Age of Cosmic Exploration, 1 Read online

  This new instinct of his was so strong that he could even tell where his opponent intended to move before he actually moved. And so he aimed at where he felt Chou was going to move next instead of where Chou actually was. He had never experienced anything like this before, but it was incredibly instinctual. It surprised even himself that he could dodge every bullet and stop the enemy short in his step.

  This didn't mean that he had the natural upper hand though because it appeared that Ning Bo Tao, or Chou, had mastered the same skill. As Yao Yuan weaved through the volley of bullets, so did Chou.

  After a few minutes of this back-and-forth dance, both men had emptied their cartridges without a single slug ending up in the opponent's body. Without pulling their triggers again, they both somehow knew that their guns had emptied, so they flung them off for hand-to-hand combat. The sounds of bones on bones and muscles on muscles were so loud that Zhang Heng had to cover his ears.

  Before long, the fight was fast approaching its premature conclusion. A projected simulation inaccessible to Zhang Heng had occurred between the two brawling men, and it showed that after a few more clashes, Yao Yuan's greater skill at close-quarters combat would prevail. The visage was so authentic that both men had to give it validity.

  Perhaps dampened by the vision or maybe he had truly reached the end of his limits, Chou's attempts at evasion became attempts at blocking. Weirdly enough, at one point, as he got further cornered, he started laughing and said, "Your Killer's Arms has gotten better since the last time I tasted it! But unfortunately…" He let his guard down and allowed one of Yao Yuan's punches to land. Reigning in the punch's blowback, he somersaulted onto the floor. At that instant, the room’s door was kicked out and Chou's men rushed in. They immediately lifted their assault rifles and were ready to unload them all across the room. However, Yao Yuan was somehow faster; even before the door had landed on the ground, he had rushed towards the opening.

  Before any of the triggers were pulled, Yao Yuan had already sidled up to the foremost man. Without giving him any chance to react, Yao Yuan unleashed a punch on his stomach. As the force sent him folding upon himself, Yao Yuan elbowed his back and the man crumbled as his vertebrae snapped.

  The whole process happened so fast that when the rest of Chou's men registered the sound of bones cracking, their fingers were still on the triggers.

  Within the next second, Yao Yuan kicked the fallen man into the air. As shells were being unloaded, Yao Yuan grabbed hold of the man's body and used it as a human shield. The unexpected rabid convulsion of their mate's body made Chou's men hesitate momentarily.

  As they dropped their weapons, Yao Yuan could no longer feel any projected malice, and that bade him into action. Dropping the bullet-riddled body, he rushed into the group of stunned men.

  The result was to be expected. Yao Yuan's combat style was neither military boxing, which was common to trained men, nor special ops' grappling techniques, nor Chinese Wushu; it was a unique fighting style tailored to his height, ease of movement, and appendages’ length. Yao Yuan spent eight years honing this art of killing which he dubbed the Killer's Arms. It was somewhat similar to Jeet Kune Do2; both styles using the smallest effort and shortest time to achieve lethality.

  With lightning speed, he collapsed the trachea of one man before letting loose a flying roundhouse kick that caved in another's temple and one other's neck. And with that, all of Chou's reinforcements had been vanquished.

  It has to be said that Yao Yuan's airborne roundhouse kick wasn't for show. He was in the middle of dropping his heel on the last man, but right then, he sensed projected malice in the form of flying knives sailing towards him. Out of options, he added lifting propulsion to his kick in the hopes of avoiding the knives by using the momentum of air twirls.

  However, no matter how fast his instincts were, his body couldn't catch up with the speed of the darting knives. As he landed, two knives were jammed into his left torso, but because he was hit in a mid-air spin, the angle of entry was slanted, so they missed his vital organs by a bit.

  The knife on his right bicep though, that was unfortunately possibly fatal.

  This was how it was between highly-skilled experts; one small distraction could prove fatal. Chou started laughing maniacally as he leaped towards Yao Yuan, hoping to land the final blow.

  Seeing this, fear clogged Zhang Heng's heart. He knew fully well that after Chou kills Yao Yuan, he will have outlived his use. He had serious doubts that Chou would be as kind to him as Yao Yuan once was.

  Even if he were to miraculously survive this, he would be a sitting duck. The control code to initiate warp was in the hands of the Black Star Unit, who had found Noah Two. If Yao Yuan were to die, the rest of the Black Stars would be blown into smithereens, and the remaining 100,000 people would be left on death panel…

  In an unexpected twist, Zhang Heng saw Yao Yuan step on the hand of the body beside him and the rut-tut-tut of an assault rifle rang out. The man Yao Yuan stepped on still had his fingers entwined over his weapon's trigger, so as Yao Yuan applied pressure, the pistol shot out a series of bullets aimed at Chou!

  Chou could sense the projected malice, but since it didn’t come directly from Yao Yuan, he misjudged the trajectory the bullets would take. He tried swerving out of the way, but as he landed by the wall, the lower part of his body was already riddled with holes.

  As Chou slumped in his pooling blood, his facial expression was not one of fear or sorrow as one would expect, but rather he looked relieved. Between gasps of air, he croaked, "Yao Yuan, did you purposely let yourself be hit to lure me to charge towards you?"

  Yao Yuan shook his head as he walked solemnly towards Chou, "No, that was indeed unavoidable. But somehow, as I landed, I felt like this plan would be able to spell your death."

  After hearing that, Chou started laughing even harder. "Looks like even fate wants me dead. When I was still in the Black Star Unit, you were always just a little bit better than me, be it bravery, resourcefulness, combat skills, or leadership… When we were on the space station, you told me how small you felt when you looked at the immense nothingness around us. I didn't tell you at the time, but I totally agree with you; I felt swept by a sensation of anxiety, emptiness, and loneliness when we were in space… It was unsettling, but it also gave me this ability which had me overjoyed because I'll finally had something that could help me overtake you… Alas, it's a trick of fate after all, huh? In the end, I'll never outrun your shadow…

  But seeing you with this power did help me confirm the hypothesis that this power comes with man's extended habituation in space. Perhaps it evolved out of man's need to feel empowered against the nothingness of space… And so, as your spaceship continues on in space, you'll probably have more people like us on your hands… But that concerns me no more… Lan… How I've missed you, but don't worry… I'm coming…"

  Chou's breath gradually slowed until his spirit returned to nothingness.

  Yao Yuan looked somberly at his former squad member and a few moments later, he retrieved Chou's dog-tag from his body and slipped it into his uniform. Then he stood up and addressed Zhang Heng. "Can you still move?"

  This gathered Zhang Heng's scattered senses. He sprang up and replied, "Yes, sir. I have no problems moving, but quick, inform Captain Wong that the building they're in is full of explosives!"

  This information startled Yao Yuan, but when he spotted the shattered remote at the corner of the room, he breathed a sigh of relief. "That's alright, now. Without the remote, the bombs won't go off so easily. Ning Bo Tao was a top secret agent; he wouldn't set the bombs at places where they would be accidentally hit by stray bullets… So let's get moving. We're leaving earth by six. And have you found your father?"

  The question brought tears to Zhang Heng's eyes. Shaking his head, he answered, "He's been found dead…"

  Yao Yuan moved forth to corner Zhang Heng into a hug. "My condolences… But now you have to carry on on his behalf. He would want you
to do that. Now, let's meet up with Ol' Wong' and then we'll depart for the spaceship."

  Just before Zhang Heng was made to follow, he caught himself and yelped, "Yao Yuan, wait a minute. I have a request to ask of you… There are some womenfolk in this station that were gathered by Chou's troops. They are truly helpless. Can't we bring them along? There are only a hundred of them, that isn't really a huge number. They're nice people; in the three days I was captured, three of the girls came over to nurse me to health. They gave me water and changed my bandages. One of them is called Bai Ning Xue, another Luo Mao Miao and the last one, whose surname I didn't catch, was called Bo Li. Please, I beg of you to bring them along! I'm willing to trade my rank for their places on board."

  Yao Yuan stared intently at Zhang Heng for quite some time. As he turned to leave, he said, "This is the last time I will hear of such a request again! You're a military man now; your rank represents your honor, your life! Do not treat it so lightly! I will not hear of something like this again! So do not let me down…

  But I'll remind you that the hovercraft will leave in another ten minutes. Until then, anyone that fits our screening criteria is allowed onboard…"

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  Footnotes:

  1. A term used to describe the next stage of human evolution after homo sapiens by futurist Juan Enriquez.

  2. Martial art philosophy favored by Bruce Lee. Unlike other martial arts, Jeet Kune Do or JKD values usefulness in everyday life.

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  Chapter16 That Swath of Blue...Adieu! Home sweet home!

  Zhang Heng was immediately glad after hearing Yao Yuan's response, but before he could express his gratitude, Yao Yuan had vanished down the halls to vanquish the rebels remaining in the station. Wasting no more time, Zhang Heng also departed for his destination.

  After a short jog, he reached the rooftop where a few young women were on guard. Based on their haggard appearances and tattered clothes as well as a noticeable lack of armaments, they looked more like they were forced onto patrol duty rather than having the actual willingness to stand guard. The fact was that the women secured there were all ladies in their prime. The dangers that they had to protect themselves from originated from within the same building more often than from outside.

  When they saw Zhang Heng, they were shocked but not scared, because they all knew of him. After Zhang Heng was taken in by Chou's men, he was locked together with these women and three of them took turns remedying him. The reality was that they too were curious as to why a man was imprisoned along with them. So, during Zhang Heng's period of convalescence, they had formed a strong bond.

  Upon seeing Zhang Heng again while sounds of gunfire reverberated through the building, they couldn't help but feel a surge of hope.

  Giving voice to their greatest hope, Zhang Heng shouted, "The army is here to escort us off! Get ready to move. They will only wait ten minutes for us, so pack light; take only important stuff like photographs or jewelry! Tell everyone to get ready. I repeat, we only have ten minutes!"

  The girls were stunned for a brief second before hollering out in joy. They immediately rushed to the rooftop loft to spread the news among their fellow friends in captivity. It didn't take long for the staircase to get filled with throngs of women rushing down.

  Zhang Heng made the decision to not follow the crowd down. After the incident in the interrogation room, he felt like he understood Yao Yuan more. As long as he was not atrociously later than the designated ten minutes, he knew Yao Yuan would be willing to wait for him. And so he stayed behind to give the girls a slightly larger window of time to get on the hovercraft.

  As people streamed out of the loft, Zhang Heng went against the current into it. Inside he saw that some of the women were still changing, putting on what was left of their Sunday's best. Because it was inappropriate to linger, he turned into a side room where he was originally detained. As he suspected, three women were sitting in it.

  One of them had her hair dyed in a shimmering gold color. This woman of porcelain skin had in her arms a girl of fifteen or sixteen. This girl with ink-black locks was visibly shaken; her eyes darted nervously around the room. Cradled within the woman's embrace, she had the appearance of a frightened cat.

  The last remaining woman was reclining at the far corner of the room, listlessly watching the world outside the window beside her. Even when Zhang Heng barged in, she gave no sign of response, lost in her own world as she was.

  This scene that would have struck other people as weird was of no surprise to Zhang Heng. After three days of close proximity, he was already quite familiar with their peculiarities. The beauty with alabaster skin was Bai Ning Xue and the girl in her arms was Luo Mao Miao. The two weren't related by blood, but the riot seemed to have pulled the two into a sisterly bond. For as long as Zhang Heng had known them, Ning Xue had always resided over Mao Miao as the protective big sister.

  The other woman went by the name of Bo Li and she had always been somewhat of a mystery. In the three days they had known each other, she had shown herself to be incredibly taciturn. A bookworm, she preferred her own company and exuded a degree of sluggishness between actions.

  As Zhang Heng ran into the room, he shouted at them, "Quick, follow me. The rebels have been taken care of; it was the work of an official army. We have ten minutes to join them and leave this godforsaken place!"

  Ning Xue and Mao Miao were delightfully shocked by the news. As they exchanged a glance, they let out a short cheer. They then moved towards the corner of the room where most of their stuff was laid out and started packing. Alarmed by their tardiness, Zhang Heng yanked them along. "Didn't you two hear me? We only have ten minutes; there's no time for packing. Plus, we're leaving by hovercraft; there is a weight limit! Now is not the time to act leisurely! And Bo Li, don't just sit there, move! Hurry, only bring your most valuables, and leave the rest!"

  Ning Xue and Mao Miao were more than a bit disheartened to have to leave most of their belongings behind, but after a minute of deliberation, they took off towards the exit with only their wallets, a few pictures, and some small accessories. In contrast to the pair's urgency, Bo Li slowly lifted herself up from her seated position and without pausing to grab anything else, she sauntered towards the door.

  This bemused Zhang Heng. As Bo Li passed him, he took hold of her hand. "Don't you want to bring anything along? Don't worry about the time; of the ten minutes, there's about seven left. There's still time for you to quickly grab something."

  Bo Li slowly turned to stare at Zhang Heng and shook her head. "No, there's nothing left worth taking…" And with that, she wriggled out of Zhang Heng's grip and melted into the moving crowd.

  On the outside of the police station, Yao Yuan was trying to catch his breath at the bottom of the stairs. He had just cleared the whole station. With what Chou described as humans’ next form of evolution, he managed the feat without sustaining a single scratch. But as the heat of the moment wore off, the lethargy seemed to catch up with him all at once, almost knocking him off his feet. What wouldn't he do to just lie down and rest; he was so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyelids open.

  With pure mind over matter, he powered on. As he sat recharging himself by the stairs, not far away, the hovercraft that had brought him here landed. Out of it poured twenty fully equipped soldiers who quickly assembled themselves before Yao Yuan. As they stood at the ready, one of them roared, "Unit twenty-one, reporting for duty, Major!"

  Against an overwhelming exhaustion, Yao Yuan pulled himself up using the wall and said, "Make contact with Lieutenant Wong next door and tell him to lead everyone to vacate the area. The enemies have been neutralized and the hostage has been saved. Also, tell him to figure out a way to accommodate over a hundred female refugees. Remember to screen them accordingly… We might not have the time to do that anymore, so
just skip that step and make sure to get them on the hovercraft, but do register their names and other relevant details. And this operation has been ceded to Lieutenant Wong, so from now on, heed his orders."

  "Sir, yes, sir!" saluted the unit leader. After that, other than a field medic that stayed to attend to Yao Yuan, the rest of the nineteen soldiers separated into two groups. One went to the police station and another to the building next door.

  By then, the fatigue Yao Yuan had been holding in bubbled over and he slipped out of consciousness.

  When he woke up next, he found himself on top of a simple bed surrounded by the hovercraft's metallic enclosure. By his bed were the rest of the Black Stars and Zhang Heng.

  As he sat up, a splinter of pain reminded him of his knife wounds, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that those had all been given treatment and were bandaged. Without missing a beat, he launched into his inquiries. "What time is it? How are those women?"

  When Yao Yuan woke up, obvious relief was written all over the members of the Black Star Unit. Guang Zhen reassured him, "They are all onboard. The hovercraft fleet has more than enough room to accommodate their number. The time is now four twenty in the afternoon and we're already in America. There's still a ten-minute journey to reach our base, so we will be able to catch the six o’clock departure time with no problem."

  Relief swept over Yao Yuan. As he leaned back down, he was pierced with pain emanating from his wounded left arm.

  "Was it… Ning Bo Tao? After I was briefed of your arrival, I inspected the structure and found many hidden explosives. Based on the way they were placed and wired, I had a feeling he was behind this."

  After a brief silence, Yao Yuan confirmed Guang Zhen's speculation with a nod before adding, "Yes, you're correct, it was him… But this time, I made sure he was truly dead."