No Hero Volume 6: Heaven & Hell
Original Novel written by: 御我 (Yu Wo)
Heaven or Hell, Fourth Level: Police Station, and the Justices and Evils that Come To and Fro—translated by Ever (proofread by Trespasserby and elisa; C/E edited by lucathia)
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
You hypocrite! Didn’t you generously tell me your story just so that I would tell you mine in return?
“Ah, so you noticed?”
….
“Er, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I’m serious!”
We encountered a chase between cops and robbers on our wedding day, and all the cars had gotten caught up in an accident.
I was unconscious for a while. When I woke up, I found my legs stuck under a car that had toppled over. I was unable to move at all.
The first thing I saw was my groom, desperately trying to save me. He kept pushing on the car. His hands and body were covered in blood, and he looked as if he was on the verge of tears.
Seeing that I’d regained consciousness, he continued to tell me not to worry, that he would get me out of there and that we'd hold the wedding again on another day… Until he heard his younger sister’s scream.
The robbers had taken his sister hostage. When he rushed over to save her, he was shot in the head. He never woke again.
“… My condolences.”
After that incident, I continued to look for his sister.
“Did you find her?”
I did. She had ended up in a brothel and had already gone insane when I found her. I settled her down in a psych ward.
“…”
Oh yeah, since you told me where you got your money for your modification, I’ll also tell you where I got mine. I did the surgery with his insurance payment.
As soon as I walked into the station, the two policemen escorting me shouted, “Attention! A non-human was caught! Attention! A non-human was caught!”
Judging from how familiar they are with those words, I assume that they shout them every time they catch a non-human?
But the people in the station remained calm and did not even bat an eyelash when they heard the shout. It was as if they were already used to this kind of situation. One policeman even smiled at the two when he was on his way out, saying, “Good work! You’ve caught another rebellious non-human… Uh, Charles?”
This policeman was one of Yue Gang’s pals. Well, that was a bit of a needless remark, since everyone in the police station was his pal.
Because of the handcuffs on my wrists, I replied in embarrassment, “Hello.”
After the shout from that policeman, the others nearby also noticed me and looked toward us with widened eyes. As their gaze moved down and focused on my hands, their eyes widened even more.
“What did you do?” The policeman in front of me asked in confusion.
“I…”
“Don’t talk to a non-human!” Xie Wei yelled, “Put him in the non-human jail!”
That policeman gasped and said, “You’re putting Charles in there? But there are so many non-humans in there. It’s dangerous!”
Xie Wei rebuked him angrily, “Have you forgotten that he’s also a non-human? Moreover, he’s a vampire, a non-human at danger-level red. He's the one who’s going to be a danger to others!"
Danger-level? Since when was there such a thing?
“But Charles, he…” The policeman halted in the middle of his sentence and glanced at me, and then said to Xie Wei in a low tone, “Yue Gang says that he’s really weak! If you lock him up with the other non-humans, won’t he get beaten to death?”
Pity that even though the policeman had lowered his voice, I was still able to hear what he had said.
“Beaten to what?” Xie Wei glared at him before glancing at me and said, “With so many policemen watching over him, do you think we’ll just stand around and watch him die?”
The policeman hurriedly said, “But that won’t be a fight between humans. Some non-humans can kill people with one punch. Even if we were looking out for him, we won't be able to stop them in time!”
I am not that weak… Yue Gang, just how did you usually describe me?
“He’s a vampire. He won’t die that easily!” Xie Wei roared and then yelled at the two policemen who were escorting me, “What are you waiting for? Lock him up!”
Hearing that, the two policemen pulled me away in a hurry, and we walked all the way into the center of the station… This can't be possible, can it?
I stared at the office hall in front of me. This was indeed the office hall of Sunset City’s Main Police Station. The size of the hall was that of a small plaza, but the difference was that there were tables and chairs placed in the hall with policemen working on various things. Glancing at them from afar, I could tell that there were about seventy to eighty people. Some of them were busy interrogating criminals, some of them had documents piled up like mountains, and some of them were cleaning their equipment.
But all of that could not compare to what was displayed in the center of the hall. A large cage was placed at the center, big enough to be called a room, and five non-humans were inside, crouching alone in separate corners.
I asked in shock, “Why, why is there a jail here?”
One of the policemen escorting me explained, “Because if we locked non-humans in the regular jails, it would be dangerous to have only one or two people standing on guard. But sending a lot of people over would be a waste of human resources, so Xie Wei decided to put the special jail over here. This way the whole station can guard them and work at the same time, saving us a lot of work. Oh yeah, the cage is double layered, so after going inside, don’t touch the outside layer because the bars have electricity running through them."
Saying so, the policeman patted my shoulder and comforted me, saying, “Don’t worry, this isn’t some kind of dark and gloomy jail, and we’re all watching! We won’t let the other non-humans beat you!”
… No, if possible, I would still like to be locked up in a dark room. That would at least be much better than being in an exhibition, especially when everyone in the police station knows who I am.
As we walked over to the cage, we were seen by a few policemen that I knew, and I continued to hear murmurs such as:
“Is that Charles?”
“Are you here for Yue Gang… Hand cuffs?”
“How is this possible! What did he do?”
“Should we tell Yue Gang?”
The two policemen opened the large cage to let me in. The iron cage wasn't exactly shaped like a rectangle: there was a sectioned off area at the entrance and to enter the actual cage, one would have to go through another iron door. But after I had entered the separated area, the policemen left me there and didn't open the other iron door for me, so I stood alone in the place, unsure of what to do.
After I looked around, I realized that this separated place was quite small and a single chair was placed in it. This seems like a visiting room? But this cage isn't completely sealed off from the outside, so why make a visiting room?
"Sit down!"
I turned around and saw Xie Wei sitting outside, about two arm-lengths away from the cage.
After I sat down, he shouted angrily, "Speak up! Why did you break the TV wall?"
Oh, so this small space is for interrogations?
I, of course, could not tell him the truth, but I was unable to come up with a good reason at the moment. Why would one break a television wall? The television shows were too boring would not count as a good reason, would it?
"Speak up!" Xie Wei suddenly took out a rod and whacked it against the iron cage. That action sparked up a surprisingly great wave of blue flames with crackling sounds.
…An electric shocking rod?
Left with no choice, I replied, "Because, because… Ah! Because I saw the news on the TV wall. It reported that the representative of Daystar City had more votes than my brother Ah Ye did, and that the representative was even a priest of the Church, so I broke the TV wall out of agitation."
The Cities Representative Election was the only thing that I could think of right now. I realized that it was a very poor excuse. However, I could not come up with anything better.
"Yeah! Compared to the Angel, who does that priest think he is?"
The crowd of eavesdropping policemen behind Xie Wei suddenly burst into anger.
"The Angel is the best! I voted for him on the very first day! I even used my three-year-old son's vote for him!"
The policemen shouted in unison, "Stand aside, Daystar City! A mere priest dares to go against the Angel? Serves that TV right!"
"Support the Angel! The Angel will win, Angel! Angel, An…"
Xie Wei turned his head around and roared so loud that his voice shook the ceiling, "Shut up!"
The crowd behind him went silent instantly.
"You broke the TV wall just because of that?" Xie Wei scolded me as he turned his head back around, "Did you even realize that people could have been hurt or even killed?"
"I was too hasty. I am very sorry. I will take responsibility and pay for the damages," I immediately lowered my head and apologized. I did not think that they would believe my story, but I am glad that they did.
Xie Wei frowned again and asked, "You're really a vampire?"
I paused in confusion before saying, "Yes, I am a vampire. Is something wrong?"
"You don't act like a non-human," Xie Wei said awkwardly, "You're the first one who has said that he'll pay up."
I smiled and asked, "Well, may I leave now?" Being locked up in a cage and having all the staff in the police station sneaking looks at you and listening in on you is very uncomfortable.
"Leave? In your dreams! Wait for the bail! Your bail is…" Stopping in his sentence, he turned his head to ask a policeman who had a mountain of paperwork piled on his desk, "How much is the minimum bail for a vampire?"
That policeman scratched his head and started to look through a document. "The minimum bail is one million, but Charles didn't hurt anyone and only broke the TV wall, so this would be hard to determine…"
Xie Wei said crossly, "Who says that he didn't hurt anyone? Don't the people who were hurt by the broken glass count as his fault? Even if you want to take his side, don't speak so blindly!"
The policeman smiled in embarrassment.
"But no one was hurt!" A policeman beside them cut in, "The TV wall was made out of safety glass, so no one had to go to the hospital."
Xie Wei turned to me and said, "Then the bail will be fifty thousand yuan, and there must be someone here to bail you out. You can't pay your own bail!" Saying so, he turned to growl at the policeman beside him, "Lock him up."
"You're really locking him up?" The policeman started to get nervous.
"Does it sound like I'm joking?" Xie Wei glared at him. "Lock him up!"
So, with no recourse, the two policemen walked in and closed the outer door. As one person stood guard with an energy gun, the other opened the inner door to let me in.
As soon as I entered, the door behind me closed. There were five non-humans in total and they all looked identical to humans. I was unable to immediately identify what races they were… Wait!
"Vampire?" I looked at the woman in the right corner.
The woman glared at me and said sharply, "What are you looking at…"
Xie Wei said coldly from outside the cage, "Since you're both vampires, get along!"
When the woman heard his words, she said in shock, "You're a vampire?"
"Yes."
She looked confused, but then scoffed and said, "I suppose our generations are too far apart, so I couldn't tell."
"True." I nodded my head and sat down near the entrance after looking around the cage.
Xie Wei walked to the cage and surveyed the non-humans in the cage. The non-humans were all crouching, afraid to meet his eyes. Non-humans afraid of humans? I could not help but feel that that was funny.
Xie Wei turned around to ask the others, "Where's Yue Gang? Didn't you say that he just caught a group of robbers?"
"He went after another group of robbers."
"Just how many more groups are there?" Xie Wei said in frustration, "NC is in charge of capturing non-humans. Those robbers are all humans. NC isn't in charge of them! What is Yue Gang running around for?!"
The policeman shrugged and said, "Yue Gang's the type who never takes a break, and since no one has reported a case on non-humans, of course he'll go after the robbers. I think there are only two groups of robbers left. One is…"
Hearing this, I picked up my cell phone to make a call. As soon as the call connected, I said, “Melody, do you have time? Can you please come and bail me out?”
“Bail you out?” The recipient at the other end of the call simply said these three words and then fell into silence. After a considerably long time, the voice sounded again, “You mean like what’s in the news, like how suspects get locked in jail and need someone to bail them out with money?”
“Yes, just like that.”
“… How much is your bail?”
“Fifty thousand yuan.” I am glad that it is not a hundred thousand, or else Melody might not be willing to bail me out with so much money.
“… Five hundred million?”
Fifty thousand and five hundred million sound quite different. How could she mishear me? I repeated myself in confusion, “It is fifty thousand yuan.”
“Hahahahaha!” Melody suddenly burst into a long, piercing laugh that left her breathless. “A, a great fifth generation vampire ended up in jail and needs to wait for someone to bail him out, and the bail is only fifty thousand yuan. A fifth generation vampire is only worth fifty thousand! Hahahahaha—”
“… Are you willing to bail me out?”
“Get out yourself, idiot!”
Click! Beep beep beep…
Melody hung up. I suspected that even if I called again, she would still not agree to come bail me out.
Mr. Bramble and the others must be busy looking for the robbers, so who else is there that would be willing to bail me out?
“Oh no!”
A policeman yelled out, “The robbers who abducted the Angel has abducted another little boy and have separated into two more groups, one with the Angel and one with the little boy…”
Hearing so, Xie Wei turned really upset. He gritted his teeth and asked, “Don’t tell me that Dark Sun went after…”
Not waiting for him to finish, the police replied, “He went after the robbers who took the little boy.”
“What the hell!” Xie Wei growled, “Can’t he even evaluate the situation? Everyone’s waiting for him to rescue the beauty, yet he went for the little boy?”
No matter which one he rescues, it would never be the hero rescuing the ‘beauty,’ right?
Young Master, it looks like to the people of Sunset City, you have now become the beauty in a hero movie. Everyone seems to think that you are the one who should be rescued by the hero.
Xie Wei shouted angrily, “Is the network for the security cameras fixed yet? It's just a hacker. How can this take so long to fix?”
“It’s fixed, it’s fixed!” A policeman shouted and soon after, the surrounding walls that were black lit up. I then realized that the walls of the police station were actually digital display walls filled with all kinds of live feed: the news, security cameras, and small cameras that the police who were on patrol had with them.
"Good, as long as the security cameras are working, there'll be no place for the criminals to hide!" Xie Wei yelled, "All NC members follow me! The rest of you, keep a close eye on the criminals!"
Saying so, he led a group of fully armored policemen charging out of the station.
As soon as he left, a policeman who stayed behind laughed and joked, "I wonder who it was that said that this wasn't the NC squad's job and complained about Yue Gang going off on his own?"
Having heard what he had said, the policemen around him all laughed.
I thought I now knew why Yue Gang was still willing to join the NC squad even though he really hated Xie Wei at first. It was because Xie Wei had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, so no matter how harshly he would phrase his words, his actual actions were never like what he had made them sound to be.
"Charles, don't worry, the Angel will be okay!" The policeman standing outside the cage comforted me, saying, "The robbers won't recklessly harm a hostage who's as valuable as the Angel, so he'll most probably be safe. And even if the robbers really do try to harm him, just the Angel's fans would be enough to tear them into pieces!"
I nodded and said, "I realize that and therefore am not overly concerned, and Ah Ye did graduate with a degree in combat, so his martial arts are not weak."
The policeman scratched his head and said, "That Xie Wei, your brother was abducted and he's still keeping you in here. Sorry about that!"
"No, this is my own fault. I should not have broken the television wall…"
All of a sudden, a sharp scream stopped me in the middle of my sentence. The sound did not come from where we were. It had come from the speaker, making it sound as if it had come from the other side of a wall. This should be coming from the television wall in the station? I wonder what has happened…
I looked toward the television wall, but there were too many different screens on there, and it was impossible to tell which screen the scream had come from.
"Oh my god!"
Now this would be a sound coming from right here… I looked confusedly at the police who was yelling. He was jumping around and shouting, "Oh crap! Enlarge screen number 500! Hurry!"
A screen from the left side of the wall immediately enlarged to the entire wall. It displayed a scene shot from above. Perhaps it's being filmed from a helicopter.
The backdrop was a building rooftop, and there were two groups of people fighting on it. One group had about five people who were all armed with guns, their firepower very overwhelming, while the other group only had two people… No, they are not humans. They are wolfmen!
"What's going on? Are those werewolves?" The policeman said confusedly, "I've never seen such tiny werewolves."
"Those are wolfmen!" I exclaimed in shock.
Wolfmen are a type of mythical creature. They look like wolves but like to stand on their hind legs. They are very gentle, so they do not attack others recklessly… Wait, do not tell me that that is the roof that they were living on? If their home was invaded, then even wolfmen would attack the invaders in rage.
Why did these robbers invade a rooftop inhabited by non-humans? This was not a wise decision. The rooftops nowadays were not places that can be entered carelessly.
"It doesn't matter what kind of non-human that is! Look over there, the railing!"
Half of the railing was already damaged and was hanging over the edge of the building with only a few parts still attached to the roof. It looked as if it might fall at any instant. But swaying along with every motion of such a railing was a white figure that was grasping tightly onto the end of the half of the railing that had fallen off the roof. The figure looked as if it would fall any moment.
The policemen all gasped, "It's the Angel!"
The white figure that is hanging there is the young master!
He tried hard to hang on, but the wolfmen and robbers were fighting vigorously above him, and the stray bullets, broken pieces of concrete, and the wolfmen who would step on the remaining pieces of railing still attached to the roof all made the railing shake even worse.
Every time the railing shook, the policemen would scream and start calling for backup.
Suddenly, a policeman jumped up and yelled, "Yes, Solitary Butterfly is here!"
Solitary Butterfly rushed in from the only entrance to the roof. Though she wanted to dash through the fighting that was going on in the middle of the area, the robbers' firepower was too great, and she was forced to dodge. She even drew out her gun to fight back, and the wolfmen would also attack her from time to time.
To the wolfmen, both the robbers and Solitary Butterfly were enemies that had invaded their home.
"Stop attacking me! He's about to fall!" Solitary Butterfly shouted in anger as she fired her gun. "Who do you think he is? If he's dead, then you're all going to be dead! Take care of those two wolves. I'll go save him!"
At the moment, only three of the robbers could still fight. The other two were already put down by the wolfmen, their wellbeing unconfirmed. When the three of them heard her words, they all stopped in shock and looked as if they were unsure of what to do next.
Solitary Butterfly used this pause to scramble toward the railing, but a wolfman chased after her and leapt over her head, landing straight down…
Solitary Butterfly gasped, "Wait…"
The wolfman landed right on top of the railing and caused another bar to break. The railing started swaying vigorously and a gasp sounded from beneath, "Ah!"
When she heard this gasp, Solitary Butterfly's expression suddenly changed, and she charged to the edge of the building, ignoring all possible dangers. Looking down, she saw a white figure sprung off the railing. Silver hair floated in the dark night. The figure fell…
Given the situation, there was nothing that Solitary Butterfly could do but watch the white figure fall all the way down.
As the figure fell, he tried to grab onto things many times: window ledges, balconies, exterior decorations… But was unable to hang on to anything and fell all the way down to the bottom, disappearing after breaking a few plastic sun shades with his fall.
My mind went blank for a moment.
And then I remembered that this was DSII, not the young master. And even if the one who had fallen was the young master, his life would not be endangered that easily.
That was close…
Just then, the whole room of policemen started screaming, "He, he fell! He really fell! Oh my god!"
Oh no! I cannot act as if it did not matter. After all, my 'little brother' did just fall from a building! Should I start screaming together with them, or should I act as if I was too shocked to say anything? Maybe the latter one… Huh?
My right wrist was suddenly grabbed and bent toward my back. Right after that, a hand covered with nail polish clutched my throat tightly, the long nails piercing my neck and hurting me.
I turned my head slightly and saw that the female vampire had me clutched tightly. With her velvety lips she whispered to me as her fangs scraped against my ears, saying, "You seem to be on good terms with those policemen? Say, if I held you against the bars and electrified you, would they agree to let me out?"
I went blank for a moment since I had not expected that she would attack me because of the great difference in our generation numbers, but she…
I used blood ability to protect my neck and heart, and then slowly removed her hand from my neck. She was weaker than me, so she could not stop her hand from being pulled away, which then made her attack me in anger with her other hand.
The attacking hand naturally had long nails, too. A vampire's long nails were not just for nail polish. They were real weapons that could pierce through a human body!
However, her nails were not enough to pierce through my blood ability shield.
I had asked Poseidynne a lot of questions on battle tactics recently. Even though she used water and I used blood, there were still a lot of similarities between the two, not to mention that her way of fighting suited me very well.
Non-humans usually would not reveal to anyone their battle tactics, especially to someone from a different race. But Poseidynne was very generous and said that, "Because of Ah Ye and because you're no threat at all," she was willing to teach me.
The female vampire stared at my shield with widened eyes—to be honest, this shield was only the size of my palm—stuttering as she tried to finish a sentence, "You, you…."
I pulled away my restricted hand and turned around to grab her neck. The oppressed and the oppressor had changed their roles in an instant.
I softly asked, "What generation are you?"
The female vampire did not dare to move but could not stop herself from shaking as she said, "Thir— thirteenth…"
That is even further than what I have estimated. I asked her in confusion, "What gave you the courage to attack me?"
"I-I thought that your generation number was further than mine," she said with a bitter smile. "Just now, I thought that the reason I couldn't sense that you were a vampire was because you were from a further generation than me, and then you said 'true'…."
So this is why.
"You misunderstood me," I said, feeling annoyed yet amused. "The one who's generation is further is you, and that is why you could not sense that I am a vampire. It would usually take a vampire under ten generations to be able to notice that I am a vampire when I am not using any abilities."
Hearing so, she widened her eyes and asked, "Which, which generation might thou be in?" Now she's even using honorifics.
I replied tonelessly, "I do not want to answer that question."
"Charles!"
I let go of the female vampire when I heard my name and turned around to see that the policemen were busy opening the door of the cage.
"Hurry! Go check on your brother…" The police who was speaking looked at me kind-heartedly and comforted me, saying, "He, he tried to grab hold of things during his fall, and at the very end, a sun shade slowed his fall, so he might, might not be dead… He'll be okay!"
I purposely put on a solemn face and said, "Is it really all right to let me out?"
"Oh man!" The policeman said anxiously, "The situation's already like this. Who cares if it's okay or not! Hurry and go check on the Angel!"
"Thank you." After giving him my thanks, I turned around and told the female vampire in a low voice, "Do not cause the policemen any trouble. Do you understand?" After glancing at the other non-humans, I added, "And do not let the others cause any trouble either."
"Yes!" The female vampire nodded hurriedly, and her expression immediately relaxed. Her reaction was not hard to understand. Those who dared to attack a vampire of a much more powerful generation were usually put to death. If she could escape that fate, then she would feel the tension ebb.
I stepped out of the cage, and the policemen suggested, "Taking you by car would be faster. He should be at the general hospital. Hurry up!"
I knew that the young master would be all right, but seeing how worried and flustered they were, I said earnestly, "Thank you."
After I had taken a seat in the police car, the policemen sounded the sirens and sped away in the hospital's direction.
Even though the young master will be fine, how should we explain this later on? The building was about twenty floors high. If a normal human were to fall from it, he or she would have definitely lost their life!
Does the young master need to be announced dead, and only appear in public as Dark Sun from now on? That would not be good, since the young master should also have the life of a normal person.
With various kinds of concerns and theories in my mind, the police car reached Sunset General Hospital.
Unexpectedly, the entrance of the hospital was crowded with people. Both the sidewalk and roads were clogged with people, and the news vans of every news channel was there. The police car that I was riding in even had to park on a nearby lane as they could not get inside the hospital campus.
Having stepped out of the car, the three policemen escorted me as we forced through the crowd. The pushing had upset the media and other people, and thus, they pushed back against us. Someone even shouted, "You think you're great just 'cuz you're a cop? What the hell are you pushing for?"
The conflict deepened and we were not able to proceed any further. One of the policemen beside me shouted, "He's An Xiang Ye's brother! Hurry up and let him go see his brother!"
After these words got out, not only did the people surrounding us not let us through, they instead huddled toward us crazily. The camera lights flashed on endlessly, causing many black shadows to appear in my eyes.
The three policemen stomped their feet in anger, shouting, "Stop filming! Move! Get out of the way!"
Yet the media did not budge, and tens of microphones were shoved into my face, some of them almost hitting me. The reporters, one by one, started to shower me with questions: "What do you think about your brother falling off from the building?"
Er? Well, really surprised?
“Do you think that An Xiang Ye is still alive?”
I am positive that the young master is still alive.
“What do you have to say to the robbers who abducted An Xiang Ye?”
“You…”
As we faced the endless shower of questions and the human wall that seemed impossible to break through, I told the policeman beside me, "My apologies, but I will be going up by myself first."
The policeman went blank for a moment and then asked, "How are you going to get up there… Oh, yeah! You're a vampire."
I smiled and leapt up. Using a few people's shoulders as stepping stones, I walked onto the hospital wall. At that same moment, the camera lights from below flashed intensely. I was amused by their reactions, since no matter how many photos they took, my presence would not be captured in an image. I could be seen through the live display cameras, but if the video was to be replayed later on, my image would still not be visible.
After jumping into the hospital from a window, I was immediately noticed by the staff. After explaining to them that I was An Xiang Ye's elder brother, I was escorted to the young master's room in a hurry.
I heard that the young master is in a special operating room with specialists operating on him… Wait, a surgery?
No matter if it’s the young master or DSII, both of them have bodies that are different from normal people and therefore cannot undergo examinations and surgeries!
This is bad. Will the fact that the young master is not a normal human be discovered?