An Unexpected Windfall! Second Update!

By the faint glow of an old streetlamp seven or eight meters away, Chen Xia saw a burly, muscular man in the alley.

He punched the man in the face, snapping his head backward and sending blood spurting from his nose.

Once he got a clear look at the man, Chen Xia's pupils contracted.

As a member of the Patrol Inspection Office, he had naturally crossed paths with the local Blazing Fire.

If he wasn't mistaken, this man was Yu Banshou, one of the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group's Fourth Column Team leaders.

At this moment, the man was covered in knife wounds. He'd clearly gotten into a fight and been slashed across the stomach, chest, and shoulders. Someone had even cut a chunk of flesh from his face. Blood stained his clothes from head to toe, and he didn't look long for this world.

"Wait... I got the wrong person!"

Yu Banshou endured the agony wracking his body and spoke in a hoarse, panicked voice.

His blood-smeared eyes stared at Chen Xia, who had dismounted from his bicycle, filled with shock. He had never imagined that Chen Xia, a low-ranking patrol officer, could display such powerful skills and fist techniques.

That last punch had been fast, leaving his head spinning. It had also carried tremendous force. Even in his prime, he might not have been able to withstand a blow like that.

Although Yu Banshou hadn't advanced to the martial artist stage, his strength wasn't far off.

The Gathering Justice people had been hunting him just moments ago, and he'd been wounded in several places. If he hadn't been quick-witted enough to climb over a wall and run here to hide, they would have killed him already.

Even so, he was gravely wounded and at the end of his rope. He wouldn't last much longer.

He'd been waiting to die when he suddenly saw Chen Xia riding toward him in the distance. He recognized the long saber in the other man's hand as belonging to the Patrol Inspection Office.

Thinking of how the Patrol Inspection Office had ignored them, letting the Gathering Justice people wipe them out, he'd felt nothing but hatred toward them as he waited to die. So he'd decided to kill Chen Xia and vent his fury.

He hadn't expected to run into Chen Xia, whom he couldn't beat. Ordinarily, patrol officers were only at the Fifth or Sixth Stage of Ningyuan cultivation, but the young man before him was clearly stronger.

"Got the wrong person?"

Chen Xia stared coldly at Yu Banshou.

If he hadn't awakened the Reversal Panel and learned the Seven Injuries Fist, greatly increasing his strength, that vicious slash just now would surely have taken his life. The man had been out to kill him.

"Brother, I really did mistake you for someone else. I thought you were one of the people hunting me. I didn't realize—"

As Yu Banshou spoke, he seemed to be apologizing. But halfway through, he suddenly raised his saber and slashed viciously at Chen Xia again.

He had almost no chance of surviving; he was doomed. Even if nobody killed him, he'd bleed to death before long.

Chen Xia was a young man, yet even stronger than him—and he was with the Patrol Inspection Office. Yu Banshou's hatred surged. He lunged at Chen Xia again, determined to take him along, even if it meant dying.

But Chen Xia had been ready. He dodged slightly and punched back.

Chen Xia planted his feet, steady as a rock. Primal Qi surged from his dantian, traveled through his waist, and raced into his left arm. In an instant, the muscles in that arm seemed to be wound tight with countless strands of iron. His fist came down like a hammer, smashing into the center of Yu Banshou's chest.

A figure flew two meters before slamming against the red-brick wall in the alley, where large chunks of cement had already fallen away. Yu Banshou's face flushed red and his body bent like a bow. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then slumped to the ground like a heap of mud. With a muffled groan, he lost all ability to fight.

Yu Banshou struggled to raise his head. He remembered Chen Xia as an ordinary man, but only now, after fighting him, did he realize how strong he was.

After spitting up blood, he coughed repeatedly. Then, with venom in his eyes, he rasped, "No wonder you're with the Patrol Inspection Office! ...But you're all as good as dead!"

Chen Xia drew back his fist and said calmly, "Did the Patrol Inspection Office do something to you?"

Yu Banshou said bitterly, "If you kept the peace, the people in the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group wouldn't be so brazen. You're the ones standing on their side!"

Hearing this, Chen Xia shook his head and said quietly, "If the Patrol Inspection Office wanted to step in, neither of your groups would have a chance of surviving. You were simply outmatched; you've no one to blame but yourselves. In fact, the Patrol Inspection Office showed mercy by not helping the Gathering Justice people wipe you out."

"When you walk this road, sooner or later you have to pay the price. I'm just a low-ranking member of the Patrol Inspection Office. The decisions made by those above me have nothing to do with me."

Yu Banshou glared viciously at Chen Xia, seeming frustrated that he hadn't managed to kill him.

As for the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group, Yu Banshou had known that someday he'd run into someone ruthless in this line of work and meet a bad end. But he hadn't expected that day to come so soon.

He also understood that the conflict between the two Mercenary Groups had nothing to do with a low-ranking patrol officer like Chen Xia. But Chen Xia was with the Patrol Inspection Office, and that was reason enough.

If he had another chance, he'd still slash at Chen Xia.

Perhaps he couldn't draw another breath. Yu Banshou struggled for a while, his eyes gradually dimming. At last, his head lolled to one side. He fell to the ground and quickly stopped breathing.

Seeing Yu Banshou die just like that, Chen Xia stood there for a long while, his hand trembling slightly around the saber.

From beginning to end, Chen Xia had used only his fists. He hadn't left a single knife wound on Yu Banshou. He'd never killed anyone before, and deep down, he hadn't wanted to do something so cruel.

In his memories, he'd seen many gruesome corpses, but none of them had been his doing.

Now that he'd killed Yu Banshou of the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group, he felt a little lost.

But Chen Xia quickly steadied himself.

Even without him, Yu Banshou was doomed. And since the man had tried to kill him, what was wrong with killing him in return?

He hadn't done anything wrong!

If his strength hadn't improved, he might have died alongside Yu Banshou.

Now that Yu Banshou was dead, he had to think about how to deal with what came next.

As a member of the Patrol Inspection Office, Chen Xia could report the matter. But if he did, word might get out and reach the Blazing Fire people. Even if they didn't know he'd killed Yu Banshou, they'd still pin the blame on him, and he'd end up making enemies of the whole group.

So reporting it wasn't wise. In any case, no one knew that he'd been the last person to see Yu Banshou.

With that in mind, Chen Xia quickly bent down and searched Yu Banshou's body. The man's saber was decent, but Chen Xia left it behind.

He searched him thoroughly and made quite a discovery: Yu Banshou had four hundred thousand yuan on him, wrapped in a plastic bag, as well as a white pill inside a box.

"Now we're talking..."

Chen Xia's eyes flickered with surprise and delight.

Ordinary people didn't usually carry cash, but Yu Banshou was part of a local group. They generally took payments in cash and avoided leaving an online record, so they were in the habit of carrying money around. Still, most of them didn't have much on them. It was unusual for someone like Yu Banshou to be carrying tens of thousands of yuan.

That was a nice stroke of luck for Chen Xia. Forty thousand yuan was more than half a year's wages for him.

At the Patrol Inspection Office, after excluding various benefits, his basic pay was only four thousand yuan a month. In this day and age, that wasn't even enough to support a family, let alone train in martial arts.

The wooden box also held an ancient pill. He didn't know what grade it was, but if it was high-grade, it would be worth quite a bit.

"This is the biggest haul I've gotten since I started this job. No wonder he was a Blazing Fire leader! What a lucky break for me!"

A smile appeared at the corner of Chen Xia's mouth. The unexpected windfall quickly washed away the negative feelings from the clash.

If this was how things worked, he almost hoped more people like Yu Banshou would come along, so he could make a few more fortunes.

After making sure he'd left no traces or fingerprints, Chen Xia glanced around and quickly rode off into the darkness.