Resign from the job?

Li Feng followed Wang Meng all the way to Spring Renewal Hall and pushed open the door to a quiet room. Lin Yanqiu's wounds had already been treated, and she lay weakly on the sickbed.

Once a vigorous, valiant figure with a strong physique, she now looked visibly frail. Her duty uniform was in tatters, crusted with large patches of blood. Her usually neat long hair was soaked with sweat and blood, clinging in disarray to her pale cheeks.

Beside the sickbed, an elderly physician had just finished bandaging Lin Yanqiu's wounds. When Li Feng came in, he turned to look at him, shook his head with a sigh, then left the room.

Another constable stood nearby, his eyes red and filled with guilt and lingering fear.

Silence hung over the quiet room, making the atmosphere feel oppressive.

"Sister-in-law."

Li Feng gently closed the door and hurried to the bedside, asking with a frown, "What exactly happened? Your martial cultivation isn't weak by the City Guard Office's standards. How did you get hurt so badly?"

Lin Yanqiu opened her eyes slightly. Her usually piercing gaze now looked weak.

Looking at Li Feng's sweat-drenched head, she frowned slightly. "It's the middle of the night, and the streets are in chaos. What are you doing running around as a White Runner? I'm not going to die."

"At a time like this, why are you still talking about that?" Li Feng sounded a little angry, but his gaze fell on Lin Yanqiu's right arm.

It was wrapped in layer after layer of white linen, yet still hung limply at her side.

"Sister-in-law, your right hand..." Li Feng couldn't help asking.

After merging with his predecessor's memories, he had developed a deep affection for Lin Yanqiu. Now, anger and worry surged through his heart.

At his words, Wang Meng finally lost his restraint. "Tonight's assignment was going smoothly, but then we happened to run into a dangerous convict who'd escaped from the inner city's death-row prison. His martial realm was extremely high. He wasn't an ordinary martial artist."

"An escaped convict from the inner city's death-row prison?" Li Feng's pupils contracted slightly.

The Great Yan Dynasty maintained a rigid hierarchy. Anyone imprisoned on death row in the inner city was a powerful martial artist, nothing like the gang thugs in the outer districts.

"If that brute hadn't still been wearing shackles and carrying old injuries, and if the other constable captains and heavy crossbowmen from our office hadn't kept him pinned down with bolts, our captain might have died there today."

Wang Meng's eyes nearly split with fury. "To cover our retreat, the Chief Constable took a palm strike from that convict head-on. The meridians and bones in her right arm... the physician said they're almost completely shattered."

Li Feng felt a buzzing erupt inside his head.

In this chaotic, man-eat-man world where martial strength reigned supreme, Li Feng knew all too well what losing a sword-wielding right hand meant.

Not only was her path in martial arts severed, even protecting herself would become a problem.

"Shut up, Wang Meng. You talk too much," Lin Yanqiu snapped coldly. Then she turned back to Li Feng and forced a faint smile. "Don't listen to his fussing. I'm fine. That bastard took a slash from me, too, along with several heavy crossbow bolts. He's probably badly wounded himself. He won't be much better off."

"As for this arm, if it's crippled, so be it. Even with only my left hand, I, Lin Yanqiu, can still wield a blade and hold my ground in Blackrock City!"

"Sister-in-law..." Li Feng took a deep breath, knowing she was only putting on a brave front.

Wang Meng wiped his face and gritted his teeth. "The physician said White Treasure Pavilion in the inner city sells a miraculous martial medicine called Black Jade Bone-Molding Paste. Supposedly, it can regrow severed limbs and put flesh back on bare bones. We just don't know how much silver it costs."

"The Chief Constable was injured in the line of duty, so by law, the City Guard Office should pay her a generous compensation. If the rest of us pool some money too, we should be able to buy it."

Li Feng was not so optimistic.

His body's original owner had known something about the medicinal pills sold in the inner city. Such Martial Dao pills were always expensive, often costing hundreds of taels of silver. Low-ranking constables like them worked themselves to the bone for a whole month and earned only a few taels.

As for the compensation, after every layer of superiors had skimmed their share, how much would actually reach his sister-in-law's hands?

In short, that little money almost certainly wouldn't be enough. He would have to see whether he could find another way when the time came, or borrow some from relatives and friends.

"Stop talking about these fool's dreams," Lin Yanqiu sighed, forcibly cutting short Wang Meng's fantasy.

She fixed her eyes on Li Feng, her expression suddenly turning grave, and said solemnly, "Feng, listen carefully. First thing tomorrow morning, go to the City Guard Office and resign from your post as a White Runner."

Li Feng froze. "Resign?"

"Yes. You must!" Lin Yanqiu gritted her teeth and explained, "My right arm is crippled now, and my martial abilities have suffered badly. There's no way I can keep my position as Chief Constable. In two days at the latest, the higher-ups will send in a new Chief Constable to take over my district."

She paused for breath, then continued, "A new emperor brings new ministers, and a new official lights three fires upon taking office. To establish his authority quickly and install his own trusted men, he'll definitely make an issue of my past failings."

"You're a White Runner I forced them to take in. By the rules, even a White Runner needs to have entered the Martial Dao and reached the Qi-Blood First Stage. You haven't even entered the Martial Dao, but I forced you in anyway. If you stay there, he'll definitely make you the chicken he kills to frighten the monkeys and establish his authority. Do you understand?"

Li Feng looked thoughtful.

He understood that his sister-in-law was trying to keep the new Chief Constable from making trouble for him.

"...I understand."

Li Feng nodded slightly and did not refuse.

He didn't want his injured sister-in-law worrying any further. As for how to deal with the new Chief Constable, he could work that out later. The boat would straighten itself when it reached the bridge; there would always be a way.

I can't exactly tell her I have a cheat, and all I need now is a Martial Dao cultivation manual to reach the maximum level with one click.

He had originally planned to save up slowly and buy a Martial Dao manual on the black market, or go straight to a martial school and take a master. But with the situation changing so abruptly, he had to bring his step-by-step plan forward.

His most pressing task was to find a way to earn some extra money quickly and get his hands on a genuine Martial Dao cultivation method.

"Oh, right..."

Lin Yanqiu suddenly lowered her voice. "A vicious new gang has appeared in the South City District recently. I think it's the Green Bamboo Gang. The Black Tiger Gang is also secretly recruiting men. The two gangs seem to be fighting over territory, so things are unsettled. You mustn't go wandering around at night."

"All right." Li Feng nodded slightly, then asked, "But sister-in-law, in your current condition, what if enemies from those gangs come looking for you..."

"Don't worry."

Before he could finish, Lin Yanqiu cut him off. "This incident involved a dangerous convict from the inner city, and the bigwigs at the City Guard Office have lost face. They've already posted Shadow Guards around here. For at least the next ten days or fortnight, no one will dare cause trouble at Spring Renewal Hall."

"All right, it's late. Hurry home."

Lin Yanqiu waved her remaining good hand and closed her eyes. "I've only just had my wounds bandaged, and I need to rest. Don't overthink it. Just go home and stay there."

Li Feng took a long look at the woman on the sickbed, then turned and pushed the door open. Wang Meng and the other constable followed him out.