Danger Close at Hand

The black car charged into the silent place like a rhinoceros.

The car carved a long skid mark into the ground before stopping beside Mei Ye.

"Xiao Mei!"

A young man in work clothes got out of the car and looked Mei Ye over from head to toe, his anxious expression filled with concern.

"You've been missing for a long time. I couldn't reach you by phone either. Did something happen?"

Pang Yu spoke to Mei Ye. His skin was rough, his back slightly bent, and his face carried the weary look of a working man.

Mei Ye remembered him. He was a neighbor the previous owner of this body had met recently, and the previous owner had thought rather highly of him.

They had originally planned to have dinner together today, but the previous owner was already dead.

Listening to the words of this senior who had usually treated the previous owner fairly well, Mei Ye thought for a long time before honestly saying,

"We ran into a monster. It killed my two coworkers."

After a pause, Mei Ye cocked his head toward the rear. "Then it ate them."

"What?!"

Pang Yu's voice abruptly rose, his mouth wide enough to fit an apple.

Divine Land was humanity's stronghold. Though monsters existed, they were nothing more than rats scurrying through the streets.

Besides guarding against monsters, the Demon Suppression Bureau also had to suppress and hunt down humans who relied on their martial prowess to commit crimes.

A monster attacking government personnel was an extremely serious incident that had not happened in a long time.

"Then how did you survive?"

Pang Yu stared wide-eyed. He knew something about Mei Ye's strength. The other two had been eaten, yet Mei Ye had survived.

Something was wrong!

Pang Yu's gaze became wary as he silently took two steps back.

Mei Ye rolled his eyes and tossed Pang Yu the bloody monster head. Curling his lip, he said, "My two brothers-in-arms fought the Dog Demon to the very end in order to buy me time.

Although they died, their deaths gave me the drive to take revenge. I successfully took down the Dog Demon and avenged my brothers!"

"Are you doing a comedy routine for me?"

Pang Yu's eyelids twitched. It was not as though he knew nothing about Mei Ye's circumstances.

A rookie suffering workplace bullying from senior colleagues was hardly unusual.

But those two coworkers had not only failed to hold him back, they had even stayed behind to cover the rookie's retreat.

Then their deaths caused the rookie's martial arts to break through, allowing him to kill the Dog Demon in return.

Did that sound human at all?

"That's what happened."

Mei Ye spoke seriously. "A strong wind reveals the sturdy grass, and turbulent times reveal the loyal minister. Only at that moment did I realize that my coworkers were outstanding officers devoted to reclaiming humanity's lands. I deeply admire what they did."

"Are there really people like that in this world?"

Pang Yu said suspiciously. Could a monthly salary of a few thousand really cultivate people like that?

Or had Mei Ye killed his coworkers himself to vent his anger?

"Brother Pang, their bodies are still in the building behind us."

Mei Ye casually pointed at the building behind him, where the Dog Demon's corpse was as well.

Pang Yu stared at Mei Ye suspiciously for several seconds. After a while, Mei Ye could not tell whether he believed him or not.

"Fine. I'll assume you're not lying."

Pang Yu waved his hand and spoke slowly. He opened the car door, signaling for Mei Ye to get in.

Mei Ye got in without the slightest hesitation.

"Rumble—"

The car engine started and rolled over the muddy road. A row of headlights illuminated the way ahead as it sped into the distance.

"Brother Pang, how did you know I was here?"

Mei Ye leaned against the backseat, his saber cradled in his arms.

"Wasn't your patrol route fixed? I followed your patrol route to find you."

"Not bad, Brother Pang. You're more capable than the authorities."

Mei Ye said this because Pang Yu being the first to find him was honestly impressive.

A Demon-Suppressing Guard had gone missing. Logically, the first person to receive the news should not have been a taxi driver like him.

"Don't underestimate anyone from Jiangbei City. Everyone has another side you'd never expect!"

Pang Yu said proudly. Through the rearview mirror, Mei Ye saw how animated he looked.

The car drove across the muddy road. Pang Yu drove steadily while chatting with Mei Ye.

Pang Yu was quite talkative. Despite being over fifty, he understood very well what a young man like Mei Ye was thinking.

Mei Ye leaned back, looking relaxed.

Looking out through the window at the city, he saw its dazzling, neon-lit side.

This wasn't all that different from his previous life. There were just some martial artists with absurdly high combat power.

Mei Ye gripped the saber at his waist, his gaze sharpening.

A martial artist... maybe he could become one too... No! He would definitely become a super man!

[Current Merit Points: 400]

After killing the Dog Demon, the merit points he had gained appeared before Mei Ye.

Looking at that number, Mei Ye felt satisfied.

Four hundred merit points had raised his saber art from Beginner to Mastery.

If he invested another four hundred points, wouldn't it directly reach perfection?

With a grand wave of his hand, Mei Ye dumped all four hundred merit points into his saber art!

[Righteous Qi Saber Art (Perfection)!]

True qi flowed through Mei Ye's body. His aura became more solid, his eyes brightened, and it felt as though a blocked road had suddenly opened. He surpassed his former self and reached an even higher realm!

"Xiao Mei,"

The car suddenly stopped in a deserted area. Pang Yu turned around, an embarrassed smile on his adult face.

"Ah, I need to pee. Wait for me a moment, okay?"

"A lazy donkey always needs to shit and piss when it's put to work..."

Mei Ye grumbled and waved him off.

Pang Yu chuckled, opened the car door, and headed off to find somewhere to relieve himself.

Mei Ye sat in the relatively enclosed car. It was autumn, and the cold outside cut to the bone. There were few pedestrians, the moon was dark, and the wind was high. It was the perfect time for murder.

No wonder the Dog Demon had attacked the previous owner and the others. Winter was miserable for monsters. If they did not come out to hunt, they would not survive more than a few months.

Mei Ye looked at the dog head beside him, its eyes still wide open in death.

Come to think of it, this Dog Demon had been rather bold. It had known someone Mei Ye knew.

It did not seem like a monster at the end of its rope.

How had it ended up provoking government personnel?

And the person on the phone had said they would cause him trouble afterward. How exactly were they going to do that?

Mei Ye stroked his saber, his brow tightly furrowed as he looked outside the car window.

Then he suddenly realized that Pang Yu had been gone for several minutes. Why was he taking so long?

Mei Ye fell silent for a moment, and a bad feeling abruptly rose in his heart.

"Not good!"

He instantly opened the car door, only to find it welded shut. No matter how hard he pushed, it would not budge.

Mei Ye's expression darkened. He looked around, and it seemed as though he could hear a faint ticking sound.

The air became extremely heavy. Mei Ye drew his saber and slashed several times, shattering the car window before leaping out.

Boom!

The car suddenly exploded. The blast struck Mei Ye in the back, sending him crashing to the ground. He rolled several times before dispersing the force.

Barinng his teeth, Mei Ye felt a burning pain across his back. The explosion had been powerful, and countless shards of glass were embedded in his flesh.

"What a pity... In the end, I still have to act myself."

A pair of large leather shoes entered his field of vision. Following them upward, he saw sturdy, thick legs as powerful as those of a tiger or leopard.

A flash of silver—the saber left its sheath!

Mei Ye instinctively slashed horizontally ahead of him, the saber light ripping through the air!

The newcomer's figure flashed. With one stomp of his right foot, he moved six zhang away. He swung his twin battle axes and laughed loudly, his beard and hair standing on end like an ancient war god.

"It's you!"

Mei Ye pulled back to create distance, assumed a stance, and took a closer look. The person before him was actually Pang Yu.

Mei Ye examined Pang Yu's appearance. The former working man had turned into a martial arts expert. His physique had doubled in size, his muscles knotted and clearly defined, gleaming with a bronze sheen. Even his ordinary face had become savage, radiating ferocity and brutality.

Mei Ye searched through the local martial artist portraits and wanted notices, but found no one who matched Pang Yu's appearance.

The Demon Suppression Bureau governed martial artists throughout the land and maintained social stability.

Any martial artist would be registered.

However, practicing martial arts was a relatively private matter.

If martial artists did not reveal it themselves, the Demon Suppression Bureau could only infer the number of martial artists in different areas through the various nutritional supplements sold on the market.

"Do you know what crime it is to attack an officer of the Demon Suppression Bureau?"

Mei Ye asked in a low voice.

"Attack?" Pang Yu sneered. "I'm so scared, brat."

"I'm not attacking an officer of the Demon Suppression Bureau. I'm attacking you!"

Pang Yu said arrogantly, twin battle axes in hand and an incomparably powerful physique.

"The Dog Demon was connected to you? Who exactly are you?"

Mei Ye took several steps forward but maintained a safe distance.

"The dead are not worthy of knowing!"

Pang Yu sneered. He stomped with his left foot, brandished his twin battle axes, and roared as he spun three hundred and sixty degrees through the air. A violent wind rose, and the shockwave fluttered Mei Ye's clothes.

Facing Pang Yu's threat, Mei Ye crouched and shifted aside, using a slash to block Pang Yu's diving attack.

Against Pang Yu's continuous barrage, Mei Ye advanced and retreated with perfect control. His saber technique was astonishing, without a single opening to exploit.

"How did your cultivation become so high?!"

Pang Yu's strikes were heavy and fierce as he angrily demanded between the clanging blows.

When he had first met this brat, the brat had been a complete coward.

How could he possibly block his relentless attacks now?

"Did you practice demonic arts?!"

Pang Yu locked Mei Ye's saber between his twin axes and held him in a stalemate. The axes could not press down even an inch.

"Who would've thought an officer of the Demon Suppression Bureau would practice demonic arts?"

Pang Yu sneered. Outside Divine Land, demons and monsters watched hungrily, while within it, the Demon Cult wreaked havoc.

The Demon Cult did not care about talent or physique when cultivating. It only cared whether someone was ruthless and vicious enough.

The more inhuman the beast, the less burden they felt about capturing people as cultivation furnaces and draining others for their essence. Naturally, their cultivation improved faster.

"Then what about you people colluding with demons and monsters?"

Mei Ye shot back. Breaking free from the axes, he slashed downward, his blade splitting heaven and earth.

Pang Yu twisted aside and used his twin axes to block Mei Ye's attack.

His body was exceptionally nimble. Even while wielding twin battle axes, he was fierce without losing agility.

He leaped up and smashed both axes down.

Mei Ye retreated several steps, raised his saber, and circulated his qi. True qi flowed endlessly into the blade. The saber hummed softly, its cold light illuminating the surroundings.

Pang Yu's eyes bulged as terror crawled over his skin. He could feel that he had been locked on.

To survive, he charged straight ahead, intending to fight Mei Ye to the death.

Silver light burst forth, pouring down like the Milky Way falling from the heavens.

Squelch.

Saber qi crisscrossed the air and cut across Pang Yu's chest.

Pang Yu charged forward, his face twisted hideously.

But Mei Ye had already sheathed his saber, smiling as he watched Pang Yu approach.

?

Pang Yu was stunned, unable to understand what had suddenly gone wrong with Mei Ye.

But moments later, his field of vision kept dropping. In the end, he could only look up at Mei Ye.

Pang Yu widened his eyes and looked down, only to see half of his own body.

Then rapid footsteps came from behind him. A pair of legs stepped over his face and sprinted toward Mei Ye.

Pang Yu spat blood. His twin axes fell from his hands as he tremblingly pointed at the lower half of his body lying in front of him, terror filling his eyes.

But before long, those legs stopped. Their knees hit the ground, and the body collapsed with a crash.

He spat three liters of blood into the sky before finally dying on the spot.

[Merit Points: +800]

Mei Ye walked over to Pang Yu's corpse and crouched to search it, but found nothing.

"Who exactly wanted to kill the previous owner?"

Pang Yu had been a danger close to the previous owner, and today the Dog Demon had also come to kill him.

There had to be a reason behind all this.

"But in my memories, I was just an ordinary martial artist."

Mei Ye said in confusion. He took out his phone and checked the time. It was already midnight.

"I should notify the Demon Suppression Bureau."

Mei Ye said, then immediately complained.

"One of their own officers got into trouble, yet they still haven't found him. Someone else found him first instead. The local Demon Suppression Bureau is terrible at its job."