1918 A Certain Help
"Sir, you should be going to Liu Ah Liu Hotel as soon as possible," The Elder cautioned him once more and began talking to the soldier but Jin was not leaving at all. Instead, he moved to the side as he eavesdropped the conversation between the soldier and the Liu Qian Town's Chief.
"How many men do you have to evacuate the elderly?" The Chief asked.
"Chief Ding, I came here as soon as I could with just a jeep and a partner. The rest were still checking and securing the perimeters while a few more went to notify the remaining towns in the area." The soldier said, and Jin could peek from afar using his Inverse Eyes to see his surname Hong sewn on his chest. "But the casualties would be here first, wouldn't it?" Chief Ding questioned and Hong nodded his head.
"There is no guarantee that the town would be hit, it's just a precaution," Hong advised the Chief not to panic.
"The last time you said that those Monster Howling Apes were right at our doorstep!" "But we did put it down, didn't we? Only one of the houses had been damaged and the military had compensated. Last I remembered, that family " Hong asked the Chief to have more faith in their team. "We still have the cover of the night to keep things down but we need you to at least evacuate them as orderly as possible."
When Hong said the last sentence, he noticed that Jin was blatantly hearing their conversation even though he was at least a few metres away from them. "Sir, please leave for Liu Ah Liu Hotel as soon as possible." He tried to be courteous but Jin walked forth. "I can be of a certain help," Jin said as he was relieved that he still had his Demon Exorcist badge in his storage watch. When he took it out to show it to them, their guard was slightly lower, and could understand why this particular person was here not just to eavesdrop but to offer help too.
"I do not have money to offer you as compensation." Chief Ding replied and Jin shook his head.
"That is fine. Let's just say I am in the mood for philanthropy. Give me some description of what the monster looks like and I will do what I can." Jin said but Hong was suspicious of the person's generosity and capability.
"I am sorry but it's not that I am not willing to trust you but are you even capable of handling it yourself when we needed a team to ward off the monsters coming." Soldier Hong said as he wanted some proof that he could trust Jin to hold the fort when it came down to it.
"I won't blame you for not trusting but I think this would be sufficient proof." Jin raised his hand out and Hong grabbed it. It was a common method to secretly show how 11:00
strong one person was by exchanging chi with each other if one did not wish to portray their cultivation for people to see.
The whole idea was to do a handshake and at that point of time, the two would contest to see how their chi could reach the other person's arm in the shortest amount of time. A cultivator of a higher grade could easily overwhelm a lower grade with his chi based on the difference of their grade. At that time, the other person will also try to block and send his chi over to his 'opponent'.
If they were evenly matched, it means that supposed cultivation should be the same but that was not the case when Hong shook Jin's. He thought that the Demon Exorcist did not have much chi in him but the moment he was about to reach his 'goal', Jin immediately sent his chi out, overwhelming his entire arm causing Hong to have a numbing sensation throughout his arms and shoulders momentarily.
"Enough proof?" Jin asked as Hong let go of his hand and nodded. He did not expect the Demon Exorcist to be of such a high level. Judging from his chi level, this particular person might be a professional.
"The sensation will go off soon enough," Jin said as he casually put his hands back into his pockets and scanned the area with his Inverse Eyes. "Ok, I will trust you...Mr..." Hong wanted to ask for the name but Jin merely smiled. "Details, please." Jin ignored Hong's request for his name and the soldier reluctantly gave the information that there were at least three Howling Ape monsters that broke through the barrier. "There might be a few other variants of monsters out there, but we do not have any information of it as of now as the sensors picked up these few that leaked through the barrier."
"How did the monsters go through the barrier in the first place? Shouldn't they be stopped in the first place, and once they hit the barriers, the sensors will go off?" Jin asked and Hong did not seem particularly happy to chat about it at the moment so Jin decided to change his questions. "Never mind, when was the last attack?"
"About 4 months ago. The monsters descended from Mongolia from what we know. This attack might be from the same place as well. The weather and environment might have been the cause."
"Alright, that's all I need to know for now. Thanks." Jin said as he let the two finish their conversation. Hong was subsequently tasked by Chief Ding to aid the elders who were immobile first while the Chief himself would spread the news to the rest of the townfolks.
"User, just to verify, are you using this opportunity to make yourself known to the Chief?" The System asked and Jin nodded his head
"I thought it was obvious enough?" Jin commented. "But I am now more interested in the leakage. The barrier should be able to stop them long enough for the military to respond. But right now, it seemed like they were...hmmm." Jin walked further North as instructed by the Chief as to where the barrier was.
"Does the User think that this is the same problem as what you had experienced previously?" The System queried.
"That monster horde incident? Nah. I think this is genuinely a problem that the military needs to solve. At the very least, I had some exposure to the possibility that the barrier might be breached occasionally." Jin replied as he climbed up a tree branch and surveyed the area with his Inverse Eyes. "Are you planning to solve this on your own? The Grey Bear Squad can be informed."
"Nah, right now this is a deal between that lackey of a soldier and the Chief of this town. If we were to send reinforcements into the wild to search for the monsters, it might cause some confusion. Unlike the other Royal Zodiacs, I do not have a designated army under my name. Just a company."
"The System can immediately register for a private military company under your name for you to mobilise them." The System said and Jin laughed out.
"There is no way we are able to do that at a moment's notice." Jin chuckled at the absurdity of it
"As long as the monster is not in sight, it is possible to do so." All the System needed was the go ahead to perform its set of tasks to implement the private military company.
"Nah, it's fine. Let the military settle them if they ever find them. So long they did not enter my territory, I would give any two hoots about it. Also, if I were to help at every instance the monsters appear, they might as well pay me rather than the military." Jin rolled his eyes. The mountains and forests were quiet without much activity but the town on the other hand was packed with people and neighbours shouting at each other even though they were organised in their evacuation. The two soldiers were seen doing their best to aid the most immobile elders out of their houses and everyone was moving to the Liu Ah Liu which was situated at the southern most side of the town.
"Seems like a rather close community," Jin said to the System. "Looks like I have to do some proper research before displacing them."
"Or, you could just do what you need to do and build a better housing environment for them to be in." The System stated. "Just equal or less rent unless you hired them and consider that as free housing." "Lol, hire those elders, to do what? make them sit in Amber Arbour to drink free coffee and complain about life all day long?" "Doing some charity would not hurt the community. If you were to take care of the elderly in the area, maybe assisted from some donation or mandatory contribution from the current townfolks, it might be doable."
"To do what? Open an old folks dimensional instance? I might as well let them stay in the VR and have fun in there." "That works too. Letting them feel alive again in the last few years of their lives does not sound like a bad idea." The System stated and Jin wondered why the System was talking like this. Is it aiming for some geriatric business that Jin does not know about? Or was he aiming to go for such a business model?
Still, it was a food for thought.
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