Chapter 2: Patrolman Angrily Confronts Clerk – Who Dares to Defy the Laws of the Great Qian Dynasty?

Before the hour of Mao, the horizon just revealed a sliver of fish-belly white.

The morning fog in Qingxi County was thick, carrying the bone-chilling cold unique to late autumn.

Lin Chen pushed open the door of the wooden hut.

The cold wind rushed into his face, but he did not shrink back.

The Qi and blood of the Middle Stage of the Body Tempering Realm surged within him, continuously emitting heat and dispelling the cold.

He glanced at the uniform he was wearing.

It was very old, washed until it had faded to white, and patched in several places.

The bloodstains and dust from last night had been washed away, and even though it hadn't been ironed, he wore it with a crisp, upright posture.

The standard-issue thin-bladed saber at his waist had its hilt wiped clean.

In his memory, the original owner of this body always walked this path from the wooden hut district to the Patrol Division with trepidation, terrified of offending some powerful figure.

Now, Lin Chen walked along the road with steady steps.

Vendors had already begun setting up their stalls along the street; a breakfast seller rubbed his hands together, and steaming white vapor drifted from the steamer baskets.

Lin Chen passed through the white vapor, eyes fixed ahead.

The Patrol Division yamen was located at the southeast corner of the county government office; it was an old courtyard that had seen many years.

The two stone lions in front of the gate had been exposed to wind and sun for years, their outlines now blurred.

Lin Chen stepped over the threshold and walked into the backyard.

It was exactly the time for the morning roll call.

Scattered around the courtyard stood twenty or thirty Patrol Officers.

Most of these men were wrapped in thick padded jackets, with their uniforms worn loosely over them.

Some were yawning, others were dozing against pillars, and some were whispering to each other, complaining about the weather.

Lin Chen walked to the position of his own squad and stood still.

His hands hung naturally at his sides, and his gaze looked straight ahead.

His entire being exuded a cold, aloof Aura that kept others at a distance.

The morning breeze blew across his faded uniform, causing the hem to flutter slightly.

A ray of sunlight pierced through the morning fog, striking the courtyard at an angle and landing right on Lin Chen's profile.

That handsome face, due to the blood loss last night, still retained a touch of sickly paleness, even though it had been repaired by the System.

In the sunlight, this paleness did not appear weak; on the contrary, it exuded an Aura that could not be ignored.

The first to notice Lin Chen was Wang Daniu, who was standing next to him.

This man was burly and rough; he was one of the few acquaintances the original owner had in the Patrol Division and had often helped him fend off trouble.

At this moment, Wang Daniu was holding a large meat bun in one hand and bringing it to his mouth with the other.

His peripheral vision caught the sight of a figure appearing beside him.

He turned his head.

His gaze landed right on Lin Chen's pale, calm face.

Wang Daniu's mouth hung slightly open, and the bite of bun filling he had just taken fell out from the corner of his mouth.

The filling dropped to the ground.

The half-eaten meat bun in his hand smashed directly onto the floor tiles, rolled twice, and became covered in dust.

Wang Daniu was completely oblivious; he extended a thick finger, pointing at Lin Chen, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

"Lin... Lin Chen?"

His voice trembled.

"Mm."

Lin Chen replied calmly.

Hearing this familiar voice, Wang Daniu did not feel relieved at all.

He was so frightened that he retreated three steps, his back slamming heavily against a pillar with a dull thud.

"You... are you human or a ghost?!"

This shout from Wang Daniu instantly broke the silence of the courtyard.

The surrounding Patrol Officers who had been yawning and chatting stopped their yawning and conversations and turned their heads one after another.

Dozens of gazes instantly converged on Lin Chen.

After a brief silence, a suppressed exclamation erupted in the courtyard.

"It really is Lin Chen!"

"Didn't he offend Second Young Master Zhao and get punched until he vomited blood by that guard at the Body Tempering Late-Stage?"

"I saw it with my own eyes at the street corner! His sternum had collapsed; how could he possibly be standing here?"

"It's over, it's over. I said yesterday that we should go see him, but Old Li insisted on stopping us. This must be his obsession refusing to dissipate, turning him into a vengeful ghost coming back for revenge!"

A thin, wiry old Patrol Officer named Old Li shivered and shrank into the crowd, muttering to himself.

"I speak without thinking; may the gods forgive me."

"Young Lin, every debt has a debtor; it was the Zhao family who beat you, don't come looking for us poor wretches."

The crowd instinctively scattered, leaving a circle with a diameter of about a zhang centered on Lin Chen.

Everyone's gaze toward Lin Chen had changed.

Amidst the shock, there was even more fear.

In the Great Qian Dynasty, the martial path flourished, but rumors of supernatural occurrences had never ceased.

For someone who should have been dead to be standing in the roll call queue early in the morning, completely unharmed, they could think of no other explanation than a lingering spirit.

Wang Daniu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, mustered his courage to inch forward half a step, and asked with a trembling voice.

"Brother, do you... have a shadow under your feet?"

Lin Chen ignored the commotion around him.

His gaze swept casually over the faces of these colleagues, revealing a sense of indifference.

Cold, detached.

Most of these people were only in the Early Stage of the Body Tempering Realm, and some hadn't even trained their Qi and blood; they were just relying on connections to make a living.

To the current Lin Chen, their breathing was chaotic, and their bodies were full of openings.

"I have a shadow."

Lin Chen glanced at the meat bun on the ground.

"Wasting food is a pity."

After saying this, he looked up and stared straight at the direction of the Main Courtyard.

Wang Daniu genuinely felt that the person before him was a completely different man from the one in the past.

The commotion in the backyard finally alerted the person in charge in the front.

The moon gate leading to the Main Courtyard was pushed open, and a dry cough filled with anger emerged.

"What is all the noise! It's the time for roll call; what kind of conduct is this, shouting and yelling!"

A middle-aged man wearing the uniform of an official walked in with a swagger.

It was the Patrol Division official, Chen Tai.

He was slightly chubby, sported a handlebar mustache, and his eyes darted around, revealing a sense of philistine slickness.

He was in the Early Stage of the Blood Refining Realm and was the veritable local despot of the Patrol Division.

Chen Tai walked leisurely to the front of the crowd with one hand behind his back, while the other toyed with two polished, gleaming walnuts.

Just as he was about to give his routine lecture, his peripheral vision swept across Lin Chen in the center of the crowd.

Chen Tai's forward steps came to a sudden halt.

The walnuts in his hand knocked together, emitting a crisp sound.

"Lin Chen?!"

Chen Tai's voice turned sharp and distorted.

Yesterday evening, the Zhao family steward sent word that a blind Patrol Officer in South City Lane had offended Second Young Master Zhao and had already been crippled.

Chen Tai had accepted two taels of silver as tea money and had pounded his chest to guarantee that he would remove Lin Chen's name from the roster this morning on the grounds of absenteeism.

An orphan with no background—if he died, he died; it would also earn him a favor from the Zhao family, a sure win.

But now, this orphan who should have been lying in a mass grave was standing here perfectly fine.

Astonishment appeared in Chen Tai's eyes.

After all, he was a Martial Artist of the Blood Refining Realm; he could see at a glance that Lin Chen's breathing was stable, not at all like someone who had suffered a serious injury.

The astonishment quickly turned into malice.

So what if he wasn't dead?

If he wasn't dead, it meant that he, Chen Tai, had taken the money but failed to get the job done.

If the Zhao family blamed him, he would be in big trouble.

He had to get rid of him!

Chen Tai's gaze turned cold, and a sneer appeared on his chubby face.

He stepped forward, and a wave of Qi and blood pressure from the Early Stage of the Blood Refining Realm radiated from him, pressing toward Lin Chen.

If it had been the old Lin Chen, his legs would have already gone weak under this pressure.

But the current Lin Chen stood where he was, his body not moving in the slightest.

His Qi and blood from the Middle Stage of the Body Tempering Realm circulated silently within him, easily neutralizing this blustering pressure.

Seeing this, Chen Tai's heart grew more suspicious, but he did not slow down his verbal attack.

He pointed at Lin Chen and raised his voice.

"How bold! You still have the face to stand here!"

"Yesterday afternoon, you left your post without authorization before the shift change."

"Today, you arrived for roll call only when the sun was already high in the sky."

"Do you think the Patrol Division is your own backyard?!"

Chen Tai was full of official arrogance.

"According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, a Patrol Officer who is absent from work without cause for one day shall have three months of salary deducted and be punished with twenty strokes of the cane! Do you know your crime!"

The Patrol Officers in the courtyard held their breath.

This was clearly an attempt to punish Lin Chen to death.

Yesterday, Lin Chen was seriously injured in the line of duty, yet Chen Tai not only failed to show compassion to his subordinate but instead falsely accused him.

Wang Daniu gritted his teeth, wanting to step forward to plead for mercy.

Beside him, Old Li pulled hard on his sleeve, shaking his head desperately.

Seeing that no one spoke up, a look of triumph appeared on the corner of Chen Tai's mouth.

After twenty military cane strokes, he could legitimately cripple the man and drive him out of the yamen, making it easy to explain things to the Zhao family.

"Someone come! Take this madman down and bring out the heavy canes!" Chen Tai shouted.

Two bailiffs outside the gate walked in holding water-fire staves, their faces filled with hesitation.

Lin Chen moved.

He lifted his eyes, his gaze piercing straight at Chen Tai.

"Official Chen."

His voice echoed clearly in the backyard, neither high-pitched nor containing the slightest fear.

Lin Chen took a step forward.

This step carried an invisible sense of oppression, causing Chen Tai to instinctively tighten his grip on the walnuts in his hand.

"According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, when a Patrol Officer encounters local disturbances, it is their duty to uphold the law and discipline."

"Yesterday in South City Lane, Second Young Master Zhao Hu of the Zhao family rode his horse through the streets, and his attendants forcibly seized a maiden."

"This subordinate drew his saber according to the law to stop them, but was instead beaten by him because of his power."

Lin Chen's words were clear, every word ringing out with force.

"This subordinate was seriously injured and unconscious, failing to return to the division on time; this was an injury sustained in the line of duty."

"Article 72 of Volume 3 of the Great Qian Dynasty Law: For those injured in the line of duty and resting, the salary shall be paid as usual, and punishment shall be exempted."

"If you, Official, intend to give me these twenty heavy cane strokes today..."

Lin Chen's right hand rested casually on the hilt of the saber at his waist.

"Are you hitting the flesh of me, Lin Chen, or are you hitting the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty?!"

Every word was resonant, echoing throughout the entire scene.

Inside the courtyard, there was dead silence.

Chen Tai stared fixedly at Lin Chen, the two walnuts in his palm being squeezed until they creaked.

Lin Chen met his gaze, his back and spine straight.