Chen Xia's blade was new equipment issued after he was promoted to captain. Forged from alloy, it was incredibly hard and razor-sharp.
Faced with this situation, he didn't flinch. Instead, he shouted, "Who gave you the nerve to ambush someone from the Patrol Inspection Office at night?"
"What? The Patrol Inspection Office..."
Hearing this, Zhao Banshou and the others froze. He looked Chen Xia up and down and noticed that although the man wore an ordinary black jacket, his shoes were indeed the shiny black kind worn by people from the Patrol Inspection Office.
The investigation had been rushed. They'd learned Chen Xia might be here and had set up a stakeout, but they hadn't expected him to be with the Patrol Inspection Office.
Still, Zhao Banshou didn't back down. He sneered, "So what if you're with the Patrol Inspection Office?"
"You secretly took more than six hundred thousand worth of Yuangu Pills. I doubt you'd dare let the higher-ups at the Patrol Inspection Office find out, would you? I suggest you hand them over."
Chen Xia said slowly, "Yu Banshou died under suspicious circumstances, and the Patrol Inspection Office has no evidence. What, did you kill him? Otherwise, how would you know he had something on him?"
At these words, Zhao Banshou and the others' expressions shifted.
Although the Patrol Inspection Office knew that the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group had wiped out Yu Banshou, they couldn't say so publicly. That would amount to a confession to murder.
Zhao Banshou sneered. "We didn't kill him, naturally. But one of the pills on him belonged to me. You picked it up. Don't bother denying it—we checked the surveillance footage and saw you take it."
"Give it back, and we'll let this go! Otherwise, even if you take this to the higher-ups at the Patrol Inspection Office, you won't come out ahead. Let me tell you plainly: you're just an ordinary patrol officer. You can't take on our Gathering Justice Mercenary Group. You'd better understand that!"
"Is that so? You're welcome to try!"
Chen Xia furrowed his brow and didn't yield an inch. Instead, he raised the broadsword in his hand. Come on, he was a captain, after all. If word got out that he'd been threatened by people from a local mercenary group, where would that leave his pride?
The atmosphere between the two sides grew taut, on the verge of erupting into a fight.
But just as they were locked in a standoff, a robust male voice suddenly rang out from behind them:
"Is this little matter really worth bothering the Patrol Inspection Office's higher-ups over? Whatever the issue is, why not settle it here? I can help you sort things out."
Lights shone from the far end of the alley as a stream of figures in dark uniforms poured in.
In the blink of an eye, Patrol Inspection Office personnel had surrounded the area—at least thirty of them.
Zhao Banshou's heart clenched at the sight. He hadn't seen Chen Xia call for anyone. What was going on?
There was only one possibility: Chen Xia had notified the Patrol Inspection Office before coming here.
And when Zhao Banshou saw the man leading the group, he knew things had gotten serious.
He knew this man. He was Zhou Tong, the Mid-level Captain of Xingou Street, a Grade 1, Seventh Stage martial artist. Even the higher-ups in the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group had sternly warned them that the Patrol Inspection Office's mid- and upper-level officers were absolutely off-limits.
"So it's Captain Zhou! This must be a misunderstanding. We'll leave right away..."
At the sight of this scene, the Gathering Justice men's bravado evaporated. They exchanged uneasy glances, fear showing in their faces. Zhao Banshou in particular looked as if he'd run into a ghost out on the street. He hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
"Hold it! You Gathering Justice people have some nerve. You've only just taken over Xingou Street, and now you dare lay a hand on someone from the Patrol Inspection Office. I'd say you're tired of living!" Zhou Tong was tall and looked to be in his forties. His thunderous shout made the Gathering Justice men jump.
Zhao Banshou protested, "Captain Zhou, we're not with the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group!"
"Who else on this street could put on such a show? Stop pretending! Besides, do you know who you've stopped?"
Zhou Tong continued, "This is Chen Xia, the newly appointed Sub-Captain of our unit and a key promotion target of the Chief Office. He was the one who killed the traitor Hu Biao a while back. If anything happens to him today, every one of you in the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group will be held to account."
"What... He's Chen Xia?" Zhao Banshou and the others had clearly heard of him. Someone had recently killed a traitor, and he was said to be incredibly strong. They just hadn't known they'd stopped that very man.
They weren't strong enough to take on Chen Xia, a man who could even kill a traitor.
Damn it! Zhao Banshou cursed his luck. The one who'd taken their pills was a captain, and one the Patrol Inspection Office had singled out for promotion. There was no way he'd get those pills back now!
"So you're Captain Chen. My apologies. We were out of line."
Zhao Banshou's eyes darted about. Under the pressure, he could only bow his head. He cupped his hands toward Chen Xia, his earlier aggression replaced by an ingratiating smile. "We mistook you for someone else. I'm sorry. If we'd known you were Captain Chen, we'd never have dared act so recklessly... This was just a case of the flood dragon king's temple being washed away by the flood!"
"What were you asking him for just now? You can explain the matter clearly," Captain Zhou said, standing with his hands behind his back. He'd caught a hint of something: Chen Xia seemed to have taken something from them.
It had to be worth quite a bit, perhaps something left behind after the Blazing Fire Mercenary Group members died. But as far as Zhou Tong was concerned, so what?
Chen Xia hadn't admitted to taking anything. Even if he did, what of it?
Mercenary groups might swagger in front of ordinary people, but they weren't qualified to throw their weight around in front of the Patrol Inspection Office.
Zhao Banshou broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly said, "It's nothing, Captain Zhou. We mistook him for someone else. It really was a misunderstanding... I promise it won't happen again."
Zhou Tong was a Mid-level Captain with eighty subordinates. He also knew other Mid-level Captains. They could easily gather several hundred patrol officers and wipe out the entire Gathering Justice Mercenary Group. If they tried to fight head-on, they wouldn't come out of it well.
Besides, Zhou Tong was in charge of the Xingou Street district where the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group was based. As the saying went, the official on the spot outranked the one from afar. Who would dare slight him?
Zhao Banshou understood that well enough. Zhou Tong paid no further attention to the Gathering Justice men and turned his gaze to Chen Xia instead.
"Captain Zhou!"
Chen Xia greeted him. He'd sensed something was amiss and sent a message in the unit's group chat through his electronic watch. He hadn't expected Zhou Tong to bring everyone on duty. It was an extraordinary show of support.
Zhou Tong patted Chen Xia on the shoulder and said with a hearty smile, "No need to be so formal. How about this? I'm a few years older than you. If you don't mind, just call me Brother Zhou from now on!"
The few other captains nearby watched the scene with envy in their eyes. They'd followed Zhou Tong for a long time and knew him well.
Zhou Tong would never treat an ordinary captain this way, much less change how he was addressed just to grow closer. To the subordinates watching, it was clear that Zhou Tong valued Chen Xia highly. Otherwise, he wouldn't have acted like this.
Zhao Banshou and the others could see it, too. They hadn't just stopped a captain from the Patrol Inspection Office; they'd stopped someone who wasn't an ordinary captain. He might have influential connections or some other ability—otherwise, Zhou Tong wouldn't have treated him this way.
The dozen-odd men present stared wide-eyed, as if turned to stone. Many were sweating all over, feeling the situation had become dangerously precarious.
They'd picked the wrong person to provoke.
They might have gotten away with treating an ordinary person like this, but picking a fight with a respected public servant from the Patrol Inspection Office was hardly wise. It was practically asking for death.
Zhao Banshou cursed himself for being a fool. He should've investigated properly before acting. Who would've thought a young man riding a bicycle could be this formidable?
He'd assumed Chen Xia would be easy to push around. Instead, Chen Xia had summoned a whole crowd in no time. They were utterly outmatched, caught between a rock and a hard place with no easy way out!
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