232: Chapter 232 Single-berth Reception, Commissioner Appears

By the time the second ship of the Royal Capital Fleet docked, the middle-aged man in plain clothes from the first ship, who had been rubbing salt frost off the stone embankment, had already led his men toward the Inner Harbor.

Leng Feng signaled for one of his personal guards to follow.

That guard was the fastest runner in the Sin Battalion—when tailing someone, his footsteps were almost silent.

He followed about fifty paces behind the group in plain clothes—maintaining a distance just enough to avoid losing them at the corners.

The plain-clothed men did not go directly to the Inner Harbor warehouse—they stopped at the corner of the stone path leading from the Pier to the Inner Harbor.

The middle-aged man pulled a piece of paper from his sleeve—the same one he had been looking at on the Pier, a simplified diagram of the Formation defenses—and turned his head to say a few words to the person beside him.

As he spoke, he raised his left hand and pointed toward the outermost Formation Eye of the Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array on the face of the Ring Reef.

The guard wrote this down on a message slip—folded it up—and had the patrolling sentries on the Pier relay it back to the Lords Mansion.

The third ship docked. Then the fourth.

The ships of the Royal Capital Fleet squeezed into the North Corner Berth one after another—the interval between each ship docking was less than half an incense stick of time.

The North Corner Berth could only accommodate two ships at a time—the ships behind had to wait in line outside the berth.

The fleet commander's flagship was fifth in line—a dark gray warship nearly twice as large as the vanguard ships, equipped with four spirit cannons on each side of the hull, and flying one more triangular flag on its mast than the ordinary ships—the command flag of the Royal Capital Ministry of War's Naval Battalion.

When the flagship docked, the sailors on board did not throw any mooring ropes.

They lowered an iron-framed gangplank with handrails directly from the bow—the gangplank was twice the width of a normal one.

Once the gangplank was secured, the fleet commander walked down from the deck.

A Middle Stage Golden Core Cultivator.

He was nearly half a head taller than Leng Feng—with extremely broad shoulders, and the silver anchor emblem of the Royal Capital Ministry of War's Naval Battalion embroidered on his epaulets.

The first step he took onto the stone embankment—the salt frost on the stone embankment was crushed by the sole of his boot, creating a fine white crack that split outward.

His gaze swept north from the Pier berths—sweeping past the three sealed berths—and then stopped on Lu Changyuan's face.

"The Outer Port of Blue Moon Island—has four berths." His voice was not loud—but when a Middle Stage Golden Core Cultivator spoke, the resonance of the Qi in his Dantian would press the trailing sound of every word into the air with a lingering echo of about half a breath. "Currently, only one is open."

"Less than fifty miles outside the Ring Reef—the main force of the Haiyuan Clan is forming up densely." Lu Changyuan stood on the stone embankment—separated from the commander by about ten paces.

He did not move forward. "If all four berths are opened—the fleet will be dispersed. Once the Haiyuan Clan launches an assault during the docking window—the scattered fleet cannot form an effective cannon Formation within twenty breaths. The range and firepower density of the Royal Capital Fleet's spirit cannons—the commander knows better than I do."

The commander looked at him for about two breaths.

The Divine Sense pressure of the Middle Stage Golden Core Cultivator pressed from the commander's direction onto Lu Changyuan within those two breaths—pressing against the protective Qi shield of the Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.

The protective shield was compressed inward by nearly half an inch—but Lu Changyuan's posture did not change. His breathing frequency did not change. The position of his fingers resting on his cuff did not change.

"Add another berth." The commander shifted his gaze away from Lu Changyuan—and swept a glance toward the Ring Reef. "Wounded transport—requires an independent berth. The wounded transport ships will dock behind the main fleet—and will not participate in the cannon Formation."

"The second berth at the North Corner—will be opened for wounded transport." Lu Changyuan nodded toward Leng Feng.

Leng Feng turned to relay the order—the iron fence of the second North Corner Berth was pushed aside by two sentries from the Sin Battalion.

The gravel and broken shield fragments behind the fence had already been cleared before the fence was opened—Commander Cai had had people clear them during the intervals between the ships docking.

The commander said nothing more.

He turned and walked toward the Inner Harbor—followed by four sword-bearing personal guards.

When he passed by Leng Feng—his Divine Sense swept over Leng Feng.

It scanned the density of the spirit patterns on the long sword at Leng Feng's waist—and was retracted in less than half a breath.

Behind the flagship—the sixth ship began to dock.

This ship was smaller than the previous five—it had no spirit cannons mounted on the hull, and the deck was piled with wooden crates and military supplies wrapped in waterproof tarpaulin.

The emblem printed on the hull was not that of the Naval Battalion—it was the seal of the Royal Capital Ministry of War's Logistics Department.

Logistics ships did not need to participate in the cannon Formation—so it was ranked sixth.

But what was truly important was not the supplies on this logistics ship.

It was the seventh ship that docked behind the logistics ship.

The seventh ship was a dedicated vessel of the Inspectorate.

The hull was nearly one-third narrower than an ordinary warship—with a shallower draft and higher speed.

There were no spirit cannons on the hull—but a small-caliber Spirit Light Cannon was mounted on both the bow and stern.

Spirit Light Cannons were not used for naval warfare—they were used to ignite signals at sea.

The Inspectorate's ships did not need heavy firepower—their weapons were the people on board.

When the seventh ship docked—the atmosphere on the Pier changed.

About a dozen people came down first—all wearing formal military uniforms, with the Inspectorate's emblem pinned to their chests.

The rank insignia of this group was different from the standard regulations of the Royal Capital Ministry of War—the Inspectorate's emblem had an extra dark gold bar compared to the same rank.

The bar represented their authority to directly investigate, detain, and report—unconstrained by the fortress command chain.

After the dozen or so actual investigators came down, they did not linger on the Pier—they walked directly toward the Formation Affairs Room in the Inner Harbor, with the leader carrying a document case sealed with spirit patterns.

The lock on the document case was a Formation lock—it required a specific Qi frequency to open.

The people who came down behind—were another dozen or so.

This group was all dressed in plain clothes—the colors of the plain clothes ranged from dark gray to dark brown, with no military rank or official emblem.

But on the inside of everyone's right cuff was embroidered a circle of dark gold cloud patterns.

The pattern of the cloud threads was exactly the same as the one on Shen Qinghan's cuff—the official sleeve badge of the Inspectorate.

Leng Feng stood on the side of the stone embankment—and scanned them one by one with an observation scope.

The sleeve badge was real—the density of the gold thread and the curvature of the stitching had no deviation from what he had seen on Shen Qinghan's cuff last night.

Walking at the very front of the plain-clothed crowd—was that middle-aged man who had been rubbing salt frost on the Pier.

When he disembarked, he did not walk in the middle of the gangplank.

He walked on the right side of the gangplank—his right hand hanging empty at his side, his left hand resting on the edge of the hull to steady himself as he walked down.

As he descended the gangplank, the hull was pushed upward by a surge—the gangplank swayed by nearly two inches.

He gripped the hull tightly with his left hand—his fingers splayed—his index and middle fingers hooked into the rope wear groove on the outside of the hull.

The skin on the back of his hand was made to look pale by the dark gray paint of the hull—above the web of his left hand—was an old burn scar.

The shape of the burn scar was irregular—the edge extended nearly half an inch toward his fingers.

The color of the scar was nearly two shades darker than the surrounding skin—it was an old mark that had not faded for years after the burn healed.

On the second knuckle of his finger—was a circle of extremely faint, old callous. A ring callous.

Leng Feng's observation scope fixed on that position—fixed until the plain-clothed middle-aged man took his first step onto the stone embankment of the Pier.

Then he lowered the observation scope—he did not speak to Lu Changyuan.

He only tapped his finger twice on the communication Formation disk behind Lu Changyuan's waist—two sounds, with an interval of less than half a breath.

The agreed-upon secret signal: Target characteristics confirmed.

Lu Changyuan's gaze lingered on the plain-clothed middle-aged man for less than a breath—and then shifted away.

There was no change on his face. His breathing frequency did not change. His hand relaxed from his cuff—and hung back to his side.

After the plain-clothed middle-aged man stepped onto the Pier—he withdrew his left hand from the hull—and placed it back on the strap of the Storage Pouch at his waist.

The burn scar was covered by his cuff during the withdrawal.

He swept a glance around the Pier—stopping for about two breaths each toward the Inner Harbor direction, the Ring Reef direction, and the Formation Affairs Room direction—and then divided the plain-clothed crowd into three groups.

One group followed him to the Inner Harbor warehouse area—one group stayed on the Pier—and one group walked toward the shed area.

"The shed area—" Leng Feng whispered.

"Gu He has already changed the medicine for Shen Qinghan. The door gap in the shed area is less than half a finger wide—one cannot see inside from the outside." Lu Changyuan's voice was lowered so that only Leng Feng could hear. "As long as she doesn't make a sound—the people in plain clothes will circle the periphery of the shed area and won't be able to find anything."

Leng Feng nodded.

On the Pier—the fleet commander sent a messenger over.

The messenger handed a defense handover document to Lu Changyuan—the paper listed a dozen handover terms.

The three core ones: The Royal Capital Fleet would be stationed on the front of the Blue Moon Island Ring Reef, taking over the coordinated defense authority of the cannon Formation outside the Formation Eye on the front of the Ring Reef; Blue Moon Island would retain full jurisdiction over the inside of the Ring Reef including the flank defense zones and the operation rights of the Formation Eye; if both sides encountered the enemy during the defense handover period—the Royal Capital Fleet commander would uniformly coordinate the cannon Formation, while Blue Moon Island would independently coordinate the sword Formation.

Lu Changyuan read through the document—for nearly sixty breaths.

When he saw the fourth clause—the document stated, "Blue Moon Island must open all Formation records to the Royal Capital garrison troops."

Lu Changyuan pressed his fingertip on this clause—and then looked up at the messenger.

"Formation records—involve the specific locations of the Blue Moon Island Formation Eyes and the details of the Formation path wiring. Once this information is leaked—the Haiyuan Clan can use it to bypass the Formation Eyes from underwater. This clause cannot be signed."

The messenger went back to deliver the message.

About half an incense stick of time later—the messenger returned with the modified document.

The fourth clause had been crossed out—and changed to "Blue Moon Island will report the overall situation of the defense zone Formation defenses to the Royal Capital garrison commander personally, not involving specific locations of the Formation Eyes or the Formation path wiring."

Lu Changyuan signed it. After signing, he folded the copy of the document—tucking it into the inner side of his belt—and placed it alongside the communication Formation disc. The defense handover was complete. With the Royal Capital Fleet pressing on the border, Blue Moon Island had managed to maintain the confidentiality of its flank defense zones, Formation core operation rights, and Formation affairs details. The cooperative defense rights for the frontal artillery Formation had been handed over—but since the front was the main direction of the Haiyuan Clan's assault, handing over the frontal artillery defense rights was effectively making the Royal Capital Fleet shoulder the frontal firepower for Blue Moon Island.

The commander returned to his flagship—standing by the gunwale, he glanced down at Lu Changyuan. This time, he wasn't looking at the spiritual energy shield—he was looking at the person. Then, he turned and entered the cabin.

The handover procedures at the Pier were fully completed by the end of the Chen hour. The dozen or so ships of the Royal Capital Fleet docked one after another—except for the second North Corner Berth, which was occupied for the transport of wounded soldiers, all other ships were crammed into the last North Corner Berth and the temporary anchorage outside the berth. The main force of the Haiyuan Clan maintained silence for about an hour at a distance of fifty-five li—then began to slowly push forward toward the reef wall again. The speed of the push was slower than the morning probe—it took nearly an hour to advance from fifty-five li to about fifty li. They were testing the reaction of Blue Moon Island.

By the Si hour, the flow of people at the Pier had transitioned from the handover and rotation of the fleet's sailors and infantry to a stable state. Three groups of people in plain clothes had each circled the warehouse area, the Pier area, and the perimeter of the shed area—then returned to gather beside the seventh ship. The middle-aged man in plain clothes stood in the center of the gathering point—his left hand still resting on the strap of his Storage Pouch—listening to the brief reports from the three groups.

The group from the shed area reported in the shortest time—less than five breaths. The shed area only contained old fishing nets, dried fish hanging in the sun, and a few empty sheds. The shed doors were all closed—no one was moving about in the shed area.

Then, the middle-aged man in plain clothes led his people toward the Inner Harbor—the Royal Capital Fleet had temporarily designated an area in the Inner Harbor warehouse district as their encampment.

Lu Changyuan returned to the Lords Mansion from the Pier—it was past the midpoint of the Si hour.

Shen Qinghan was already waiting for him in the Chart Room.

She stood against the wall on the innermost side of the Chart Room—the same wall she had retreated to last night. The medicinal film on the burn on her left rib had been replaced with a new one—Gu He had resealed it with a layer of grayish-green medicinal film using hemostatic powder, and the edges of the film had retracted a circle compared to last night—the wound was scabbing over. Her complexion was nearly half better than when she climbed through the window last night—but her lips were still dry. For a Cultivator who had lost too much blood—it would take at least twelve hours for the moisture of the lips to recover.

She held a piece of paper in her hand. It was a piece of charcoal draft paper torn from the chart table—the back was filled with writing. The handwriting was in fine-tipped regular script—the ending direction of every stroke curled inward—different from the outward-flaring style of soldiers. Secret agents wrote with inward-curling strokes—habitually reducing the characteristics of their handwriting.

"You saw it." She did not look at Lu Changyuan when she spoke. Her eyes were fixed on the chart of the area around Blue Moon Island spread out on the chart table—the chart marked the position of the Haiyuan Clan's main force fifty li outside the reef wall.

"I saw it." Lu Changyuan pulled the copy of the defense handover document from the inner side of his belt—placed it on the corner of the chart table—and then wrote two words on the back of the document with a charcoal pencil. Left hand.

Shen Qinghan pushed the paper flat from her hand onto the chart table—pushing it in front of him.

The paper contained names. One name was below another—lines of varying lengths were drawn between the names. At the intersections of the lines were annotations of positions, departments, and the timestamps of key transactions. The name at the very top—was circled with charcoal. Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—Director of the External Affairs Archives of the Inspectorate. Late Foundation Establishment Stage—one step away from the False Core. Three and a half months ago—he personally issued the first batch of exploration permits toward the Dragon Burial Trench.

"It's him." Shen Qinghan withdrew her finger from the paper. "Three and a half months ago—the night the first batch of exploration permits came down. I saw him outside the archives holding the original copy of the permit in his left hand—the burn scar above the web of his thumb reflected under the cold light stone for nearly two breaths. I thought at the time—it was just an old injury. People in the Inspectorate's archives don't participate in field operations—it's normal to have old scars on their hands. Until I saw that scar again on the first page of the ledger. The same position. The same person's left hand."

Lu Changyuan took the Image Projection Bead from the inner pocket of his sleeve—and placed it on the chart table. The Image Projection Bead rolled slowly for a small half-circle on the table—stopping next to the word "Left hand" written in charcoal. The soul-searching fragment images within the bead were half-hidden and half-revealed in the daylight—the first and fourth fragments pieced together: a burn scar at the base of the left thumb, a press-style burn scar above the web of the thumb—and a ring callus. It matched the left hand he saw on the Pier gripping the gunwale.

The silence lasted about five breaths.

"Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—his position in the Inspectorate." Lu Changyuan put the Image Projection Bead back into the inner pocket of his sleeve. "Director of the External Affairs Archives—he manages the files and operation permits of all dispatched personnel. In this position, he can grasp the past and future movements of all Royal Capital military personnel dispatched to the Zhenhai Fortress. This includes the sealing Formation Platform that Leng Feng discovered underwater—after the rubbing maps attached to the battle report were submitted from Blue Moon Island, they were archived through the External Affairs Archives—Special Commissioner Wei Yuan could see them."

"Yes. Three and a half months ago—the first batch of battle reports regarding the loosening of the seal had just been delivered to the Royal Capital—the External Affairs Archives received and archived them. On the day of archiving—Special Commissioner Wei Yuan issued the first batch of exploration permits. From receiving the battle report to issuing the permit—less than two hours passed in between. The structure of the sealing Main Hub that Leng Feng had rubbed in the battle report—was copied." Shen Qinghan's finger drew a line under Special Commissioner Wei Yuan's name on the paper—the end of the line pointed to another name on the paper. "The one who did the copying wasn't Special Commissioner Wei Yuan himself—he has no background in Formation studies. The one who copied it was this person—a former Formation apprentice—who held a clerical position in the External Affairs Archives. He left the Royal Capital on the same day as Special Commissioner Wei Yuan three and a half months ago—the destination filled in was the Zhenhai Fortress Logistics Department. But three months have passed—there is no such person's name in the employment registration of the fortress Logistics Department."

Lu Changyuan read through the names on the paper one by one. Seventeen people—Special Commissioner Wei Yuan plus sixteen associated people. The associated people were scattered among the Royal Capital military's Inspectorate, Logistics Department, Ministry of War Formation Division, and the periphery of the Zhenhai Fortress Command. Next to each name was a note about their connection to Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—some were direct superiors or subordinates, some were former subordinates, and some were indirectly connected through code names in the ledger.

"The positions of these people—how many can you confirm right now?"

"All of them. Before I left the Royal Capital three months ago—the positions of all seventeen people had been verified. Now three months have passed—some people may have been transferred. But the core four people will not move. Special Commissioner Wei Yuan will not move—his position is too critical. The apprentice who copied the Formation map will not move—he needs Special Commissioner Wei Yuan's protection. There are two others—one is the deputy director of the Logistics Department's Material Dispatch Division, responsible for falsifying the flow of goods in the ledger; the other is the military equipment statistician of the fortress Command—responsible for erasing the exploration team members from the roster under the name of 'external duty.' The positions of these four people—were locked three months ago."

Lu Changyuan folded the paper—stacked it together with the previous sketch of the soul-searching fragments—and put it into the inner pocket of his sleeve. He placed it in the same inner pocket as the Image Projection Bead.

"Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—is on Blue Moon Island right now."

Shen Qinghan pressed her finger against the wall—pressing on the mortar joint of a reef brick on the wall. It was the same position as the gap she had found on the outer wall before she climbed through the window last night.

"He is looking for two things." Her voice was lowered to a level with almost no Dantian resonance—relying purely on her vocal cords to make sound. "First—my corpse. Second—this ledger. As long as these two things cannot be found—he will not dare to act rashly on Blue Moon Island. If the ledger is exposed—he is finished. So he does not dare to search with great fanfare—he can only search bit by bit under the guise of the Inspectorate inspecting the defenses."

"Then let him search." Lu Changyuan placed his hand on the edge of the chart table. "Everything he touches will be what Blue Moon Island wants him to see."

Outside the window. The sunlight between the Chen hour and the Si hour shone in from the direction of the Inner Harbor—shining on the Blue Moon Island chart spread out on the chart table. The new position of the Haiyuan Clan's main force was marked fifty li outside the reef wall—next to the mark, an arrow pointing to the right was drawn. The main force was moving slowly toward the east side—the speed of movement was extremely slow—it had only moved less than three li from the morning probe until now. They were looking for the gap in the firepower connection between Blue Moon Island and the Royal Capital Fleet's artillery Formation.

The dozen or so ships of the Royal Capital Fleet were crammed around the North Corner Berth—the muzzles of the spiritual cannons on the decks were all aimed at the frontal direction outside the reef wall. The four command flags on the commander's flagship were simultaneously raised to half-mast—stayed at the half-mast position for about ten breaths—and then one of them tilted about fifteen degrees to the left. A signal for adjusting the artillery Formation.

The swells on the sea surface were a layer higher than in the morning. The receding tide and the undercurrent rushing into the Dragon Burial Trench collided outside the North Corner Berth, creating an extremely long line of white foam—the white foam line extended from the Pier eastward to the gap on the east side of the Ring Reef. Outside the gap—in the direction of the undercurrent exit—the water marks left when Leng Feng's twenty-nine people surfaced this morning had already been completely washed away by the tide.

However, the gap where the connection line pipe joint was blown up—was at a depth of sixty li underwater. The gap was still there. The spiritual energy injection speed of the Lock Core was displayed on Su Qingli's Receiving Formation as a flat, gently sloping line—it had dropped by nearly twenty percent and had not risen again. The Haiyuan Clan had not yet sent anyone to repair it.

Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—was on Blue Moon Island. He and his seventeen people—did not yet know that the connection line had been blown up. They were still acting according to the original schedule.