Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 37

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PDF Link: https://mega.nz/file/OZdyHbSI#3GTz5z73Y4RrDQlYMpPEg_LbCDY5WZRLf9du3MSUc3s
You know how it goes, above is better and all that.
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Chapter 37: Swept aside
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations

	An elegant multicoloured display appeared from the lamps that decorated the building's facade.

	Threateningly gloomy, along this street only this singular building was blossoming with light. Elsewhere, the street lamps were dim and flickering, and in that pale illumination one could see that all around had been covered in all kinds of ugly and flamboyant graffiti, whose preference for scarlet tones made them all seem like bloodstains.

	An Ping patted the driver on the shoulder, "In 15 minutes, come pick us up, I can pay 5 times the fare. If you don't show, well, every action has a consequence."

	The driver was unable to speak. He looked at his fare meter, and the rather sudden increase in Qiankun Credits he'd  have, but still was unable to look very happy about it.

	After dropping off its passengers, the cab immediately flew away. As soon as it left her line of sight, Lü Nan removed the rifle case from her back, and in front of the Qunxing Building, out came her beloved rifle.

	For a moment, from the building came a sound like angry shouting, after which several tightly secured windows on the second floor flew open, through which people suddenly appeared.

	But a few energy bolts splashing against the top of the window frame, sparks bursting off, made those heads retreat back into the building.

	Shawn had grabbed a pair of blaster pistols, and was covering Lü Nan.

	But the woman wasn't the least bit appreciative, and as she assembled her weapon, asked Shawn, "That the kind of marksmanship you displayed on Dui-9527?"

	Of course, Shawn knew that what she was really criticizing was his mercy: When the people stuck their heads out of the Qunxing Building, Shawn could have quite easily shot them in the head, but instead opted to shoot above them.

	But Shawn just shrugged and smiled, Shawn didn't think such a thing deserving criticism.

	Naturally, the Jedi Apprentice was quite skilled, but that skill was never to be used for indiscriminate slaughter.

	Even if his target were some wicked figure, unless there were no other course of action, Shawn would much rather prefer to bring such an individual to justice, rather than hold life and death in his hands based on his own perspective.

	As a Jedi, exercising restraint was a most basic requirement, one Shawn had no intention of relaxing.

	Besides, even putting aside the Jedi perspective, coming at it as a member of the Hongxing Squad, for now, not killing was fine.

	"A living thief's better than a dead one. We're here because amiability makes you rich, after all, not to kill them all."

	Meanwhile, the Vice Captain had already finished putting her weapon together, and to Shawn's surprise the sniper rifle was now sporting different components, having become a heavy, rapid-fire weapon on a mount. With it aimed at the building, there was even less cause for anyone inside to poke their head out.

	With her hands on the gun, she turned to Shawn and asked icily, "Are you trying to lecture me?"

	Not backing down, Shawn replied, "Are you trying to have an argument now?"

	An Ping felt a headache coming on, and so with electricity arcing off his mechanical arm, went ahead and punched the Qunxing Building, his electromagnetically-enhanced punch blowing a hole into the wall's brickwork.

	In that moment, Uncle Xu threw a flashbang in through the hole, detonating almost immediately, giving the people inside no chance to react.

	Were it not for the fact Shawn was on guard, he might've not had enough time to look away, and avoided being blinded by a friendly flashbang. As he turned his head back, he saw An Ping already kicking down the Qunxing Building's front door, and rushing straight in!

	Shawn greatly admired such muscle headed unsubtlety, and shaking his head, followed behind.

	As this was a team operation, he had come to participate in that and not just argue with the Vice Captain. So he followed An Ping in to help cover him, rather than stay outside and redundantly cover what Lü Nan was already covering.
	The first floor was already in disarray. Most of the people had been caught off guard by the wall blowing open and subsequent flashbang, and were busy being on the ground retchin. For the few that had by their good fortune not been stunned, An Ping had already locked down and struck down.

	Shawn didn't have much opportunity to pitch in though, as An Ping had already cleared out the first floor by himself.

	But in front of the staircase to the second floor, An Ping stopped, and silently signaled to Shawn.

	In truth, Shawn had no idea what An Ping's hand signals meant, but he could hardly mistake the intent, and so aimed his blasters up the staircase.

	An Ping smiled, and rushed forwards, with Shawn following close behind, continuously firing upwards, covering his advance to the second floor with a human outline-shaped wall of covering fire.

	Simultaneously, Lü Nan was sweeping the second floor exterior with blaster fire, a veritable tempest of energy bolts showering the exterior.

	The tacit understanding that she and An Ping shared far surpassed that of Shawn's.

	Despite operating with an unfamiliar structure, Lü Nan still fired with An Ping in the kill zone without the slightest bit of concern for his safety!

	How many times would you have to endure life and death together to reach that level of understanding?

	Shawn couldn't help but harbour a quiet astonishment.

	But under a maelstrom of blaster fire, An Ping stepped simply into a vacated room.

	With such a storm of fire coming in from the windows, the Jade Rats had no ability to get up and directly face the invaders, and had no recourse but to hunker down and fire back blindly.

	But this kind of return fire was to An Ping equal to there being none at all, and as he rushed forwards, the furniture within were pulverized to dust, and the thieves of the Jade Rats were sent flying like leaves.

	The few that happened to not be hit were quickly given a shot by Shawn, who was careful to not hit any vital areas. Nevertheless, the power of a blaster bolt was enough to take anyone struck out of the fight.

	And soon two of them had the second floor of the Qunxing building was cleared out.

	All that was left was one more locked door.

	With the door and surrounding wall covered in blast marks, An Ping approached the door and gently knocked it, producing only the sound of metal on metal, giving him slight pause.

	Compared to the rest of the building's brickwork, this metal door was composed of a durable alloy, which made it seem like a gigantic safe.

	Given that the door was locked, whoever was inside clearly had no intention of going on the offensive.

	An Ping gave his mechanical arm a spin and shrugged, "Well that was careless of me. I forgot to install a fuioncutter. I've got no way to force open the door. Shame we didn't bring along Zhuang..."

	Lü Nan's voice came through just as An Ping finished.

	"You want Zhuang to come help with something like this? Do you have any face left to lose?"

	Speaking as she arrived on the second floor, she looked around before smirking at An Ping and Shawn.

	"Not bad you two, add on the first floor and that's thirteen bodies, and not a death among them. You guys competing to be more righteous or something?"

	An Ping just shrugged, "Not like killing them would've gotten us anything."

	At the same time, another voice came from the first floor.

	Uncle Xu laughed evilly, "Indeed, when it comes to human organs, it's much more profitable to harvest from the living. How's about we take these thirteen to the black market and earn ourselves a few hundred thousand? That way even if we can't get back the Xuanming, we'll be able to recoup some of the losses."

	This made a chill run down Shawn's spine, who wasn't able to tell if Uncle Xu was being serious or not.

	And having heard that, Lü Nan smiled, "Captain, how about I make a show of using some enhanced interrogation techniques? Do you think that'd get whoever was behind that door to open up?"

	An Ping was left with little else but to sigh, and thus turned to Shawn, "How about you, any ideas?"

Shawn walked up to the door, and carefully put a hand to it, feeling for the lock. Then producing a multitool from his waist, he ejected a thin metal probe with which he then carefully inserted into a thin seam in the lock.

With very careful adjustment of the probe and feeling for shape, gradually Shawn built a mental map of the interior structure of the lock. Then with the application of a small amount of force, it broke.

	The technique he had learned before undertaking the Bergamore mission, and the multitool had been a gift from Chen Sanwen aboard the Silver.

	For a moment, Shawn recalled something his Master had once said, that a person's life was a never-ending process of accumulating experiences, and that if you paid attention to the details, then it'd all pay off someday.

	His Master had unsurprisingly been correct, though this was not the manner in which he expected such knowledge to pay off...

	He wondered how his Master was faring in her investigation.

	Thinking about his Master, Shawn was momentarily lost in thought, and as his hands continued to move instinctually, a moment later his probe suddenly trembled, as an electrical arc suddenly erupted from the lock.

Suddenly coming to, Shawn yanked the probe back and stepped back. The door lock had been reduced to a blasted wreck.

	The metal door began to squeak and groan as it slowly opened.

	An Ping nodded, "You know your stuff."

	Lü Nan grunted, but otherwise made no comment.

	Uncle Xu laughed mischievously, and with exaggerated loudness yelled, "But we should still help ourselves! We may still need to recoup our losses!"

	From behind the door came a sigh.

	"My Silver guests, I surrender to you."


Translation Notes
No notes this time~

肖恩 - xiāo'ēn - Shawn, Jedi Apprentice
莫斯提马 - mòsītímǎ - Mastema, Jedi Master
李钰 - lǐ yù - Li Yu, Commander of the Silver Knights
白 - bái - Bai, Li Yu’s droid
安平 - ānpíng - An Ping, Captain of the Hongxing Squad
吕楠 - lǚnán - Lü Nan, Hongxing Squad Sniper
许伯 - xǔbó - Uncle Xu, Hongxing Squad Medic
庄原瑛 - zhuāngyuányīng - Zhuang Yuanying, Hongxing Squad Engineer
田路遥 - tiánlùyáo - Silver Knights something-or-other, the one who lost the Xuanming

At any rate,

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Thanks for reading!