Chapter 207: Chapter 125: Monster
Qin Fang’s expression immediately darkened. A large number of Anjin masters had mysteriously disappeared from the Government Office Entrance. This was not good news.
The attitudes of the County Magistrate and the Captain of the True Martial Guard were also unclear.
’From the looks of it, they seem to have already detected the existence of the Mysterious Power. That’s why they’re so wary of all Anjin masters. They must have uncovered something.’
’But... it’s also possible this is just a cover-up.’
’After all, those two are the ones who instigated the current situation.’
...But the more Qin Fang thought about it, the more he felt the former possibility was more likely.
’After all, if the Mysterious Power already had the County Magistrate and military authority in its grasp, what I’d be seeing upon entering the city would be monsters roaming everywhere, hunting people to eat—not this current situation of control and slaughter clearly targeting "consumables."’
But after a moment’s thought, Qin Fang shook his head and said, "Forget it. Let’s not worry about them... We should get out of the city first."
His senior brother remained silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod...
"By the way, where’s Monkey? Is he alright?"
Qin Fang had suddenly thought of Monkey.
Monkey had helped him a lot recently, and he was someone trustworthy. Now that Qin Fang was in the county seat, he hoped to get Monkey out of this dangerous place as well, if possible...
"Don’t worry. Monkey is basically my personal guard now. I secretly told him when I came over. He’s gone to get his sister, and they’ll meet up with us later."
Zhou Xing, naturally, hadn’t forgotten about Monkey either.
...Monkey was indeed a sharp fellow. He had been involved in many things with Qin Fang recently and was worthy of trust... Zhou Xing was not the type to burn his bridges after crossing the river.
Qin Fang breathed a sigh of relief at his words. After nodding, he said, "I’m going to change clothes, too."
He hastily threw on the Black Clothes. When he came out, he saw that his master and master’s wife had also changed.
His master’s wife had her hair pinned up and her face was smudged with some ash. Although a close look would still reveal the posture of an old woman, it would be dark soon, and with Zhou Xing leading them, it probably wouldn’t be a problem.
Seeing that they were more or less ready and the time was right, Zhou Xing gave a call, and the four of them headed out.
Soon after they reached the street, the sounds of smashing, and even hacking and slashing, came from all directions.
His master’s wife was trembling slightly. Qin Fang walked beside her, holding her hand to help her relax a little. She kept her head down, not daring to look up.
After a while, they had crossed several streets when they encountered a squad of constables. The leader took a good look at Zhou Xing and hurriedly bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Guard Zhou Shouzheng."
Zhou Xing’s expression didn’t change as he nodded. "How is the search going?"
The man quickly replied, "We’ve finished searching this alley. We found thirteen Medicine People. We’re about to head to the next alley."
With his head down, Qin Fang clearly heard the man say ’Medicine Person,’ not ’Demon.’
"Good. Be thorough. You know how much more trouble it is once a Medicine Person goes berserk."
"Yes, sir!"
The man accepted the order.
Zhou Xing waved his hand, and the man led his constables away, quickly entering an alley and knocking on doors one by one...
Seeing Qin Fang watching the constables, Zhou Xing sighed softly. "Such a perfectly good county seat... ’Medicine Person’ is the term the County Magistrate decided on. It refers to those who took the medicine from Ganlu Hall. After a while, they go mad one by one, attacking and trying to kill anyone they see, and they become astonishingly strong. The frequency of the Medicine People going berserk is increasing, so the County Magistrate ordered them all to be killed, if possible, before the ’symptoms’ manifest..."
"With all this killing, I’m afraid half of True Martial County... will be empty, won’t it?" Qin Fang said.
"Yes..." Zhou Xing murmured.
But after a moment, he took a deep breath and said, "Alright, let’s get going."
The group nodded and continued toward the northern part of the city.
Along the way, they ran into several more groups of Soldiers and officials, and even witnessed Medicine People being killed right on the street...
The color drained from his master’s wife’s face again and again, and her hands trembled.
If Qin Fang hadn’t been holding her hand tightly the whole time, she probably wouldn’t have even been able to stand...
...A scene like this was clearly far beyond what she could bear.
Fortunately, nothing bad happened in the end.
Zhou Xing was well-known. Nearly all the officials and Soldiers they encountered recognized him. After a brief greeting, they would go their separate ways.
Soon, the North City Gate was in sight. They saw a crowd of people gathered under the gate, pushing wooden carts... and those carts were all loaded with corpses.
There were men and women, old and young.
The stench of blood filled the air.
"Master Zhou..."
Before they even reached the northern part of the city, two figures darted out from a corner. Seeing Zhou Xing, they immediately greeted him in a low voice.
Qin Fang looked over... who else could it be but Monkey?
Monkey was currently dressed as a constable.
Behind him was another person also dressed as a constable... one look and he could tell it was, indeed, Monkey’s sister.
...The girl’s face was pale, her eyes filled with terror.
Zhou Xing acknowledged them with a sound. Monkey looked up and saw Qin Fang, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Master Qin!"
Qin Fang looked at Monkey and gave a slight nod.
...The sister behind him also subconsciously glanced at Qin Fang.
"We can catch up later. Let’s get out of the city first."
Zhou Xing instructed them in a low voice before walking forward.
They quickly arrived beneath the city wall, where a few of them took a wooden cart filled with corpses...
The cart was dripping with fresh blood, loaded with at least a dozen bodies. Each one had a savage expression, emaciated and gaunt like a malevolent ghost. Blood dripped down, and the reek of it was overwhelming.
Even Qin Fang, who was used to the sight of corpses, narrowed his eyes, to say nothing of his master’s wife and Monkey’s sister.
The color instantly drained from both of their faces. His master’s wife held up slightly better, but Monkey’s sister nearly threw up.
But she immediately covered her mouth and forced herself to calm down.
Zhou Xing glanced at them, gave them a meaningful look, and then walked straight toward the city gate.
