Zhan Wenlin, Yang Kaishi, and Wang Da—Flying Dragon knows these three. They were on the six-person list Shen Hao previously gave him. But who the hell are Cheng Xu and Wang Jingci? 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Don’t let anyone else know about this, understand?" As Flying Dragon spoke, he pulled out a silver note worth fifty taels and slipped it into the other man’s hand.

"Alright, Brother Flying Dragon, so should I keep staying in this tavern?"

"No, head to the small house in the south of the city first. Lay low for two days, and I’ll arrange the next steps later."

"Got it." The man responded and immediately turned to head quickly southward.

Flying Dragon also slipped away through the alley, cutting across two pitch-black blocks before returning to a shabby little house.

In Fengri City, Flying Dragon had rented nine such little houses in total, spreading them around the east, south, west, and north city gates. They were all tucked away in inconspicuous alleys—essentially, blind spots within the neighborhoods.

As Flying Dragon had told Shen Hao before, he’d brought in five people to help him. But these five didn’t know about each other’s existence. They only knew that Flying Dragon wanted them to tail people—today this one, tomorrow maybe someone else. Sometimes they’d be sent digging for background info. Things changed fast, and none of them knew what Flying Dragon was truly up to.

Out of the houses Flying Dragon rented, five were for these people. The other four, he rotated through himself, exercising extreme caution.

The night passed without incident. At dawn, Flying Dragon left and traveled by Teleportation Array back to Li City. He snuck in through the back gate of the Xuanqing Guard’s Black Banner Battalion base, and saw Shen Hao again in that gloomy Interrogation Chamber.

Shen Hao was a bit surprised by Flying Dragon’s sudden arrival, since it likely meant something unexpected had happened.

"What’s wrong?"

"Shen Zongqi, yesterday seventeen people from the Population Department went out to a tavern in Fengri City to drink. I got wind of it ahead of time, sent a guy undercover as a waiter, and he picked up an important piece of intel in the private room!"

"Stop beating around the bush. Speak!"

"The guy I put in as an undercover waiter—he has a hell of a nose, better than a dog. So I had him get closer for a sniff, and he discovered that out of those seventeen from the Population Department, five of them had the scent of General Spirit Stone on them!"

Shen Hao’s heart skipped a beat at that, but his face showed nothing. He even smiled and asked, "Did I ever instruct you to arrange close personal contact with our targets?"

"Huh? Zongqi, I—I made the call myself. You only told me to secretly keep an eye on them after I mentioned the scent of General Spirit Stone, so I figured just tailing them was pointless. They’re all bookish types, and since the opportunity was right, I had my guy get up close for a sniff... Zongqi, d-did I mess up your plans?"

Now Flying Dragon realized he might’ve overstepped. If things weren’t as he’d thought, he might have screwed everything up. His heart instantly began to pound in fear.

Shen Hao merely shook his head, still smiling but his tone growing cold: "Having initiative is good, but why not report to me first? Acting on your own in the Xuanqing Guard can get you beheaded."

"Zongqi, I—I won’t dare do so next time. I was wrong! I..." At the mention of ’beheaded,’ Flying Dragon’s legs went weak, and he sank to his knees, about to start begging.

"Enough. You’re not officially Xuanqing Guard yet, so I haven’t got the mind to chop your head off—yet. Stand up and clarify what you just said."

"Huh? Oh, oh! Zongqi, my man came back and said there were five with the scent of General Spirit Stone on them. Three of those match the six names you gave me: Chief Officer Zhan Wenlin, Deputy Yang Kaishi, and Squad Leader Wang Da. The other two weren’t on the list: one’s called Cheng Xu and the other Wang Jingci—both are Junior Lang Officers at the Population Department."

Junior Lang Officer—basically a regular staffer.

"How long does the scent of General Spirit Stone linger on a person?"

"According to my guy, he can detect it if it got on them within five days—any longer and it fades so much you can’t smell it."

Shen Hao lapsed into silence again.

Flying Dragon wasn’t Wang Jian or Zhang Liao—he couldn’t be let in on too many things.

"As I recall, General Spirit Stone isn’t a market trade item. Only the military and Xuanqing Guard get official allocations, and at the Government Office only a handful of officials can apply for some, in very small quantities. How did these guys get the scent on them? You should be able to find out, right?"

Flying Dragon knew better than to hide anything now and nodded. "You’re right—General Spirit Stone isn’t sold openly. Even in peacetime it’s Court-controlled. If you want to buy it, you have to go to the black market. Heh, I basically know all the middlemen selling General Spirit Stone in the markets across the 43 cities in Fengri City’s jurisdiction. Getting info won’t be hard, but it’ll take some time."

"How long?"

"Four days."

"Three days. And I don’t just want info on those five—check every single person in the Population Department."

"Huh?! Zongqi, but..."

"Bang!" Shen Hao smacked the table, making Flying Dragon jump. When he moved his palm, there were two silver notes of one thousand taels each on the table.

"This one guarantees it’s done in three days!"

"Good. And be sure not to implicate me."

"Understood!"

With money, everything’s easier. For Flying Dragon, two thousand taels is enough to make him push things further. Besides, tracing where a few people got their General Spirit Stone is really no big deal for him.

Flying Dragon left elated, but Shen Hao’s smile vanished in a flash, his brow deeply furrowed.

Originally, Shen Hao intended Flying Dragon to be a wild card—not to crack the case directly but to quietly investigate the Population Department officials in Fengri City and lay groundwork before the Black Banner Battalion made their official move. Yet Flying Dragon’s reckless initiative had accidentally pried things open a little, throwing off his plan.

After all, right now, suspicion toward Fengri City’s Population Department was one-sided on Shen Hao’s part. Until all suspicion was cleared from Li City’s Population Department, every move had to be covert—sometimes even done by others.

But now things were pushing Shen Hao to shoulder more risk.

Shen Hao pondered to himself: All the Population Department officials in Fengri City are ordinary people with no Cultivation. Only six people have a legitimate reason to access the population rosters reported from various places. So far, these six have clean backgrounds, and there’s no sign of any connection to Evil Cultivators...

Previously, Zhang Liao raised two major doubts: the culprit’s identity and how the culprit targeted victims. Looking at the latter, if someone from the Population Department did it, that would explain away that doubt. But that creates a new doubt: what’s the motive?

Initially, based on the Yin-Yang Blood and Qi, the inferred motive was Evil Cultivators. But if someone inside the Population Department did it, that motive is now questionable.

Unless—are people from the Population Department colluding with Evil Cultivators?

PS: Stop whining about eunuchs; it’s chilly enough as it is. And this isn’t a power fantasy—you need to patiently let the world unfold. Don’t rush.