Chapter 88: Base Integration, Part Three

On the day of the apocalypse, the company owner and the others were able to flee the city only because Dragon Zhanhai, leading his junior disciples, had cut a bloody path through the dead. This time, the boss had brought him along to accompany the deputy chief on a visit, hoping he would show his skill and help build momentum for a struggle over power.

They were not short of weapons and equipment, but ordinary people handling guns and cannons were certainly no match for soldiers who had undergone strict training, so the boss intended to take a shortcut.

Dragon Zhanhai gave a loud, scornful laugh, drawing everyone's attention in the conference room. He pointed at Sun Xiaoshan beside Li Fengyi and said, “You just said you were Sun Xiaoshan, the so-called end-of-the-world human hero from the Special Committee broadcast, the one they praised as a scholar who behaved like a rascal, right?”

He went on, “I think you're just bragging. If you were really that impressive, what were you doing all this time? So what if a scholar acts like a rogue and becomes a hero? Your Special Committee only knows how to boast.”

The government officials watched with amusement, smiling and saying nothing.

Sun Xiaoshan was furious, veins bulging on his forehead. “And who might you be, sir?”

“I am Dragon Zhanhai,” Dragon Zhanhai said, kicking the chair away and rising to his feet. He clasped his hands in a martial salute. “I studied under a master from childhood. I wouldn't dare say my kung fu is extraordinary, but it's passable.” He slapped his own chest. “On the day the world ended, I led my brothers out of the city. We only killed a dozen or so zombies. And you? A few hundred?”

He looked down at the seated Sun Xiaoshan through narrowed eyes and raised one finger, wagging it.

Sun Xiaoshan had fought his way through seas of corpses and blood, and had never backed down even before packs of mutated rats. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Industry had continuously provided mechanical support to the Special Committee. His work had been effective and obvious to all, and wherever he went, he was treated with respect. To suffer such humiliation now, he could not help but first glance at Li Fengyi, then kick his chair aside and stand up. He was about the same height as Dragon Zhanhai, though a little leaner.

“What do you want?”

“Let’s test each other,” Dragon Zhanhai said lightly. “Some people nowadays only know how to brag. They think that having someone above them means they can talk nonsense. Saying they can kill over a hundred zombies at a time, and that a scholar can act like a thug and still be a hero—”

He deliberately repeated the line again. “Bah. I doubt you’ve even seen whether zombies are male or female.”

Sun Xiaoshan was truly enraged this time. When that issue of the End-of-the-World Human Heroes ranking had been broadcast, he had still been busy in the eastern dam area. All he had heard was that Xu Biao from the Propaganda Department had come to show off, telling him he had become a banner figure for the Special Committee and trying to take credit for good publicity work. Who would have thought there had been such a remark?

He turned and glared at Xu Biao, who promptly slipped beneath the table. Back then, the radio station had tossed off that line just to attract attention, and everyone had taken it as a joke. Who could have imagined that today someone would seize on it and use it as a weapon?

“How do you want to test?” Sun Xiaoshan asked through clenched teeth. He knew very well that this man was simply stirring up trouble, but he could not swallow the insult. Regardless of anything else, he could not allow the Special Committee to be looked down upon.

“Didn’t your Special Committee claim that your steel pipe spear was invincible under heaven?” Dragon Zhanhai said resentfully. The Special Committee had never actually said such a thing, but he had always believed that only the great spear he studied was truly unrivaled. As the old saying went, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. “You use your steel pipe spear, and I’ll use mine. Whoever loses should stop making such grand claims!”

His junior disciples joined in the heckling. They knew their senior brother's skill well, even better than their master at his peak—something their master had once said while drunk. By then the master had already won countless gold medals in domestic competitions, and in order to further his martial training, he had even fought underground bouts in Southeast Asia for several years, incidentally earning a great deal in prize money. Everyone felt this time their senior brother would win handsomely, gaining both face and substance.

“I won't bully you,” Dragon Zhanhai said confidently. He had never heard of any notable masters surnamed Sun among the country’s experts. “Don't your steel pipe spears come in one and a half meters and two meters? I'll just use a two-meter red-tasseled spear and play with you.”

In truth, edged weapons had long since declined before the apocalypse. Those who still practiced the great spear did so mostly for exercise, and to avoid letting their ancestors’ skills die out. The most common great spear was the red-tasseled spear, and that was Dragon Zhanhai’s specialty, though when he said it aloud, it became “not bullying you.”

Li Fengyi tried to mediate, but to no avail. Whenever Sun Xiaoshan showed the slightest sign of softening, Dragon Zhanhai would provoke him again. The government officials were delighted that the two sides were at odds. They had originally worried that all the survivors might band together against them. The army could no longer be relied upon, and if the survivors were also won over, they would be completely weakened.

Sun Xiaoshan led the way to the back courtyard of the Beijing Hotel and called over a soldier to borrow his two-meter steel pipe spear. This equipment was standard issue for the Special Committee: usually a one-and-a-half-meter steel pipe hung at the waist, a curved machete on the back, and a two-meter steel pipe spear in hand.

One of Dragon Zhanhai’s junior disciples also fetched a two-meter red-tasseled spear from the vehicle.

The military personnel were drawn out by the commotion as well.

Major General Feng and Major General Song stood on either side of Commander Liu. From the look on Commander Liu’s face, it was hard to tell whether he was relieved or worried. “Old commander, should we separate them?”

Major General Song added, “The one using the red-tasseled spear is a master. Even our troops are rather wary of him.”

“Hmm,” Commander Liu said after a moment’s thought. “No need, perhaps?”

He too was somewhat hesitant. He could tell that the man holding the red-tasseled spear had a solemn stance, unmistakably the bearing of a true master. It was unclear how the conversation had drifted into a duel.

He knew Sun Xiaoshan had never actually studied martial arts; after the Special Committee developed the steel pipe spear, the man had only practiced army bayonet techniques day and night in order to protect himself from zombies. If it were just practice, he would not worry, but the key was that the fellow had a scholar’s way of acting like a rogue.

Once he exploded in the heat of the moment, things would be hard to predict.

Besides, it was obvious that the various factions were just using this chance to test one another. Even if they were stopped now, trouble would still follow. Better to let them fight it out. Win or lose, at least the atmosphere would break. The old man had the unmistakable air of a seasoned party hack; in his view, whichever side won, the world would still belong to their kind. Let the young men play at it.

If Sun Xiaoshan knew this had been Commander Liu’s reasoning, he would truly have stabbed him with a steel pipe. So the one who had first coined the phrase about a scholar acting like a rogue was this elder!

At this point Li Fengyi hurriedly called for a halt and insisted they spar with wooden staffs, with the tips wrapped in thick cotton. Dragon Zhanhai had merely wanted to seize the chance to establish dominance, not to make things difficult for Sun Xiaoshan, so both sides wrapped the ends of the steel pipes and spear heads in thick cotton and resumed their stances.

Sun Xiaoshan lifted the spear in his right hand, his thumb lightly touching his hip. Pivoting on the ball of his right foot, he turned his upper body forty-five degrees to the right. At the same time, he stepped forward with his left foot, the toe pointing toward Dragon Zhanhai. The distance between his feet was about shoulder-width, the center line of his left foot aligned with his right heel. Both knees bent naturally, the upper body leaning slightly forward, his center of gravity settling slightly ahead between the two feet. As he stepped out with the left foot, his right hand, using the pressure of the tiger's mouth and the force of his four fingers, swiftly drove the spear forward and slightly to the left. His left hand quickly took hold of the rear shaft guard, the tiger's mouth aligned with the steel pipe, while the right hand shifted to grip the front portion of the pipe, positioned slightly below and to the right of the fifth shirt button. Neither arm was allowed to flare outward. The steel pipe spear sat level with his throat and aligned with his left eye, both eyes fixed on Dragon Zhanhai.

Army bayonet technique!