Chapter 8: Midnight Infiltration Leads to Suicide Shots, Lin Chen Shows Off His Skills While Patrolling the Streets!

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the hard wooden bed.

That government-issued waist saber, wiped clean as new, lay across his knees.

The surrounding Patrol Officer wooden hut area had long since fallen into silence.

Only the whistling autumn wind passed through the gaps in the wallboards, letting out low whimpers.

His breathing remained at a steady, even pace.

There was still a final bit of time before the hour of the Rat.

The commotion caused in South City Lane today would surely invite frantic retaliation from the Zhao family.

He needed strength.

He needed absolute martial force to firmly establish a foothold in the quagmire of Qingxi County, which was filled with jackals, tigers, and leopards.

The time on the light screen finally jumped to the midnight hour of the Rat.

[Settlement Date: Year 372 of Yongchang, the 10th day of the 9th month.]

[Basic Patrol Reward: 20 points.]

[Today's Duty Summary—]

[Event 1: Stopped street extortion in South City Lane, protecting the interests of the common people. Evaluation: Excellent. (Settled immediately)]

[Event 2: Mediated vendor stall disputes, maintaining neighborhood order. Evaluation: Excellent. (Settled immediately)]

[Event 3: Frontally crushed the South City Lane branch of the Black Tiger Gang, beheaded the main culprit, and detained the accomplices, effectively upholding the dignity of the Great Qian laws. Evaluation: Outstanding. (Settled immediately)]

[Comprehensive Evaluation: During today's shift, the host, Lin Chen, independently cleared out evil forces in South City Lane, reshaping the neighborhood's public security order single-handedly. His attitude toward duty was firm, and his law enforcement methods were decisive, manifesting the core tenet of a Patrol Officer: being responsible for the land one guards.]

[Event Summary Evaluation: Superb. Additional duty reward of 200 points issued.]

Lin Chen looked at the bottom where the numbers had finished changing.

His gaze was reflected by the light screen, flickering uncertainly.

[Current Total Points: 520 points]

After the consumption from yesterday's injury repair and cultivation level increase...

Being able to accumulate such abundant points again in a single day...

Those dozen or so severed hamstrings could be considered to have yielded their maximum value.

He didn't hesitate at all.

Within his consciousness, he issued the command to the System to increase his cultivation.

[Consuming 300 points, Cultivation Realm Breakthrough deduction in progress]

The moment the command was given...

A heat flow several times larger than last night's suddenly surged from his Dantian.

It was like a flood bursting a dam, frantically washing through the Meridians of his entire body.

Lin Chen clenched his teeth.

He allowed that scorching energy to forcefully expand the Meridians in his body that hadn't been fully opened, inch by inch.

Then, under the repair of a strange power, they reorganized and healed again.

From deep within his bones came bursts of low sounds.

His muscle fibers, which had originally appeared somewhat thin due to years of malnutrition...

Were now rapidly becoming tough, powerful, and full of tension.

[Rock Solid Skill has been upgraded to Perfection, Foundation stabilization complete. Current Realm: Body Tempering Realm Late Stage]

[The basic Cultivation Technique Rock Solid Skill can no longer be upgraded. Please find an advanced Cultivation Technique as soon as possible, host.]

Lin Chen kept his eyes tightly shut.

He exhaled a breath of scorching turbid air that carried a hint of white mist.

He gripped the edge of the bed beside his thigh with one hand.

Relying only on the grip of his fingertips, he pressed inward lightly.

Five clear grooves appeared on the edge of that thick hardwood bedboard.

Feeling this surging great power belonging to the Body Tempering Realm Late Stage...

Lin Chen shifted his gaze to the light screen.

There was still a balance of 220 points left.

He looked at that Wind-Breaking Saber Technique, which was originally extremely crude.

It only had the most basic hacking Moves.

[Consuming 100 points to deduce the Wind-Breaking Saber Technique and complete the Move deficiencies]

Along with the notification sound...

Countless combat images regarding drawing the saber, exerting force, and slashing...

Poured into the depths of Lin Chen's mind like a torrent.

The figures in those images were in an endless void space.

They brandished their blades over and over again, completely eliminating redundant movements.

Leaving only the most lethal and straightforward killing trajectories.

When Lin Chen looked at the waist saber on his knees again...

This originally ordinary piece of official iron possessed a strange sense of control in his hand, like an extension of his limbs.

[Current Points: 120 points]

Just as Lin Chen was preparing to restrain his blood and Qi to circulate his cultivation...

His ears, which were several times more sensitive than before the Breakthrough, twitched briefly.

It was a very subtle sound.

The sound of cloth shoe soles brushing across the rough tiles of the roof.

Despite the whistling wind...

Lin Chen still quickly captured this abnormal noise that did not belong to nature.

He could even tell through those two sets of nearly overlapping footsteps...

That there were more than two people, and both possessed deep blood and Qi no weaker than Body Refining.

Lin Chen did not get up.

Even his breathing frequency did not change.

He was like a piece of cold, stubborn rock, perfectly blending into this dim, unlit room.

Right above his small wooden hut...

Zhang Biao lay prone on the cold green tiles, using the cover of the waning moonlight.

He leaned half his body over the edge of the eaves.

Li Meng was as alert as a nocturnal owl, his movements agile.

He landed in the tile groove beside Zhang Biao and lightly tapped his companion's shoulder with his finger.

"What are you looking at? This broken house doesn't even leak a bit of a living person's warmth. I really don't know why the Second Young Master wanted us brothers to make this trip together."

Li Meng deliberately lowered his voice to complain.

His tone carried disdain for this kind of bottom-level runner.

Zhang Biao turned his head.

He shot a sharp glance at the person beside him and shrank his body further into the shadows.

"We do whatever the Young Lord orders. You've been serving the Zhao family for so many years; have you forgotten even this bit of rules and fed them to the dogs?"

Li Meng was choked by these words and fell silent.

He didn't get angry but just curled his dry lips.

Using both hands and feet, he crawled forward half a foot.

"I think you lost Face to this kid yesterday and can't hold your head up in front of the Second Young Master today, so you've got a fire in your heart with nowhere to vent."

He looked down at that rotten wooden window swaying in the wind.

A cold snort came from his nose.

"If you ask me, to deal with a Patrol Officer who doesn't even have a rank, I'd just go down, kick open that broken door, and twist his neck before he even climbs off his pillow."

In the darkness, Zhang Biao glared fiercely at his companion.

A few veins bulged on the back of his hand pressed against the tiles.

"Shut your foul mouth. This kid crippled Ma San and the others with one Move in South City Lane today. He's at least at the Body Refining level and isn't some fledgling you can just crush at will."

From his robe, he pulled out two bamboo tubes the thickness of thumbs.

He tossed one of them into Li Meng's arms.

"This is the Three-Breath Collapse specially supplied to the inner courtyard. After blowing it in, you only need to wait a few breaths. Even a Late Stage Martial Artist will turn into a pool of limp mud at your mercy."

Li Meng caught the bamboo tube and weighed it in his palm.

His Face was full of indifference.

"Fine, since you want to do it elegantly, I'll play along slowly. As long as it doesn't delay me from going back to drink the hot wine poured by those girls in the Spring Breeze Pavilion."

The conversation between the two assassins was deliberately suppressed below the sound of the wind.

Every word clearly drifted into Lin Chen's ears through the gaps in the wooden walls.

Lin Chen kept his eyes tightly shut.

In his mind, Zhang Biao's arrogant Face appeared.

Yesterday on the street, it was this person who, relying on his master's power...

Had mercilessly smashed the original owner's sternum with his fist.

Ending the life of that honest and straightforward youth.

Today, these two had come with poison, lurking on the roof.

Attempting to use such a vicious method to finish the job of pulling up the roots.

Lin Chen didn't think about benevolence or morality.

He was only calculating in his heart.

If he faced two Body Refining assassins at the same time, what would be the most effortless way to leave them in this room forever?

A faint sound came from the tiles overhead.

Li Meng slid down silently along the old locust tree beside the wooden hut.

Like a hanging bat, he pressed against the wooden window at the side of Lin Chen's bed.

Using his teeth, he bit off the wooden plug at the front of the bamboo tube.

He poked the sharp end through the gap in the window lattice little by little.

A strange scent, both sweet and floral, immediately spread within the small, enclosed space.

The very moment Lin Chen smelled the odd scent...

His left hand quickly reached under the pillow and pulled out a piece of coarse cloth he had prepared long ago to wipe water stains.

He pressed the coarse cloth firmly against his nose and mouth.

Relying on his lung capacity, which far exceeded that of ordinary people after his Breakthrough...

He directly cut off all gas exchange with the outside world.

That poisonous smoke, claimed to seal the throat upon contact...

Drifted slowly past his head with the evening breeze.

Enveloping his entire person in an invisible net of poison.

Lin Chen remained sitting cross-legged and upright.

He allowed time to pass breath by breath in this deadly silence.

Outside the window, Li Meng finished blowing the last bit of powder from the bamboo tube.

He pressed his ear against the dusty window paper.

"Why isn't there any movement? Could this guy named Lin not be sleeping in the room?"

Li Meng muttered suspiciously in a low voice.

He poked Zhang Biao's foot, which was hanging off the eaves, with his finger.

Zhang Biao also felt something was wrong.

Just as he was about to flip down from the eaves to check the front door...

A painful and muffled groan suddenly came from inside the room.

Lin Chen timed the average onset of the Soul-Seducing Incense perfectly and deliberately loosened the hand gripping his thigh.

His body slumped heavily toward the inner side of the bed.

The bone of his shoulder hit the hard wooden bed, making a solid thud.

The official iron saber next to his knee also slid to the edge of the bedding as his body tilted.

Making a dull metallic clink.

Lin Chen deliberately relaxed his throat, making his breathing rapid and shallow.

He vividly imitated a Martial Artist.

After being corroded by poisonous smoke, struggling in despair, and finally falling completely unconscious.

When the long exhale finally faded into nothingness...

Silence returned to the room once more.

Hearing this perfectly timed movement...

Li Meng grinned outside the window, revealing a row of teeth that looked yellow under the moonlight.

"See? I told you he couldn't escape our grasp. This time, even his dog brains won't make a sound."

Only then did Zhang Biao let go of the tiles with relief.

He tapped his toes against the wall bricks for leverage.

His whole body landed lightly on the steps in front of the wooden hut.

He walked to that rickety door.

From his leggings, he pulled out a short-handled dagger with a cold glint.

"Don't stand out here in the cold wind. Come in with me, cut off his head, put it in a box, and take it back to report back."

As Zhang Biao spoke, he inserted the extremely thin edge of the dagger...

Into the gap between the two wooden doors.

The edge pressed against the fragile wooden door bolt inside.

With just a slight flick of his wrist, a faint crisp snap was heard.

The door bolt was easily flicked to the ground.

A shrill autumn wind blew through the wooden hut alleyway at just the right time.

Zhang Biao pressed his left hand against the dry door, which was full of splinters.

He pushed inward with force.

That wooden door, which hadn't been repaired for years, let out a long, raspy creaking sound.

It swung wide open on both sides.

The moment the door opened...

The cold night wind, mixed with two thick killing intents belonging to Body Refining Martial Artists...

Surged frantically into this small, dark inner room like a physical tide.

A corner of the clouds in the night sky was blown away by the wind.

A beam of pale, waning moonlight passed through the wide-open door.

Spreading a ghastly bright strip of light on the dusty blue-brick floor.

Extending straight to the hardboard bed where Lin Chen was lying.

Li Meng had already circled from the back window to the front door.

He stepped over the threshold half a body length ahead of Zhang Biao.

He held a short saber with a blood groove in his palm.

"Let me do it. The humiliation those brothers suffered today, I'll take it back from his neck, one stroke at a time."

Li Meng scanned quickly in the dim light.

His gaze immediately locked onto the figure in the Black Uniform lying on the bed.

Zhang Biao followed behind, stepping into the room unhurriedly.

His boot soles stepped on the loose floor tiles, making heart-stopping footsteps.

"Keep your eyes sharp. Don't spray blood everywhere. If we wake up those neighboring Patrol Officers, it won't be easy for us to report back."

The two assassins, one after the other, crossed the strip of light.

They stopped less than three steps from Lin Chen's bed.

On the bed, Lin Chen remained in his fallen posture.

Most of his Face was buried deep in the overlapping shadows of the room.

That right hand, which had been powerless and hanging off the edge of the bed...

Had now silently climbed onto that cold saber hilt along the folds of the bedding.

In a dark corner unnoticed by anyone...

A pair of eyes, colder than a blade's edge, quietly watched.

Those two pairs of black official boots getting closer and closer to him.