Chapter 640: Escape

Chapter 640: Escape

Within the county office, cries and roars echoed continuously, mingled with screams of agony. The place had descended into complete chaos.

Everyone had forgotten their original purpose, rushing in with wild excitement to do things they had once dreamed of but never dared to attempt.

"Grain!! Grain!! All white flour!! No coarse grain at all!!" Hearing voices coming from the western wing, a sea of people surged toward that direction.

The old man who had been the first to consume the magistrate's flesh also wanted to follow, but stumbled and fell to the ground.

He tried to rise, but one foot stepped on his raised right hand. With a sharp crack, he opened his bloodstained mouth wide and let out a piercing scream.

Yet that cry was insignificant amid the surrounding clamor. As more feet stepped down upon him, it quickly faded into silence. Those who passed by only felt the ground slightly softer beneath them—nothing else noticed.

Among this dense crowd, Yang Xiaohai and his wife Zhao Xiumei were also present, though not seeking entry. They were pushed forward by the throng.

When he tried to leave, he found himself surrounded by people; escape seemed impossible.

His face pale, he clutched Zhao Xiumei’s hand tightly, trying desperately to break through the crowd. "Hold onto my hand! Don't let go! If you do, we won’t be able to get back together!"

After struggling left and right without success, Yang Xiaohai suddenly remembered something. From his chest, he pulled out the wooden charm—a piece of wood given to him by his senior brother Li, which contained a human tongue.

As he raised the object above his head and waved it toward the left side of the crowd, the formerly frenzied mob froze in place, eyes filled with bewilderment as if forgetting what they had intended to do.

"Follow me! We'll go this way," said Yang Xiaohai, bending low as he wove through the crowd toward the wall.

With this item, Yang Xiaohai finally managed to break free from the mob after tremendous effort.

Still shaken, he glanced at the chaos before him and hurriedly pulled Zhao Xiumei toward the inn.

"Husband, what is going on? How did it turn into this mess?" Zhao Xiumei was clearly frightened by everything unfolding around her.

It had just been a righteous act of punishing evil and helping the innocent—but now everything had spiraled out of control.

"I don’t know either. Just forget about it for now—we should leave quickly! This place is too dangerous!"

Though speaking thus to his wife, Yang Xiaohai had seen much in life. He believed it was that old woman who caused all this trouble. Without her, none of this would have happened.

But to say she was wrong, he couldn’t bring himself to think so. She truly helped the suffering and acted according to heaven’s will. It was indeed a good deed.

He hadn’t read many books, yet he couldn’t understand how things came to such a pass. All he wanted now was to take his people away from this place of turmoil.

When Yang Xiaohai returned to the inn, he saw the three monkey children sitting on stools, guarding the ceramic jar belonging to the old woman on the table.

"Come on! Hurry up!" shouted Yang Xiaohai urgently, then dashed toward the stable behind the inn.

"Auntie?"

"Oh no!! Forget about Auntie! She’s powerful enough to survive! If we don’t run now, we’ll get dragged into this mess ourselves!"

The carriage was soon pushed out. Yang Xiaohai took the reins and began heading back along the same route.

"This place seems too unstable. I’ll take a detour and avoid this area entirely," he thought silently.

But just as his carriage neared the outskirts of town, he spotted several figures dressed strangely, leading horses across the road.

At first, he assumed they were merely pedestrians like himself. But when he saw their badges at their waists, his face turned green with fear—they were from the Celestial Inspection Bureau.

From his senior brother Li, he knew well what the Celestial Inspection Bureau meant—and its members’ methods of operation. “T...Turn around!”

Yang Xiaohai immediately turned the horse around, whipping the reins hard against the horse’s back in an attempt to exit another way.

However, when he returned to the entrance of the county office, what he saw nearly made him weep.

Just moments ago, these very people had been looting. Now they stood in a large circle, listening intently to someone inside, occasionally voicing agreement.

They were saying one thing, yet they had blocked off the main path leading elsewhere.

"Grandfather Shidu! We are your personal servants, royal guards! We follow you step by step, never leaving your side!"

With a bold shout, others repeated it, and everyone drew out white scarves and tied them around their heads.

Yang Xiaohai looked at them with sorrowful anger, then glanced at the white scarf on his wife’s head. He angrily pulled it off hers.

Only now did he realize—it must all have been part of the old woman’s scheme. He had followed her so eagerly, thinking she was kind!

"Hmph, I guessed correctly. The more remote places, the more likely there are cults stirring up trouble!" Hearing voices from the other side, Yang Xiaohai turned his head and saw a man with a hunched neck and cold eyes crouching on the eaves of a nearby inn like a mythical beast.

Yang Xiaohai remembered him—he was one of the officials from the Astronomical Bureau.

As Yang Xiaohai watched, the beast-like figure reached into his robe and pulled out a child’s mummified body tied by a red string, wearing a red undergarment and having cinnabar dotting its forehead. The body was flung directly onto the eaves.

Seeing the mummy’s hand twitch as the red string was tugged, while the white scarves moved closer from the other side, Yang Xiaohai’s soul nearly fled his body.

"G...Get off the cart!! Don’t care about the cart anymore!!"

In the brief moment before the two sides clashed, Yang Xiaohai decisively led the others into a narrow alley.

Having lived as a beggar before, Yang Xiaohai understood that nothing mattered more than one’s own life.

The sounds of battle and shouting continued to echo behind them. Yang Xiaohai could only keep running deeper into the alleys.

Eventually, they leaped over walls into another courtyard. The noise of fighting finally subsided somewhat.

"We’ll wait here until the fight outside dies down. Then we can come out," said Yang Xiaohai, lowering his voice to a whisper as he explained to the others.

The three monkey children blinked. One of them suddenly spoke. "Auntie."

"Shh! Stop calling Auntie! It’s because of your Auntie that we’re in this mess!" Yang Xiaohai said anxiously, then wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

Whether due to anxiety or not, he felt the temperature rising all around him.

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Next chapter update at 11:32 PM.

(End of Chapter)