Obviously, all he did was sneeze, but unexpectedly the humid environment made it a lot easier for the gun to accidentally go off. Fortunately, it didn’t go off in his direction, otherwise, he’d become the first policeman in Xi City to die from his own gun accidently going off.
　　The two big beasts were terrified, they frozein place, unable to react for a long time.
　　They obviously lived underground all yearround, and were used to the quiet. After suddenly hearing such a harsh sound, theycouldn’t adapt for a while.
　　Ji Bei felt a little apologetic, wrapped in theblanket, he moved forward a little.
　　The larger beast was probably older, so itshearing was relatively better. When Ji Bei approached, it happily lowered itsbody, obediently kneeling on the ground.
　　Ji Bei’s mood was complex. After the initialfear faded, he’d felt disgust and sympathetic curiosity towards the two strangebeasts in front of him. He didn’t know what made them decide to live in such anenvironment for so many years.
　　While he was deep in his thoughts, there was thesound of hurried footsteps by the cave entrance. Ji Bei looked up and saw aflashlight approaching from a distance. Seeing the man who ran in, he was firstdelighted, but when he saw the thing in Luo Wen Xu’s hand, he was alarmed: “Ge,don’t—”
　　But it was too late, because of his anxiety, LuoWen Xu spared no effort in firing the gun, aiming at the behemoth nearest to JiBei.
　　The bullet penetrated the thick scales andblasted a big bloody hole in the beast’s head. The creature apparently didn’trealize what had happened, it reflexively recoiled two steps, staring at Ji Bei,its cloudy eyes filled with tears.
　　The small beast leaped towards the big beast,seeing the latter already beyond help, it howled mournfully, then turned around,rushing towards Luo Wen Xu in anger.
　　Human beings were not this kind of big beast’sopponents. Although Luo Wen Xu’s fighting techniques could crush most people inXi City, he was at a disadvantage. His phone was knocked to the side, and thecave fell into darkness. Immediately, the beast’s thick tail swept forward, andLuo Wen Xu was overwhelmed. The gun was sent flying and fell into the sewage.
　　”Ge!” Ji Bei, ignoring his highfever, staggered over to help Luo Wen Xu, the beast snarled at him, leaping upand rushing towards him.
　　”Watch out!”
　　At the critical moment, a fruit knife flew in,slamming into the middle of the beast’s forehead. Unfortunately, the blade was dull,so it just bounced off the beast’s head. Although it wasn’t pierced, the powerbehind the knife was high, the beast was obviously dazed for a while, its attackspausing.
　　Bai Huo seized the chance to run forward, huggingthe cub in one arm, he pulled the other two men: “Hurry up, there’s anexit outside.”
　　”What the f#ck is that!” Luo Wen Xuspit out a mouthful of blood, baring his fangs.
　　”Don’t worry about that right now,” BaiHuo shoved the little dragon into his arms. “Look after my son.”
　　”Hold on,” Luo Wen Xu angrily draggedhim back. “Who the f#ck do you think you’re talking to, I’m thepoliceman here. Grab Xiao Bei and get out!”
　　Seeing the beast about to charge over again, BaiHuo clicked his tongue and grabbed the little cub, directly kicking Luo Wen Xu outof the cave.
　　Ji Bei stared at this scene in astonishment,then he staggered out: “Ge…”
　　The beast’s aura was very full, it croucheddown, incessantly snarling. Bai Huo placed the little dragon down on a nearbyhigh ledge. He patted his back and smiled: “Be good and stay still. Watch daddybeat up a monster for you.”
　　While he spoke, Bai Huo’s body shifted subtlety,white scales appearing on his neck. He reached back, slowly pulling out awicked sharp bone sword from the back of his neck as the little baby dragon staredin amazement.
　　The bone sword was pure white, shaped like aspinal column, the joints were bumpy, the tip of the blade as sharp as ascalpel.
　　The beast snarled and bared its fangs, chargingtowards him.
　　Bai Huo’s expression was relaxed, almost atthe same time the beast moved, he jumped, soaring through the air, accurately landingon the beast’s head. Without waiting for the latter to start attacking, heswung his bone sword, stabbing into the beast’s shoulders. The effect wascompletely different from the earlier fruit knife, it was almost like cuttinginto tofu, easily piercing the scales on the beast’s shoulder.
　　”Grrraahh–” The beast felt thesharp pain and madly tossed its head around, bellowing as it circled around thecave.
　　Bai Huo promptly jumped off, returning thebone sword, he tilted his head up and smiled at the little dragon: “Wasn’tdaddy cool?”
　　The little dragon cub’s eyes were sparkling,almost turning into stars.
　　Bai Huo’s ego would easily get inflated from aslight compliment, forget about a look of worship from the little dragon cub.His heart was immediately overwhelmed, almost grinning from ear to ear.
　　”If you like it, dad will teach you howto do it when you get a little bigger.” Bai Huo was very satisfied by thepraise, even his self-proclaimed title of “Dad” flowed more and moresmoothly.
　　The little dragon cub seemed to think ofsomething and curiously approached him, groping his back, apparently lookingfor the location of the sword.
　　”It’s not here, it’s inside. I’ll tellyou later.” Bai Huo said mysteriously.
　　”Come, let’s go home and eat.” BaiHuo pinched his sore neck and got up to pick him up.
　　The incident happened within a heat beat. Justas the two were about to leave, in the darkness, the injured beast suddenly attackedagain, and its target actually seemed to be the little dragon.
　　Bai Huo had reached out his hand to pick upthe child, and when he saw the direction of the beast, he hurriedly turnedsideways using his shoulders to block the impact. Although the beast was usingthe last of its strength, its bite was deadly, tearing out a scale from BaiHuo’s shoulder.
　　Bai Huo groaned, his face paling. The littledragon couldn’t clearly see Bai Huo’s movements, he just saw the beast’s head suddenlyexplode, impaled by the white bone sword. It flew back, nailed to the cave’s wall.The beast rolled up its tail in defiance, then it twitched a few times before lettingout its last breath.
　　”I didn’t want to kill you, but trying tohurt your master was a mistake.” Bai Huo panted lightly, walking over witha solemn look, reaching out to pull out his bone sword.
　　The beast slid down the wall, stacking againstthe other dead beast.
　　Bai Huo massaged his shoulders. Then he bentover to pick up a glass bead on the ground, holding it in the palm of his hand.
　　The little dragon ran over to him. Bai Huoglanced at him and gave him the glass bead, somewhat apologetic: “I killedyour guardian beast, will you be angry with me someday?”
　　The little dragon’s attention was completely grabbedby the glass bead. He didn’t respond, just bowing his head, rolling the glass beadbetween his little fingers.
　　The beast’s saliva had an anesthetic effect, BaiHuo felt a little dizzy. He sat on the ground for a moment, waiting for thedizziness to pass before getting up and hugging the little dragon, exiting thecave.
　　Outside, the also bitten Luo Wen Xu hadalready fainted, and Ji Bei anxiously tried to pick him up, but he was too weakto carry him back.
　　”I’ll do it, hold my child.” Bai Huowalked over and said. His complexion wasn’t very good, even the only rosy partof his face, the inside of his lips, was pale.
　　Ji Bei cast a glance at the tunnel entrance insurprise: “What about the mutant pangolin?”
　　”What mutant pangolin,” Bai Huo pulledLuo Wen Xu onto his shoulder and laboriously settled him on his back, sighing,“That was a Rock Wyrm.”
　　Bai Huo was very thin, carrying the hulky Luo WenXu, his back was barely visible.
　　”Bai Huo…” Ji Bei hesitated, pickingup the child and following behind him.
　　For the first time, he’d called Bai Huo’s fullname, it was strangely more intimate than the title “Director Bai.”
　　”I know what you want to ask.” BaiHuo sighed. He’d made too many mistakes during this journey, it wasn’t somethinga simple bottle of amnesia powder could solve. “We’ll talk later.”
　　Not long after LuoWen Xu and Ji Bei came out, the support troops and police dogs arrived.
　　Ji Bei’s high fever had not retreated, after roughlyexplaining the situation, his body reached its limit, and he was carried intothe ambulance on a stretcher together with Luo Wen Xu.
　　Lu Luo finally managed to report the situationsurrounding her two captains to the superiors. When she turned around, she sawthat the crowd was missing two people. She hurriedly stopped a passing officerand asked: “Hey, where did the handsome guy that carried out the captain go?”
　　The young policeman shook his head like a rattle:“I didn’t see.”
　　Xiao Shu was pushing through the crowd, wearinga mask and holding a leather-bound notebook. He crossed the cordon in front of thechaotic scene. In the hole, the two strange beasts that had just been carriedout were lying quietly on the ground, and several forensic pathologists stoodto the side, completely baffled.
　　”What is this, were these the thingskilling people?”
　　”I guess so, although I’ve never seensomething like this before. Do we just drag them back and cut them open?”
　　”We’ll call an expert, just hope thatthey’re not endangered animals, that could be troublesome……”
　　“Hey! Little comrade, don’t disturb the crimescene!” An old forensic doctor shouted.
　　Xiao Shu said “Oh”, and smiledsheepishly, raising the notebook in his hand: “Sorry, I’m recording thescene.”
　　The old forensic doctor didn’t make a fuss,turning around to continue discussing the details with his colleagues.
　　Xiao Shu took off his gloves, and, when no onewas looking, stealthily pulled out a faintly glowing white scale from the mouthof the smaller beast, wedging it into his notebook.
　　*
　　Bai Huo opened the front door, his face pale.
　　Sitting in the middle of the living room sofawas a woman in red, seeing him, she smiled and put down her tea cup.
　　The woman looked to be in her early thirties. Althoughit was the middle of winter, she only wore a red dress, her hair neat and short,delicate makeup and an excellent figure. She was sitting upright, her bearingvery elegant, she would make a great CCTV anchor.
　　”I’ve been waiting for you for a longtime.” Ding Ping smiled. “I’ve come to you today on behalf of theassociation.”
　　On the balcony, the fat bird was burying itselfin a KFC family-size bucket. It’d heard Bai Huo coming home, but didn’t evenlift its head. Obviously, this was a betrayal, bought over by the power offood.
　　The little dragon cub curiously poked his headout from Bai Huo’s embrace, and his gaze met the woman’s. He seemed to sensesomething and suddenly hugged Bai Huo’s neck.
　　Bai Huo’s complexion was very poor, he closedhis eyes, placatingly rubbing the little dragon’s back before asking,“What’s the matter?”
　　”Is this the child?” Ding Pingsmiled and looked at the little baby dragon. “He’s so cute.”
　　Bai Huo frowned, looking at her scornfully:“What do you want?”
　　”According to Article 13 of the DragonConvention, if a dragon finds a newborn dragon cub, the discovery must bereported to the association, and the child should be handed over to be raisedby the association.” Ding Ping said elegantly, “You’ve violated therules, Bai Huo.”
　　Bai Huo smiled coldly: “You’d be right, ifI was under your association’s management. Now you’ve come to my home expectingme to respect the association’s rules despite me being an independent entity,forgive my bluntness, but aren’t you overstepping your boundaries?”
　　Ding Ping maintained the smile: “What doyou mean?”
　　“When I was expelled from the association, theold patriarch said something, have you forgotten already? As long as I don’t violatethe first dragon convention, no one has the right to ask me to abide by yourrules.” Bai Huo smiled like a rogue, “Over the years, I’ve done a fine jobkeeping my end of the bargain.”
　　Hostilityquickly flashed across Ding Ping’s face: “The old patriarch is about to stepdown, he can’t protect you for much longer.”
　　Bai Huo’s pale face was slightly disdainful:“Looks like you’ve been doing well for yourself. Who’s the new patriarch? ZhuoChen?”
　　Ding Ping looked at him, her expression somewhatcomplicated: “It’s Zhou Chong Wen.”
　　Bai Huo almost choked. That same kid that wasbullied by their classmates and dismissed by their teachers, the low ranking,soft-spoken, awkward Zhou Chong Wen?
　　”I came here to inform you that we’ll bemaking a decision about this child very soon.” Ding Ping slowly smoothedout the wrinkles on her skirt and stood up to leave, her gaze trained on the littledragon, her eyes filled with ambition.
　　The little dragon glared at her, a fiercelight in his eyes. If Bai Huo hadn’t covertly tightened his grip on him, the littlecub would’ve already launched an attack.
　　Bai Huo has always been respectful to women. Hepolitely opened the door for her and smiled: “Take care, I won’t see youoff.”
　　After saying his goodbyes, Bai Huo closed thedoor and slowly leaned against it, unable to stop himself from cringing in pain.A dragon’s scale being removed was similar to a human’s fingernail being pulledout. Although it wasn’t fatal, the prolonged pain would cause strongdiscomfort. For the dragon race which had heightened senses, the pain wasdoubled.
　　Dragon scales grew slowly, a missing scale couldtake a year or two to grow back, this meant that the wound couldn’t heal duringthis time.
　　The little dragon cub looked worriedly at Bai Huo,his eyes red. A few moments later, he slowly brought his chin near Bai Huo’sshoulder and carefully blew.
　　Bai Huo was stunned. He rubbed the little dragon’shorns, suddenly feeling cheerful, smiling: “Such filial piety. Don’tworry, it doesn’t hurt a bit.”
Wyrm: Jiao, Wikipedia“a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a “scaled dragon”,hornless according to certain scholars, and said to be aquatic orriver-dwelling.” Wyrm is a lesser dragon, or sea serpent.I felt it best summarized a Jiao, although a common translation is flooddragon.