In the rainy night, Chen Ji tore off the heavy straw raincoat he was wearing, leaving only a bamboo hat as he sprinted through the downpour.
He glanced down and saw a wound, half the depth of his little fingernail, stretching from his collarbone to his chest.
The wound was still bleeding, mixing with the rain and soaking his clothes.
Chen Ji could almost feel his life slipping away with every drop of blood.
"Such bad luck," he muttered.
His original plan had been to take a shallow cut, using a bit of self-inflicted pain to stage an escape.
But he wasn’t a seasoned cultivator, and his lack of control over his body had led to a deeper wound than intended.
The pain was searing, and even the cold rain couldn’t dull the burning sensation.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on the injury.
Chen Ji tore off a strip of his clothing to bandage the wound and shouted over his shoulder, "Hurry up! If we don’t catch that defector, neither of us will be able to face the wrath of the Si Cao!"
The Jing Dynasty spy behind him was silent.
The two of them dashed through the rain, leaving the Red Lantern Alley further and further behind.
After running for a while, the spy finally gasped, "Sir, sir, stop running! You need to tell me what’s going on!"
Chen Ji ducked into a narrow alley, making sure no one was around before speaking in a low, serious tone.
"The Chaosang Gambling House is a trap. The Secret Intelligence Bureau never caught anyone. The Golden Pig is spreading rumors that they’ve captured someone to lure you all in."
The spy looked skeptical.
"But we received intelligence..."
"That mole you’re talking about? The Golden Pig figured out his identity long ago. He deliberately fed you false information!"
The spy still couldn’t believe it.
He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and took a step closer to Chen Ji.
"Sir, is there anything else that can prove your identity?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment before replying, "The Hundred Deer Pavilion. Is that enough? Last night, you received a shipment at the ‘Golden Workshop’ in Red Lantern Alley, didn’t you? The code word was ‘Luo Tian’!"
The spy didn’t know about the Hundred Deer Pavilion, so the first part of Chen Ji’s statement went over his head.
But he had indeed been part of the operation to receive the shipment the previous night.
The spy knew that if Chen Ji was truly from the Ning Dynasty’s Secret Intelligence Bureau, they would have been surrounded and wiped out last night.
Therefore, Chen Ji couldn’t be from the Ning Dynasty.
He had to be a mole from their own Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Bureau.
The spy looked at Chen Ji with newfound respect.
"Brother, you’ve had it rough. Being a mole isn’t easy. I even accidentally wounded you earlier."
Chen Ji waved his hand dismissively.
"We’re all serving the Jing Dynasty. You didn’t know my identity earlier, so I don’t blame you."
The spy asked, "What do we do now?"
Chen Ji replied, "I already know where the defector is. Follow me, and we’ll capture him."
But the spy hesitated for a moment before firmly saying, "No, the Si Cao is still surrounding the gambling house. I need to go warn them that it’s a trap. Tell me where the defector is, and after I report to the Si Cao, I’ll bring reinforcements to meet you... Wait!"
In the next second, Chen Ji suddenly lunged at the spy.
The spy, startled, tried to raise his sword to defend himself, but Chen Ji’s fist struck like lightning, hitting the back of his hand.
The sword clattered to the ground.
"You?!" The spy’s pupils contracted as the two of them grappled, fists flying.
But Chen Ji, who had seemed so weak in the gambling house, now moved with incredible speed.
The spy couldn’t keep up.
Every time they threw a punch, Chen Ji’s fist would land on the spy’s face before his own could even reach halfway.
The spy finally realized that Chen Ji had been acting all along in the gambling house.
In a flash, Chen Ji ducked low and drove his shoulder and elbow into the spy’s chest.
The spy was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall of the alley.
Already injured from a fall earlier, the spy couldn’t catch his breath and slowly collapsed to his knees.
Chen Ji approached cautiously.
The spy, summoning his last bit of strength, pulled a dagger from his boot and thrust it at Chen Ji.
But Chen Ji kicked the dagger away, grabbed the sheath from the spy’s waist, and looped it around the spy’s neck from behind, tightening it with all his strength.
The two of them fell backward onto the wet stone pavement, lying side by side as they looked up at the rain falling from the sky into the narrow alley.
It was as if they were lying in a small courtyard, their view limited to a tiny patch of the world.
Chen Ji tightened his grip, and the sheath crushed the spy’s windpipe, cutting off his air supply.
The spy died without understanding why a Ning Dynasty spy knew so much about their Military Intelligence Bureau.
After a moment, Chen Ji weakly got to his feet and hid the spy’s body in a pile of debris in the alley.
He stood in the rain for a moment before picking up the spy’s sword and walking out of the alley.
He didn’t have much time tonight.
...
Anxi Street was lined with shops, some closing due to poor business and new ones opening in their place.
Half a month ago, a fabric shop had gone out of business, and the storefront still hadn’t been rented out.
Chen Ji slowly climbed onto the roof next to the fabric shop, crouching low as he carefully made his way along the ridge, observing the backyard of the shop.
After a night of twists and turns, all of this was just to protect himself and ensure his identity wasn’t exposed.
Now, his target was right in front of him.
Chen Ji whispered to the black cat beside him, "Are you sure it’s here?"
The black cat, named Wuyun, nodded and meowed.
"The tabby cat I asked said it used to live here with its gang, but they were driven out by that guy and had to run into the streets to avoid the rain."
Chen Ji looked puzzled.
"How did you convince the tabby cat to tell you? I heard it has a bad temper."
Wuyun lifted its head and waved its paw.
"I beat it up! But I promised to help it in its next fight with the cats from Anton Street."
Chen Ji: "..."
Even the cat world has complicated social dynamics?
Wuyun looked at Chen Ji with concern.
"You look terrible. Is your wound okay?"
"It’s bad," Chen Ji admitted.
"But there are more important things to deal with right now. Let’s go and finish this."
He grabbed the edge of the roof and dropped lightly into the backyard of the fabric shop, crouching like a cat as he surveyed the surroundings.
The main door of the house was wide open, and a bloody handprint was smeared on the doorframe.
Chen Ji pointed to the window, and he and Wuyun split up, approaching the house from different directions.
The rain pattered on the gray tile roof, creating a soothing rhythm.
If not for the life-and-death struggle, it would have been a perfect night to curl up under a blanket and sleep.
Chen Ji, holding the sword upside down, reached the doorway of the main house...
There was no ambush inside.
In the dim light, a disheveled figure lay on the floor, breathing weakly.
The ground was covered in blood, and the man had at least a dozen wounds on his body.
As Chen Ji approached, the man suddenly flipped over, a dagger in his hand slashing toward Chen Ji’s neck like a venomous snake!
Chen Ji raised his sword to block the dagger, but the man’s attacks were relentless, each strike more vicious than the last.
This man wasn’t a trained official, but his killing intent far surpassed any spy or mole Chen Ji had ever encountered.
Chen Ji was forced to retreat step by step, waiting for Wuyun to attack from behind.
The two of them, one chasing and the other fleeing, reached the doorway of the house.
But when the defector caught a glimpse of Chen Ji’s face under the bamboo hat in the light from outside, he gasped and immediately withdrew the dagger.
Chen Ji was stunned as the man collapsed to the ground, completely defenseless, and said weakly, as if on the verge of death, "Chen Ji, your uncle has lost in the political struggle in the Jing Dynasty. Someone is secretly eliminating all his allies. The Si Cao is under Lu Guanwu’s control, and they’ve already started moving. You need to be careful too!"
After saying this, the man seemed to have used up all his strength and lay back down.
Chen Ji: "..."
He had expected a fight when he entered the house, or perhaps that the man would already be dead from his injuries.
He had come to silence the man, but the story that unfolded was completely beyond his expectations.
No wonder the man hadn’t fled to the outskirts of the city or to a crowded, chaotic area.
Instead, he had come to Anxi Street, as if seeking death, just to deliver this message to Chen Ji...
But was the man telling the truth, or was it just a desperate lie to survive? Chen Ji couldn’t be sure.
He looked at the injured man, who appeared to be around twenty-seven years old, pale and breathing weakly.
His clothes were simple, like those of a common laborer or sedan carrier.
Chen Ji, feeling dizzy from blood loss, leaned on his sword by the doorframe and asked calmly, "How did you end up like this? Why is the Si Cao sending people to kill you?"
The injured man laughed bitterly.
"I was sent to the Ning Dynasty by your uncle. Of course, the Si Cao wants to kill me first. But those lackeys they sent were no match for me."
He struggled to raise his hand and held up five fingers.
"I killed five of them. Five tried to kill me, and none succeeded. Impressive, right?"
Chen Ji remained unmoved.
"How can I trust you?"
The man was silent for a moment before gasping out a laugh.
"Good. All these years, I’ve taught you not to trust anyone, and you’ve finally learned."
Chen Ji was silent.
This man had been his mentor when he first joined the Military Intelligence Bureau? If the clues were correct, this man had been sent to the Ning Dynasty by Chen Ji’s uncle to guide him into the bureau.
But Chen Ji wasn’t the same person he used to be.
He couldn’t even remember the man’s name, and he couldn’t bring himself to trust what the man was saying.
He had never even met his so-called uncle.
Moreover, there were too many inconsistencies in the man’s story.
If the Si Cao really wanted to kill him, why hadn’t they done so earlier at the Taiping Clinic? Unless, as Chen Ji had suspected earlier, the Si Cao wasn’t a single person but multiple individuals playing the role.
Maybe some wanted him dead, while others didn’t?
Too many uncertainties.
Chen Ji felt like his mind was a muddy mess.
Chen Ji asked, "You’re about to die. Why go through all this trouble to warn me?"
The man was clearly taken aback.
He slowly turned to look at Chen Ji, disbelief in his eyes.
"We’ve been partners for years, brothers. Do I really need to explain? What do you take me for, Wu Hongbiao?!"
Chen Ji: "..."
He had no idea how to respond.
He didn’t even know what kind of relationship he had shared with this Wu Hongbiao in the past.
Wu Hongbiao spoke slowly, "I probably won’t make it back to the Jing Dynasty. Can I ask you for a favor?"
Chen Ji said calmly, "Go on."
"I’ve mentioned my younger sister to you before. She’s still in the Jing Dynasty. If you ever get the chance to go back, please beg your uncle to save her. Even though he’s out of power, he can still manage something like this. Will you do it?"
Chen Ji remained silent.
He couldn’t promise.
Seeing his lack of response, Wu Hongbiao became agitated, his wounds flaring up as he struggled to breathe.
After a long pause, he glared at Chen Ji.
"Chen Ji, you’ve changed! I used to joke about setting you two up when we got back to the Jing Dynasty. Chen Ji, I’m begging you. After I defected, the Military Intelligence Bureau won’t spare her. If your uncle doesn’t save her, her life is over."
Chen Ji still didn’t answer.
He lifted his sword and slowly walked over to Wu Hongbiao, pressing the blade against the man’s neck.
Wu Hongbiao’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at Chen Ji.
In the dimly lit room, Chen Ji’s expression was hidden under the shadow of his bamboo hat.
Outside, the rain had stopped, and the world was silent.
It was as if even fate was waiting for him to make a choice—whether to kill a man who might have risked his life to warn him, but who might also expose him.
In the end, Chen Ji sheathed his sword and walked out of the house.
He stood in the courtyard, took a deep breath, and said softly, "Wuyun, keep an eye on him."
(End of Chapter)