1 Bam Bam Bam

Twenty miles away from City Z in New York was an old road that had been out of use for years. Although some cars still occasionally passed through the road, the drivers would usually be lost or using it to make a U-Turn back.

Although it may be dilapidated now, the wide road was evidence of how busy it was years past. It used to be a busy street that was the only way to access a fallout shelter that was built in the 60's where the world was enveloped in the fear of a nuclear war between the US and Russia. However, as time passed, such a crisis had been avoided and such shelters were abandoned or forgotten.

The structure that this road led to was exactly one of those shelters which was forgotten since it was so remote. It is unknown who thought it was a good idea to waste resources to build a fallout shelter that was so hard to access in case there really was an emergency, but here it was now.

Inside the halls of this shelter, the laughter of a man could be heard, although the echo made it hard to pinpoint exactly which room the laughter was coming from.

In the room farthest from the entrance of he fallout shelter was the storage where supplies would have been kept to last its inhabitants for at least a month. It was the largest room in the shelter. It is also the source of the laughter.

The room was surprisingly bright and well lit amongst the darkness of the rest of the shelter. Unfortunately, the contents of the room would make the rest of the shelter seem beautiful in comparison.

The room reeked of a disgusting smell that was a mix between feces and barf. The walls were covered in dried patches of blood, urine, and feces. The room seemed closer to a pen for animals rather than what a person would walk into.

There was an old man in the room with his skin withering away and his hair missing. But the laughter from his mouth was surprisingly energetic. It wasn't something you could imagine coming from somebody that looked like a dried up corpse but rather from a middle aged man.

As for what the old man was laughing about, it was probably from the pot in front of him. It looked like it was a ceramic jar. It was filled with a red liquid: blood. The blood was coming from a woman that was hanging above the jar. It was collecting the blood dripping from the woman's slit throat and from her badly beaten face and twisted arms.

At the very least, it seemed the woman was dead and no longer in misery, though one might question if that was something to be optimistic about or not.

At a corner of the room, there was another woman who looked very young. She looked only about twenty years old. Her hands and feet were bound and she was cuddled in the corner shivering. Although tears stroked her face and her looks were disheveled, it couldn't cover up her charming face.

Unfortunately, despite her silent pleas to be ignored, the old man turned from the ceramic jar to face her.

"Don't worry, little lamb, it's going to be your turn soon, heheheh" he said whilst laughing.

The girl tried to back herself farther into the corner while shaking her head.

"Oh a charming one. I'll enjoy myself before killing you." The old man continued while walking towards her. He grabbed her hair, but she started to desperately struggle out of his grasp. In her struggle, her mouth was freed of the muffle.

She started to yell, "Help! Help!" Her coarse voice echoed in the room.

"It's no use, there's no one around. Nobody's coming to save you" the old man said.

———

It suddenly occurred to me, who was standing right outside the door that this old man was spouting such stereotypical villain lines. Doesn't he know that such lines always triggers the flags where a hero shows up in the next moment? Was this fate that I I showed up right at this moment when he said this? Would I have arrived too late if he hadn't said such lines? Oh well, it's no use wondering over this now.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, my actions didn't slow down. It would be awkward if I let the old man continue to spew such lines while I listened outside. As if to counter what the old man just said and slap his face, I raised my fist and started to slam the door.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

"Open up! Open up!" I shouted at the door.

It suddenly became awkwardly silent. It could feel the occupants inside turning to stare at the door.

I tried to dispel the awkwardness and slammed on the door again.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

"Open up! Open up!" I shouted again.

"I'm not the police!" I added as I tried to assure the old man.

'Police for mortals' I added on in my mind.

I could feel the old man raise his vigilance as he walked towards the door.

———

The old man cautiously opened the door, only to be greeted with the smiling face of a handsome youth with fair skin. Before the old man could lunge at the youth to the smash the youth with the iron pipe in his hands, the youth suddenly spoke.

"Hi, I'm Cheng Si Lang. I'm with the Cultivation Police. I have come because you have been found to have numerous violations of the Modern Cultivator Association's International Code of Law. Please come with me to assist with investigations."

Slightly dumbfounded by the Cheng Si Lang's long rant, the old man quickly reacted and swung the pipe at him. Si Lang caught the pipe with ease and started to go off on another rant.

He sighed and said, "This is why loose cultivators have such a bad name. It's because uneducated cultivators like you think you're invincible and when law enforcement comes knocking on your door, you think you could actually beat them. Did you think that just any weak Tom or Dick could join the cultivator police?" The more that Si Lang spoke, the greater his ego started to inflate. But before he could go any farther, the old man suddenly bolted out of the room and tried to escape.

Slightly angered at the old man for ignoring him, Si Lang said, "You're only at the body Refinement Stage. Do you seriously think you have any chance at escaping?" Si Lang then reached out and a red claw composed of spiritual Qi extended from his hands and grabbed the old man.

Si Lang then noticed the ceramic jar in the center of the room and brought it in front of him.

"Isn't this a jar with an automatic purification formation on it? No wonder an old man with one foot in the grave like you could become a Body Refinement cultivator. You were using this jar to purify blood into a strengthening elixir." Si Lang conveniently stored the jar into his storage ring.

Si Lang then turned to the still struggling old man and said, "You're quite an unlucky fella. You just had to be enroute from my way back to headquarters. You could have probably gotten away for a couple more months before you got caught."

Si Lang then tore a talisman and was sent soaring towards city Z with the old man in hand.

'Hmm, I feel like I forgot something' he thought as he continued towards city Z.

'Oh well, I'll sort it out once I remember'