Mu Fengliu may well have been frightened by Doglet’s eyes — though he wasn’t particularly willing to admit he could be frightened by a bird.

But his assessment was that in the next breath, this foul creature would very likely drive its beak directly into one of his eyes.

“No!”

Mu Fengliu shouted at once.

Yu Jiuling pulled his arm back, and the threat receded — if only slightly.

In the moment of involuntary relief that passed through Mu Fengliu, he noticed that the falcon was watching him with an expression that appeared, somehow, to be contemptuous.

Yu Jiuling paid it no mind. This was simply how Doglet looked at everyone.

In Doglet’s view, all these people were merely servants.

And of lower status than the Giant Boar, at that — for the Giant Boar occupied the position of First Servant.

The Giant Boar also held this view of itself.

And was rather pleased about it, in fact.

“Didn’t Mu Fengliu say he could endure every instrument?”

Zhang Tang couldn’t help but smile.

Mu Fengliu let out a cold sound but said nothing — his composure had clearly taken a loss.

Not that Doglet registered this. Of all the mortals in the world, Doglet had yet to encounter one who had not eventually lost ground to it.

“So then — has Mu Fengliu decided to say something?”

Zhang Tang: “If after catching his breath he’d still like to try his luck, he can expect to watch one of his own eyes get swallowed.”

As he said this, Zhang Tang instinctively started to raise a hand toward the falcon.

But at the exact moment his hand started to lift, his eyes met Doglet’s, and he abandoned the plan entirely.

Better that the hand hadn’t finished rising. If it had extended and then stopped, that would have been awkward.

“I’m hungry.”

Mu Fengliu looked at Zhang Tang.

Zhang Tang nodded: “There’s no particular urgency. Forcing you to speak before feeding you when you’re starving does seem rather inhumane.”

But he had no intention of giving Mu Fengliu anything to eat.

He said: “Although — does Mu Fengliu believe that the Tingwei Army headquarters is a humane place?”

Zhang Tang sat back down across from Mu Fengliu and said amiably: “From the time Mu Fengliu arrived here to this moment, it’s been less than a day. I’m told that a person who doesn’t eat can remain alive for six or seven days.”

Mu Fengliu glared at Zhang Tang.

Zhang Tang: “If you have some care for yourself, you’ll give up the locations of the River-Mountain Seal’s people currently hiding within Jizhou. My men will go to collect them. Move quickly enough, and we can have everyone on the list taken before the end of tonight. With any luck, Mu Fengliu could be eating a not-entirely-bad breakfast before dawn tomorrow.”

Mu Fengliu held Zhang Tang’s gaze with naked fury. Zhang Tang didn’t flinch — he met it with a calm, level look.

Yu Jiuling sat there, apparently being very considerate, using his sleeve to wipe around Doglet’s beak.

Doglet stood on his arm, eyes carrying an expression that seemed to convey something like: *this inferior creature does have some skill at currying favor.*

If anyone could have read Doglet’s thoughts in that moment, they might have imagined it was contemplating whether to promote Yu Jiuling to the rank of Second Servant.

“Still hungry?”

Yu Jiuling asked Doglet in a pretend-concerned tone, then sighed: “Doglet has not eaten its fill.”

He extended his hand, the little blade pointing again toward the still-bleeding wound on Mu Fengliu’s arm.

Zhang Tang: “Why is General Yu cutting there specifically?”

Yu Jiuling: “There’s blood here. Doglet might prefer its meal a little wet.”

Zhang Tang: “…”

Mu Fengliu: “?????????!!!!!!!”

…

Mu Fengliu exhaled at length, then looked at Zhang Tang. After a long pause, he said: “By morning, I want meat.”

Zhang Tang smiled: “That will be arranged.”

Two quarters of an hour later, Zhang Tang came out of the interrogation room with a sheet of paper in hand, moving at a brisk pace — seemingly forgetting entirely that he himself was still injured.

He ran up to the door of the Chief Tingwei’s study and bowed: “My lady — Mu Fengliu has given us some.”

The door opened with a creak. Gao Xining looked at Zhang Tang: “How much?”

Zhang Tang held up the paper: “Quite a lot.”

Gao Xining took it and read through it, then ordered: “Make ten copies. Divide the targets among separate teams. Everyone on this list must be in our hands before tonight.”

“Yes!”

Zhang Tang responded immediately.

—

At the stroke of midnight, the streets of Jizhou were cold and empty — not a single figure in sight. Even the wind seemed to carry more sound than usual.

But the wind itself was not strong. There had been none at all during the day. Come nightfall, a cool breeze drifted through.

As if trying to let the people of this world — all those laboring to stay alive — sleep a little more comfortably.

A night with a slight chill, nestled deep in warm bedding, sleeping soundly: that was the truest, most wholly one’s own kind of freedom and privacy a person could have.

On the western side of Jizhou city, a cluster of dark shadows moved through the night.

Their black clothing resembled the darkness itself — but the darkness didn’t move, and so they couldn’t truly become it.

They stopped outside a shop. Others among their group were keeping watch on all sides.

The one at the front was somewhat heavyset, but still moved with speed and light ease — no small feat. He knocked at the shop door in a careful rhythm.

Shortly after, the door opened. Someone removed the boards from the entrance, and the dark-clad figures slipped inside one by one.

Seven or eight of their number remained hidden in the shadows outside on watch; the majority went in.

They didn’t dare light all the lamps. Inside, a shop assistant led the way by the light of a single oil lantern.

“Where is your manager?”

The lead figure in black asked.

The assistant answered: “Word came during the day to prepare the silver for withdrawal. The manager has been in the underground vault ever since, counting it out — the amount you requested is large, and time is short. He hasn’t finished yet.”

The leader made a sound of assent and felt stifled; he pulled the black cloth mask down from his face.

This man was none other than Wei Dongqing, the proprietor of the Eastern Plains Escort Bureau.

They followed the assistant through the front hall and into the rear courtyard. The young assistant said: “I need to go stand watch out front. You know the way — go yourselves.”

He turned and left.

Wei Dongqing pointed at the row of rooms at the back: “The hidden underground vault is behind the bookcase in that room. Move quickly — we can’t take everything tonight. Come back tomorrow night for the rest.”

“Yes.”

His subordinates answered low and hurried into the back room.

When the door opened, their eyes weren’t adjusted to the light, so they hesitated for a moment.

In that instant, lamps lit up inside the room.

A young man in brocade robes held a lamp aloft and looked back at the figures in the doorway: “How ought I greet you, so as not to seem too presumptuous?”

Wei Dongqing’s face changed drastically: “Who are you?!”

The young man in brocade: “I’m… possibly a thief.”

Wei Dongqing flared with anger, just about to give the order to attack — and then suddenly caught himself, and turned at once: “Move!”

He led his men in rapid retreat. But the young man holding the lamp didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of pursuing.

He stood inside the room, lamp raised, and waved at their backs.

Wei Dongqing drove his people through the rear courtyard, burst through the front hall — no sign of the shop assistant — and thankfully no one blocking the way forward.

They crashed through the front door — and in that instant, it was as if they had crossed into another world entirely.

Outside was blazingly bright. The light of torches had driven back the night.

Seven or eight black-clad figures lay on the ground, trussed so tightly in rope that they looked like rolled-up caterpillars.

Where the torchlight fell, there was the black armor of the Tingwei Army.

Arrows, too many to count, aimed at the doorway, waiting for a single command.

—

Meanwhile, across the city, the people of the Eastern Plains Escort Bureau had not slept either. Zhuge Wutu had given orders to prepare to receive the men coming back with the silver that night.

The entire rear compound — at least a hundred men waiting there. A tension had settled over all of them.

Proprietor Wei Dongqing had led his group out. Zhuge Wutu had left during the morning, saying he had business to attend to. He had not returned since.

As they waited in anxious silence, a series of sounds suddenly rose from just outside.

Moments later, the compound walls simply crumbled.

Not just one wall — the walls on all four sides collapsed almost simultaneously.

As if on every side, some unknown great beast had come charging, toppling them by brute force alone.

And that’s exactly what it was — brute force.

That was the Ning Army’s battering ram.

The people of the Eastern Plains Escort Bureau could never have imagined — that for them, someone would deploy an entire army.

With siege equipment meant for city walls.

*You really can’t say they don’t matter.*

On all sides: Ning Army soldiers, black and dense as shadow. They stood beyond the fallen walls, which lay like a dividing line between two worlds.

Black clothing, black armor. From every soldier’s quiver, a layer of white fletching showed.

In that moment, to be considered this significant was not exactly something to feel good about.

Then the people of the Eastern Plains Escort Bureau heard another series of sounds, and watched as the Ning Army’s arrow formation parted — and bolt-throwing siege wagons were pushed forward from behind it.

*So there was room to matter even more.*

—

Before dawn. Tingwei Army headquarters.

Li Chi boiled two bowls of wontons and brought them in at a half-run because they were too hot to carry slowly.

As Chief Tingwei, with such a major operation underway tonight, Gao Xining had been awake the whole night through.

Of course, all her subordinates had been awake as well — if the Chief Tingwei didn’t rest, how could they?

And there was another reason: the Chief Tingwei’s household dependant had also kept watch through the night.

Li Chi came in holding two bowls of steaming wontons and set them on the table, burning his hands enough that he shook them out.

Gao Xining was behind her desk, reviewing the newly delivered list of captured names. She glanced up at him with a smile: “Pinch your ears.”

Who knows why — when your fingers get burned, you want to pinch your ears.

Li Chi: “Pinching your ears actually works?”

Gao Xining: “Any time I burn my fingers, I pinch my ears. Whether it works or not… mmph—”

Li Chi had already reached over and taken hold of both her earlobes.

Held them. And gave them a little squeeze.

Gao Xining’s eyes narrowed slowly. Li Chi said: “Don’t narrow your eyes — narrowed eyes make you look like a fox spirit.”

Gao Xining tilted her head and bit down on Li Chi’s wrist. Eyes lifted, her gaze made Li Chi feel like he’d been poisoned.

The poison worked fast. And it was potent. A rush of heat moved through him; the first step to the antidote probably involved removing clothing.

And then Gao Xining immediately released her bite: “Hungry!”

Li Chi: “Argh!”

The wontons were big — the kind shaped like ingots — each one nearly the size of half an egg. Both bowls were heaped full.

Gao Xining ate and reviewed the list at the same time. After a while, she noticed her bowl still had wontons in it.

She glanced sideways at the ridiculous young man beside her — and discovered he was grinning foolishly.

She’d been eating, but with her attention on the list, she hadn’t noticed: Li Chi had been blowing on wontons until they were cool enough, then placing them one by one into her spoon.

Every time she reached into her own bowl, what she actually ate was what Li Chi had put in her spoon.

Gao Xining looked at this fool: “You gave it all to me — what are you going to eat?”

Li Chi: “I’m fine — I’m easy.”

He pulled a cloth bundle from inside his robe. Inside that was an oilpaper parcel. Inside that was a roasted chicken.

Li Chi: “I’ll just make do with a bite of this. You eat yours — don’t worry about me.”

Gao Xining: “*Nom!*”

—