Unexpected Harvest!

Using the dim light from an old streetlamp about seven or eight meters away, Chen Xia saw a strong, stout, and burly man in the alley.

He punched the man in the face, causing the big man's head to snap back, and blood spurted from his nose.

After clearly seeing the opponent's face, Chen Xia's pupils constricted.

As a member of the Patrol Inspection Office, he had naturally seen people from the local Blazing Fire organization before.

If he wasn't mistaken, this person was Yu Banshou, one of the Fourth Column Teams of the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group.

At this moment, the opponent was covered in knife wounds, likely from a conflict. His stomach, chest, and shoulder were cut, and a piece of flesh was gouged from his face. His clothes were soaked in blood, and he didn't look like he would live much longer.

"Wait... I've mistaken you!"

At this moment, Yu Banshou, enduring the intense pain all over his body, said in a hoarse and panicked voice.

His blood-stained eyes looked at Chen Xia, who had dismounted from his bicycle, with horror. He never expected Chen Xia, a low-level patrol officer, to possess such powerful skills and boxing techniques.

The punch just now was incredibly fast, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. The force was immense. Even in his prime, he might not have been able to withstand such power.

Although Yu Banshou hadn't been promoted to Martial Warrior, his strength wasn't significantly different.

He had just been pursued and killed by people from Gathering of Righteousness. He was wounded in multiple places. If he hadn't been resourceful and climbed over the wall to hide here, he would have been killed long ago.

Even so, he was severely injured, at the end of his rope, and wouldn't live much longer.

He was just waiting to die when he suddenly saw Chen Xia riding towards him from a distance. He recognized the long saber in the other person's hand as belonging to the Patrol Inspection Office.

Thinking of how the Patrol Inspection Office had ignored them, letting the Gathering of Righteousness people eliminate them, he harbored resentment towards the Patrol Inspection Office before his death. He decided to kill Chen Xia to vent his anger!

He hadn't expected to encounter Chen Xia, whom he couldn't defeat. Logically, a typical patrol officer would only be at the fifth or sixth stage of Ningyuan cultivation, but this young man was clearly stronger.

"Mistaken identity?"

Chen Xia's eyes stared coldly at Yu Banshou.

If he hadn't awakened the Reversal Panel and learned the Seven Injuries Fist, greatly increasing his strength, that sinister knife strike just now would have certainly taken his life. It was a clear attempt to kill.

"Brother, I truly mistook you. I thought you were one of those chasing me, I never imagined..."

As Yu Banshou spoke, he seemed to be apologizing, but halfway through his sentence, he suddenly raised his long saber and slashed fiercely at Chen Xia again.

He had almost no chance of survival and was certain to die. Even if no one killed him, he would bleed to death in a short while.

Chen Xia, a young man, was actually stronger than him and also from the Patrol Inspection Office. Hatred surged within him. He seized the opportunity to attack again, intending to take Chen Xia down with him, even if it meant his own death.

But Chen Xia was already prepared. He merely dodged slightly and simultaneously threw a punch.

Chen Xia stood firm, his stance solid. A surge of primal qi erupted from his dantian, traveling to his waist and then to his left arm. Instantly, the muscles in his left arm seemed to intertwine like thousands of iron wires. He clenched his fist, and it struck Yu Banshou's chest like a hammer.

A figure was sent flying back two meters, slamming against the red brick wall in the alley, where large chunks of cement had already fallen off. Yu Banshou's face turned red, his body arched like a bow, and then he spat out a mouthful of blood. He slumped to the ground like a puddle of mud, groaning, and lost all fighting ability.

Yu Banshou weakly raised his head. He remembered Chen Xia as someone ordinary, only realizing how strong he was when they actually fought.

After spitting blood, he coughed continuously, then his eyes filled with malice, and he said hoarsely, "As expected of someone from the Patrol Inspection Office!... But you all deserve to die!"

Chen Xia retracted his fist and slowly said, "Did the Patrol Inspection Office offend you?"

Yu Banshou resentfully replied, "If you patrolled public security properly, the people from the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group wouldn't be so arrogant. It's because you're siding with them."

Hearing this, Chen Xia shook his head and said in a low voice, "If the Patrol Inspection Office were to intervene, neither of your factions would survive. It's your own incompetence, you can't blame anyone else. Conversely, it's already merciful that the Patrol Inspection Office didn't join Gathering of Righteousness to deal with you.

"Living in this world, you always have to pay the price. I'm just a low-level member of the Patrol Inspection Office. The decisions from above have nothing to do with me."

Yu Banshou glared fiercely at Chen Xia, seemingly unwilling to accept that he hadn't killed him.

As for their Blazing Fire Mercenary Group, reaching this point, although he had thought that he would eventually encounter someone ruthless in this line of work and meet a bad end, he hadn't expected this day to come so quickly.

He also understood that the affairs between the two mercenary groups had nothing to do with Chen Xia, a low-level patrol officer. But who made him a member of the Patrol Inspection Office?

If he could do it all over again, he would still attack Chen Xia.

Perhaps unable to breathe, Yu Banshou struggled for a moment, his eyes gradually dimming. Finally, his head lolled to the side, and he collapsed on the ground, quickly losing his breath.

Seeing Yu Banshou die like that, Chen Xia stood frozen for a long time, his hand holding the saber trembling slightly.

Throughout the encounter, Chen Xia had only used his boxing techniques and had not inflicted any knife wounds on Yu Banshou. He had never killed anyone before, and subconsciously, he did not want to do such a cruel thing.

In his memory, he had seen many gruesome corpses, but none of them were killed by him.

Now that he had killed Yu Banshou of the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group, he felt a sense of confusion.

However, Chen Xia quickly adjusted his mindset.

Even without him, Yu Banshou was doomed. On the other hand, the other party had tried to take his life, so what if he had killed him?

He wasn't in the wrong!

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

Now that Yu Banshou was dead, he considered the subsequent course of action.

As a member of the Patrol Inspection Office, Chen Xia could report the incident. However, if he reported it, the news might leak, and the Blazing Fire people might find out. Even if he didn't kill Yu Banshou, he would be implicated and would have offended the Blazing Fire group.

Therefore, reporting it was not wise. Anyway, no one knew that he was the last person to interact with Yu Banshou.

With this thought, Chen Xia quickly bent down and searched Yu Banshou. The opponent's saber was good, but Chen Xia didn't take it.

He fumbled around on himself and found some gains. Yu Banshou actually had forty thousand yuan in cash, packed in a plastic bag, and also a white pill in a box.

"Got some goods..."

This made Chen Xia's eyes gleam with a bit of surprised delight.

Normally, a regular person wouldn't carry cash, but Yu Banshou was part of the local forces. They usually received payments in cash to avoid leaving online records, so he had a habit of carrying money on him. However, ordinary members wouldn't carry much; someone like Yu Banshou carrying tens of thousands was uncommon.

This was a lucky break for Chen Xia. Forty thousand yuan was more than half a year's salary for him.

At the Patrol Inspection Office, after excluding other benefits, his basic monthly salary was only four thousand yuan. In this era, that was barely enough to support a family, let alone use it for martial arts training.

Furthermore, the ancient medicine in the wooden box was of unknown grade. If it was high-grade, it would also be worth a lot of money.

"This is the most I've ever gotten since I started this job. Truly worthy of being a leader of Liehuo! I profited from this!"

A smile played on Chen Xia's lips. With this unexpected financial windfall, the negative emotions from the recent conflict were quickly washed away by joy.

If it were like this, he almost wished more people like him would show up, so he could get more lucky breaks.

After ensuring he left no traces or fingerprints, Chen Xia glanced around and quickly rode his bike away, disappearing into the darkness.