Chapter 96

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Without a word, Branch Manager Gal Wuseon, who appeared after the incident, surveyed the scene and immediately carried his son away to find a doctor. In the end, those who remained had to clean up the mess.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jian had escaped from the basement and climbed upstairs. Stepping outside the shrine, he saw that the rain, which had stopped, was now drizzling again. Zhang Jian stood under the eaves of the shrine, smoking a cigarette, and watched the busy movements of the Wulin Alliance members, despite the rain.

As he was halfway through his cigarette, someone quietly approached him. It was Jiao Yuanshi from the Ganshan branch.

"Indeed, you deserve a medal. You single-handedly wiped out the Huilong Gang and even saved the branch manager’s son."

"I didn’t expect his son to be here."

"Consider it good luck? But don’t worry, your contributions won’t go unnoticed. Our branch will likely prepare a medal for you, along with a reward."

Jiao Yuanshi chuckled, then stroked his chin and continued.

"Among the dead below, two of them are the Wang brothers. I recognized them. So, the third person must be the one you were chasing, right?"

"That’s right."

Nodding, Jiao Yuanshi noticed Zhang Jian’s burning cigarette and started rolling his own.

"First, we’ll take the three bodies back to the branch for a detailed examination. Though it’s just a formality, we can draft a report to the main branch through them. Then, the main branch will send support, and we can uproot the miners’ roots in Ganshan City. Given that they’ve reappeared despite the previous purge by the Imperial Army, we’ll need to investigate thoroughly, regardless of whether they are civilians, Wulin people, or merchants... But where’s the fire?"

As he spoke, Jiao Yuanshi looked around Zhang Jian with a puzzled expression. There were bonfires outside the shrine and torches carried by the Wulin Alliance members, but no small lamp suitable for lighting a cigarette.

Zhang Jian didn’t answer his question. He just stared at him blankly, flicked away the finished cigarette, and started walking into the drizzling night rain, stepping away from the shrine’s eaves.

"Hey! Zhang Jian! Where are you going!"

"I don’t seem to have anything else to do here."

"But... at least tell me where you’re going so I can pass on the reward!"

Zhang Jian didn’t respond to the shout from behind. He just walked past the busy Wulin Alliance members, through the alley where he had dealt with the Huilong Gang, and past the ruffians being carried away, until he reached the space between two inns that looked like a gate.

As he was about to leave the inn district, Zhang Jian noticed his discarded straw hat rolling in the street. He picked it up, dusted it off, and saw that it hadn’t been stepped on since he threw it. He put it on, and it effectively shielded his face from the rain.

He then continued walking through the drizzling rain in the dark streets of Ganshan City. It was closer to dawn than night, and as he left the busy inn district, the wide streets of Ganshan were almost empty except for a few beggars and drunkards huddled against the walls.

Continuing his walk, Zhang Jian soon entered the red-light district. Passing by the dimly lit brothels, he arrived at the one where he had met the Wulin Alliance’s secret agent. He knocked on the door, and it slowly opened.

"Please come in."

The attendant, who had already met him once, stepped aside, surprised. Zhang Jian walked past him and started up the stairs.

"Sir, your coat and hat..."

The attendant called out, but Zhang Jian ignored him and continued up the stairs. When he reached the top floor, the door was wide open, and the secret agent was sitting on a long chair, smoking a long pipe. She greeted him softly.

"You came faster than I expected. How was the Qing House... were you injured?"

As she spoke, she noticed Zhang Jian’s wet and bloodied state, put down her pipe, and stood up. She quickly approached and examined his right shoulder and chest.

"You’re injured. Wait a moment, I have some medicine."

She fetched a thick ointment and bandages from a box in the room, sat Zhang Jian down, and removed his shirt. Zhang Jian complied, placing his straw hat and sword aside, and sat quietly as she applied the medicine.

As she applied the medicine, she glanced up at him and asked,

"Didn’t you work with the Ganshan branch? The Huilong Gang, after all, was just a bunch of thugs, and the only real threats were the Wang brothers and the Qing House."

"It was too troublesome to come and go, so I went alone."

"Then you single-handedly took out the Huilong Gang members and the three miners?"

Zhang Jian met her gaze and remained silent. She stopped applying the medicine and looked up at him. After a moment, Zhang Jian said,

"Your true face."

"Yonggong is not a technique to be used casually. Using it for too long or too often can cause the original form to deteriorate, endangering one’s life. It’s a technique used only when a Dark Dragon operative is truly needed."

"How much do you know about those Qing House people?"

Yanlong Sanhu was momentarily speechless at Zhang Jian’s unexpected question but soon resumed applying the medicine and replied,

"Enough, as much as needed."

"Enough to let the miners enter Ganshan City?"

"From the looks of it, you didn’t extract all the information from Liang Hong. The Dark Dragon is a specialized organization for intelligence gathering and covert operations, not a strike force. Even if we gathered all the Dark Dragon operatives from the New Continent, we couldn’t defeat a single Wulin Alliance strike force in a direct confrontation."

Zhang Jian extended his arm as she started wrapping the bandage and continued,

"So, you were powerless in Ganshan after the Imperial Army withdrew."

"We weren’t powerless. We were moving the Wulin Alliance branch and providing support. If the incident had dragged on, we could have involved the main branch or, in an emergency, other sects or groups. We couldn’t suppress them, but we knew where they were, what they were doing, and what they were planning."

"Did you know what the branch manager’s son was being subjected to?"

She paused wrapping the bandage, glanced at Zhang Jian’s eyes, and sighed.

"What happened to him? Did you kill him?"

"I didn’t kill him, but I don’t know if he’ll regain consciousness."

"What was his condition? Did he attack you under his own will, or did he seem like a moving puppet?"

To Zhang Jian, it sounded like there was a difference between the two.

"Just a puppet."

"Then he’ll likely become a fool. It’s a relatively good outcome."

"A fool is good?"

She leaned in close to wrap the bandage, almost embracing him, and looked up.

"You might not know, but the Qing House you eliminated was named Nangong, an ancient family dating back to the Zhou Dynasty. They were powerful before the empire was established, influencing various regions even though they didn’t found a nation."

Zhang Jian remained silent at the sudden history lesson.

"Given their long history, they had great expertise in sorcery and magic. During the Warring States period, they were so powerful that they could offer sacrifices to the heavens and change the weather. They were far superior to today’s Taoists. However, they made a wrong choice."

An ancient family, a wrong choice. Zhang Jian could guess.

"Yes, they sided with Xiang Yu after the fall of the Qin. It wasn’t an unusual decision at first, as the Demon King seemed destined to win, and many ancient families were swept up in the tide. In the end, they fell with the Demon King. But due to their many achievements, they survived for centuries, moving from the shadows to the fringes, evading the empire’s eyes and continuing their tenacious existence. In the process, their sorcery became dark and sinister."

She tied the end of the bandage and let go.

"The spell attempted on the branch manager’s son, Jia Yuanming, was one of those dark spells. It involved breaking the spirit through torture and drugs, then engraving malevolent magic within the body, turning a person into a complete slave. The truly terrifying aspect is that the victim appears normal on the surface, even to close friends."

Sitting upright, she looked directly at Zhang Jian.

"Ultimately, Branch Manager Jia had no choice but to act. It was only a matter of time before the back alleys of Ganshan were cleared. However, the Wulin Alliance, having been inactive for weeks, had already lost much of the people’s support in Ganshan. Even if they cleaned up the city, they wouldn’t receive praise. Branch Manager Jia would have discovered his son at the Huilong Gang’s headquarters and realized the situation."

Zhang Jian could picture the aftermath. Jia, finding his cherished son, would not abandon him, even if he seemed off, and despite the secret agent’s advice. The Qing House, Nangong Yezhun, would likely have escaped before the Huilong Gang was wiped out, effectively taking control of the Ganshan branch.

The possibilities for using the branch manager’s son were endless. He could have extracted secrets from the Ganshan branch, assassinated someone, or caused chaos, further destabilizing the already shaken branch. He could even have unleashed the malevolent magic, causing chaos and destroying the Wulin Alliance’s influence in Ganshan.

Thinking this, Zhang Jian looked back at her and asked,

"Does moving like a puppet mean the spell was incomplete?"

"Yes. If you had intervened earlier, you could have prevented him from becoming a minion of the miners."

Zhang Jian nodded slowly.

"You really seem to know a lot."

She nodded in return.

"Our conflict with them is more complex and longer-lasting than you can imagine. We have mostly grasped their recent, more intense movements."

"Mostly?"

She sighed again.

"Yes. We haven’t grasped everything. We’re short on manpower. So, tell me about the incident in the east. If it’s solid information, the Dark Dragon will consider it a debt to you."

Zhang Jian smiled slightly, looked at her, and began his story. He didn’t tell everything, just that he had met a seriously injured member of a tribe during his journey, who asked him for revenge. Following the clues provided, he came to this place.

Yanlong Sanhu immediately sensed there was more to the story. Zhang Jian knew she had noticed but didn’t elaborate.

She tilted her head and asked,

"So, you came here just because of a request from a native you met on the road, and fought just for that?"

Zhang Jian nodded. He looked at her puzzled expression and asked,

"Is this enough to clear the debt?"

"Yes. It’s valuable information. When you need help, the Dark Dragon will assist you."

"Then can you tell me why the Imperial Army withdrew from Ganshan?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"That’s the Imperial Army’s secret. I said I would help you, not fulfill all your requests."

Zhang Jian shrugged.

"I didn’t expect you to. Just make sure to stop those guys from causing trouble."

Zhang Jian stood up and started putting on his clothes, which he had removed for the bandaging. After a moment, he sheathed his half-drawn sword and reached for his straw hat, which was in Yanlong Sanhu’s hands. She was still sitting, holding the hat, and looking at him with the same enigmatic smile.

Noticing his raised eyebrow, she said,

"The rain seems to have gotten heavier."

"My clothes will get wetter."

She stood up, threw the hat aside, and approached him, placing her hand on his chest.

"There’s another way to dry them."

"Branch Manager Jia will be looking for me."

She chuckled and shook her head.

"If you had thought about that, you wouldn’t have come to see me today."

Zhang Jian nodded and took off his outer coat.

"You’re right."

He took off the clothes he had just put on. To dry them, they needed to be spread out and placed somewhere, but neither of them seemed to care as their clothes ended up scattered on the floor.

The sound of the rain starting again drowned out the sounds inside the room.