Those Who Harm Me, Fuck

Ping An County.

Wangchun Pavilion, top floor.

A towering White Ape sat cross-legged in a grand chair, surrounded by a cluster of beautiful, scantily clad courtesans.

Some sang and danced, some kneaded shoulders and pounded backs, while others fed him fresh fruit.

The White Ape reclined in the grand chair with his eyes closed, feigning sleep. One hand groped the voluptuous, provocatively dressed beauty in his arms, while the fingers of his other hand lightly tapped the armrest. Keeping time with the singer's melody, he gently swayed his head.

Life was truly too comfortable.

"Lord Ape, the Red Serpent Fairy is dead!"

Just then, a monkey-faced servant with a pointed mouth entered the room, knelt on the floor, and reported.

"What?"

"Red Serpent is dead?"

"How is that possible?"

"She was at the peak of the second stage of the Divine Treasury Realm. Her transformation and seduction arts stood alone beneath the heavens. On top of that, the Demon Race's physique was naturally stronger than that of humans. Even a human martial artist at the third stage of the Divine Treasury Realm would find it difficult to kill her, wouldn't they?"

"In all of Ping An County, there were only a handful who could kill her. Who exactly did it?"

The White Ape opened his eyes, a flicker of savagery flashing through them. The hand kneading the beauty in his arms unconsciously tightened. She trembled all over, pain surfacing across her face, yet she bit down hard on her lips and dared not make the slightest sound. She could only endure in silence.

"It was someone who paid five pairs of virgin boys and girls to hire her for some private matter. We do not know what exactly she was asked to do. Lord Ape, you know how arrogant Red Serpent was. She disdained even discussing such matters with people like us."

The monkey-faced servant said.

Although Red Serpent was also a demon, she and Lord Ape merely had a cooperative relationship, whereas they were Lord Ape's subordinates.

Thus, she considered herself Lord Ape's equal and naturally disdained mingling with lackeys like them.

"Heh heh."

"I had always wanted her to join Wangchun Pavilion, work for me, and become the proprietress here. Wouldn't that have been wonderful? Yet she insisted on fooling around with that person. Now she had finally been led into a pit and killed!"

"Five pairs of virgin boys and girls. That person had certainly made a lavish offer."

"If Red Serpent had truly succeeded, it would not have been impossible for her cultivation to climb another hundred-foot pole. What a pity. Where in this world was there such a thing as a free lunch?"

"Forget it. I am burning with rage right now. All of you, get out!"

The White Ape exhaled scorching breath through his nostrils, scooped up the beauty in his arms, and strode straight toward the bed.

A trace of pity and panic flashed through the other courtesans' eyes. They hurriedly curtsied and withdrew.

Soon, waves of agonized screams came from the room. After a long while, the screams grew fainter and fainter. Half an hour later, Lord Ape directly threw out the beauty's corpse.

Her body was twisted out of shape, drenched in blood. Her face bore an expression of terror, her eyes wide open in death, unwilling to close.

"Humans really are weak. Not satisfying at all!"

"Send two more in for me!"

Lord Ape's voice came from inside the room.

Early the next morning.

Wang Chao arrived at the Brocade Guard Precinct early. As soon as he came, he heard that a snake demon had entered the Centurion Office.

"Brother Chen Fan, I heard a snake demon sneaked into your room last night?"

Wang Chao asked Chen Fan, who had come to answer roll call.

"That's right."

"The snake demon thought I was no match for her, so she was not very guarded. I struck first and killed her with two slashes!"

Chen Fan said in a deep voice.

"Well done."

"This time, you had turned disaster into blessing."

"Not only did you escape a brush with death, your cultivation has also improved greatly. In a few more years, becoming a Squad Leader will be no problem at all."

Wang Chao patted Chen Fan's sturdy shoulder and said with a smile.

"Then I will thank Chief Wang for your auspicious words!"

Chen Fan said with a smile.

"Our Ninth Squad has just lost four brothers. The Chief Squad Leader has not assigned us any tasks for now, so today we will handle the funeral arrangements for those four brothers together."

"The compensation for the four brothers came through yesterday: fifty taels of silver each. It was not much, so I argued with the county some more. The county exempted their families from ten years of labor service and taxes."

"Fifty taels of silver, and ten years of labor service and taxes."

"Our Brocade Guard brothers' lives really were worth nothing."

"When all was said and done, it was because I, their elder brother, was useless!"

Wang Chao laughed at himself and spoke with some grief.

"Chief Wang, there is no need for you to blame yourself. You have already done all you could. Such was the world; there was nothing we could do about it."

Chen Fan said with deep emotion.

A Brocade Guard in Ping An County earned roughly ten taels of silver a year in base salary. Adding mission rewards, holiday pay, and miscellaneous benefits, they received around twenty to thirty taels of silver a year altogether.

Yet four brothers of the Ninth Squad had died slaying demons and devils, and the county had given them only the equivalent of two years' wages as compensation. It was truly chilling.

"Alas!"

"This damned world!"

"Forget it. Let's not talk about it."

Wang Chao led the six remaining members of the Ninth Squad from house to house, helping arrange the funerals for their four brothers. Each of them left one tael of silver for every family, while Wang Chao left two taels for each.

With this money, along with the protection of the Brocade Guard, the lives of those four households would not be too difficult in the future.

"Brother Chen Fan, please wait."

As Chen Fan was about to leave after they had finished arranging the last brother's funeral, the man's wife called out to stop him.

"Brother Chen Fan, stay behind and see whether Sister Zhao needs any more help. We will leave first. After all, Zhao Jia was closest to you while he was alive."

Wang Chao patted Chen Fan on the shoulder, forced out a smile, and said.

"Alright."

Chen Fan nodded.

"May I ask what instructions Sister-in-law has for your younger brother?"

Their Ninth Squad had one Squad Leader serving as captain. Of the remaining ten Brocade Guards, only Zhao Jia had entered the Brocade Guard in the same year as Chen Fan. Zhao Jia was three years older than him, but they were still considered peers, so the two usually spent the most time together.

Zhao Jia had already married before joining the Brocade Guard. His wife had given him a son the year before last. Now, only this widow and orphan remained in the Zhao Household.

"Zhao Jia and the other three were all murdered."

"You survived a great calamity, so you must be careful as well. That person will not let you go."

Sister-in-law Zhao pulled Chen Fan into the courtyard, looked around to make sure no one was there, and spoke firmly.

"Sister-in-law, did Brother Zhao ever tell you anything?"

Chen Fan was first stunned. Then he thought of the snake demon from last night, and his expression suddenly became grave.

"He did not tell me anything, but he left this behind."

Sister-in-law Zhao took a scrap of Flying Fish Robe from her bosom. Written on it in blood were several words: Those who harm me, fuck

The words had not been finished, but the one who had delivered the urgent patrol assignment to them had been Brocade Guard Chief Squad Leader Huang Chengyue.

It had originally been only a patrol mission outside the city, yet by some unseen hand, the five of them had encountered an extremely powerful Toad Demon. The five of them had been killed without even the ability to resist.

By all logic, such a powerful demon should not have appeared outside the city. After all, the stronger a demon was, the greater its awareness of territory. Who would draw their territory so close to the county seat?

"Brocade Guard Chief Squad Leader Huang Chengyue?"

"Why would he collude with demons to kill several of us?"

"Was it simply to deliver five portions of rations to the demons, or did he want to kill us to silence us?"

Chen Fan thought to himself.