Chapter Twenty-Two: Preparing for the Hunt

Wu Dachong, used to acting with impunity and never having met anyone who could oppose him, was instantly enraged when he saw someone actually daring to show dissatisfaction with his behavior.

Without another word, relying on his brute strength, he immediately swung his right fist at Zhang Desen’s face.

Zhang Desen couldn’t help but smile. For a special forces soldier like him, this move was nothing more than child’s play.

Without hesitation, Zhang Desen struck out with his right hand, caught Wu Dachong’s incoming fist, and with a swift counter-grapple, pinned Wu Dachong to the ground.

Wu Dachong was subdued in an instant. Though he tried to struggle, he couldn’t possibly get back up, and so he cursed out loudly:

“Kid, if you’ve got the guts, let me up and we’ll settle this one-on-one. Pinning someone to the ground—what kind of skill is that? Let me up, now!”

Zhang Desen found his words amusing and replied,

“Oh, that doesn’t count as skill? Then why don’t you get up yourself? If you don’t, then…”

With that, Zhang Desen dragged Wu Dachong over to the horse trough and pressed his head into it. After a while, he pulled him up and said,

“Hey, you say this isn’t skill? Then why can’t you get up by yourself, and why are you fighting the horses for water? Is this what you call skill?”

Wu Dachong was livid, but all he could manage was to stammer,

“You… you…”

Zhang Desen, hearing this, pressed his head into the trough again. After making him swallow another mouthful or two, he pulled him up and asked,

“So, where’s your skill? Speak up!”

Wu Dachong shouted,

“My elder brother is an officer! If you don’t apologize to me, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Desen said,

“Then I’ll make sure you drink your fill!”

With that, he repeatedly dunked Wu Dachong’s head into the trough before pulling him out again. Though Wu Dachong wanted to curse, he finally ran out of strength.

By now, the shopkeepers from the nearby stores had all come out, applauding Zhang Desen for teaching Wu Dachong a lesson. The owner of the clothing shop said,

“Hero, let’s tie him up for now. He has backing and could be trouble. We need to discuss how best to deal with him.”

Hearing this, Wu Dachong seemed to perk up, but he no longer had the strength to speak. The crowd could tell he wanted to mention his patron.

But Zhang Desen, seeing this, said to the shopkeeper,

“No need to worry. I simply can’t stand people like him. If anyone asks, just say it was me. I’d like to see what his backers can do to me.”

The shopkeeper replied,

“That won’t happen. Don’t worry, hero. We’ll handle this. Everyone here has wanted to put him in his place for a long time, but we never had the chance. Now that he’s been disciplined, everyone is delighted. You’ve brought us peace. If anyone betrays you, they’ll be despised by all. No one will do that.”

As he spoke, others had already tied Wu Dachong up and locked him away in a hidden room.

Zhang Desen was a bit surprised, but it made sense. Wu Dachong’s previous behavior made it clear how he usually bullied people. It was best to leave his fate in their hands.

Afterward, Zhang Desen continued with his shopping as planned. Yet now, almost no one wanted to accept his money, instead wishing to give him things for free. Of course, Zhang Desen refused and insisted on leaving payment as compensation.

…

At that moment, in the coastal base of the Terran Olmei Empire’s capital, the Empire’s Director of Intelligence was resting in the airport lounge, having just returned from a mission.

A physician accompanying him suddenly seemed to recall something, hesitated, took a deep breath, and then addressed the Director with great caution:

“Director, I think I may have made a mistake.”

The Director replied,

“Speak. Unless it’s something irreversible, you won’t be in trouble.”

The physician said,

“The humans we found earlier…”

The Director explained,

“The leader of those humans is the son of Qian Qiu, a councilor of the Great Xing Kingdom. He has enough influence in that region, which is why I decided to control them and have them work for us. What’s wrong?”

Nervously, the doctor replied,

“When I was operating on Qian and his companions, I may have accidentally erased their memories…”

The Director was startled, immediately sat upright, and glared at the doctor.

“What? You erased their memories? Are you saying they remember nothing? Then what’s the use of controlling them? What good are you for anything? This is—”

The physician quickly explained,

“It’s only a partial memory loss, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The Director calmed a bit and asked,

“How much did you erase, and which parts?”

The physician answered,

“I accidentally wiped their memories from the day they entered the mountains up until the moment they lost consciousness. They should remember everything else.”

The Director replied,

“You reckless fool. If they forgot even their own names, all our efforts would be wasted. You really deserve a flogging.”

“Yes, my apologies!” the doctor said.

But the Director went on,

“Fortunately, what happened to them in the mountains before we found them is not important. If you’d ruined things, you’d have truly caused a disaster, do you understand?”

“Yes, absolutely!” the physician replied.

“Good,” said the Director, “Now do your job properly. If you make another mistake like this, prepare to be reprimanded!”

“I understand. I’m sorry,” the doctor replied.

At that moment, a guard hurried in and said to the Director,

“Director, the Chief requests your presence in his office at once.”

The Director responded immediately,

“Understood, I’ll go right away.”

With that, the Director gathered his team and proceeded to the Chief’s office.

…

Meanwhile, after finishing his shopping in the marketplace, Zhang Desen hurried back to the base.

He had not forgotten his mission: to hunt down and eliminate the humanoid creatures released by the Terrans, beings with advanced technological civilization.

Even in a minor sense, these creatures posed a grave threat to Zhang Desen himself; in a broader sense, they were a tremendous danger to all of humanity. The sooner they were destroyed, the better.

Once Zhang Desen had made his preparations, he began crafting improvised explosives using the knowledge he’d acquired in his original universe.

Earlier, he had worried that gunpowder might not have been invented yet in this world’s version of Huaxia. Thankfully, that concern proved unfounded, and the basic materials were available.

In truth, Zhang Desen was not yet in urgent need of makeshift explosives, as the ship’s storeroom was still piled high with thermobaric grenades and other munitions he’d brought from his original universe.

But, as always, he was thinking long-term. He had to be prepared for independent, protracted operations with no resupply. Unless absolutely necessary, he would conserve irreplaceable ammunition and use only what could be replenished locally.

Time passed quickly, and by the time Zhang Desen had finished making the explosives, night had fallen.

As his special forces watch beeped the hour, he glanced at it and switched it into silent wartime mode. He knew the moment for action had come.

What surprised him was just how cooperative his target turned out to be.

No sooner had Zhang Desen steeled himself for battle than the base’s vibration sensors reported massive, abnormal, and rapidly moving tremors approaching the base—then retreating—then approaching again.

Without hesitation, Zhang Desen rushed to the ship’s main control room, connected to the drone circling high above, and prepared to lock onto the target’s position.

The tension in the air was palpable; after all, no one had experience facing such terrifying humanoid creatures. Zhang Desen had already decided to use the pulse rifle for this hunt.

He powered up the weapon, set it to maximum output, and dimmed the lights inside the base to make the building less visible from outside, using the full moon’s glow as cover.

Although he hoped to eliminate this threat, he did not want the battle to take place inside the base, as the base was essential and must not be damaged.

Until he could reestablish contact with headquarters, aside from the base’s military supplies, it seemed nearly impossible to acquire any weapons capable of countering the high-tech Terrans.

The base’s automated defense systems were already active. Before stepping outside, Zhang Desen would aim his pulse rifle at the entrance and advance cautiously.

He suspected these humanoid creatures were extremely well-defended; ordinary bullets might not even penetrate their armor, and he had no idea where their weak points might be.

Still, logic dictated that aiming for the head was always the best choice, for reasons everyone understood.

Soon, Zhang Desen successfully linked with the drone hovering high above, used data from the vibration sensors to narrow the search area, and quickly homed in on his target.