Sheriff Long Jiu

At dusk, the sunset glow accompanied the setting sun along the road.

The weather had turned a bit chilly, and Meng Chuan had not yet entered the first stage of Martial Practitioner training.

As the autumn wind blew against him, Meng Chuan felt a trace of cold and couldn't help but tighten his collar.

And this autumn wind also blew across the corpse lying on the street.

When he walked to the Greenland Plaza station to wait for the bus.

Meng Chuan noticed that a few dozen meters to his front left, there was an open space cordoned off by police tape.

Several fully armed officers stood around, wearing the same uniforms as his uncle. The tall, sturdy officer in the lead looked like a superior, his fierce and menacing expression quite intimidating.

Meng Chuan had always had sharp eyesight since he was young, and through the gaps between the officers and the police tape.

He vaguely saw that the corpse stuck to the ground was also wearing a blue and white uniform...

"That's impossible, it couldn't be..."

Meng Chuan's heart pounded, and he had an ominous premonition.

The figure of that person looked vaguely like...

He hurriedly pulled his phone from his pocket to call his uncle, and the thing he feared most had happened.

Meng Chuan called several times, but no one answered.

Why couldn't he get through? Meng Chuan's heart sank, and he hurriedly tried to move closer to get a look at the corpse.

He stepped out of the station and moved a few meters closer to the police tape, and the surrounding officers immediately approached him with vigilance.

"Stop looking! Get home quickly. You're so young, why are you so curious and sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?"

The leader was a tall, sturdy officer with a shiny bald head, holding his cap in one hand. He walked up to Meng Chuan and drove him away.

Meng Chuan had no choice but to wait for the bus while continuing to call.

After he left, the bald officer put on his cap, walked back to the side of the police tape, and squatted down.

He rested his chin on one hand, his brows locked in a frown as he looked at the gruesome corpse before him.

The uniform and flesh were twisted together, stuck firmly to the ground as if a semi-trailer had run over them.

"Xiao Li, come over here and tell me your assessment of the scene."

Hearing the sturdy man testing him, the young officer nearby hurriedly stepped forward.

Although he had participated in various cases of death and injury since joining the force as a criminal investigator, this was the first time he had encountered such a miserable death.

Xiao Li frowned, and after analyzing it in his mind, he gave his judgment:

"Chief Long, I will first determine the identity of the deceased. Judging by the clothing, the deceased... is our colleague. Because the body is severely damaged, it is impossible to distinguish who it is from the face and clothing, and the specific police department cannot be confirmed either."

"As for the cause of death, my knowledge is shallow, but I infer two possibilities. Judging from the scene, the first is death by crushing from a heavy object; the body has been flattened, and there are sprayed, dot-like bloodstains near the ears, nose, and mouth, as if it had suddenly suffered a violent impact."

"The second... I think it is highly likely to have been done by a Heavenly Demon. Solid-type Heavenly Demons have immense strength, are extremely cruel in their methods, and enjoy torture-killing. All these conditions at the scene fit."

"It doesn't look like the work of a human Martial Practitioner. Personally, I think that even those on the demonic path would not use such brutal methods."

The bald chief nodded, expressing his affirmation:

"Very good. I will add one more point: coupled with the lack of surveillance at the scene, excluding human interference, it should be the interference of a Heavenly Demon field."

He continued in a deep voice:

"Xiao Li, pass on my orders. Within Qindu District, including criminal investigators, patrol officers, traffic police, and even household registration police."

"They are all to be uniformly assigned to your captain, Liu Jinglong, for management. I want every single officer to get moving, damn it!"

"Find me this Heavenly Demon. I want to personally make him taste the same method of death to comfort the spirits of our colleagues!"

"Yes, sir!"

In the area under his jurisdiction, a Heavenly Demon had not appeared for many years.

Thinking of this, a sense of murderous intent welled up in the bald officer's heart.

An aura like that of a primeval beast surged out from his body. Immediately after, the phantom of a giant ape faintly appeared above his head, roaring at the sky.

Daring to attack and kill my people, you are truly tired of living!

Seeing this scene, the other officers lowered their heads to avoid his gaze; it had been a long time since they had seen Chief Long lose his temper like this...

After getting off the tram, Meng Chuan rushed home. He hadn't been able to get through to his uncle's phone the entire way, and his heart was extremely anxious.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

There was no response to his knocking. Damn it! Nothing could have really happened, right?

Meng Chuan didn't dare to think any further. He hurriedly took out his keys, inserted them several times before they finally went in, turned the doorknob, and rushed into the living room.

"Uncle, Uncle, are you home?"

The living room was empty. The door to his uncle and aunt's bedroom was closed. Meng Chuan knocked, but there was no answer. He turned around, grabbed his keys, and went out, preparing to go to his uncle's police station to ask about the situation.

"What's wrong, Chuan'er? Why are you in such a rush?"

The bedroom door opened, and his uncle Meng Yongzhi held a phone in one hand while signaling for silence with the other.

Meng Chuan stood frozen in place, unable to respond, only letting out a long sigh of relief a moment later.

Thank goodness, it wasn't his uncle.

"Conference call, we'll talk about it later."

Meng Yongzhi made another "shush" gesture before turning around to step inside and close the bedroom door.

Now able to practice his stance with peace of mind, Meng Chuan walked back to his room, opened the diagram for the Sancai Stance, and began practicing while cross-referencing the key points the master had emphasized today.

After a while, Meng Yongzhi knocked on the door and walked in.

He was carrying a red gift box. On the front of the box was an image of a person performing a flying kick, and above the figure's head was a line of eye-catching text: "The First Step for a Genius, Mingde Muscle and Bone Liquid."

"This is the new monthly set of muscle and bone liquid from Mingde Pharmaceutical. One bottle a day strengthens the muscles and bones; it's perfect for you while you're building your foundation. Let's try it for a month and see how it works. If it's good, we'll keep buying it. I can just make a phone call to renew the subscription."

Meng Chuan looked at the gift box on the table, feeling a bit overwhelmed. He didn't know what had gotten into his uncle these past few days, signing him up for a martial arts gym and getting him all these martial arts care packages.

"Uncle, on my way back, I ran into... your colleague was murdered."

"You saw it? You weren't scared, were you? We've already had a meeting at the station to notify us about this.

When you called me earlier, I was in the community activity room accompanying your aunt for square dancing, so I didn't pick up. Afterward, I kept getting calls about the meeting, so the line was busy. Sorry for making you worry."

Meng Yongzhi was no fool; he immediately understood why Meng Chuan had been so anxious to find him the moment he got home.

It was truly worth it, considering he had raised the boy like his own son; Meng Yongzhi felt deeply comforted.

"Be sure to pay attention on your way to and from school. Come straight home as soon as classes end. Don't go to the martial arts gym for the next few days; wait until the weekend."

Meng Yongzhi urged him again.

"You need to be careful too."

Meng Chuan expressed his concern for his uncle, who was a patrol officer.

His uncle reassured him:

"Don't worry. Although this matter involves a Heavenly Demon and is indeed dangerous, I'm mainly responsible for the visits and screenings around Ping'an Middle School, so the risk is very low. You don't need to worry about me."

"You just focus on your martial arts. If you need anything, tell me, even if it means I have to sell everything we own.

My greatest wish is for our family to produce a Martial Artist. Don't worry about anything else; I'm looking forward to the day you become a Martial Artist!"