Chapter 124 The sudden appearance of the cat monk [6000 words]
The 10 people who were left behind by Kamino to cut off the queens all had quite good skills, and judging from their movements, it seemed that they had been specially trained on how to cut off the queens for others.
They didn't take the initiative to attack, they just held their swords, defended and dodged, blocking Qingdeng and others.
Qingto didn't want to just let this big fish like Kamino slip away from his eyes.
But facing this group of enemies who had set up a turtle formation to cut off the rear, Qingden and the others had no way to win quickly. Even if they wanted to chase Kamino and others, they were unable to do so.
After working with Saito, Nagakura and others to cut down four of them, this "back-breaking force" began to retreat out of the corridor and out of the transfer station.
Judging from the results of the battle, it was Qingdeng and others who defeated this rear-cutting force.
But judging from the goals of both sides, it was this rear-cutting force that won. They successfully blocked Ayoto and his party, buying time for Kamino and his companions to retreat.
At this time, all the large forces of the anti-barbarian group headed by Shenye had withdrawn from the Fanshu Adjustment Center.
As soon as they retreated to the street outside the main gate of the training center, Kamino heard the sound of dense footsteps coming from the west side of the street.
Through the faint moonlight, Kamino could vaguely make out: at the intersection on the west side, a large number of officials from the execution office were running toward them.
Coincidentally, the person leading this group of reinforcements was Qingto's immediate superior: Arima.
Arima held the handle in his ten hands and charged forward with great momentum. Although he was not good at martial arts, when it came to courage, he would not lose to anyone in the Edo South or North Office.
Kamino gritted his teeth, and then ordered his subordinates to divide into several groups and disperse to escape.
Before escaping, Kamino did not forget to instruct his subordinates to set a fire - so much fire oil was poured into the Fanshu Diao House, but it could not be wasted.
Bear!
A fire broke out.
A small portion of the Fanshu Diao Institute was instantly surrounded and devoured by fire.
Under the illumination of the fire, Kamino and others and the officers of the execution office started a cat-and-mouse chase...
…
…
Qingden also participated in the hunt for Kamino and the others.
The two talents of "taking the lead" and "strengthening muscles" are truly a match made in heaven.
The talent effect of "Strengthening Muscles" of "Muscles Are Not Easily Fatigued" allows Qingden to sprint continuously at his top speed for a long period of time.
In short: Qingden is very good at chasing people now.
He led Saito and others, and coordinated with Arima and others who arrived, to pursue the escaping Kamino.
The ability to cooperate with each other in "strengthening muscles" and "taking the lead" allowed Qingdeng to successfully capture many people with his own hands.
But no matter what, the people of the anti-barbarian group dispersed and escaped...
They scattered in all directions and dived into the complicated streets like fish into the sea, making it extremely difficult for Qingdeng and the others to catch them.
Often after following someone and turning around an alley, I suddenly find that the person has disappeared. Even if I climb to a higher place, I can't find where the person went.
Although some guys who were slow or unlucky were successfully caught, these guys caught by the officials seemed to be just ordinary pawns, and they were unable to catch the most important Kamino...
In desperation, Arima had to ask the execution office for instructions to send additional manpower.
Although the manpower of the execution office was already very tight, Hakui and Atsukawa, who were not willing to let the leader of the anti-barbarian group escape, still forced some people to come over, preparing to increase the intensity of the search.
At the same time, Aoto, Arima and the others received the order - Hakui is now going to the Boshu Adjustment Institute in person, preparing to personally check the current situation of the Fanshu Adjustment Station that was attacked. He asked Aoto and Arima to temporarily stop attacking Kamino.
He was arrested and immediately returned to the Tibetan Book Transfer Office.
Now that the order had been received, Aoto had no choice but to lead Saito and the others, dragging their slightly tired bodies with Arima back to the now quite dilapidated Fanshu Tiaosuo.
Because the fire was put out in time, the Fanshu Adjustment Center was not seriously damaged by the fire set by Kamino and others before they left. Only a small part of the building was scorched by the flames.
The Fanshu Tiaosuo House, which is still smelling of burnt smoke and thin smoke, is noisy.
Officials from the execution office and the town fire department gathered around the Fanshu transfer office, each performing their duties.
Firefighters from the town checked to see if there were any fires that had not been extinguished.
The people at the execution center transported out one after another the bodies of the innocent people who had unfortunately been murdered by the anti-barbarian group tonight.
Qingden saw Katsurin Taro - he was sitting in a corner of the training center with the other survivors with a tired expression, accepting questions from the officers of the training center.
"Tachibana-kun!"
Bo Jing's voice suddenly reached Qingdeng's ears.
Looking past the sound, the gate of the transfer station seemed to be Bojing, who had just arrived. He took the initiative to greet Qingdeng who had returned, taking three steps at a time.
Along with Bo Jing, there were some official officials behind him who faced Qing Den.
"Lord Boi." Qingteng bowed to Boi and the others in a polite manner.
"Tachibana-kun..." Bojing, who walked up to Qingteng, looked at Qingteng repeatedly with an expression mixed with complex emotions such as excitement, joy, and surprise.
His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something to Qingdeng.
After considering his words for a long time, he finally sighed:
"It's been really hard on you tonight."
"Thank you for discovering the traces of the anti-barbarian group in time..."
"Well done!"
Bo Jing raised his hands and patted Qingden's shoulders affectionately several times.
Time goes back to just now - the fires that suddenly broke out in various places in Edo inevitably caused confusion among the officials at the execution office.
The people who poured into the streets to escape the fire and fled to safety areas seriously affected the monitoring of various places in Edo by the officials.
Requests from subordinates were sent to Beifan Station like pieces of paper: What should we do now? Should we continue to monitor the movements of the anti-barbarian group? Or should we terminate the operation and help people escape from the fire?
While Hakui, Atsukawa and the others were struggling, a servant from their own division suddenly came to the Northern Division in a hurry.
He said that he was sent by Ju Qingdeng and reported important information: the Fanshu Adjustment Institute was being attacked by a large number of unknown persons! And these unknown persons were suspected to be the anti-barbarian group! Please send additional reinforcements to the Fanshu Adjustment Station!
Although the fire situation is critical, it is not their job to control the fire situation.
In the final analysis, the first goal they pursue tonight is to track down the anti-barbarian group!
Therefore, after hearing the information reported by this member of the army, Bo Jing and others were shocked at first, and then responded quickly: they immediately dispatched all the troops they could to the Fanshu transfer station.
Under Bo Jing's order, Arima led a large force to the Fan Shu Diao Station - this is a story later.
He discovered the traces of the anti-barbarian group in time, and bravely rushed forward to fight with the people of the anti-barbarian group, saving many people led by Katsu Rintaro, and won a lot of support for the arrival of the large army of the envoy.
Time... For a moment, Bo Jing couldn't think of what words or sentences to use to praise Qingden's various achievements tonight.
Bo Jing was praising him happily - but Qing Teng's face did not show any joy.
"Thanks to me for discovering the traces of the anti-barbarian group in time..." Qingdeng softly repeated the praise Bo Jing gave him just now, and smiled bitterly, "Lord Bo Jing, the person who discovered the traces of the anti-barbarian group in time...
It’s not me.”
"Huh?" Bo Jing opened his eyes.
There were horses and others beside him who all looked surprised at this time.
"Didn't you discover the anti-barbarian group?" Bo Jing blinked hard twice, "Then how did you find out that the people from the anti-barbarian group were attacking the Tibetan Book Transfer Center?"
"That's because..." Qingdeng said this and paused.
He pursed his lips, and after a moment, he continued with a strange expression:
"That's because Mao Xiaoseng reported to me."
"Cat Monk?!" Bo Jing, who doubted whether he heard correctly, opened his staring eyes even wider, and subconsciously turned his body to one side to move his left ear away.
Qingdeng is closer.
After all, it is impossible to conceal or deceive this matter.
Since we have always wanted to tell the truth, let’s just tell the truth now.
Qingdeng tidied up his words and then cleared his throat——
…
…
Time goes back to when Aonto and the others were still at the fire scene in Kenmachi——
"Tachibana Aoden! Catch it!"
A completely indistinguishable gender-neutral voice sounded from behind Qingdeng, instantly attracting the attention of everyone around him.
Qingden, who was also shocked, turned around quickly, and then raised his gaze in the direction of the neutral voice.
I saw a petite figure standing in a shop behind him.
He was dressed in black, with a black turban and faceband on his head, slightly loose black clothes and black hakama, and black gloves and black footbags on his hands and feet. The only exposed part of his body was his eyes.
Looking at this guy standing on the roof, whose clothing looked suspicious, Nagakura, Harada, and Toudo looked solemn, and quickly drew out and raised their respective weapons.
The surrounding town fire and police officers were looking at this mysterious man with different expressions.
Only Aoto and Saito had strange expressions.
Qingdeng recognized this person...
He just met this person not long ago... and copied a strange talent from this person.
"Cat Monk...?" Qingden called this person's name softly at a volume that only he could hear clearly.
The man in black who suddenly appeared was the big thief: the cat monk.
Before Qingdeng could be surprised that the cat monk suddenly appeared at this time, he saw the cat monk suddenly raised his right hand and threw something at Qingdeng in full view of everyone.
Things like this hit the muddy ground at Qingdeng's feet, sprinkling mud at intervals.
Qingdeng took a closer look - such an object turned out to be a paper ball wrapped with something hard.
Mao Xiaoseng used his neutral voice and shouted to Qingdeng again: "Look at that piece of paper! Fanshu tunes are all dangerous!"
After shouting these words, the cat monk turned around without looking back, jumped into the invisible darkness behind the shop.
Nagakura and the others subconsciously wanted to chase them, but were stopped by Qingto's shout.
"Stop chasing him! That man is Cat Monk, you can't catch him!"
When he first met the Cat Monk, Qing Deng still remembers the speed that the Cat Monk showed and his dexterity in moving across complex terrain such as rooftops and narrow alleys.
Chasing the Neko-monk in the streets of Edo... they might even break their legs and not be able to catch up.
"Cat Monk?" Harada's eyes bulged, then he raised his head and looked in the direction where the Cat Monk disappeared.
Nagakura and Toudou, who had also met the famous phantom thief for the first time, were now looking towards the direction where the cat monk left with curious and startled eyes like Harada.
——Fan Shu tunes out all dangers...?
While Qingdeng was chewing in his mind what Mao Xiaoseng had just shouted, he bent down and picked up the paper ball that Mao Xiaosheng had just thrown at his feet.
There was an ordinary stone wrapped in this piece of paper - probably it was wrapped in a heavy object so that it could be easily thrown at Qingdeng's feet.
Qingdeng threw the stone aside and unfolded the paper.
Saito and the others all gathered around at this time, and followed Aomori to check what was written on the paper.
I saw only one sentence written in extremely correct handwriting on this piece of paper:
[A group of unknown people are attacking the Fanshu Adjustment Center. The number of attackers should be around six to seventy people]
"The Fanshu Adjustment Institute...is under attack?" Todo looked in disbelief.
Nagakura and Harada, who were standing side by side, looked at each other - both of them had confused expressions on their faces.
The famous monster thief suddenly appeared and informed them of "all the dangers of Fanshu Diao"... Their brains were a bit unable to understand what was going on...
Even Saito, who was always expressionless, was now frowning slightly.
Invariably, they all focused their attention on Qingdeng.
Qingdeng, who was still looking at the line of writing on the paper, now frowned.
The fog that is currently entangled in Qingto's mind is no less than that of Saito and the others...
There were so many questions that Qingdeng didn't know where to start thinking.
"Mr. Tachibana..." Harada put his spear on his shoulder, "Now... what should we do?"
Nagakura took over: "Do you want to believe...that little cat monk?"
Qingdeng thought for a moment, then let out a long breath, folded the paper in his hand solemnly, and put it into his arms: "...Let's go. Let's go to the Fanshu Diao Institute."
"Mr. Tachibana," Todo said in astonishment, "Do we want to believe that little cat monk?"
"...Try your luck." Qingdeng said solemnly, "I just don't know what to do right now."
"The attack on Fanshu Diao...is really not an impossible thing."
"It's better to believe that it exists than to believe that it doesn't exist. And...I really can't think of any reason why Mao Xiaoseng would tell me false information without any reason."
"Anyway, even if our trip to the Fanshu Adjustment Center was in vain, we won't have much to lose."
"Let's go!"
Now that Ayoto has spoken, Saito and the others can only obey.
The group of people hurried away from the fire scene.
As soon as they left the raging waves of fire behind, they suddenly bumped into a young man dressed as a member of their own army.
"Ah! Lord Tachibana?" After seeing Qingteng, the young servant greeted Qingteng in surprise.
This place is one of the patrol areas that Qingteng is responsible for on weekdays, so the local guards in this area basically recognize Qingteng.
This servant was carrying a big hammer... Judging from his appearance, he probably wanted to go to the fire scene in Kagi-machi to help demolish the houses around the fire scene and prevent the spread of the fire.
In Edo, where fires occurred frequently, there was never a shortage of brave warriors who had the courage to work with the town fire department officers to put out fires when fires broke out.
After Qingdeng glanced at this brave servant for a few times, he waved to him: "What's your name?"
"Me? My name is Jiuzaburo!"
"Jiuzaburo, come with me."
"Huh? Is...what's the matter?"
"Don't ask so many questions yet, just follow me."
"Okay, okay!"
Jiuzaburo, who was not sure why, followed Qingdeng towards the Fanshu Diao Institute.
As a group of people hurriedly hurriedly hurriedly, soon, the huge shadow of Fanshu Diao Institute gradually appeared in Qingdeng's eyes.
What also appeared in the eyes of Qingdeng and the others... were the black shadows outside the training center.
Qingdeng, who had the night vision provided by the "cat's eye", clearly saw several corpses lying in a mess at the gate of the transfer station.
These corpses were all very familiar to Qingdeng - when they were patrolling outside the gate of the Fanshu Adjustment Institute tonight, they could see these guards guarding the gate of the transfer station with all due diligence...
Although Saito and the others did not have the same night vision ability as Aonto, with the slight amount of moonlight, they could barely see clearly the figures of the members of the anti-insurgency team who were swarming outside the police station.
I saw Saito and others looking at the Fanshu Adjustment Center that was really being attacked, with expressions of astonishment on their faces.
"This, this is...?!" Jiuzaburo, who was forcibly pulled over by Qingden, was dumbfounded at the moment, staring blankly at the Fanshu Diaosuo who was surrounded by the anti-barbarian group.
At the beginning, Qingdeng was stunned because "Mao Xiaoseng's information was actually correct," but he quickly regained his composure.
"...Shusaburo." Qingdeng said to Shusaburo in a deep voice, "Rush to the Beifan Institute now, find Mr. Bojing, and tell him: The Tibetan Shudiao Institute is suffering from a large number of unknown people who are suspected to be the anti-barbarian group.
This Sake Saburo is also a very smart and eye-catching person.
After hearing Qingteng's order, he was stunned for a moment, and then quickly reacted: "Yes, yes! I will go to Beifansuo now!"
After saying that, Shuzaburo threw aside the big mallet he had been carrying on his shoulders, lifted up the hem of his hakama, and ran towards the direction of Kitabansho as fast as a spark of fire.
After Jiuzaburo left, Qingdeng turned his attention back to the Fanshu Adjustment Institute in the distance——
"……Ready to fight."
While issuing attack orders to his subordinates in a calm tone, Qingto straightened the Dingguishen around his waist.
Harada blinked hard at Aoto: "Mr. Tachibana, we...are just going to attack with just this few people? Why don't we wait for the reinforcements from the execution center first?"
"There may be survivors in the Fanshu Diao Institute now." Qingdeng said calmly, "If we just wait so eagerly for the reinforcements from the execution institute to arrive, then the only survivors in the Diao Institute may even have cold bodies.
Already."
"If we attack now, we might be able to save a few people."
"and--"
Having said this, Qingdeng changed into a joking tone.
"If we, the official officers who shoulder the important mission of 'protecting Edo,' don't rush forward immediately when we see the enemies who are destroying Edo, we may be impeached in the future."
After hearing this, Harada grinned and said with a naive smile: "Okay, you are our leader now, and you will do what you say you want to do."
"Shall we attack directly without waiting for reinforcements... Haha, it sounds very exciting!" Nagagura showed an expectant and excited smile, gearing up.
Todo, who was young and had not seen much of the world, looked nervous, but there was no shrinking look on his cheeks.
Saito was as calm as ever - he just silently drew the sword in his hand.
Looking at his subordinates who showed no intention of retreating, Qingdeng's lips curled up slightly.
"In that case, you all have to follow me closely!"
He threw his upper body, Yu Zhi, and led the crowd, like a tiger descending the mountain, straight towards the battlefield in the distance.
…
…
After listening to Aoshito's story, Hakui and Arima all showed the same expression - dumbfounded, clay and wood sculptures.
After a long while, Bo Jing's consciousness finally returned to reality.
"Ji Jun, what you said...is all true?" he asked with a slight stumble.
"Of course it's true." Qingdeng took out the note that Cat Little Monk threw to him from his arms and that he had kept carefully. "This is the piece of paper that Cat Little Monk threw to me."
"Then my subordinates, as well as the town fire police officers who were also present at the time, can also testify that what I said is not false."
Hakui took the piece of paper from Qingtou, spread it out and looked at it carefully.
I saw that after Bo Jing cast his eyes on this piece of paper with only a simple sentence written on it, his expression further became weird and complicated.
"This little cat monk... what does he mean?" Bo Jing murmured, "How did he know that the Fanshu Diao Institute was under attack...? And why did he want to tell us this information...?"
"Maybe it was a moment of kindness." Qingden joked.
These questions... I'm afraid you have to ask Mao Xiaoseng himself in order to know the reason.
Bo Jing was still holding the piece of paper, thinking.
At this time, a slightly urgent call sounded from behind Qingdeng:
"Tachibana-kun, Tachibana-kun!"
Qingdeng turned around in confusion and saw a temporary Hui Tongxin whom he was not very familiar with striding towards him.
This temporary returnee was one of the reinforcements brought over by Bo Jing. This person, under Bo Jing's order, led his troops to clean up the messy training center.
"What's wrong?" Qingdeng asked.
"Someone wants to see you." He temporarily straightened his right thumb and gestured backwards, "What do you say? Are you free now? Do you want to meet that person?"
"Does anyone want to see me?" Qingdeng looked over the senior's shoulder and looked behind him.
Behind him... stood a middle-aged man with a heavy look of fatigue on his face, but his waist was quite straight.
This is Katsurin Taro.
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