Chapter 47: The Enemy

Inside Luolong County, the major restaurants were packed every day; the wealthy people in the city were still clinking glasses, eating meat in large mouthfuls, and drinking wine in large gulps.

Street vendors were still selling sweet and delicious snacks, and the five major grain shops were also operating normally; all of this indicated that there was no shortage of grain within the city.

If the government wanted to provide disaster relief, they had the strength to save the refugees outside the city, but that County Magistrate did not do so; instead, he allowed the grain merchants in the city to hoard goods and drive up prices.

In the short span of a month, the price of grain skyrocketed several times from the original ten jin of rice for one tael of silver; now, one tael of silver could only buy two jin of rice.

Such a price was truly too expensive for those refugees who had left their homes, and many people could not afford to buy grain to eat, only to be starved to death.

It was said that the five major grain shops in the city all had shares held by County Magistrate Lu, so it was not hard to understand why he did not suppress grain prices or open the granaries to distribute grain.

Natural disasters and man-made calamities, demons running rampant; the refugees outside the city were starving to death, while the powerful groups inside the city were making a fortune. If the powerful in other parts of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty were like those in Luolong County, then Meng Yifan dared to conclude that this Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, which had lasted for over a thousand years, was truly finished.

Meng Yifan felt some pity for the refugees outside the city, but his ability was limited and he could not manage so many refugees; he only wanted to take good care of his father now, as this was his only relative in this world.

As for those villagers who followed Meng Dayong, if they were willing to join the hunting squad to fight against Wild Beasts, he would provide them with food; if anyone was lazy or shirked their duties, Meng Yifan would make them get lost.

No one owed anyone anything; Meng Yifan had no obligation to use the food he earned by risking his life to support the villagers.

Meng Yifan hid in the darkness and circled the city; in the small woods outside the West City Gate, he saw some people setting up stalls to do business.

All those participating in the buying and selling were wearing bamboo hats to cover their faces, looking mysterious; this must be the Heishi of Luolong County.

Meng Yifan felt very curious and wanted to browse the Heishi, but thinking that Meng Dayong was still fighting the man in black and not knowing the outcome, he did not linger and continued to run quickly around the city wall.

When Wang Lei fled, he killed a yamen runner, which made Zhang Butou burn with rage; he took the experts among the yamen runners and went out of the city to capture the murderer.

Meng Yifan used an Elm Cannon to kill Wang Lei, and the loud sound pointed out the direction for Zhang Butou.

Fortunately, when Meng Yifan returned, he kept using the Lingbo Microsteps Lightness Skill, and his speed was very fast; he also specifically took a detour back, which was why he did not run into Zhang Butou.

Two minutes after Meng Yifan left, Zhang Butou arrived at the crime scene with a group of experts and saw the corpse of Wang Lei with his head smashed in.

A coroner examined the body and said, "The deceased was poisoned with a paralytic toxin, both arms were fractured, three ribs were broken, and the fatal wound was the skull smashed by a cannonball; the time of death was three minutes ago."

Zhang Butou nodded; he had also carefully examined the corpse on the ground just now. Although the head was smashed, from the physique and the ghost head tattoo on the arm, it could be seen that the deceased was the silver-ranked assassin, Guitou Dao Wang Lei.

"Guitou Dao Wang Lei is dead." Zhang Butou smiled; he had long wanted to bring this evildoing assassin to justice, but he could never find Wang Lei's tracks. He did not expect that when he found Wang Lei, his head had already been smashed by someone.

"Who was that pursuer?" Zhang Butou was a bit curious. Wang Lei was a Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist with very formidable strength; to be able to chase him all the way, even if Wang Lei was poisoned, that killer must be at least a Second Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist.

What surprised Zhang Butou the most was that Wang Lei died from a Cannon blast, but it was well known that Cannons were all cast from bronze or refined iron and were very heavy, only suitable for defending cities or positional warfare. Yet the killer was able to run while carrying the Cannon, which showed that the Cannon was very light and could be carried by one person.

Zhang Butou's eyes lit up; if he could obtain the manufacturing method for this kind of Cannon and produce them in large quantities, he could send people out of the city to subdue demons.

Such a sharp weapon would definitely play an incomparable role in the battles between the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty and the Demon Race.

"Must find that killer." Zhang Butou made up his mind.

When Wang Lei killed the yamen runner on the city wall, it was late at night and visibility was poor; the yamen runners in the distance only saw that the pursuer was 1.2 meters tall and carrying a big thing three meters long.

Although the eyewitnesses did not see the pursuer's face clearly, the target's characteristics were already very obvious: 1.2 meters tall and a Second Grade Martial Artist; whoever met both these points was the pursuer.

Wang Lei was an assassin, and being killed was his just deserts; Zhang Butou did not want to blame the killer, he only wanted to get the method for manufacturing the light Cannon from that person's hands.

If that person agreed to hand over the manufacturing method for the light Cannon, then everything would be easy to discuss, and he could even reward him with a sum of silver.

If that person did not agree, Zhang Butou would have to tell him that a killer would face a capital charge; in any case, the official has two lips, and whatever he says is reasonable.

"Let's go, return to the city, and notify the brothers to pay attention recently to whether there is any expert in the city who is 1.2 meters tall and a Second Grade Martial Artist. Once the target is found, do not make a scene, and notify me immediately," Zhang Butou said.

"Understood, Boss." The yamen runners all agreed, and then Zhang Butou led the yamen runners back to the city.

A yamen runner died on the city wall, so tonight, the guards on the city wall were on high alert; even if they were sleepy to death, they had to keep their eyes wide open, and no one dared to doze off while keeping watch.

Meng Yifan almost ran a full circle around Luolong County and finally found a weakly defended spot outside the South City Gate.

On this 100-meter-long section of the city wall, there was only one yamen runner patrolling. Meng Yifan hid in the shadows under the wall, and after the yamen runner walked past, his body was like a gecko, clinging to the wall and climbing up silently.

Before that yamen runner could turn around, Meng Yifan had already vaulted over the city wall, his body flickering a few times, and he disappeared into the small alleys inside the city.

Meng Yifan carefully avoided the night watchman and the patrolling yamen runners along the way. When he returned home, he found that Meng Dayong and fifteen young men had already tied up the man in black called Shouhou.

Meng Dayong was a Second Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist, and his strength was inherently stronger than Shouhou's; plus, with the young men arriving with Bird Guns to provide support, they forced Shouhou into a panic. With one moment of carelessness, Meng Dayong seized the opportunity and knocked the Dagger from his hand.

Shouhou still wanted to resist, but Meng Dayong's Mountain Opening Blade was already placed against his neck; helpless, Shouhou was captured alive by Meng Dayong.

Seeing Meng Yifan return, Meng Dayong looked at his son's body with concern. Confirming that Meng Yifan was not injured, he felt relieved and said, "Yifan, what happened to that man in black?"

Meng Yifan said, "I have already killed him."

Meng Dayong said, "Yifan, I just interrogated this man in black and learned that this group was hired by Manager Lu of Wanxiang Tower to kill us."

"Father, I already knew this. I also know that Manager Lu is a relative of the County Magistrate of Luolong County." Wang Lei was the leader of the three, and the intelligence he possessed was much more than what Shouhou knew.

"Oh no." Meng Dayong frowned; a Manager Lu alone already made him feel tricky, and with the addition of the County Magistrate, it was even harder to deal with. What should be done?