The family blended into the growing crowd in the streets and hurried toward the South Wharf outside the city.
The farther they went, the more something felt amiss.
Panic-stricken rumors began to reach them along the way.
"The son of the Wang Family's household went out to relieve himself last night and never came back. They found him behind the woodpile this morning, with nothing but skin stretched over his bones..."
"Old Zhang, the night watchman, is gone too. Same kind of death—every drop of blood and vital essence drained from his body!"
"They say it's a terrible plague. It spreads on the wind!"
Fear spread like a plague.
On the road, Chen Mo even saw several corpses hastily covered with straw mats and carried away by the police. Hands sticking out from beneath the mats were withered like chicken claws.
His heart sank bit by bit. The Moon-Worship Cult had already made its move!
This was no plague!
When they reached the wharf, they found it packed with people, all crying, shouting, cursing, and shoving one another.
The ferries that usually came and went like weaving shuttles were now anchored far out in the middle of the river, not daring to approach.
The riverbank at Linhe was sealed off by rows of soldiers in black uniforms, each holding a repeating rifle.
A towering flag rose behind them, bearing the emblem of the United Government: crossed sickles and a sheaf of wheat.
"By order of the United Government! A severe infectious disease has broken out across Linhe's three counties. To prevent its spread, the area is under complete lockdown, effective immediately!"
"No one may leave! Return to your homes and await inspection and arrangements!"
A man who looked like an officer stood on high ground, repeating the orders through a megaphone made of sheet metal.
The crowd erupted. Some begged, some cursed, and others tried to charge the barricade.
The response was warning shots fired into the air, followed by the police beating people with their batons.
They weren't leaving anyone a way out?
"Come on. If we can't take the water route, let's see whether we can get out some other way!"
Chen Mo frowned as he watched. He had never expected the United Government to help enforce the lockdown.
He couldn't believe there was no inside story.
The family pushed against the frightened crowd and had barely made it a few steps when the cacophony behind them suddenly quieted.
A warning bell rang in Chen Mo's heart. He stopped abruptly and turned around.
At some point, the crowd had silently parted, leaving a passageway.
A man in a dark blue-green Zhongshan suit stood five paces away, his hands clasped behind his back as he gazed at them in silence.
It was Yue Changkong, an inspector from the Bureau of Strange Suppression.
He gave Chen Mo a completely different impression than he had the previous night.
After breaking open his Yin Aperture, Chen Mo saw Yue Changkong in a whole new light.
The man was a walking furnace!
His blood and vital energy blazed so fiercely that they seemed ready to burst out of his body.
Chen Mo could even sense the dull rumble of blood surging through the man's veins like underground lava.
The Taiyin Qi gathered in his own dantian was like a candle in the wind before that scorching aura.
The gap between them was simply too vast.
Fortunately, Yue Changkong's gaze lingered on Chen Mo for only a moment before moving on. Instead, Yue Shan came over from behind him.
As they passed each other, Yue Shan suddenly moved his lips.
"Don't waste your time. Every road out of the city, big or small, is blocked."
"These men belong to the United Government's Black Sickle Troops. There are at least three brigades outside the city—thirty thousand guns—surrounding Linhe's three counties as tightly as an iron barrel."
"They won't listen to reason."
His words drenched Chen Mo's slim hope of finding another way out in a basin of ice water.
Three brigades, more than thirty thousand troops, all superbly equipped.
This wasn't an ordinary quarantine against an epidemic. It was a military siege!
The United Government had actually deployed such a huge regular army to aid the Moon-Worship Cult's operation!
Chen Mo's heart sank to the bottom, his fingertips turning cold.
It wasn't that they'd been left without a way out. A net had been cast from the very start, turning Linhe's three counties into one enormous slaughterhouse.
After speaking, Yue Shan didn't spare him another glance. He quickened his pace and caught up with Yue Changkong and the others.
Yue Changkong had already reached the officer ahead and exchanged a few words with him in a low voice.
The officer immediately stood at attention and saluted respectfully. Then the orders blaring from the megaphone turned even harsher.
"Anyone else who charges the checkpoint or attempts to flee will be shot on the spot! Everyone must return home immediately and stay there!"
"Bang! Bang!"
Several more shots rang out into the sky, quelling the last of the crowd's unrest.
The Black Sickle Troops. Thirty thousand guns.
Chen Mo slowly unclenched his fist. His palm was already slick with cold sweat.
Charge through?
With his cultivation only just advanced enough to break open his Yin Aperture, facing a well-equipped, organized army would be like hurling an egg at a rock.
Individual valor was utterly useless against organized violence.
"Mo'er, what do we do now?"
Chen Dachuan had heard Yue Shan's words too, and his face was etched with panic.
By now, not even a fly could get out of Linhe County.
Chen Mo didn't answer right away.
He forced himself to calm down. His gaze swept over the chaotic wharf and the heavily guarded blockade in the distance, passed over the direction Yue Changkong and the others had gone, then settled on the ground beneath his feet.
"Charging through means certain death."
"Going home would just mean waiting for death."
"Looks like there's only one last option."
"If all else fails, we'll have to risk crossing the swift Blackwater Shore under cover of night."
"Wait here for me. I'll be right back."
Chen Mo touched the Bureau of Strange Suppression token in his pocket, gave the others a quick instruction, then turned and went against the thinning crowd, hurrying after Yue Changkong and his party.
Now he could only gamble: gamble on the weight of this token, and on whether the other man was willing to listen to reason.
"Inspector Yue!"
Chen Mo raised his voice when he was a few paces from Yue Changkong and the others—far enough not to provoke the man's guards, yet close enough to make sure he was heard.
Yue Changkong didn't stop, as if he hadn't heard.
But the two attendants beside him, both dressed in black uniforms, turned at once, hands on their gun grips and eyes fixed on Chen Mo.
Yue Shan stopped as well and looked back. When he saw Chen Mo, his brow furrowed slightly, curious about what he wanted.
Chen Mo took a deep breath. Under the cold gazes of the group, he pulled out the bronze token with the character for "anomaly" engraved at its center and held it out with both hands.
"I'm Chen Mo, a reserve agent of the Bureau of Strange Suppression in Jinmen." He kept his voice as steady as he could, also stating the identity Chen Dachuan had told him to use. "I'm on my way to Jin City to take the official examination. Inspector Yue, could you make an exception and let my family leave the city?"
The air seemed to freeze for an instant.
All the pressure converged on Yue Changkong's broad, upright back.
Several seconds of silence stretched out like hours.
At last, Yue Changkong slowly turned around. His eyes first fell on the token in Chen Mo's hands, lingered there for about two breaths, then lifted to his face.
Chen Mo felt that terrifying, scorching aura descend over him again, heavier than before.
The Taiyin Qi in his dantian began to circulate of its own accord, bringing a hint of coolness.
Yet he still felt as if he were standing at the edge of a furnace, barely able to breathe.
"A reserve agent from Jinmen?"
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