Chapter 73 - 71: Fog Beast
Soon, a few more people volunteered.
These Patrol Guards daring to challenge Song Changming have at least achieved some success in a certain martial art.
But basically, none of them lasted thirty rounds in Song Changming’s hands.
After a few more inquiries, no one else stepped up to challenge.
Thus, Song Changming, the new Patrol Captain, was firmly established in the hearts of all the Patrol Guards.
At least in terms of power, they had to concede.
"Liang Zhao Long, you’ll temporarily take up the position of my deputy." Song Changming appointed the first person who challenged him.
In terms of personal martial prowess, this person should be among the top in these thirty Patrol Guards, with a good disposition, still young, and worth nurturing.
Therefore, he temporarily appointed this person as the deputy of the team.
Of course, it’s only temporary; if he can’t hold onto it and there’s a more suitable choice, Song Changming would replace this Liang Zhao Long.
Afterwards, Song Changming stayed in the courtyard to continue integrating this new Patrol Guard team, fostering wartime tacit understanding, and establishing some rules.
The Public Security Bureau of the County City not only oversees the City Patrol Defense Bureaus of several districts but also manages the Patrol Defense Bureaus established in other county towns of Donglai Prefecture.
Therefore, the power of the Public Security Bureau was even greater than Song Changming had previously imagined.
Its control range covers the entire Donglai Prefecture!
Any personnel transfer, major case, and even local public sentiment within any Patrol Defense Bureau in the prefecture must be reported to the Public Security Bureau without any omission.
Otherwise, once investigated, the responsible officials would face severe punishment.
The patrol team of the General Department no longer takes on daily street patrol tasks.
They have a greater burden, responsible for maintaining security both inside and outside the county city.
If there are difficult cases or tasks in various districts, they would be dispatched to assist in handling them.
Simply put, it’s the work that only elites should do.
No wonder the patrol team of the General Department requires strict selection, with each member having development potential; anyone attempting a free ride is bound to be quickly eliminated.
Currently, the seventeenth patrol team led by Song Changming has just been established not long ago, and its combat strength is naturally the weakest.
Therefore, in the short term, there is no need to worry about receiving difficult tasks.
When there was nothing to do that day, after finishing a day of duty, the only acquaintance at the General Department, the veteran Patrol Captain Zhou Sixin, invited Song Changming to drink.
Liang Chuan Mountain also came by carriage to join the fun.
After this night, Song Changming and Zhou Sixin were considered to be thoroughly acquainted.
Time flew by, and it was early March.
The climate began to warm continuously, the cold winter had passed, and the ice and snow melted while the rainfall gradually increased.
For several days in succession, it was rainy and overcast.
On Changting Street, several Jianghu Guests dressed in straw raincoats and wearing bamboo hats, with weapons in hand, were being pursued by the city’s patrol guards.
These people were highly skilled, having already killed many Changting Street Patrol Guards who came to block their way.
Even several Guard Captains were terrified and dared not step forward to face them.
"Release the crossbow arrows! Release!"
The crossbow arrows shot out, yet they couldn’t harm those Jianghu Guests in the least.
Suddenly, several figures flew down from a rooftop, with long swords aimed directly at the Jianghu Guests.
"The General Department’s people are here!"
Someone recognized the gold-edged official uniforms of those leaping down.
The Changting Street Patrol Guard team, already suffering heavy casualties, cheered up upon seeing them.
Among those who landed were Lu Zheng and Song Changming.
Meanwhile, every entrance to the streets and alleys was flooded with patrol guards from the General Department, completely blocking the area.
Strong bows and crossbows were lined up, aimed at the target enemies.
As long as there are enough of them, sending waves of arrows from all directions would make it impossible for most martial artists to escape unscathed.
Of course, they might not need to consume so many arrows this time.
Song Changming drew the Dragon Pattern Saber from his back.
This had become his habit; when encountering enemies of average strength, he could handle them with the official saber at his waist.
But once faced with a formidable adversary, he needed to use the Dragon Pattern Saber from behind him.
The few Jianghu Guests in front were indeed formidable.
So he didn’t let his guard down, holding nothing back.
Song Changming unleashed the Flying Swallow Technique with the Dragon Pattern Saber, and the Hundred Birds Blade Technique surged from both his blade and his body, the flickering blade lights resembling a flock of birds engulfing the enemy.
"You!" The Jianghu Guest vaguely felt something familiar about the subtlety of this saber technique, but couldn’t recall it at the moment.
In the moment of crisis, he couldn’t afford to think about it, raising his weapon to fend off Song Changming’s fierce attacks.
Both sides moved extremely fast, and anyone slower would find themselves at a disadvantage.
After thirty exchanges, this Jianghu Guest found himself at a disadvantage.
Song Changming’s Great Strength Bull Demon Skill gave him a significant advantage in actual combat.
In addition to his mastery of high-level blade skills, this Jianghu Guest was restricted at every turn.
The outer clothing on his body was slashed to tatters by Song Changming, revealing the secret inner armor within, which was also chopped to pieces by Song Changming’s Dragon Pattern Saber, leaving him bleeding profusely.
The Jianghu Guest was alarmed by the sharpness of Song Changming’s blade, wishing to escape but already ensnared, with no way out.
"Ah!" Seeing this, the Jianghu Guest’s eyes turned red with frenzy, intent on a final life-and-death struggle with Song Changming.
Unbeknownst to him, Song Changming’s blade turned, transforming its momentum into gusts of ghostly wind, as if banshees were wailing.
The path of the saber became cunningly enigmatic, breaking the enemy’s defense with two strikes, followed by a horizontal slash.
The Jianghu Guest couldn’t adapt quickly to Song Changming’s sudden change of sword momentum, barely managed to protect his neck from decapitation on the spot, but was still slashed to the ground by Song Changming’s powerful strike, his chest severely wounded.
On one side of the alley wall, Liang Zhao Long, without needing any prompt from Song Changming, shot his bow and arrow, precisely piercing through the other’s limbs, pinning him to the ground, leaving only one alive.
After dealing with his own opponent, Song Changming cast his gaze over the others, finding that their battles had also largely drawn to a close.
Lu Zheng shook the blood off his blade, while his other large hand firmly gripped the head of a Jianghu Guest who was already gravely injured and unconscious.
At his feet lay another Jianghu Guest.
Evidently, he had just taken on two opponents and swiftly defeated both of them.
This was the power of the strongest Chief Patrol Guard in the Public Security Bureau.
And those fighting alongside Lu Zheng were members of his Patrol Guard, each with exceptional combat power, capable of holding their own in any Patrol Armor Bureau.
Lu Zheng’s Patrol Guard was numbered three within the General Department, established for nearly two decades!
Through the sands of time, they’ve gone through two Chief Patrol Guards, as well as countless patrol guards.
Those who managed to long stand firm in this Patrol Guard as veteran members had fully realized their potential and were cultivated into formidable martial artists, whose strength surpassed that of most Guard Captains in the city!
In contrast, Song Changming’s team had just been established, with Song Changming himself being the only martial Tao powerhouse of real significance.
Therefore, in this encirclement, only Song Changming took part, while his other members could only cheer and provide support from the sidelines.
It’s fair to say that there are disparities between one Patrol Guard and another.
This operation, being his first major task after taking office as the Chief Patrol Guard of the General Department, saw the department pair him with the most powerful Lu Zheng for collaborative execution to support him.
For their newly formed Patrol Guard, completing the task was secondary; the main aim was to gain experience and train the team.
"As expected, these were people summoned by the Incense Burning Gang." With the battle over, a powerful member of the Patrol Guard removed the straw hats of several Jianghu Guests, examined their faces, and confirmed.
Lu Zheng nodded and instructed his subordinates.
"Escort them all back to the General Prison."
"It’s the Incense Burning Gang again..." On the side, Song Changming only felt that the frequency of hearing this gang’s name had been a bit high since the start of the year.
Last year, due to the infiltration by the Tengya Mountain Bandit Army, large and small gangs in the County City underwent a major purge, with many being eradicated or disbanded.
Few gang forces managed to escape the purge unscathed.
Among those that survived was the Incense Burning Gang.
In the past, the Incense Burning Gang was always active around the poorest sections of Baiyi Street, their whereabouts elusive and unpredictable, with no fixed stronghold.
Coupled with the limited ability of the Baiyi Street Patrol Armor Bureau, which often showed a lack of motivation, it was understandable why this gang hadn’t been wiped out.
Back when Song Changming was still on Baiyi Street, he had some impression of the Incense Burning Gang, even having interacted with them once when they delivered incense to his door.
Even then, he felt this gang was unusual, somewhat sinister.
Now, unexpectedly, after a period of dormancy, the Incense Burning Gang had emerged from Baiyi Street to wreak havoc in other districts, attracting many citizens who were bewitched and joined the gang.
The City Patrol Defense Bureau reported this discovery to the General Department, catching the attention of higher authorities, which led to the deployment of Lu Zheng and Song Changming’s Patrol Guards to handle the situation.
Destroying the Incense Burning Gang was the primary goal; secondly, they needed to confirm if there was any connection between this gang and the Tengya Mountain Bandit Army.
During the mission, Lu Zheng’s Patrol Guard displayed immense competence and rich operational experience.
In just two days, they followed clues to successfully corner and capture these powerful core members of the Incense Burning Gang, seizing them in the street today.
Next, they just need to get these core members to confess and reveal related information about the Incense Burning Gang, and this challenging cross-district task will be close to completion.
Just as Song Changming was mulling over this, sudden screams echoed from a narrow alleyway.
It was originally a route blocked by several patrol guards of Changting Street.
But now, those patrol guards had vanished, leaving only blood trails where they appeared to have been dragged away.
There was a commotion among the patrol guards, as if they had seen something incredible in that alley, their expressions visibly shaken.
Lu Zheng turned his head to look, and beside him, the skilled members of the Patrol Guard immediately rushed towards that alley corridor.
The next moment, an inhuman roar suddenly erupted.
It was deep, resounding, like the roar of a lion.
At the same time, those Patrol Guard experts under Lu Zheng’s command retreated in apparent disarray, some already injured.
"Release arrows!" one of them shouted.
From the alley emerged a large creature chasing those few people.
"What is that monster?!" Song Changming was slightly startled, focusing his gaze.
The creature was as large as a wild lion, covered in fur, its massive head nearly equaling the size of half a human body.
Song Changming confirmed it wasn’t a lion, more akin to a fiercely mutated large dog!
If those few had not retreated swiftly with their martial prowess, Song Changming had no doubt that one among them would have been torn apart and devoured by this big dog.
Most notably, this big dog exhaled white mist with its breath, enveloping its body, and its pupils were also a dull gray.