Helpless Necessity

Lu Xuening told Chen Fan that the entirety of Ping An County had become foul and murky.

Demons had colluded with government officials, lurking within the county seat to seek wealth and take lives, running rampant without restraint.

He had not believed it before, but now that he had slain the White Ape Great Demon at Wangchun Pavilion and joined forces with Lu Xuening to kill the White Ape's four lesser demon underlings, he had no choice but to believe.

The White Ape Great Demon had been able to establish Ping An County's largest brothel, Wangchun Pavilion, under the identity of its hidden proprietor. It was absolutely impossible that it had done so without the government's support.

This showed that someone within the government had colluded with demons.

The Brocade Guard had been patrolling Ping An County all along, yet they had never discovered demons harming people. Clearly, that was not realistic either.

This showed that someone within the Brocade Guard must also have colluded with demons.

Lu Xuening believed that person was Cao De, the Hundred-Household Officer of the Brocade Guard, and Chen Fan now felt that was highly likely as well.

Even the highest-ranking person in the Ping An County Brocade Guard Precinct had colluded with demons. Could the Chief Squad Leaders, Squad Leaders, and even those veterans who had served in the Brocade Guard for years beneath him possibly know nothing about it?

Or had everyone simply played dumb, hanging matters that did not concern them high out of reach?

"So, was Brother Zhao Jia silenced because he discovered evidence that someone in the Brocade Guard had colluded with demons?"

"But before Brother Zhao Jia carried out that mission, he had always patrolled and gone on assignments with me."

Chen Fan stood to one side, his mind racing, when something suddenly came to him.

The night before they carried out that emergency patrol mission, he and Zhao Jia had encountered something.

He had seen a swiftly moving black shadow and suspected that demons were causing trouble, so they chased after it all the way to a luxurious villa in the north of the city.

The situation had been urgent. He had not had time to obtain the villa owner's permission before vaulting over the wall to search for demons inside, while Zhao Jia circled around to the villa's rear gate to cut off its escape.

Yet after entering the villa, he heard waves of lewd music. The villa's owner was also an expert, and upon sensing his arrival, the man barked an order for him to get lost.

He looked around the villa but saw no trace of demons. So he told its owner that a demon might have infiltrated his villa, warned him to remain vigilant, and told him to promptly seek the Brocade Guard's aid if anything happened.

The villa owner merely snorted coldly and ignored him. Finding himself unwelcome, he turned and left.

"I need to investigate that villa in the north of the city properly when I have the time."

"That courtyard is not far from the County Governor's residence. Its owner must be either wealthy or noble, so it should not be difficult to inquire into."

Chen Fan thought to himself.

"Where are the demons?"

Just then, Ping An County's County Commandant Liu Xuan arrived with his men. Seeing the White Ape Great Demon lying there with its head and body separated, his heart jolted. Then he glanced at Lu Xuening and asked:

"Captain Lu, did you kill this White Ape Great Demon?"

"I did indeed!"

Lu Xuening felt somewhat guilty as she directly claimed all the credit.

"Calamity!"

"Calamity!"

"Do you know this White Ape Great Demon's origins?"

"Our Ping An County lies against Black Mountain. There are three renowned great demons upon that mountain: Tiger Demon Mountain Lord, Howling Moon Wolf Demon, and Three-Eyed Ape Demon."

"The White Ape you killed today was Three-Eyed Ape Demon's brother. If Three-Eyed Ape Demon learns that his brother died by your hand, he will not let you off."

County Commandant Liu Xuan spoke with a grief-stricken face.

"Why is the County Commandant so afraid? If that ape demon dares to come, just kill him. You are Ping An County's County Commandant, responsible for its public order. If you fear demons so greatly, how are you supposed to protect the people of Ping An County?"

Seeing County Commandant Liu Xuan's weeping, sniveling appearance, Lu Xuening could not help but feel disgusted. If Ping An County's officials were all of this sort, then Ping An County was beyond saving.

"I fear demons?"

"If Three-Eyed Ape Demon truly comes to demand an explanation, Captain Lu, would you dare shoulder it alone?"

"If that demon goes mad, who knew how many innocent citizens would die in a demon-caused disaster? Was that the situation Captain Lu wished to see?"

"Would Captain Lu dare guarantee that Ping An County's common folk would not die because demons retaliated over this matter?"

County Commandant Liu Xuan looked at Lu Xuening and asked with a sneer.

"Are we supposed to simply let demons run wild?"

"You may as well go look at Wangchun Pavilion's top floor. That White Ape Great Demon used human blood as a wine pool and women's bodies as a forest of flesh. Who knew how many people had died at that White Ape Great Demon's hands?"

"Now that I have killed it, County Commandant Liu, you are being so timid and fearful. What kind of Ping An County Commandant are you?"

Lu Xuening was so angered by County Commandant Liu Xuan's words that she laughed.

"You are bold!"

"Do not think that because you were dispatched from Dragon Abyss Prefecture as a captain, you can act with such reckless abandon."

"This is Ping An County, and you are merely a minor captain!"

County Commandant Liu Xuan said in a deep voice.

"Isn't slaying demons and eliminating monsters the duty of your Brocade Guard?"

"I wonder whether Chief Squad Leader Li thinks I was right or wrong?"

Lu Xuening turned her gaze toward Li Mo, the Brocade Guard Chief Squad Leader standing to one side and watching the show.

"I think Captain Lu did nothing wrong."

"But the County Commandant has his own difficulties as well."

"Our Ping An County's Brocade Guard and yamen are weak, while the three great demons on Black Mountain are each extraordinarily powerful. Truly provoking them would not be a good thing."

"Demons are cruel and especially vindictive. Kill one, and you will suffer the frenzied revenge of the others. We martial folk possess formidable strength and need not fear retaliation, but Ping An County's common people would suffer."

Li Mo's words sounded as though he favored neither side, but in truth, he agreed more with County Commandant Liu Xuan.

"So we are to let demons run rampant and slaughter the people?"

Lu Xuening truly did not understand what these two were thinking.

"It is also born of helpless necessity!"

"We can only sacrifice the interests of a small number of people in exchange for the peace and tranquility of all Ping An County, then accumulate strength and wait quietly for the heavens to change. Only then can we sweep up all the demons in one net!"

Li Mo sighed with feeling as he spoke.

Yet Chen Fan, standing not far behind him, saw the corner of his mouth curve upward. Clearly, he had not taken Lu Xuening's words to heart.

In his eyes, Lu Xuening might even have been foolish and laughable.

"Such peace is like carrying firewood to put out a fire: while the firewood remains, the fire will not die."

"If you yield to demons again and again, they will first harm the common people, then turn on you. By then, all of Ping An County will become a paradise for demons."

"Everyone here will become demon fodder!"

Lu Xuening shook her head. She was utterly disappointed in Ping An County's yamen and Brocade Guard.

Perhaps County Commandant Liu Xuan and Brocade Guard Chief Squad Leader Li Mo had not truly colluded with demons, but their attitude of turning a blind eye toward the demons that had infiltrated Ping An County was no different from feeding Ping An County's common people into demons' mouths!

Chen Fan took in the scene before him, and his heart felt stifled as well.

"Captain Lu is being a little alarmist."

"Our Brocade Guard takes slaying demons and eliminating monsters as our duty. Once we see demons harming the people, we will certainly kill them without mercy. So-called compromise and retreat simply do not exist."

Brocade Guard Chief Squad Leader Li Mo forced out a justification.

"It had better be so!"

Lu Xuening snorted coldly and left Wangchun Pavilion directly. Her subordinates looked at her, then at County Commandant Liu. Several of them wanted to leave together with Lu Xuening.

But County Commandant Liu swept them with a cold glance, as though saying, I may not be able to deal with her, but do you think I cannot deal with you?

The constables and yamen runners who had wanted to follow Lu Xuening all stopped in their tracks.