Chapter 67: God-Given Strength

In the early morning's Luòchéng small alley, Black Cloud passed lightly through the alley, neither panicked nor rushed, quite having the demeanor of a great general.

Behind it, only the six most agile Lǐ Huā cats remained, following.

When they passed by, a watchdoor dog rushed out barking wildly, but one of the Lǐ Huā cats only lightly cast an alert glance at the watchdoor dog, and the watchdoor dog immediately whined and hid back inside.

The next moment, a Lǐ Huā cat ran back face-to-face, meowing a sound: "Not found!"

Black Cloud also meowed a sound: "Scout again, report again!"

The Lǐ Huā cat turned and dashed off.

Not long after, another scout Lǐ Huā cat also turned back: "Not found!"

Black Cloud: "Scout again, report again!"

It had dispatched six Lǐ Huā cats, each going down one of six roads to chase. It simply didn't believe that Chen Jǐ's person couldn't be found.

At this time, a Lǐ Huā cat ran back: "Found!"

Black Cloud sprang out with a *whoosh*, its black figure like a flowing shadow, smooth and fierce.

Sī Cāo had already walked to Chángníng Street. The short knife in his hand had disappeared, hidden inside his sleeve.

When he walked among the crowd, he was just like the most ordinary tenant farmer, without any strangeness.

The pedestrians on Luòchéng's roads were gradually increasing. Every household carried buckets out to pour the overnight feces into the officially built public toilets by the street.

Feces carriers surrounded the public toilets. As residents poured, they scooped.

In this era, robbing feces had already formed a huge industry chain. Merchants would mix the feces into hard soil to form it, compost it, and then sell it to farmers.

Some feces carriers had accumulated wealth of ten thousand strings from this business, and they had a unique title: "Tilted Foot Head."

Sī Cāo suddenly stopped his footsteps. He slightly squinted, his eyes under his hat sharp like knives, cutting across every pedestrian.

But no matter how long he searched, he couldn't find any clues.

Strange, Sī Cāo always had an inexplicable sense of crisis in his heart, like being pricked at the center of his eyebrows, his eyebrows numb and itchy.

Every time he was being monitored, he had this feeling, but this time, he hadn't found the person monitoring him.

Just as he was scrutinizing, a Lǐ Huā cat swaggered past the edge of his feet.

Sī Cāo only lightly glanced at it, then shifted his gaze elsewhere, without thinking any more.

Who was tracking him?

The Secret Spy Division?

Or that Yuán Shopkeeper? Or the Liú family?

Thinking to this point, Sī Cāo quickened his footsteps. He slipped into a dead alley, and with just a light leap, he climbed onto the wall. After he cat-walked onto a roof ridge, he cautiously exposed his head to stare at the dead alley, wanting to see if anyone would chase him.

But, Sī Cāo waited for a full quarter of an hour, and never saw anyone follow.

And on the roof of this residential area, only a black cat in the distance was playing and fighting with a Lǐ Huā cat, with no abnormality.

Sī Cāo lightly breathed out, it seemed that the string in his brain had been too tight lately, and he was overthinking...

In the unmanned small alley, Chen Jǐ leaned against the gray wall beside him, panting slowly. He wasn't sure if Black Cloud could catch up to Sī Cāo, but he had to try.

Once, he was on neither side between the Níng Dynasty's Secret Plot Division and the Jǐng Dynasty's Military Intelligence Division. He could work for anyone who paid him.

But life couldn't be lived every day on a tightrope... At the moment he watched the sunrise on the Drum Tower, Chen Jǐ looked at the Níng Dynasty friends beside him one by one, and suddenly wanted to have a new beginning.

And the identity of a Military Intelligence Division spy was like a chasm on the road he was taking towards a new beginning.

To have a new beginning, he had to end the old identity.

Now, only four people should know his identity as a Military Intelligence Division spy: the uncle, the two Sī Cāo, and Sī Shī.

That legendary uncle had already retired, and the other party could no longer control the Military Intelligence Division, so naturally, they couldn't control him.

If this uncle could be completely defeated by his political enemies, that would be the best outcome. Everyone would be in separate dynasties, never to meet again...

As for the remaining three, as long as he killed them all, he could gradually fade out of the Jǐng Dynasty Military Intelligence Division's view.

When the World Son once asked him on the Drum Tower what he wanted to do in the future, he didn't know at the time and only said he wanted to live.

Now he knew what he wanted to do: he wanted to shake off the Jǐng Dynasty Military Intelligence Division.

Chen Jǐ propped himself up against the wall, slowly straightening his body. He had just been pressed on his wound by Yuán Shopkeeper and then hurried on the road, causing the wound to split open again.

It wasn't until this time, lifting the edge of his clothes, that he discovered his pants were already soaked with blood.

But now he couldn't worry about that much. He patted the dust off his body and limped along the small alley towards the medical hall.

Chen Jǐ gathered up the edge of his clothes, covering the bloodstain on his pants, but just as he walked out of the alley, he retreated back again.

At this moment, Golden Pig was standing at the door of Tàipíng Medical Hall, saying something across the door.

Chen Jǐ wrinkled his eyebrows. Golden Pig blocked his way back. If White Carp opened the door for the other party at this time, and the other party entered the medical hall and discovered he wasn't inside, it would certainly raise suspicion.

"White Carp, you must, absolutely must, help me delay," Chen Jǐ thought anxiously. He climbed onto the roof, not even knowing if White Carp would help him delay, as he hadn't explained this matter to White Carp.

At the door of Tàipíng Medical Hall.

"Are you Chen Jǐ's friend?" White Carp Princess asked across the door, doubtfully.

"Right," Golden Pig laughed. "Please open the door. I brought him some things to supplement his body."

At this time, White Carp subconsciously wanted to say that Chen Jǐ had gone out, or that he should wait a while before coming,

But she turned her head to look at the empty bamboo chair and remembered Chen Jǐ quietly slipping out, and suddenly felt she couldn't say that.

She thought for a few seconds: "Chen Jǐ is quite seriously injured. He's still sleeping right now. Please wait a moment. I'll go wake him up."

Golden Pig muttered at the door: "Wang Fu Princess doesn't understand human feelings. Even if you go wake him up, at least let me in to sit and wait. What's the meaning of not even opening the door... *yi*?"

He lightly pulled the door, then pushed it again, and only then discovered that the main door of Tàipíng Medical Hall was bolted shut and simply wouldn't open.

Golden Pig was even more puzzled. Although medical halls weren't like breakfast shops and didn't need to open so early, weren't there people fetching water early in the morning? What were they doing inside with the door bolted?

Thinking of this, Golden Pig slowly retreated to Ānxī Street, his gaze sweeping across the rooftops. Just as he was about to climb onto the roof and sneak in to see, he heard White Carp Princess's voice from inside the Tàipíng Medical Hall: "Chen Jǐ is still sleeping, but you can come in and sit and wait for him first. I'll come open the door for you."

As soon as Golden Pig heard these words, he gave up the idea of sneaking in and waited patiently.

But he waited and waited, and the door was late to open.

Golden Pig condensed his voice and asked: "Why is the door still not open?"

White Carp Princess inside the house said urgently: "I don't know how this bolt is stuck, I can't pull it out."

The next moment, Golden Pig used strength to pull the house door violently, and heard the door bolt respond with a *ka* sound and break.

The Princess inside the house was startled and took several steps back. Golden Pig then rushed in with a smile and narrowed eyes: "This bolt is perhaps rotten, that's why it wouldn't open. I'll send people to custom make a new one this afternoon, guaranteed to be good to use."

The Princess was anxious and desperately pulled his arm: "Hey, how can you intrude into a private house like this? It's too improper! You weren't the villain who injured Chen Jǐ, were you? Don't think about injuring him again!"

However, the Princess's strength was no match for Golden Pig's, and she was actually dragged along the floor.

The Princess shouted in a high voice: "Brother, Imperial Physician Yáo, Dog Er Ge, someone is intruding into the medical hall!"

"What happened? What happened?"

The World Son was the first to rush over to block Golden Pig's way, reaching out to grab Golden Pig's clothes.

But Golden Pig was too slippery to hold. With just a turn, he shook off both the World Son and the Princess, crashing into Liáng Cát Èr's body.

He pushed Liáng Cát Èr, but couldn't move him. Instead, he was pushed back to the main hall door by Liáng Cát Èr pursing his mouth!

"Hey," Golden Pig refused to believe it and wrestled with Liáng Cát Èr with force, trying to use wrestling techniques to flip Liáng Cát Èr to the ground.

But strangely, Liáng Cát Èr's stance was more stable than his and simply wouldn't flip!

"*Ei*?" Golden Pig looked at Liáng Cát Èr in surprise: "Inborn divine strength!"

Liáng Cát Èr pulled Golden Pig's clothes and said in a muffled voice: "Why are you intruding into the medical hall?"

Golden Pig knew he couldn't fight against a strong enemy and immediately shed his outer clothes like shedding his skin, drilling out from under Liáng Cát Èr's armpit and plunging into the apprentice bedroom.

He was stunned for a moment. In the dim apprentice bedroom, Chen Jǐ was wrapped in a quilt, lying on the apprentice bunk bed in deep sleep, completely different from what he had guessed.

The World Son, the Princess, Shé Dēngkè, Liú Qūxīng, and others all rushed into the apprentice bedroom, wanting to drag Golden Pig out of the door.

But Golden Pig's feet were like they had grown nails. No matter how many people dragged him, he wouldn't budge an inch.

The Princess turned her head to look at Liáng Dog Er: "Dog Er Ge, help!"

But Liáng Dog Er swept the ground as if he heard nothing.

Liáng Cát Èr saw the situation, grabbed Golden Pig's arm and pulled with force, actually pulling him out of the door!

Golden Pig was pulled off the ground and exclaimed: "Fuck!" Liáng Cát Èr carried Golden Pig to the middle of the yard, and a crowd of people surrounded him tightly, blocking the kitchen door.

White Carp stood outside the door with her hands on her hips. She wrinkled her delicate willow leaf eyebrows and reprimanded in a low voice: "You're fundamentally not Chen Jǐ's friend, are you? Who would rush into a friend's house like this?"

Golden Pig quickly laughed and explained: "I was just worried about Chen Jǐ. You were late to open the door, and I still thought something had happened inside."

"Even if the sky falls, you can't act like this!"

Yáo old man stood with his hands behind his back beside the apricot tree and said slowly: "Golden Pig adult, what is the purpose of your esteemed visit today?"

Golden Pig lifted the pastries and fruits he was carrying: "Earlier, our Secret Spy Division was arresting a Jǐng Dynasty spy, and we accidentally let the spy escape, which injured the passing Chen Jǐ.

In the end, he was injured like this because of our negligence, so I am uneasy in my heart and specially came to visit."

The World Son and Self Carp were stunned. This fatty was actually someone from the Secret Plot Division, no wonder Liáng Dog Er was unwilling to act just now!

The two looked at Liáng Dog Er, only to see the other party still holding a bamboo broom, as if nothing had happened.

White Carp turned her head to Golden Pig and said: "Golden Pig adult, you've seen the person, and you've sent the gifts. Please go back."

"Later, please fulfill your duty and arrest the Jǐng Dynasty spy, and don't let the spy run away and injure people again... Where is the spy who injured Chen Jǐ imprisoned now?"

Golden Pig said with a smile and narrowed eyes: "Imprisoned? No, no, no, he was killed by Chen Jǐ."

The World Son and White Carp gasped, and subconsciously turned their heads to look at the apprentice bedroom. Before this, they were completely unable to associate Chen Jǐ with killing people.

White Carp recalled Chen Jǐ's action of slipping out just now, her expression becoming complex.

This medical hall apprentice seemed not as simple as she thought...

Just when everyone was in a daze, Golden Pig, like a loach, drilled through the gap in the crowd. He drilled into the apprentice bedroom and pulled open the quilt covering Chen Jǐ, revealing half of his body.

He saw Chen Jǐ wearing only a lining sleep suit, slowly opening his eyes: "Golden Pig adult, why have you come?"

Golden Pig's tightly wrinkled eyebrows slowly relaxed. Before everyone surrounded him again, he quickly cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I won't disturb you today. When Chen Jǐ is better, I will visit again."

Having said that, he slipped away and made a big escape.

Chen Jǐ sat on the bed, panting. Golden Pig was too difficult to deal with. The other party's character, suspicious to the point of not letting go of any detail, was undoubtedly what the Secret Spy Division needed most.

But with such a person as an opponent, a slight mistake could lead to eternal damnation.

The crowd of people wanted to enter and ask Chen Jǐ what was wrong, but saw White Carp standing at the door and lightly said: "You all go back to your work. I have something I want to ask him."

After the crowd left, White Carp asked: "Where did you go just now?"

Chen Jǐ was silent for a moment: "Princess, I don't want to deceive you.

If you are willing to believe me, just don't ask."

"Then tell me first, was someone arranged to follow you and me?"

"No, and I will not do anything against you."

"Okay, I won't ask anything later.

Rest assured, I also won't tell anyone what happened just now."

Having said that, she turned and went out the door, calling to the World Son: "Brother, let's go back to Wang Fu."

The World Son was stunned for a moment: "Why are you in such a hurry to go back? I still want to stay and eat lunch."

Chen Jǐ sat on the bed, listening to their footsteps climbing the ladder and leaving, silent and without a word.

The apprentice bedroom window moved, and Black Cloud's head squeezed open a gap, drilling in like liquid: "I found the person you were looking for. He's a coachman in the Liú family."