It’s A Monster Chapter 58: Broken Scales

Chapter 58: Broken Scales

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The police had also entered the building, starting their sweep from the basement, searching floor by floor in a methodical rescue operation. They pulled out a number of illegally imprisoned monsters. Meanwhile, up on the top floor, the battle raged on.

At first, Wang Ran hadn’t taken Shi Wenze seriously at all. In his eyes, human bloodlines were the weakest—fragile things bred in overprotection, prone to illness, and as delicate as glass. Yet, ironically, humans were also like viruses: spreading everywhere, infecting everything. Just like the half-qilin standing before him now—a broken, bastardized creature whose mixed blood had been tainted and devoured. A full-blown freak.

Scattered scales lay across the hallway—beautiful, shimmering blue-green—still slick with Chiwen’s fresh blood. Shi Wenze’s eyes slowly fell on Wang Ran. “You have three seconds to earn any leniency.”

Wang Ran’s crimson fangs glistened with venom, droplets hissing as they hit the shattered glass on the floor, releasing a foul stench.

The chandelier overhead, already half-destroyed from Xu You’s earlier brawl, now hung in flickering shards. Light swung back and forth, casting shadows like broken blades. Shi Wenze didn’t give him more than the three seconds. It was police protocol, after all—and conveniently, the manual had little to say about what to do after those three seconds, especially when dealing with a highly dangerous fugitive.

Wang Ran’s massive body filled nearly the entire corridor. Shi Wenze darted aside, narrowly dodging the brute’s charge, and in the same motion, drove a dagger at lightning speed into the thin seam between two scales. The blade hit with a thunk—like a steel nail—then he hauled himself up by the hilt, planting both feet on the slippery scales of Wang Ran’s back.

Black-red blood oozed from the wound, drop by drop. But aside from a flash of fury in his eyes, Wang Ran seemed to feel no pain.

“So,” Shi Wenze said coolly, “you don’t even spare yourself.”

Wang Ran had undergone multiple rounds of experimental modification. His pain receptors had long since dulled to near-zero. Shi Wenze found that infuriating—but not nearly as much as Wang Ran, who now had someone literally riding him like a horse. He thrashed his short, stubby wings and crashed through the glass at the end of the hallway, dragging Shi Wenze with him—straight into the mist realm.

Elsewhere in the building, the little white dragon was still patrolling, electric baton in claw—but hadn’t found a chance to use it yet. Every hallway echoed with cops yelling “Freeze!” and “Don’t move!” Their righteous noise was so overwhelming that most monsters simply surrendered on the spot.

Finally, a slightly more aggressive suspect appeared—some sort of wild bird—fleeing wildly up the stairs. The little white dragon didn’t hesitate. He hurled his baton like a javelin. With a flash of blue lightning, Sakia collapsed with a thud onto the ground. First victory.

He picked up the baton, then carefully pinched the offender by two claws and handed her off to Lei Qing.

Lei Qing immediately blocked his path. “We’re just about ready to wrap up here. Mr. Lin, I really must ask that you wait in the car—don’t go back in the building. Shi-ge is in the mist realm now!”

The little white dragon gave a nimble twist mid-air—and flew off in a completely different direction. Lei Qing muttered under his breath, “…That wasn’t me giving permission to enter the mist realm.”

But it was too late. The dragon in the grandma-knit sweater, baton raised, was already gone—and he was fast. The high-altitude winds cut like blades.

Wang Ran twisted in the air, rolling in tight spirals, trying to throw Shi Wenze off. He failed. Though he couldn’t feel pain, he could still sense it—the man on his back was tearing his scales off one by one, each ripped loose with a layer of flesh, leaving bloody gouges. The blood froze quickly in the freezing wind.

Shi Wenze didn’t use his qilin thunder at all. At first, Wang Ran assumed it was a defect of his mixed blood—that the halfbreed simply couldn’t wield his abilities freely. But he soon realized the truth. Shi Wenze could use his powers. He just didn’t want to.

He wasn’t trying to end the fight quickly. Quite the opposite—he was deliberately dragging it out, taking his time as he peeled away as many of Wang Ran’s scales as possible.

The realization sent Wang Ran into a frenzy. He twisted violently and opened his gaping maw, spraying out a thick wave of venom. Shi Wenze slipped down to his underbelly, snared the long neck with a rope harness, and once the toxic cloud dispersed, swung himself back up to the shredded, bloody back. By now, the scale count was looking decent. If Xu You saw it, he’d probably say they were close to triple yield. Not a bad haul.

Shi Wenze yanked the rope tighter. Wang Ran’s head jerked skyward, and he let out a high-pitched, shrieking scream. Not far off, the little white dragon—who had been circling the air for ages, completely turned around—heard the scream and immediately veered toward the sound. The wind and snow slapped his face, but thanks to his grandma’s sweater, he stayed cozy.

Wang Ran, now on the verge of suffocation, had crimson eyes blazing with rage. Suddenly, his stubby wings folded backward in an unnatural 180-degree snap—and slammed down hard onto Shi Wenze’s body like iron gates. Shi Wenze hadn’t expected that. He tumbled downward, the rope catching his fall and leaving him dangling mid-air. Wang Ran’s sharp fangs clamped down on the rope. Snap! The rope snapped under the pressure. Shi Wenze plummeted.

Wang Ran dove after him, eyes full of cold contempt. This… abomination couldn’t even ride the wind. A defective, broken qilin. He wanted to watch him fall—watch every bone in his body snap. Creatures like this didn’t even deserve to be used in lab experiments.

Shi Wenze reached toward his waist, fingers brushing the emergency descent trigger—when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of silver. A streak of light— Thin. Beautiful. Like a bolt of lightning tearing through the clouds.

Part of the beauty of this moment came from love-tinted glasses. The other part came from a lace-collared sweater. The little white dragon dove down and, with perfect precision, snatched his boyfriend in one swift motion. Two meters of scaled dragon wrapped around nearly six feet and three inches of muscle. The force of the impact left the man slightly dazed.

But Wang Ran didn’t brake. His claws spread wide, lunging straight for Shi Wenze’s head. The little white dragon, still clutching his boyfriend, surged forward again. In that instant, a crackling rod of bluish-purple lightning shot from his paw. Wang Ran didn’t see what it was clearly—he simply swiped at it. Bad move. The second they made contact, a violent jolt of electricity surged through him, seizing up half his body in a twitching paralysis.

“Be good,” Shi Wenze said calmly. “Throw me.”

The little white dragon didn’t throw him. He couldn’t throw over two hundred pounds of dead weight. But he could push himself to fly higher—just a bit more, just far enough. With a breathless grunt, he hovered directly above Wang Ran and let go.

Too heavy. His limbs ached. He was about to dislocate something. He wanted to cancel his subscription to this boyfriend experience. Shi Wenze landed squarely on Wang Ran’s back. His right fist, wrapped in blinding lightning, came down with a thunderous crack on the enemy’s skull.

There was a loud crunch, and Wang Ran’s head snapped violently to the side. Without a sound, he dropped from the clouds.

The little white dragon swooped back down, front claws digging into Wang Ran’s thick, scaly hide. He was trying to help his boyfriend enforce justice gently and politely, maybe ease the landing a bit—but Wang Ran was ridiculously heavy. Like a mountain.

Not only did the dragon fail to slow him down, he accidentally scraped off a few more scales in the process.

Shi Wenze used a lasso to restrain Wang Ran and activated their emergency descent system.

Colleagues from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs had already converged from all directions.

The little white dragon hovered in the air with dignity, thinking to himself that his performance today was solid—a solid 90 out of 100. Wang Ran was loaded into a massive pickup-style police truck, and once everyone else had left, Shi Wenze reached out and gently grasped the dragon’s small paw.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Go where?” the dragon asked, puzzled.

“To find your taser,” Shi Wenze replied.

They had to destroy it before some nosy civilian found it and turned it over to the Bureau. Once it was gone, they’d deny everything. What taser? What violation? What contraband? They knew nothing. End of story. “…Oh,” the little white dragon muttered.

Back at the hospital, Xu You had to wait half a day longer. After getting his wound treated, he fell asleep, only to be rudely awakened by a slap to the face.

“Don’t sleep,” Shi Wenze said. “Get up and eat.”

Lin Su stood by the bed, holding three buckets of fried chicken in his arms, with three iced colas dangling from his fingers. Shi Wenze added, “I locked the door. Rounds aren’t for another hour and a half.”

Tears welled up in Xu You’s eyes. Right then and there, he easily forgave them for yeeting him like a shot put earlier that day. Eating junk food together—what a joy. It was such a happy moment that no one wanted to bring up the kidnapping or arrest details again. After all, they’d have to retell it all over again during the formal investigation. No need to ruin the mood now.

“Oh right,” Xu You said between bites. “I even practiced some English while I was at it.”

Lin Su raised an eyebrow. “Studying for your next exam?”

“Yes, yes!” Xu You nodded earnestly.

He had a whole dream: secretly study English, then stun every criminal gang by pretending not to understand a word—only to translate perfectly at the critical moment.

Shi Wenze poked the bare patch on Xu You’s belly, where a scale had been scraped off. Xu You’s face went pale. He shouted a loud curse. “Fuck!” The accent was perfect. Full British. Good, good.

The follow-up work on the case moved along in an orderly fashion. Since both Sakia and Wang Ran had assumed the little white dragon was a law enforcement officer, no one filed any complaints about misuse of force. Lin Su let out a subtle breath of relief.

Following the hospital lead, the police dug deeper and uncovered an illegal medical syndicate working behind the scenes. That led to a multi-national arrest operation. The stolen phoenix bones were returned to Chengdu in batches. And although the crime group targeting the Wildlands was likely not the only one out there, at least for now, no more monsters were expected to attempt illegal genetic modification to enter the reserve.

Two months later, Lin Su lay sprawled in a massage chair Shi Wenze had just bought, scrolling through police news articles while the machine hummed beneath him. A cup of hot black tea sat on the table beside him. The heater under his feet was turned up, and a delicate layer of white fog had gathered on the glass window nearby.

Du Siyue called. “Why aren’t you at the gallery again?”

“It doesn’t open until the day after tomorrow,” Lin Su mumbled, tugging the blanket higher. “Where’s that thing I asked you for?”

Du Siyue immediately deflected. “I really don’t have a signed photo of Jin Dong.”

“But you’re wearing Jiang Yuhao’s pajamas,” Lin Su said flatly.

“Fuck off!” Du Siyue snapped. “Fine, I’ll go find it!”

Lin Su ended the call with a smirk. Lately, Auntie Wang Cuifen had dropped off chicken soup several times. By the sacred rules of courtesy, he owed her something in return. Shi Wenze’s footsteps creaked on the wooden stairs. “Who were you talking to?”

“Du Siyue,” Lin Su replied lazily. “He’s at the gallery now. Let’s eat first before we head over.”

Shi Wenze reached over and tousled his soft hair. Lin Su opened one eye. “You’ve got something to say, don’t you?”

Shi Wenze sat down on the floor and rested his chin on Lin Su’s knee. “Mm.”

A buff guy acting cutesy—very effective. Lin Su sat up a little. “Go on.”

Shi Wenze said, “My parents are coming to Chengdu tomorrow.”

“….”

“For us,” Shi Wenze added, scooting closer and nudging his chin forward. The whole Qilin family—coming to sell their cards together.

 

 

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