Chapter 1848 - Night Raid
The words "Political Security Bureau" had barely taken root in the minds of Li Ziyu and Gao Chongjiu when a commanding voice rang out.
"Attention!"
With a crisp rustle, every man in black snapped to attention—hands dropping to their sides, heels clicking together. The movement was perfectly synchronized, as if performed by a single person. A hush fell over the entire parade ground.
Several figures hurried through the moon gate. From their silhouettes, Li Ziyu could make out one who was likely Director Mu; as for the others, he couldn't identify them. One tall, burly figure appeared to be a Daoist priest—what was his role here?
There was a raised platform on the parade ground, used for outdoor assemblies. The group ascended together. Darkness had fully descended, and the two torch cages normally used for nighttime illumination remained unlit, so their faces were indistinguishable.
In a voice just loud enough for everyone to hear, Mu Min briefly explained the mission: the arrest operation would be conducted near Liuhua Bridge outside the Great North Gate. The operation would commence at dawn. All personnel would deploy to the arrest location in batches under cover of darkness, awaiting a unified command before moving.
She announced several disciplinary measures and elaborated on key points of attention, then ordered everyone to collect their equipment.
Goodness, they're even issuing gear just to arrest someone? Li Ziyu thought.
Different groups received different items. Since the police weren't handling the main arrest, they received only standard-issue equipment plus thick cloth gaiters and gloves, with repeated reminders to wear them properly.
After every group had collected and donned their gear, Mu Min sent inspectors to check each person's equipment. Then she commanded in a low voice, "Move out!"
Near Liuhua Bridge lay a large burial garden belonging to a wealthy family. The property was extensive: on one side rose an earthen mound; on the other, a pond. Below the sunlit slope of the hill stood the graves. The owners had built three chambers by the pond for sacrificial rites and several more for the caretakers who tended the tombs.
Later, when the family fell into decline, the burial garden had become a public mortuary for storing coffins. The buildings had collapsed and crumbled, and the grounds were overgrown—nothing like their former state. Surrounded on all sides by charity graveyards and wasteland dotted with tombs, and close to the cremation grounds at Liuhua Bridge, the place was deserted save for a few beggars who slept in the mortuary and served as informal watchmen.
At this moment, in a secret room behind the three main halls where coffins were stored, Gao Tianshi was conferring with the sorcerer Wu Zhiqi. Unlike in previous days, Gao Tianshi's tone carried an edge of hostility.
"Master Wu, does your magic still work or not? Word from higher up says the Australian prefect is still alive and kicking. What's more, he's so furious about the ghost business that he may move against the Guandi Temple forces any day now! When it comes down to it, you'll just pack up and leave—but my entire family is here in Guangzhou!"
Ever since Wu Zhiqi had moved here, Gao Tianshi had not only posted men around the perimeter for protection but had provided for the old sorcerer's every need. Despite his appearance as a poor wandering Daoist, Wu Zhiqi's lifestyle was nothing short of extravagant: he demanded exquisite food and drink, and required Gao Tianshi to supply women for his alchemical furnace practices, demanding a new one every three to five days.
Keeping this secret while continuously supplying women was extremely difficult. Though Gao Tianshi had profited handsomely from the arrangement, the constant anxiety was wearing. From time to time the supply would fall short, provoking fits of rage from the old Daoist.
"Heh heh... heh heh... heh heh heh heh..." The old man let out a string of cold laughs before finally speaking. "Your entire family? Master Gao, do you really think I don't know? That Yangzhou concubine of yours has probably long since taken your bastard son back to her old home—and I'd wager she didn't leave empty-handed."
Gao Tianshi drew in a sharp breath. His kept woman was a closely guarded secret; he rarely visited her and had concealed her from everyone—even his own principal wife. How did this old man know?
Forcing bravado, he said, "One thing is one thing. Who among us doesn't keep a fallback? If not for the money, why would I pick a fight with the Australians? We're all living on borrowed time. All I want is to keep the Gao family line from dying out! But let me make one thing clear: if I can't escape, don't blame me for revealing everything!"
"Heh. Escape?" The old man laughed coldly again. "You probably realize that even if others can get away, you're certainly doomed. Your Guandi Temple faction has lorded it over this place for years; every official and gentleman in the city has had to give you face, fearing your men would make trouble for them. But the moment the Australians move to arrest you, you'll be a stray dog with nowhere to hide."
"You think I'm afraid of them?" Gao Tianshi raged. "At worst, we'll all go down together! The Guandi Temple faction has tens of thousands of brothers. Push us too far, and though we may die, we'll smash Guangzhou to smithereens!"
"Master Gao, save those brave words for your brothers." Wu Zhiqi said. "We're still in the same boat for now. Even sworn enemies from Wu and Yue learned to cooperate when sharing a vessel—and you want to jump ship already? Too late! This poor Daoist is a man of the Way; had I wanted to flee, I'd have vanished long ago. You're the one with a family here..."
These words deflated Gao Tianshi completely. He slumped back in his chair.
Wu Zhiqi cast a contemptuous glance at him and stared at the dim oil lamp, sighing faintly. "Our scheme has failed! The Australians have capable people too... My curse has been broken! And when I sent my spirit-demon to assassinate Liu Xiang, it never returned—I fear it has been captured!"
"Spirit-demon?" Gao Tianshi sucked in his breath. He had seen the thing—neither human nor ghost, it came and went without a trace and killed without leaving a mark. The old man treasured it like his own life.
To think that even so formidable a creature had fallen to the Australians!
"Then—then what do we do now?!" Gao Tianshi's bluster crumbled, and his tone shifted involuntarily to supplication.
"Keep calm for now. Guard my ritual for a few more days while I complete the fortune-turning ceremony; then I shall take my leave of this troubled place. As for you—since you can't bear to part with your Guangzhou turf, you'll have to look after yourself." With that, Wu Zhiqi seated himself cross-legged on his cushion, closed his eyes to meditate, and paid Gao Tianshi no further heed.
Gao Tianshi's face went ashen. Only now did he realize that once aboard a pirate ship, there was no getting off. He sensed his end was near! Yet he knew that however long he lingered here, he would glean no new ideas. Whether from this Wu sorcerer or the shadowy "Stone Old Man," he had been discarded as a pawn.
He staggered out. Outside the mortuary, in the pitch-black wasteland, ghost fires flickered. The cold wind sobered him somewhat, and for an instant he entertained the thought of informing on Wu Zhiqi to the Australians.
But he quickly dismissed the notion. Leaving aside how terrifying this half-human, half-demon sorcerer was—even without magic, his own deeds were enough to ensure that if he fell into Australian hands, he would be carved into a thousand pieces.
Wu Zhiqi watched him stumble off and gave a cold smile. He retrieved the bamboo walking stick propped against the table corner and replaced its stopper. Glancing out the window, he noted the tower clock had struck the third watch—past midnight. It was the darkest hour of the night: a moonless, starless evening, the blackness outside thicker than ever. Suddenly his expression changed. He made finger signs and muttered incantations, his face shifting between light and shadow. After a long hesitation, he produced a packet of powder from his robes and scattered it among the grass, bent to make some arrangement, and finally hung a yellow gourd from the doorframe before retreating inside.
The arrest team had left the city in several groups during the night and was now secretly waiting at designated locations outside the Great North Gate for the final word from the scouts. Because the area had few residences and was the Guandi Temple faction's territory, strangers were extremely conspicuous. Although they knew the sorcerer they sought was inside the burial grounds, conventional methods of deploying plainclothes surveillance were out of the question. They had no choice but to call in the Special Reconnaissance Squad, which dispatched several observation teams to infiltrate under cover of darkness and relay real-time reports via radio.
"Target confirmed inside the burial grounds."
A communications runner jogged into a guardhouse inside the Great North Gate's outer settlement and delivered the latest intelligence to Mu Min and her waiting comrades.
"Good—we move immediately!" Mu Min waved her hand.
Cui Hantang was meanwhile struggling against a muddy dirt track. The terrain outside the Great North Gate was hilly; aside from the main road stretching north from the gate, there were no proper paths—only narrow, miry trails. For a man weighed down by over twenty jin of chainmail and a heap of gear, stumbling through the darkness was anything but pleasant.
Besides the armor, he carried a jumbled assortment of props. Because the operation was dangerous, he had left his apprentice and Xiao Qian behind, leaving him to haul everything himself.
Fortunately, his physique was robust, and he managed to soldier on.
Once outside the city, he completely lost his bearings—he couldn't make out anything in the darkness. It wasn't that he was night-blind; rather, Lingao's nighttime lighting was far too advanced for this era, and having lived there too long, he was utterly unaccustomed to the inky blackness of a seventeenth-century night.
Cui Hantang felt as if he had been transported back to the days shortly after D-Day, standing night watch in the watchtowers of Bairren City—the fortress blazing with light, but beyond its walls an endless, oceanic darkness.
Now he was plunged into that darkness again. The only way he could vaguely make out the direction was by following the luminescent strip on the back of the local police guiding them.
He plodded along, the hem of his Daoist robe thoroughly soaked with dew and clinging to his legs, tripping him with every step. Had his martial-arts training not given him a solid stance, he would surely have taken a few spills. Yet despite inwardly cursing this wretched Ming-era counterpart for hiding in such a godforsaken place, he strode at the head of the column.
Desolate graves, ruined coffins, and bleached bones appeared intermittently. Ghost fires flickered all around. In the dead silence, the mournful barking of dogs and the eerie shriek of night owls drifted near and far, raising goosebumps. Cui Hantang muttered under his breath: What the hell kind of place is this!
(End of Chapter)