Chapter Sixty-Three: Storming the Research Institute Building

With the aid of his binoculars, Wang Ling discovered that the distant Double Dragon brothers now wielded new weapons seized from their enemies—one with a pair of nunchaku, the other with an iron chain ball. After a long period of fighting, both were wounded, but Billy held the Soul of the Heavenly Dragon, and Jimmy the Soul of the Earth Dragon. It was as if each had a Tailed Beast sealed within, granting them astonishing powers of recovery; these wounds were of little consequence and would heal in no time.

After a brief rest and a meal, the brothers charged toward the central area of the Dark Fighters. Wang Ling trailed them quietly from afar. With weapons in hand, the brothers carved a bloody path, forcibly slaying swathes of their foes and breaking through. He noticed that as the battle raged on, their strength seemed to grow; clearly, the Dragon Souls were feeding them power in the heat of combat.

Once inside the cluster of buildings, Billy and Jimmy encountered five formidable bosses sent to intercept them: the Five Dark Emperors led by Raymond! The brothers were clearly inferior to these five, yet curiously, the Emperors were holding back, never fighting in earnest, and refraining from pressing their attacks to inflict greater harm.

Given the power of the Dark Fighters, it was inconceivable that they would be without firearms, yet, since arriving on the island, not a single gunman had engaged the Double Dragon brothers. Noticing how the Five Emperors repeatedly forced the brothers into desperate straits without delivering a killing blow, Wang Ling had a suspicion:

“The Double Dragon brothers harbor slumbering Dragon Souls of immense potential. Is the Dark Fighters’ true plan to force their growth through battle, much like a final boss in a game who sends waves of minions for the protagonist to level up?”

After watching for a while, Wang Ling slipped away. In the maze of buildings, he killed a high-ranking Dark Fighter and extracted from him the location of the research institute. He then set off toward his target.

The Dark Fighters’ research institute was a colossal twenty-story tower, situated not far from their headquarters, the "Terror Tower," occupying tens of thousands of square meters—a structure of overwhelming grandeur. Surrounding the tower was a ten-meter-high wall, and before that, a twenty-meter-high electrified fence. The main gate was heavily guarded, with ten armed pugilists standing vigil, alert to any sign of trouble.

“So, the Dark Fighters do possess firearms. Their leniency toward the Double Dragon brothers must be intended to awaken the Dragon Souls within them. It seems the Dark Fighters have some hidden agenda.”

The island’s lush greenery provided Wang Ling ample cover. Hidden atop a thick-branched tree at the forest’s edge, he peered through his binoculars and realized that sneaking into the building undetected was unrealistic; a violent entry was even less feasible, given the formidable security.

Even with three summoned Dark Fighters, a frontal assault would only end with them riddled with bullets.

Faced with such tight security, Wang Ling remained patient. He activated his badge’s skill, summoned his three companions, and handed the binoculars to the Brute—his task was to observe the institute. The short, agile Mophead was dispatched to gather intelligence on the Double Dragon brothers’ battle with the Five Emperors, while the Fat Hippie climbed another tree as lookout.

Lying on a branch, Wang Ling rested to restore the 30 points of mental energy consumed by his summoning skill.

Afternoon faded into night, and night into the dead of darkness. The sky was overcast; not a star or moon could be seen, and the woods were pitch black. Most of the institute's lights had been extinguished for the night; nearly everyone was asleep.

From Mophead, Wang Ling learned that the Five Emperors had defeated the Double Dragon brothers but had not killed them. The brothers had retreated to the outskirts of the central region to recover. Once healed, they would surely attack again.

Meanwhile, the Brute counted at least fifty guards at the institute—ten per shift, ensuring no lapse in their vigilance. This dashed any hope of sneaking in through the main entrance.

“If the front entrance is impossible, the only way is over the wall—but with a twenty-meter-high electrified fence and a ten-meter wall, that won’t be easy.” After considering his options, Wang Ling used the cover of night to lead his summoned companions to the institute’s far side, opposite the main gate.

Examining the dense mesh of the electrified fence, whose gaps were too narrow for even a finger, Wang Ling drew his white iron flintlock and fired a blazing shot.

The report of this antique weapon was deafening—especially in the stillness of night. As the shot rang out, ten guards from the main gate immediately headed toward the noise.

Though the institute’s grounds were vast, Wang Ling knew the guards would reach him in a minute or two. He pocketed the overheated flintlock and signaled the Fat Hippie, who had prepared himself a hundred meters away. The two-hundred-kilogram man launched his "Cannonball" skill, barreling forward with all his might.

His target was the section of electrified fence scorched and softened by the fire shot. The ground trembled beneath his charge, and he crashed into the fence like a rolling boulder, punching a human-sized hole through the brittle wires.

But in breaking through, the Fat Hippie was enveloped in a surge of electricity. Not even his thirty-five points of stamina could save him; after staggering a few steps, he collapsed, his massive fat seared to charcoal, filling the air with a reek of burnt flesh. His body twitched a few times, then lay still.

Mophead immediately darted forward, using his wooden-handled axe to widen the hole, bending back the jagged edges to make the gap safe. Wang Ling leaped through, followed carefully by the Brute.

By now, shouts from the approaching guards could be heard. Mophead turned and charged at them but was cut down by a hail of bullets just fifty meters away. His brief sacrifice bought a few precious seconds. Seizing the moment, the Brute scooped up Wang Ling and, mustering all his strength, hurled him over the ten-meter wall.

Propelled by his immense mutated muscles, the Brute sent Wang Ling sailing over the wall, crashing down inside the grounds. A burst of gunfire followed—the Brute was dead.

“At last, I’m inside!”

Landing on soft earth and protected from impact by his steel-plated legs, Wang Ling was unharmed. Hearing the commotion at the main gate, he knew the guards would soon be upon him and dashed toward the institute.

While running, he activated another skill: Super Dark Fighter Summon!

The badge’s skill cooled down every five hours. With his previous summons all dead and the cooldown complete, Wang Ling could summon again—another reason he had waited until now to attack.

Mophead, the Brute, and the Fat Hippie appeared around him, and the four of them rushed into the institute.

Inside the ground-floor lobby, two guards were present but inattentive—after all, the external security was so tight that no one could possibly breach it.

The Fat Hippie smashed through the glass doors, and amid the crash of shattering glass, the four entered. The two guards recovered from their surprise and reached for their guns. The Brute lunged, seizing one and snapping his neck with a twist of his massive arms. Mophead, swift as the wind, pummeled the other with rapid blows, blood spilling from his mouth. Wang Ling followed up with his meteoric iron spearhead, stabbing through the man’s throat.

With the guards dispatched, Wang Ling knew that the institute had twenty floors; the higher he went, the more important the research. He and his companions raced up the stairs, pursued by the armed guards behind.

He paid no mind to the pursuit; facing so many gunmen head-on would be suicide.

By the fifteenth floor, the Fat Hippie was gasping for breath, unable to continue. Wang Ling had him stay behind and roll down the stairs as a human cannonball, knocking the guards into disarray and buying time.

Afraid that anyone awakened by the chaos would recognize him, Wang Ling climbed two more floors before stopping. He left Mophead in the stairwell as a rearguard and found the ventilation duct in a washroom on that floor.

The two-meter-tall Brute tore away the vent’s iron grill, lifted Wang Ling up and into the duct, replaced the grill, and quietly shut the washroom door.

His task done, the Brute went to the corridor, smashed open a window, and, when the guards killed Mophead and arrived, leapt from the seventeenth floor to his death in full view of all.

(A thunderstorm left me without power all day; electricity only returned tonight. Another chapter will be added tomorrow, apologies! Also, since the new book didn’t hit number one on the list, there will be three chapters totaling 9,000 words tomorrow.)

(The Double Dragon arc will end tomorrow. The protagonist will obtain a golden cheat on par with the Celestial Bloodline from the Ace novel, which is the reason for entering this world. Try guessing what it is! Those who played Double Dragon II and remember the ending might also guess Bai Feng’s motive. Next up is a massively popular Android game—those without Android devices probably played it on PC. Guess what it is!)