Conscription

Yue Changkong studied the token closely for a moment before slowly lifting his gaze. "The token is genuine. The Netherworld patterns on it are a technique unique to Chen Xuanli."

Chen Mo's heart jolted. He hadn't expected the other man to recognize his origins at a glance.

"What is Chen Xuanli to you?" he asked directly.

"He's my grandfather." Chen Mo knew there was no point hiding it, so he admitted it frankly.

A complex glimmer flickered in Yue Changkong's eyes. He nodded slightly, and the invisible, scorching pressure radiating from him eased.

"I didn't expect to meet White Paper Yama's grandson here." He changed the subject. "How much of your family's Nether Paper-Crafting Art did you inherit from him? What level have you reached?"

Feeling the weight behind the other man's words, Chen Mo could only answer honestly. "Reporting to Inspector Yue, my family preserved only the first three levels of the technique. I've only reached the third level myself."

"The third level..." Yue Changkong murmured, as if weighing something.

He fell silent for a moment, glanced at Chen Dachuan and the other two, who were anxiously waiting in the distance, then turned his gaze back to Chen Mo.

"What happened in Linhe County is no small matter. We're short on manpower right now, especially people who understand this line of work."

"Since you're Chen Xuanli's successor and a provisional member of the Bureau of Strange Suppression, you'll stay here and take orders."

"This situation is your ready-made test." Yue Changkong didn't bother asking what Chen Mo thought. He made the decision outright. "I'll have someone escort your family safely out of the city. As for you, you'll stay and help deal with the strange incidents in town."

"If you prove yourself here, I'll consider you to have passed the test, and you can join my bureau directly."

Chen Mo's heart tightened, but the other man had already made himself clear. He had no room to refuse.

"Understood."

Yue Changkong nodded and instructed the officer beside him. "Battalion Commander Liu, take note of those three people's features. Let them through Checkpoint Three on the east side and have them leave aboard the Rising Sun."

"The Rising Sun?" Battalion Commander Liu gave a slight start, then immediately straightened up. "Yes! I understand! I'll make sure they get there safely!"

Only after Battalion Commander Liu had left did Yue Changkong turn back to Chen Mo. "The Rising Sun is an internal affairs vessel belonging to the Bureau of Strange Suppression. It's safer than those ferries. You can rest easy now."

"How am I supposed to rest easy if I'm staying here?"

Though Chen Mo cursed inwardly, he could only clasp his hands solemnly and put on a grateful expression. "Thank you, Inspector Yue."

"You don't need to thank me. You earned this by agreeing to stay."

Yue Changkong calmly pointed out the nature of their exchange. "From now on, you're temporarily under my command."

"Linhe County's waters run deep. Since your Paper Crafting Technique has reached the third level, you should have developed a decent sense for yin energy. That'll come in handy."

He turned slightly to signal Chen Mo and the others to follow, then headed toward a temporary tent near the docks.

The tent was dimly lit. Several crude desks had been pushed together, and a rough map of Linhe County lay spread across them, with several areas heavily circled in ink.

Yue Changkong walked to the head of the table but didn't sit. He merely tapped the part of the map marked as the western district with his knuckles.

"Linhe County isn't big, but its waterways converge here, and all sorts of people mix together. Besides the few forces operating in the open, there's plenty of mud hidden beneath the water."

He looked up at Chen Mo. "Our recent investigations found signs of unusual activity in Rat Alley, the Old Wharf Warehouse District, and around the abandoned Dragon King Temple downstream. It looks like the work of those low-class, unorthodox sects."

"Low-class, unorthodox sects?" Chen Mo was unfamiliar with the term.

"The Yin-Retrieval Sect, shadow couriers, corpse carriers... That sort of thing. They don't belong to the orthodox mystic sects. Most make a living on the fringes of baleful yin and strange entities. Their methods are sinister, and they often skirt taboos."

Yue Changkong's explanation was brief, but his words carried a chill. "Usually, they scrape by in the shadows, and the Anomaly Suppression Bureau doesn't necessarily hunt them all down. But Linhe County can't afford to have them around right now."

He pointed at the three marks on the map.

"Your task is to work with Yue Shan's team, find their real hideouts in these areas, and then..."

Yue Changkong's voice was chillingly cold. "Wipe them out."

"Yue Shan's team will handle most of the killing. You'll make sure no one gets away and deal with any baleful, filthy methods they leave behind."

"This is a real battle, and it's your test."

"Let's see how much skill and courage Chen Xuanli's grandson inherited, beyond his bloodline."

"Yes, sir."

When the other man picked up his teacup, Chen Mo took the cue and excused himself. He followed Yue Shan out of the tent.

"I didn't expect you to be White Paper Yama's grandson. I've seen your family's secret Paper Crafting Technique in the cultivation manual archive."

Yue Shan led the way without looking back, his tone somewhat unfriendly. "You were the one who wiped out the Black Tiger Gang, weren't you? And you played dumb with me that day."

"Captain, I had no choice. It was self-defense."

Chen Mo neither denied it nor offered any further explanation.

There was no need to explain. He believed Yue Shan wouldn't make trouble for him over those few dead men.

Yue Shan stopped and turned around, staring at him for several seconds.

"Kid, the first rule of working under me is don't treat the people on your team like fools."

"You have your secrets and your methods. That's normal. Who in the Anomaly Suppression Bureau doesn't have a trump card they'd rather keep hidden?"

As he spoke, he kept his eyes on Chen Mo. "But on a mission, on the battlefield, I need to know when you'll use what methods, whether you might lose control, and whether you might drag your teammates down with you."

"I don't care to dig into what happened with the Black Tiger Gang, but you've been temporarily assigned to my squad. To some extent, your life and mine are bound together."

"Captain, your criticism is fair." Chen Mo took a deep breath and met Yue Shan's gaze. "I can promise you that, now that I'm under your command, I'll follow your orders and do everything I can. I won't conceal anything that might affect the mission."

Yue Shan continued to study him for a moment before the oppressive pressure slowly faded. His tone softened slightly.

"Remember what you said. Reliability matters most in a team from the Anomaly Suppression Bureau. Skills can be trained, experience can be gained, but people with rotten character who get their teammates killed usually don't live long."

With that, Yue Shan turned and continued walking.

Chen Mo followed him through a passage temporarily cordoned off in the dock district, heading toward a more heavily guarded area farther inside.

Along the way, black-uniformed personnel hurried back and forth.

The two arrived at a larger tent and lifted its heavy flap.

The inside was slightly messier than Yue Changkong's tent, with a more lived-in feel.

Several camp beds stood against the sides. A long table occupied the middle, covered with a more detailed city defense map and scattered files. Several bulging packs and metal cases were piled in a corner.

There were already three people inside.

Zhou Ling, Zhao Tie, and a man Chen Mo hadn't met before.