Headless Immortal

Chapter 13 Hide and Seek

Meilan County.

Prison.

The skinny constable, who had left the cell early, searched for his brothers.

"Big mouth!"

The smaller one was delighted, but also revealed a knowing look in his eyes.

"Lao Cheng and Zhuang Zi are here too."

The middle-aged man with a big mouth had thick lips, just as his name suggested.

Normally, they would dawdle as long as they could and would never come to work this early. Today was unusual, as the four jailers were looking around, searching for something.

Big Mouth spoke first, lowering his voice and saying uncertainly, "Do you think Zhao Tou'er made it?"

With his thin, withered hands, Lao Cheng fiddled with the dice and said without any surprise, "We definitely made it. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have slept so soundly last night."

Jin Sheng, a habitual thief, pricked up his ears and squinted his eyes, asking, "Is he that good?"

Old Cheng glanced at Jin Sheng, recognizing him as Jin Er, the habitual thief who had first alerted Zhao Jia. He picked up his pipe, took a puff, and continued, "Who is Zhao Jia? He's a well-known constable in Meilan County, the head of the three shifts of yamen runners, and a martial artist on the Six Doors' reserve list. Don't let his position as jailer fool you; he actually does the work of a constable."

"cough……"

The crowd stopped abruptly upon hearing the cough.

The faint light of dawn lengthened the shadows on the stone walls of the prison cell, and a lean, hawk-like man emerged from the shadows.

"Zhao the Boss."

Zhao Jia nodded slightly: "Was anything unusual last night?"

The little guy quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, they're very well-behaved."

"I'm going to see the master. Please take care of him for me. I'll come back to pick him up in a little while."

A pair of radiant golden eyes appeared behind Zhao Jia.

A large black cat emerged from the shadows, over four feet tall, looking just like a small leopard.

It was Lu Xun who followed Zhao Jia out of the mansion.

Returning to this somewhat familiar place, Lu Xun thought of the half-dead prisoner again and decided to check if the prisoner was dead.

"Wow! What a huge black cat!"

Big Mouth took two steps forward and squatted down.

"Big Mouth, aren't you afraid of getting caught? The inspector's raccoon has caught you several times already." The little guy didn't dare to get close.

Big Mouth chuckled and said, "I just love these living creatures."

Zhuangzi pondered for a moment and said, "What does Zhao Tou'er mean? He's not planning to challenge the patrol inspector, is he?"

"Two taels of silver for offerings, and the cat ate it all. I only get one tael and seven mace of silver a month." The little guy sneered.

"Whether it's for cats or people to eat, who can say for sure?"

Lao Cheng waved his hand and said, "Alright, Zhao said he'll take the cat back in a bit. He must have picked it up when he came to the county office this morning, since Zhao doesn't live in the county office's cell."

"Found it? It's so big. It's shiny and smooth, plump and strong. It doesn't look like a stray cat, but more like it came from a wealthy family."

Big Mouth carefully examined the black cat in front of him and asked in confusion, "Do you remember Master Song?"

"Master Song from the north of the city?"

"He has a black cat named Three-Legged."

"I heard he's getting old."

"That happened about five or six months ago."

"Do you think it looks like one?"

Everyone was immediately taken aback.

Meilan County is not a large town, and any strange or unusual things will spread within a midday.

Lu Xun ignored the guards' speculations and strolled deeper into the prison.

"Three legs!"

Lu Xun turned around almost instinctively.

Big Mouth hurriedly covered his mouth.

The four jailers remained where they were.

"It really is it!"

Old Cheng suddenly realized and said, "There is such a thing. Half a year ago, something happened to the Song family. They covered it up tightly and invited a Taoist priest and performed rituals. My nephew happened to be guarding the city gate. He said that at night, the Song family's servants carried a coffin out of the city to bury the cat."

The little one said, trembling, "Could it be that it has become a spirit and is causing trouble?"

Lu Xun turned his head back helplessly.

Humans have such great curiosity.

Of course, that shout did indeed do a great job, and Lu Xun did not expect the cat to instinctively turn around.

The habits formed by the body are enormous.

Lu Xun walked to the front of the cell, but the prisoner was still not dead.

Life is both fragile and resilient. "Don't scare yourself," Zhuangzi said, not believing such things.

The prison guards arrived one after another, totaling only eight, as planned by the imperial court, which was just enough to divide them into two mahjong tables.

The jailers' favorite games were dice and dominoes. When they started gambling, the coins clattered together, which was much more exciting than playing mahjong, a more refined and lengthy game.

The yamen runners started making a ruckus.

They don't care about the passage of time at all.

The official carrying the patrol cat placed the raccoon on the table: "I'll leave the cat here for you. I'll come back for it this afternoon."

"Put it there."

The crowd, their faces flushed and necks red, paid no attention to the raccoon dog.

"big big big!"

……

"Ow."

The pitiful scream immediately calmed everyone up.

"broken!"

Zhuangzi shivered.

He threw down the sieve.

Several prison guards rushed forward.

Just then, the patrolman's raccoon dog bristled and squatted on the ground, while not far away, a black cat strolled leisurely and raised its golden eyes.

"Where did this stray cat come from? Grab your weapons!" Yu Lin was both shocked and furious. This was the inspector's cat; if anything happened to it, they would all be punished, and might even lose their status as yamen runners.

"Don't."

"That's the cat Zhao Tou brought."

Lao Cheng quickly called out to the constables who were about to take action.

On one hand, they were wary of Zhao Jia, and on the other hand, they were speculating about the origins of the black cat. If the black cat really became a spirit, unpredictable things might happen if they started fighting.

Whatever the reason, he had to stop everyone from killing the black cat.

"Zhao the Boss?"

"Yep."

"Quickly separate them!"

The constables split into two groups to intercept the two cats.

The inspector's raccoon was quickly caught.

Lu Xun jumped onto the roof beam and leisurely wagged its tail.

Just as chaos erupted in the prison cell, with eight constables chasing two cats back and forth, Jin Er, a habitual thief leaning against a haystack, quietly unlocked the door.

The small, thin figure disappeared into the shadows.

In no time at all, they had disappeared through the cell door.

No one noticed the departure of the thin figure, except for the large black cat walking on the roof beam.

The black cat squinted its eyes, leaped down in a few steps, and ran out of the cell in a series of nimble movements.

The constables who were chasing and blocking them sighed.

……

"Master."

"Officer Zhao, you've come at the perfect time." The middle-aged man, dressed in a dignified blue official robe, stood up, his flowing beard adding to his charm. He waved his hand with a smile, signaling the clerk beside him to leave.

He said, "Come, sit down. Serve Officer Zhao some tea."

"Don't dare to take it seriously."

Zhao Jia was somewhat surprised by the magistrate's eagerness, but he still told him about what happened last night.

"Last night, this humble servant..."

Upon hearing about the monster, Magistrate Meilan's eyes flashed with surprise. But when he heard that Zhao Jia had fought and won against the toad demon, his joy grew even greater.

Zhao Jia naturally concealed the existence of the black cat in his words.

"Qingquan Temple has some nerve!"

The magistrate slammed his fist on the table in a rage.
He then changed the subject again, saying, "Copying is definitely going to happen. However, there is one extremely important matter I need to trouble you with before that."

Zhao Jia stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Please give your orders, sir."

The magistrate said, "That's right, the tax silver collected by the county government must be sent to Jiujiang Prefecture."

"This is a matter of great importance to the nation and cannot be delayed."

"If we miss the appointed time, even I will lose my official hat."

"The round trip will take no more than half a month. I grant you permission to muster troops and dispatch thirty brave warriors."

"Considering the serious tiger problem, I'll add two more powerful crossbows for you!"

(End of this chapter)