119: Chapter 119 The Warehouse Head Appears, Core Secret Order

The interior of the stone house was even smaller than it looked from the outside.

There was a stone bed, a stone table, and a stone stool.

In the corner, there were a dozen or so bundles of old bamboo slips piled up—the strings on the slips had already rotted, and several bundles had come undone, leaving bamboo strips scattered on the floor.

An oil lamp sat on the stone table; the wick had been newly replaced, but the accumulated oil on the base was very thick—so thick that the original color of the lamp base could no longer be seen.

Warehouse Chief Cui sat on the stone stool.

Lu Changyuan sat on the edge of the stone bed—a layer of dried seaweed was spread over the bed, pressed down tightly, showing it had been slept on for a long time.

Lu Hu stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.

He stood sideways—the door frame was too narrow, and his shoulders almost brushed against both sides.

Warehouse Chief Cui placed his ceramic cup on the stone table.

His one good eye traveled from Lu Changyuan to Lu Hu, then back to Lu Changyuan.

The light in his single eye carried a sluggishness, like someone adapting to light for the first time after guarding in darkness for too long—his pupils slowly contracted, like a stone door that hadn't been pushed in a long time being pried open bit by bit.

"Is Zhou Laogen still alive?"

"He is alive. On Blue Moon Island—people are taking turns guarding him."

Lu Changyuan took Zhou Laogen's private ledger from his bosom and placed it on the stone table.

The warehouse mark for the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse on the cover of the private ledger had been flipped through so much that it was frayed at the edges.

Warehouse Chief Cui reached out—his knuckles were large, and his fingertips were covered in calluses.

He flipped the private ledger to the seventh page.

That page was the record of the seventh batch of inspection-exempt releases he had recorded by hand—the warehouse entry column read 'Twelve', and next to it, three circles had been drawn in red ink.

Beside the red circles was a line of small text: 'This batch did not enter the main warehouse—Cui.'

His finger rested on that line of small text for a long time.

"I wrote this line. Back then, I tore this page out and tucked it into the lining of my cotton jacket—later, when I was chased outside of Broken Star Reef, my jacket was shredded, and this piece of paper was scraped several zhang away by the reefs.

I spent an hour feeling around in the water before I found it."

He closed the private ledger, "When Zhou Laogen handed this private ledger to you—what did he say?"

"He said these seven batches of goods never actually boarded the ship.

The crane on the Pier moved twice—the first time it lifted, it was empty crates.

The second time it lifted, it was bedding rolls and miscellaneous items."

Lu Changyuan took Governor Xue Zhen's partial file of approval from his sleeve and placed it next to the private ledger, "Governor Xue Zhen's dispatch order is also here—the dispatch order is stamped with the seal of the East Sea Governors Office, but the order says 'This order is by'—the name after that was cut off.

Governor Xue Zhen refused to write the full name."

Warehouse Chief Cui picked up Governor Xue Zhen's partial file.

He glanced at the seal on the dispatch order—and nodded.

"Governor Xue was also dragged into this back then.

When the dispatch order was sent to the East Sea Governors Office, my name, Cui, was already written in the escort column—Governor Xue Zhen just signed it.

He didn't know the details of these seven batches of goods when he signed it—later, when he found out, he didn't dare to say a word."

"Who issued the dispatch order?"

Warehouse Chief Cui did not answer immediately.

He stood up and walked to the pile of bamboo slips in the corner, pulling out a bundle wrapped in old cloth from underneath.

The cloth was dark brown—it was unclear if that was its original color or if it had changed color from being kept in the dark for too long.

He unwrapped the cloth layer by layer—inside was a Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip was only half a palm long, glowing with a very faint cyan light throughout.

Three lines of characters were carved onto the surface—the characters were carved with a knife, and the deep parts of the carvings were filled with a dark red material.

The red material had dried and cracked, but the handwriting remained clear.

Warehouse Chief Cui placed the Jade Slip on the stone table.

He did not let go—his finger was still pressing on one end of the Jade Slip.

"Before I show you this—I will ask you three questions."

"Ask."

"First. These two people you brought—are they reliable?"

"The one at the stern is named Lu Hu—he has saved my back twice.

The one at the doorway followed me from Blue Moon Island, rowing for two days to get here—he didn't understand a single word of your little tricks on the six pillars outside, but he never stopped rowing from beginning to end."

"Second. After you obtain this item—what do you plan to do?"

"Hand it to the person who should receive it."

"Who is the person who should receive it?"

"Commander Tie Zhan.

Deputy Commander of the Zhenhai Fortress—my father Patriarch Lu Yunshen's former subordinate.

He requested the first merit for me on Xuangui Island.

The first batch of supplementary personnel for the Old Seal Bid Case was allocated by him—Zhou Laogen was also among the first batch of veterans he allocated."

Warehouse Chief Cui's finger pressed down a little tighter on the Jade Slip.

"Third. If I give this item to you—how will you guarantee my safety?

The same as Zhou Laogen—people taking turns guarding me?"

"Zhou Laogen arrived at Blue Moon Island half a year before you.

His current treatment is: separate accommodation in an anonymous single-person shed in the Inner Harbor, two veteran Daoist soldiers taking turns guarding, three meals a day delivered by the public warehouse, and no need to work.

Once you arrive at Blue Moon Island—you will receive the same treatment.

When the case is broken and things are set right—you two can go wherever you want."

Warehouse Chief Cui's hand released the Jade Slip.

He sat back on the stone stool, picked up the cold ceramic cup, and took a sip.

Water trickled down the corner of his mouth—he wiped it with the back of his hand.

There was also a scar on the back of this hand—it was the same type of injury as the scar on his face, a burn mark left by the backlash of a Restriction.

"Ten years ago, when I was chased outside of Broken Star Reef—I had already lost half my life."

He turned the back of his hand over to let Lu Changyuan see the scar, "The person chasing me wasn't there to kill me—they were there to take me back to continue managing the warehouse.

Right in front of him, I stuck a Seal-Mind Talisman on my right eye—self-destructing the Sea of Consciousness in my right eye.

Without the Sea of Consciousness in my right eye, I could no longer use Divine Sense to verify the accounts—a Warehouse Chief who couldn't calculate accounts was useless to them."

"That person stood on the boat for a while—before leaving, he left a message: 'Warehouse Chief Cui, from now on, you will stay within this reef area.

If you step out one step—you die.'"

Lu Changyuan looked at Warehouse Chief Cui's dry right eye socket.

A Seal-Mind Talisman destroying the Sea of Consciousness is different from an ordinary external injury—when the Sea of Consciousness is shattered from the inside by the talisman's power, what is shattered is the core of the Divine Sense condensed behind the center of the eyebrows, which is a part of the Soul.

Destroying the Sea of Consciousness of one eye is equivalent to shredding half of one's own Soul—from then on, one cannot use Divine Sense for any precise discrimination.

A Warehouse Chief who had managed military warehouses for seventeen years relied on Divine Sense to verify accounts.

He could use Divine Sense to scan tens of thousands of warehouse location numbers at once, aligning the entry and exit figures in his mind.

Destroying half of the Sea of Consciousness—was equivalent to chopping off the hand he used to keep the ledgers.

During these ten years on Broken Star Reef, he couldn't look at accounts.

He could only rely on his one left eye and his memory.

"You destroyed your own right eye—and they didn't kill you?"

"It's not that they didn't kill me—it's that I was useless.

An old Warehouse Chief with only one eye, whose memory of the accounts was incomplete, with only half a Sea of Consciousness left, unable to even perform the most basic comparisons with Divine Sense—killing me or not made little difference.

Moreover, by that time, the seven batches of inspection-exempt goods had all been transported—and my warehouse had been taken over by new people.

They felt that a cripple couldn't stir up any waves."

Warehouse Chief Cui pushed the Jade Slip in front of Lu Changyuan.

"Stored in this Jade Slip is the original text of the dispatch order from back then—not the copy that Governor Xue Zhen signed, but the original draft prepared before it was sent to the East Sea Governors Office.

The issuing unit of the original—Zhenhai Fortress Military Supplies Coordination Department.

The issuer's seal: 'Han'."

Lu Changyuan picked up the Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip felt slightly warm to the touch—the material was High Grade spirit jade; this type of spirit jade is usually only used to record documents of military order level or higher.

He probed the Jade Slip with his Divine Sense—three lines of official document-formatted carvings appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.

The first line: 'Hereby dispatch several batches of three types of materials from the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse: purification liquid, Evil-warding Talisman, and Evil-suppressing Powder, to be sent directly without inspection to East District 3 of the Zhenhai Fortress Inner City.'

The second line: 'This order is issued by Han of the Military Supplies Coordination Department.

Escort: Cui.

Sign-off: East District 3 of the Inner City—.'

The third line was the seal column.

The seal below the character 'Han' was a blue-cyan color—the dedicated seal ink of the Deputy Commander of the Zhenhai Fortress Military Supplies Coordination Department.

The seal pattern was a horizontally placed long saber pressing down on a waterway line—the function of the Military Supplies Coordination Department in Zhenhai Fortress was "Saber Pressing Waterway": to control all waterborne material lines going from the port to the interior of the fortress.

Lu Changyuan withdrew his Divine Sense from the Jade Slip.

"This Commander Han—what is his relationship with Tie Zhan?"

"Tie Zhan is a Deputy Commander, in charge of frontline combat troops and the fortress's outer perimeter defense.

Commander Han is from the Military Supplies Coordination Department—in charge of materials.

One manages people, the other manages materials.

Ten years ago, they were of equal rank—now Tie Zhan has been promoted to Deputy Commander, while the one surnamed Han is still a Deputy Commander of the Coordination Department."

Warehouse Chief Cui finished the last sip of cold water, "They were already at odds when they were of equal rank.

Materials approved for the frontline by Tie Zhan—as long as they passed through the hands of the Coordination Department, the one surnamed Han always had a way to delay them for a day or two.

A day or two on the frontline meant dozens more people dying."

Lu Hu interjected from the doorway.

"Young Lord—when Commander Tie spoke to us about the Old Seal Bid Case, he said 'The person handing over the old ledgers from behind is someone who can use legitimate business to pass papers.'

This guy surnamed Han is the one who manages the papers—the dispatch order was a paper that passed through his hands."

Warehouse Chief Cui looked at Lu Hu. A flash of surprise crossed his single eye—this rough man's brain was faster than his appearance suggested.

"The person under you—he is rough when he needs to be rough, and fine when he needs to be fine."

Warehouse Chief Cui tapped the bottom of his ceramic cup against the stone table, producing a hollow, crisp sound. "Ten years ago, those seven batches released without inspection—the documents stated they were purification liquid and Evil-warding Talisman.

As for what was actually inside the boxes transported into East District 3 of the Inner Harbor, I never saw it with my own eyes—but when I checked the supplies, the seals on the boxes were intact.

Every box had a seal when it arrived at the Pier, but once the boxes were carried into the East District 3 inspection port, whether the seals were still there—no one knew."

"What kind of place is East District 3?"

"The Inner Harbor of the Zhenhai Fortress is divided into four districts. East District 1 is the Command Headquarters; East District 2 is the Armory and Spirit Stone vault; East District 3—the high-ranking officials who have residences in the fortress all have their private vaults in East District 3.

To put it simply, the warehouses in East District 3 are not military warehouses—they are private vaults. Those seven batches of goods went into private vaults."

Warehouse Chief Cui paused for a moment. In the stone house, one could only hear the faint crackling of the oil lamp wick occasionally bursting in the lamp oil.

Lu Changyuan flipped the Jade Slip to the back. Two lines of small characters were engraved on the back—the handwriting was different from the front, written with some kind of hard pen, the strokes thin and hurried.

"First line: 'Starting from the fifth batch—the boxes were already swapped at the Pier before entering East District 3. The seals were resealed—the new seals were not military warehouse seals, but internal seals of the Unified Coordination Department.'"

"Second line: 'Han—you are using the Unified Coordination Department's seals to seal goods in private vaults—this is a matter that will cost you your head.'"

Lu Changyuan read these two lines aloud.

Warehouse Chief Cui lowered his head. The flame of the oil lamp reflected in his single eye—the flame shrank into a tiny dot in his pupil.

"I wrote the second line on the night I escorted the fifth batch of goods. That day, an extra boat was docked at the Pier—six new boxes were stacked in the hold, and the old boxes outside were being moved down.

I recognized the person moving the boxes—it was the personal guard of that man surnamed Han. He didn't see me—I crouched behind the crane at the Pier for the whole night, watching them swap the old boxes for new ones.

The old boxes were transported onto the Unified Coordination Department's boat, and the new boxes were affixed with the Unified Coordination Department's seals and transported into East District 3. When the handover took place the next day—the words 'purification liquid' were still written in the sign-off column as usual."

"From the fifth batch onwards—the subsequent sixth and seventh batches. Did they all follow this pattern?"

"Yes. The old boxes were swapped away in advance by people from the Unified Coordination Department—the new boxes swapped in were affixed with Unified Coordination Department seals and entered the private vaults.

The people at the Pier saw the Unified Coordination Department's seals, and the East District 3 inspection port, upon seeing boxes sealed by the Unified Coordination Department—they let them through without asking. The entire fortress Pier—no one would inspect goods sealed by the Unified Coordination Department itself."

Lu Changyuan put the Jade Slip into the inner pocket of his sleeve—in the same place as Zhou Laogen's private ledger.

"Warehouse Chief Cui—are you willing to come back to Blue Moon Island with me?"

Warehouse Chief Cui stood up. He dragged an old rattan chest out from under the stone bed—the chest was not large, and inside were only a few old clothes, a hand-copied ledger, and an old wooden tablet engraved with the warehouse mark of the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse.

He took the wooden tablet in his hand, looked at it, and placed it on top of the rattan chest.

"I have guarded this reef for ten years—I was waiting for someone who could deduce the incoming and outgoing warehouse records on the six pillars. Once deduced—I knew someone had come who could understand this rotten account book." He closed the rattan chest, carried it in his hand, and said, "I will go with you."

Lu Hu moved aside from the doorway. Lu Changyuan went out first—the sky outside was already more than half bright, and after the magnetic fog retreated, the seawater around Broken Star Reef shimmered with a grayish-blue in the morning light.

The sampan was docked at the end of the gravel waterway. Two old cavalrymen were crouching by the side of the boat—one was checking if the blade of the short oar had been cracked by magnetic force, while the other was re-wrapping the array-breaking talisman paper drawn by Su Qingli with oil paper.

Lu Changyuan stood at the doorway of the stone house. He pressed against the inner pocket in his sleeve—Zhou Laogen's private ledger, Governor Xue Zhen's fragmented files, and Warehouse Chief Cui's Jade Slip, the three items stacked together, and he could feel the edges of the Jade Slip through the fabric.

"Young Lord." Lu Hu walked over from behind and lowered his voice, "That man surnamed Han is from the Unified Coordination Department—he manages supplies. Our Blue Moon Island is currently in the business of purification liquid—in the future, there will be many occasions to deal with the Unified Coordination Department."

"After we return to Blue Moon Island—settle Warehouse Chief Cui in first. Send a message to Commander Tie Zhan—tell him the fish has taken the bait."

Lu Changyuan walked along the gravel road toward the sampan. He walked a few steps and turned back—Warehouse Chief Cui was standing at the doorway of the stone house, using that single eye to look at the warehouse mark of the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse carved on the lintel. He watched for a while, then reached out and wiped the warehouse mark—wiping away a layer of dust.

Ten years. From a warehouse chief who crouched behind the crane at the Pier for a whole night, to an old one-eyed man on Broken Star Reef holding six pillars and a ceramic cup—all that separated them was a man surnamed Han who signed a transfer order incorrectly.

The sampan pushed out along the gravel waterway. The short oars of the two old cavalrymen entered the water very lightly—the tide was receding, the water was flowing outwards, and the sampan went out with the current much faster than when it came.

Warehouse Chief Cui sat in the middle of the boat, with the rattan chest resting on his knees. He used his single eye to watch the magnetic fog receding on both sides—the fog was gathering back, but the speed of gathering could not keep up with the speed of the sampan moving out.

Lu Hu was steering at the stern. His eyes were fixed on the back of the sampan—the gray-black peak of Broken Star Reef was becoming smaller and smaller in the fog. He spat the grass stem he had been chewing for a long time into the water.

"Young Lord—that man surnamed Han manages the Military Supplies Coordination Department. The Unified Coordination Department manages the entry and exit of all supplies in the fortress. Our Blue Moon Island currently sends one hundred and fifty bottles of purification liquid to the fortress every month—and in two more months, the quantity will increase."

"I know."

"Then these goods—from now on, every batch entering the fortress will have to pass through his hands."

Lu Changyuan reached his hand into his sleeve. His fingertips touched the edges of the Jade Slip—slightly warm, smooth, with distinct corners. He pulled out the Jade Slip and flipped it to the front.

The blue-green seal below the character 'Han' shimmered with a cold light in the sunlight—a long saber pressing down on a waterway line. Saber pressing on the waterway. Controlling all waterborne supply lines from the port into the interior of the fortress.

The route Blue Moon Island is currently taking is exactly this line.

"Once this secret order is delivered to Commander Tie Zhan—the man surnamed Han will be the first to be investigated."

Lu Changyuan put the Jade Slip back into his sleeve, pressed it to the bottom of the inner pocket, underneath Zhou Laogen's private ledger, "The supplies handled by the Unified Coordination Department over the past ten years—every single entry and exit must be dug out and recalculated.

If they dig back to the transactions of the seventeenth year—every bottle of purification liquid that Blue Moon Island sends into the fortress today, he will tamper with it."

"Then are we still submitting it?"

"Submit it. But before submitting—first return to the island and reinforce our own courtyard walls."

The moment the sampan rushed out of the edge of the magnetic fog, the sunlight outside was full. The sea surface was vast, there were no clouds on the distant horizon—the direction of Blue Moon Island was to the northwest, and the wind on the water surface was blowing exactly from that direction.

Warehouse Chief Cui narrowed his single eye in the sunlight. He had stayed on Broken Star Reef for ten years—for ten years, such bright light had not shone on his face.

The lid of the rattan chest was lifted by the wind—he pressed it down with his hand, and the old scar on the back of his hand looked whiter in the sun than in the dark.

Lu Hu's sound transmission talisman lit up. He tucked the oar under his armpit and crushed the talisman paper—Leng Feng's voice came out from the talisman paper, short and only eight characters long:

"The island is safe. Fairy Luo is here."

Lu Hu flicked the talisman ash into the sea. He turned his head to look at Lu Changyuan.

"Young Lord—this man surnamed Han does not yet know that we have obtained the secret order. But once we hand the items to Commander Tie—he will know."

Lu Changyuan smoothed his cuffs. The three items in his sleeve were stacked together—Zhou Laogen's private ledger, Governor Xue Zhen's fragmented files, and Warehouse Chief Cui's Jade Slip. The three items were collected from three different people, and each one pointed to the same name.

"Therefore, we cannot just submit a secret order—we must simultaneously build the courtyard walls to a height he cannot reach. The first thing after returning: have Su Qingli upgrade the island-protecting Restriction from the second tier to the third tier.

The second thing: notify Manager Song Yuan of Jubao Pavilion—subsequent goods for civilian channels will be prepaid in advance starting next month, and the prepaid amount will be doubled.

The third thing: send a message to Commander Tie Zhan—tell him the fish has taken the bait, but this fish has spikes on its back, so put on armor before pulling the net."

The sampan rowed out across the water surface full of light, the ripples split by the bow spreading wider and wider to both sides. In the direction of Blue Moon Island, a very faint gray-blue line appeared on the horizon—that was the shadow of the island's outline emerging in the mist.

Warehouse Chief Cui hugged the rattan chest a little tighter. The Broken Star Reef behind him had been completely swallowed by the magnetic fog—the gray-black peak disappeared between the water and the sky, and that reef area which had trapped him for ten years shrank into a small dot on the sea surface in the morning light.