Chapter 14: Fish-Men

“I’ll hand out equipment to you shortly. It’s for finding fish-men. Once you spot a target, report to me immediately. I’ll take my team to carry out the capture. You don’t need to fight. After the operation, I’ll have to trouble you to clean up the scene.”

“So simple?”

“Yeah. Our area is residential zones 10 through 15. The goal is to capture all the fish-men in this area.”

Bai Yu shoved a table listing each squad’s assigned area into Lin Yu’s hands.

“All right, when do we leave?”

“Now. Remember to bring your team members.”

****

K City, Residential Zone 10, underground parking garage.

The light here was very dim. They could barely see the road with the help of headlights. Their vehicle was piled with equipment, and rainwater had pooled in the garage.

SCA Supernatural Creature Containment 7th Squad, led by Bai Yu, and DIAB Calamity Event Logistics Team 3, led by Lin Yu, had assembled here.

“Let’s introduce ourselves first.” Bai Yu put a hand to her chest and smiled, then looked at Lin Yu’s team members. “I’m the person in charge of this operation, Bai Yu. I’m a vampire.”

“I’m the dwarf Walker.”

An adult male dwarf less than 1.3 meters tall stepped forward. He stroked his long beard and glanced at the large iron hammer in his right hand, eyes full of pride.

“My name is Keluoxi, cat-person meow.”

A blue-haired girl with cat ears and heterochromatic eyes stepped forward. She held sharp daggers in both hands. Her arms were slender, her waist lithe, and she was lively and restless.

“I’m the leader of Logistics Team 3, Lin Yu.”

Lin Yu wore a white shirt and black leather pants, with a pistol, hand axe, and grenade at his waist. He looked neat and efficient.

“I, I’m Gu Xiaoxiao.”

It was Gu Xiaoxiao’s first time seeing so many supernatural creatures at once, so she was a little nervous.

“My name is Ye Lai.”

Ye Lai waved generously, a happy smile on her face the whole time.

“Shen Yan.”

Shen Yan pounded his chest with his fist. It made a loud sound.

“Let me hand out your equipment.” Bai Yu picked up a device about the size of a phone with its own screen and handed it to Lin Yu. “This is called a supernatural creature detector. It can scan supernatural creatures within a hundred meters and display them on the screen.”

“How does it do that?”

Ye Lai had just joined DIAB not long ago and was curious about everything, so she couldn’t help asking.

“Why don’t you take it apart and study it? It’s not complicated anyway.” Bai Yu smiled, then patiently explained, “This device consumes magic power to scan biological data within a hundred meters and transmits it to our SCA terminal. The terminal uses magic power, heartbeat frequency, body size, appearance, and other factors to determine what type of supernatural creature the scanned target is.”

“I see.”

“Come, one each, and these too…”

Everyone received a supernatural creature detector, a walkie-talkie, a raincoat, and a high-beam flashlight.

“Fish-men are low in intelligence. On land, they move clumsily, but they’re a bit stronger than an adult human. Be careful. When you spot a target, report its position with the walkie-talkie immediately. Do not engage them.”

“Okay.”

“Then let’s move out.”

After Bai Yu finished explaining the precautions, she and her team members set off in different directions.

“Shen Yan, go with Gu Xiaoxiao. Keep an eye on her.”

“Yes!”

“Ye Lai, come with me.”

Because Ye Lai was still in training, Lin Yu was responsible for bringing her along.

“Okay~”

“Let’s go too.”

Lin Yu put on his raincoat, walked out of the underground parking garage, and came to the streets of Residential Zone 10 with Ye Lai.

The sky was already a gray blur, thick with dark clouds. Rain fell without pause, and occasional thunder flashed. A large amount of rainwater had pooled on the streets. Even with raincoats, movement was still inconvenient in many ways.

“Team leader, do you know much about fish-men?”

Lin Yu had received training and learned a great deal about supernatural creatures, including fish-men.

“I know a bit.” Lin Yu paused, then said, “I heard fish-men used to live on land too, but later they were driven into the sea. Based on their habits, they usually hide in damp, dark places, like warehouses and basements.”

Just then.

“Team leader, my detector went off!”

“So soon?”

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Lei Yi, two other superhumans, and Logistics Team 4 were searching for traces of fish-men. This time they were responsible for capturing fish-men in residential zones 5 through 9.

However, Lei Yi was heading toward Residential Zone 10.

“Lei Yi, what are you doing?”

One superhuman asked, puzzled.

“A fish-man ran over there. I’m going to chase it.”

“Why bother? It’s not in our assigned area anymore.”

“It’s fine. I’ll handle it quickly.”

Lei Yi followed the fish-man unhurriedly, a sinister smile on his face. He muttered to himself:

“Lin Yu, residential zones 10 through 15 are your Logistics Team 3’s area, right?”

His plan was simple. Using capturing a fish-man as an excuse, he would enter Lin Yu’s area. Once he had the chance, he would immediately release his supernatural ability ‘Berserk’ and attack Lin Yu.

Whether he succeeded or failed, afterward he could say he lost his reason after entering ‘Berserk’ and never expected to attack a colleague.

“Since I was little, people compared me to you. I was like your stepping stone. Every test, every assessment, you always came out ahead of me.”

“But heaven had eyes. It let me awaken a supernatural ability, and you… have nothing!”

“So I’m stronger than you. I’m the best one!”

Lin Yu’s words yesterday had thoroughly enraged him. After all, the supernatural ability he treated as his everything had sounded so worthless in the other’s mouth.

“Worthless ability? Heh heh heh. Then I’ll let you die under a so-called worthless ability!”

****

“Team leader, should we report it?”

Ye Lai pointed at the red dot on the detector that was constantly approaching.

“Of course. Let’s hide first.”

The two hid inside the walled yard of a house.

Although Lin Yu was confident enough to defeat an ordinary fish-man now, he didn’t plan to do that.

First, as a logistics worker, he didn’t need to participate in battle.

Second, the other fish-men were hiding, but this one had run over from Residential Zone 9. It was strange.

‘If I remember correctly, Residential Zone 9 is in Lei Yi’s assigned area.’

So he took out the walkie-talkie.

“This is Lin Yu. I’ve found a fish-man at the border between Residential Zone 10 and Residential Zone 9. The target is moving quickly toward my location.”

“This is Bai Yu. I’m relatively close to you. I can get there in about ten minutes.”

Just then, footsteps came from the street.

“Splat, splat.”

The sound of webbed feet slapping against pooled water kept ringing…

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