Chapter 163 Secretly Spying, a Third Force Emerges

Shen Yue arrived at the entrance of the Archives Room just as dusk fell.

She didn't knock, but tapped the doorframe twice, her knuckles producing a dull sound.

"Come in."

Shen Yue pushed the door open and saw Lin Chen sitting behind the desk. The black abyss blade lay horizontally in front of his knees, the scabbard pressed against his robes, with half an inch of the dark blade edge peeking out from the scabbard mouth, reflecting on the desktop.

The copper lamp on the desk had just been refilled with oil, and the flame was steady.

She walked to the desk, leaned back against the chair, supported herself with one hand, and pulled a folded piece of paper from her sleeve with the other, placing it on the table.

"I've uncovered the background of the Tongbao Firm."

Lin Chen didn't move.

Shen Yue unfolded the paper, pressed her fingertips on the corner, and pushed it two inches toward Lin Chen.

"They changed owners three months ago. The new owner is named Cheng Wang, from Tongzhou, Jiangnan."

"On the surface, they handle cargo transport between the north and south—silk, tea, and porcelain, they deal in all of it."

"In the shadows, they handle money laundering."

Lin Chen's fingers rested on the paper, his gaze sliding from the first line to the last without stopping.

Shen Yue continued.

"The Tongbao Firm has been in Nanyang Prefecture for four years. The original owner was a local named Zhou, who honestly engaged in usury and had no background."

"Three months ago, the one surnamed Zhou suddenly sold the business, pressing the price very low."

Lin Chen asked, "How low?"

Shen Yue said, "So low that the second Zhou son cursed while drinking with others, saying that the silver was scorching his hands and he couldn't sleep while holding it."

"And then?"

"Later, the entire Zhou family moved away. No one knows where they went."

Lin Chen's fingers lifted from the paper and rested on the ridge of the scabbard, his thumb pressing against the iron edge, silent.

Shen Yue watched him.

"I've had people follow this Cheng Wang for two days."

"During the day, he sits behind the counter at the money shop, seeing no outside guests; only retail customers come to deposit or withdraw silver."

"At night, he returns to a private residence in the west of the city. The house isn't big, and there are two guards at the door, both at the Early Stage of the Meridian Opening Realm."

She paused.

"Cheng Wang himself is at the Peak of Blood Refining."

Lin Chen's gaze moved from the scabbard to Shen Yue's face.

"Peak of Blood Refining, using two Early Stage Meridian Opening Realm guards."

Shen Yue nodded.

"Either he looks down on the Meridian Opening Realm."

"Or he has a master behind him."

Lin Chen asked, "Which one?"

Shen Yue said, "I crouched by his back door for a night."

Her voice lowered.

"At the third quarter of the Yin hour, someone entered his house through the back door."

"He wore a grey cloth short shirt and a bamboo hat, covering half his face."

"I couldn't grasp his aura, but his footsteps were evenly spaced, and he made no extra sound when stepping on the bluestone slabs."

Lin Chen's fingers stopped on the scabbard.

"Core Formation."

Shen Yue said, "At least."

The Archives Room was silent for a breath. Outside the window, a night watchman walked past the courtyard wall, the sound of boots scraping against stone tiles drifted in, then faded.

Lin Chen folded the paper and tucked it into his sleeve.

"How many times has Cheng Wang met that person?"

Shen Yue said, "I only followed for one night, so I only saw it once."

"But there was some mud on the threshold of the back door, the same color as the soil in the abandoned residential area in the south of the city."

Lin Chen raised his eyes.

Shen Yue said, "The two groups of people who disappeared in the south of the city, the place they returned to, and the mud at the back door of Cheng Wang's residence, come from the same path."

"You mean they have the same person behind them."

Shen Yue nodded.

"The two groups in the south of the city were scouts, Cheng Wang is the middleman, and the one who entered through the back door is the one truly standing behind it."

Lin Chen didn't speak.

He picked up the black abyss blade from in front of his knees and placed it on the desk, the scabbard hitting the wooden table with a dull thud.

"How many batches of goods has Cheng Wang handled?"

Shen Yue pulled another piece of paper from her sleeve, on which a simple map was drawn with fine lines, showing the route from the south of the city to the west.

"I had Sun Qi check the Tongbao Firm's money flow for the past three months. It was an off-the-books account, so it couldn't be checked at the counter."

"But the secret line leaked two paths."

She pointed at the map with her fingernail.

"One comes from Jiangnan, traveling by water, unloading at a ferry thirty miles outside Nanyang Prefecture, then switching to land to enter the city, going into the Tongbao Firm's back warehouse."

"The other goes north from Nanyang Prefecture, splitting into two paths after leaving the city: one into the mountains, and one toward the capital."

Lin Chen's Adam's apple moved slightly.

"What is delivered on the path into the mountains?"

Shen Yue shook her head.

"I don't know. I only know that every time they leave the city, it's at night, with six to eight guards. The lowest cultivation is Meridian Opening Realm, and I didn't dare get close to the highest one."

"You didn't dare get close?"

The corner of Shen Yue's mouth twitched.

"That person carried an aura that I have felt in the basement."

Lin Chen's eyes darkened slightly.

"Protective Aura."

Shen Yue said, "It's different from Director Yan Tie."

"Director Yan Tie's Protective Aura is cold, like white frost, sticking to the skin."

"That person's is different; it's hot."

"It burns outward against the bones."

The lamp wick in the Archives Room crackled at this moment, the flame jumped up a bit, then fell back, casting shadows on both their faces as they flickered.

Lin Chen's hand rested on the edge of the table, his knuckles gripping the wood grain, not letting go.

"Sheng Family."

These two words rolled out from between his teeth, not heavy, but exceptionally clear in the silence of the Archives Room.

Shen Yue's brows pressed down.

"The one mentioned in Official Chen Zhili's confession?"

Lin Chen didn't answer, only withdrawing his gaze from the wick, looking at the shallow mark pressed by the scabbard on the desktop.

"The Tongbao Firm changed owners three months ago."

"Official Chen Zhili said Sheng Wenqing drank a cup of wine with him at a private banquet in the capital three years ago."

"Three years to three months, two years in between."

Shen Yue added, "Two years is enough time for them to relay the lines in Nanyang Prefecture."

Lin Chen's fingers lifted from the edge of the table and pressed onto the guard of the black abyss blade, his fingertips against the iron ridge.

"The Wang family fell, they didn't run, but instead added people."

Shen Yue asked, "Aren't they afraid?"

Lin Chen said, "If they were afraid, they wouldn't have come."

He stood up from the chair, the black abyss blade hanging back at his waist, the scabbard clinking against the iron buckle at his side with a crisp sound.

"Tonight, you take people to the Tongbao Firm."

Shen Yue also straightened up.

"What are we checking?"

Lin Chen walked to the window and pushed open half of it. The night wind poured in from outside the courtyard, blowing the lamp flame to one side.

"Don't check the money."

"Check the people."

"Watch that grey-clothed man at Cheng Wang's back door. See when he leaves and follow him to the south of the city."

Shen Yue nodded.

"What do we do when we get to the south of the city?"

Lin Chen didn't turn around, his gaze falling into the pitch-black night outside the courtyard wall.

"I had Sun Qi scout that abandoned residential area in the south of the city during the day. There are seventy-two houses in total, and fewer than twenty are inhabited."

"There is a detached courtyard at the end of the alley where those three groups of scouts disappeared."

"Next to the detached courtyard is a dry well."

Shen Yue's breathing hitched slightly.

"Is there someone in the well?"

Lin Chen turned back to look at her.

"The well mouth is covered with a stone slab, and a millstone is pressed on the slab."

"The millstone is new."

Shen Yue's expression changed.

"I'll go take a look."

Lin Chen said, "Just look, don't act."

Shen Yue asked, "What if I find people?"

Lin Chen's hand rested on the hilt of the blade, his thumb circling the guard halfway.

"If there are people in the well."

"Count exactly how many."

"See their faces clearly."

"Then come back."

Shen Yue picked up her blade from her waist, the blade turning halfway in her palm, the edge against her sleeve, silent.

"What else?"

Lin Chen looked at her.

"If there is no one in the well."

"Check the bottom of the well."

"See if there is freshly dug soil, if there is a secret passage, if there are bloodstains."

Shen Yue nodded.

"How many people should I take?"

Lin Chen said, "Six is enough."

"Leave two Meridian Opening Realm practitioners on the perimeter to provide backup, and take the other four into the alley with you."

"Climb in from the south wall, don't use the front door."

Shen Yue turned and walked toward the door, her footsteps on the stone bricks sounding light and fast.

When she reached the door, she paused.

"Inspector."

Lin Chen didn't move.

Shen Yue turned half of her face, the candlelight outlining her silhouette, the area below her brow ridges sinking into shadow, only her eyes shining.

"Are you sure that grey-clothed man at Cheng Wang's back door isn't from the Wang family?"

Lin Chen said, "People from the Wang family don't need to use the back door."

Shen Yue's mouth twitched.

"Then I'm going."

"Wait."

Shen Yue's hand rested on the doorframe without looking back.

Lin Chen walked out from behind the desk, reaching her side in two steps.

He took a copper token from his sleeve and placed it in her palm.

The copper token was cold, the copper edge pressing into her palm, causing a slight pain.

"This is the Patrol Division's field duty token."

Lin Chen's voice fell from in front of her, his breath low.

"If Cheng Wang's people discover you, show the token."

"If they still pursue after you show the token, kill them on the spot."

Shen Yue gripped the copper token tightly.

"Understood."

She didn't stay, pushed the door open and left, her footsteps walking a few steps in the corridor before being swept away by the night wind.

Lin Chen stood by the door, watching her back disappear around the corner of the corridor.

The night wind blew in from outside the courtyard wall, pushing the door panel to sway forward, then swinging back.

He raised his hand to close the door; when the latch fell into place, the iron bolt hit the wooden groove with a sound.

Returning to behind the desk, he didn't sit.

The route map Shen Yue had drawn was still spread out on the table; the line from the south of the city to the west showed a faint yellow in the candlelight.

Lin Chen's finger pointed at the location of the abandoned residential area in the south of the city, his fingertips pressing on the paper, motionless.

South of the city.

West of the city.

Tongbao Firm.

Cheng Wang.

Grey cloth short shirt.

Dry well.

These points connected together, forming a net.

The Wang family fell, but the Sheng Family's line didn't break. Not only did it not break, it even extended in.

The timing of the extension was exactly the few days when Official Chen Zhili was detained, the secret box was opened, and the capital's name list was scattered.

It was definitely not a coincidence.

Lin Chen's finger lifted from the paper and rested on the scabbard.

He remembered the sentence Official Chen Zhili said in the interrogation room.

"The Sheng Family and the Wang family are not upstream and downstream lines; they are parallel."

Parallel means neither listens to the other.

But it also means that with the Wang family fallen, the Sheng Family can fill the position at any time.

The source of goods in Nanyang Prefecture was cut off, but the Sheng Family still has three prefectures in Jiangnan.

The informants in Nanyang Prefecture are gone, but the Sheng Family can re-bury them in the Patrol Division.

Lin Chen's gaze fell outside the window; the leaves of the old locust tree in the courtyard rustled in the night wind.

He suddenly remembered the sentence Shen Yue said just now.

"Is there someone in the well?"

If there is someone, then that is the Sheng Family's new stronghold in Nanyang Prefecture.

If there is no one, then that well is the next place to store things.

Store what?

Lin Chen's Adam's apple moved slightly.

Official Chen Zhili said the Sheng Family does human trafficking and drug testing, with a scale three times larger than the Wang family.

The fourteen children in Nanyang Prefecture were the Wang family's source of goods.

The Sheng Family wants to relay the lines here; the first thing to do is find a new source of goods.

That abandoned residential area in the south of the city is not far from the wharf outside the city, and not far from the mountains.

Advancing, they can take the waterway to transport people out of the prefecture; retreating, they can slip into the mountains and disappear without a trace.

Lin Chen moved his hand from the scabbard, picked up the copper lamp on the table, and pinched the wick shorter.

The flame shrank, the room darkened by a layer, and the lines of the route map on the table sank into the shadows, leaving only that point in the south of the city illuminated by the last of the firelight.

He put down the lamp and leaned back into the chair.

The time of waiting is the hardest to endure.

The reason is not that one doesn't know what will happen.

It is that one knows that once some things are uncovered, they cannot be taken back.

On the roof of a house in a dark alley outside the city, a human figure crouched on the edge of the tiles, the bamboo hat pressed very low, covering half of his face.

His gaze fell on the pitch-black abandoned houses in the south of the city in the distance, his fingers tapping lightly on his knee.

Another voice emerged from the tile cracks nearby, low.

"Boss, word has come from the Tongbao Firm in the west of the city."

The man in the bamboo hat didn't turn his head.

"What did they say?"

"They said the Nanyang Prefecture Patrol Division added people tonight, all on the perimeter of the side courtyard."

"How many?"

"Six hidden sentries, all more than two hundred feet away, not moving."

The fingers of the man in the bamboo hat stopped.

"Not moving?"

"Not moving. Just crouching there, like they are waiting for someone to come to the door."

The corner of the man in the bamboo hat's mouth twitched. The arc couldn't be counted as a smile; it was closer to confirmation after vigilance was verified.

"They know we are watching."

The person next to him held his breath.

"Then what about the point in the south of the city?"

The man in the bamboo hat stood up, the edge of his bamboo hat lifted by the night wind, revealing a faint scar on his chin.

"Withdraw."

"Now?"

"Now."

He stepped on the tiles and walked south, every step of his soles sticking to the tile seams, without the slightest extra sound.

When he reached the end of the roof ridge, he paused for a moment and turned his head to look in the direction of the Tongbao Firm in the west of the city.

That area of lights was still bright; across half the city, he couldn't see the young man sitting at the counter.

But he knew that the young man must be waiting at this moment too.

Waiting for him to bring the people over.

He didn't look back, his figure sliding down from the roof and falling into the darkness of the alley.

The sound of footsteps was as light as a cat's paws landing.

The things in that dry well in the south of the city must be moved tonight.