On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Qiao family followed their longstanding custom and went to the Citang to pay respects to their ancestors.

Qiao Yiran rose early, first bathing and changing her clothes, then going to Madam Qiao’s quarters to keep her company over a simple breakfast.

The entire Qiao family was to eat vegetarian food today — not the slightest trace of meat or fish was permitted in any dish — so the morning meal was also exceedingly light, one could say all broth and thin congee.

After the meal, Qiao Yiran accompanied Madam Qiao to the Citang.

Old Master Qiao had two elder brothers. Although both of those brothers had already passed away, the wives and children they left behind were cared for by Old Master Qiao and ordinarily lived in the Qiao family compound as well, residing in the west courtyard.

The bond between Old Master Qiao and his two brothers had been deep, and beyond that, Old Master Qiao’s own father harbored a sense of guilt toward his two sons. For this reason, the food, clothing, shelter, and travel of the two other branches of the Qiao family were all very well provided for — not only equal to what the main branch enjoyed, but in some respects even better.

On their way, Madam Qiao encountered the people of the Qiao family’s first branch and went forward to speak with them, while Qiao Yiran pulled aside the sisters who were her age for cheerful conversation.

Once everyone had gathered in the Citang, the presiding master also arrived, and the ceremony officially commenced.

The master had brought two young novice monks as helpers; they were responsible for lighting incense and candles and such tasks.

Qiao Yiran looked at one of the monks and furrowed her brow slightly.

“Third Sister, what are you looking at?” The youngest Miss of the Qiao family asked Qiao Yiran in a low voice. “You don’t think that monk is handsome, do you?”

Qiao Yiran gave her a look. “It’s not that he’s handsome — it’s that this monk must be a new one, ordained not long ago.”

“How can you tell?”

“Simple. Look at the fresh wounds on his scalp — those were left by the razor when he shaved his head. And those white dots were just applied recently; the skin around them is still swollen.”

“Wow, you’re right! Third Sister, you’re incredible.”

Qiao Yiran straightened up proudly. “Of course — your sister spends her days running around the military police headquarters, surrounded by the sharpest detectives. Without this much basic knowledge, how could I be the chief reporter?”

The youngest sister immediately looked at her with undisguised admiration. “Third Sister, I want to be a reporter too when I grow up.”

“Study hard, and I’ll bring you along.”

As the two sisters were talking, the ceremony had already begun.

To avoid drawing Old Master Qiao’s stern glare, the sisters immediately closed their mouths obediently.

“Third Sister, I’m so sleepy.” The youngest was still young, after all, and before long she began to nod off.

Qiao Yiran had gone to bed early the previous night precisely for today’s ceremony, certain she would not feel drowsy. But the moment she saw her youngest sister nodding off, a wave of sleepiness suddenly crept over her too.

Not far away, the monks continued their ceaseless chanting. She couldn’t understand a single word — and as the monks’ voices repeated endlessly, she felt as if she were listening to an incantation.

And these incantations made one drowsy, scattered one’s attention, and caused one’s vision to gradually blur.

*Thud!* The youngest sister at her side was the first to collapse.

Qiao Yiran was startled, which also jolted her somewhat awake. She hastily shook her youngest sister’s arm: “Fourth Sister, wake up — you can’t sleep here, you’ll get a scolding.”

Not only did her youngest sister fail to wake, but the two older sisters seated in front of her collapsed one after another as well. In almost no time at all, a great number of the people kneeling in the Citang had toppled over.

Qiao Yiran was greatly alarmed. She instinctively rose and ran toward the entrance of the Citang — but she had barely reached the doorway when her legs gave way and she too fell.

The Qiao family’s ancestral ceremony was solemn and grave; servants were not permitted inside.

Qiao Yiran wanted to bang on the great door to attract the attention of those outside, but her entire body had gone limp. Her hand pressed against the door yet could not muster the strength to make a sound.

When she turned her head, she saw that the Qiao family members inside the Citang had collapsed in great numbers — even the chanting monk was slumped over the incense altar.

And yet, amid all these fallen people, one figure stood unmoved. It was that “novice monk.”

“This person really was suspicious.” Qiao Yiran struggled to maintain a thread of consciousness. In that moment, her thoughts went to the Qiao family’s past — to that killer.

Without a doubt, this person knew that the Qiao family was large and prosperous, with many people. So, in order to sweep them all up in a single net, he had chosen to act against the Qiao family during the ceremony.

The problem must be in the sandalwood incense. Someone had laced it with a sleeping incense — a fragrance that needed only to be breathed in briefly to drain all strength from one’s limbs and cause loss of consciousness.

Qiao Yiran gasped for breath, straining with everything she had to lift her hand and knock on the door, but that feeling of helplessness left her utterly powerless — like a fish stranded on a beach with no strength to return to the sea. Fear came surging in from all directions.

Just as Qiao Yiran was struggling desperately, she saw a stranger appear within the Citang.

This person appeared to be in his mid-twenties, wearing a hat, with a pair of hawk-like eyes radiating a piercing, bone-chilling coldness.

From within this person’s eyes, Qiao Yiran saw a murderous intent that was bone-deep.

“You — who are you?” Among the fallen, Qiao Hanlin still somehow possessed consciousness, and likewise, he was the only person present who recognized this man.

“Brother Zuo?” Qiao Hanlin’s face was filled with utter disbelief. “Brother Zuo, thank goodness you’re here! Quick — look at what’s happened to us!”

Qiao Hanlin lay on the ground, only his mouth still able to move. He had taken Zuo Liang for a savior, not yet wondering why Zuo Liang would appear in the Qiao family’s Citang.

Zuo Liang crouched down before him, and the gaze he fixed on him was tinged with pity. “Qiao Hanlin, do you think I’ve come to rescue you?”

“Haven’t you?” Qiao Hanlin gasped heavily. “Brother Zuo, save me quickly.”

Zuo Liang let out a cold laugh. His left hand rose, and a sharp blade appeared in it. Qiao Yiran recognized it as a three-edged bayonet — ordinarily fixed to the front of a rifle for use as a bayonet, and when not used as such, it could be detached and wielded as a dagger on its own.

The three-edged bayonet in Zuo Liang’s hand was pressed against Qiao Hanlin’s throat, his voice impossibly cold: “You are wrong. I have come to take your life.”

“Brother Zuo…” Qiao Hanlin was so terrified by Zuo Liang’s manner that he trembled uncontrollably. “But — but why? Aren’t I your friend?”

Zuo Liang said: “I should also thank you — it was you who told me that your Qiao family would be holding this ceremony, which is why I arranged for someone to lace the incense with the sleeping drug. But you should also thank me, because this way your deaths will not be so painful.”

“Why?” Qiao Hanlin was both shocked and terrified. He could not fathom that the man who had treated him like a sworn brother was planning to kill him. Even less could he fathom that it was he himself who had let this wolf through the door.

Qiao Yiran had once said: the people he associated with were nothing but drinking companions. When he was truly in need, they would be the first to vanish.

It appeared now that Qiao Yiran had been absolutely right — these people were indeed not to be relied on.

Qiao Hanlin’s heart was filled with boundless regret, but regret had ceased to hold any value. He could only use his terror-stricken eyes to plead with Zuo Liang, hoping against hope that Zuo Liang would spare his life out of “friendship.”

And indeed, Zuo Liang put away the three-edged bayonet. Just as a surge of relief rose in Qiao Hanlin’s heart, he heard Zuo Liang’s icy voice: “Since we shared some companionship, I’ll let you be the last to die. Watch carefully — how your family members fall one by one before your eyes.”

This was not clemency. This was slow death by a thousand cuts.

Qiao Hanlin watched in utter despair as Zuo Liang walked toward his mother. He strained to let out a cry: “No!”

Zuo Liang appeared deaf to his voice. He raised the bayonet in his hand and swept it toward Madam Qiao’s throat —

Just at that moment, when both Qiao Hanlin and Qiao Yiran were shutting their eyes in anguish, unable to watch, a steel pellet suddenly flew in and struck the blade of the bayonet. Zuo Liang’s hand went numb, and the bayonet nearly flew from his grasp. Then a steel pellet fell to the ground and rolled a great distance away.

Whoever could make his tiger’s mouth go numb with a single steel pellet was certainly a master. As far as he knew, Shi Ting, the Seventh Young Master of the Shi family, possessed the skill of flicking pellets with one hand.

Zuo Liang spun sharply around. He saw a figure flash — and a person who had just been collapsed on the ground abruptly leapt to his feet. The man came with tremendous force, and Zuo Liang had no choice but to receive his attack.

Zuo Liang had trained in martial arts for many years and considered his own skills impressive, but this person’s martial ability was clearly superior. After several exchanges, Zuo Liang was already at a disadvantage.

“Zheng Yun?” Zuo Liang was greatly startled.

The man before him — at some point he had removed his fake beard and hat — and that handsome, imposing face was unmistakably Zheng Yun, the current Director of the Military Police Headquarters.

He had long known that Zheng Yun was ranked first in martial skill at the Military Police Headquarters, surpassing even Shi Ting. This was his first time crossing blades with him, and Zuo Liang saw that the rumors were no falsehood.

Zheng Yun’s strikes were astonishingly fast, his movements impossibly agile. After the two had traded a dozen or more blows, Zuo Liang suddenly felt a rush of wind at his ear. A steel pellet struck his shoulder with pinpoint accuracy, hitting the pressure point right there.

Zuo Liang let out a muffled grunt. The bayonet in his hand clattered to the ground.

Zheng Yun pressed the attack fiercely with several more blows. The final strike drove straight at Zuo Liang’s face — Zuo Liang took a blow to the head and instantly saw stars. Before he could react, a kick landed on his knee as well. His legs buckled at once, and he staggered backward several steps. His back struck a large bronze cauldron with a heavy crash, and a surge of blood and energy churned through his chest. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, he thudded to his knees on the ground.

*Click!*

A gleaming pair of handcuffs snapped onto his wrists, and the other end was fastened to the handle of the great cauldron.

This cauldron was used for the ancestral rites and weighed several hundred catties. The Qiao family had required over a dozen people and a pulley cart just to put it in place.

At that moment, the novice monk, seeing the situation had turned, attempted to slip away. But before he had taken two steps, someone moved to block him.

This person was also one of those who had risen from the ground, and once he had removed his disguise, he too was a strikingly handsome man.

“And where do you think you’re going, little monk?” Bai Jin smiled with an air of casual insolence. “This young master still wants to hear you chant scriptures.”

The novice monk knew escape was impossible and tried to fight back, but he was no match for Bai Jin whatsoever. In just a few moves he was subdued.

“You fake monk.” Bai Jin gave a hard smack to the top of his shaved head. “Think a few dots are enough to make you a monk? Pah — even the Buddha himself would kick you down from the heavens for this.”

Zuo Liang’s head swam, his vision unsteady, blood smeared all around his mouth.

Never in his wildest calculations had he imagined that his carefully laid plans were nothing more than the mantis stalking the cicada — unaware of the oriole behind it.

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