I Can Devour Spirits

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Bizarre

”Jie Lei is Jie Daohan’s nephew!?”

Duan Rong was momentarily perplexed. How could Jie Lei break Xu Ruhu out of the Great Prison like this, wasn’t he setting up his own uncle?

Moreover, this case seemed to involve even the Outer Disciples of the Taiyi Sect, indicating that it was no small matter.

”There must be something more to this...”

The hangover hadn’t yet passed, and as Duan Rong pondered, he felt a splitting headache!

He struggled out of the main hall, felt his way to the water jar in the kitchen, scooped out half a ladle of cold water, and poured it down his throat.

With the cold water down his belly, Duan Rong felt his parched throat become a bit moist, and his head also felt somewhat refreshed.

He stepped out of the dim kitchen and stood in the courtyard, where the night wind ebbed and flowed, and a large round moon hung high overhead. He could occasionally hear distant and indistinct sounds of hustle and bustle.

”It seems the citywide search is still ongoing...”

Duan Rong sighed, walked back to the main hall, and half-lay down on a Grandmaster’s Chair.

It was still early, and since his intoxication hadn’t completely worn off, he planned to nap for a while longer...

Duan Rong sat there and casually picked up a wrinkled, greasy wanted poster from the coffee table!

The chubby owner of that deli shop was quite something. Even seeing Yang Zhen in his official uniform, he dared to use this wanted poster to wrap three parcels of deli meats for Yang Zhen to carry away...

Duan Rong half-lay there, squinting his eyes in the flickering light, and looked at the wanted poster in his hand. This time he took a much more serious look, particularly at the portrait of Xu Ruhu on the poster.

”They’re offering a reward of twenty thousand silver coins...” Duan Rong looked at the lines beneath the portrait and couldn’t help but chuckle wryly. ”Is it that easy to get those twenty thousand silver coins? The water here is deeper than it seems.”

”Besides, County Magistrate Shen Yanliu isn’t even in the county. This wanted poster doesn’t even have the government office’s seal. It’s probably Jie Daohan making false promises...”

Duan Rong thought for a while longer, feeling that this matter couldn’t be figured out anytime soon. Moreover, after sitting for a while, he felt drowsiness creeping over him again.

Duan Rong flipped the poster over, covering his face to block the dim and weak light of the oil lamp, and fell into a deep sleep...

Early the next morning, the two awoke amidst the faint hustle and bustle of dawn.

Yang Zhen had slept through the night, but apparently, the alcohol had not yet worn off, showing a face full of discomfort.

His leg was injured, making it difficult to walk. Duan Rong had him tidy up the leftover dishes from last night in the house, while he carried a paint-chipped food box down the street to buy breakfast.

Duan Rong bought two bowls of beef soup, four sesame flatbreads, and six stuffed buns, filling the two-tiered food box to the brim.

Yang Zhen looked at the table full of food, picked up a bun, took a bite, and murmured, ”You’ve got money now, huh? You used to be stingy. When did you become so generous?”

Listening to the hint of sarcasm in Yang Zhen’s words, Duan Rong rolled his eyes at him and said, ”Eating buns still can’t stop your sour mouth.”

Yang Zhen knew he had a bit of an attitude problem, smiled awkwardly, and said no more.

Both ate slowly, chewing carefully, completely unlike the wild, ravenous eating from last night.

This was typical for those shaking off a hangover, feeling weak and even too lethargic to eat energetically.

”The story you were telling last night, you haven’t finished it?” Duan Rong slurped a mouthful of beef soup with chili oil, asking seemingly casually.

”What story?” Yang Zhen, who was drunk all night, barely remembered what he talked about the previous evening.

”About the prison break!” Duan Rong, having absorbed the Artifact Spirit from that dart, knew that Jie Lei was involved in the prison break, making him more curious about the details!

Yang Zhen smacked his thigh and asked, ”Where did I leave off last night?”

”About the prison break where a dart landed on your leg...”

”Did I?” Yang Zhen couldn’t remember what he had said yesterday at all and had no idea how to continue, so he said, ”Alright, I’ll start from the beginning.” He figured he was injured and idle at home, so having someone to chat with was a good pastime.

”When Xu Ruhu was first captured, Head Jie was injured during the arrest. So he had me and Brother Lei take turns guarding Xu Ruhu, who was locked up in the Death Prison.”

”Brother Lei had already reached the Inner Breath Realm Second Level, even among the older constables, he was no weakling.”

”As for me, Head Jie saw that I had only been a constable for just over half a year but had already reached the Inner Breath Realm First Level. Seeing my agility and cleverness, he thought of training me to be a future deputy for Brother Lei!”

Yang Zhen paused for quite a while, focusing on drinking soup and eating the flatbreads.

This was the second time Yang Zhen had deliberately brought this up in front of Duan Rong.

Achieving the Inner Breath Realm First Level in half a year, if Yang Zhen knew that Duan Rong reached the Inner Breath Realm Second Level in less than two months, how would he feel?

Of course, compared to Yuan Shun Escort Agency’s Zhao Mu, that Intern Escort Master, Duan Rong’s speed was indeed much faster!

Duan Rong knew what Yang Zhen was waiting for. He sighed inwardly and said, ”Yang Zhen, you’ve been a great fighter since you were a kid! In martial arts, you indeed have great talent!”

Sure enough, Yang Zhen’s eyes brightened, and he smiled, swallowing the flatbread in his mouth, boasting, ”Of course,” before continuing, ”Thought the guy locked in the Death Prison was only a short-term matter, but who knew it lasted over a month. We and Brother Lei split into two shifts. One guarding at night, one during the day.”

”After more than a month, it was wearing us out!”

”Just the night before last, during the shift change, Brother Lei told us that a letter from the Sect Envoy had arrived at the County Government Office that morning, saying they’d arrive in Xianggu County around noon the following day.”

”The brothers were all delighted, knowing it was our last night shift to endure.”

”When Brother Lei left, we were all thrilled. Someone even wanted to buy drinks to celebrate, but I stopped them, saying we should all go celebrate after the shift at the morning market, which settled them!”

”Are you sure that Jie Lei actually left?” Duan Rong suddenly fixed his gaze on Yang Zhen and inserted a question.

Yang Zhen gave Duan Rong a suspicious look, unsure why he suddenly asked that, and replied blankly, ”Yes, I watched him leave the doorway of the dungeon’s Arrow Tower! What about it?”

”Nothing! Go on with your story!”

Yang Zhen paused, annoyed, ”Stop interrupting! I lose track of where I am in the story!”

”You were talking about celebrating after the shift...” Duan Rong rolled his eyes at Yang Zhen impatiently.

”Oh, right. Then we went about our usual patrol duties, and nothing happened that night!”

”At dawn, the darkest hour before dawn... we were about to switch shifts. Exhausted after a night shift, even I couldn’t help but doze off standing there!”

”But then!” Yang Zhen said, his expression suddenly changed, his eyes filled with astonishment as if he had just witnessed something incredible. ”Someone in black clothing, carrying Xu Ruhu, ran out of the Death Prison!”

”He just... ran out like that...”

”We were all stunned; I was the first to react and rushed forward...”

”He injured me and escaped!”

”It’s pretty embarrassing to admit! The brothers on the Arrow Tower fell asleep and didn’t even shoot a single arrow, letting that guy escape!”

”We chased after him into the dark night, but his figure had vanished into the alleys!”

”At that time, it was just before dawn, and the city gates weren’t open yet! The brothers rushed to notify the gate guards to strengthen their precautions and inform Head Jie, and then the citywide search began!”

Duan Rong was silent for a moment, then said, ”I recall you mentioning that Xu Ruhu was heavily shackled?”

Yang Zhen’s expression turned as if he had seen a ghost, ”The weirdest part is this: when we went back to examine the prison, the heavy shackles on Xu Ruhu had been sawed off with a steel wire saw!”

”Those two pipa-shaped heavy shackles penetrated his collarbone! He even struggled to eat! Even if you gave him a steel wire saw, he couldn’t have the strength to saw off the arm-thick shackle clasps!”

”Moreover, even for a normal person, it would take several days to saw through those heavy shackle clasps with a wire saw!”

”Isn’t this whole thing just so creepy?”