Book 3 - Chapter 3: Four Flats

Chapter 3: Four Flats

The procession behind the carriage grew much larger.

This time, the formation was much more complicated; over a hundred bandits had been tied together with rope and forced to follow behind the carriage, as if they were slaves being led to the market to be sold.

He Xiaochan stared at the bandits as she said with excitement, “Grandpa, look, look.”

“I saw it already, you don’t need to tell me again,” Old He replied impatiently.

The whole time, He Xiaochan hadn’t forgotten to bug him about it. He even knew what his granddaughter was about to say next.

Indeed, He Xiaochan clasped her hands to her heart and said, “Prince Su, you’re so amazing!”

Old He couldn’t help but sigh. His only thought was to quickly reach the Four Flats District, finish his commission, then leave with his granddaughter.

It wasn’t like he was unhappy with Su Chen. It was just that Su Chen’s strength put a massive amount of pressure on Old He, who just wanted to get out of there.

This procession of bandits was undoubtedly terrifying; unsurprisingly, no more bandits came forth to give them any trouble after that.

Su Chen was very unhappy with that, so he used a large-scale concealment technique called Cloud Cover Technique to completely hide the bandits in two behind him. In fact, he had learned this Arcana Technique from Patelocke. This Arcana Master had mastered quite a few Arcana Techniques; having him around was like having an ancient library at your fingertips. However, because Origin Skills needed to be used thousands of times for them to reach their greatest effectiveness, there was no point in only going for quantity. Thus, Su Chen primarily focused on the Origin Skills that he could use.

After being concealed, the bandits were invisible to most commoners, so a few more waves of bandits came at them after.

Another twenty or thirty people were added to the group behind the carriage.

Those numbers weren’t higher because there were two groups of bandits that were relatively reasonable; they only wanted money, not to kill people, so Su Chen just let them go.

When twilight came, the carriage finally reached Four Flats.

Four Flats was a small district. It had no city walls, nor did it have any guards. All it really had was a run-down district office and a health center.

Upon arriving at Four Flats, Su Chen dissolved the concealment technique, then sauntered into the district.

There was at least a hundred fifty people in two behind him. In the Four Flats, this was quite the magnificent sight; as such, it almost immediately attracted a crowd.

In addition, their hands had been tied together, and the onlookers could clearly see the way the dressed and the weapons they carried – Su Chen hadn’t taken away their weapons, so the onlookers instantly recognized where the captives had come from.

“They’re thieves from the mountains!”

“That’s right, I’ve seen some of those guys before. They’re bandits from the mountain; they’ve come to the district before to sell some of their loot before.”

“Isn’t that Gui Dashan? Tortoiseshell Camp’s leader.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m positive! Look, that massive hammer is his trademark. How did he get tied up too? He’s an Origin Qi Scholar in the Blood Boiling Realm.”

“Not just him, isn’t that Second Boss Cheng of the Tortoiseshell Camp right next to him? He was the one who had plundered Shopkeep Chang that year when Shopkeep Chang had been making a delivery run. Shopkeep Chang’s death truly was tragic.”

“Third Boss Feng, Fourth Boss Li, Fifth Boss Jin – he’s got the whole Tortoiseshell Camp following him!”

“Who is inside that carriage? He was able to wipe out those bandit strongholds in an instant.”

“Do you even need to ask? Of course they’re an expert. Our Four Flats District is going to be much more peaceful from now on.”

Everyone excitedly discussed the new development. The carriage continued to draw a lot of attention to it as the carriage progressed.

It was rare for He Xiaochan to be the center of attention like this. She puffed out her chest and tilted her head back triumphantly; however, Old He constantly pulled his granddaughter down, lowering his head and hoping that no one would notice them.

The carriage was headed right for the district office. Two of the office’s guards were standing right outside.

One of the faster guards had already ran up to them and yelled, “Someone captured the bandits in the mountains and wiped out the whole Tortoiseshell Camp. They’re headed this way now; it seems like they want to hand them over to the district office.”

The two guards, who had previously been standing there listlessly, started badly and peered into the distance, finding that a large group of people was indeed coming their way.

The two guards glanced at each other. One said, “What are you standing around for? Go and let the higher-ups know.”

The other guard ran inside in a panic.

A moment later, a large group of guards charged out of the district office, their captain at the head followed by ten or so guards wielding wooden staffs. Upon seeing the procession headed their way, they were all shocked. How was the district office going to handle so many people? They might not even be able to close the doors to the jail.

But even if they couldn’t close the doors, they would have to. Catching so many bandits would undoubtedly be a great contribution.

However, they might have to pay a hefty sum for such a large group of bandits. The captain didn’t know how much money he would have to pay, but the thought of reneging on the debt didn’t even occur to him. Anyone who could capture so many bandits at once definitely wasn’t someone he could afford to provoke.

While he made his calculations, the carriage grew nearer and nearer.

Every guard at the district office stood outside at attention. The captain was about to go forward and greet the procession with a smile, but the carriage passed right by him and kept going in the same direction.

It really passed right by him.

Hm?

What was the meaning of this?

The group of guards stared dumbly at the horse carriage.

The carriage continued to advance, pulling along the group of people behind it. It continued past the district office without stopping.

Did they not see?

The captain thought as he yelled, “Sir, you on the carriage, the district office is over here!”

Iron Cliff turned around and glanced in his direction before turning back around.

The carriage continued to advance.

He had been ignored.

The captain stared blankly as the carriage left with its large procession still in tow, eventually disappearing from his field of view. It wasn’t until this point that he understood.

The other party had never intended on handing over the bandits to them in the first place.

After the carriage passed the district office, it came to a stop at a nearby inn.

Old He said, “Prince Su, this is the best inn in the whole Four Flats. Now that you’re here, my task is complete.”

“Many thanks, sir. Here is the payment we agreed on.” Su Chen tossed a small pouch to Old He.

Old He weighed it in his hand and froze. “Prince Su, you seem to have given me too much?”

“I’m just paying you back for all the anxiety you had to endure on this trip. If you don’t feel safe after returning, you can find a new place to live off of this.” Su Chen completely understood Old He’s fears.

Without a doubt, he was worried that the bandits would come back for him.

The money Su Chen had given Old He was more than enough for him to find a new place to live.

Old He, upon seeing him do this, could only mumble his thanks.

Before leaving, He Xiaochan was still a bit unwilling. She pulled on Su Chen’s sleeve and said, “Prince Su, if you have time you need to come visit us, okay?”

“I will,” Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

However, they all knew that it wouldn’t be possible.

After Iron Cliff arranged the furniture and chased the large horde of bandits into an area behind the inn. They were just a bunch of hostages anyways; they had no right to sleep in the inn, so they would just sleep under the sky.

As Old He watched the bandits being driven about, he thought for a moment, then couldn’t resist asking, “Prince Su, how are you planning on taking care of them? Will you keep them as prisoners, or…… will you kill them?”

“Kill them?” Su Chen glanced at the hostages, then back at Old He and laughed, “Kill them? I wouldn’t! There won’t be any murder victims at my hands, only……”

“Failed experiments.”