Stranger Danger

Xu Banren shot the inspection badge a glance and grabbed the paper slip tied to the sparrowhawk’s feet. Shuddering a little after reading its contents, he said seriously, “Lord Ye, I just received a report stating that zombies have been attacking civilians in the Nanping Boat and Fish Dragon Market.”

Ye Qing’s eyes narrowed dangerously. He immediately ordered, “Lieutenant Xu, split up the Pacification Sentinels into three groups. One group will stay here and guard the place, another will follow you to the Nanping Boat, and the last group will follow me to the Fish Dragon Market.”

“There is no time to waste, so let’s go! And whatever you do, do not allow even a single zombie to escape!”

“At once!”

Xu Banren understood the severity of the situation and so did not hesitate to carry out his orders. As for Ye Qing, he raced toward Fish Dragon Market without even waiting for his Pacification Sentinels to assemble. Every second was precious considering the circumstances.

Fish Dragon Market was a popular fish market in Luo Shui. It was incredibly busy and enjoyed a huge amount of traffic every day. Tonight, its popularity would turn out to be a curse. As soon as he got close, he could hear people screaming and running everywhere in panic.

He arrived at the entrance just in time to see five or six zombies attacking everyone around them like crazy. There were also a dozen or so wounded on the ground, all covered in blood. It was impossible to say if they were hurt by the zombies or the ongoing stampede.

“Hmph!”

Ye Qing made a grabbing motion and summoned six Blood Shadows at once. They easily caught the rampaging zombies and dropped them in the blink of an eye. Then, he plunged his hand into the ground, took a deep breath, and pulled.

There was a loud rumble as the stretch of floor undulated like it was soft noodles. It quickly rose to the height as the surrounding buildings.

The people panicked even more as a matter of course, but Ye Qing yelled before they could sabotage themselves even more, “Don’t be afraid, everyone! I am a Patrolman of the Pacification Bureau!”

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it was imbued with his spirit. Warm, gentle feelings blew into everyone’s heart and soothed their panic.

“The Pacification Bureau?”

“He’s an officer of the Pacification Bureau?!”

“Thank the heavens… we’re saved!”

“We’re going to live! Hahaha!”

The civilians were beyond happy to hear this, but his next words plunged them right back into the abyss. “No one is allowed to leave the place until the situation is under control. Those who try will be killed without question.”

“We can’t leave?”

“Why can’t we leave? Those… things could attack us at any moment! Why can’t we leave!?”

“My lord, please!”

The crowd protested vehemently as a matter of course. Panic was starting to spread among the crowd once more.

“Calm down, people. The Pacification Sentinels will arrive soon to protect you all. So long as you remain here, I give you my word that no harm will come to you,” said Ye Qing while spreading out his force to prevent them from panicking.

It was at this moment a thin, middle-aged man stepped out of the crowd. He was dressed like a scholar and overflowing with some sort of righteous aura. He declared pompously, “I am Li Yuechun, a bookkeeper in the commandery hall and an important official of Chu. It would be a great loss to the realm if any harm were to befall me. I demand that you let me go this instant.”

Not only that, he waved another five men out of the crowd and declared, “These five are scholars who have journeyed to Luo Shui to attend the imperial examination. They are the future of our realm, and I will bring them with me.”

“W—Wait! I am Chen Dun, the heir of the Skyriver Restaurant! If they can leave, I should be allowed to leave as well!”

“I’m Qian Yidui [1]! I’m the young owner of the Kaiyuan Bank! Let me go!”

……

Li Yuechun’s action immediately caused countless others to have the same idea. The civilians Ye Qing had tried repeatedly to calm down started panicking again.

While this was going on, Li Yuechun and the five scholars got ready to leave. As he was an early-stage Vessel Augmentor, he had no problems protecting five people all by himself.

Chen Guo and Qian Yidui had an entourage of bodyguards as well. They leaped into the air to cross over the lifted street.

“This is going to be fun. These dissenters are all pretty influential in Luo Shui. If he forbade them from leaving, this new Patrolman’s career would probably suffer greatly. But if he did allow them to leave, it would sow discontent and anger among the people. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!”

At a restaurant next to Fish Dragon Market, a handsome but sloppy-looking man was commenting on the situation uncaringly. Sitting opposite him was another young man with a bearing of elegance and refinement. He had smooth, white skin, starry eyes and straight eyebrows. He was also dressed like a doctor.

Seemingly dissatisfied with his friend’s schadenfreude, the doctor replied slowly, “If you have the time to gloat, you have the time to save some civilians and capture those who went mad.”

Speaking of mad people, the doctor was looking at a floor of zombies. They weren’t tied, but not a single one of them could move or even make a sound for some reason. They could only open and close their mouths soundlessly like fishes.

“Plus, Lord Patrolman’s decision is the right one. Everyone who was injured by the crazed people lost their minds in just a short time, meaning that the disease is highly infectious. If a single person were to make it out, it would cause a greater panic and an endless amount of trouble.”

The doctor carefully pulled out a needle from a zombie’s forehead and examined it closely. After the silver needle was removed, the zombie immediately regained its mobility and tried to jump the doctor.

The doctor did not react, however. He continued to examine the filthy silver needle as if nothing had happened.

“Stop shouting! You’re so noisy!”

Right before the zombie would reach the doctor, Fang Xuanlang waved impatiently and condensed a gust of wind into a chain of air. It bound the zombie and dropped it to its feet once more.

Fang Xuanlang then asked the doctor, “Have you found anything yet, An Runyu?”

An Runyu shook his head and answered, “Not yet. They show no signs of parasitism, nor can I find any traces that might suggest that a Stranger is behind this. It is unclear what is causing them to change.”

“You really didn’t have to do this, An Runyu. I’m sure that the Pacification Bureau can handle this,” Fang Xuanlang shrugged and shook his goblet of wine lazily.

An Runyu simply said, “It is a doctor’s natural responsibility to treat people and save lives.”

Fang Xuanlang crossed his legs and sighed, “Whatever. You do what you want. I’m going to continue enjoying the show.”

Back in Fish Dragon Market, a hint of anger flickered across Ye Qing’s features. His sleeves billowed as he mustered a river of force.

In the sky, Li Yuechun, Chen Dun, Qian Yidui and their men blanched when they saw this. Before they could react, an unstoppable force knocked them out of the sky and back to the ground.

“Who gave you permission to leave?” Ye Qing glared at the disobedient group icily.

“You—pwack!” Li Yuechun tried to speak, but he felt his blood boil as soon as he opened his mouth. He immediately threw up a glob of blood.

Li Yuechun wasn’t the only one. Everyone who ever practiced martial arts in their lives felt their auras and their vigor going haywire. The scholars were the ones who were actually safe and sound. They looked pale, but that was only because Ye Qing had scared them.

“You… How dare you attack a court official!” Li Yuechun accused angrily after he finally mustered the energy to push down the pain.

“Excuse me? I must be hearing things. Why wouldn’t I dare to kick your cowardly asses?” Ye Qing sneered and stared at Li Yuechun until his scalp was numb.

“Who are you? How dare you block our passage!” Another guy with thick brows and large eyes yelled as well. He was one of Chen Dun’s bodyguards and a late-stage Vessel Augmentor.

“You think this is daring?” Ye Qing’s lips curled into a diabolical smile. “Watch closely, brother. I’m going to show you something even more daring in a moment.”

I was going to kick that sonuvabitch’s ass for ruining my efforts, but since you so kindly volunteered to be my guinea pig…

The thick-browed man felt a sudden chill down his back. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

“You—”

The thick-browed man was going to back down—it was better to be a coward than to be dead—when Ye Qing shot forward and stomped him right in the stomach. He immediately sank into the ground and threw up copious amounts of blood like it was free.

Not done yet, Ye Qing went over to Li Yuechun and kicked him in the ribs. Caught completely off guard, the early-stage Vessel Augmentor was sent flying into a nearby shop.

“Heavens… he’s brutal!” Chen Dun, Qian Yidui and everyone else took a step away from Ye Qing in unison. They were all looking pale and shivering in fright.

“Oh, he’s a man of action! Not bad, not bad at all!” Fang Xuanlang looked pleasantly surprised by this turn of events as he took a sip from his wine gourd. “I wonder what else he might show us?”

“You… you…”

Inside the shop, Li Yuechun was lying helplessly on the ground and staring at Ye Qing like he was the devil incarnate. He could only point a finger at Ye Qing and repeat the same words over and over again like a robot.

Still stepping on the thick-browed man, Ye Qing side-eyed Li Yuechun and said, “Now this is what I call daring. By the way, did I mention that there is nothing more I loathe than being threatened? One more word from your filthy mouths, and I promise you’ll never have to say a word again. Just try me.”

Both the thick-browed man and Li Yuechun immediately fell silent. This wasn’t cowardice, this was adapting to the circumstances.

The crowd had fallen silent as well. What did they see? They saw an official beating up another official like a rag doll. Just how arrogant could the young man be?

“Hmph. It is decreed by Chu that no one is to obstruct the Pacification Bureau when they’re carrying out their businesses. Anyone who breaks this law will be severely punished.”

“Even the Pacification Sentinels are granted the authority to kill first and ask questions later, so whatever makes you think that I, a Patrolman, cannot do the same?”

“I could kill these two disobedient bastards right now, and they would have deserved it.”

“This will be my first and last warning. Disobey me again, and I will do what is necessary.”

Ye Qing took one step forward and crushed the limestone bricks beneath his foot like butter.

The crowd immediately staggered back and turned even paler than before. They looked into Ye Qing’s eyes and, yep, there was no negotiating with the young man. It was his way or the highway.

Satisfied with this outcome, Ye Qing looked at Chen Dun and Qian Yidui next and ordered, “Chen Dun, Qian Yidui, you are assigned to guard duty. You will make sure that everyone stays exactly where they should be. I will hold you two responsible if a single person disappears for one reason or another.”

Chen Dun: “...”

Qian Yidui: “...”

We’re just a bunch of small fries. How did such a heavy responsibility fall to our laps?

1. This guy’s name is literally “A Pile of Cash”. Truly, his parents are naming geniuses. ☜