Preparations to Become an Operative

"Xiao Chen, how can you talk like that..."

Liu Shoucai was about to say something more when Chen Mo interrupted him.

"Shopkeeper Liu, I'm heading home first. We can talk later."

Chen Mo couldn't be bothered to chat with him. He picked up his luggage, turned around, and headed for his own back door across the street.

Deliverance Studio's front doors were also tightly shut. Several gaunt refugees huddled outside, blocking the already narrow storefront completely.

Ignoring their curious stares, he didn't head for the closed front entrance. Instead, he turned into an even narrower alley beside the shop.

The alley was only wide enough for one person to pass through. High walls rose on both sides, their bases covered in slick moss, and the air carried the faint, distinctive stench of a gutter.

As he neared his back door, the corner of his eye caught the neighboring house's back door, usually kept shut year-round. Now, it stood open.

The clutter that had once filled the courtyard seemed to have been cleared away. A dozen or so burly men sat in the open space, gathered around a large pot in which they were cooking some kind of meat.

Chen Mo's thoughts stirred. The pottery-figure shop next door on his right had been poorly run, and its owner had moved away before the New Year. It had sat empty ever since. Had it been sold?

Or had someone taken it over temporarily?

Judging by the men, they didn't look like ordinary residents.

He hesitated only briefly, making no attempt to linger and investigate, then reached out and pushed open his back door.

The hinges creaked as the door swung open.

Beyond it lay the middle courtyard of his home. Compared to the disorder he'd left behind, it had now been tidied up remarkably well.

In one corner of the courtyard, Chen Dachuan hunched over a plank, intent on shaving it with a plane.

A little girl of about five or six, her hair tied into two small braids, crouched a few steps away from him. She rested her chin in her hands and stared blankly at the wood shavings dancing through the air.

The creak of the door startled her.

She turned around, revealing a small, thin face with large eyes. At the sight of the unfamiliar Chen Mo, she shrank back, but said nothing.

A middle-aged woman cooking in the corner still held a spatula. She reflexively wiped her hands on her apron, her lips moving without a sound, then cast an anxious glance at Chen Dachuan.

Chen Dachuan also stopped working and slowly turned around.

Chen Mo's heart sank.

In just a few months, his adoptive father's hair had turned more than half white, and his complexion had taken on an unhealthy yellowish pallor.

"Back at last, are you?" Chen Dachuan's first words held little joy at their reunion. Instead, they sounded like he was suppressing a fit of anger.

Chen Mo set his luggage by his feet and, following his predecessor's habit, called out, "Dad."

Chen Dachuan didn't respond. He looked Chen Mo up and down, as if checking that he still had all his limbs, then lifted his chin toward the mother and daughter. "This is your Aunt Liu, and this is Yuanyuan. They're the family of an old friend. They fell on hard times, so they're staying here for now."

His introduction was extremely brief, with no further explanation.

Chen Mo turned to the mother and daughter and gave a slight nod. "Aunt Liu." Only after greeting her did he look at the thin little girl. She was still gazing at him timidly.

He didn't say anything more. He set his luggage on a stone stool nearby, undid the straps, and pulled out a paper-wrapped bundle.

The small package had been carefully tied, and grease stains showed through the paper.

On his way back, he'd bought date-paste flatbreads from an old established shop, along with a small packet of five-spice broad beans. He'd originally meant to eat them on the road.

Holding the package, he walked over to Yuanyuan and crouched in front of her with a smile. "Here, have some."

The child shrank back, her little hands clutching the patched knees of her trousers.

Chen Mo held out the package. "I bought it in Jin City. It's sweet."

Yuanyuan didn't dare take it right away. She first looked up at her mother.

Aunt Liu looked embarrassed, but grateful too. In the end, she gave a gentle nod. "Go on, thank Brother Chen."

"Thank you, big brother."

Only after her mother gave permission did Yuanyuan reach out with her thin little hands and carefully accept the package, which felt rather heavy to her.

The sweet aroma seeping through the oiled paper made her sniff involuntarily.

"Go ahead and open it."

Chen Mo stood up and left the child to her food, turning to Chen Dachuan instead. "Dad, your hair..."

"It's nothing. I'm not dead yet."

Chen Dachuan cut him off brusquely. His eyes flicked toward Yuanyuan, who was taking small bites of a flatbread, and his expression seemed to soften a little. But when he turned back to Chen Mo, his face stiffened again. "Come with me."

With that, Chen Dachuan turned and headed straight for the shop, his back carrying a heavy air of anger.

Chen Mo said nothing and silently followed him.

As soon as they entered the shop, Chen Dachuan shut the door behind them, cutting off the faint sounds from the middle courtyard.

The room was dim, lit only by a few slivers of daylight that filtered through the gaps around the door and windows.

Chen Dachuan whirled around. His lips parted, and a scolding was on the verge of bursting out.

Then he saw Chen Mo pull two bundles from his luggage and gently set them on the main room's table.

They were two bundles of Yin Talisman Paper.

The curse on Chen Dachuan's lips caught in his throat. His face turned a little awkward, and he lowered his voice. "Where did the five hundred silver dollars in the cellar come from?"

"I earned it by wiping out the Black Tiger Gang," Chen Mo admitted calmly. There was no need to hide it from him.

Even if he didn't say so, Chen Dachuan could probably guess.

"So it really was you!" Chen Dachuan forced the words through clenched teeth. His chest heaved once. "Black-Faced Tiger wasn't some easy target. He had dozens of desperate men under him... You did it alone?"

"You've trained our secret art to the third level?" He looked his son over again, brow furrowed.

After all these years, he himself had only reached the second level, enough to scare ordinary people.

"Did you leave anyone alive?"

"No." Chen Mo thought it over, then added with some concern, "Everyone in the courtyard that night died. But on the road, the Paper Puppet was stopped by the Inspection Bureau."

Chen Dachuan drew a deep breath. He was silent for a long while before speaking. "No wonder the Inspection Bureau came knocking again three days ago."

He turned and took a black wooden token from a hidden compartment at the very bottom of the altar table, then placed it lightly beside the two bundles of Yin Talisman Paper.

The token was antiquated, with the character "镇" carved on the front and elaborate cloud patterns on the back.

"Back then, your grandfather gave the complete first volume of the Nether Paper-Crafting Art, along with our family's heirloom Eye-Dotting Brush, to the Anomaly Suppression Bureau."

Chen Mo's pupils contracted slightly.

"Why?"

"The terms were that after his death, the Anomaly Suppression Bureau would keep the two of us safe, as long as we stayed out of vendettas in the martial world and didn't interfere with ordinary livelihoods."

Chen Dachuan looked at the token, his expression complicated. "But that was all they promised."

"All these years, I kept things hidden and only taught you the basics. I didn't want you getting involved in the affairs of the Yin Sect."

"I never thought... Ah." He let out a long sigh. "With this token, the Inspection Bureau should stop hounding you over the Black Tiger Gang. It can let you take the Anomaly Suppression Bureau's examination once as a provisional operative. That was also part of the deal your grandfather made."

He handed the token to Chen Mo. "I don't have the original Nether Paper-Crafting Art. Your grandfather left it in Jin City, beneath the locust tree in the back courtyard of Dragon Dharma Temple."

"As for the Anomaly Suppression Bureau's examination, it's on the eighth of next month. Whether you go or not is up to you."