Immortality begins in the Great Wilderness Grotto Heaven

"What are you looking at? Paying back debts is a matter of course."

"Since you can't come up with silver, then use people to pay for it."

Inside the alley, four burly men dressed in short-sleeved, tight-fitting clothes were blocking the front of a house.

One of the men, with a fierce-looking face, was dragging a woman by the hair, amidst the angry but silent stares of the neighbors.

The latter clung tightly to the door frame with both hands, pleading repeatedly.

"Idiot, don't grab my hair! What if you get disfigured...? I'll just grab you around the waist and carry you away."

Seeing that the woman's hands had scratched blood off the door frame, a tall, thin man with a dry blade of grass in his mouth behind the burly man immediately started cursing.

That makes sense.

The latter was taken aback upon hearing this, and then forcefully picked up the woman around the waist and hoisted her onto his shoulder.

"daughter."

"Waaah, you bad people, don't take my mother!"

When Zhou An arrived, he saw a little girl with a dirty face crawl out of the door and run towards the burly man.

"This is never going to end. Get the hell out of my way."

Seeing the little girl lunge at him again, a burly man frowned and kicked her.

The footprint was so large that it almost covered the little girl's entire chest.

"Ping'er!"

Seeing this, the woman being carried on his shoulder had bloodshot eyes and began to struggle.

"stop!"

"Which fool dares to interfere with the Chang Le Gang's affairs?"

The tall, thin man frowned and, without thinking, started cursing in the direction the sound came from.

Just as he turned his head, a sharp whooshing sound came from behind, and a dark shadow flashed past his eyes.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, to everyone's astonishment, the burly man who had lifted the woman up by the waist collapsed to the ground.

The moment everyone came to their senses, they saw the woman who had been on their shoulder climb out of the mud and, with a look of panic on her face, hold the little girl who had almost been kicked away tightly in her arms.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Mother is here."

“Wuwu!”

"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and take them away."

"With the City Guard here, who dares to act recklessly?"

Zhou An frowned and shouted in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, the burly man who was about to make a move froze on the spot, while the tall, thin man with dry grass in his mouth finally saw who it was.

"What is the punishment for abducting a woman in broad daylight?"

"Sir, you misunderstand. We did not abduct the woman. It is because her family owes money and refuses to pay it back, so we took her to settle the debt."

As Zhou An approached step by step, the tall, thin man quickly spat out the dry grass in his mouth and said with a wronged expression.

"These are all rules written in the debt agreement, not things we can just pull people in randomly."

"What about the debt notes? How much do they owe you?"

"Including principal and interest, it totaled seven taels and six mace, and there's even his man's fingerprint on it."

Upon hearing this, the tall, thin man quickly took out a black and white IOU from his pocket and handed it over.

Although he didn't know where this unfamiliar guard who claimed to be from the city defense department came from, he wasn't afraid that the other party would tear up the debt note in public.

After all, you can run away from people, but you can't run away from debts.

Even if the debt note is torn up, they can always produce a new one.

In short, if the money isn't returned, even the King of Heaven himself can't help it.

"Brother Liu, you've come at the right time. Lend me five taels of silver."

Zhou An glanced at the debt note in his hand and immediately called out to Liu Shuqing, who had arrived late.

"Um?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuqing was taken aback, but after looking at the situation before her, she quickly took out her money pouch.

The tall, thin man was stunned when he saw the city guards in front of him actually taking out money to pay off the debt.

He had considered many possibilities in his mind, but he never expected that the unfamiliar city guard in front of him would be even kinder than the yamen runners who were usually in charge of maintaining order.

This left him with mixed feelings, but soon, this inexplicable sigh completely vanished.

In this day and age, kindness has no effect whatsoever.

"Your Excellency is merciful; this debt is now completely absolved."

The tall, thin man spoke repeatedly, and immediately reached out to take the money.

"Take a look at this debt. Is it yours? Is the amount correct or not?"

Zhou An coldly glanced at the tall, thin man, and the moment the latter awkwardly withdrew his hand, he asked the woman on the ground.

"The people, the women, are illiterate... but this number should be true."

The woman kept her head down, her words filled with a panicked attempt to remain calm.

"The lender listed on this note is Peng Shi, the big boss. Since the debt has been settled, please pass on a message to this so-called big boss Peng for me."

As he spoke, Zhou An tossed the silver coins in his hand into the hand of the tall, thin man.

"If I see any members of the Chang Le Gang loitering around here again, don't blame me for being impolite."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou An grabbed the tall, thin man's shoulder and, as the latter's face changed color as his shoulder bone caved in, said, word by word.

"Don't worry, sir, we will definitely not come again... Also, the person in charge of debt collection now is Master Jin Biao."

But rest assured, sir, I will definitely convey your message.

Meeting Zhou An's icy gaze, the tall, thin man immediately wailed.

"Get lost."

Only after obtaining the name of the person behind the scenes did Zhou An release his grip, watching the latter, clutching his shoulder, scramble and disappear into the alley with the other three.

"Thank you so much, sir, for saving my life. I will definitely repay the money I owe you."

"Ping'er, hurry up and kowtow to the master."

As she spoke, the woman quickly pulled her nearly five-year-old daughter to kowtow on the floor.

"Bang!"

Zhou An stretched out his right hand and blocked their heads.

"Looks like I prefer your heads to the floor."

Meeting their astonished gazes, Zhou An grinned, then asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"Tell me, what's the background of this 'Master Jin'? And why was Boss Peng, the debt collector, replaced?"

"I don't know the specifics, but I heard that a few days ago, the loan shark, Boss Peng, was killed by a demon."

All the debts that previously belonged to Boss Peng will now be handled by Master Jin, who came from the south of the city.

"Yes, sir, these days, many people who can't pay their debts have been taken away by that Master Jin."

If there are no women in the household, they will use men or children to settle the debt.

Even when someone tried to ransom the person afterward, the ransom was returned on the grounds that the deadline had passed.

"If it weren't for your help, sir, Guan'er would probably be dead too."

"Even paying money can't get them released. Aren't the local officials going to do anything about it?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuqing frowned; the shantytown was even more chaotic than he had imagined.

"They do manage it, but by the time the officials arrive, even if the people who have been arrested manage to come back safely."

Within a few days, the person would vanish without a trace from their home.

Over time, people began to accept that those who were taken away would not return.

"After all, the officials can't be watching over us every day, and some people..."

As the man was speaking, he was suddenly given a wink by the person next to him.

But this little trick couldn't possibly escape Zhou An's notice.

It's obvious that some officials and their underlings chose to collude with the corrupt officials.

Where is your father?

Looking at the little girl with a dirty face in front of him, Zhou An helped her up.

"My father works in the city and won't be back until the afternoon."

"good."

Zhou An patted the little girl's head, then got up and walked out of the alley.

"Just now I was really worried that Brother Zhou would kill all those who bullied the weak, just like he would slay demons."

I never expected Brother Zhou to choose such a gentle approach.

After leaving the alley, Liu Shuqing looked at Zhou An, who was letting out a long sigh of relief, and said with a hint of teasing.

"As law enforcers, how can we kill people indiscriminately?"

Moreover, even if they are forcibly driven away, they will come back afterward, and it is not good to fight in front of children.

Keep patrolling... Oh, and I'll pay you back the money I owe you in a couple of days.

Zhou An spoke up.

Jin Biao, Jin Ye.

It seems this Mr. Jin has accumulated quite a bit of money recently.

Including today, two days is enough time for him to understand the person's situation and then get the money back.

Zhou An was already short of money, so it was impossible for him to be generous without a reason.

For now, it's just a temporary storage.

"There's no need to rush about the money, but what those neighbors were talking about earlier seemed a bit strange."

Those who returned mysteriously disappeared; it's unclear whether it was retaliation from the Chang Le Gang or related to demons or evil spirits.

Liu Shuqing said in a deep voice.

Compared to the five taels of silver he spent to see his partner clearly, he was more concerned about those who had mysteriously disappeared.

.......