"A senior had you come to Qianliangfang on business? Could you disclose that senior's identity?" He Jiaqing looked Critic up and down. Aside from Lühuazi, He Jiaqing really couldn't imagine which other senior would have dealings with Critic.
Critic shrugged. "I'm also quite curious to know which senior sent you to Qianliangfang. How about we make a deal? Tell me his identity first, and then I'll consider whether to disclose my senior's identity to you."
"The senior who sent me doesn't like others knowing his identity. You'd better not ask, either. Knowing would do you more harm than good."
Critic gave a slight shake of his head. "I'd like to give you the same piece of advice, though I don't know whether you can take it to heart."
To tell the truth, He Jiaqing found it difficult to understand his relationship with Critic. Clearly the two weren't especially close, yet every encounter between them was a matter of life and death.
He Jiaqing had rescued Critic from Jianrengang, Critic had delivered He Jiaqing to the Jiangxiang Gang's headquarters, and they had even joined forces against Lühuazi. Just on account of that shared past, the two certainly counted as friends.
Yet He Jiaqing felt some loathing toward Critic, and Critic didn't have a very good impression of He Jiaqing either.
Amidst the clamor of the gambling house, the two stared at each other for a long while before He Jiaqing spoke first. "If we keep standing at an impasse like this, the problem won't be resolved."
Critic shrugged. "Then we don't have to be at an impasse. You do your business, I'll do mine, and we won't interfere with each other."
He Jiaqing shook his head. "I'm very worried you will interfere with me, so I think it's better if we are honest with each other—starting with you being honest with me."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a wooden box appeared in He Jiaqing's hand.
This wooden box belonged to Critic. The two had been standing face-to-face, and the box had suddenly ended up in He Jiaqing's grip.
"You actually stole my things?" Critic was astonished. "Even my best friend in Puluo Province avoids physical contact with me as much as possible. Even when seeing me off, he used a feather duster."
"What good stuff is inside here?" He Jiaqing was in no hurry to open the box.
"It's a keepsake given to me by that senior. Open it and see for yourself."
He Jiaqing didn't rush to open it. He was worried there might be a mechanism inside, or perhaps one of Critic's pathogens.
He held the box to his ear and gave it a shake. "Let me hear what keepsake this senior gave you..."
There was a sound inside the box, and not a quiet one at that.
He Jiaqing froze.
He handed the box back to Critic, his attitude undergoing a marked shift. "Are you trying to borrow his identity to threaten me?"
Critic shook his head. "In Puluo Province, many people have borrowed his identity, but as far as I know, none of them came to a very good end."
He Jiaqing nodded slightly. "Please convey to this senior that I have left Qianliangfang and did not cause you any interference."
Critic took back the wooden box and replied with a cool expression, "Regarding your claim of having caused no interference, I remain skeptical."
A supervisor in the gambling house named Lu Xiqiang walked up to the two of them, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Did you two come here to gamble? If you want to play, step inside. If not, don't block the door."
Critic smiled. "I came to play. This brother doesn't want to play anymore; he's leaving right away."
"I'm leaving now." He Jiaqing first looked at Critic. "Have a pleasant time."
Then he looked at Lu Xiqiang. "May your business prosper."
He Jiaqing disappeared into the night. Critic went over to a card table, played two hands of Pai Gow, and lost both.
He took out his wallet, his expression turning rather somber.
Lu Xiqiang chuckled. "What's the matter, brother? Tight on cash? Want me to introduce a friend to help you float some funds?"
A Loan Cultivator sidled up and asked in a low voice, "How much do you want to borrow?"
Critic calculated carefully. "If it's just me, ten silver dollars should be enough. But if I include all my friends, it'll probably take tens of thousands of silver dollars."
"You brought friends too?" The Loan Cultivator looked around.
"I did. A few are waiting at the door, and the rest are wandering around elsewhere." Critic whistled, and over a dozen figures dressed in dark red hooded robes entered the gambling house.
The Loan Cultivator blinked in surprise and asked Critic, "You're not followers of some foreign religion, are you?"
Lu Xiqiang grew nervous as well. "It's fine if you're here to play, but don't try any sorcery on me. We have rules and customs in this trade—don't go ruining our feng shui."
"Rest assured, we're all here to play." Critic smiled and gestured for his friends to pull down their hoods.
The lights in the gambling house were not particularly bright, and their faces were hard to make out.
Their skin was far too dark, and the features on their faces were blurred.
It seemed as though they had no features at all.
Well, not entirely. They smiled; they had mouths, filled with sparse, crooked teeth.
The gambling house fell dead silent in an instant. Everyone looked on as Lu Xiqiang cried out in horror, "What kind of monsters are these?!"
"Tsk, tsk!" Critic wasn't very pleased. "The way you speak is quite impolite. My friends are very unhappy."
The Loan Cultivator shouted, "What religion do you belong to anyway? Who gave you the guts to make trouble in Qianliangfang?"
"You bring up matters of faith again. What we believe in are two deities of our pathway: one is the ancestral founder, and the other is the Eldest Martial Brother. We can find somewhere else to chat slowly about that." Critic wiped his hand across his cheek, and a swath of orange-red rash emerged on his skin.
His group of friends all wiped their cheeks, and orange-red rashes broke out across their faces as well.
Lu Xiqiang had a fair bit of experience. Seeing these varied rashes, he cried out in terror, "You... this is Lühuazi's technique!"
"Don't casually mention the ancestral founder's name. Besides, this rash is my own original creation." Critic waved his hand, and the dozen-plus "friends" swiftly charged into the crowd.
Just as Lu Xiqiang was about to call for help, two "friends" flanked him, sandwiching him between them.
One seized his hair and throttled his neck, while the other ripped open his belly with bare hands, tearing out his intestines and internal organs.
Before long, Lu Xiqiang collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
People all around collapsed one after another. Terrified until his legs turned to jelly, the Loan Cultivator dropped to the floor and crawled toward the door.
His hands had crawled outside the doorway, but his feet were still inside when someone suddenly grabbed his feet from behind.
The Loan Cultivator looked back and saw Lu Xiqiang—whose internal organs had just been ripped out—crawling right up to his feet, gripping his left ankle with his left hand and seizing the back of his knee with his right.
The Loan Cultivator kicked frantically, broke free from Lu Xiqiang behind him, and stumbled out into the street.
On the avenue, he saw Gambling Cultivators fleeing in every direction, along with several hooded figures.
He saw people trying to leap over the quarter walls, only to be dragged back down one by one by the hooded figures.
Desperate, the Loan Cultivator sprinted toward the quarter gate, where he saw Critic.
The Loan Cultivator bowed repeatedly, hands cupped. "Friend, Qianliangfang's business has nothing to do with me! I just came here to do business!"
Critic stepped aside to open a path. "I believe you. Go on."
The Loan Cultivator sprinted past the first quarter gate. After running for about ten minutes, he suddenly felt an intense itch across his face.
He scratched it gently, and the blisters on his face burst open one after another, oozing orange-red fluid.
As if alive, the fluid flowed rapidly over the Loan Cultivator's hands, running from fingertips to palm, from palm to arm, and from arm down to his ribs...
The Loan Cultivator dared not scratch. He tried to wipe the fluid away, but it was extremely sticky and clung stubbornly to his body.
Screams echoed continuously around him. Looking back, he saw numerous hooded figures dragging Gambling Cultivators out of the rooms in neighboring courtyards.
These hooded figures paid the Loan Cultivator no heed, and he stopped worrying about the fluid on his body, caring only about sprinting toward the outer gate.
After running several dozen meters more, he collapsed to the ground.
Orange-red fluid seeped from his shoes; his numb feet had completely lost sensation.
He still tried to stand up, but his hands had no strength left.
He tried to call out, but glob after glob of purulent fluid welled up from his mouth.
His vision gradually blurred, as if an orange-red curtain had been draped over his eyes.
***
Li Banfeng handed the newspaper to Dou Jiyan. "The largest gambling house in Puluo Province has reopened, and Ding Liusan is making a huge splash. It seems it's time for us to pay Qianliangfang a visit as well."
"Brother Seven, I'll go with you." Dou Jiyan packed a few belongings, ready to depart.
Li Banfeng rose. "Don't come for now. Coming along would only burden me. First tell me where the covenant deed is buried, and I'll find a way to bring it back for you."
Dou Jiyan hid nothing. Her covenant deed was buried right in the main hall of the largest gambling house.
Li Banfeng set out that night. When he arrived at Qianliangfang, he found the quarter gates wide open and the gatekeeper gone.
Ding Liusan's business was certainly booming—he didn't even shut the gates at night.
A sudden chill welled up inside him, and Li Banfeng sensed danger.
Something had happened in Qianliangfang.
Passing through the quarter gates, Li Banfeng smelled a strange odor—a bloody stench carrying an oily scent.
After walking along the main road for a short while, Li Banfeng saw puddle after puddle of orange-red, sticky matter on the ground.
Some of the gooey clumps were still squirming.
Were these... people?
Li Banfeng did his best to avoid the sticky muck as he walked forward. Passing through the First Quarter and arriving at the Eighth Quarter, Li Banfeng saw several hooded figures standing silently by the roadside.
The skill Exquisite Hundred Flavors sounded an alarm for Li Banfeng. There were certain scents Li Banfeng would never forget.
Were these daolao ghosts?
Those hooded figures maintained normal human standing postures; not a trace of daolao ghosts could be seen on them.
A hooded figure walked out of a courtyard along the street. His walking gait was remarkably steady, completely unlike the daolao ghosts that scurried on all fours.
Was this another new technological breakthrough?
Most importantly, how could daolao ghosts have come to Qianliangfang? This place was so far from Jianrengang.
Critic walked out of another courtyard and stood before Li Banfeng. "Friend, what a coincidence that you've come as well. I learned of your previous experience from the newspaper. You witnessed their wager here, so I thought you would never appear in Qianliangfang again."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "The one who made the wager was Dou Jiyan. I was still quite interested in strolling around the number one gambling house in Puluo Province."
Critic nodded. "At first, I was also very curious about what the greatest gambling house in Puluo Province was like. After coming here in person, I was somewhat disappointed, but at least my mission progressed very smoothly."
Li Banfeng looked around. "This was your mission?"
"Yes," Critic nodded. "My mission was to prevent this bunch of Gambling Cultivators from posing a threat to Puluo Province, whether alive or dead."
"Who gave you this mission?"
Critic pondered for a moment. "I wasn't supposed to disclose his identity to anyone, but I imagine you are an exception, because you are very good friends with him."
He pulled a wooden box from his bosom and handed it to Li Banfeng.
In Puluo Province, not many people dared take something directly from Critic's hand, but Li Banfeng was one of them.
He opened the box and took out a pellet drum from inside.
*Dong-dang-dang!*
Li Banfeng shook the pellet drum and asked Critic, "He gave you this mission?"
Critic nodded. "You told me to get along well with the peddler and strive to win his support. I thought that was very good advice, so in Qiqiu City, I decided to accept the mission the peddler gave me."
"His mission for you was to slaughter every Gambling Cultivator in Qianliangfang?"
"Not accurate. First, he told me to assess the situation: if Dou Jiyan could continue keeping Qianliangfang stable, the operation would be canceled outright. If Qianliangfang fell into Ding Liusan's hands, I was to observe the trend of developments. If Qianliangfang spun out of control, then I was to eliminate the threat. Neither living nor dead Gambling Cultivators could be allowed to threaten the safety of Puluo Province. I believe my understanding of the mission was correct. All the living Gambling Cultivators in Qianliangfang are dead, and the corpses they left behind will never be exploited by anyone else."
Critic had indeed accomplished it. No matter how much someone desired to become a Gambling Cultivator, they would never dare consume those sticky clumps of orange-red muck.
One thing had to be admitted regardless: the peddler had chosen the right person for the task. Critic had thoroughly neutralized Qianliangfang's threat to Puluo Province.
"Friend, I wager you came here looking for something?" Critic produced another wooden box and handed it to Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng opened it to see the covenant deed and the local spirit seal resting inside.
"Please convey to that beautiful lady that great changes have taken place in Qianliangfang. Whether to return here is up to her, but I suggest she find another place to start anew."
Li Banfeng put away the wooden box and looked at the surrounding hooded figures. "Are they all from Sage Peak? Can they already travel this far?"
Critic smiled. "You're finally taking an interest in the crystallization of our wisdom! They did come from Sage Peak, but unfortunately, they still lack the ability to break completely free from Daogui Ridge. I merely used some means granted by the peddler to temporarily bring them out of Daogui Ridge. Once the mission is over, the peddler will immediately send them back."
"They've changed a lot."
"That is thanks to our improvements on them, allowing them more evolutionary possibilities."
Li Banfeng pointed at the sticky muck on the ground. "What kind of pathogen is this, that it can turn living people into this state?"
Critic said, "This pathogen comes from a technique I created. I named it Corpses Strewn Everywhere. This technique is far more than just a proprietary special art. The peddler was extraordinarily generous: after I accepted the mission, he gave me my reward in advance, acknowledging my pathway and preparing the medicinal powder corresponding to Disease Cultivators. I created the first technique of Disease Cultivators—a technique that can be passed down within the Disease Cultivator pathway! Because this technique is of a relatively high level, I classified it as a second-layer technique above the clouds. The crux of the technique lies not in the pathogen's lethality, but in rapid transmission and diffusion over a short time. Much like this virus, its lethal power is quite limited and won't severely harm high-tier cultivators, but it can spread swiftly among low-tier cultivators. If you're ever willing to become a Disease Cultivator one day, I can impart this technique to you."
"Thanks for the kind offer. When you went to Qiqiu City back then, you weren't looking for me—you were actually looking for Dou Jiyan to gather intelligence, weren't you?"
Critic chuckled. "Don't underestimate our friendship. I truly wanted to see you. It's just that later on, I seemed to develop special feelings for Miss Dou."
Li Banfeng looked around at the corpses once more. "Is Ding Liusan still alive?"
Critic nodded. "He is. He fled. His strength is too formidable for me to kill him in a short time. But that doesn't matter; the peddler explicitly told me that whether Ding Liusan lived or died wasn't within my mission's scope."
Li Banfeng returned the pellet drum to Critic, took Dou Jiyan's covenant deed, and left Qianliangfang.
Critic called after him, "Please be sure to convey to that beautiful lady that she must stay alive and well."
Li Banfeng looked back at Critic. Whistling, Critic strolled slowly along the alley of the quarter. Beneath the moonlight, he seemed to be performing a special dance to a unique rhythm and melody.
Perhaps it was a dance from his homeland.
The red brick walls, the orange-red corpses, and the dark red robes on the hooded figures—everything around him matched his dance steps so harmoniously.
Lühuazi would surely never have dreamed that the very first technique of the Disease Cultivators would come from Critic.
The New Year was approaching once more. During Li Banfeng's first New Year in Puluo Province, he had learned of Critic's dream.
Two years had passed; many people and many things were changing, but Critic's dream had never wavered.
And he was getting closer and closer to that dream.
***
Seeing Old Seven return, Dou Jiyan hurried over in great excitement. "Brother Seven, how is Qianliangfang?"
Li Banfeng wanted to break the news gently to Dou Jiyan, but after pondering for a long time, he couldn't think of any gentler way to express it.
"Strictly speaking, Qianliangfang no longer exists." Li Banfeng briefly described the situation, leaving Dou Jiyan sitting dumbfounded on the ground.
Struggling to climb to her feet, she wanted to return to Qianliangfang to see for herself. Li Banfeng handed the covenant deed to her.
"You can bury the deed back where it was, or you can start anew somewhere else. If you run into the foreigner Critic on your way back, try not to clash with him."
Li Banfeng turned to leave. Dou Jiyan called out, "Is there truly no place in this world for Gambling Cultivators?"
Li Banfeng looked back and said, "There are plenty of places to shelter, provided you don't tear down your own house."
***
Returning to Qiqiu City, Li Banfeng went to the laboratory.
The gramophone was gliding around the room, with Zhao Xiaowan's puppet standing nearby.
The companion dwelling had inspected this puppet and confirmed no foul play had been done to it before allowing the gramophone to bring it out.
Some equipment was best operated by the gramophone, while other equipment was easier to handle with the puppet. His lady had been busy in the lab for several days, yet showed not the slightest fatigue.
"Husband, indulge your humble servant for two more days of research. Your humble servant can produce quite a lot of things this time!" His lady entered the puppet, transforming into the peerless Zhao Xiaowan.
The clock pendulum urged, "Madam, please go home and rest. You've been working far too hard these past few days."
The gramophone raised her board and snapped, "Is it you who's working hard, or me? You cheap little wench, is it you who can't take it anymore?"
The clock pendulum dared not talk back. She truly was at her limit.
What caliber was the gramophone, and what foundation did the clock pendulum have? Days and nights of non-stop, sleepless research had brought the clock pendulum to the verge of collapse long ago.
The dream bell had a better way with words than the clock pendulum. She leaned close to the gramophone and whispered, "Madam, the Master has worked hard these past two days as well. Now that he's back, it's only right to reward him."
The gramophone didn't catch the drift. "Reward him how? Cook him a good meal?"
The dream bell smiled. "Madam, you can't just make food and drink. When the Master gets hungry, it's not just his stomach that's empty."
This time the gramophone understood and smacked the dream bell hard with her board. "You cheap wench, have you been corrupted by Hong Ying?"
The dream bell rubbed the sore spot for a long while and said with an aggrieved look, "Husbands and wives should be loving like that; it's only natural."
The gramophone thought that made sense, but with the experiment halfway done, she couldn't bear to leave it.
Unable to endure her exhaustion any longer, the dream bell urged once more, "Madam, our Master won't take much time anyway—"
Just as the gramophone put down the equipment in her grip, she saw Li Banfeng packing up and preparing to head out.
"Husband, where are you going?" The gramophone thought Li Banfeng was upset.
"You keep doing your experiments here, my lady. I'm going to swap the batteries." Although he had prepared plenty of battery packs beforehand, after several days of continuous experiments, seventy to eighty percent of the charge had been depleted; Li Banfeng needed to go to the power station for fresh ones.
The gramophone quickly apologized, "Oh, Husband, your humble servant was thoughtless. I'll go home shortly to attend to you."
"Who says my lady is thoughtless? Where else could anyone find such a wonderful wife? Don't worry about me, my lady; I'll be right back!" Li Banfeng happily went off to swap batteries, leaving the dream bell and the clock pendulum sighing in despair.
Two days later, his lady truly achieved a breakthrough. "Husband, your humble servant is still missing a magnetometer. If I had this device, I could make something wonderful for you."
Li Banfeng examined the photograph of the magnetometer. In the notes of both Teacher Song and Yu Yaoming, his lady had found mentions of this device.
Yet why hadn't this magnetometer been found in Yu Yaoming's laboratory back then?
Not only was it missing from Yu Yaoming's lab, but it wasn't in Du Wenming's replica lab either.
His lady said, "Husband, by my reckoning, this must be a new model that neither Yu Yaoming nor Du Wenming had the chance to purchase in time."
Where could Li Banfeng go to buy such new equipment?
He certainly couldn't buy it in Puluo Province. If he went to the Outer States, whom could he turn to?
Look for Lin Fojiao?
Li Banfeng felt absurd even thinking it. Who buys scientific research equipment on the black market?
Yet if not the black market, where else could he go?
***
Yuezhou, Dark Star Bureau.
Shen Jingye sipped his tea while reviewing his schedule for the day.
Today was packed as usual. Shen Jingye was just lamenting how difficult it was to allocate time, wondering whether he should cancel the afternoon meeting.
Yet the end of the year was rapidly approaching, and this meeting had been dragged out since the beginning of the year. If he didn't hold it now, drafting the year-end summary would be awkward.
Then again, even if the meeting wasn't held, the clerical staff could write the summary as though it had taken place anyway; in fact, the clerk had likely already drafted the year-end report. Whether the meeting was held or not mattered little to him.
However, if there wasn't a sufficient paper trail, leaving vulnerabilities during subsequent audits would affect Shen Jingye considerably.
Torn in indecision, his phone rang.
"Little Shen, come to my office."
Shen Jingye sniffed, his dilemma vanishing in an instant.
He canceled the afternoon meeting, walked to the door of Li Qi's office, used his thumbs and forefingers to push up the corners of his mouth into a "sincere" smile, and entered Li Qi's office.
"Director Li, you're finally back! While you were away, so much work made no headway at all."
"Little Shen, have a seat. What progress has been made on the bureau's key priorities during this time?"
Shen Jingye was scheduled to attend a meeting with higher-ups tomorrow, so he had just finished preparing his briefing materials, which came in handy now.
Over this period, the Dark Star Bureau had made no small amount of progress. The Birch Hermitage's influence within Huan Country had been largely eradicated; their key operatives had been rounded up one after another, and many spies planted in vital sectors had been purged.
Li Banfeng spoke highly of Shen Jingye's work. "Little Shen, good job. I called you over this time because I need you to help me track down some leads. During my time in Puluo Province, I investigated Du Wenming thoroughly and found that he had frequent dealings with several domestic and foreign research institutions."
Shen Jingye nodded. "I looked into that as well. Yu Yaoming's research equipment was taken by Du Wenming, and during his tenure, Du Wenming was repeatedly involved in procuring scientific research equipment. There are indeed suspicions here."
Shen Jingye made two phone calls, first ordering Li Qi's office surveillance turned off, and then summoning a secretary.
The secretary brought two document boxes and handed them to Shen Jingye.
Shen Jingye passed the document boxes to Li Banfeng. "We investigated the research organizations that had ties to Du Wenming; the relevant files are all inside."
Li Banfeng looked over the documents on these enterprises—addresses, contacts, phone numbers.
"Little Shen, excellent work."
With these materials, he would know who to approach to buy the magnetometer.
There was another document box. Li Banfeng asked, "What is all this for?"
"These are the findings from the investigation into the Birch Hermitage. I had the secretary bring a few key documents for you to look over."
Li Banfeng opened the box. At the very top lay a USB flash drive.
"What's this?"
"It's an audio recording. The original recording was on a phonograph record; this is a digitized copy. Have a listen first."
Li Banfeng plugged it into the computer and listened for a while. A man was speaking in a foreign tongue.
Judging by the pronunciation, it was likely the Lavsha language; judging by his tone, the man seemed intensely agitated.
Li Banfeng frowned. "There's too much static; a lot of the details are inaudible."
Shen Jingye shook his head. "Old records deteriorate in sound quality over the years."
Li Banfeng listened a bit more, unable to help shaking his head. "Why didn't anyone clean it up during digitization? The audio is very muffled in many spots."
Shen Jingye huffed. "Even if it weren't muffled, could you understand the Lavsha language anyway?"
Li Banfeng stopped the audio. "Then why did you have me listen to it?"
"There's a transcript in the box. You can listen along with the translation."
Li Banfeng found the translation and read through it:
"Brave warriors, do not hang your heads, do not shed tears, do not weep, do not let fear rob you of your fighting spirit! Perhaps we will perish here today, but the final victory will surely belong to us!
Do not ask where the elders have gone—they have departed safely from here. Do not ask where the deacons have gone—they, too, have safely departed. Do not ask why we must remain here, for someone must make the sacrifice.
I smell the scent of fire and smoke; that shrill, piercing song has begun again. It is that woman, that woman surnamed Huang, that songstress from hell—she has appeared again!
She is singing opera, sickening Puluo Province opera! Such garbage does not deserve to be called opera; to anyone with normal hearing, it is excruciating torture and torment! Do not fear, warriors! We can conquer fear! We can vanquish this devil from hell and send her back to the abyss! We will surely achieve final victory!"
"Are these his dying words?"
Shen Jingye nodded. "He never saw the victory he desired. In fact, they failed to achieve victory at all."
"Who was he?"
"Nelyashev, an early member of the Birch Hermitage and an eyewitness to the Second Puluo War."
Li Banfeng frowned. "What is the Second Puluo War?"
Shen Jingye froze, then hastily lowered his voice. "This is top secret. I thought you knew. Over in your parts, you might call it something else. Around here, we call that war from over forty years ago the Second Puluo War."
PS: Could there also be a First Puluo War?
Chapter 592