484: How dare you! Where are my dogs?

The Empress looked up into the ridge; the fog was even thicker here, making it nearly impossible to see anything beyond a thousand paces.

[Something is wrong. Where are my dogs? Where is that large pack of Iron-Haired Dogs?]

She walked inside for about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the rustling of her soles crushing bone fragments being the only sound.

Stopping in her tracks, her gaze swept across the surroundings.

Withered trees, strange rocks, and muddy ground churned into a mess by dog paws. Scattered everywhere were human bones gnawed clean.

But there wasn't a single dog to be seen.

Not even one.

Shang Wan Ning vaguely remembered the last time she came here was about a dozen years ago, back when the Underworld had just finished rebuilding Meng Pos Shop.

The pack of Iron-Haired Dogs had been a vast, swarming mass with glossy fur and snow-white fangs. Their eyes would turn red as they lunged at any living soul or evil ghost, and the ridge would echo all day with barking and miserable wails.

This dead silence right now was not right.

Shang Wan Ning began walking toward the depths of the ridge.

The mist parted as she moved, revealing an even more desolate scene. There were more scattered bones, some with fresh teeth marks, but not a single shadow of the dogs that should have been crouched over them gnawing away could be found.

After walking for another incense stick's worth of time, the outlines of two stone chambers appeared on the mountain wall ahead.

The doors were tightly shut, covered in a layer of bone-white frost. Entwined within the frost was the 'Prison-Suppressing' baleful aura unique to Ox-Head and Horse-Face, weighing heavily on the surroundings.

Above the stone chambers, the residual traces of a Yin energy vortex had not yet dissipated, spinning slowly in a grey haze.

Shang Wan Ning came to a halt a hundred paces away, spreading out her divine sense like warm water washing over every inch of the stone chambers.

The energy was very stable.

Niu Mengmeng and Ma Sanqiang had reached a critical point in their breakthrough, but the spiritual power in their meridians was flowing smoothly, their souls were solid, and there were no signs of anything going wrong.

The Yin energy vortex was well-contained around the stone chambers, acting like a natural barrier without rampaging outward.

She withdrew her divine sense and turned her gaze toward the outer perimeter of the stone chambers—the open ground that should have been covered with Iron-Haired Dogs.

It was empty; there wasn't even a single strand of dog hair.

Seeing this, Shang Wan Ning was in no hurry to leave.

She circled the perimeter of the stone chambers, the toe of her boot kicking aside a few bone fragments to reveal the packed mud beneath. There were chaotic, overlapping paw prints that were still fresh, left within the last two days.

The marks extended toward the exit of the ridge, going all the way out... She knelt down, her fingertips brushing over several inconspicuous depressions at the edge of the muddy ground.

They weren't paw prints; they looked more like marks left by something being dragged. Mixed in the mud nearby were some dark brown crumbs. She picked them up and rubbed them between her fingers; they were the crumbled remains of over-dried spirit beast jerky.

Shang Wan Ning stood up and brushed off her hands.

The cloud of doubt in her heart caused by the 'missing dog pack' now had a general direction.

She simply stayed at Evil Dog Ridge for another two days.

On the first day, she sat cross-legged on a blue stone opposite the stone chambers, eyes closed to regulate her breathing, while a wisp of her divine sense remained detached to shroud the entire mountain ridge.

During the day, the ridge was deathly silent. Occasionally, a gust of Yin wind would sweep through, causing the withered leaves to rustle.

At night, faint phosphorus fires would drift over from the direction of the Wangchuan River. Eerie green spots of light would flicker past the entrance of the ridge and quickly disappear.

The barking of dogs had vanished, the sounds of tearing were silent, and even the instinctive rustling of low-level spirit beasts could not be heard.

On the afternoon of the second day, Shang Wan Ning stood up and walked to the leeward spot where the Iron-Haired Dogs usually gathered.

Many bones were scattered on the ground, most gnawed clean and glinting with a ghastly white light.

She stopped beside a hollowed-out dirt nest.

This should be Big Dog's 'spot.' It was lined with dry grass, and half a gnawed teething bone lay discarded beside it.

There were no new teeth marks on the bone.

A thin layer of dust had accumulated in the grass nest.

Shang Wan Ning reached into the nest to investigate and her fingers touched a hard object.

She pulled it out; it was a black wooden plaque about half the size of a palm. The edges were worn smooth, and the front was carved with crooked runes.

It was a 'work badge' for the Underworld's spirit beasts, stamped with records of incense offerings and attendance marks.

She flipped it over. On the back, several scratches had been made with claws, barely forming the character for 'Leave,' followed by seven slanted vertical bars.

Shang Wan Ning stared at those seven bars for a long time.

Finally, she tossed the wooden plaque back into the nest and turned to walk out of the ridge.

She had seen everything she needed to see.

The Yin energy vortex was fine, and Ox-Head and Horse-Face's breakthrough was proceeding without issue.

[Heh, the dogs ran off on their own.]

...By the time she returned to Jiaotai Palace, the sky had completely darkened.

The palace lanterns under the eaves cast pools of warm yellow light, making the blue stone path look damp and shimmering.

As soon as Shang Wan Ning stepped through the palace doors, she saw Chen Yu curled up on the soft couch by the window.

The White-Haired Loli was hugging a Soul-Inducing Pillow, her chin resting on its edge, her red eyes staring outside. Hearing the movement, she sat bolt upright with a 'shing' sound.

"Your Majesty!" she cried out, her face filled with obvious guilt. "Did you go to Evil Dog Ridge? Did you see Big Dog?"

Shang Wan Ning untied her outer robe and handed it to a maid, then walked behind the desk and sat down before finally looking up at Chen Yu.

"Big Dog is at the Logistics Department," she said in a casual tone. "Ming Xuan transferred him."

The expression on Chen Yu's face stiffened. Her eyes darted around as she asked in a small voice, "The... the Logistics Department? He's a guard dog, why transfer him to the Logistics Department..."

"To move bricks." Shang Wan Ning opened an official document and picked up a vermilion brush. "What else? Over the past three months, the Iron-Haired Dog pack at Evil Dog Ridge has averaged only one hour of duty per day."

"The rest of the time, they lie there, sleep, and wait for someone to feed them."

Chen Yu was choked up.

Her fingers picked at the corners of the Soul-Inducing Pillow as her voice grew even smaller: "I just... fed them occasionally... I didn't go every day..."

"Pfft, occasionally?"

Shang Wan Ning's pen paused. She looked up. "Big Dog scratched seven bars on the back of his work badge, taking seven days of leave in a row. Isn't this 'occasionally' a bit too frequent?"

Chen Yu stopped talking, her head drooping as her white hair fell softly over her shoulders.

Seeing her looking so pitiful, Shang Wan Ning felt a surge of anger (.-`ω´-) bottled up in her chest.

"The dog pack wasn't scared away by the Yin energy vortex." She put down the pen and leaned back into her chair.

"It's because someone fed them too well and let them rest too comfortably, making them feel like their duties at Evil Dog Ridge were optional. When Ox-Head and Horse-Face began their breakthrough and the energy in the ridge fluctuated, they simply seized the opportunity to go on a collective strike."

"After all, with you, the Prefecture City God, backing them up, even if Ming Xuan found out, would she really dare to punish them?"

Chen Yu looked up, a flash of panic in her red eyes: "I didn't want them to skip work... I just saw they were hungry and gave them some food... and I felt like it was so boring for them to guard that broken ridge every day..."

"Heh, 'just gave them some food,' 'just took them to frolic by the Wangchuan River,' 'just told them that Minister Ming Xuan has been busy lately and has no time for inspections.'"

Shang Wan Ning said, "A-Yu, you are the Underworld's Prefecture City God, not some little girl on the street feeding stray cats and dogs."

"Every spirit beast and every ghost official under your command must fulfill their duties once they accept a post. Your 'just' has 'just' discarded the rules of the penal cycle at Evil Dog Ridge."

Chen Yu's shoulders slumped, her fingers tightening around the Soul-Inducing Pillow.

[Wuwu X﹏X, Her Majesty is so scary when she's angry.]

The hall fell silent.

The smoke from the Concentration Incense rose straight up, drawing thin, pale blue lines in the glow of the palace lanterns.

After a long while, Chen Yu said gloomily, "Then what do we do now? Can Big Dog and the others still return to Evil Dog Ridge?"