Chen Shouyi darted swiftly between the city's buildings.
As he moved farther from the front lines, the number of puppet troops rushing to the battlefield gradually dwindled. A few scattered pedestrians began to appear on the road, so he moved with greater care and stealth.
Until he completed his mission, it was best not to cause trouble if he could avoid it. The mission came first.
Chen Shouyi noticed that most of the pedestrians seemed hurried. An eerie stillness hung over the entire city. Even when people ran into acquaintances on the road, they usually just nodded in greeting or, at most, exchanged a few quiet words in whispers.
A few scattered shops along either side of the street were open, but business was sluggish, with hardly any customers.
"By all appearances, this place is under extremely tight control. If I keep going like this, I'll be spotted sooner or later," Chen Shouyi thought.
He pondered briefly, then landed lightly on the roof of a house in a narrow alley. He turned his head and listened intently for a while. Soon, he silently leaped down from the roof. The owner of the courtyard seemed to have gone out; the house's doors stood wide open, and no one was inside.
He stepped inside.
A strong smell of incense and joss sticks washed over him.
In the main hall, a half-foot-tall wooden statue of the God of Hunting stood quietly on a square redwood table. Three sticks of incense burned before it, their smoke curling through the air.
Chen Shouyi swept it a glance without expression, then looked away.
The house was decorated in an old-fashioned style, with calligraphy and paintings covering the walls.
The sight of the paintings stirred something in him. He quickly picked out a large silk painting, about