High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

According to subsequent information sent by the liaison, the target location was an open-air food stall called "Fatty's BBQ".

Before even getting close, a loud argument could be heard, and a crowd of onlookers had already gathered around. Two local police officers, their foreheads covered in sweat, were trying their best to maintain order in the middle.

"Refund! You must refund the money! Double the compensation!"

A shirtless tourist with a large gold chain around his neck was slamming his fist on the table and roaring.

"What kind of rubbish did you grill?! The meat is rotten! Are you trying to kill someone?!"

"Bullshit! My meat is bought fresh every day!"

The barbecue restaurant owner was a burly, fat man who brandished the skewers of meat in his hand without backing down.

"You've practically eaten all the meat on the table before you say it rots. If you want to dine and dash, just say so. Stop trying to pin this on me!"

"Everyone, calm down, let's talk this out, don't resort to violence..."

The two police officers were sandwiched in the middle, and their voices were almost hoarse from shouting.

Shen Chang'an stood on the periphery of the crowd, his hands in his trench coat pockets, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Deep within his eyes, a dark red flame quietly emerged.

Fire Pupil Activation.

The world before him instantly shed its disguise. In Shen Chang'an's vision, apart from the two police officers who were struggling to break up the fight, who were purely human, both sides involved in the conflict were surrounded by a faint demonic aura.

For demons to truly shed their beastly forms and perfectly transform into human form, they must at least reach the sixth realm, the Spirit Abyss Realm. Demons below the sixth realm who walk in human society rely entirely on illusions. To ordinary people, they are human, but to the spiritual vision of high-level cultivators, they are practically naked.

Shen Chang'an clearly saw that the boss waving the sticks was actually a wild boar demon walking upright.

The tourists causing trouble were actually a few snarling hyena demons.

After distinguishing their auras, they were all low-level demons at the first or second realm.

At this moment, both sides were furious, and the beastly nature inherent in the demon race began to overwhelm their reason. The words of the two ordinary police officers were obviously no longer effective.

The hyena demon had even rolled up its sleeves, its sharp, demonic fingernails barely visible, and it looked like it was about to escalate into a bloody incident.

Shen Chang'an yawned, parted the crowd, and slowly walked to an empty table at the very edge of the food stall.

He pulled out a red plastic chair and sat down with an air of authority.

"boom--"

A terrifying spiritual pressure belonging to the fifth realm of the Spirit Sea Realm was released for a moment.

This aura was completely undetectable to ordinary people, but to those low-level demons with keen senses of smell, it was tantamount to detonating a stun grenade right next to their ears!

"..."

The wild boar demon and the hyena demon, who were hurling insults at each other just a second ago, suddenly stopped talking.

They were like ducks suddenly grabbed by the neck, their hair standing on end, their demonic energy instantly shrinking back into their dantian in fright.

The demons stiffly turned their heads, following the source of the terrifying pressure from before, and all looked at the young man in black, who was in his twenties, sitting in the corner.

The young man stared at them expressionlessly.

The black ancient tower badge on his chest gleamed with a cold and deadly metallic luster under the streetlights.

Town... Town Night Guard?! And a monster of ridiculously high level?!

"cough......"

The hyena demon who led the disturbance swallowed hard, and his arrogant face instantly blossomed into a bright smile.

He grabbed the police officer in front of him, his tone as gentle as a model citizen:

"Well... Officer, it's all a misunderstanding. There's nothing wrong with the meat, it's just that we're too picky about it."

The owner of the barbecue restaurant, who was also trembling with fear, quickly threw the skewers in his hand into the trash can and waved his hands repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes! Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth! This meal is on me today. We are all law-abiding citizens, how could we cause trouble!"

The two police officers stood there dumbfounded, looking at each other, completely baffled as to how these thugs who had just been about to draw their knives against each other had suddenly become moral exemplars of mutual respect and love.

"Since there's no problem, let's talk things out calmly from now on and not argue all the time. It's really bad for the atmosphere."

Seeing the complete 180-degree turn in attitude from both sides, the two police officers were bewildered but also happy to relax. After giving a few routine lectures, they turned and went to patrol other stalls.

The crowd, seeing that there was no excitement to be had, quickly dispersed.

The hyena demons wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, just about to make their escape.

"Stop right there!"

Shen Chang'an stood up from the red plastic chair, slowly walked to the center of the food stall, and glanced at them: "Fatty, pull down the shutters, temporarily close for business."

"Yes, sir!"

The boar demon boss, despite his massive size, displayed unexpected agility, rushing out in a few strides and politely asking the few ordinary diners who hadn't finished eating to leave.

With a "whoosh," the huge roller shutter door in front of the store was pulled all the way down.

After blocking out outside sight, Shen Chang'an casually pulled up a table and sat down, crossing his long legs and tapping the table: "Alright, routine check. Everyone, take out the 'Temporary Residence Permit for Demons' issued by the Night Guard."

The hyena demons and the fat boss dared not neglect their duties. They obediently lined up, took out a small green-covered notebook from their pockets, and handed it over with both hands.

Shen Chang'an opened the notebook and checked the information one by one.

"Li Daqiang, his true form is a hyena demon, at the first level. His registered residence is Xiyuan City, Cangjiang Province... What are you doing in Qingzhou District?"

"Sir, we...we came from another province looking for work."

The hyena demon leader rubbed his hands together, his smile more like a grimace.

"The competition in Xiyuan City is too fierce. I heard that a new heavy industrial zone has opened in Nancheng, so I thought I'd come and do some manual labor like carrying bricks and cement."

Shen Chang'an nodded, checked the fat boss's documents again, and after confirming that there were no overdue or violation records, threw the documents back to them.

"Tell me, what exactly happened just now? I don't listen to lies in my territory."

Under the overwhelming power, the hyena demon dared not lie and spilled the truth. It turned out that they were newcomers and had almost run out of money. They wanted to take advantage of the fat boss's honest appearance to eat for free and extort some travel expenses.

"Okay, everything is clear."

Shen Chang'an took out a specially made marker and drew a conspicuous red cross on the hyena demon leader's residence permit.

"Considering this is your first offense and no serious consequences have occurred, we will only issue a warning this time."

Shen Chang'an slammed the residence permit on the table, his eyes slightly cold.

"You know the rules. Three warnings and your credentials will be revoked, and you'll be sent back to your place of origin. After that, forget about doing manual labor; you won't even be allowed back into human society. If you don't want to go back to the deep mountains and forests to eat tree bark, you'd better behave yourself!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you for your leniency, sir! We'll go to the construction site to move bricks tomorrow, and we definitely won't cause any trouble!"

The hyena demons, as if granted a pardon, bowed repeatedly before slinking out of the roller shutter and running away.

"Thank you for upholding justice, sir!"

The wild boar boss breathed a sigh of relief and approached with a broad smile.

"Sir, from now on, whenever you come to my place, all you can eat—barbecue and beer—it's all on the house!"

"No thanks, we have rules. We won't take a single needle or thread from the people, nor will we take a string of kidneys from the demons."

Shen Chang'an waved his hand, stood up, opened the roller shutter door, and went out.

......

For the rest of the night, Shen Chang'an, wearing that disguised face, meticulously searched the entire old North Street of the South City and the surrounding demon-infested areas.

Only after confirming that there were no hidden dangers and that no other little demons dared to cause trouble under the cover of night did he return to school and change back into his blue and white school uniform.

It was already broad daylight.

"Beep—Check-in successful, night shift over."

Shen Chang'an pressed the digital watch button and exhaled a long breath.

[Shen Chang'an]: "@Baiyin, shift over. I've parked the car back in the same shed as last night."

[Baiyin]: "Received! Boss, you've worked hard! (Cat serving tea.gif)"

Shen Chang'an put away his phone, rubbed his sore neck, and dragged his heavy steps toward the school, unable to help but complain.

The Night Watch is so short-handed right now that it's appalling. Even trivial matters like diners trying to dine and dash have to be mediated by him, the top leader.

In fact, in earlier years, the Night Town Guard had also recruited a large number of ordinary people as peripheral patrolmen to handle disputes among these low-level demons.

But soon things went wrong, and it was a scandal.

At that time, a team of ordinary patrolmen, while on patrol, spotted a naive second-tier fox demon.

Those patrol officers, relying on their official status, forcibly detained the fox demon, not only assaulting her but also filming her to blackmail her into prostitution to make money for them.

When the truth came out, these beasts turned around and accused the fox demon of committing a grave mistake because they lacked cultivation and couldn't resist its "innate allure." Due to loopholes in the judgment mechanism at the time, the poor fox demon was executed for "maliciously inducing a human to commit a crime."

This incident thoroughly enraged the demon race's high command. Several demon kings personally demanded an explanation, and eventually the truth was revealed.

Those patrolmen were naturally executed, but the damage they caused was irreversible.

On the one hand, the absolute impartiality of the Night Watchers' Office has been seriously questioned.

On the other hand, the patrolmen's actions in forcing the fox demon to solicit customers led to a large number of ordinary people coming into contact with the demon race, nearly causing social panic. During that period, relations between humans and demons plummeted to a freezing point, almost erupting into a full-blown conflict.

In order to quell the situation, the higher-ups of the Night Watch Division, after much painful reflection, took a drastic measure and dismissed all ordinary patrolmen without any cultivation level.

They also established an ironclad rule: all incidents involving demons and monsters, regardless of their size, must be handled personally by the official lamplighter.

While this regulation effectively prevented ordinary people from using their power to oppress the demon race, it also successfully forced Shen Chang'an and other grassroots lamplighters into working tirelessly year-round.