Through the crack of the door I had kicked open, I could see that the curtains in the room were drawn tightly, and the light was dim.

Even so, I could still vaguely see someone sitting on the bed in the room.

This person was not wearing any clothes, and was facing away from me. Although they had a waterfall of long hair, their build looked like a man's.

What made my scalp crawl was that this person's back was not covered in normal human skin, but in patches of black, shiny scales!

What was this?

Clearly, it was a large fish from the river that had become an evil spirit!

Seeing this scene, I gasped in horror and couldn't help but shout, "F*ck!"

As a result, the person in the room heard my voice and turned around, revealing a pair of emerald green eyes!

At that moment, I only had one thought in my mind—no matter what was locked in this room, it was definitely not human!

It was definitely not human!

Those brief moments had already blanked my mind. The two guards next to me took the opportunity to pounce on me, raising their clubs to attack me from behind.

Uncle Mei saw this and quickly shouted, "Rongsheng! Be careful!"

After saying that, he stepped forward to help me.

The two guards turned around to hit Uncle Mei, striking his arm with their short clubs.

I was immediately enraged. I turned around and kicked one guard to the ground, then punched the other.

Shopkeeper Wang, wearing his pajamas, jumped and shouted from the side, pointing at me and Uncle Mei, "Kill them! Kill these two bastards! Get your weapons! Go for the kill!"

In an instant, another seven or eight rats emerged from the room, wielding grave-robbing tools such as Luoyang shovels and iron spades. Worried that they would hurt Uncle Mei, I snatched a guard's short club and stood in front, letting Uncle Mei hide behind me.

But Uncle Mei refused to be outdone and also charged forward, throwing wild punches.

The two of us were engaged in a close-quarters brawl with a dozen strong men, with clubs and fists flying everywhere in the room!

In the chaos, I felt myself being struck on the head, back, and arms, and I grimaced in pain.

Finally, some dishonorable rat, unable to play fair, launched a sneak attack, slamming an iron spade into the back of my head, causing me to see stars and fall to the ground.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was a burly, bald man charging up the stairs with his fists raised.

Hu Wazi had arrived.

Seeing him come to my rescue, I was completely relieved.

So I fell to the ground with a thud, losing all awareness.

…

I don't know how much time had passed, but I slowly woke up.

Before I even opened my eyes, I felt pain all over my body, especially in the back of my head.

However, I seemed to be lying on something very soft, and I could smell a faint fragrance in the air. It seemed that someone was gently massaging the bruise on the back of my head, with a soothing and moderate pressure that felt quite comfortable.

Opening my eyes, I immediately saw a pair of peaks.

Looking up further, I saw a fair collarbone and the delicate, cold, and beautiful face of female police officer, Xiao Liang.

I finally realized that I was lying on her firm thighs, enjoying her gentle care. She was holding a bag of ice in her hand, gently rubbing the bruised area on the back of my head.

I wanted to speak, but I was afraid that I would lose this imperial treatment if I woke up, so I simply closed my eyes again and continued to pretend to be unconscious.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Liang leisurely asked, "You're awake?"

I kept my eyes tightly closed, refusing to open them, pretending to be a corpse.

Xiao Liang said speechlessly, "Chen Rongsheng, stop pretending! I saw you open your eyes. I know you're awake!"

Hearing this, I reluctantly opened my eyes and feigned mental confusion, saying, "Officer Xiao Liang, don't… don't shout, my head hurts, your shouting makes my ears ring…"

Xiao Liang rolled her eyes at me helplessly, her long, thick eyelashes fluttering gently.

She looked at my injury with concern and said, "You have such a big bump on the back of your head, of course it hurts! Why were you so impulsive? Didn't Officer Jiang tell you to stay calm? Why did you have to fight with Shopkeeper Wang and the others? You just needed to stall them, and backup would have arrived soon."

I stubbornly said, "The situation was urgent, I needed to investigate something…"

Before I could finish, I suddenly thought of Uncle Mei and quickly asked, "That's right, what about Uncle Mei? Is he alright?"

"He's smoking in the yard, he's fine, don't worry," Xiao Liang replied softly, then sighed and said, "Ah! You protected Uncle Mei, but you ended up getting beaten up all over. If Hu Wazi hadn't arrived in time, your life would have been in danger!"

I smiled and said softly, "I owe him that."

Xiao Liang objected, "What do you owe Uncle Mei? It's not like you killed Aunt Mei!"

"Even if we're even, we're still family. Little Mei's father is my father, I have to take care of him," I said seriously.

Xiao Liang didn't say anything more after hearing this, but the hand rubbing my injury became a little gentler.

I asked again, "By the way, has Shopkeeper Wang been caught? Have all of his people been arrested?"

Xiao Liang nodded and said, "Don't worry, with Hu Wazi and the Xiaoling Guards providing double security, none of them escaped. They were all arrested, and Shopkeeper Wang was caught on the spot."

"That's good," I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a scene flashed in my mind, and I suddenly remembered the strange-looking monster in the second-floor room of the villa!

His back was covered in dark black scales, and he had a pair of green eyes. Even the demons in *Journey to the West* weren't that scary!

Thinking of this, I quickly asked Xiao Liang, "Did you catch the monster on the second floor of the villa?"

Xiao Liang was stunned by my question and looked at me like I was crazy, as if I had said something nonsensical.

"Monster? What monster? There's no monster on the second floor of the villa!"

I quickly said, "In the room guarded by two people, there's a man, not wearing clothes, with disheveled hair, with many black scales on his back, and green eyes!"

Xiao Liang was completely dumbfounded, staring at me blankly, and reached out her fair hand to touch my forehead.

"Chen Rongsheng, do you have a fever? Or did Shopkeeper Wang's group hit you too hard and mess up your brain?"

I said seriously, "I don't have a fever, and my brain hasn't been messed up. I saw that monster before I got hurt, so I couldn't have been mistaken!"

Xiao Liang shook her head and said, "You must be mistaken. There's no such monster on the second floor of the villa. Everyone on the second floor has been arrested. Besides Shopkeeper Wang's tomb-raiding gang, there was only one… ahem, service industry worker, who came to sleep with Shopkeeper Wang."

Just as we were arguing, Uncle Mei returned from the yard after smoking, and Hu Wazi was with him.

They were both relieved when they came in and saw that I was awake.

"Rongsheng, you're awake?"

"Brother-in-law, you're really fierce, holding off so many people by yourself! Uncle told me that if you hadn't desperately stood in front, he would have been injured this time!"

I wasn't in the mood to talk to them about this. I quickly asked them:

"Uncle Mei, Hu Wazi, when you were on the second floor of the villa, did you see a man with scales on his back in the room in the corner?"