Chapter 50: Incident

Leaving the Huang Residence, Li Lin felt a touch of melancholy.

He could now live off a soft meal.

But should he really eat it?

He had only thought for two seconds when Huang Qi's face and figure floated before his eyes.

And that shy, cute expression.

It was truly irresistible.

This soft meal could be eaten.

However, he was not in a hurry about this matter; letting things take their natural course would suffice.

Carrying some inexplicable emotions, he arrived at the county government office and saw Zhao Xiaohu.

The boy held a red-tasseled spear in his left hand and a hemp sack in his right, containing the blood rice.

His expression was extremely proud.

Then he saw Li Lin, ran over carrying things, and said, "Lin Ge, are we going home now?"

Li Lin looked at the sky and said, "It's too late; let's stay in the county town for one night first."

"Really?" Zhao Xiaohu said excitedly, "I heard the nights in the county town are very lively, unlike our village."

"Indeed, it is quite lively." Li Lin smiled, "But we won't stroll around; we will simply spend the night here."

Oh.

Zhao Xiaohu felt somewhat disappointed.

Li Lin had no choice; after nightfall in the county town, only that one commercial street was lively.

Why was it lively? Because it was a place of flowers and willows.

Several brothels with considerable style were gold-melting pits, supporting the foot traffic and clamor of an entire street.

Zhao Xiaohu was still young; going to such decadent places was not appropriate.

So Li Lin brought him back to his 'new home' here.

It was a three-courtyard mansion, and the plaque had been changed to the two characters 'Li Residence'.

Li Lin went up and knocked on the door; after a short while, the door opened, and Zhang Afu said joyfully, "Master, you are back!"

Li Lin nodded, pointed at Zhao Xiaohu, and said, "This is my brother; you can just call him Xiaohu."

"Master Hu!" Zhang Afu made a bow.

There was no choice; Zhao Xiaohu's appearance was too deceptive.

Zhang Afu also thought Xiaohu was a fierce man, an adult.

Zhao Xiaohu had never seen such a scene before and returned the greeting somewhat at a loss.

Then the two entered the courtyard; Zhao Xiaohu looked left and right, feeling both surprised and very envious.

"Lin Ge, is this the house you newly bought?"

"Yes."

"How much must it have cost?"

"Quite a lot."

"I am a Spirit Hunter too; can I live in such a big house in the future?"

"Of course you can."

In Zhao Xiaohu's eyes, there was full ardor as he began to long for future life.

Li Lin was not exactly deceiving him; for most Spirit Hunters, as their strength increased, the speed at which they earned money would grow faster and faster.

Zhao Xiaohu's talent was average, but he seemed to possess some special ability; in terms of increasing his vital energy, he was progressing quite fast.

His future achievements should not be low.

Zhang Afu had already 'bought' a cook; the food he made was not particularly outstanding, but it was far better than what the four girls could do.

After eating their fill, Zhao Xiaohu was arranged to sleep in the guest room.

Looking at the spacious house and touching the clean, soft bedding, his desire to become a powerful Spirit Hunter and repay his parents and Lin Ge grew stronger and stronger.

While Zhao Xiaohu was sleeping soundly, someone shook his body.

Then he woke up, rubbed his eyes, looked at the person before the bed, and said, "Lin Ge, is something wrong?"

"Can you not feel it? Such a huge wave of resentment."

Hearing this, Zhao Xiaohu sensed for a moment, then shook his head, saying, "There is a wave of resentment; it is over there."

He pointed in a direction.

"Let's go; grab the red-tasseled spear and go out with me to take a look."

"Okay." Zhao Xiaohu became excited.

The two took the long spears and left; Zhang Afu already had experience with this, so he sat behind the door dozing, waiting for the master to return.

After exchanging greetings with the patrolling local militia, Li Lin took Zhao Xiaohu up onto the city wall.

Then he discovered that many people were already standing there.

Su Huafang, Zhao Hao, plus two local Spirit Hunters he did not know very well.

One could say that every Spirit Hunter in the county town had come.

These people were all looking at the distant lake surface with solemn demeanors.

Li Lin also looked over, then took a deep breath.

Zhao Xiaohu suddenly covered his mouth, daring not to make a sound.

Floating on the lake surface there was a Great Apparition.

How big was it? Li Lin estimated it was at least as tall as a three-story building.

"A human face, tiger body, wings sprouting from its back, and it's this big." Li Lin frowned and asked, "What kind of monster is this!"

"This is the Taowu Zhenjun of Yuecheng." Su Hua spoke softly, "But why has it appeared here?"

Every Hunter present held this question in their hearts.

It is nighttime now; if the Zhenjun of Yuecheng has run here, then who is guarding Yuecheng?

Bai Liwei crossed his arms: "With the Simiao Zhenjun present, this Zhenjun cannot enter; I am only worried that something terrible will happen in Yuecheng."

While the two spoke, the Taowu Zhenjun on the lake surface dived into the lake; not long after, the lake surface churned violently, wave after wave, each wave higher than the last.

Not long after, the Taowu Zhenjun dragged a huge fish-monster out of the lake.

The resentment Li Lin felt in the lake some time ago must have come from this fish-monster.

A large black tumor grew on the fish's back; its front face was neither human nor non-human; behind its massive fins, hands and feet grew on each side, looking extremely strange.

The Taowu Zhenjun tore this fish-monster apart with brute force; the wails of the fish-monster echoed throughout the entire county town.

The Taowu Zhenjun opened its huge mouth; with one bite, a large chunk of the fish-monster's body was gone.

Not long after, the Taowu Zhenjun swallowed the fish-monster; then it glanced toward the county town, flapped the wings on its back, and departed.

The resentment gradually moved away and slowly vanished.

Bai Liwei said, "Now we must go see the County Magistrate."

Everyone nodded.

Arriving at the county government office, Huang Yan was already sitting in the public hall.

The death wail of that fish-monster terrified everyone in the entire county town.

Huang Yan was naturally woken by the noise; he came to the public hall to wait, because he knew clearly that it would not be long before the Hunters came to find him.

"What is the cause of the earlier wail?" Huang Yan asked.

Bai Zhiwei recounted what had just happened.

After Huang Yan listened, his expression became solemn; he stood up, subconsciously paced back and forth, and after a long while said, "Yuecheng has most likely fallen; only then could that Taowu Zhenjun, unbound, appear beside our county town. This is not good; Yuecheng is one of the important southern barriers. But why was no beacon signal sent!"

Everyone understood the gravity of the situation.

If even no beacon was lit, then either the fall happened too fast to react, or... there is a traitor collaborating with the enemy.

Huang Qi walked out from the inner hall; he clasped his hands and said, "Magistrate, please allow me to take men to patrol the border towns."

"You are not going to Jincheng?"

"At a time like this, other matters must be put aside for now."

"Good." Huang Yan nodded: "As County Commandant, I authorize you to take one hundred archers and three hundred local militia, pass through Bobai Town to reach the Dongxing Military Town, join Tang Qi's border troops, and guard the southeastern barrier of our Jin Commandery."

Huang Qi nodded, turned, and left.

Then Huang Fang looked at the Hunters: "As for you all, please return to your respective guard posts, monitor any unusual movements of the local Zhenjun; without orders, do not depart."

The Hunters' expressions stiffened; Huang Yan's order carried very, very much information within it.

"Inspector Li Xunshou, remain; I have urgent matters to discuss with you; the others may depart first."

(End of this chapter)