Just as Wang Wu signaled for the guards to take the Shark Person away, Chen Jin suddenly stepped forward, placing himself between his companions and the Shark Person.
"Squad Leader, wait." He lowered his voice.
"Hm?" Wang Wu furrowed his brow and gave him a questioning look.
Chen Jin rubbed his hands together, his face breaking into a shrewd grin. "Squad Leader, brothers, think about it. If we just hand this thing over, how much reward will our superiors give us?
"At most, a few dozen Spirit Coins. After they skim their share at every level, how many coppers will be left for us?"
"But what if... we secretly raise her ourselves?
"My place may be shabby, but there's an abandoned cellar. We can clean it up and set up a big water vat. That should be enough to keep her alive.
"This thing can cry pearls and weave a treasure called Shark Silk. It doesn't get wet in water, and it's worth a fortune! Even if she dies, the lamp oil rendered from her fat can burn for ten thousand years!"
He studied the expressions of the other three, then fanned the flames some more. "When the time comes, the Shark Silk she spins and the pearls she produces will all be personally 'turned over to the state treasury' by you, Squad Leader, through a reliable channel. We'll split the rewards four ways! How does that sound?"
"Split four ways?" Ju's breathing quickened.
"But..." Ji was still hesitant. "Wouldn't this count as concealing tribute? That's a serious crime..."
"Wasn't that tough guy we caught a few days ago locked up for exactly that?"
"Hey!" Chen Jin cut him off at once. "You can't put it that way. The four of us found this Shark Person, and we're turning over the Shark Pearls and Shark Silk she produces to the state treasury.
"Privately keeping Southern Pearls is a serious crime, but is raising Clam Mothers a crime too?"
Ji's eyes lit up. "You make a good point!"
The last traces of hesitation were swept away by their excitement. They could almost see themselves lounging around and counting money in the future.
All the unhappiness and exhaustion from being urgently called in to work on their day off and chasing a criminal through the rain vanished beneath the overwhelming joy of this unexpected windfall.
The mood instantly turned lively.
"Good! That's what we'll do!" Wang Wu slapped his thigh and made up his mind. He looked around. "Keep your mouths shut! If a single word of this gets out, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
"Don't worry, Squad Leader!" The two guards immediately thumped their chests in promise, excitement written all over their faces.
"Fu," Wang Wu said, turning to Chen Jin with a much warmer tone, "since the idea was yours and you're providing the place, you'll be responsible for keeping the Shark Person. Be careful. Don't let her die, and don't let her escape!"
"Don't worry, Squad Leader. Leave it to me!" Chen Jin thumped his chest in promise.
Squad Leader Wang Wu made his decision on the spot and barked, "Don't just stand there!
"Ju, Ji, give me a hand. Pick up the Shark Person. Easy does it, and hurry! It's raining hard, and no one's around. Get her to Heifu's place, quick! Stay sharp, and don't let any of the other night patrolmen see you!"
They immediately answered and, as quietly as they could, lifted the heavy, slick tail and the Shark Person's upper body, which was still struggling feebly.
Chen Jin pointed to the Law Eye in the sky.
Wang Wu understood. He gripped his Identity Tablet and muttered a few words under his breath. The Law Eye, which had been looking their way, shifted its gaze and stared intently at a house in the distance.
With the rain and darkness as cover, they hurried through the quiet alleys toward Heifu's home.
Along the way, they passed the alley where the peddler and merchant had fallen dead.
The two corpses still lay cold in the muddy water. Rain washed over their stiffening forms and the bloodstains around them, which had long since faded. No one paid them any mind.
Wang Wu glanced at them and said coolly to Chen Jin, "Hmph. From the signs left behind, the fight looks similar to the one in your courtyard. Seems that thief didn't just ambush you, but also killed these two while he was at it.
"We were investigating their corpses earlier, which was why we couldn't get to you in time."
Looking at the two pitiful corpses, Chen Jin picked up the conversation. "They're just going to leave the bodies here? Aren't their families coming to claim them?"
The guard Ju beside them snorted at that. "Families? Ha! You think merchants and peddlers can get wives? Heifu, did you get hit so hard last night that you're talking nonsense just to make me laugh?"
Squad Leader Wang Wu rarely bothered to explain, but this time he did. "When His Majesty attacked Nanyue, he conscripted large numbers of merchants, sons-in-law, and people of low status to fill the miasma-ridden lands of Lingnan. Nine out of ten never came back.
"What respectable family would marry their daughter to someone in such a lowly trade? If they die, they die. No one misses them."
He paused, then added, "Don't worry. Today's patrolmen will deal with them. It's not our shift, so don't be too eager to volunteer. You'll only make people suspicious."
The group returned to Heifu's low, earthen house without a sound.
Chen Jin quickly unlocked the door. Together, they carried the Shark Person inside and carefully lowered her into the abandoned water vat, which was full of clean water.
As soon as the Shark Person touched the water, she seemed to regain a little vitality. Still weak, she curled up at the bottom of the vat, only her frightened, deep-blue eyes visible as she looked at them.
"All right. That's enough for today. Keep your mouths shut!"
Wang Wu sternly surveyed each of his men again. Only after seeing them all solemnly promise did he relax and wave them off. "Dismissed! Go home, all of you. Nothing happened tonight."
Ju and Ji quickly disappeared into the rainy night, barely able to contain their excitement and hopes for the future.
Wang Wu was the last to leave. He gave Chen Jin a meaningful look and said quietly, "Keep an eye on 'our' treasure." Then he turned and vanished into the darkness.
Chen Jin barred the door. Silence returned to the room, broken only by the patter of rain outside and the faint ripples stirring in the vat.
Almost as soon as he had fully relaxed, he felt the Identity Tablet at his waist tremble slightly. The light from the words [Enforcement] faded completely, then disappeared.
At the same time, the countless bronze seal-script characters of the Qin Law, which had been floating and swirling before his eyes as though they were tangible, scattered like smoke blown away by the wind and vanished in an instant.
His vision returned to "normal." The special sight and powers he had gained through the might of the laws of Great Qin were taken from him as soon as he "clocked out."
"Walker, you've gathered a great deal of Qin Law this time. Keep up the good work, and enter the [Enforcement] state as often as possible."
Next, it was time to have a proper talk with the Shark Person.
"You don't need to be so nervous. I'm not a bad person. Do you have a name?"
"Xi. Xi is my name."
"Okay, Xi. What do you like to eat?"
"Huh?"
"Don't be nervous. It's safe here. Just think of it as a casual chat."
"I like seaweed, and fish. Any kind of fish is fine."
"What is your sex?"
"Uh, I'm female for now, but my sex-change period is coming soon, so I can't say what sex I'll be for a while after that..."
Some fish in the ocean changed sex. They were female as juveniles and male as adults.
Others were hermaphrodites, and their sex changed depending on social status and body size.
"..."
Knowledge entered his brain in a strange way.
Chen Jin suddenly lost all desire to win the Shark Person's favor.