To act or not to act?!

At first glance, this phrase seems ordinary, but a closer look reveals it’s anything but simple.

Chen Yiyun never expected Shen Hao to utter such words.

For the first time, Chen Yiyun felt he couldn’t quite read Shen Hao.

"How about this: I’ll order other districts to report all letters from their copper cabinets, have someone roughly sort them out, then send you a batch. You can judge for yourself, how’s that?"

"Much appreciated, Lord!"

Right then and there, Chen Yiyun wrote up an order in front of Shen Hao, summoned the guard outside, and had it delivered immediately.

The rest was a matter of waiting for word.

However, Shen Hao didn’t hurry back to Li City—instead, after leaving Xuanqing Guard Thousand Households Station, he detoured to the Garrison Camp Area. Since he was already here, dropping by to have tea with Zhang Qian and Gan Lin was a sound idea. Now that they’re all mixing in the same circle, it doesn’t hurt to be sociable.

Still, Shen Hao didn’t stay long and politely declined Zhang Qian and Gan Lin’s enthusiastic invitation to the Flower House for drinks and music that night, timing his departure for dinner and detouring through Fengri City before returning to Li City.

He didn’t go home, heading straight for the Garrison instead.

It was the same mess hall, but when Shen Hao sat in Li City Xuanqing Guard’s canteen, few dared to look his way. In fact, five or six tables around him remained empty—no one had the nerve to sit nearby.

Whose Yanji Saber isn’t stained with blood? But in Li City, Shen Hao’s blade was the bloodiest. And now with the saying that Black Banner Battalion is "the Xuanqing Guard within the Xuanqing Guard," resentment had grown, especially among the non-Black Banner Battalion members. Of course, if the opportunity arose, most of these malcontents would gladly join Black Banner Battalion.

Shen Hao’s dinner was laid out: half a pound of brown sugar steamed buns, half a pound of braised meat, and a jug of rice wine.

The brown sugar buns were specially made by the canteen steward after Shen Hao was promoted to Black Banner Camp Commander—before, they only had Bai Mian steamed buns.

At the table with him were Wang Jian and Zhang Liao, who’d rushed over the moment they got word Shen Hao had returned to the Garrison. The two didn’t have the nerve to mooch Shen Hao’s meal—they each ordered a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, slurping them down rapidly.

Wang Jian and Zhang Liao actually didn’t like noodles, but nowadays they often ate them.

Once the meal was over, Shen Hao silently returned to the Public Office, with Wang Jian and Zhang Liao following behind.

Upon entering, Shen Hao cut right to the chase: "How’s the investigation?"

"We’ve gone over everything, nothing’s amiss. Incidentally, Zhang Liao traced how information is passed through Li City’s government offices—even tried it out in practice with a slip of paper—no issues there either."

It was clear Wang Jian and Zhang Liao had already synced up beforehand; their answer to Shen Hao came without hesitation. But both wore looks of disappointment—the case hadn’t developed as they’d hoped.

"Don’t rush, I’ve got a new angle. But things will need two more days. Leave your people scattered for now, don’t pull them back until I give the order."

"Understood."

...

Three days later, Chen Yiyun’s summary reached Shen Hao’s hands via a secret channel; only Chen Yiyun and Shen Hao knew what was written on that slip. Along with it arrived the dust-laden Flying Dragon.

Flying Dragon was still dressed in his black gauze conical hat and loose long robe, entering through the back door and ushered straight to the Interrogation Chamber to wait. He’d grown accustomed to it—long gone was any initial dread of the chamber.

In the Public Office, Shen Hao took the slip from Chen Yiyun and triple-checked it, rage brimming in his chest.

According to the copper cabinet letter summaries from other districts in Fengri City, there were over three hundred unresolved missing persons reports filed with Chen Yiyun. Half were cases of missing children, and among them, a total of thirty-nine child disappearances involved children with Yin-Yang Blood and Qi!

Following the logic Shen Hao laid out earlier, the perpetrator’s precise targeting of each city within Fengri City jurisdiction could only come from the Population Department, as only there could one access the population registers for all forty-three cities.

Shen Hao took a deep breath and rubbed his throbbing forehead. Now it was clear the Population Department in Fengri City had a problem, but carefully planning the next steps was crucial. Otherwise, one misstep could turn all his efforts to someone else’s gain.

At least now, the initiative was squarely in his hands, with plenty of room to maneuver.

Putting the slip away in his drawer, Shen Hao shook his head to clear it, then pushed open the door and headed to the Interrogation Chamber where Flying Dragon had been waiting for some time.

As usual, he dismissed the others, saying nothing, waiting for Flying Dragon to show what he’d brought. Three days, plus two thousand taels of silver—if Flying Dragon didn’t deliver, Shen Hao had no qualms about making him suffer a bit.

"Commander, these people are sharp—none bought General Spirit Stones locally in Fengri City’s black market. They all used aliases and shopped at outer city black markets; some passed through three hands. But I tracked them all down.

This is the list. I compiled it myself—didn’t dare let anyone else touch it. Please take a look."

Taking Flying Dragon’s list, Shen Hao glanced through it and found something interesting: more than five people in total had bought General Spirit Stones. In fact, among all eighteen members of Fengri City’s Population Department, six had purchased General Spirit Stones on the black market.

The six were the ones whose lingering scent Flying Dragon’s underlings detected at the restaurant: Zhan Wenlin, Yang Kaishi, Wang Da, Cheng Xu, Wang Jingci. The additional one was actually the sixth person Shen Hao instructed Flying Dragon to watch from the outset—Zhao Chongwu.

The name should make it clear—Zhao Chongwu was different from the other Population Department staff. "Chong" means "double," and "Chongwu" means "two fives"—referring to a date, birth date: fifth day of the fifth month.

Someone whose name is just their birthday plainly hails from the lower class—even their family couldn’t afford or lacked the ability to give a proper name, settling for a date as their child’s name.

This wasn’t unusual—there were plenty of people named like Zhao Chongwu.

"These people buy General Spirit Stones quite often, on average two per month. But this Zhao Chongwu buys very little—just two in the past half year."

A single General Spirit Stone costs about twenty taels of silver; pricier ones on the black market run thirty taels. Two per month is nearly sixty taels—a sum ordinary folks simply couldn’t afford. For officials in the Government Office, it’s not unaffordable but definitely not a trivial expense.

It’s known that unless you’re a Chief Officer or in a lucrative department, wages at the Local Government Office aren’t high. The Xuanqing Guard members aren’t wealthy because their salaries are generous—but because it’s the gray money that flows in.

Flying Dragon merely chuckled, "Commander, if you’ve got no Cultivation but happen to use the Hundred Beauty Disc, two General Spirit Stones per month really isn’t much. I know a fool who burns up four stones every month—throws all his earnings into it. Probably could afford two wives with what he spends, but he just loves the fakes on that Hundred Beauty Disc."