69novels Chapter 99: A Vampire Was Caught
Chapter 99: A Vampire Was Caught
Chapter 99: A Vampire Was Caught
Matt turned back to Frank, his voice hoarse.
"He's already dead, why did you shoot at his corpse?"
"When dealing with the enemy, make sure to kill them completely. That's basic common sense on the battlefield, Little Red." Frank's lips curled into a smile.
"Furthermore, we, the Hellsword, possess the legal right to fire and make arrests."
"Everything I did was reasonable and compliant; it's a right given to us by the citizens of New York City."
After saying that, Frank suddenly felt a little good.
Last time, I got into a fight with Matt in that garbage-filled alley. We exchanged punches, and neither of us could convince the other afterward.
At that time, he was just an ordinary police officer in the Manhattan precinct. He had to report before firing a shot and wait for orders to take action.
His direct shooting at the criminal did indeed trigger police regulations and was against the rules.
Now he stands on the same street, doing the same things as before, but the nature of the situation is completely different.
He wasn't breaking the law; he was enforcing it.
Matt clenched his back teeth, and his masseter muscles twitched twice inside his helmet.
He couldn't refute Frank's words; the other party was indeed on the side of law.
The establishment document for Hellsword was personally signed by the mayor, the authority to fire was written into the municipal ordinance, and all procedures were subject to a vote by citizen representatives.
Regardless of his personal views on "street executions without trial," from a legal perspective, Frank did not cross any lines.
Compared to Matt himself, who was jumping around in the night in a dark red bodysuit, beating people, tying them up, and dumping criminals at the police station entrance—he was the one breaking the law.
Matt has been thinking about this question repeatedly these days.
He used to convince himself that "if there are loopholes in the law, I will fill them."
But now the Sword of Hell has appeared, and the loophole has been filled, and in a way that he simply cannot accept.
So why does he continue to do these things? Is he upholding justice, or is he satisfying some ulterior motive?
But he still has a bottom line in his heart.
No matter how legal Frank is, he will not back down on this line.
"Anyway," Matt straightened up and faced Frank.
"You shouldn't have just shot him. No matter what he did, he should at least have been tried and convicted under the law—"
Frank's body jerked suddenly, and he immediately reached for the other pistol on his back.
At the same moment, the three squad members who had been maintaining their alert formation also froze.
The breathing rhythms of several people changed in the same second, their pupils contracted, and their heartbeats accelerated.
Matt immediately picked up on these physiological signals.
At the same time, another voice entered his ears.
Behind him, very close, a gust of wind was rushing towards him.
Look, something bounced up from the ground, moving extremely fast; it was his exposed nape.
He dodged to the side, his movements faster than his brain's commands; his body reacted the instant it received the danger signal.
The man who had just been shot through the forehead by Frank had stood up again.
The bullet hole was still visible on his forehead, the skin around the edge rolled up, the wound was not bleeding, and a layer of dark grayish-white tissue could be seen inside.
His mouth was open, his two sharp canine teeth fully exposed under the streetlight, and a low, hoarse howl emanated from his throat—a sound his vocal cords could never produce.
Frank reacted faster than Matt.
His left hand had already reached the grip of the spare pistol at his waist, he pulled it out, and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
One shot to the right eye, one shot to the left eye, the interval between the two bullets so short that the gunshots almost rang out one after the other.
The bullet entered through the eye socket and exited through the back of the head, churning the contents of the skull into two scattered fragments.
That person collapsed again.
Matt stood still, his ear pointed at the corpse on the ground, concentrating all his attention on listening.
Heartbeat zero, breathing zero, the sound of blood flowing completely stopped.
No matter how you look at it, the guy on the ground is definitely dead.
But the corpse on the ground began to twitch its fingers, then its arms, and then its torso.
He got up for the third time, his movements more contorted than the previous two, as if his spine was being held up from the inside by something.
The person folded up from the ground at an unnatural angle, and the howl coming from the throat was even sharper than before.
Frank took a step back, raised his right hand, and spoke in a steady voice.
"Fire."
The squad members pulled the triggers simultaneously.
The muzzles of three automatic rifles spewed out crisscrossing tongues of fire, and bullets pinned the target to the spot from three directions.
In a short while, the magazine was empty, the bolt was unloaded, and a series of clicking sounds filled the air.
The man's body was riddled with bullet holes, his torso was riddled with holes, half of his head was missing, and his arm was only connected to his shoulder by a few tendons.
But when Frank tentatively took a step forward, he discovered that the index finger of his right hand, which was only connected by a few tendons, was still flexing and extending, like a frog leg that had been cut off and was still twitching after being electrified.
Frank's lips curled up into a smile.
He turned his head and grinned at the three team members.
"I'm lucky today, I actually ran into a live vampire."
"Captain, is this thing really a vampire?"
A team member pulled a spare magazine from his waist and slammed it into his rifle, his eyes never leaving the still twitching wreckage on the ground, his voice filled with an barely concealed excitement.
Frank put the empty pistol back into its holster and flexed his fingers.
"A bullet to the head won't kill you, you can still move even with severed arms and legs, and you have this thing in your mouth—" He tapped the ground with his toe, revealing two canine teeth protruding from his broken upper jawbone.
"What else could it be but a vampire? Hurry up and take the chains and cages off the car."
"Vampires are a rare sight, we're in luck today."
The team members immediately ran towards the Hummer SUV.
The two men lifted a folding metal cage out of the trunk.
This was the equipment that Li En had pre-assigned to each patrol team; it was originally Frank's idea.
Before setting off, he told everyone: "Anything can come out of Hell's Kitchen. Bring cages and chains in the car, so you won't regret not being prepared when you need them."
The team members initially thought their captain was overthinking things.
Right now, all they want to do is hang Frank's picture on the center console and worship it.
Frank walked over to the vampire and looked down at the arm that was still twitching.
He raised his right foot, aimed it at the opposite side of his elbow joint, and stomped down hard.
Click.
The forearm was completely reversed from the elbow, with broken bone protruding from under the grayish-white skin, and a wet, dull sound as the joint capsule was torn.
He then moved to the other side and stepped on his knee.
Another click.
Only after all four limbs broke at the joints, losing all ability to exert force with the lever, did he wave to the team members next to him.
The team members dragged the chains forward and wrapped them around the vampire's shoulders and ankles several times, securing the end of the chains to a hook inside the cage with a lock.
Throughout the entire process, the guy's mouth kept opening and closing, his sharp teeth clattering together, making a piercing noise similar to fingernails scraping glass.
Frank watched as his team members loaded the cage onto the truck, dusted off his hands, and turned to shout towards the alley entrance.
"Fall back."
He took two steps toward the alley entrance, stopped next to Matt, turned his head, and spoke softly, just enough for Matt to hear.
"Little Red, it seems your abilities aren't all-encompassing."
"You confirmed twice that it was completely dead, but it stood up again."
"Your super senses can hear a heartbeat, detect breathing, and measure blood flow—"
"But some things simply don't have a heartbeat. Haven't you thought about that?"
"Letting these things roam freely on the streets is irresponsible towards the citizens."
He originally planned to find Xiao Hong and beat her up that night, but now that he had a vampire, there was no need to waste time. He had to get this thing back to school as soon as possible.
He paused for a moment, shifting his gaze from Matt's face, which was hidden by his helmet, to the street outside the alleyway, bathed in the white light of the street lamps.
In the distance, the Hummer SUV with the sword of hell had already started its engine, its headlights leaving two long beams of light trailing across the road.
"Monsters are already invading Hell's Kitchen. Your kind of justice won't work."
"Any hesitation will only lead to a further increase in the number of victims."
After saying that, he strode towards the Hummer SUV and opened the car door.
The sound of the car door closing echoed through the empty street before being drowned out by the deep roar of the engine.
The taillights turned a street corner and disappeared.
Matt stood alone at the alley entrance, staring at the bloodless body of the homeless man for a long time.