Chapter 42

The daylight was gray and hazy, weakly filtering into the room; Li Ping'an leaned against the wall and sat through the night until the street outside gradually quieted, leaving only a few dog barks and the night watchman's clapper sounds, when he realized dawn was approaching.

He slowly opened his eyes, feeling no sleepiness at all, only bloodshot veins and unmistakable fatigue; his body ached slightly, a lingering soreness from leaping down and tensing his nerves last night, and as he gently moved his arms and legs the joints emitted faint clicks.

The courtyard outside was still dead silent, but this silence differed from the usual, tinged with a palpable anxiety, as if every household had pricked up its ears, fearing to miss any rustle beyond the wall.

Li Ping'an slowly stood, changed out of his sweat‑soaked Night Cloak, and slipped back into his sour‑smelling old cotton coat, his face expertly assuming a sickly and timid expression; he needed to find out how much commotion the wasp nest he had disturbed last night had caused outside.

He pulled open the latch, creating a slight sound, then hunched his back, coughing as he shuffled into the courtyard.

Sure enough, Yan Bu Gui's door also cracked open almost at the same moment, revealing his blood‑red eyes filled with panic; it seemed the stingy old man hadn't slept peacefully all night either.

"Ping… Ping'an…" Yan Bu Gui's voice was pressed down to a hoarse whisper, "Did you… hear any sounds during the night? It seems the outside was a ruckus all night! Whistles and motorcycles, it scared the living daylights out of me!"

Li Ping'an, Yan Bu Gui (referred to as Teacher Yan? Actually "Teacher Yan" is Yan Bu Gui? The term "Teacher Yan" is Yan Bu Gui? It's a nickname? It's a title "Teacher Yan". Should we treat it as Yan Bu Gui? The glossary only has Yan Bu Gui. We'll output Yan Bu Gui as the name. The line: "Teacher Yan" is likely Yan Bu Gui. We'll keep it as Yan Bu Gui.)

His reaction clearly gave Yan Bu Gui an excuse to share his fear and seek validation. Yan Bu Gui widened the door crack, kept his voice low but with a hint of mystery from having exclusive news: "Oh my! Unbelievable! I heard something big happened in Nan Cheng last night! People died! Seems like some big shot… The Police Station and the Japanese military police are all out! They're going house to house! In our Alley Kou, they've added more personnel even before dawn!"

Dead? A big shot? Li Ping'an's heart skipped. Was it referring to the two corpses he threw out, or… those who died later in the fight? Those black-clad people…

His heart churned, but his face showed ever more "fear," even shivering a bit in cooperation: "Dead… dead people? The Imperial Army… they're all… mobilized? This… this world really… Old Master Yan, what… what should we do?"

"What can we do? Keep the door shut, go out less, avoid trouble!" Yan Bu Gui tried to sound experienced, but the panic in his eyes couldn't be fooled: "Really just bad luck, bad luck! I should have gone to Baiyun Temple to burn more incense…"

Just as they were speaking, a sudden clatter of hurried footsteps and loud shouts came from the Alley Kou!

"Everyone get back inside! No one is allowed to come out!"

"Routine inspection! Cooperate!"

The two people in the courtyard froze at once. Yan Bu Gui, like a startled rabbit, jerked his head back and slammed the door shut with a soft bang, the sound of the bolt sliding home clearly audible.

Li Ping'an instantly reverted to his terrified self, standing frozen, hands and feet at a loss, his eyes filled with dread as they stared toward the courtyard gate.

Soon, the courtyard gate was pounded with a loud bang, a harsh voice shouting: "Open the door! House-to-house search!"

Li Ping'an trembled as he shuffled over and pulled back the bolt.

Outside stood two plainclothes officers in black, their eyes more vicious and gloomy than yesterday, with two armed Black Dogs following them like they faced a great enemy. The lead plainclothes officer's gaze scraped across Li Ping'an's face and body like a small knife.

"What's your name? What do you do? Where were you last night? Did you see or hear anything unusual?" The questions came rapid-fire, giving no chance to catch a breath.

Li Ping'an burst into a cough, bending over, his face turning red, and answered haltingly: "Li… Li Ping'an… cough cough… I'm dying of sickness… can't leave the door… what… I didn't hear anything… cough cough cough…"

The plainclothes officer wrinkled his nose in disgust, took half a step back, sized up his shabby house and consumptive appearance, then glanced at the other tightly shut rooms in the courtyard. Apparently he also thought nothing useful could be gotten from this poor place, and he waved his hand impatiently: "Enough, enough, enough! Stay home honestly these days, no running around! Report any noise you hear right away! Hear me?"

"I… I heard… sir…" Li Ping'an nodded obsequiously.

The plainclothes officer said no more, led the others to knock on the neighboring courtyard's door, and the shouting resumed.

Li Ping'an slowly closed the courtyard gate, leaned his back against the door panel, the moment of terror fading from his face as his brows furrowed slightly.

The inspection indeed grew stricter. Moreover, from that plainclothes officer's questioning and demeanor just now, it seemed they weren't only tracing the source of the corpses, but also hunting for any living witnesses—or investigating the other side of last night's fight.

Those black-clad people… Did they escape? Or did they leave some clue that made the Japanese mobilize so heavily?

He had more questions in his mind. The situation didn't become clearer after successfully framing others last night; instead, it grew even more foggy.

He needed to gather more information.

All morning, the Siheyuan lay under a low-pressure fear, with no one visiting neighbors or speaking loudly. Li Ping'an stayed inside, but his ears remained perked, listening for any outside movement.

Occasionally, a neighbor would be called out by plainclothes officers or Black Dogs for questioning; when they returned, their faces were ashen and their lips sealed tight. Scraps of information still seeped through the courtyard walls, faint and vague.

"I heard… the dead aren't ordinary people…"

"The fighting near that residence in Nan Cheng was fierce, bullet holes pockmarking the walls…"

"The Imperial Army seems especially riled up, as if they're looking for someone…"

"But we daren't gossip randomly, or we'll bring disaster upon ourselves…"

Until the afternoon, when an unexpected piece of news arrived, like a stone tossed into dead water, quietly sending out ripples.

Old Man Wang, who ran the grocery store on the front street, after being taken in for questioning came back, quietly pulled aside a familiar neighbor, his voice tinged with uncontainable excitement and mystery: "Hey, you know? I heard… last night there wasn't just one group! Besides whatever the Imperial Army is tracking… there seems to be another band of heroes! Their skills are superb! They slipped right under the Imperial Army's nose! As they left, they even… left a mark!"

"A mark? What kind of mark?"

"It looks like… a flower… yeah, I heard they carved it on the wall with a knife, one… one bloody flower…"

"A bloody flower?"

Li Ping'an's heart gave a sudden jump!

That mark… he had a vague impression! It seemed he'd glimpsed it in some miscellaneous book or old newspaper floating around… it was the emblem of an extremely mysterious group active in the north, specially opposing the Japanese and their puppet regime—a civilian resistance organization!

Could it be… that those black-clad people last night were them?!

This speculation made Li Ping'an's heart involuntarily speed up. If they really were them, then was their target also that Deputy Director? To eradicate traitors? Or… like him, did they also want to dig something up from that outer residence?

His own bungled operation last night—wasn't it… helping them a hand? Or rather, dragging them into the water as well?

The situation instantly became extremely complex, but… also more interesting.

Li Ping'an slowly walked to the water vat, scooped up a ladle of cool water, and slowly poured it over his face. The icy chill stimulated him, refreshing his spirit.

The water had turned murkier than imaginable. He'd only meant to throw a stone to scare off stray dogs, but instead he'd roused the hidden dragon.

Now, the Japanese are in the open, he is in the dark, and that mysterious resistance group is also in the dark. Three sides—and possibly even more forces—have been drawn into this storm that he inadvertently ignited.

He wiped the water droplets from his face, gazing at his own unfathomable eyes reflected in the water.

He could no longer just wait passively. He needed to take action, to find in this tangled fog the place most advantageous to him, and even… try to make contact with those possible "comrades."

Of course, he must be extremely careful. Before confirming the other party's identity and intentions, any rash move could be fatal.

He needed a new plan, one that would let him keep an eye on the situation while being able to intervene at the right moment, even to steer the rhythm of events.

His gaze turned again to the gray, overcast sky outside the window, as if he could see through the clouds to the surging undercurrents beneath the city.

The eye of the storm was slowly forming. And he might become the one who could get closest to the storm's heart, even stirring its course.

But once he takes this step, there's no turning back.