Patrol Captain

Half an hour after the maid Xiao Jiu was kicked out of the Patrol Bureau's residence, laughter and merriment came from a pavilion in the backyard of the Xiao family in the southern city, with its vermilion-painted tiles.

The pavilion sits in the center of a lotus pond. Inside the white gauze curtains, amidst the allure of perfumed women, several charming figures frolic.

"Sir, I'm here."

"Sir, come and arrest me!"

"."

Inside the pavilion, a man dressed in a blue brocade robe, with a bloated figure and thick flesh around his neck, had his eyes completely covered by a plain white silk cloth. He stretched out his hands, groping around, a wanton smile on his lips, occasionally tilting his head to catch a sound, and then pulling forward to hug it.

A group of young, beautiful women, dressed in revealing clothes, hid and laughed. Some hid behind gauze curtains, using the flowing white veils to conceal their figures; others squatted under stone tables, pressing their fingertips to their lips and giggling; still others deliberately circled behind men, teasing them before laughing and leaving. Amidst the fluttering white veils, the women's soft laughter carried a seductive tone.

The man repeatedly missed his target, but he wasn't in a hurry. He seemed to enjoy the process, letting out unrestrained laughter.

Just then, footsteps came from outside the pavilion, and a figure came into the pavilion, walked up to the fat man, and was about to speak.

"old."

The fat man in brocade robes, his eyes blindfolded, grabbed him and began rubbing his hands together, laughing loudly.

"You little slut, you've finally been caught by your master. Let your master touch you, are you Shuang'er, Qing'er, or..."

The fat man's large hands caressed the person in his arms, rubbing her chest several times, but he couldn't find anything. His skinny body paused for a moment, and what came to his nose was not the scent of a woman's cosmetics, but a pungent smell of body odor, along with muffled grunts like a wild boar rooting in a cutting board.

He pushed the person in his arms away, then ripped off the white cloth covering their eyes. A pair of sharp little eyes looked over and saw that it was not a beauty at all, but clearly a servant dressed in black cloth clothes, wearing a servant's hat, and looking like a skinny monkey.

The servant blushed and met the fat man's gaze, whispering "Master," which made the girls around them laugh even louder!

The old man's pleasant mood was ruined; his face darkened, and he kicked him directly.

"Get lost, you piece of trash, what are you doing getting involved in this mess?"

The skinny servant was kicked to the ground, letting out a cry of pain, and rolled several times on the ground, each time rolling out of the pavilion.

However, he quickly crawled back, looking unharmed. He got up and said with a fawning expression, "Master, Master, I really didn't mean to upset you, but I have something important to report."

The obese man raised his thick eyebrows, said "Oh," and plopped down on a stone bench in the pavilion. He stretched his arms to the side, and the women in the pavilion immediately swarmed around him like bees and butterflies.

Some were massaging legs, some were massaging shoulders, and some were feeding fruit—it was all so pleasant.

At this moment, the obese man stopped his joking and absurd behavior, became serious, and looked rather fierce.

His face was wide and thick, like dough compressed by a heavy object, piled high with loose, horizontal flesh that sagged down his cheeks, forming two layers of thick, soft flesh at his chin. His eyebrows were thick and black, standing upright like two short knives. His eyes were squeezed between thick eyelids, narrowed into two thin slits, with upturned corners. Looking at the servant in front of him, his pupils were full of sinister intent.

His name is Xiao Shan, originally the third brother of the Xiao family, and now the head of the Xiao family mansion.

"what's up?"

He revealed a hint of impatience and ferocity, and the fleshy part of his cheeks twitched as he spoke, which, combined with his small eyes, gave him a somewhat menacing look that made people afraid to meet his gaze.

The servant, who looked like a skinny monkey, trembled and reported:

"Sir, just now, a trusted clerk from the Sky Patrol Bureau informed us."

"That Miss Xiao is being dishonest again; she went to the gate of the Heavenly Patrol Office and knelt down to plead for justice."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shan's swollen eyes twitched upwards, his fleshy face trembled, and his gaze turned sinister. It was somewhat strange.
“My niece is so self-important and arrogant, how could she kneel down? That’s really strange.”

“It’s not Miss Xiao, it’s her personal maid next to her,” Skinny Monkey quickly replied.

"Oh? No wonder. I heard my good niece is ill. What a loyal servant. Heh, let them be. They can't cause any trouble. The matter of the main branch of the Xiao family has already been settled. They can't cause any trouble. On the contrary, they will be disliked and court death." Xiao Shan chuckled coldly, with a hint of mockery, and leaned back.

“But sir, the messenger said that the lowly maid went mad this morning, shouting at the gate of the Heavenly Patrol Office that Miss Xiao knew the great general of the Ninth Mountain, a man with connections to the heavens. And the Ninth Mountain's troops happened to arrive at the Heavenly Patrol Office last night. Upon hearing the news, they brought her in!” the skinny servant said quickly.

"What?" Xiao Shan suddenly jerked forward, shoving the woman in his arms away. He stood up, his short, flat nose flaring open, his breathing heavy. His brows furrowed, and his large hand slammed down on the stone table in front of him, shattering it into pieces.

"Damn it, when did the people from Ninth Mountain arrive? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"How could that bitch possibly know General Chen? Her father and her brother were both personally ordered to be dealt with by this Martial Saint General."

Xiao Shan cursed angrily, breathing heavily through his nose, his eyes filled with shock.

The skinny servant in front of him shrank back in fright, then crawled forward two steps. "Master, please calm down. I'm not finished speaking. That lowly servant was taken in afterward, but he was soon kicked out and ended up with a bloody head. I suppose he got anxious and started talking nonsense, which displeased the master of the Ninth Mountain. Master, you don't need to worry."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Shan suddenly reached out towards the servant, pulled him close with a single stroke, and his large, fat hand gripped the servant's neck. His fleshy face was filled with a fierce glint.
"Damn it, you've really annoyed me. Who told you to talk so long and hesitantly?"

As he spoke, he tossed it aside casually, as if it were trash.
"You scared the hell out of me. I really thought my good niece knew that Buddha. Well, if she did, why didn't she do it sooner? How could my good brother still be missing? During the city's retreat, I heard that all the prisoners in the Heavenly Prison of the Heavenly Patrol Division who could be executed were executed. They're probably already dead by now."

A smug grin appeared on Xiao Shan's fleshy face.

At this moment, those beautifully dressed women swarmed around him, their breath sweet as orchids in his ear, vying to flatter him.
“Master, you are the true master of the Xiao family. That so-called eldest son of the Xiao family is a sinner of the Xiao family, colluding with the demon race. He deserves to die. That so-called young lady should be punished as well. How dare she go and cry out for justice? Isn’t she courting death?”

“The master kicked that little hussy out; it’s the proper way to behave, and no one can say anything about it.”

"Yes, yes."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shan hooked the chin of a woman next to him and chuckled, "You have such a sweet tongue."

Having said that, he released his grip, turned his head, and looked down at the servant who was getting up, a sinister smile on his face.

"You bastard, go and send some men to my good niece's place!"

“As the uncle, I originally wanted to preserve the bond between uncle and niece, but my niece allowed me to go crazy at the gate of the Taixun Tiansi and disturb the adults of the Ninth Mountain. If the adults blame me, wouldn’t that be harming people? As the uncle, I naturally cannot watch them go crazy.”

"Go, bring her back to me! That servant who dared to go crazy at the gate of the Heavenly Patrol Office, beat her to death on the spot!" "Ouch...yes!" The servant ignored the pain that made his body feel like it was about to fall apart, picked up his hat, stood up, nodded and bowed like a lackey, and quickly agreed. Then he staggered and ran out of the pavilion.

However, after running only a few steps, Xiao Shan changed his mind.
"Wait a minute."

"Forget it, my niece has a very strong temper and some martial arts skills. I'll go and bring her back myself." He emphasized the word "bring back," and then his mountain-like body moved with the force of a gust of wind, leaving the pavilion.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a sedan chair departed from the Xiao family mansion, followed by several guards.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Sky Patrol Bureau, the meeting had ended a while ago.

The entire Sky Patrol began to bustle around this meeting, having been given tasks to complete.

In the courtyard where Liu Qing lived, Liu Qing and several of his captains were in the hall, dividing up the tasks around a map of the surrounding land.

"This is Weiyuan Pass, and this is Chishui Prefecture. The local government intelligence says that no undead creatures have been found in this area. We'll take this route through and go around it."

Liu Qing leaned over the table, holding a thin strip in his hand, pointing to several locations on the spread-out map as he explained the mission. The officers standing around him nodded from time to time, or offered their opinions.

They needed to cross the territory of White Bone City to personally visit the Hundred Thousand Mountains behind the city, to find out the situation there, and to gather more detailed intelligence in order to prepare for the war to come.

Because of the several bone cities in their way, they had to put in a lot of effort to investigate intelligence, which greatly increased the difficulty. If it weren't for these bone cities, it would be much easier to explore the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

But he had once stayed in the burial ground with the general there, and knew the terror and trouble of these undead creatures. That was a forbidden area, and he didn't know whether they were friend or foe, so it was really not easy to provoke them.

Just as Liu Qing and his subordinates were rehearsing and making plans for the mission, a clear and calm voice suddenly rang out in the hall.

"There's no need to hide in these cities occupied by undead kings!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure stepped out of thin air from the head of the hall, walked directly to the central seat, and sat down with a self-satisfied expression.

Liu Qing and his men were initially surprised and astonished, but then they reacted, rushed forward, and knelt on one knee.

"Greetings, General!"

The person who came was Chen Yuan, who came from the lower realm passage of the Ten Thousand Mountains!
Chen Yuan looked cheerful and in a good mood, without any air of authority on his face. "Get up."

Liu Qing and the others stood up. Liu Qing looked curious, wondering why the general had come to Guang'an. He hadn't heard anything about it from the general beforehand, so he clasped his hands in greeting and asked.

"General, why have you come to Guang'an in person?"

"The recruitment of troops is going smoothly. Helian Mountain is watching over the west. I've come here personally to see what's going on. Seven cities of white bones stand between us and the Hundred Thousand Mountains. I've come to resolve this issue and test the attitude of the seven immortal kings so I can have a better understanding of the situation."

"So what does the general intend to do?" Liu Qing asked hesitantly. He had been by the general's side and knew more or less about the origins of these seven immortal kings. They were all transformed from celestial beings from the lower realm a thousand years ago, and their strength was terrifying. Such a group of beings would be untouchable anywhere in the mortal world.

"I've come here to entrust you with a task for me!" Chen Yuan said. "I plan to host a banquet at my grotto tomorrow at dusk, inviting seven kings to attend!"

"Take my invitation and go to the seven cities to deliver it to the kings there!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qing and his subordinates' expressions tightened. The general's invitation to the Seven Kings was quite a grand gesture, and as his subordinates, they naturally felt the pressure.

"promise!"

Liu Qing and the others remained solemn, showing no sign of retreat or fear. Military orders were absolute, and they accepted the mission.

“However, General, we are in Guang’an, and some cities are too far away,” Liu Qing said with a frown. After all, they were in the southeast, and some cities were in the far west, tens of thousands of miles away.

"It's alright, I have my own way, it won't take that long." Chen Yuan waved his hand.

"Yes. When does the general plan for us to depart? I will make preparations immediately." Liu Qing made a gesture as if to prepare.

"No rush!" Chen Yuan gestured for him to stop, then turned his gaze away.
"Go and send someone to call Gou Zhonglang over. I have something to tell him to do. Don't disturb anyone else, so as not to cause any unnecessary trouble."

He was going to host a banquet for the seven kings, so naturally he had to show some sincerity. Some preparations needed to be made, such as finding singers, dancers, and cooks from Guang'an Prefecture to add to the festivities. It was most appropriate to entrust this matter to the local Lieutenant General Gou Zhi.

"Yes, I will send someone to fetch him right away!" Liu Qing said, then went out of the hall and ordered at the door, "Someone, go and invite Gou Zhonglang over."

Soon, someone went to call them.

After a short while, footsteps were heard outside the hall, followed by a familiar voice.

"General Liu, the meeting has only just ended. What brings you here, me? Is it because you asked me to investigate the matter of that Miss Xiao in the hall earlier?"

The person arrived before the voice.

Soon, Gou Zhi, a five-foot-tall figure, walked briskly into the hall with his hands behind his back.

As soon as he arrived, he saw Liu Qing and his men standing in front of the hall with their backs to him. Just as he was wondering about this, they turned their heads to the side, revealing a slit in the wall.

Then he saw a figure sitting on the large chair in front of the hall, which made his eyes widen in surprise.

"Ouch!"

He let out a strange cry, then rushed forward and slid to his knees, making his entrance in this unexpected way.

"General Chen, you have actually come in person. I kowtow to you."

He was excited.

Chen Yuan's eyelids twitched. Why was this guy still so unserious? "Alright, I have something to tell you."

"By the way, you just said Liu Qing is investigating some Miss Xiao?" (End of Chapter)