Chapter 314 - External Base (1/2)
By the time the soldiers arrived after receiving the reports, the men who had barged into the houses earlier were no longer anywhere to be seen.
After ransacking the houses and delivering a stern warning to the residents, those men had hurried off as suddenly as they had come, leaving the residents sobbing pitifully at the scene.
Faced with such a pitiful sight, all the soldiers could do was to gather whatever information they could from the residents, though most of whom had little information to offer anyway.
But while the soldiers were embarrassed to hand in seemingly useless reports, their superior did not nearly treat these reports as lightly as the soldiers.
”The men were strong, and their actions were well-organised to the point that the townsmen could not glean any information from them whatsoever. This has to be the work of the noble families,” the guard commander reported to Town Lord Dongwei. ”Judging from the timing and uniformity in their actions, I would suspect that the Dongxian Family is the sole culprit.”
”The Dongxian Family again…” Town Lord Dongwei felt a huge headache coming. ”Summon all the noble families! I really need to have a good talk with these people!”
***
Jue and the rest of the Iron Claw Brigade stood a distance away, their eyes fixed upon a small house.
”This is the last of the affected houses,” Xing remarked. ”In total, twenty-three houses were targeted simultaneously. Among these twenty-three, the residents were beaten up in twenty of the cases. Many of them were non-martial artists, with two of them being elderly.”
”I see,” Jue answered spiritlessly.
”Are you all right, Captain?” Xing asked. ”You have been acting strange ever since the escort mission.”
”I'm fine,” Jue waved it off. ”In any case, who do you think is responsible for this?”
”Word on the streets is that it is the work of the noble families,” Xing answered.
Jue sighed in response. ”Xing, what do you think of the noble families?”
”Apart from the Dongran Family, all of them are trash,” Xing answered honestly.
”Right?” Jue smiled bitterly. ”Perhaps it is about time that we do something about it as well.”
”I will follow whatever Captain decides,” Xing assured.
”We are the same as well,” the rest of the Iron Claw Brigade chimed in.
”Good, good…” Jue nodded. ”Then let us do our best for the sake of Bog Town!”
The next few days saw the heads of the respective noble families being summoned to the town lord's residence, leaving only after staying there for a few days straight.
The townsmen had mixed feelings when they heard about this.
Some believed that the town lord had reached his limit, and was finally doing something about the atrocities of the noble families.
Others were sceptical, and believed that the town lord might even be receiving benefits from the noble families in return for condoning their atrocities.
In the Dongxian Residence, Master Dongxian sat glumly in his chair.
While he was at the town lord's residence with the heads of the other noble families, Master Dongxian had been given a stern warning by Town Lord Dongwei.
He had hoped to finally be able to rest his ears after returning home, but now messages were still coming in ceaselessly through his communication ring.
”Town Lord Dongwei might have already said it earlier, but you'd better not do that again,” Master Dongran warned solemnly. ”If the Divine Storm Sect ever finds out about what you did, the consequences will be unimaginable!”
”Yes, yes, I got it already,” Master Dongxian answered half-heartedly. ”As I already said, I was just trying to help gather information about the secret organisation. If you guys don't want me to do it this way, I just won't, it's not a big deal. Then again, even if others suspect anything, they will never be able to find any concrete evidence to tie the incident to my Dongxian Family!”
”It's not about not getting caught. The point is to not do it at all!” Master Dongran emphasised.
”Anyway, my sources are telling me that those troublesome bastards have stopped gathering after what I did. This proves that what I did was useful at least! Aren't you secretly thankful?” Master Dongxian smirked.
”Thankful? Haven't you realised that the number of people going in and out of the town has increased drastically these days?”
Master Dongxian froze.
What was Master Dongran trying to say?
”Master Dongran is saying that after I exposed their gathering houses, those bastards are now holding their gatherings outside Bog Town instead?” Master Dongxian asked.
”That's our assumption for now. If it's true, then not only have you not stopped their gatherings, you have even made it more difficult for us to observe their actions!”
”Damn it, those bastards are more persistent than we thought,” Master Dongxian cursed.
”In any case, the town lord has already sent men to investigate, so please just sit still and stop making things worse!” Master Dongran reiterated.
After putting down his communication ring, Master Dongran let out a huge sigh of exasperation.
”Will he listen?” Madam Dongran asked while gently massaging his shoulders.
”I've already said all there is to be said. Whether he listens or not is out of our control now,” Master Dongran shrugged. ”For now, there are more important matters for us to attend to.”
”Indeed there are,” Madam Dongran smiled knowingly. ”I can't wait for this to be over soon. After that, we can finally get back to our lives.”
”Soon,” Master Dongran closed his eyes. ”Very soon now…”
In another corner of the Dongran Residence, Lu Tianzi was now seated cross legged in bed. The Moon Culler and Torrential Sabre were floating in the air and roaming freely around the room.
Bog Town had been in a huge uproar because of what happened a few days ago, and the townsmen seemed to act as though they were possessed, pointing fingers at anyone who looked even remotely suspicious.
Because of that, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue had decided to heed Madam Dongran's advice, remaining in the Dongran Residence to avoid getting into any trouble.