Chapter 366: Just Love the Ones Who Bring the Seed

Early morning, at Black Stone Slope, Chief Garrison Officer Cheng Mingke had just woken up.

The Black Stone Slope Garrison Office had one Chief Garrison Officer and twenty-eight Deputy Garrison Officers. Aside from those on outside duty, all Garrison Office personnel lived and ate at the Garrison Office, and the Chief Garrison Officer was no exception.

Before Cheng Mingke had a chance to wash up, his secretary Tong Lingzhu had an urgent report: "Chief, the Jiangxi Gang has lost contact."

"Who lost contact?" Cheng Mingke assumed his subordinate was talking about the newly appointed Hall Master Fu Botai. Fu Botai was supposed to go contact the Sage on Sage Peak these past two days and wasn't at the hall, which was perfectly normal.

But Tong Lingzhu wasn't talking about Hall Master Fu Botai: "The entire hall has lost contact. Not a single person can be found. The two branch halls in the city have also lost contact. Only one branch hall outside the city still has people."

Cheng Mingke said in astonishment: "What did the branch hall outside the city say?"

"They don't know anything."

This was no lie from the branch hall outside the city—that branch hall only had one branch leader and one Stick Boy.

No need to ask further; one look tells you what status these two held. They were the two least welcome people in the entire hall, banished to outside the city.

Unwelcome in the gang, but favored by fate. Yesterday the hall received word ordering everyone to gather at the Great Warehouse to contact the Sage together with the Hall Master.

This was a prime chance to earn merit—who would think of these two for such a fine opportunity?

Precisely because no one thought of them, these two ended up picking up an extra life.

Garrison Officer Cheng Mingke's demeanor is solemn. He immediately gave orders to cut off all transportation out of Black Stone Slope and search the entire city for members of the Black Stone Hall.

Once the order went out, trains and ferries stopped running, and all border checkpoints were shut. This was the weight of a Garrison Officer's authority.

Every region of Puluo Province had its boundaries; leaving required a travel pass, and people rarely went out in normal times. Logically, shutting down transportation shouldn't have too great an impact.

If this were Medicine King Gully, shutting things down for a while really wouldn't be a problem.

But Black Stone Slope is very special—it is a thoroughly industrial city.

The products from every factory were waiting to be shipped out, all piling up at the station.

Some raw materials weren't produced in Black Stone Slope and had to be brought in from outside. Now that transportation was cut, many factories had also stopped production.

This wasn't the most critical part.

Black Stone Slope had limited grain. The villages in the distant outskirts had a few fields growing a bit of grain, basically self-sufficient. Black Stone Slope's grain was all bought from outside.

Once transportation was cut, Black Stone Slope's grain supply was cut.

Such a big city—didn't it have grain stores?

It did, but those stores weren't in the residents' hands.

Black Stone Slope residents didn't keep grain at home; normally they ate at factory canteens. When they had money to spare, a group would go out to eat at a restaurant. Now that the grain supply was gone, the canteens stopped cooking and the restaurants stopped opening. Many people were going to go hungry.

Garrison Officer Cheng Mingke had only just arrived at Black Stone Slope, so his secretary Tong Lingzhu, worried he didn't understand the situation, offered a reminder: "Chief, Black Stone Slope's transportation can't be cut for too long. This city is a bit different from other places."

Cheng Mingke said with a calm expression: "I know how important transportation is to Black Stone Slope. Precisely because it's important, they should learn to cherish it.

An entire hall of people, just vanished like that. I don't believe no one knows any leads, but the notices have been posted for so many days without a single response. This proves they simply don't take the Garrison Office seriously."

Tong Lingzhu dared not press further, but how easy was it to find leads?

The Jiangxi Gang had little presence in Black Stone Slope to begin with, and usually acted with great secrecy. Most of its members disguised themselves as charlatans, temple keepers, vegetarian grannies, fortune-tellers, medicine peddlers—how would ordinary people recognize them?

What's worse, the Garrison Office didn't want to be associated with the Jiangxi Gang, so the notices were written very obliquely, only saying that Fu Botai and others had gone missing. The common folk looked at the photos on the notices, completely baffled, no one knew who Fu Botai actually was.

But Cheng Mingke was very confident; he firmly believed this matter could certainly be investigated to the bottom.

The situation in the city was tense, and the outside was also affected. Many great families' businesses couldn't do without Black Stone Slope either.

The Lu family's business in Black Stone Slope had all been handed over to Li Banfeng and Ma Wu, but Ma Wu had no mind for business right now.

He was in Free Roam Estate, fully focused on cutting film.

Cutting film is skilled work—you have to know how to cut and how to splice. Ma Wu wasn't exactly an expert at this, but this reel had to be cut by him, because it was the film Li Banfeng had brought back.

The film recorded the entire process of the peep-show man abducting children in Liutang Village and making contact with Jiangxi Gang Hall Master Fu Botai.

That's right, this Hall Master was Fu Botai.

Ma Wu had compared it repeatedly with the photo on the notice.

The reason he had to edit it personally was that Ma Wu didn't want Li Banfeng's movements to leak.

Three Jiangxi Gang halls wiped out in a row—no one expected this was actually done by Old Seven.

It was a bit crazy, but since it was done, Ma Wu naturally had to see it through with Old Seven.

After cutting the film, Ma Wu made a copy and gave it to Shen Rongqing.

Shen Rongqing watched the film, and the veins on his forehead jumped up.

The film had no sound, but Shen Rongqing could read Fu Botai's lip movements.

"He says he can't see? Good—this time I'll let the whole of Puluo Province see! For the next few days, print extra copies of the paper!"

……

"Print extra copies of the paper!" Bai Qiusheng gave the order to the editors of *Night Fragrance*, "Expose every last bit of Fu Botai's background, expose everything the Jiangxi Gang has done all these years!"

Yu Wenqi was a little worried: "Right now plenty of families can barely afford to eat, rice prices are climbing and climbing—what's left who can afford to buy a newspaper?"

"Free of charge!" Bai Qiusheng slapped the newspaper on the table, "We're giving it away. We absolutely have to get this story out clearly!"

……

Garrison Officer Cheng Mingke slapped the newspaper on the table: "So there really are troublemakers—seal this newspaper office."

Tong Lingzhu hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "Chief, we can't interfere in this. There's no precedent in Black Stone Slope, and no precedent in all of Puluo Province."

"They need to learn reverence. The precedent starts with me." Cheng Mingke's expression remained calm as he silently gazed out the window.

Below the Garrison Office building, Li Banfeng looked up at the building, lowered the brim of his hat, and quietly took his leave.

That evening, quite a few households in the city each received a small bag of rice.

Not much rice—barely enough for two or three days. People discussed who had sent it, and some actually saw the person delivering it.

"He said his surname was En, called Engong."

But where did this rice come from?

……

At dawn the next day, Cheng Mingke had not yet woken when someone knocked on the door again.

He assumed it was his secretary Tong Lingzhu, so before opening the door he tidied his appearance a little, but when he opened it, he found it was Du Zhaohui, the deputy Defense Commissioner in charge of logistics.

"Commissioner Cheng, our canteen has been robbed."

The canteen was robbed?

Cheng Mingke stared at Du Zhaohui in surprise — how could that possibly count as anything worth mentioning?

"Someone must have stolen a little food. Let it go if it's stolen, and just be more careful in the future."

"It wasn't a little food. All the grain in our canteen has been stolen clean."

Cheng Mingke was stunned and went to the canteen storeroom.

The oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were untouched, but not a single grain of food was left.

An entire storeroom full of grain, all stolen clean?

Cheng Mingke was a little annoyed: "How did they manage to carry so much grain out? What on earth were the men under you doing?"

Du Zhaohui was also aggrieved: "I checked the storeroom just last night…"

"Enough talking, hurry and send someone to buy grain."

Du Zhaohui personally led men to a rice shop. The shop owner laughed and said: "Master Du, you've come to buy grain? You people eat too? That's a rare thing indeed.

I've got no rice here. Find yourself somewhere else."

Du Zhaohui was furious, but he had been at Black Stone Slope for many years and knew the people of Black Stone Slope had backbone. Under such circumstances he could not force a purchase, or it would cause trouble.

But after visiting more than a dozen rice shops in a row, he couldn't buy a single bag of rice. No matter how high his offer, every shop said they had none.

No rice was bought back, but Cheng Mingke was still not worried: "Tonight we'll hand out canned goods and biscuits first. Tomorrow morning a carload of grain will arrive at the station. I'll send dedicated men to bring the grain back. Have your people keep a close watch on the storeroom."

At eight in the morning, a train rolled into the station, which had been suspended from service for many days.

The train carried grain, coal, and medicine — all specially prepared for the Defense Office.

Li Banfeng, disguised as a loader, relied on the easily overlooked talent of a Yu Zhaixiu and hid in a corner of the platform, waiting for the moment to act.

This was intelligence Luo Zhengnan had sent to Li Banfeng. He had just learned the day before that a batch of supplies was being sent to Black Stone Slope.

Li Banfeng had been waiting at the station the night before, but he hadn't expected the train to pull in only at this hour.

Stealing grain from the canteen had been done at night. Li Banfeng had slipped into the storeroom, had his glove open the lock, and sent the grain into Sui Shen Ju, carrying it out with the greatest of ease.

Now it was broad daylight, and the area around the station was heavily guarded.

A small locomotive was waiting right outside the station. Once the train unloaded on the platform, the loaders would load it straight onto the small locomotive and transport it to the Defense Office.

If the grain was allowed into the Defense Office, stealing it out again would be far harder. Having been burned once, the other side would certainly have made thorough preparations this time.

Whether to act on the platform or during transport — Li Banfeng needed to make a decision quickly.

He was observing the situation when he noticed something was off about the train.

A steam locomotive is hard to brake; before entering the station, the train should have slowed down long ago.

But this train was running with great force — Huff! Huff! — clattering away, showing no sign of stopping.

Where is it headed?

It wasn't only Li Banfeng who couldn't figure it out; the other platform workers couldn't either.

The flagman kept waving his flags, signaling the driver to stop.

The driver was scared out of his wits, waving frantically at the platform from inside the cab.

The train had lost control!

There were several cultivators sent by the Defense Office near the platform. One burly man leapt onto the rails in two bounds, roared, and his body swelled to twice its size. Planting both hands on the front of the locomotive, he tried to force it to a halt.

"Plenty of strength," a man beside Li Banfeng said. "That's a bear."

Who was that?

Li Banfeng started.

How had he suddenly appeared at his side?

From his face, the man looked to be around forty. Looking at his clothes, he seemed to be a mechanic.

He raised his brows at Li Banfeng, signaling him not to worry.

His judgment was correct — the burly man who had charged onto the rails was a body cultivator, and indeed a bear.

The burly man slid for several dozen meters, but the train neither stopped nor even slowed.

The burly man leapt off the rails — he couldn't hold on any longer.

Both his arm bones were broken. If he kept holding on, he'd be crushed under the train's wheels.

The train barreled out of the station, and the middle-aged man and Li Banfeng quietly left as well.

Once outside the station, the middle-aged man ran alongside the train with Li Banfeng. The two leapt up, one after the other, and landed on the train.

Sitting in the car, the middle-aged man said to Li Banfeng: "Little brother, you're the benefactor, aren't you."

Li Banfeng did not answer.

He did not know the man's identity, but he could tell this was a senior with no ill intent. If the man had meant harm, Li Banfeng would already be dead.

The middle-aged man laughed and said: "I know 'Benefactor' isn't your real name. I should call you Boss Night."

He knew that identity too?

Li Banfeng grew even more astonished, and heard the middle-aged man say: "My surname is Tang, my name is Tang Shijiang. I like people with backbone. If you think well of me, call me Big Brother Tang."

While they spoke, the train had already covered seven or eight li — that didn't seem like the speed of a steam locomotive.

Tang Shijiang pulled a large handful of screws from his coat. Each screw moved on its own, and each one drove itself into a burlap sack of grain, then carried the sack flying out of the car and far away from the tracks.

He was distributing the grain.

Li Banfeng said: "Big Brother Tang, all this grain belongs to the Defense Office. They'll certainly investigate one by one. If you just toss the grain out like this without even changing the sacks, would anyone dare to pick it up?"

"Of course they dare!" Tang Shijiang laughed. "The people on my turf all have backbone. Anyone who doesn't dare pick it up doesn't deserve to live on Black Stone Slope!"

(End of chapter)