Free Web NovelChapter 199: Chapter 122: Thunder
Seeing the man, Qin Fang’s eyes lit up slightly, and he stood up. "Brother Sun."
"Brother Qin, by order of Zhou Shouzheng, I’ve come to deliver a letter."
Sun Peng said with a faint smile.
The visitor was the very same constable Qin Fang had entrusted with a message that day.
...The same Sun Peng who had offended An Changyu and been made to suffer for it.
During their last exchange, An Changyu had explicitly warned him not to reveal any information to Zhou Xing. But in the end, he had spoken up anyway, causing An Changyu’s efforts to come to nothing.
Holding a grudge, An Changyu had assigned him to over a month of continuous night shifts...
Then, An Changyu died... at Qin Fang’s hands.
And after that, Zhou Xing took over the position of City Gate Guard.
Besides Zhou Xing, who was the happiest person at the Government Office Entrance to hear this news? ...Without a doubt, it was Sun Peng, the very man An Changyu had made suffer.
...Though he had been at the scene at the time and gotten a bit of a scare.
But compared to the few unlucky colleagues who had died on the spot, his luck was considered quite good.
Zhou Xing, true to his word, had now transferred him away from the city gate, arranging a relatively easy and better-paying job for him.
And because he had already met Qin Fang, Zhou Xing thought for a moment and simply made him the new Messenger...
Sun Peng had no objections... He was the one who had delivered the news of Zhou Xing becoming the Guard last time as well.
"Quick, come in and sit down."
Qin Fang welcomed him warmly.
But Sun Peng just smiled. "I’m on duty, so I can’t stay. This is the letter Zhou Shouzheng sent for you. Take a look. I need to take your reply back to complete my task."
Seeing how hurried Sun Peng was, Qin Fang could only exchange a few more words before taking the letter.
He felt a flicker of anticipation. ’Could it be a reply from Senior Sister?’
He went into the house, opened the letter, and began to read.
As he read, his expression changed slightly.
It wasn’t news from his Senior Sister... but something else entirely, something that took him by surprise...
"The County Magistrate has discovered something amiss with Ganlu Hall and ordered the True Martial Guard to cooperate with all departments of the Government Office. A surprise raid on Ganlu Hall will be launched in the coming days!"
’Something like this is happening?’
Qin Fang was shocked.
On his last trip to True Martial, he and his Senior Brother had both been almost certain that the County Magistrate was likely compromised.
’Who would have thought things would take such a turn at this critical juncture?’
As for how the County Magistrate had found out, or what problems he had discovered, his Senior Brother didn’t mention it in the letter.
’It’s very likely that even Senior Brother doesn’t know.’
’The County Magistrate must have his own eyes, ears, and intelligence channels, I suppose?’
In short, the attack on Ganlu Hall was imminent, and Qin Fang was warned to be careful and not get drawn into the chaos.
This made Qin Fang frown, a sense of worry creeping in...
Ganlu Hall was clearly an important part of the Mysterious Power. After laying their plans for so long, the Qi Blood Pills were likely a crucial element.
’If they make a move on Ganlu Hall now...’
’I wonder if it will provoke a counterattack from the Mysterious Power...’
Qin Fang pondered for a moment and wrote a reply.
He didn’t really know what to say, so he could only urge his Senior Brother in the letter to act cautiously and not be careless...
He was now the City Gate Guard, a position of considerable power and influence in True Martial County. Moreover, he had also become an Anjin Martial Artist, making it highly likely that he would fall under the scrutiny of the Mysterious Power.
Finally, he asked about his Senior Sister’s situation before sealing the letter and handing it to Sun Peng outside.
"Sorry to trouble you, Brother Sun," Qin Fang said.
Sun Peng smiled. "Not at all, it’s just my duty. In that case, I will take my leave."
"Take care."
After seeing Sun Peng off, Qin Fang returned to his house. His brows were knitted tightly as he thought about the news in his Senior Brother’s letter...
The situation was growing more and more chaotic. He just hoped it wouldn’t stir up any major disasters...
「Less than three days after the letter arrived.」
Qin Fang heard the explosive news in Wanshui!
"Ganlu Hall is finished! The Government Office Entrance suddenly issued an urgent decree, stating that Ganlu Hall might be connected to the Demon scourge. Just today, they suddenly mobilized a large number of True Martial Guards and Government Office constables to launch a lightning strike against all Ganlu Hall branches in every city simultaneously!"
"Everyone from Ganlu Hall has been arrested!"
"All the branches in every city have been wiped out!"
"They didn’t even spare the main hall!"
"Something big happened during the raid! I heard monsters appeared in Ganlu Hall... the same kind of monsters that were rumored about in True Martial County before! They killed a lot of True Martial Guards!" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
The explosive news caused an instant sensation!
"Heavens, what in the world is going on?!"
The villagers listened, dumbfounded.
Caught completely unprepared, they were utterly shocked.
"I-I was just about to head to the Fishermen’s side of town. I was still on the mountain path when I saw something big was happening! A ton of officials had surrounded the Fisherman’s Ganlu Hall and shot a lot of people! And-and there were really monsters!"
Someone said breathlessly, as if they had just rushed down from the mountain.
"Wh-what? That many monsters? So Ganlu Hall really is connected to the Demon scourge?!"
"Everyone’s talking about monsters... B-but what kind of monsters are they?"
Some had heard of the monsters, but they had no idea what they looked like. Stunned, they couldn’t help but ask.
"I just saw one! It was so disgusting! It had no limbs, no eyes or nose, just a ball of flesh covered in blood vessels and slime, with a mouth full of sharp teeth... It was terrifying... And the monster was almost impossible to kill! The True Martial Guard used crossbows and riddled it with arrows... but even then, it still tried to break through the encirclement! In the end, a man who looked like an officer cut it in half with one strike of his blade, and only then did it finally die! ...So scary!"
The man’s face was filled with shock as he spoke. It was clear that just recounting the scene and recalling the memory was deeply unsettling.
The people buzzed with discussion.
The news was just too explosive.
Ganlu Hall had been the most famous name recently, replacing Huichun Hall as the number one pharmacy in True Martial.
And yet, all of a sudden, the Government Office had come down on them so harshly, on charges of being related to the Demon scourge?
...Hadn’t the rumors always said that Huichun Hall was the one connected to the Demon scourge?
After all this time, the rumors had spread far and wide, yet the Government Office had made no move.
So why, when it came to Ganlu Hall, had they struck so ruthlessly without a single whisper of warning?
The crowd was in a tumult of discussion, but they couldn’t help feeling anxious...
In times of such chaos, regardless of whether they were involved or not, the first thing these villagers felt was fear and unease.
...Their ability to weather storms was simply too low.
Although Qin Fang had expected this, he was still stunned by the Government Office’s lightning-fast methods.
...He was very obedient, didn’t make any rash moves, and certainly didn’t want to get mixed up in this chaotic situation.
Time flew by. Over the next few days, all sorts of news emerged one after another: the owner of Ganlu Hall had disappeared without a trace; large numbers of human remains were found in a Ganlu Hall branch somewhere, suggesting they had been involved in some evil deeds; and so on...
It was all too much to take in.
But Qin Fang’s brow remained tightly furrowed... because he knew very well that Ganlu Hall was not acting alone.
’What about that mysterious organization?’
’...Why is there no news of them counterattacking?’
(Counting revisions, I wrote about 24,000 characters today. Is that sincere enough? Please subscribe and vote with a monthly pass to encourage me! ~Yep, will continue tomorrow.
Also, if any brothers are confused about what’s going on with ’Senior Sister,’ please go back and read Chapter 120; the plot has changed. My apologies for any reading inconvenience... when you’re writing 20,000+ characters a day, it’s inevitable that some things aren’t thought through perfectly. Please forgive me~)
