The twenty-sixth day, the chou hour, at the Nanhu Camp garrison.
These past two days had been uneasy and restless, as if some major event was about to occur. A slender figure rose from the darkness and lit a candle. The bean-sized yellow light illuminated his young, handsome face—it was Chi Yun of the Nanhu Camp.
Chi Yun looked at the empty space before the tent. He gritted his teeth, turned back to the table, ground ink, and spread paper. Then his brush moved like dragons and snakes, filling the entire sheet of paper. Suddenly he heard someone coughing outside the window. Chi Yun abruptly stood up, and in his bewilderment swallowed the paper in several gulps. His hand reached back with a clang and drew his sword.
The night was deep. Chi Yun stepped out of the military tent. In that one-tenth of a finger snap, he seemed to feel a spring breeze rushing toward his face. Within the wind rippled the fragrance of spring warmth and blooming flowers, and the clear, pleasant songs of birds. Chi Yun wished he could wander in it forever… until a spray of fresh blood spurted from his mouth, and the scorching temperature made him stiffen immediately.
An incense stick’s time later, patrolling soldiers discovered the corpse. Chi Yun lay prostrate in a pool of blood, a strange frozen smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. Soon, Dongfang Shangwu arrived, accompanied by an elderly man in his sixties.
The old man’s eyes flashed with brilliance. He felt Chi Yun’s neck, observed the surroundings, and said, “The killer ambushed Chi Yun—one blade, fatal! Such a swift blade. In the past ten years in the jianghu, there are no more than six people capable of such a blade.”
Dongfang Shangwu’s face turned green and cold. He said through gritted teeth, “To infiltrate the Nanhu Camp at night and kill my vice general—do they really think Dongfang Shangwu is easy to bully! No matter which one of them it is, I will cut them into ten thousand pieces and avenge Chi Yun!”
“Avenge General Chi!”
“Revenge… revenge!”
Nearly twenty thousand soldiers of the Nanhu Camp shouted in unison, their voices shaking mountains and sky. Every person’s face bore an expression of righteous indignation and killing intent.
“As it should be.” The old man saw there was something in Chi Yun’s teeth—it seemed like a small piece of paper—but he didn’t tell Dongfang Shangwu. At this moment, a sharp-eyed soldier suddenly shouted, “There are words under General Chi’s body.”
The ground beneath Chi Yun’s prostrate form revealed half of some markings. Dongfang Shangwu lifted Chi Yun up, and beneath the corpse were indeed two crooked characters! Dongfang Shangwu saw them clearly. His large eyes immediately filled with killing intent, and he turned to look at the old man.
The old man shook his head with a sigh, “One fatal blade—I had already guessed it was him, but I didn’t dare think it really was! That he would actually assassinate General Chi Yun is truly heart-wrenching and infuriating.”
Dongfang Shangwu’s tone was icy, “I heard he’s recently been in Dingshui City. What does Elder Yan think should be done?”
“Please have General Dongfang wait in camp. I will definitely bring this person back for the General to deal with.” The old man said with his head held high.
“I trust the old sir’s words. I’ll dispatch a contingent of troops to assist you.”
At the chen hour, a storm suddenly arose over the Eastern Sea. The violent wind affected all the coastal cities of the Great World. Dingshui City was also pressed down by what seemed like a huge lead stone, becoming blurred and indistinct amid the raging winds. All scenery was unclear.
Fang Zhi pulled away the on-duty maritime patrol inspector. Meng Rui took the opportunity to slip into the East City docks. He waited for the fierce wind to rise again, and during a gap when no one was paying attention, he jumped onto Tiangong Ichiro’s ocean vessel.
The entire sea vessel swayed and rocked. Walking on it was like walking on a rope. Meng Rui had already changed into sailor’s clothing, with “Death God” hidden beneath the thick clothes. The inner cabin door wasn’t closed. Meng Rui quietly came to the doorway and ducked inside with a crouch.
The wooden ladder leading downward was pitch black and nothing could be seen. Meng Rui walked carefully, trying not to make any sound. The inner cabin was divided into left and right corridors, with over ten small compartments for sleeping. But there were no people in the compartments. In the middle of the corridor was another wooden ladder leading downward, which should lead to the ship’s hold.
Meng Rui thought briefly and chose to continue downward. The wooden ladder at the ship’s bottom was longer, and the temperature around began to drop sharply. Meng Rui lit a fire stick.
In the weak firelight, there was suddenly a crisp “crack” sound. It turned out Meng Rui had accidentally stepped on and broken a piece of board, and he had finally reached the ship’s bottom. In the icy, damp air was a strange odor. Meng Rui raised the fire stick high, and immediately gasped in cold air—in the enormous ship’s hold stood a dense crowd of people.
These people were all youths of thirteen or fourteen years old. Each one stood in place expressionlessly, showing no reaction to Meng Rui’s arrival. What was going on with these youths? Meng Rui tried to speak with the nearest youth, but the boy stared straight ahead at the corner, dull as a wooden chicken.
Meng Rui reached out and patted the youth’s shoulder. The instant he made contact with the youth, a cold current rushed to Meng Rui’s heart. He couldn’t help but shiver, and something in his bosom seemed to move.
Meng Rui was startled. He slowly took out the mysterious green stone that Maotou had left him.
The small green stone emitted a weak green glow in the pitch-black ship’s hold, the light shining on Meng Rui’s face. Soon, Meng Rui noticed this green light growing stronger and stronger, but it wasn’t the green stone in his hand becoming stronger—the surroundings were also beginning to flicker with green light. Then an astonishing scene appeared—countless youths’ chests all emitted green glows, as if there was also a green stone in their chests.
And their eyes also turned green—pair after pair of soul-stealing green eyes!
They… they were green-eyed people exactly like Maotou! Cold sweat streamed down Meng Rui’s back. A ship full of beast-like green-eyed youths—what exactly were Du Zhongtao, Black Night, and Prince Ding trying to do!
Just as Meng Rui’s heart was in tremendous shock, the green light at the ship’s bottom disappeared in an instant. Immediately after, a sinister, bone-chilling voice came from the wooden ladder, “Life truly has unexpected encounters everywhere. God-Catcher sir, we meet again.”
The one-armed Tiangong Ichiro and Aihara Hideo had arrived.
“I deeply regret that last night’s blade was slightly off the mark. Otherwise, I could only meet Master Tiangong again in the underworld.” Meng Rui responded proudly.
“Those words are a bit premature. Perhaps God-Catcher sir will enter the underworld first.” Tiangong Ichiro smiled like an old fox. Aihara Hideo gripped his samurai sword tightly, glaring at Meng Rui with anger.
“What’s going on with these youths?” Meng Rui glanced at the surrounding youths.
Tiangong Ichiro spoke without fear, “I wonder if God-Catcher sir is familiar with Japan? Japan has abundant land but sparse population. The nation’s male population is less than one hundred thousand. Excluding farmers, fishermen, foresters, and merchants, fewer than two thousand new soldiers enlist each year. The Japanese Emperor worries ceaselessly that if this continues, there will be no soldiers to succeed. So a wise man of Japan contributed an excellent strategy: purchase strong, healthy youths from the Great World, which has the most abundant population, and in time they will become brave warriors for Japan.”
“Hmph!” Meng Rui snorted disdainfully. The Japanese were too fanciful. After all, blood is thicker than water—how could these youths forget their homeland of the Great World and willingly become running dogs for Japan?
Tiangong Ichiro seemed to see through Meng Rui’s thoughts and smiled sinisterly, “Naturally, the youths wouldn’t be so obedient. They have their own thoughts. But the Master of Black Night, who formed an alliance with the Emperor, is thorough in his work. He has already used a marvelous medicine to eliminate the youths’ memories. From now on, they will only remember treading on Japanese soil, eating Japanese grain—they are purely Japanese people, willing to bleed and sacrifice for their country.”
“Master of Black Night?” Meng Rui’s heart chilled. Each of these youths possessed the abnormality of green eyes and seemed to be controlled by the mysterious green stone. Prince Ding was sending them to Japan. Once they entered the Japanese military in the future, Prince Ding could use the green stone to control the entire army, even the entire nation of Japan—this must be Prince Ding’s long-term scheme!
But the Crown Prince wouldn’t sit idly by. So the Spider Queen, Ye Huancheng, and others all made their moves, coercing and killing the key link, Du Zhongtao. This directly caused the alliance between Japan and Prince Ding to collapse without attack, and even worse, they wanted to pull Japan to their own side to be enemies with Prince Ding.
Conspiracy trap within conspiracy trap, and he had mistakenly jumped into the circle, unable to extricate himself.
“Du Zhongtao was also a person of Black Night?” Meng Rui asked.
“Correct. He was the person in charge of secret transactions with our side in Dingshui City and held the customs clearance red seal in his hands. Only with the seal stamped would the Great World patrol warships of the Eastern Sea recognize and allow passage. But during this particular transaction, Du Zhongtao acted as if he’d gone mad. Not only would he not meet with me, he even hid the red seal.” Tiangong Ichiro’s face showed anger. “I had no choice but to secretly infiltrate the Du Residence to find him… Who knew he’d fall to his death. That was his bad luck.”
The time Tiangong infiltrated the Du Residence, I also followed him into the Du Residence, Meng Rui thought to himself.
“Last night you wanted to seize that red seal?”
“The sea vessel has been docked for many days. I fear things will change over time, so I only wanted to retrieve the red seal.” Tiangong Ichiro’s eyelids blinked, and Aihara Hideo walked back to the wooden ladder with a sullen expression.
After a while, he came down carrying someone.
“God-Catcher sir, haven’t you always wanted to take Inoue away? I’m handing him over to you now. Moreover, I swear to heaven: I will no longer pursue the matter of the severed arm. You need only hand over the red seal to me, and we’ll be strangers going our separate ways from then on.” Tiangong Ichiro piled on a smile. “What do you think?”
“Very good conditions.” Meng Rui’s eyes were resolute. “But I’m very sorry—what I hate most is when people negotiate conditions with me. Moreover, you’ve revealed all of Japan’s secrets, which means you never planned to let me leave here alive, yet you’re still falsely pretending to negotiate. Hmph, how pitiful and laughable!”
“I won’t give you the red seal.”
“Hehe!” Tiangong Ichiro laughed strangely twice. “Then don’t blame me for turning ruthless and heartless. Aihara!”
Aihara Hideo roared ferociously, drew his samurai sword, and charged straight at Meng Rui. Meng Rui spoke coldly, “A fellow who doesn’t learn his lesson—do you want to again…”
Before he finished speaking, Meng Rui’s legs suddenly went weak and he nearly couldn’t stand and fell. Aihara’s blade was already chopping down. Meng Rui rolled on the ground, and the blade pierced through the ship’s bottom planks.
“What’s wrong with me… why don’t I have any strength at all?” Meng Rui lay on the ground gasping.
“God-Catcher sir, could it be you didn’t smell a strange odor?” Tiangong Ichiro revealed his deeply hidden tail. “The ship’s hold is burning Japan’s secret ‘Eight-Headed Serpent Incense’! No matter how skilled your martial arts, as long as you smell a whiff, even an iron man will turn into a puddle of soft mud.”
Meng Rui glanced at the dull youths. Tiangong Ichiro smiled and said, “They took the antidote long ago.”
“Now will you seriously consider my proposal?”
Meng Rui struggled up, his expression like a primordial wild beast, “Never!”