Lujiao Ancient Town.
Strolling through the streets, Lu Zheng felt he must be mad to come to Suzhou for fun.
The Humble Administrator’s Garden was one thing, but this generic ancient town? He saw places like this every day!
And they were far more authentic, steeped in true antiquity, even the people were from ancient times!
…
Past five in the afternoon, the two left the ancient town, planning to visit Jinji Lake and sort out dinner.
But just as they exited the parking lot, a commotion erupted nearby.
“What’s going on?” Lu Zheng blinked.
“Something happened?” Lin Wan frowned.
Out of professional habit, Lin Wan instinctively ran toward the noise.
Lu Zheng naturally followed.
They heard people running their way shouting, “Wild boars!” “Run!” “Lots of wild boars!”
“Wild boars?”
Lu Zheng and Lin Wan exchanged a glance.
“Suzhou’s got a wild boar problem too?” Lu Zheng asked.
“Last I saw on the news, Hangzhou had several incidents. It’s not far from here. Maybe they’ve wandered to Suzhou,” Lin Wan replied.
Going against the crowd, they saw a group of nearly ten wild boars charging down the pavement toward them.
One large boar led six or seven smaller ones, their momentum impressive. Pedestrians scattered, some panicking and running chaotically.
The smaller boars were manageable, but the lead boar was over a metre long, likely weighing over two hundred pounds.
“Trouble! The lead boar’s spooked!” Lin Wan shouted.
“Someone’s hurt!” Lu Zheng spotted a pedestrian on the ground, likely knocked over by the boars.
“Run!”
Some saw Lu Zheng and Lin Wan heading toward the chaos and thought they were gawking.
“Are you insane?”
“Those are wild boars! Get out of the way!”
“Stop them!” Lin Wan called.
“I’ll handle the big one,” Lu Zheng said, stepping forward, eyes locked on the lead boar.
Lin Wan hadn’t yet cultivated a martial artist’s vitality, so Lu Zheng worried she might get hurt.
“Alright!” Lin Wan nodded, unfazed about Lu Zheng’s safety.
He could kick open a helicopter door. A mere two-hundred-pound boar was child’s play. Danger? Only if it was an eight-hundred-pound beast from Africa or North America.
“What the hell! Are these two idiots trying to die?”
“Don’t! Get away!”
Onlookers were frantic, but none dared rush out to help.
Everyone could see Lu Zheng and Lin Wan’s resolute stance, charging straight at the boars.
“They’re trying to stop the boars?”
“Are they crazy?”
“Don’t they know how strong wild boars are?”
“Even an adult can’t handle a small one!”
“Call the police!”
“Already did, but the cops can’t fly here!”
“Holy crap! Holy crap!”
“They’re getting close!”
“I can’t watch!”
…
Lu Zheng and the large boar charged head-on.
As they closed in, the boar lowered its head, speeding up in a final sprint.
“Oh, come on!”
In a blink, man and boar were a metre apart, about to collide.
Lu Zheng, utterly relaxed, sidestepped at the last moment, dodging the boar’s charge.
His right hand flashed, delivering a chop to the back of the boar’s neck.
“Off you go!”
The boar’s eyes rolled, its front legs buckled, and it faceplanted, tumbling into a heap.
“Bang!”
It crashed into a roadside tree, coming to a stop.
Out cold!
“Whoosh!”
The tree shook, shedding scattered leaves.
Meanwhile, Lin Wan crouched, grabbing two small boars by their hind legs, then swung them at two others.
“Boom! Boom!”
Two loud crashes, and the pavement tiles cracked.
The two boars she hit, plus the two she used as hammers, collapsed, only able to whimper.
KO! Four down at once!
But three remained.
Having knocked out the large boar, Lu Zheng faced the smaller ones rushing him.
Mimicking Lin Wan, he grabbed two by their necks, then smashed one into the last boar.
“Boom!”
With his right hand, he hoisted the final boar by its neck, holding it aloft.
The world went quiet…
Not quite. The boar in Lu Zheng’s hand was still squealing, twisting and kicking uselessly.
“Are these wild or domesticated?” Lu Zheng asked Lin Wan. “We just stopped a boar crisis. Can we take this little one for dinner?”
“You’re dreaming. One big boar with several small ones? Classic wild boar pack behaviour. Plus, they’re protected. Eat one, and you’re headed to jail,” Lin Wan laughed.
Lu Zheng knew this, of course. He was just joking.
“Fine. Good thing I held back on that strike. A fine’s one thing, but landing in jail over a boar would be idiotic,” Lu Zheng said, pursing his lips.
“But boars are getting out of hand. They might be removed from the protected list soon,” Lin Wan said, rubbing her chin, eyes gleaming. “How about hunting some in the mountains then?”
She’d nearly mastered the seventeenth move of the “Eighteen Mountain-Bearing Forms.” As a police officer, she couldn’t use colleagues as punching bags, and there weren’t enough criminals to test her skills.
Wild boars, fierce and off the protected list, would be perfect for gauging her strength.
Lu Zheng shook his head. “It’s just a proposal. Who knows how long until the list is updated?”
Lin Wan grinned. “No rush, no rush.”
…
Having casually taken down the boar pack, the two stood amid the fallen animals, chatting nonchalantly, stunning the onlookers.
“What the hell?”
“What just happened?”
“No way! Really?”
“I recorded it all!”
“Martial arts masters?”
“Are you kidding me? Is this real?”
A crowd of bolder onlookers surged forward.
In sync, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan donned baseball caps and oversized sunglasses.
They weren’t trying to flee, but unlike the car accident rescue, this involved just them. They had to wait for the police to explain things before leaving.
