Chapter 20: Undercurrents

Linhe Ward has not been peaceful recently. The city wall blocking the refugees from entering the ward has only been built halfway, and a big event has happened outside the ward!

Patrol Captain Zhao Zhonghe led a group of government office runners to the outside of the ward, only to see refugees in groups of three or five, like a scattered chessboard, curled up on both sides of the official road.

The light snow that fell a few days ago did not accumulate, and now it has turned into a muddy swamp, which makes people feel irritable just looking at it.

Zhao Zhonghe stepped into the mud and walked forward. The refugees wearing coarse cloth clothes hurriedly made way.

"There are a total of 106 victims, all of whom died of blood exhaustion without exception. The Silver Seal Demon-Hunting Captain from the prefectural city has made a judgment that these people should have died at the hands of evil spirits and monsters."

County Lieutenant Dong, who was in charge of supervising the construction of the city wall, sighed and said, "The prefect has already spoken. If this case cannot be solved and the demon leader cannot be arrested within three days, these refugees will be allowed to enter the ward to take refuge."

Zhao Zhonghe asked while checking the shriveled corpses, "What did the Demon-Hunting Division say? Do they also agree to let these refugees of unknown identity enter the ward?"

County Lieutenant Dong pondered, "The Demon-Hunting Captain is going back to the capital to report. They won't interfere too much in local affairs. Before leaving, the captain just said to conduct a detailed investigation. If there is no abnormality, they will mostly follow the prefect's opinion."

Zhao Zhonghe stood up and looked at Linhe Ward, which was building fortifications.

If there were no accidents, by the time the city wall was built, Linhe Ward would only be one step away from transforming into a county.

The prefect could not have had no concerns about these things.

"In my opinion, the prefect has long had the intention of introducing these refugees into Linhe. After all, this is a good opportunity to increase the population."

"But the chaos in the southwestern states, which one was not caused by refugees? Those Heavenly Heart Sect demons are used to cheating. If there are their people among these disaster victims who are constantly pouring in..."

Hearing this, County Lieutenant Dong looked at Zhao Zhonghe in surprise. He had always known that this captain was brave, but he didn't expect him to have such delicate thoughts.

"Captain Zhao doesn't need to worry too much. We just need to do our part. As for the others, we should trust the prefect's judgment."

Zhao Zhonghe neither agreed nor disagreed. If he really trusted the prefect, he wouldn't have run over again after the Demon-Hunting Captain had checked the situation.

In the end, it was just that his position was low and his words were light. After all, who would care about a captain's judgment?

"Where is Captain Zhao going? Why not come to my place for a cup of tea..."

"No, my brothers and I got up early and didn't even eat a mouthful of food, just to come over and check the situation. Since the prefect and the captain have made a decision, we won't do anything more!"

"Brothers, I'll treat you to mutton soup today!"

Several government office runners were hungry and had mud on their legs. Seeing that they hadn't accomplished anything, they had some resentment in their hearts. Now that they heard the captain was treating them, those dissatisfied emotions instantly vanished.

The most lively place in Linhe Ward, besides gambling dens and brothels, was the miscellaneous goods street in the East Market. Whether it was selling powerful pills, spreading dog-skin plasters, or performing juggling, you could see it.

There were also more elegant ones selling antiques, paintings, flowers, birds, fish, and insects. In short, it was all-encompassing, strange, and everything you could think of, and everything you couldn't think of was on the miscellaneous goods street.

Xu Qing strolled for a whole morning and spent more than two hundred taels of silver before collecting most of the materials for breaking through to the Iron-Armored Wandering Corpse.

He only spent more than one hundred taels on the materials he really needed, and the rest were some miscellaneous items purchased specifically to cover up his tracks.

Arriving at the stall selling animal skins, Xu Qing asked, "What kind of skins do you have here?"

The hunter, who was nailing deer-skin boots with a hammer, only looked up once and continued to flip through the boots in his hand.

"Chamois skin, deer skin, wolf skin, all have them. But some are at home. If you want any, I'll get them for you in two days."

Xu Qing looked at the hunter before him. The other party was wearing a bone thumb ring that could only be used for bow hunting, and he was wearing a bear skin. Looking at the thick and powerful finger bones, he knew that this hunter had real skills.

"The skin I want is a bit off-beat. I don't know if you have it here."

"What skin? Let me hear it. Except for human skin, there is no skin I can't get."

"Mountain mixed skin over ten years old, do you have it?"

Mountain mixed skin is extremely yin and turbid, and it is one of the raw materials for refining Iron-Armored Wandering Corpses in the Zombie Cultivation Scripture. The higher the age, the better the effect!

Hearing this, the hunter put down the boots in his hand and began to look squarely at the young man before him.

"The mountain mixed skin is very rough and can't be made into materials. You want this thing, I think you have other uses, right?"

The hunter didn't wait for Xu Qing to answer and continued, "I don't care about these. You want mountain mixed skin, I really have one. It was originally wanted by someone else. I processed it, but that person didn't come to pick up the goods. That was two or three years ago."

"In order to get this skin, I almost lost my life, and even the good dogs I raised were folded by two. However, this skin is unpopular, and it is rare for someone to want it. I won't go around in circles with you. I'll cut the price the person offered at that time in half, and sell it to you for fifty taels of silver."

"How much?" Xu Qing thought the hunter was really easy to talk to, but he didn't expect the other party to open his mouth for fifty taels of silver. If so, the person who asked him for the skin at that time must have offered at least a hundred taels!

"Don't believe it. I'm not a businessman, and I won't ask for more. If the person hadn't offered a high price, I wouldn't have risked my life to hunt that thing."

"This skin was exchanged for my life. Look at the scars on my face. They were scratched by the sharp claws of that thing when it was injured. If I hadn't reacted quickly, the skin on my head would have been peeled off!"

Seeing that the other party didn't speak, the hunter added, "How about this, you prepare fifty taels of silver, and I will bring the skin of that thing the day after tomorrow. I will also give you a green wolf skin, how about that?"

Xu Qing didn't grind the price with him anymore. He strolled around the East Market for more than half a circle, and this was the only one with stock.

If he missed this one, who knows how long it would be delayed? Besides, fifty taels of silver didn't mean much to him.

The two set a day, and Xu Qing continued to stroll along the East Market. When he reached the street entrance, several government office runners with yellow mud on their boots happened to come toward him.

Xu Qing stepped aside, preparing to leave, but unexpectedly was stopped by the leading captain.

"I think you look familiar. Do you have a business license and travel permit?"

Xu Qing looked at Zhao Zhonghe, whom he had met twice, and felt quite helpless in his heart.

For some reason, he always felt that he and this captain didn't get along.

It was like their fates were clashing.

Zhao Zhonghe took the business license, looked at the ancestral home and name engraved on it, and couldn't help but interrogate, "Xiangyin County, Little Stone Village? What are you doing in Linhe?"

Beside him, a government office runner who had sent a corpse to the mortuary shop recognized Xu Qing and opened his mouth to help, "Boss, Boss Xu does business with the dead, encoffining and burying people. I've been there. Boss Xu has a shop on Jingxia Street, the place where all the funeral shops are..."

"Ptooey! It's really unlucky!" Zhao Zhonghe had just returned from outside the ward, and the 106 shriveled dead corpses had not yet been removed from his mind. As a result, he met someone who did business with the dead again. How could he meet these underworld things every day!

At this time, not only was Zhao Zhonghe unhappy, but Xu Qing was also awkward. His dream stick was still tucked in the other party's waist!

Just like this, the two who didn't look at each other again parted unhappily.

Regardless of why Zhao Zhonghe always had trouble with him, the days ahead still had to be lived day by day. After all, he didn't count on that Zhao guy.

Xu Qing was only thinking about the mountain mixed skin two days later. As long as he had this skin, he could officially start the Iron-Armored Wandering Corpse promotion. As for that dog-beating stick, just pretend it was taken away by a dog!

Returning to the shop, before long, his neighbor Wu Yaoxing, who knew everything, came over with a fish!

"Look, I specifically went to the pier to ask a friend for a carp."

Wu Yaoxing smiled and said, "My son is going to take the Licentiate exam in early spring. This carp is a good omen. How does that saying go? It's called a carp leaping over the dragon gate!"

"This isn't it, I'll bring you one, so you can also get some joy!"

Xu Qing looked at the fish, thinking that the Zombie Cultivation Scripture didn't say zombies couldn't eat fish. Why not slice some raw fish and try it?

Here, the two were chatting, and Wu Yaoxing mentioned the big event that happened outside Linhe Ward.

It was said that more than a hundred people died at the hands of monsters overnight, which was very strange!

"You often go out to send funerals and funerals, so you must be careful. Who knows what kind of evil spirits are making trouble outside the ward..."

Hearing these, Xu Qing didn't worry about the evil spirits. The first thing he thought of was whether the government office would send these 100-plus dead people to him?

Then, what he thought of was the Heavenly Heart Sect demon coming to Linhe Ward.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Qing reminded Wu Yaoxing, "Old Wu, try to go to the pier less recently. I heard from friends in the agency that it was recently occupied by the Jinmen Gang from outside. Now the two sides are fighting, which is very fierce. It's hard to say if you will be hurt by mistake!"

"Is there such a thing? Then I dare not go again!"

Wu Yaoxing was quite afraid of death. Hearing this, he didn't dare to go to the pier to stroll again!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 21 =====