Chapter 00182: The Imposing City Patrol
# The Imposing City Patrol
Chapter 182
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 182: The Imposing City Patrol
"Have you come to your senses, friend? Are you looking to rent a house?"
Ding Huan arrived at the real estate office, and the attendant greeted him with a smile.
"I'm not looking to rent. I want to buy a small courtyard, at least one with four rooms. Do you have any?" Ding Huan replied.
The attendant looked helpless.
"Friend, it's not that I want to make things difficult for you, but you are not a resident of the Zhuoxing Lord Country, so you don't have the qualification to buy a house. Even if you could buy one, it would be taken away because it's not yours to begin with."
Ding Huan took out his appointment letter as the captain of the City Patrol.
"Look here, I’m the captain of the City Patrol. Does that mean I can’t buy a house?"
"You… you really became a City Patrol? Or the captain?" The attendant stuttered, not out of surprise, but fear.
Because joining the City Patrol usually meant having no more than a month to live.
Being a captain signified perhaps three days at best.
He worried that if he angered Ding Huan, Ding Huan might blow everything and kill him out of spite.
"That’s not your concern, just tell me if you’re selling or not," Ding Huan said, putting away the appointment letter.
"Y-yes, we're selling…" The attendant struggled to control his emotions and said cautiously, "But you still need to go to the Household Registration Office in West Wind City to get registered before you can buy a house here."
Worried that Ding Huan would continue to create trouble, he quickly pointed to a distant red building.
"That building is the Household Registration Office."
"Thank you. By the way, where’s the best location for a courtyard?" Ding Huan asked, concerned that the attendant might not know what he was talking about.
The attendant smiled again.
"It's in the Great Crystal District."
"What’s the price for a small courtyard there?" Ding Huan tapped the counter lightly.
The attendant did not dare slow down.
"A decent one costs around three hundred crystal stones; a lesser one is only about seventy or eighty crystal stones."
As Ding Huan left the real estate office, he thought to himself that this was not cheap at all.
If he didn’t have a pile of Shattering Spirit Crystal Stones on him, he really couldn’t afford it.
No way, the Shattering Spirit Crystal Stones couldn’t be used for this purpose; they were meant for his own cultivation.
Also, the Shattering Spirit Crystal Stones seemed to contain more essence of the world compared to the trade crystals here.
Didn’t he have a bunch of first-level talismans on him? Ding Huan decided to find a cultivation shop and see if he could sell his talismans.
Getting registered was quite straightforward, even though the clerk at the Household Registration Office looked at Ding Huan as if he were a dead man.
Yet, out of a desire to not offend someone who might go crazy, the clerk hastily helped Ding Huan with the registration.
Once he stepped out of the Household Registration Office, Ding Huan had officially become a resident of the Zhuoxing Lord Country.
…
If one were to say which street in West Wind City was the liveliest and most prosperous, it would undoubtedly be the Ascending Path Street in the East City.
Here, one could find genuine magical instruments and authentic cultivation methods.
Those who came to Ascending Path Street to shop were usually cultivators with some background.
Thus, many people preferred to rent storefronts along this lively street.
With good items in hand, one would not have to worry about selling them at a fair price.
However, Ascending Path Street wasn’t all benefits.
Compared to other places, cultivators were more densely packed here.
Because of that, once disputes arose, killings weren’t uncommon.
Previously, the most frequent locations for the deaths of City Patrol members were Ascending Path Street and the North City.
Just think about it; if even the City Patrol soldiers faced frequent deaths, how could ordinary people fare any better?
At that moment, Yan Mei, Lao Liu, and three City Patrol soldiers followed a woman reporting a case to Ascending Path Street.
The street remained bustling as ever; the destruction of one shop didn’t affect the business of the others.
“Qu Pu…” The woman mournfully called out in front of a shop whose sign had been smashed to pieces.
Inside, chaos reigned, with four men rummaging through the place.
A middle-aged man lay on the side, covered in blood, yet his hands were still tied with rope.
Seeing the bloodied man, the woman rushed in and held him tightly.
The men scavenging nearby turned their heads at the sight of the woman embracing Qu Pu.
"He escaped and still dares to come back…" A long-haired man sneered, stepping forward to grab the woman as if he didn’t see the several members of the City Patrol.
The three City Patrol soldiers stepped back in fear, but they quickly caught sight of Yan Mei, who stood still, not moving at all.
Yan Mei didn’t move; he simply watched them with a mocking look.
Frightened, the three City Patrol soldiers trembled.
They knew that if they didn’t step in to handle this matter, they would return to their captain’s wrath.
Waiting for someone above to intervene? Ha, they’d be cold in the grave by then.
Moreover, they didn’t believe anyone from the city lord’s office would come to defend them if they got killed.
“Stop.” One of the City Patrol soldiers finally overcame his inner fear and rushed forward.
Choosing to shout for a halt might allow him to escape with his life.
If he ran away but remained in West Wind City, that would guarantee a swift death at the hands of that ruthless captain.
To flee from West Wind City meant certain death.
When the other two City Patrol members saw a comrade step forward to call for a stop, they gathered their courage and also took two steps forward.
"Oh, City Patrol? It's been a while since you daring few showed up for trouble. What’s the matter today? Did you have too much joy juice? Did you come to mess with the Iron Strength Alliance?"
The long-haired man, tugging at the woman's hair, dragged her in front of the three City Patrol members while speaking mockingly.
“Such arrogance, daring to act so recklessly in front of us, the City Patrol."
Yan Mei hadn’t expected these three cowardly soldiers to actually muster the courage to approach.
“Vice Captain, hurry and call for the Captain…” The first City Patrol soldier to call for a stop didn’t dare act, and upon seeing the long-haired man drag the woman over, he retreated a few steps in fear.
As he retreated, he anxiously begged Yan Mei to call for help.
Yan Mei didn’t call Ding Huan but turned to Lao Liu, "Lao Liu, what do you think we should do?"
Given his understanding of Brother Huan, if Huan had sent Lao Liu over, there had to be a reason.
Lao Liu didn’t bother to answer Yan Mei.
Instead, he opened his mouth and shot forth a few water arrows.
"Poof! Poof!..."
The long-haired man's forehead burst with four sprays of blood, and he fell down in disbelief.
The only thought that occupied the minds of the fallen men was how could such a strong beast be here with the City Patrol to kill?
Lao Liu cast a disdainful glance at Yan Mei but didn’t speak.
His intention was clear: What’s to be done? Naturally, it was to kill!
Staying by Brother Huan’s side and still asking what to do in such a small matter?
“Vice Captain…” The three City Patrol soldiers had been struck dumb with fear, not even realizing it was Lao Liu who had just acted and instead thought it was Yan Mei who had made a move.
"Handle these bodies."
Yan Mei said flatly.
"Understood."
The three City Patrol soldiers hurriedly echoed and approached to deal with the bodies.
Saying they dealt with the bodies meant they went to search the dead for valuables, leaving the corpses piled on the street.
Ascending Path Street remained vibrant and bustling.
While Lao Liu had just killed four members of the Iron Strength Alliance, those four were still inside the shop and hadn’t stepped outside.
Not many people noticed the situation where four from the Iron Strength Alliance had been killed.
"Thank you, thank you, Captain..."
The woman broke free from her restraints and knelt to Yan Mei, then rushed to check on her husband, Qu Pu.
The bodies of the four members of the Iron Strength Alliance lay discarded on the avenue, causing the passersby to suddenly become aware.
When they discovered it was members of the Iron Strength Alliance who had been killed by the City Patrol, the entire street erupted in commotion.
The City Patrol had always been a target for anyone to bully; no one cared about them.
When had the City Patrol ever killed someone from the Iron Strength Alliance?
In this area, apart from the alliance leader Pan Qi, the Iron Strength Alliance and the East City Guild had the upper hand.
Once the Iron Strength Alliance had smashed up a shop, they must have given gemstone bribes to Pan Qi beforehand.
Since the gemstones had been paid, destroying the shop became legitimate, and if they were killed while destroying shops, once the alliance leader came back, many heads would roll.
The crowd began to retreat, and even those notorious thugs who frequently killed and robbed in Ascending Path Street looked on coldly at the City Patrol.
In the past, the City Patrol had also killed some gang members, but those few bodies would only lead to retaliation within a few hours.
Even though the Iron Strength Alliance operated outside the city, they would receive news quickly and rush into the city to take revenge, not needing their alliance leader to step in.
Moreover, the Iron Strength Alliance had definitely received the news.
Diagonally across from where the members of the Iron Strength Alliance had been killed was a grocery store with a unique name: The Unique Grocer.
At that moment, a woman stood in front of the shop and watched the scene unfold with a speechless shake of her head: “The City Patrol really doesn’t know they’re courting death. Knowing they’re headed for doom, they still dare to kill members of the Iron Strength Alliance. Seventh Uncle, when the Iron Strength Alliance’s people come, should we help a bit?”
Her suggestion to "help" wasn’t meant for the City Patrol but rather for the Iron Strength Alliance.
In truth, the idea of helping was also fake.
The Iron Strength Alliance didn’t need anyone to help them in killing a couple of City Patrol members, did they?
Saying "to help" was more about when the Iron Strength Alliance arrived, they would cheer for them from the sidelines to gain their favor.
The person who she referred to as Seventh Uncle was a wholly gray-haired old man.
He glanced at the young woman beside him and snorted.
"Is this the first day you’ve seen those three worthless City Patrol members? Have you seen them stepping out for anything? When have they come out without their heads down to collect the bodies? How do they dare to kill members of the Iron Strength Alliance?”
“Seventh Uncle, what do you mean by that…?”
"It’s obvious. It was that newcomer who acted; he must have just joined the City Patrol—a young newbie. To take out four members of the Iron Strength Alliance at once shows he has some skills. Before this matter reaches its conclusion, don’t get involved at all. Furthermore, if he knew they were members of the Iron Strength Alliance and still dared to kill them, he wouldn’t just stop here."
The old man stroked his beard calmly.
Indeed, as soon as the old man finished speaking, everyone saw a young man stepping into the midst of the street.
Yan Mei was not like Lao Liu, who only knew about killing.
He was very clear on why Ding Huan wanted him there.
Thus, after Lao Liu had taken down the four members of the Iron Strength Alliance, he quickly put himself in the public eye:
"Everyone, starting today, the new captain of the City Patrol is Ding Huan, and I, Yan Mei, am the vice captain. From now on, we shall enforce the laws of the Zhuoxing Lord Country strictly across West Wind City. Anyone who dares to violate the law will face death without mercy."
The crowd instantly buzzed with excitement; when had the City Patrol ever been this intimidating?
Was it because they were bored with life, or just wanting to die slowly?
(The End of this Chapter)