Qingshan

Chapter 82 : Chapter 82

Chapter 82: A Ghost That Won't Die

Tongji Street lay dark and still.

On any other night, the street would have been lively -- merchants hosting theater troupes for private banquets, carriages lining up outside their gates, drivers squatting along the walls gambling and swapping tall tales.

Tonight, Tongji Street was silent. Many merchants had fled overnight, terrified the Secret Spy Division would snatch them up and parade them as Jing Dynasty spies to pad its record.

Inside the abandoned residence, seven figures in black stood in a ring around Shopkeeper Yuan's corpse, still as statues beneath their bamboo hats.

While Chen Ji thought, no one dared speak, afraid of breaking his concentration.

The scene at the Welcome Tavern was still fresh in their minds. Standing beside a superior with that kind of perception, the agents didn't dare breathe too loudly, as though a boulder were pressing down on their heads.

Chen Ji looked at the unmoved corpse of Shopkeeper Yuan, then spoke. "Every stab targeted a vital point, consistent with the Welcome Tavern killer's technique. This confirms both scenes are the work of the same person. Among the Jing Dynasty's agents, is anyone known for using a short blade? Killers who favor short blades as their weapon of choice are uncommon."

West Wind answered quickly. "There is one. Extremely skilled with a short blade. Our colleagues in Jinling once tried to apprehend him, but he killed over a dozen agents and escaped by jumping into the Qinhuai River... We suspect him as well, but he never displayed this sword-breaking technique before, which gives us pause."

Chen Ji asked, "How long ago was the Jinling incident?"

"About three years, I believe."

Chen Ji nodded. "Three years is a long time. It's possible he developed new techniques in the interim. For now, designate him as the primary suspect and issue an arrest warrant."

Gui was heading back to the Jing Dynasty anyway. Taking a bit of heat from the Secret Spy Division on Chen Ji's behalf shouldn't be a problem.

West Wind looked troubled. "We can't. The man is meticulous -- during the Jinling fight he wore a snarling demon mask, and nobody saw his face. We can't issue a warrant without a description. However, Lord Jinzhu has personally gone to seal the major routes outside the city. They won't escape."

Chen Ji asked casually, "Are you certain the Jing Dynasty agents have fled Luocheng?"

West Wind considered. "We can't be certain, but their primary objective was stealing our firearms. Now that they've succeeded, their top priority should be getting the weapons back to the Jing Dynasty. There's no reason to stay."

What Chen Ji didn't yet know was that his use of three explosive charges the previous night had triggered an eight-hundred-li express dispatch to both the capital and the border armies, classified as highest priority. Every northbound road and waterway was being locked down, checkpoint by checkpoint. Under no circumstances could the Jing Dynasty be allowed to carry these weapons home.

The Jing Dynasty hadn't actually obtained any firearms, but everyone believed they had. The Secret Spy Division was deploying maximum resources to seal every route north.

Fortunately, Gui hadn't chosen to head straight north. Otherwise he'd have walked right into the net.

Chen Ji crouched beside the body, thinking about his next move.

First, he absolutely could not pursue Gui and Wu Hongbiao. If he actually caught them, he'd be exposed too.

Second, he had to arrest a batch of Jing Dynasty agents, or Jinzhu wouldn't let him off the hook.

But who?

Wait. He knew exactly who to arrest.

Chen Ji asked evenly, "West Wind, was the body already stripped naked when you found it? Any leads on his identity?"

West Wind crouched beside him and answered quietly. "He was an enforcer from the Jing Dynasty's Kujue Temple -- likely a Jing agent. Beyond that, we're still investigating... No other leads so far."

Chen Ji frowned. "No leads at all? What have you been doing all day?"

The agents felt the pressure sharpen. West Wind spoke hastily. "We had every Tongji Street resident come in for identification today. Not a single person on the entire street recognized him. The property belongs to a Hui merchant. It's been abandoned for over a year... We also brought in local brokers and ward chiefs. We've spent the whole day investigating -- everything that could be checked has been checked."

The corpse seemed to have materialized out of thin air. Within a radius of several li, not one person could identify the dead man.

It wasn't that the agents hadn't tried. There simply were no leads.

Chen Ji said calmly, "In this freezing weather, the man couldn't have walked out of his house naked. The killer must have stripped the clothes off after the killing. Why take the clothes? Because they were distinctive enough to let someone identify him. The killer removed that possibility."

West Wind asked, "Sir, do you have a plan?"

"How many agents does the Secret Spy Division still have stationed in Luocheng?"

"Lord Jinzhu left forty-two."

"Call them all in. Seal off the East Market." Chen Ji rose slowly. "Since deduction has hit a wall, we'll use brute-force elimination instead. This man was living in Luocheng. His disappearance can't have left zero ripples. Bring in every ward chief and broker from the East Market and investigate all missing persons across the entire district. Whoever vanished without explanation -- that's our dead man."

The Hundred Deer Pavilion no longer had its Shopkeeper Yuan. That single thread led straight there.

Once he confirmed Shopkeeper Yuan's disappearance, he'd have grounds to raid the Hundred Deer Pavilion, arrest its people, and interrogate them. Jinzhu would get his results. Copying answers from the back of the book -- how could he possibly get it wrong?

Chen Ji knew that Gui had stripped the body precisely to keep the Secret Spy Division from tracing things back to the Hundred Deer Pavilion and disrupting the Military Intelligence Division's revenue stream.

But what did that have to do with Chen Ji? The Hundred Deer Pavilion was stocked with ginseng -- exactly what he needed.

...

...

Deep in the night, the ward chief was dragged from his bed by agents and followed them on trembling legs, terrified that one wrong word would see him swallowed alive by these walking demons.

West Wind held a torch aloft and led the agents from door to door, pounding on each shop's entrance. One by one, shopkeepers and their staff were hauled out of bed before they could even grab their padded coats, shivering in the cold street.

West Wind and his men wore faces of stone. Only after the ward chief confirmed that a given shop was fully accounted for did the agents let its people go back to sleep.

Chen Ji trailed silently behind, his mind fixed on one destination, waiting for the search to reach the Hundred Deer Pavilion.

To prevent the Jing Dynasty agents inside from lashing out in desperation, he kept himself at the very back.

Yet as they drew close, something felt off. It was too quiet.

The Hundred Deer Pavilion showed no sign of alarm. No one tried to flee. It sat there like any ordinary shop.

West Wind stepped forward and knocked on the main door.

Someone unbarred it from inside.

The door swung open with a creak. A young shop assistant stood blinking sleepily, shielding his eyes from the torchlight. "Who is it? What do you want in the middle of the night?"

West Wind said nothing. The ward chief stepped forward with his household register and smiled. "There's been a murder on Tongji Street, but we can't identify the victim. We're checking every shop for missing persons. Would you mind calling everyone out? We'll verify and be on our way."

"Oh..." The young assistant turned and called inside. "Boss! The ward chief's here with some people. They want to make sure nobody's missing."

Chen Ji's muscles coiled tight, ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice.

Then he froze.

A heavyset figure emerged from inside, leading five assistants to the door. The man smiled broadly. "Ward Chief, here's everyone at the Hundred Deer Pavilion. All present and accounted for."

Shopkeeper Yuan.

Chen Ji almost thought his eyes were lying to him. But he looked again, and again -- the stout figure in his bright red satin robe and gold-beamed crown. If that wasn't Shopkeeper Yuan, who was it?

For one disorienting moment, the world seemed to tilt.

Inside the Hundred Deer Pavilion, Division Officer Gui had slit one Shopkeeper Yuan's throat. On Tongji Street, Chen Ji had personally cut another Shopkeeper Yuan's throat. And now, here in the Hundred Deer Pavilion, a third Shopkeeper Yuan stood before him.

The man seemed unkillable -- a ghost that kept returning no matter how many times it was slain.

Chen Ji wanted to seize him by the collar and demand: Are you man or specter?

He stared at the new Shopkeeper Yuan's fair, smooth face. He knew it was another human-skin mask. The Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Division, upon learning that Division Officer Xin was dead, had immediately sent a replacement -- mask and all, prepared well in advance.

Should he tear off the mask right now?

But then what? How would he explain to West Wind how he knew the man was wearing a human-skin mask? West Wind was no fool. He might even realize Chen Ji had come here tonight specifically targeting the Hundred Deer Pavilion.

At the door, the ward chief spoke to West Wind. "Sir, the Hundred Deer Pavilion is one of our oldest shops in the East Market. They've always had this many people. No discrepancies."

West Wind addressed Shopkeeper Yuan. "Things have been unsettled in Luocheng lately. If you notice anything unusual, report it to us promptly."

Shopkeeper Yuan smiled. "Absolutely. We're all law-abiding citizens of Luocheng. Helping the authorities catch criminals is the least we can do."

West Wind grunted, gave a brief instruction to "keep your doors and windows locked," and moved on to the next shop.

Chen Ji said nothing. He turned and followed West Wind, leaving Shopkeeper Yuan and his assistants standing calmly inside the Hundred Deer Pavilion's threshold, their faces unreadable.

Just then, an agent came running from the far end of the street. Reaching them, he addressed West Wind: "Sir, while we were checking shops with the broker near Li's Tailoring, we picked up an important lead. The shop owner says that last night, when our people sealed off Red Cloth Lane, he saw four armed jianghu types sneaking out through the back alleys. They might be the Jing Dynasty agents!"

Chen Ji's heart sank. The four men who had abandoned the Heir and Baili.