I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

Rewind to a short time ago—

Edo, northern suburbs, somewhere—

"So...it's just that someone secretly opened a small gambling den..." After listening to his subordinate's report, Nishino raised his hand and rubbed his temples to dispel the weariness. "Did you find anything strange inside the gambling den?"

“No.” One of Okabiki’s men, who was standing in front of Nishino, shook his head.

"Nishino-kun."

A deep, muffled shout came from behind Nishino.

The voice belonged to a burly man around 30 years old, dressed in a black uniform and wearing a black hat.

"I've already tied up all the people involved. How's the situation on your end?"

“The gambling den has already been thoroughly searched,” Nishino said calmly. “There were no suspicious items found.”

This muscular man is named Mizushima Ninzaburo.

Compared to his real name, his official title is probably more impressive—Captain of the Fourth Division of the Fire Thieves!

After the shogunate dispatched the thieves Kairai to join forces with the magistrate's office to deal with the anti-foreign group, in order to further strengthen the defense of Edo, the thieves Kairai would send two captains and their subordinates every night to work the night shift with the "three-times" officials of the magistrate's office. The two captains and their troops were stationed in the South and North Bansuo respectively.

Today, it just so happens that Nishino is on night duty at the Hokuban Post.

The fire-fighting thieves who are on night duty with Nishino at the North Division tonight are the Fourth Division, which is led by Mizushima.

Just moments ago, while they were all quietly guarding the moonlit night and starry sky inside the North Guardian Office, a stall owner selling "Nightingale Buckwheat" suddenly arrived at the North Guardian Office.

Nightingale buckwheat – refers to the small street vendors who sell buckwheat noodles late at night.

The stall owner suddenly came to the door for no other reason than to report that a group of people were mysteriously going in and out of a small house in the northern suburbs of Edo.

At a time when the shogunate is cracking down hard on the "radical anti-foreign faction" led by the Exorcism Group, such suspicious intelligence cannot be ignored...

With the suspicion that "it might be a meeting of radical anti-foreign thugs," Nishino led his subordinates, along with Mizushima and his Fourth Division members, to the location where they had reported the incident.

Each squad of the Fire Thieves had around 50 members. Mizushima didn't take his entire fourth squad with him, only half of them—26 people.

The group rushed to the location reported by the stall owner, and after a detailed investigation, they discovered that it was a misunderstanding—the small house was a gambling den privately run by some guy.

Those mysterious people coming and going were just a group of gamblers.

Although it was a false alarm, the trip wasn't entirely fruitless because they caught a group of people running an illegal casino.

After finishing up the remaining work, Nishino and Mizushima planned to return to their post.

But suddenly—

"Hmm?" Nishino raised an eyebrow forcefully.

Mizushima, standing next to him, wore a similar expression.

The two men, along with some of their subordinates, all looked up and headed northeast.

Not far to the northeast of this place is Eta, the only settlement in Edo.

They had all heard strange noises in this direction, almost simultaneously...

Listening closely, the noise... sounded exactly like a person screaming in agony.

"What's going on?" Mizushima frowned. "That sound... it sounds a bit like someone screaming in agony."

“…Let’s go,” Nishino said in a deep voice. “Let’s go take a look.”

Nishino's words, "Go and see," struck a chord with Mizushima—he had exactly the same thought in mind.

At a time when the government is cracking down on "radical anti-foreigners," they cannot ignore the strange noises they have heard. Nishino and Mizushima left a few men to escort all those involved in the gambling den back to the magistrate's office, and then personally led the majority of their forces to the direction from which the strange noises were coming from.

They sped across the street, passing by houses one after another, and soon—the Eta settlement in the northern suburbs came into view of Nishino and the others.

Entering this neighborhood, permeated with a thick, foul stench and "a place no one sees," Nishino and his companions bumped into a samurai who was fleeing in a panic as soon as they turned a corner—it was none other than Kogoro, who had just fought against Kinoshita Mai and now had no will to fight and only wanted to escape.

Toragoro's already grim expression changed drastically once again as he looked at the large group of government officials who had suddenly appeared in front of him.

He immediately stopped in his tracks, trying to find another way to escape.

How could there be a samurai with a sword in the Eta settlement? And why did he try to run away as soon as he saw the officials... Mizushima, who found Toragoro extremely suspicious, waved his hand and said, "Grab him!"

Several members of the Fourth Division rushed out of the ranks and swarmed forward, capturing Kogoro, who had collided with them and was unable to turn around and escape.

At that moment, a series of thin, hurried footsteps suddenly came from afar—at the end of the street to the west, a petite figure turned the corner and stood on the street, then ran straight towards where Toragoro was.

However, she only took two steps before her entire body froze on the spot upon seeing the large group of officials led by Nishino and Mizushima.

This petite figure... stood at the east and west ends of the street, respectively, with Nishino and the others looking at each other, a gentle breeze sweeping across the street between them.

This eerie silence lasted for less than two seconds when one of Nishino's men, Okabiki, pointed at the petite figure and shouted, breaking the silence:

"It's the Cat Monk! Lord Nishino! It's the Cat Monk!"

This petite, dark figure was none other than Neko-sō... or rather, Kinoshita Mai.

"Neko-sō?" Mizushima, who had only ever heard of the famous phantom thief but never seen him, opened his eyes and his expression changed.

As for Nishino, his expression also changed drastically due to astonishment.

How could Cat Monk be here? This question lingered in the minds of Nishino and the others.

While Nishino was still in shock, Mizushima, standing next to him, was the first to recover from his astonishment: "Sagara! Miyabe! You two stay here and keep an eye on this guy (Toragoro)! The rest of you, follow me! Grab Nekozo!"

Although we don't know why that cat monk who only steals money from evil people would appear here, it's always good to catch this great phantom thief who has been giving the Magistrate a headache for so long!

And so—under Mizushima's instructions, the members of the Fourth Division swarmed towards Kinoshita Mai.

Seeing that Mizushima and the others had already chased after Kinoshita Mai, Nishino paused for a moment, hesitated for a second, gritted his teeth, waved his hand, and led his men to follow closely behind the Fourth Division.

……

……

"Miss Kinoshita! What's going on with these government officials?"

At this moment, Aoto and Kinoshita Mai were side by side, running eastward along the street beneath their feet.

Before long, they rushed out of the Eta settlement and returned from the "unmanaged ruins" to the "normal town".

Even though they had escaped from the Eta settlement, they were still followed by a dense throng of pursuing footsteps.

"I don't know either!" Kinoshita Mai, her eyes still filled with confusion and bewilderment, said quickly in a wronged tone, "I just ran after some escaped thief."

"As we turned a corner, we saw these officials!"

After listening to Kinoshita Mai's explanation, Qing Deng took the opportunity to turn his head and glance at the officials who were sticking to their backsides.

Among the group of officials, Qing Deng spotted a familiar face—their top detective from the Northern Bureau: Xi Ye.

As for the large group of men beside Nishino, Aoto didn't recognize them.

However—although he didn't recognize these people, Qing Deng did recognize their clothing.

Looking at their black uniforms and the lanterns in their hands bearing the large characters for "fire thief," Qingdeng couldn't help but murmur:

"We've run into the most troublesome opponent..."

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Please vote with monthly tickets! Please recommend this book! Please add this book to your favorites!

Thank you so much to the two patrons, 【Handsome is Handsome】! I'm so grateful! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

This guild leader tipped me two guild leaders in one go last night, I'm truly flattered...

Including the two donations from the new patron last night, the author now owes six "patron-level update bonuses"...

I will definitely make it up to you one by one as soon as possible! (Leopard crying.jpg)

Chapter 136 The Legendary Pinnacle of Martial Arts:

Rest is indeed very important.

After resting for most of the day yesterday, I was inspired to write a long chapter of 10,000 words in the evening!

I wish I could be like this every day...

A long-awaited 1.1-word super long chapter! Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

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"Niijima! Takamaki! Okumura! The three of you go around to the right!"

"Yuki! Narukami! Amamiya! The three of you go around to the left!"

Even as he sped off at full speed, Mizushima, the captain of the 4th Division of the Fire Thieves, was still able to issue one order after another to his subordinates behind him in an orderly manner.

Taking advantage of the moment, Qingdeng turned his head again and glanced at the group of pursuers who were hot on his heels.

—What a coincidence, we just happened to run into the Fire Pirates, Fourth Division, led by Mizushima…

Qingdeng's brows furrowed slightly involuntarily.

The renowned fire and theft officers (short for fire and theft officers) who specialize in handling all kinds of major and serious cases are known to everyone.

Having dealt with all sorts of heinous and vicious criminals year after year, their combat strength is basically one of the strongest armed forces that the shogunate can currently muster.

As an official, Qingdeng knew more about the fire-theft reform than the average person.

Although the name of the Fire Thief Reform still resounds throughout the world, it is inevitable that it will fall into decay as the power of the shogunate gradually declines.

A significant portion of the captains and members of the Fire Thieves were a bunch of useless, incompetent, and good-for-nothing bastards.

However, there were still some exceptionally talented individuals who upheld the reputation of the Fire Thieves and prevented it from being completely tarnished.

Fourth Division Captain Mizushima is one of these types of people.

After the shogunate dispatched fire thieves and magistrates to suppress the "radical anti-foreign faction" led by the anti-foreign group, Aoto had several encounters with this Mizushima.

As far as Qing Deng knows, this person is a very upright and incorruptible individual who never shows mercy to any kind of criminal.

In terms of individual talent... in the entire Fire Pirates Kai, only the First Division Captain, Abiko Chutaro, can definitely outperform Mizushima.