The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 397 - 332, Demon Path Positioning

In the alleyway ahead, the returning crowd from Lihua Hall somehow hadn't brought back any new spies.

Facing Zhao Douan's questioning, the Thousand Faces God shivered and knelt submissively, "We didn't find anyone. They must have gone out."

Where could they have gone at this late hour? Zhao Douan furrowed his brow.

Qian Kerou suddenly said, "Sir, is it possible that a demon from the Demon Path took them away? Like the middle-aged man codenamed Ballast Stone you encountered during the day."

This conjecture changed the expressions on everyone's faces.

If the guess was true, what was the purpose of the Demon Path State Preceptor moving the rebels?

Was it to gather information? To hold a meeting?

Or...

to strike again?

With his rich experience and once being a gold-medal Jinyi of the Imperial Court thirty years ago, Zheng Laojiu used the moonlight to sort through the piles of papers in his hands.

On the papers were recorded the clues of personnel that they had extracted from the prisoners they had arrested that night.

Zheng Laojiu was connecting these clues on the paper, weaving them into a web of personal connections.

He was trying to reconstruct the network of the Capital rebels' sub-branch.

In his past life, Zhao Douan had heard about a six-degree separation theory, which claims you are no more than six acquaintances away from any stranger...

Although the spy network under Zhuang Xiaocheng's design was highly compartmentalized, these people were invariably connected to one another.

And Zhuang Xiaocheng's design of the spy network, in Zhao Douan's view, was still somewhat rough.

Therefore, although not everyone had been arrested, the web of connections on the paper was almost entirely constructed.

"Sir, something's not right,"

Zheng Laojiu stepped forward, presenting the web-filled paper in his hands. He spoke with grave seriousness:

"Given what we have in hand now, though we haven't fully grasped it, we should have come across some trace of that demon. It doesn't make sense that after the rebel agent has been disposed of, there is absolutely no word spreading about it among the rebels...

Especially since we've interrogated so many people, no one is clear on the situation; most are unaware of Ballast Stone's death, and only those middle-ranking people who were in direct contact with him have noticed something amiss..."

Zhao Douan frowned at him, "Zheng, just speak your mind."

Zheng Laojiu said earnestly, "Sir, I suspect that this demon never joined the rebels in the first place, nor hid where the rebels are located."

As members close to Lihua Hall, they knew that the reason their lord had launched tonight's operation so suddenly and hurriedly was because of the appearance of the demon.

Zhao Douan's thought process was indeed as follows:

Since the demon had contact with 'Ballast Stone' and was apparently on the same side as Zhuang Xiaocheng, then there was a good chance he might be staying at a place arranged by the rebels.

At the very least, as long as they could capture the rebels who knew the situation, they could trace back to find where the demon was staying.

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And capture him.

However, as it grew late into the night and they had arrested so many people, they still hadn't learned the whereabouts of the demon.

This was enough to suggest that Zhao Douan's initial speculation might have been wrong.

"Sir, Zheng has a point. What if, after killing Ballast Stone, the demon just hid and never made contact with the other rebels? We acted too soon?" Hou Renmeng agreed.

Qian Kerou bit her lip, saying,

"Maybe we haven't arrested enough people. I suggest we keep arresting. We're bound to find a clue."

Gongshu Tianyuan, who had come out of the carriage, also appeared disappointed.

Although he had come mainly to help Brother Zhao today, as a disciple of the Heavenly Master Mansion, he also intended to slay demons and resolve the State Preceptor's threat

—Mr. Zhao never let anyone labor in vain, seeking Gongshu Tianyuan's help this time was also an implicit way of offering him a chance for merit.

But now, they seemed to have hit a dead end.

The crowd buzzed with discussion and for a moment, Zhao Douan hesitated, considering whether his previous guess was correct.

If the judgment was wrong, tonight's net-casting might just spook the quarry.

"There's another possibility."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind the crowd.

Zhao Douan turned his head and saw, within the carriage, a girl in prison garb wiping away her tears with her sleeve.

Yun Xi's eyes were rimmed with red as she knelt in the carriage, facing the gaze of many, her eyes cold, her tone exceptionally calm:

"The Capital branch of the Kuangfu Society is not only comprised of these people you have grasped. There exists another separate line completely cut off from the entire espionage network, handled only by the Branch Leader, or the 'Ballast Stone' as his deputy, contacting them individually.

If that demon you speak of killed Ballast Stone, he might have also learned about this separate line of intelligence... If I were him, I would obviously prefer to hide there, after all, nobody knows whether there is a traitor within the espionage network."

Zhao Douan paused, gazing at Yun Xi with a strange look:

"Do you know that secret line?"

After her faith had collapsed, Yun Xi seemed to have grown smarter, intuitively grasping his meaning, and said earnestly:

"Do you suspect, because Zhuang Xiaocheng abandoned me, that I'm not in control of much information?"

The girl shook her head, countering,

"First, I followed Zhuang Xiaocheng, and even though he kept many key pieces of information from me, I still had the opportunity, when he was not paying attention, to learn some. Don't misunderstand; it was purely out of curiosity."

"Second, his abandonment of me was because it's a thousand miles away, and to retrieve someone using a spell, bringing along an extra person would increase the mana expenditure by several fold. It doesn't mean that I have no value.

Hmph, do you really think Zhuang Xiaocheng would pick his disciples at random? I'm one of the best among the younger generation in the society."

At this moment, Yun Xi seemed to have undergone some sort of metamorphosis.

Or, one could say: she had turned to the dark side.

Her slightly plump face was filled with an indifferent coldness, and her eyes held a hint of madness that even Qing Niao unconsciously kept her distance from.

Zhao Douan was stunned for a moment before breaking into laughter.

He laughed heartily, like a demon tempting someone into decadence.

His original intention in bringing Yun Xi out today was to break her spirit, but he did not expect to achieve his goal with an added bonus.

"What makes me believe your words?" he asked.

Zhao Douan walked over, using his finger to lift the kneeling girl's chin, making her look up into his face as he loomed over her.

Their faces were close, eyes locking, and the girl did not shrink away, revealing an ageless sorrow and stillness within the depths of her pupils.

Yun Xi made no resistance. Calmly, she suggested, "You can call that fatso to use the fox fairy to interrogate me."

She laughed self-deprecatingly, "Either way, it's just death. I am already dead."

She poked her own bloated chest with her hand.

There is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart.

Not... How is this girl cursing people... Gongshu Tianyuan was displeased.

However, Zhao Douan's smile faded as he asked, "Where is that single thread of intel?"

"Ba Fang Theatre, the actor Wu Ling."

Yun Xi spoke evenly, "Most of the Kuangfu Society's spies in the Capital are ordinary people. Since they are inconspicuous, there are few experts. Wu Ling is the only one, a divine actor and a Divine Chapter Mage."

Zhao Douan stepped back twice, roughly shoved the girl into the carriage without any hesitation, and turned around to command:

"Split into two groups! Brother Gongshu, I'll trouble you to keep Thousand Faces under control and continue the roundup with the Jinyi Captains as planned. Ke Rou, you and the other detectives follow me, we're heading straight to Ba Fang Theatre!"

Ba Fang Theatre was some distance away, and the lead given by Yun Xi was only a reference, so he chose a more prudent approach.

Advancing with two teams would maximize the chances of success.

Gongshu Tianyuan hesitated before saying,

"Brother Zhao, it's fine on my side. With so many people, even if we encounter that Demon Path practitioner, I have the confidence to take them down. But on your side... Do you have enough hands? A Divine Chapter Mage, a deceiver with bizarre methods—if..."

Zhao Douan wanted to say he had enough people, but reconsidered due to the maxim that underestimating an enemy leads to defeat.

After a moment, he called over three Jinyi officers and gave them the addresses of Kong Hanlin and others for the night, instructing them to gather more people.

As a detective, he was well-informed about the Imperial Court's actions for the night, and knew Ma Yan would be patrolling three places.

...

...

The Deputy General of the Thousand Cows Guard had his residence in the western part of the city.

Considering the hierarchy of hatred, two sub-branches were positioned near the residence of the deputy general tonight.

After leaving the Kong Mansion, Ma Yan hesitated only for a moment before heading towards the Deputy General of the Thousand Cows, which was closer.

The martial arts cultivation of the Deputy General of the Imperial Guard was far superior to Kong Hanlin's ordinary body, making the task of deception much more difficult.

But Ma Yan never dared underestimate the power of the State Preceptor.

When he rushed over in a hurry, he wasn't close yet when he saw a fire blazing up ahead.

The Deputy General's mansion was on fire!

Ma Yan's heart sank, and his cloak billowed into almost a straight line in the darkness.

"Lord!"

"Lord, you've arrived!"

By the time Ma Yan landed in the estate, he noticed the courtyard had been violently damaged, with signs of battle everywhere.

The house servants were fighting the fire, while the government officers who were supposed to be ambushing outside had gathered in the courtyard, some even injured.

"What happened?" Ma Yan asked, his expression grave as he spotted the bloodied and bound Deputy General of the Thousand Cows Guard lying on the ground in the crowd.

This robust man was dressed in light armor, hair disheveled, covered in blood, with bulging veins on his neck, howling and roaring like a beast, apparently out of his mind.

Haitang, who had been guarding here, approached. Her flying knife bag was half empty, clearly indicating she had been through a tough battle.

The female detective said bitterly:

"We initially saw a man enter the mansion, and per your instructions, we maintained surveillance to follow him later, but no movements were detected until there were screams from within the house, accompanied by the rise of flames, that's when we stormed in.

We found the Deputy General of the Thousand Cows acting insane, swinging his broadsword everywhere, having already killed several house servants, with the fire caused by lanterns igniting the house.

We didn't dare to be lethal, but had to work together to subdue him, ending up like this."

If they had not cared about taking lives, the Jinyi officers could have easily killed the frenzied deputy general.

But they clearly sustained quite a few injuries in order to capture him alive.

Ma Yan said solemnly, "What about the man responsible for the deception?"

Another detective stepped forward, pointing to a charred corpse at the entrance of the burning house on the stairs, and said:

"He was the first to be chopped down."

————

ps: Yun Xi: I once lived as the daughter of a wealthy family, deceived by Old Deng into joining a scam. Today, reborn and returned, cast a vote, and listen to my plan for revenge...