Since the Fox Spirit became Zhang Chen’s skill, it remains invisible to outsiders; ordinary mortals can’t see it at all. The Fox Spirit swaggered into the scene, and the surrounding officers acted as if they didn’t see it.
As there were officers escorting him, Zhang Chen didn’t respond to the Fox Spirit but looked at it with disappointment, clearly indicating that the Fox Spirit had failed to persuade the bookish scholar.
"I need money! Need silver." Zhang Chen murmured softly, which the officers couldn’t hear, but he trusted the Fox Spirit could.
"You can speak loudly now! I’ve cast an Illusion Technique; these people can’t hear us talking." The Fox Spirit said beside Zhang Chen.
Zhang Chen’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, not expecting the Fox Spirit to possess such a skill: "I need money! Need a lot of silver!"
"The silver is easy to arrange; wait here for a moment. The village chief’s house still hides several dozen taels of silver; I’ll fetch it for you."
Upon hearing this, the Fox Spirit, without hesitation, disappeared from Zhang Chen’s sight like a whirlwind. In just thirty-some breaths, Zhang Chen felt the weight in his sleeve, having gained something.
Although the Fox Spirit’s Transportation Technique currently couldn’t conceal physical matter, as an eighth-level Great Demon, it could easily use Illusion Technique to deceive the ordinary people.
"Sorry, I failed to persuade the scholar. Can you give him a way out?" The Fox Spirit placed the silver into Zhang Chen’s sleeve, apologizing softly.
Touching the silver in his sleeve, Zhang Chen suddenly felt that having the ’living skill of a Fox Spirit’ was unbelievably good, extremely good.
Instead of answering the Fox Spirit, Zhang Chen collected it, looked at the leading constable, pulled out the silver from his sleeve, and stepped forward: "Sir, I have a small token here, and hope you don’t mind."
Zhang Chen stuffed all the silver straight away, knowing it wasn’t his to spend, so he didn’t feel distressed.
With the Fox Spirit as a living skill, is there any worry about lacking silver in the future?
There are many wealthy households in the city, which are akin to my granaries!
The constable was astonished, clutching the silver in his hand. This silver is probably about twenty taels; why didn’t he find it when he was searching this kid before?
But there was no need to pursue it further; since the silver was already in hand, the constable suddenly smiled, his attitude greatly changed:
"My surname is Liu; you can call me Chief Liu!"
Chief Liu put the silver in his sleeve and told the officers nearby: "Why are you standing around? Hurry up and remove the shackles and chains from this young brother!"
A constable hurriedly stepped forward at this time to remove Zhang Chen’s shackles.
As the distance from the village head grew further away, Mrs. Zhang and the others gradually disappeared from view. Chief Liu, touching the silver in his sleeve, looked at Zhang Chen:
"Consider yourself sensible. I’m giving you a warning! You’re facing big trouble now! If you can come up with three hundred taels of silver, there might be a chance to tip things in your favor to have the County Magistrate clear you. Without three hundred taels, if you have any last words, feel free to say so, and we’ll relay them for you; otherwise, there might not be a chance."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen’s complexion changed, his face turned pale as if he were a normal village youth, stammering while speaking: "Why does Chief Liu say this? I haven’t done anything; how could the magistrate blame me? Isn’t this a normal court proceeding? How could it be like this?"
"Originally, it was a trivial courtroom matter. Even if Zhang Chen lost an ear, it was nothing; compensating with some money would settle it. But the houses of you two were leveled to the ground, everything within fifty meters was destroyed, and a few-meter-deep crater appeared in the ground. What kind of power is that? If it isn’t thoroughly investigated, do you think you can walk free?"
Zhang Chen feigned a bewildered look, constantly utilizing the crystal within him, extracting blood from his face to make his complexion appear even paler: "What does that have to do with me? I was hunting in the mountains; I’m innocent! According to what the official said, if Zhang Chen survived the explosion, even if there’s an issue, it should be Zhang Chen! The fact that the ground exploded into a crater—and that poor scholar Zhang Chen survived? Only losing an ear?"
"You’re right, which is why that penniless Zhang Chen went to the official offices to accuse you, already trapped himself and got incarcerated, and then Zhang Chen pointed you out. You know what I mean, right?" Chief Liu said: "Such a big issue has happened; not investigating thoroughly would lead to fatalities! Many, many people would die! Even the County Magistrate might be implicated. I’ve heard that Prince Pingbian’s Mansion has started investigating, preparing to find out the truth and trace the source of that power."
"You should realize that whoever controls such power will change Heaven and Earth in this world." Chief Liu said with caution.
Zhang Chen felt a sinking sensation in his heart, realizing the worst had happened. Gunpowder, no matter the era, once it appeared, was destined to cause a tremendous uproar.
He probably understood the meaning behind Chief Liu’s words. In the twenty-first century, if an unknown explosion suddenly occurred, exceeding everyone’s understanding of energy blast methods, the authorities would exhaust every effort to thoroughly investigate, blocking every piece of information they could.
Without investigating thoroughly, how could the authorities sleep soundly?
Unquestionably, the gunpowder Zhang Chen ignited falls into this category. For the people of this era, it’s akin to directly throwing out a nuclear weapon during World War II; such terrifying deterrence would have to be thoroughly investigated before anyone could feel at ease.