"A Lian, did you also encounter some inexplicable experts?"
A burly Constable in black uniform leaned over and asked in a low voice.
This person was Xu Dashan, and he had a decent relationship with him.
He possessed Divine Power from birth. Although he was at Ninth-grade Perfection, with his unparalleled physique, even some Eighth-Rank Martial Artists wouldn't dare to clash head-on with him.
"Yes, and some abnormal people. Old Xu, do you know what happened?"
Li Qinglian nodded and asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps the Sanhe Gang knows some inside information."
"I heard that tonight's patrol was personally arranged by someone from the Sanhe Gang's upper echelon, who spent a great deal to persuade the Chief Constable. However, they didn't tell the Chief Constable the specific situation, which led to our heavy losses."
"Now, the Chief Constable is holding in his anger!"
Xu Dashan scratched his head, chuckled, and whispered.
After hearing this, Li Qinglian suddenly understood.
As someone from the yamen.
Who didn't know that Chief Constable Zhang Huaide was a very laid-back person?
Every day, he drank tea, listened to music, and walked his birds, not bothering with anything.
Even when accepting benefits, he knew when to stop. Regarding county affairs, he would push them off or delay them whenever possible.
The higher-ups in the county yamen were helpless against such a person who had no desires and no ambition for promotion or wealth.
But tonight was extremely unusual; he actually took the initiative to assign them tasks, asking them to maintain order on the Sanhe Gang's side. It turned out that someone from the upper circles had pulled strings.
But he also kept Chief Zhang in the dark.
It just goes to show that with his personality, if he encountered such a situation, he wouldn't actively get involved.
No wonder Chief Zhang's eyes held obvious killing intent when he looked at the Sanhe Gang members.
After a long wait, two Constables walked out, supporting each other, clearly severely injured.
When one of the Constables saw everyone, the breath he had been holding in his heart relaxed, and he fainted directly, quickly supported by two colleagues.
The other Constable, clutching the stump of his forearm, knelt before Chief Zhang with a sorrowful expression.
"Sir, Constable Guo was killed..."
"Get up, you get up first. Quickly bandage your wound. I will handle Constable Guo's matter."
Zhang Huaide immediately stepped forward, helped the Constable up, his eyes flickering with intense anger and coldness.
"I didn't expect Constable Guo to fall in there."
Xu Dashan sighed with regret, his eyes also filled with towering rage as he looked at the Sanhe Gang members.
Li Qinglian felt the same.
He wished he could kill all those Sanhe Gang fellows.
Constable Guo was a famously good-natured person in the yamen.
Although his Martial Dao cultivation was only at Ninth-grade Late Stage, everyone admired his character and conduct. Many Constables had received his care, and Li Qinglian was no exception.
When he first started, he followed Constable Guo.
It could be said that Constable Guo had personally mentored him.
It was only later, as his strength continuously improved and he emerged from being a small Constable to become a Constable, that he left Constable Guo's team and formed his own small squad.
But he remembered all those favors.
Just then, from the Sanhe Gang's group, a gaunt middle-aged man walked over proactively.
This man wore a white short jacket, his hands hidden in his loose sleeves, appearing extremely unremarkable, but no one dared to underestimate him.
He was Qiao Si, the leader of the Sanhe Gang.
Li Qinglian narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the other party.
"Name: Qiao Si"
"Identity: Sanhe Gang Leader (Chang Sheng Association peripheral member, Wuji Sect Outer Sect Disciple)"
"Realm: Eighth-grade Late Stage"
"Skills: Eighth-grade Martial Arts — Red Sleeves (Minor Achievement); Ninth-grade martial arts — Bone-Melting Palm (Major Achievement), Eight Trigrams Roaming Body Steps (Minor Achievement)..."
When he saw Qiao Si's personal panel, he couldn't help but be startled.
Although he had always heard that Qiao Si was deeply hidden and an old fox.
He didn't know much about him, and only today did he discover that this person was even more deeply hidden than imagined.
In addition to his Martial Dao cultivation, he also concealed three identities.
He had never heard of the Chang Sheng Association.
But he knew about the Wuji Sect; that was a powerful Sect from the county town above Luoshui County.
"Chief Zhang, tonight's incident is my, Qiao Si's, fault. I didn't clarify the situation, causing Chief Constable to lose many men. This is a small token of my sincerity, and I hope Chief Constable accepts it. It is also my, Qiao Si's, compensation for the deceased."
Qiao Si walked up to Zhang Huaide, took out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve, and handed them over with an extremely sincere attitude.
Zhang Huaide did not immediately accept them, his gaze extremely cold, as if he wished he could devour Qiao Si.
"Chief Zhang, our Sanhe Gang still needs to continue to make a living in Luoshui County! We certainly don't wish for such things to happen. The only thing we can do now is try our best to compensate."
Seeing Chief Zhang's killing intent rise, Qiao Si sighed softly and continued.
"Heh... Qiao Si, are my, Zhang Huaide's, subordinates only worth this much silver? Two thousand taels, to buy the lives of twelve high-ranking members of your Sanhe Gang, would you agree?"
Zhang Huaide laughed in extreme anger, questioning him.
Qiao Si's expression remained unchanged. He gave Zhang Huaide a deep look and said, "Since Chief Zhang has said so, I, Qiao Si, am not someone who doesn't know what's good for him. Tomorrow morning, I will have someone deliver five unranked Martial Arts and fifteen portions of Minor San Yuan Soup."
"Alright."
"Qiao Si, regarding the matters in the Nan River area, I'll give you three days. If it still can't be resolved in three days, this Chief Constable will definitely request assistance from above. At that time, you will bear all the consequences yourselves."
"Also, go back and tell Third Master Fang that if the forces under his command cannot control the situation, then hand over the territory to the yamen, and we will naturally take over the handling of it."
"Let's go."
Zhang Huaide flicked his sleeve and left with Li Qinglian and the others.
The Constables carried the bodies and followed behind them.
After the group left, Qiao Si's eyes narrowed into a line, and his expression turned grim.
He turned and asked a young man in a golden brocade robe, with a well-proportioned physique like a leopard.
"What's the situation inside? Have you investigated who those assailants targeting our Sanhe Gang are?"
"Gang Leader, the situation inside is even more complicated now. Not only are there those assailants, but also people from various other forces. Currently, we don't know the origin of those assailants, nor do we know their reason for targeting us."
"According to our observations, the other various forces seem to be looking for a certain person. Perhaps that person is hiding in the Nan River area. As for the purpose, it is still unknown. Perhaps the Fang Family knows something."
The young man hesitated for a moment and spoke truthfully.
"The Fang Family..."
Qiao Si murmured softly, his gaze incredibly profound.
Although their Sanhe Gang was a dog raised by the Fang Family outside.
But who truly wanted to be a dog?
What he was most worried about now was the purpose of those assailants choosing the Sanhe Gang.
Was it for revenge, or had they discovered something?
"You also heard Zhang Huaide's words just now. We must stabilize the Nan River side as soon as possible. If necessary, we can use that batch of crossbows. I will arrange everything."
"If possible, also investigate the true purpose of the various forces coming here."
A ruthless look appeared in Qiao Si's eyes.
Originally, he had intended to use the yamen's power to deal with those assailants, but he didn't expect so many experts from various forces to come to his territory.
This caused many casualties among the yamen's people and aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the Chief Constable.
What he least wanted was for people from above to intervene.
In that case, some of his secrets would be completely exposed.
This was a consequence he could not bear.
