Police Station

After taking Aoduo down, Dole felt incomparably exhilarated, and even his mood brightened. He quietly returned to where he lived and rubbed Dog Aoduo's head several times. Dog Aoduo grew slightly dissatisfied, climbed up, and pawed wildly at Dole, leaving claw marks all over his clothes.

Man and dog immediately began playing together.

Dog Aoduo rather liked Dole. He did not mind playing with him a little. With the sensitivity of his nose, he could naturally smell the blood on Dole. This child had seen blood today? But judging from his expression and demeanor, the outcome seemed fairly good. As long as he had not gotten the worse end of it.

After playing for a while, Dole began meditating and visualizing.

The slums erupted into chaos. Not long after Dole left, someone found the unconscious Aoduo and the other injured man. Seeing Aoduo's miserable state, everyone was stunned.

Dole had actually dared to fight back. He had actually dared to cripple Aoduo's leg. Everyone looked at one another in bewilderment, at a complete loss. Something huge was about to happen.

At night, inside an old-looking house beside Rose Avenue, Aoduo's father, Sam, the overseer of Bianchi Mine, stared grimly at Aoduo on the bed. Aoduo's leg was crippled.

Beside Aoduo, a physician-looking man finished examining him. He shrugged at Sam and said with a frown, "Several tendons are severed. It is not a major problem; they can be reattached. But I'm only a Level 2 physician. Even if I reconnect them, I cannot restore him to how he was before. You'll have to find another way."

Sam clenched his fists tightly, his brow furrowing into deep grooves. "Then who should I seek out?"

The physician smiled. "For medicine that reconnects severed tendons, nothing beats the Holy See's Water of Life. But we have no such thing as the Holy See in the Northern Kingdom. Next would be the Ability Society's alchemical Tendon Mending Potion, made specifically for treating severed tendons. Tendon Mending Potion is a Level 2 potion and is quite valuable. You should prepare yourself."

Sam's heart jolted, filled with shock. Tendon Mending Potion—this was the first time he had heard of it. Even as the overseer of Bianchi Mine, there were not many things he came into contact with.

But anything connected to the Ability Society was certainly not cheap. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then roughly how much is a bottle? So long as it can heal Aoduo's leg, I am willing to pay any price."

The physician rose and began packing his things. "Around a dozen gold coins."

Sam's eyes went wide. "I only earn fifty silver coins a month. Ten gold coins, this...?"

The physician curled his lip. "In any case, there's nothing I can do. If you are unwilling to buy it, then in a few days, once Aoduo's muscles atrophy, I'm afraid no amount of money will be able to cure him."

Sam's fists slowly loosened, then clenched again. His eyes brimmed with hatred. That damned little bastard. I'll kill you for certain.

"Fine. I'll make arrangements right away."

Sam had two sons. His eldest had joined the army and only returned once every few months. Besides, in times like these, soldiers lived from one day to the next and could die at any moment. His second son was the one who could carry on the family line, so Sam had always doted on him. Yet he had fallen at the hands of some lackey.

After seeing the physician off, he stood in the courtyard and swiftly thought of many possible methods. He prepared to contact acquaintances. So long as he knew where that person was, everything would be easy to handle.

A damned orphan, and a commoner at that. He could be kneaded and pinched however Sam pleased.

But at the thought of Aoduo being ruined by someone like that, Sam's expression darkened.

In a small courtyard beside Rose Manor, where the vice city lord's Aoun Family resided, a guard entered a small house from outside and soon arrived in the rear courtyard.

The rear courtyard was an open flat space. Dressed in black, Kadiya held a dueling sword and stood in a sword stance, his body straight as a rod, his arm like a blade, its tip pointing toward the sky.

The guard entered the courtyard. Even from far away, upon seeing Kadiya, he could sense the immense power surging from him, and awe filled his heart. He stopped a short distance away, gave a slight bow, and said, "Lord Kadiya, the child you asked me to keep an eye on ran into a bit of trouble yesterday." He recounted what had happened.

Kadiya's expression was as still as an ancient well. He withdrew from his stance, sheathed his sword, then felt around inside his robes and flicked out a silver coin. "I understand. You've worked hard."

The guard caught the silver coin and struck his fist against his chest. "Serving you is my good fortune, my lord."

Kadiya said, "Keep watching him. Report to me if anything happens."

The guard nodded. Though Kadiya was merely a dueling swordsman retained by the Aoun Family, his inheritance was exceedingly rare. Countless people wished to place their descendants under his tutelage, but Lord Kadiya had never thought them worthy. It seemed that child had caught his eye.

He soon departed.

Kadiya stood in the courtyard, his expression carrying an unusual meaning. Someone was actually watching that child as well? Still, the worse his life became, the better Kadiya could carry out his plans.

The child's talent was decent and worth cultivating, but it was still too early to say what the final outcome would be. Dole was merely a promising seedling Kadiya had stumbled upon. He would watch for now.

"Aoduo, Sam—mere small fry." To Kadiya, father and son were like maggots by the roadside, creatures he could crush to death with a casual step.

He did not interfere. Instead, he continued standing there, slowly spread his legs apart, fixed his gaze straight ahead, and then gradually thrust his sword forward.

His body was a sword, his form was a sword, his hand was a sword.

This was Kadiya's strongest sword strike, the one that had made his name resound throughout Duomeng City: such an utterly ordinary thrust.

But if an expert had been watching, they would have seen that within this seemingly simple thrust, he made several exceedingly subtle changes, enough to deal with dozens of variations from an opponent. It was far from just a simple sword strike.

A night passed.

Dole left the house refreshed and clear-headed, heading straight for the blacksmith shop.

The moment he entered, he saw blacksmith Harley with his back to him, directing others as they moved something. It was a massive pile of iron crates.

The iron crates were heavy. Even grown blacksmiths found them strenuous to carry. Dole was somewhat surprised. Were these all raw ore?

Several hundred crates stood at the entrance to the rear courtyard. Clearly, they all needed to be moved inside.

Dole walked up behind Harley, the supervisor, and gave a slight bow. "Ha."

Harley turned around and glanced at Dole, his expression darkening slightly. "I heard about what happened yesterday. Someone may come looking for you today."

Dole froze. His faint joy abruptly came to a halt, and he asked carefully, "What happened?"

After thinking for a moment, Harley said gravely, "The father of the person you beat went to the police station. Someone from the police station will come looking for you today. But it's all right. I'll protect you."

Dole's heart lurched, then gradually turned cold. Panic rose within him.

The city guard was different from the police station. The police station handled public order, specifically brawls and fights. If it was the police station coming for him, he would truly feel a little afraid.

Duomeng City's police station was infamous. Anyone without money or influence who went in would lose a layer of skin even if they did not die—everyone knew that. The other side had money and power; if he went there, wouldn't he fail to come back out?

His expression changed.

Harley looked at Dole and sighed. "Don't worry. It'll be fine. I've already asked around about that man. He's just a minor supervisor at Bianchi Mine. I doubt he'd dare come looking for you."

Dole nodded. "Then many thanks, Ha." After thinking it over, he hesitantly pulled out ten silver coins from his robe and handed them to Harley with a pained heart.

Seeing this, Harley said irritably, "Does Ha need your few silver coins? Go on, go play somewhere else. Don't interrupt my work. I may be busy for a while lately, so you'll need to put in some effort."