Chapter 224: Slithering in the Night

~~~

“What have you learned tonight?”

Liu Jin asks the question to the four men kneeling before him: Lei Kong, Ten Zichun, Rust, and Nail. Liu Jin did not ask them to kneel, but Lei Kong has been teaching them unnecessary things.

“Unfortunately, I do not have much to share, my lord,” Lei Kong replies. “Flaring my aura like I did was a mistake. The people in the mansion were too scared to talk to me. All I could do was take a walk around the city. It is a cesspool, my lord. The wealth is nearly all concentrated in the areas closest to my cousin’s mansion, and even those places are dens of iniquity.”

“My experience was similar to Brother Lei’s,” Ten Zichun says. “The servants would not approach me, so I went out drinking with some of the soldiers stationed there. They brag a lot, but it is obvious they haven’t seen any combat in a while. However, there was someone at the bar who claimed to have encountered the Brotherhood of Thunder.”

Liu Jin leans forward. “Oh?”

“He was escorting one of the City Lord’s caravans when the Brotherhood attacked. He claims to have fought a hundred men on his own before he was cowardly attacked from behind. According to the others at the bar, it was fifty the last time he told the story. Reading between the lines, they were ambushed, and he is only alive because he ran away.”

“Did he tell you what goods the bandits stole?”

Ten shakes his head. “No, he didn’t mention it. I bought him some drinks to loosen his lips, but even then, he proved evasive.”

“A pity,” Liu Jin says, rubbing his chin. “Still, the Brotherhood of Thunder must have fighters of some merit. Well, relative to the City Lord’s soldiers. I wonder. If they are consistently hitting the City Lord’s caravans, does that mean they have some way of getting information? Or is the City Lord just that incompetent?”

“It could be both, my lord,” Lei Kong says.

“It very well could be,” Liu Jin says before turning to the two people who had yet to speak. “What about you?”

Rust and Nail flinch.

“M-my lord, forgive us, but we have no stories to share,” Nail says, bowing his head even lower. He is trembling like a leaf. “We are just servants who are barely in the Inner Realm. There is no one who would pay attention to us.”

“Naturally,” Liu Jin says. “That is why I asked you to do this.”

Rust and Nail stare blankly at him, trying to reconcile the gentleness of Liu Jin’s voice with the content of his words.

“I did not tell you to talk to soldiers. I did not order you to sneak around the city. I just told you to watch and talk to your fellow servants,” Liu Jin says. “Did you do that?”

“Well, yes-”

“Great,” Liu Jin says, smiling.

As Rust and Nail still stare at him in confusion, Liu Jin resists the urge to sigh. Even if it is his fault for not fully explaining, he really wishes people could more easily understand his intentions.

Communication is hard.

“How did the other servants seem to you?” Liu Jin asks them, making sure to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible. “Did they look well-fed? Were they dressed well? Did they seem happy about their position? Think carefully before answering.”

“They… looked well? I mean…” Nail clears his throat. “They looked well, my lord. No one looked like they were starving or nothing. I didn’t see any holes in their clothes.”

“I didn’t see any holes either, my lord,” Rust adds.

“Right, no holes,” Nail says, nodding his head eagerly. “As for whether they were happy or not…”

“The old man at the stables said it was much better than being stuck in the outskirts,” Rust says, helping out his fellow servant.

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow. “The outskirts?”

“It’s what they call most of the city, my lord,” Rust nervously explains. “Everything that’s not the City Lord’s house or all the bright places around it.”

Liu Jin had assumed as much from the name, but it’s still sad to hear it confirmed. That would mean that, as far as the people are concerned, most of the city is “the outskirts.”

Absolutely miserable.

“There was a girl crying,” Nail says. “I went to the kitchens. I wanted to see if I could get something to eat when she came in. She said the City Lord requested more food and drinks.”

He frowns.

“She was bruised. The people there… they didn’t exactly say it, but from how they talked about it, it doesn’t seem like it was the first time something like that happened. The head cook told her to rest, that the City Lord wouldn’t notice if it wasn’t her who came back.”

“I am not surprised,” Liu Jin says, thinking back to the servant the City Lord had mistreated. Nail must have seen her after the City Lord sent her away. “Still, it is always better to know for sure. Now, do you understand why it was important that you do this?”

Predictably, Rust and Nail do not answer. They fear angering him by giving him the wrong answer.

“Do you think the servants would have talked so freely in front of me? In front of them?” He asks, jerking his head at Lei Kong and Ten. “Of course not. They would have been too busy bowing and wouldn’t have dared to say anything bad about the City Lord in front of us. However, it was different with you. They saw you as peers and spoke freely in front of you. You have done a great job.”

“I… thank you, my lord,” Nail says, a little overwhelmed. Rust follows suit. “I have no words.”

“No words are needed. You are free to go. Rest,” he tells them. “You’ll need it.”

Lei Kong waits until the two are gone before speaking.

“That was kind of you, my lord, but we already knew my cousin was a horrible person.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I was not being kind,” Liu Jin says. “The information they learned was valuable in its own way. The more complete a picture is, the better. I am just missing some pieces. Hopefully, I’ll receive another one before the night is over.”

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Ten’s face scrunches into a frown. “Senior Brother Qing, what exactly does that mean?”

Liu Jin’s eyes flash. “Ah, there it is. Sorry. Please, give me a moment to sort this.”

Before he can hear their answers, the rush of memories is already playing out before his eyes.

~~~

Quan takes a deep breath as he jumps down the walls of Rainstorm City. A couple of weeks ago, the fall would have winded him. Now, it’s barely a strain. It’s amazing what one level of cultivation can do.

His landing is not as quiet as he’d like, but that doesn’t matter. He’s far away from the camp. He can get away with making some noise. All Quan needs to do now is sneak back into the camp, but that shouldn’t be any trouble. Most people are already asleep, and their commander is too busy ignoring them and talking to his closest advisors in his tent. Bah!

The only good thing that boy has done is make him a Five-Man Commander. Even if someone were to catch him now, Quan could get away with saying he’d been out for a walk. That much should be allowed to him. The men under his command won’t question him if they know what’s good for them.

“Idiots,” he says, chuckling darkly under his breath.

“Really? I only see one.”

Violence is Quan’s first instinct. It has been that way since he was but a small child. He turns around and lashes out with his fist.

There is no one behind him.

“What?” He asks, confused and looking around widely. He turns and turns, but there is no one around.

Then he feels them,