MERIDIAN OF THE DAMNED

Ch 09. Duel in the Sewer of Death

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The barking of military tracking dogs echoed loudly, reverberating off the slippery stone walls of the vast sewage tunnel. The splashing of water beneath the charging footsteps of a small squad of soldiers grew closer by the second.

From the darkness of the tunnel, a man in polished silver armor stepped into the main drainage chamber.

Lieutenant Zhao.

He was personally leading his small unit, holding a burning torch in his left hand and a slender sword wreathed in blue energy in his right. His sharp eyes immediately locked onto Wu Chen, who was weakly leaning against the sewer wall.

"So you're really still alive, Little Rat," Lieutenant Zhao said in a calm but deeply intimidating voice.

"Fucking Lieutenant... You really went through all this trouble just to find me in a sewer?" Wu Chen rasped sarcastically, trying to mask the excruciating pain coursing through his entire body with the cynical laugh of a mafia boss.

"I don't like leaving anomalies unresolved in my assignments," Lieutenant Zhao replied, slowly stepping forward while signaling his men to secure the dead-end area. "A young man without functioning meridians who can slaughter Awakening-level zombies and use a flesh shield in front of my gate... you're far too dangerous to be allowed to live."

"Tch. You talk too much for a soldier!" Wu Chen shouted, his eyes tactically scanning the sewer ceiling above them.

The stone ceiling above their heads looked extremely fragile. The heavy flow of water from the square above, caused by the torrential rain, had cracked the supporting cement in several places, leaving it on the verge of collapse if subjected to a powerful enough vibration.

"Lieutenant Zhao! The path ahead is blocked by dozens of zombies, and they're starting to move!" one of the soldiers reported in panic.

"Hold your positions! Secure the child. I'll deal with this rat myself," Lieutenant Zhao ordered coldly, pointing his sword directly at Wu Chen's chest.

"B-Big Brother! Don't!" Xiao Yu screamed in terror, only to be seized by two of Lieutenant Zhao's soldiers in the corner of the chamber.

"Let the kid go, you bastards!" Wu Chen roared.

With what little strength remained, Wu Chen lunged forward. He kicked the muddy puddle beneath his feet with all his force, trying to splash the thick sludge directly into Lieutenant Zhao's eyes and blind him.

Slaasssh!

"A cheap trick," Lieutenant Zhao sneered coldly.

With remarkable calmness, Lieutenant Zhao merely tilted his head slightly, avoiding the splash of mud. As a trained Opening-level cultivator, all five of his senses were far beyond those of an ordinary human.

Before Wu Chen could recover his stance, Lieutenant Zhao delivered a spinning kick coated in a thin layer of blue energy directly toward Wu Chen's chest.

BOOM!

"AAARGH!"

Wu Chen was sent flying three meters, his body slamming violently into one of the stone support pillars before he finally crashed face-first into the sewage.

Ueeekk!

Wu Chen vomited fresh blood mixed with black fluid. Excruciating pain immediately tore through his chest.

"Shit... my ribs... I think two of them are broken," Wu Chen rasped, clutching his chest with his trembling right hand. Each breath felt unbearably tight and agonizing.

"Big Brother! Please let my brother go!" Xiao Yu screamed hysterically from within the soldiers' grip.

"Street cunning is useless against a professional cultivator, Little Rat." Lieutenant Zhao stepped closer, looking down at Wu Chen with contempt. "I can read every blind spot you're trying to exploit. Your movements are too slow to keep up with my eyes."

Wu Chen smiled faintly through blood-stained teeth.

"Oh yeah? But you... haven't seen my last trick yet."

Wu Chen had realized something extremely important. Without the power of his true meridians, his mafia-honed cunning had its limits when facing a professional cultivator who was just as intelligent.

That left him with only one desperate choice.

With tremendous difficulty, he dragged himself toward the center of the sewer, directly beneath the section of the stone ceiling with the largest cracks, where torrents of water continued pouring through.

"Give up. Your death will be a small contribution to the security of this city." Lieutenant Zhao raised his sword again, preparing to slash through Wu Chen's neck.

"Come on, you bastard! Cut me down if you've got the guts!" Wu Chen challenged, deliberately leaving his entire body exposed.

Lieutenant Zhao snorted coldly.

He shot forward at high speed, thrusting his sword directly toward Wu Chen's chest.

Wu Chen did not dodge to the side.

At the final instant, just before the blade pierced his skin, he deliberately tilted his body slightly, causing Lieutenant Zhao's sword to miss him and strike directly into the fragile stone support pillar behind him.

KRAAAKKK!

"What?!"

Lieutenant Zhao's eyes widened in shock.

His blue sword, reinforced with Opening-level energy, smashed into the fragile stone pillar and shattered it completely. The tremendous impact triggered a devastating chain reaction throughout the sewer ceiling above them.

KREEEKKK... BOOM!

Large chunks of stone, some as big as tables, began crashing down from the collapsing sewer ceiling.

The enormous underground water flow above suddenly broke through, pouring downward like a gigantic waterfall that threatened to drown the entire chamber.

"Crazy! This place is collapsing!" Lieutenant Zhao's soldiers shouted, immediately releasing Xiao Yu and running toward the exit tunnel to save themselves.

"Big Brother! Run!" Xiao Yu screamed, quickly crawling toward a secure corner of the wall and grabbing onto anything she could hold.

Lieutenant Zhao lost his balance from the violent shaking of the ground. As he tried to pull his sword free from the shattered pillar, a small leather-sheathed dagger coated in green poison suddenly slipped from his waist and fell into the muddy water.

"Come here, you bastard! We're dying together!" Wu Chen roared like a madman.

With the last of his strength, Wu Chen lunged forward like a rabid dog. He ignored the excruciating pain from his broken ribs.

His body slammed into Lieutenant Zhao, sending the officer tumbling directly into the rapidly rising current.

As they wrestled in the violently churning muddy water, Wu Chen's right hand quickly groped along the bottom.

His fingers touched the cold metal hilt of Lieutenant Zhao's fallen poisoned dagger.

"Die, you fucking Lieutenant!" Wu Chen screamed.

STABBBBB!

With one vicious thrust filled with pure hatred, Wu Chen drove the poisoned dagger as deeply as he could into Lieutenant Zhao's unprotected neck, where his armor offered no protection.

"You..." Lieutenant Zhao's eyes widened in absolute horror as he felt the deadly green poison rapidly spread, burning through the nerves in his neck.

At that exact moment, the entire sewer ceiling collapsed completely.

The stone floor beneath their feet gave way under the immense pressure of the underground current.

Wu Chen and Lieutenant Zhao's body, convulsing from the poison, plunged downward together, swept away and swallowed by the violently spiraling underground current in the pitch-black depths.