Chapter 17: Beginning The Hunt For The Culprit
The night gradually faded.
The guard standing on the city gate, who had hardly slept all night, felt his vision blur for a moment and saw the corpses laid on the ground move. His numb, sleepy brain jolted awake, and he was about to shout out.
Fortunately, his companion nearby reacted quickly and covered his mouth.
“It’s Captain Wei,” the companion whispered in his ear.
The startled guard finally came to his senses. Yes, yesterday Wei Jiao had come to the city gate, sat among the corpses, and said he was waiting for the villains to continue murdering. To avoid disturbing the villains, he not only forbade the government officers, soldiers, and guards from patrolling but also slept among the corpses himself…
What kind of heart could allow someone to sleep peacefully among corpses?
The guard watched as the figure mixed among the corpses sat up, stretched lazily, and her jet-black hair scattered over her robe with its red inner lining exposed. As her body stretched, it was like a flower slowly blooming.
Amid the surrounding corpses and the increasingly strong rotten stench from her mouth and nose, this flower bloomed in a eerie and terrifying way.
The soldiers standing on the city wall couldn’t help but hold their breath.
Fortunately, four Embroidered Uniform Guards quickly approached, breaking the suffocation.
One Embroidered Uniform Guard went behind Wei Jiao to comb her hair, while another lay prone on the ground, allowing Wei Jiao to prop her arm on him and lean back casually.
“No dead people?” Wei Jiao asked, her brows slightly furrowing.
The two Embroidered Uniform Guards standing in front of her nodded: “Even the night watchmen stopped last night to make it convenient for him, but the night passed peacefully without incident.”
Wei Jiao pursed her lips.
“Not killing?” She looked toward inside the city, her somewhat lazy gaze after waking instantly turning icy cold. “Then I’m coming to kill you.”
…..
…..
The inn in the early morning returned to its noisy state.
The morning light dispelled the fear but also brought back anxiety.
“I didn’t dare sleep all night!”
“Aren’t they letting us leave today?”
“When exactly will they let us go?”
“Since that villain is in the city, why not search and arrest? Are they just going to watch innocent people suffer calamity?”
Yang Luo brought Mo Zheng inside and greeted the shop assistant, who was leaning against the counter pretending to sleep amid the noise, as he opened his eyes: “What would the young lady like to eat? I’ll have the kitchen make it.”
Yang Luo said softly: “I’ve already eaten.”
The shop assistant’s gaze then turned to the guard standing quietly behind the young lady, chuckling: “Right, there’s A Sheng.”
Mo Zheng nodded to him: “I specially made some soup and rice this morning to clear heat and dispel evil. There’s still plenty in the kitchen. Brother, go have a bowl later too. Don’t wear out your body.”
The shop assistant thanked her repeatedly and smelled the medicinal scent on Mo Zheng, knowing this guard understood medicine and made the calming soup herself.
“My young lady is frail and has to travel, so she must be carefully nourished,” she had said before.
This not-very-old guard was truly capable of anything, and this young lady was generous, even remembering people like them. The shop assistant eagerly told them: “There was no unusual movement in the city last night.”
Mo Zheng looked at Yang Luo: “The government is probably going to search and arrest the villain.”
Yang Luo was about to say something when it seemed many people were running on the street, shaking the ground.
“Embroidered Uniform Guard investigating the case. No one move without permission.”
Shouts came from far to near.
The people in the hall had already surged to the doorway to look outside, seeing soldiers in the distance pressing forward like dark clouds.
“They’ve mobilized the soldiers?”
“Embroidered Uniform Guards have tiger tallies and can mobilize the garrison.”
“The entire Zhao County Town is surrounded!”
“Embroidered Uniform Guards are leading soldiers to search the city inch by inch.”
…..
…..
Breaking doors and pushing walls, digging three feet deep—Magistrate Huang watched the actions of the soldiers and Embroidered Uniform Guards ahead and couldn’t help but click his tongue.
He had previously thought that Wei Jiao sitting in the county office, grabbing officials and local magnates to detain them, and displaying corpses at the city gate was already a major operation, but he was greatly mistaken.
So this is what it looks like when the Embroidered Uniform Guard really gets moving.
Outside the county town, hundreds of soldiers surrounded it airtight, then layers of soldiers assembled inside like a dense fishing net, sifting Zhao County Town from south to north.
People were interrogated, every house, tile, blade of grass, and tree searched, cellars and secret rooms all checked, interspersed with dog barks as several hunting dogs ran about. Anyone who disobeyed orders and ran was immediately pounced on and torn and bitten.
“With Captain Wei’s foolproof methods.” Magistrate Huang turned to look at Wei Jiao riding horseback beside him, suppressing his fear to praise: “That villain can’t escape even with wings.”
Wei Jiao said “oh”: “Not necessarily. Methods are methods; it still depends on luck.”
She looked at the civilians being searched and interrogated inch by inch, raising an eyebrow.
“Now it’s just a matter of whether my luck is better or the villains’ luck is better.”
Magistrate Huang muttered inwardly that no matter whose luck was better between Wei Jiao and the villains, his own was the worst.
A group of traitors had caused chaos in his jurisdiction, making him utterly embarrassed!
“Search thoroughly! Check if they match the registry, their recent movements, where they were on the night of the incident!” Magistrate Huang spurred his horse forward, shouting harshly to vent his anger: “If suspicious, if resisting, if fleeing, kill on the spot without mercy!”
..
…..
The dark clouds drew closer and closer. Standing in front of the inn, one could hear constant cries from under the clouds, interspersed with dog barks and screams.
The next moment, several hunting dogs burst out from the dark clouds, flashing ferociously in the sunlight, their mouths still stained with blood.
Seeing this, the customers gathered at the doorway looking out immediately screamed in fright and retreated repeatedly.
Is this a search?
This is simply a hunt.
Officers ran from the street shouting, “Everyone stand on the street,” “No hiding,” “No fleeing,” “Otherwise treated as suspects.”
People tremblingly came out.
Yang Luo and Mo Zheng were among them. Mo Zheng didn’t forget to spread her arms to protect Yang Luo from being bumped.
Soon the soldiers and hunting dogs approached. Some soldiers took the hunting dogs into houses, with sounds of rummaging and poking coming from inside. Some soldiers spread out coldly watching the people on the street, while officers holding registries began inquiries.
The inn was different from others: besides the shopkeeper and shop assistants, they were all out-of-towners. Some could produce identity proofs like merchant registries, others had nothing, just reasons like “passing through” or “short trip for sundries.”
Soon the officers reached Yang Luo.
“From Lu County,” Yang Luo said, using a Lu County accent. “Returning from visiting my aunt in Qi County, only brought one servant.”
At this point, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Lu County is very close. Can you let me go home first?”
The officers saw she was a girl of about fourteen and looked at the teenage servant beside her, so they asked no more, just barked, “Don’t cause trouble, don’t wander,” and were about to move on when suddenly a hunting dog burst out from the inn, barking as if scenting something.
The people here jumped in fright, causing a commotion that made the hunting dog bark even more.
What happened?
The officers grew nervous, and the soldiers all looked over.
Yang Luo shrank beside Mo Zheng. Mo Zheng hesitated, then threw the cloth bag hanging from her waist to the ground.
The hunting dog immediately pounced over.
“What’s this?” A nearby soldier stopped the hunting dog and used his knife to pick up the cloth bag, several pieces of dried meat falling out.
The tension of the officers and soldiers dissipated.
“Not time to be greedy!” One soldier even scolded the hunting dog, swinging his whip.
The hunting dog shrank back with some fear, tail tucked, retreating.
But just as the soldiers were about to pass, a voice spoke from behind.
“Such a strong smell.”
Hearing this voice, the soldiers and officers all stopped and made way. Yang Luo looked past Mo Zheng and saw black-clad Embroidered Uniform Guards escorting a young person walking over.
He rode on horseback, against the light, his face somewhat shadowed.
Mo Zheng heard Yang Luo murmur softly behind her, “Wei Jiao.”
Yang Luo had never seen Wei Jiao, but at this moment, upon seeing her, the name immediately came to mind.
When her cousin described Wei Jiao, she had curiously mustered the courage to ask, “Exactly how pretty?”
Her cousin giggled, “Pretty like the prettiest one in any crowd.”
Indeed, the prettiest in the crowd.
Only this prettiness at this moment didn’t refresh the mind but made one’s heart race with fear.
Wei Jiao’s gaze fell on the hunting dog, then the dried meat on the ground, and finally on Yang Luo.
Mo Zheng stepped forward, blocking Yang Luo and meeting Wei Jiao’s gaze.
Wei Jiao sniffed, looking at the dried meat on the ground: “Does this dried meat need medicine to cure it? Or does a person need medicine?”
In what situation does a person need medicine?
Sick, or injured.
Injured!
The villains had killed so many; they were very likely injured too.
If injured, medicine was definitely needed.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards instantly stepped forward, and the surrounding soldiers gripped their weapons tightly.
All gazes converged on Mo Zheng and Yang Luo.
