Chapter 162 Fourteen Children, the Weight of the Word "Source"

Morning light leaked in through the cracks in the east wall of the side courtyard, shining on several water stains of varying depths on the floor tiles.

It had rained during the night, and water was still dripping from the eaves, hitting the moss at the base of the wall, drip by drip.

When Zhou Tie stepped into the courtyard gate, his left arm was still in a sling, and he carried his iron spear in his right hand. The butt of the spear occasionally knocked against the stone tiles, making a muffled sound.

Instructor Qi Boyuan was guarding under the steps of the main room, carrying a wooden spear on his shoulder. Seeing him enter, he nodded without speaking.

There were fourteen children sitting in the courtyard.

The oldest was about twelve years old, curled up next to the stone mill, his chin resting on his knees, eyes fixed on the ground.

The youngest was six or seven years old, squatting by a puddle in the corner of the wall, poking the water surface with his finger. Once he poked it and the ripples spread, he waited for the water to calm down before poking it again.

Zhou Tie stopped in the middle of the courtyard. He did not speak, only leaned his iron spear against the wall, turned around, and sat down on the stone steps.

A small part of the cloth strip on his left arm was soaked by the water dripping from the eaves, but he didn't care.

An incense stick's time passed.

The seven or eight-year-old boy stood up from the crowd, walked to Zhou Tie, and stopped.

His trouser legs were a bit short, revealing a pale red scab on his ankle, with skin peeling at the edges. His eyes moved from Zhou Tie's face to his bandaged left arm, lingering for a few breaths.

"Was your arm hit by bad people?"

Zhou Tie looked down at him. The boy's hair was very dry, plastered to his forehead, his complexion was sallow and pale, and there was a layer of pale green bloodshot in the whites of his eyes. He nodded.

The boy asked again: "Did you kill the bad people?"

Zhou Tie's Adam's apple moved. He took a breath, his voice rasping: "Not dead. But he won't get far."

The boy's lips trembled. His fingers curled at his sides, and the dirt he had picked up while squatting in the corner last night was still embedded under his fingernails.

After several breaths, he finally spoke, his voice so light it seemed to drift along the ground.

"They call us cargo."

Zhou Tie's fist clenched on his knee.

The knuckles protruded from under the skin, joint by joint, revealing a white color.

He didn't say a word, just opened his right palm, placed it on his knee, palm facing up, fingers relaxed.

The boy looked at the palm for a moment, then placed his own hand on it. The hand was very small, the finger joints were bony and uncomfortable, the palm was ice-cold and damp.

Instructor Qi Boyuan stood at the other end of the corridor, shifting the wooden spear on his shoulder to the other side.

He turned around, facing the courtyard wall, with his back to this side. His right shoulder slumped slightly before bracing back up.

The courtyard became quiet. There was only the sound of water dripping from the eaves and the soft sound of the puddle in the distance being pushed into fine ripples by the wind.

Half an hour later, Sun Qi entered from outside the side courtyard, his footsteps light.

He walked to Zhou Tie's side, squatted down, and leaned his lips close to Zhou Tie's ear.

"Just received news from the secret sentries."

Zhou Tie didn't move, his gaze still fixed on the fourteen children in the courtyard.

Sun Qi's voice lowered even more, his breath brushing against Zhou Tie's ear, carrying the lingering dampness of the early morning.

"From the hour of the rat last night to the hour of the rabbit this morning, three groups of people appeared within a hundred zhang of the side courtyard."

Zhou Tie's fingers tightened slightly on his knee.

"The first group, two people, squatted in the alley outside the east wall for half an hour, their aura was Body Tempering Late-Stage."

Sun Qi rubbed his thumb in his palm.

"The second group, one person, sat in the tea shed opposite the back door for two incense sticks' time, Blood Refining Realm Middle Stage."

"The third group, three people, came from the south at the third quarter of the hour of the tiger, and stayed on the roof at the southeast corner of the side courtyard for a quarter of an hour. The highest one's aura couldn't be gauged, at least Tongmai Realm."

Zhou Tie turned to look at him. "What about the observation points?"

"East wall and back door."

Sun Qi swallowed hard.

"The two thinnest directions."

Zhou Tie's gaze moved from Sun Qi's face and landed back in the courtyard.

The seven or eight-year-old boy had already walked back to the group, squatting next to the youngest one. The two of them faced the puddle, neither speaking.

"The Wang family?"

Sun Qi shook his head.

"Doesn't look like it. The aura and style aren't right. The remaining people of the Wang family all practice hard techniques. Among these three groups, one has a physique as light as a cat, stepping on tiles without a sound."

"Ministry of War?"

"Also doesn't look like it. Secretary Zhang Hongji just retreated yesterday, he wouldn't come to take the children so quickly."

Sun Qi tapped his fingers on his knee.

"It looks more like pathfinding."

Zhou Tie didn't answer. He lifted his right palm from his knee, rubbed the dampness off his palm, and put it back.

"You go tell the Inspector."

His voice sank, deep into his chest.

"The side courtyard is being watched. The target is the children."

Sun Qi stood up. "Should we add guards?"

Zhou Tie looked at Instructor Qi Boyuan. Instructor Qi Boyuan had already turned back, his wooden spear held horizontally in front of him, the tip pointing down, his gaze sweeping over the top of the courtyard wall.

"Add them."

Zhou Tie also stood up. Because of the movement, the wound on his left arm tugged, the muscles tightened, and the pain caused the corner of his mouth to twitch half an inch to one side.

"Add double guards to the east wall and back door tonight, rank those at the Tongmai Realm in the front."

Instructor Qi Boyuan walked over carrying his spear, the butt of the spear thumping on the ground once.

"What happened?"

Zhou Tie looked at him, his voice only loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"Someone wants to come and take the cargo."

Instructor Qi Boyuan's brows pressed down, creating three deep lines.

He didn't ask again, turned and walked to the east side of the courtyard, stuck his wooden spear into the ground, the spear body standing upright, the spear tassel swaying gently in the morning wind.

"Everyone in the East Courtyard who can move, pull them all to the periphery of the side courtyard after noon today."

Instructor Qi Boyuan's words were not loud, but steady and heavy.

"According to the Inspector's rules, three shifts rotate, night guard doubled."

Zhou Tie nodded. "I'll go arrange it."

He walked to the courtyard gate and paused.

He turned his head and took one last look.

The fourteen children were still squatting in the courtyard, the water droplets from the eaves continued to fall, hitting the moss, the sound very light.

Sun Qi followed him out. Only when they reached the alley entrance did he speak: "Head Zhou, what do you think these three groups of people want to do?"

Zhou Tie walked forward carrying his iron spear, the tip of the spear scratching a shallow mark on the ground.

"Take the children."

His tone had no fluctuation.

"Either silence them or trade them for something."

Sun Qi's breathing paused for a beat. "Trade for what?"

Zhou Tie didn't answer.

He crossed two alleys. When he walked to the gate of the Main Courtyard of the Patrol Division, the brothers on early duty had just changed shifts, their boot soles stepping on the stone tiles, the sound crisp.

Lin Chen should still be in the Archives Room. He had stayed up late into the second half of the night deducing a Cultivation Technique. Liu Buyu said he only closed his eyes for a while leaning against the back of the chair when the day was about to dawn.

The Main Courtyard was quiet. The window of the Archives Room was half-open, the window paper bulging gently in the morning wind.

Zhou Tie walked to the door and knocked on the door panel twice.

The soft sound of turning pages came from inside.

"Enter."

Zhou Tie pushed the door and went in.

Lin Chen sat behind the desk, the black abyss blade lying horizontally in front of his knees, holding a register in his hand. His gaze lifted from the paper, fell on Zhou Tie's face, and paused for a breath.

His gaze moved to his bandaged left arm, then back to his face.

"How is the arm?"

Zhou Tie stood still before the desk, cupping his right hand. "Won't die."

Lin Chen put the register on the desktop, his fingers pressing on the corner of the paper. "Speak."

Zhou Tie repeated the intelligence brought by Sun Qi, not a word more, not a word less.

When he said the last sentence about someone wanting to come and take the cargo, his voice sank, carrying an irrepressible hardness.

After listening, Lin Chen did not reply immediately.

His thumb rubbed slowly along the edge of the register, his fingernails brushing across the paper, making a very faint rustling sound.

The Archives Room was quiet for a few breaths.

Outside the window came the sound of people on early duty walking in the courtyard, and the sound of horses snorting in the stable in the distance.

"Three groups of people."

Lin Chen spoke, his tone very steady.

"Three different directions, staggered times, inconsistent aura and style."

Zhou Tie nodded. "Doesn't look like they are in the same group."

Lin Chen's fingers moved away from the edge of the register and rested on the desktop.

"People who are watching won't just look without probing the bottom line."

Zhou Tie's brows pressed down half a point. "What does the Inspector mean?"

"After noon today, you take people to the side courtyard and set up the guard according to what Instructor Qi Boyuan said."

Lin Chen's gaze moved from Zhou Tie's face to outside the window. The leaves of the old locust tree outside the window were rustling in the morning wind.

"The matter of doubling the night guard should only reach the ears of those at the Tongmai Realm and above."

Zhou Tie understood. Adding guards openly was for the people watching outside to see, while secretly, they needed to keep an ace up their sleeve.

"As for Sun Qi's side, let him continue to follow the tracks of those three groups of people."

Lin Chen tapped his fingers on the desktop twice.

"Don't startle them, just follow. I want the people behind them."

Zhou Tie cupped his hand. "This subordinate understands."

He turned to leave, his footsteps stopped just as he reached the threshold.

Lin Chen looked at his back. "Anything else?"

Zhou Tie turned half his body back, his left shoulder leaning against the door frame, his voice lowered a little.

"Inspector, those fourteen children..."

He paused, biting the second half of the sentence between his teeth.

"The youngest one, only six or seven years old. When he asked me, there was no fear in his eyes, just emptiness."

Zhou Tie's Adam's apple rolled once.

"They have been called cargo for too long, they don't even know what they are themselves."

Lin Chen's fingers stopped on the desktop.

Zhou Tie continued: "I promised that boy that the bad guy wouldn't get far. Does this count?"

The Archives Room became quiet again.

Morning light leaked in through the cracks in the window, shining on the corner of the stack of registers on the desk, the edges of the paper dyed with a circle of pale gold by the light.

Lin Chen looked at him for a few breaths, then nodded.

"It counts."

Zhou Tie's shoulders relaxed by half an inch. He turned and walked out of the Archives Room, his boot soles stepping on the stone tiles of the corridor, his footsteps heavier than when he came in.

Lin Chen sat behind the table and didn't move immediately.

His hand rested on the scabbard of the black abyss blade, his thumb against the ridge line, his gaze falling on the spot of light on the window paper that was swaying gently in the wind.

After a moment, he raised his hand, flipped open the stack of registers, and pulled out a blank sheet of paper from the bottom.

He picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and the tip of the brush fell on the paper, writing a few words.

After writing, he folded the paper and tucked it into his sleeve.

Outside the window came the sound of unloading carriages from the stable, the clatter of iron chains, and the sound of wooden wheels crushing over the stone slabs. A new day had begun.

And outside that east wall of the side courtyard, in the shadows of an alley, a pair of eyes were counting the heads of the people squatting in the courtyard through the cracks in the wall.

The puddle was pushed into the last circle of ripples by the wind, and then it became completely still.