Chapter 9

In the black shadow’s chest, there were a dozen or so slits, slits one after another, densely packed like a spider web.

The upper half of the black shadow’s body tilted and fell to the ground, snapping into a dozen parts.

The remaining parts were like dominoes that had been pushed over, one piece falling after another, all over the floor.

The room fell into silence as the black shadow disappeared completely.

The sense of crisis that lingered in his heart disappeared into thin air, Zhou An put away his sword and returned it to its sheath, the state of enlightenment in his heart was gone.

[Blade Skill +2]

A line of text appeared in front of his eyes, the dozen or so knives that were exhibited in the state of enlightenment had gained a proficiency increase.

The shadows under his feet also disappeared, and the sense of bondage gradually dissipated.

Zhou An looked at the gray rat in the doorway and walked closer.

He teased it twice with his long knife, confirming that it was just an ordinary gray rat.

“Let’s go back to the government office first and report the matter.”

Zhou An Xin made up his mind and checked around the house, finding no traces of himself, before taking the man lying on the ground and quietly leaving.

Leaving this alley, he first let a merchant on the street look after the man, and only then did he go to the Yamen, and talked to Sheriff Xie about what had happened.

Sheriff Xie was drinking tea.

Ordinary constables were still touching fish, not to mention the constable.

As the only constable in the entire Settlement County, Constable Xie’s life had always been nourishing.

“What? Another death, or the same death?”

When Sheriff Xie heard Zhou An’s report, he didn’t even finish his tea, put down his teacup and hurried out of the room.

Before leaving, he also told Zhou An not to run around, and not to let Zhou An get involved in this matter.

Zhou An knew in his heart that Sheriff Xie was going to the county magistrate, and then through the magistrate, let the Zhen Gui Si deal with it.

It didn’t take long for Sheriff Xie to return, gathering all the constables and heading towards the alley.

After arriving at the alley, Sheriff Xie only did one thing, and that was to fence off the alley and prevent ordinary people from coming in.

Zhou An was one of them, and he was guarding an entrance with Yu Hang.

“No danger, right?” Yu Hang also knew that it was Zhou An who had discovered it and asked with concern.

Zhou An shook his head, stating that he had not encountered any danger, “Nothing major, just found a corpse, right, looking at this, the Zhen Gui Si should be here, right?”

Yu Hang nodded his head, “When it comes to this kind of thing, we can only let the Zhen Gui Si come, after all, it is a professional, we are responsible for maintaining order just fine.”

There were constables to maintain law and order in An Ding County, but when it came to weirdness, naturally the Zhen Gui Si would be the one to solve it.

“The county magistrate seems to have disappeared in the past few days.” Zhou An casually said.

A major event involving human life, but the county magistrate did not show up, and during this recent period, most of the time, the division was responsible for conveying the news, and even the meeting could only be met by Sheriff Xie.

Yu Hang laughed, disdainful: “It is said to be for the selection, so he is burying his head in writing articles.”

Selection, again, was annual, but this did not involve ordinary people, but people who were already officials, passing an annual examination to get into a higher position.

This was much stricter, and first required an essay to be written and read by His Holiness himself.

Those who passed would then go through a second examination, which was to look at the various levels of governance in the location where they were serving.

These are all standardized, and the time from the selection is approaching, and the magistrate is also trying to move up the ladder.

“It really taints the reputation of the readers.” Yu Hang sneered, “If studying is only for the purpose of becoming an official, then what is the point of having him?”

Zhou An frowned, “Be careful, there are things you can’t talk about.”

These things can’t be heard by others, after hearing it, Yu Hang will have a hard time mixing in Anding County.

Yu Hang said, “There are only two people here, there’s no harm in talking, I’m just angry.”

Zhou An is clear about the character of his own little hair, do not look at the usual appearance of a matter of no concern, in fact, the character at certain times particularly strong.

While the two were chatting like this, there was finally a movement in the alley, a group of people wearing black uniforms walked in from outside the alley.

There were about ten or so people, everyone’s face was very serious, and the aura on their body was too much stronger than the surrounding constables.

The one who walked at the front was a middle-aged man with a long knife on his waist.

The most striking thing was his right hand, the right hand that held the long sword was a bit thicker than his left hand.

Zhou An glanced along and already had an idea in his mind.

This was an expert, and an expert with a sword.

Although this man was plain looking, his four-square Chinese character face was serious and earnest.

Sheriff Xie hurriedly greeted him, “Zhang Si County, you’ve finally arrived, this way.”

The Great Chu Kingdom was divided into counties, prefectures, states, and capitals from bottom to top.

The Zhen Gui Si had different management designations at each level, divided into Si Xian, Si Fu, Si Zhou, and Si Jing.

This Zhang Si Xian in front of him was the head of the Zhen Gui Division of An Ding County.

According to the official position, he was on the same level as the county magistrate, so Sheriff Xie was very respectful.

Zhang Si Xian brought with him a sense of majesty and righteousness and nodded, “Take me to see.”

Sheriff Xie didn’t dare to be slow, and hurriedly led the crowd of Zhen Gui Si, walking to the room at the end of the alley.

Zhang Si Xian walked in, and before long, walked out from inside the room and said a few words to Sheriff Xie.

Sheriff Xie hurriedly answered and then, rushed towards Zhou An’s side.

Zhou An was still chatting with Yu Hang, while thinking about how to go back to his liver proficiency.

After he heard the sound of footsteps, he subconsciously looked up and saw that Sheriff Xie had already come closer.

“Zhou An, you come with me.” Sheriff Xie said.

Zhou An didn’t know what he was being called for, but he still nodded his head in agreement and followed behind Sheriff Xie, walking to the room at the end of the alley.

Inside the room, it was still the same pitch-black appearance, and a few members of the Zhen Gui Si were examining the little girl’s body.

There were also a few people, examining the corpse of the gray rat at the doorway.

“Lord Zhang, Zhou An has come over.” Sheriff Xie arched his hand and said.

“Greetings, Lord Zhang.” Zhou An said.

Zhang Si Xian stared at Zhou An and let out a dull voice, “Was the gray rat at the door before you came?”

Zhou An shook his head, “Not at the door, a black shadow suddenly appeared and launched an attack towards me, but before he could attack, a blade light flashed and the black shadow disappeared.”

This was something Zhou An had thought about long ago, speaking with a few parts of truth and a few parts of falsehood in order to muddle through.

He didn’t want to expose himself, not for any other reason, mainly because this world was too dangerous, and it was best to slowly mettle after having a golden finger, mettle until the world was invincible.

Zhang Si County fell into silence.

The surrounding area was quiet.

Sheriff Xie asked, “Lord Zhang, did you find anything?”

Zhang Si County shook his head and said, “The root cause of the Gray Rat’s worship is still undiscovered, but it seems that there is an expert with a sword in the county.”

“Knife light into a line, this person’s knife skill is highly skillful, he should have struck out with all his might and cut out a knife light.”

Zhou An lowered his head, not letting anyone see his expression at the moment.