The drinker recognized the child as a neighbor's boy and asked curiously, "Who gave this to you?"
"An older brother. Don't know him." The boy turned and left the moment he finished speaking, his mouth bulging. He had only received three pieces of crisp candy as his reward, and he had no interest in lingering to chat with this man.
The drinker looked at the paper slip in his hand. It was barely two fingers wide, with only a single sentence written on it:
"Isn't it time to return my turtle pearl?"
Looking at this baffling message, the drinker was utterly bewildered.
He cast a suspicious glance down the alley, then stepped back into the courtyard and shut the gate.
His companion asked him, "Who was outside?"
"No idea. Someone had a kid deliver a note for Tong Wei."
The inner wing door creaked open, and someone strode out briskly. "Give it to me."
The man wore a cloth face veil, his voice somewhat hoarse.
He snatched the slip of paper from the drinker's hand, scanned it twice, and his brow twitched up.
The drinker asked him, "Is it really for you?"
"What's it to you?" The man hurried back inside and slammed the door shut with a bang.
From start to finish, he hadn't spared either of them a single glance.
The drinker started to say something, then thought better of it.
His companion tugged at his sleeve. "Drop it. It's not like his eccentric temper is anything new. Come on, sit down and drink."
Back inside his room, the eccentric inspected the paper slip again and again, even holding it up to the light twice to examine it. Only then did he pick up several bottles from the table, mixing together their powders and liquid concoctions to produce a pungent, pasty substance, which he smeared across the slip.
Before long, several characters surfaced on what had originally been a blank reverse side:
"Sister Chen's Fish Soup."
Among the row of street-side shops up ahead, there was a storefront with that very sign.
The man gave a soft scoff, sat down to think it over carefully, and only then pushed open the door and headed out.
***
As a neighborhood joint, the sign "Sister Chen's Fish Soup" was straight to the point—customers knew its signature offering the second they looked at it.
The shop was small, with room for only three small tables inside, though two more could spill out into the street.
Diners had nothing more than folding stools to sit on and had to hunch over to eat—precisely the posture He Lingchuan was maintaining.
Just as three steaming dishes and a bowl of soup were brought to the table, the person he was waiting for walked in.
He Lingchuan had thoughtfully chosen the innermost table. The newcomer sat with his back to the street, casually pulled off his face veil, and revealed the lower half of his face, warped and melted like wax.
Dong Rui.
The moment He Lingchuan laid eyes on that face, he propped his forehead in his hand.
"Give me a moment to brace myself."
Truly an appetite killer.
Dong Rui said coldly, "If you don't want to look, you can get lost."
"It's been a while; I need to readjust." He Lingchuan ladled a bowl of fish soup for him himself. "Come, here's to the good times in the swamp—drain this bowl."
The crucian carp soup was milky white, rich and fragrant.
For Sister Chen to make this fish soup her signature, she clearly had real culinary skill.
Dong Rui took it and meant to tilt his head back and gulp it down, but the moment he lowered his mouth, it nearly scalded the skin off his lips. He came close to spitting the mouthful back out.
He managed to swallow it with great difficulty, switching to cautious, slow sips for the rest.
His mouth burned as if it were about to burst.
Meanwhile, He Lingchuan had poured himself a cup of wine, taken a sip, and let out a contented sigh. "Ah..."
Damn it all.
Dong Rui stared at him in silence, rediscovering that familiar sensation of his blood pressure soaring through the roof.
Good times in the swamp? Those memories were unbearable to look back upon!
He muttered gloomily, "What did you track me down for?"
"We still have business to take care of in Lingxu City, did you forget?" He Lingchuan reminded him. "Erniang?"
Back then, both he and Dong Rui had taken on the task from Zhu Erniang to locate her demon immortal shed husk in Lingxu City.
When Dong Rui left the Demon Nest Swamp, he gave He Lingchuan his address and alias in Lingxu City before taking his leave first.
True to his fine tradition of keeping his word, He Lingchuan began looking up his former companion as soon as he reached Lingxu City to talk over a plan. However, when he arrived outside Dong Rui's door, he discovered Dong Rui was not alone.
For safety's sake, He Lingchuan had arranged to meet him outside.
That little trick with the paper slip was something Dong Rui had worn to death back in the Demon Nest Swamp.
"I remember." Dong Rui picked up a piece of duck offal with his chopsticks. "I gave her my word too, but I'm tied up with something right now and can't get away. Wait a few more days."
Besides fish soup, Sister Chen's shop excelled at stir-frying all kinds of chicken, duck, and pork offal. Innards were the cheapest cut; thoroughly cleaned, tossed in hot oil, and seasoned, they came out intensely savory and fragrant—the absolute best companion for wine.
Best of all, it was inexpensive.
Indeed, it was tucked away in these back alleys where ordinary folk could find homestyle food they could actually afford.
He Lingchuan asked him, "What kind of terms did Zhu Erniang actually offer you to make you willing to run errands for her here?"
The Beijia Empire was a behemoth, and Lingxu City lay right under the noses of the gods. Not to mention Dong Rui's bounty had finally been rescinded with great difficulty, granting him hard-won freedom. How high a price had Zhu Erniang offered to convince Dong Rui to come make trouble in Lingxu City?
Granted, under Zhu Erniang's coercion back then, both of them had agreed to retrieve the shed husk for her. But were people who went back on their word rare in this world?
Before getting down to business, He Lingchuan needed to make sure Dong Rui hadn't backed out or turned traitor.
Otherwise, there would be no need for further contact between them, and he would have to seek help elsewhere.
Dong Rui had learned his lesson; this time, he blew on the fish soup to cool it down before drinking. "No matter how big or small, strong or weak, all the demon puppets I create share a flaw that can never be eliminated: their lifespans are too short. At most, a dozen or so years; at least, barely three to five months.
"Divine blood simply isn't something demons of today can fully handle after all. The ghost ape counts as my most successful creation, but every few months its blood poison flares in reverse, plunging it into agony. By now, it's nearing its limit too. The power of divine blood itself is a crushing burden—that is something I cannot help them with."
So that was it. "If a demon puppet breaks, you can always build a new one." Otherwise, why call them "puppets"?
"You're truly cold-blooded!" Dong Rui glared at him. "Demon puppets are far more lovable than most people in this world! How could you suggest discarding them so casually?"
He Lingchuan rubbed his nose. "Come on, eat up!"
"Every demon puppet is one of a kind, vastly more precious than common, dime-a-dozen humans!" Dong Rui never missed a chance to put humanity down. "Zhu Erniang said she could help me solve this problem."
"What way could she have?"
"Her shed husk still contains several egg sacs, which hold the condensed essence of ancient demon origin. They can help me neutralize the side effects of divine blood. That way, the lifespans of my demon puppets can be extended several times over at least, and they can suffer far less torment on ordinary days."
He Lingchuan understood. Ancient greater demons were the main force that opposed the celestial gods; a spider immortal from that era possessed immense power, so counteracting a bit of divine blood would naturally be well within reach.
To someone like Dong Rui who prized research above life itself, the allure of the spider demon's shed husk was irresistible.
Having confirmed this, He Lingchuan felt rather gratified.
"So, has the snail-toad's injury not healed yet?"
The moment He Lingchuan said those words, Dong Rui's mouth froze. The look he cast over was filled with sheer horror.
"How do you..."
His second reaction was to check on the proprietor, only to find Sister Chen, finished with her cooking, had already stepped outside to drink with regular patrons.
Inside the shop, they were the only customers left, and they were speaking in mere murmurs.
"How do I know?" He Lingchuan leisurely picked up a slice of pork kidney with his chopsticks; it was glistening with oil and scored with diamond cuts. "I injured it—wait, no, I blew it up. Of course I know."
Dong Rui stared at him for a long time before finding his voice again:
"Can't you just leave my demon puppets alone?!"
Practically every demon puppet he had lost was tied to this bastard. Every single one!
How had even the snail-toad failed to escape this damned curse?
"I had no idea you created it either," He Lingchuan sighed. "Only when I saw what it truly was did I recall what you told me back in the swamp—that you had made a demon puppet for someone as the price for escaping Beijia."
Dong Rui cried in grief and indignation, "Why did you have to attack it?!"
"The demon puppet you made was carrying 'Snail Dwelling,' a treasure stolen from the Azure Palace over a decade ago—yes, that thick snail shell on its back—and committing crimes all over the Chiyan Kingdom! As luck would have it, the Chiyan Crown Prince asked me to investigate the cases and hunt down the culprit." He Lingchuan spread his hands. "You tell me, how could I not beat it up?"
Investigating? He Lingchuan was the investigator?
Dong Rui abruptly rose to his feet.
Yet He Lingchuan beat him to the punch, pressing a hand down onto his shoulder. "Calm down!"
The force behind this press was so immense that Dong Rui couldn't budge an inch.
He tried to swat He Lingchuan's wrist away, but He Lingchuan had already pulled back his arm and tapped him under the ribs like lightning. "Stop making a fuss. I'm not here to cause you trouble!"
Half of Dong Rui's body went numb, and his breath nearly hitched. He knew the boy had temporarily blocked his vital energy and blood flow, even if only for a brief instant.
This punk's cultivation seemed to have advanced yet again! Dammit!
He Lingchuan said briskly, "The case has already been handed over to others to investigate. What happens next has nothing to do with me, and I won't sell you out."
Dong Rui was half-convinced and half-suspicious. "Who took over?"
"The Heavenly Palace."
Dong Rui's face blanched instantly, his voice turning even raspier. "How could it be the Heavenly Palace?"
He Lingchuan countered, "Do you know what the snail-toad actually did?"
Dong Rui shook his head. "As soon as I arrived in Lingxu, I took over treating the snail-toad. Its wounds were severe and had been neglected for too long! It took every ounce of strength I had just to stabilize it and see some improvement, and even now it requires regular care."
He paused. "Before you showed up, I'd only stepped out of the house a handful of times."
He Lingchuan sometimes forgot how much of a shut-in this fellow was. "The snail-toad isn't here?"
"Of course not. This place is too small, and the environment isn't right." The house was so cramped that speaking loudly would let neighbors overhear; it was no place to keep a monster, considering a toad's croaking was loud after all. Moreover, the snail-toad was an amphibian, best suited to a muddy, damp environment.
"What about those two in your courtyard? Where are they from?"
"Sent by the snail-toad's master. Ostensibly to assist me, but in reality they're useless as shit—all they can do is run errands and buy supplies for me."
He Lingchuan asked again, "Is the snail-toad's master named Mai Xuewen?"
Dong Rui blinked. "His surname is indeed Mai. Tall and thin, looks refined and scholarly, but his eyes are dark and gloomy."
That matched Mai Xuewen's appearance perfectly. He Lingchuan mused, "Back then, was he the one who helped you flee Beijia?"
Dong Rui gave him a wary look, vigilance rising. "Didn't you say you're not investigating anymore?"
He Lingchuan smiled. "I'm not investigating for the authorities, but I need to know where things stand." In his current situation, every extra bit of information meant an extra shred of leverage.
Chapter 553