Rooftop railing. In his hand, a black white cane gently tapped the railing.
The railing emitted crisp, low sounds in the silent night sky. The man tilted his ear to listen, the sound waves reverberating in the air, transmitting nearby information into his mind.
"Kingpin!"
Daredevil "looked" towards the other tall building and whispered.
...
Guns N' Roses Bar, on the tall building directly opposite and close by, a spark of fire flickered on and off.
In the night, Kingpin's massive figure was like a brown bear hidden in the woods. Behind him stood over a dozen well-trained elite gunmen, silent as ghosts.
"Madame Gao, the Ninjas trained by your Hand are indeed skilled!"
In the pitch-black night, only the cigar in Kingpin's hand glowed with fire.
Standing beside Kingpin, Madame Gao leaned on a wooden staff, her figure completely hidden in the darkness.
"Just some insignificant tricks, Mr. Wilson is too kind!"
Downstairs, The Hand gunmen began to advance towards the bar's main door.
"Too kind? Madame Gao, your Hand smuggled over two hundred people from the East Coast. If they are all this level of Ninja, it's no joke, is it?"
Kingpin tapped his cigar on the Rooftop railing, sparks flying, illuminating his fierce face.
"Mr. Wilson misunderstands!" Madame Gao struck her wooden staff heavily on the Rooftop twice, emitting dull thuds.
"Our Hand has no intention of expanding our business in New York. This time, we sent people only to find something!" Madame Gao explained, "It's an ancient item that our Hand lost a long time ago. This will not affect your interests in New York!"
"It seems this item is very important to your Hand," Kingpin's tone shifted upon hearing Madame Gao's words. "We are all partners, I wonder what item The Hand lost, and if you need my help!"
Madame Gao leaned on her wooden staff. "The Hand's matters can be resolved by ourselves, no need to trouble Mr. Wilson!"
Madame Gao looked deeply at the flashing neon sign of the Guns N' Roses Bar.
"Tang... is he really from K'un-Lun? Is he after the Dragon Bone, or 'them'?"
"Bang bang bang bang"
"Da da da da da"
"Bang bang bang"
...
Inside the bar at this moment, a fierce exchange of fire erupted. Handgun sounds, rifle sounds, and screams rose and fell.
Madame Gao watched the flashing gunfires inside the bar. The sinister smile that had just appeared at the corner of her mouth suddenly froze.
Her extraordinary hearing told her that the screams were all in Japanese, and they were all from The Hand's people.
...The scene shifts to the Guns N' Roses Bar.
After the bar's front and back doors quietly opened, The Hand gunmen streamed in.
In the dark environment, many gunmen used the moonlight shining in to make their way towards the private rooms on the second floor.
"Bang!"
A gunshot suddenly startled all The Hand gunmen.
"Baka!"
The leading man in the suit turned around and slapped the subordinate who fired, shouting angrily, "Idiot, are you signaling the enemy?"
"Leader, there's... there's someone!"
The slapped gunman trembled, pointing in front of the man in the suit.
The man in the suit's heart tightened. He quickly pointed his handgun in the direction his subordinate indicated.
In the moonlight, a tall figure was vaguely visible, standing in front of the bar counter.
"Enemy! Kill him!"
Gunfire erupted inside the bar. Various weapons simultaneously opened fire towards the bar counter.
The barrage of fire from dozens of guns instantly riddled the bar counter like a beehive. The alcohol inside the counter exploded, and the sparks from the bullet impacts directly ignited the alcohol.
The Oak Bar was engulfed in flames. The Hand gunmen finally saw the black figure in front of the bar counter by the light of the fire.
A sculpture over two meters tall. The reason they thought it was a sculpture was because this tall figure was covered from head to toe in armor that looked like medieval plate armor.
Rifle bullets hitting this layer of plate armor only left dents. It was clear that this layer of plate armor used metal at least of steel plate grade.
The armor looked at least half a foot thick. This thickness of full steel armor was simply impossible for a human to wear, unless that person had a tank's diesel generator inside them.
"The gunfire has alerted the target! Hurry upstairs, find the target, and kill them!"
The man in the suit was somewhat annoyed. He had been delayed by a mere statue. He quickly waved his handgun, signaling his subordinates to rush upstairs.
Just then, a buzzing sound suddenly began.
He alertly followed the sound with his eyes. Upon seeing it, his soul nearly fled.
The figure he thought was a sculpture suddenly moved. Its hands, which had been hanging low and concealed by the bar counter, suddenly lifted.
In its hands, it was clearly holding a six-barreled Gatling gun. A long ammunition belt hung down along the gun body, tightly packed with large brass bullets.
The sound he had heard was clearly the sound of the six-barreled Gatling gun's motor turning, and at this moment, the muzzle of the Gatling gun was pointed directly at him.
"No!"
Da da da da da da da...
Under the Gatling gun, All Beings Are Equal.
At the bar counter, the stage, the front door, and the back door – four directions, four armored figures simultaneously pulled their triggers.
M163A2 Gatling Gun, 20mm caliber, muzzle velocity 1030 m/s, effective range 1650 m, theoretical rate of fire: 3000 rounds/minute against aerial targets, 1000 rounds/minute against ground targets, 6 barrels.
The Six-Barreled Gatling Gun, a heavy machine gun often equipped by the Federal Army on attack helicopters and military Humvees, was being held by hand by four armored figures to sweep a group of gang gunmen.
Lane stood in a second-floor private room, looking down.
From his perspective, he could only see four fire snakes crisscrossing. Everything within the fire snakes fell down uniformly, like wheat in a field.
In the private room, several German Men were fully armed, standing guard by the window with their guns, aiming at the gunmen below through their scopes.
Near the window in the private room, two black-clad figures lay prostrate on the carpet. Their back necks were limp, clearly having been snapped by great force.
...
Underground Cave, Bluestone Bagua Altar. At this moment, four of the thirty-six black lacquer gold inscription coffins on either side of the altar were empty.
In the middle of the altar, on a rosewood long table, a straw doll made of thatch lay. Made from the most ordinary thatch, the small figure was quite abstract, only vaguely resembling a human shape.
Tang Song stood before the long table. The Figure Jade Token spun between his fingertips, threads of Qi Mechanism being drawn out from the Jade Tablet by him.
With a flick of Tang Song's fingers, the Jade Tablet flew into the air. The strand of Qi Mechanism contained within the Jade Tablet was completely guided to his fingertip.
His fingertip flickered, and Tang Song pointed fiercely at the straw doll's brow. *Hiss*, as if branded by a hot iron, a red cinnabar seal appeared on the straw doll's brow.
"Rise!"
Tang Song joined his fingers like a sword and lifted them upwards. The straw doll on the long table immediately stood up stiffly as if alive.
"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, I never hold grudges, because if I have a grudge, I generally don't let it last overnight!"
Tang Song took the straw doll to the edge of the altar. In the Sinkhole beneath the altar, white bone was piled like mountains. Countless Grudge Spirits, invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people, lingered in the cave.
Seeing Tang Song's figure appear, these Grudge Spirits collectively shrank back towards the bottom of the cave.
"Come, come!"
Tang Song casually threw the straw doll into the cave. Instantly, tens of thousands of Grudge Spirits pounced on it.
(End of Chapter)