Chapter 384: The Governor's Mansion, the Shrew, and the Bay Chamber of Commerce

As one of the main thoroughfares in the Salt District of Suoyu Wan, Lansheng Jie was relatively wide.

Even though the street was bustling with people, and carriages would occasionally drive past amidst the sound of neighing horses.

Xia Nan and his group still maintained a certain amount of space within the crowd, allowing them to move freely.

Like a pebble in a small stream, the crowded flow of people parted on both sides, forming a small, slightly abrupt, yet not uncommon patch of empty space around them.

Even when pressed against passersby, shoulder to shoulder, and even glaring or cursing at each other due to physical collisions, very few people would voluntarily step into the small void formed by the bodies of Xia Nan, Kelin, and Padi.

Of course, this was not because the locals of Suoyu Wan were particularly polite, or because they had special consideration for outsiders like them.

It was purely because Xia Nan had deliberately not fully restrained his aura, but released it slightly, increasing his presence within the crowd.

Although Suoyu Wan had long since moved past its original wild and savage development period under the bloody suppression of the Kingdom and the Church, this did not mean it was particularly orderly or safe.

Its natural geographical position as an important port of the Kingdom, and the location of the Adventurer Association branch, made this bay city even more of a melting pot than River Valley Town.

At the very least, the "Gravediggers" here... never lacked work; being busy from morning till night was a perfectly normal thing.

Especially in areas like the Salt District, where the urban area was too vast and the security forces were relatively weak.

Chaos and bloodshed, like weeds, grew wantonly in the alleys and deep shadows between the densely packed buildings.

Unless it was the victim's relatives, no one would care about a corpse gradually rotting in the corner of an alleyway.

Under these circumstances, a well-equipped and icy adventurer with a sharp temperament, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

Who would be foolish enough to voluntarily step up and provoke them?

As for those greenhorns who couldn't read the situation and lacked discernment... honestly, it wouldn't even be Xia Nan's turn to encounter them.

The very first second they stepped into this city, they would have been targeted by those "predators" hiding in the darkness observing and searching for prey, their backgrounds figured out, eaten clean, not even seeing the next morning's sun, turning into corpses sinking into the deep, dark seabed of the bay area.

Of course, Xia Nan was not a high-profile character after all.

He extremely cautiously controlled the intensity of his aura's presence, making those around him notice him without being too conspicuous.

In Suoyu Wan, especially in the Salt District, this was not uncommon.

Just along the way, he had already seen at least two dozen adventurers, either alone or in small squads, forming vacuum zones in the crowd.

In fact, his level of intensity could even be considered low-key.

The noisy, humid air was filled with a mixture of sweat, spices, and fishy odors.

Thanks to Xia Nan's presence behind him, Padi, who had been operating in Suoyu Wan for many years and could almost be considered half a local, was like a slippery loach, finding gaps in the crowd and weaving through the streets, leading the way for the two behind him.

Suddenly, an unusual movement came from the front-side.

It was a series of heavy footsteps that almost merged into one, accompanied by the sound of metal friction.

The crowded crowd had no complaints, like flesh under a sharp blade, being roughly pushed to both sides.

Revealing that "sharp blade"—a six-man patrol guard squad.

They wore neat and uniform dark blue leather armor, with conspicuous badges printed with a silver barracuda pattern on their chests.

The well-maintained standard armor, slightly reflecting in the sunlight, and the dangerous curved sidearms hanging at their waists, formed a sharp contrast with the simple and plain clothing of the surrounding sailors and civilians.

These guards had indifferent expressions, their gazes sweeping over the crowd cold and without fluctuation, as if looking at a group of pigs.

They didn't care about a thin, small man with shifty eyes and a suspiciously bulging pocket at his waist; they ignored two fierce adventurers walking out of a side alley with bloodstains on their sleeves.

The squad leader, who looked like the leader of the patrol, just lifted his leg and kicked a small vendor on the side, and the other party immediately apologized with a smile, nodding and bowing, nimbly pulling his stall inward, not daring to complain at all.

He even very covertly stuffed something into the squad leader's hand, making his expression relax, waving his hand to lead the guards behind him away.

Standing not far to the side, Xia Nan, who had witnessed the entire process, frowned slightly.

As if discovering his confusion, Padi leaned over to his side, lowered his voice, and whispered in a volume only the three of them could hear:

"See that? 'Blue-shell Crabs', the lackeys raised by those masters in the Governor's Mansion." His tone was filled with thick sarcasm, "Wearing a thick shell, running rampant on the street."

"In the White Cliff District, they might just be guard dogs that can't lift their heads; but once they reach the Salt District..."

"Try your best not to provoke them; they don't care if you're right or wrong, they only care if you've broken the rules of those above, or blocked the financial path of some master."

As he spoke, Padi very vividly pointed in the direction of the Governor's Mansion to the north.

"The rules of Suoyu Wan are all written on parchment, stamped with seals, but the right of interpretation... hehe, depends on the scimitars in their hands."

"However, precisely because of this, if you, Mr. Xia Nan, have something you cannot solve alone and need some help through regular channels..."

"You can bring a few bags of gold coins; these 'Blue-shell Crabs' might actually be of some use."

Listening to Padi's introduction, Xia Nan nodded slightly, no obvious change in expression on his face.

Coming from a modern society with normal and ordinary values, he naturally couldn't stand the rough performance of these law enforcers in Suoyu Wan.

If he were the Governor stationed in Suoyu Wan by the Kingdom, he might be able to take action, but for now, he was just an ordinary adventurer who had just arrived, not even having learned all the roads here.

He himself was not the type of extremely rigid person who couldn't tolerate a single grain of sand in his eyes.

With his own strength, unable to change the environment, he could only try to adapt.

Withdrawing his gaze from the patrol squad that had disappeared at the end of the street, he glanced at Kelin beside him whose expression seemed a bit strange, Xia Nan didn't say much, turning his gaze to Padi:

"Continue."

After taking two more turns, arriving at the end of Lansheng Jie, it was a small square surrounded by dense buildings.

Still crowded, but the area near the center of the square was significantly quieter compared to the surrounding noise.

In the center of the crowd, several priests dressed in slim-fitting blue robes were standing on a temporarily erected wooden platform, distributing black bread and thin soup with vegetable leaves to the queuing crowd.

The holy emblem pattern hanging on their chests was a curled sea wave splitting towards the left and right sides.

—"Anboli". ===== CHAPTER 385 =====