On the third day in Human-Bingzi-Twelve, the first light of dawn broke over the horizon.
For once, Chen Jin had slept soundly through the night without a single dream. When he woke, he felt completely refreshed.
He looked up and saw that Xi was still in the water vat, tirelessly twisting thread and weaving silk. The faint sound of her shuttle passing back and forth had scarcely let up, and the pile of Shark Silk beside her seemed to have grown even thicker.
[Shark Silk], a precious item, can be exchanged for 350 Yanfu Points.
He raised an eyebrow and walked over to the vat, asking with some surprise, "You... aren't you working a little too hard?"
He was ashamed to call himself her "overseer" when she worked so hard she forgot to eat and sleep.
Xi merely shook her head. Her pale face was expressionless, and her hands never stopped moving as she focused solely on her work.
Seeing this, Chen Jin was happy to take it easy. He nodded in approval. "Good. Keep it up."
Then he turned and headed out, beginning another day as a guardsman.
He glanced back at the earthen house, which could only be described as bare as bare could be. Aside from a bed, a mat, a vat, and a Shark Person, it contained almost nothing.
Heifu's meager wages and gambling habit had clearly all gone toward wine and the Leaf Game.
"I should tidy the place up when I get the chance," he mused. "At least make it look fit to live in."
Heifu was unmarried. Under the Garrison Law, he should have been stationed at the barracks day and night.
But circumstances were exceptional. Since he had "captured" the Shark Person and needed to "keep watch" over her, Squad Leader Wang Wu had specially authorized him to return home after each day's duty.
When he reached his post, the Identity Tablet at his waist grew slightly warm, and the [Law Enforcement] status activated silently.
The vast, ever-flowing bronze-colored laws appeared before him once more, stretching away like a boundless sea of smoke.
As he patrolled the streets and alleys of Langya County with his squad, Chen Jin eagerly absorbed this knowledge.
Thanks to his experience preparing for the legal qualification exam at police academy and earning a public service lawyer's certificate, he had some familiarity with the Shuihudi Qin Slips.
The circumstances of Heaven-Jiazi-Nine couldn't simply be applied to Human-Bingzi-Twelve, but their basic legal principles and strict approach had much in common, greatly aiding his understanding.
He soon noticed a problem. Although the Law Eye granted every law enforcer the ability to consult the laws at any time, Great Qin had conquered the Six Kingdoms and introduced "one script for all" only recently.
Take this old Qi territory, for example. The various states had once used completely different scripts. Even with Chancellor Li Si vigorously promoting a simplified form of Small Seal Script, how could everyone become proficient in it in just a few short years?
Without the temporary boost of 75% proficiency in ancient writing granted by Yanfu, he would have been no better than illiterate in the face of these floating Small Seal characters.
Even many children of prominent families might not have mastered them, let alone ordinary soldiers and commoners.
As a result, most Qin soldiers had long since grown used to treating the floating characters before them as some incomprehensible "special effect." When enforcing the law, they usually just shouted a few familiar decrees. If the circumstances happened to fit, the power of the laws would naturally be invoked; if not, they simply drew their blades and settled things by force.
That was precisely why their squad's Qin Law took effect far more often than others'. Their Squad Leader, Wang Wu, could read and seemed intent on teaching them.
As he silently memorized the laws, Chen Jin also committed Langya County's street layout, important buildings, and possible blind spots to memory.
He spent about an hour patrolling while "slacking off" to study. Then the Identity Tablet at his waist suddenly glimmered with a soft, hazy light.
Wang Wu, walking ahead, noticed at once and swept his hand through the air.
"Someone's reported a crime! The incident is at the County Magistrate Mansion. Everyone, follow me!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, he was already sprinting toward a nearby mansion with towering gates and an imposing facade.
Chen Jin and the other squad members immediately focused and hurried after him.
The County Magistrate's residence in Langya County.
Its vermilion gates, high walls, and sweeping eaves all proclaimed the owner's power. But now, its imposing entrance stood wide open, and a dreadful silence hung within. Only the thick, cloying stench of blood rolled out in waves on the wind, sickening anyone who smelled it.
Wang Wu's expression turned grave. He signaled for caution and stepped over the tall threshold first.
The other two guards followed close behind.
But the instant the three of them disappeared into the shadows inside the gate—
Something changed!
They saw no enemies and heard no weapons cutting through the air!
Wang Wu and the other two suddenly stiffened as if countless invisible hands had clamped around their throats. Then they began to struggle violently! Their hands clawed frantically at their necks, and hoarse, choking sounds came from their throats.
It was the sound of blood and foam blocking their windpipes!
The next moment, three blood-red lines blossomed across their necks like eerie red lips, then widened!
Blood sprayed out like water from burst skins, splattering across the exquisitely carved floor and pillars of the entryway.
The three men couldn't even manage a proper scream. Their eyes bulged with shock and confusion as they fell heavily to the ground, their bodies twitching involuntarily. They were clearly beyond saving.
Chen Jin's steps abruptly froze in place, and his pupils contracted!
His gaze swept rapidly over the mansion. Even after surviving the brutality of more than a dozen Yanfu Events, the sight before him still made his heart tighten.
The once-luxurious courtyards and pavilions had become a living hell.
Bodies. They were everywhere.
Servants and people in brocade robes, men and women, old and young, all lay strewn across the ground in different poses. Every one of them bore the same hideous, fatal wounds.
Blood soaked the expensive carpets and gathered in pools, slowly running down the jade steps.
In the oppressive silence, the stench of blood was so strong it was suffocating.
And amid that silent mountain of corpses and sea of blood, only one person near the center of the courtyard was still alive.
An old woman with graying hair and clothes soaked in blood lay facedown, struggling feebly. She reached a trembling hand toward the gate, toward Chen Jin.
Her lips moved, and a barely audible breath escaped them. "Help... me..."
Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Jin rushed forward to save her.
Slit throats? Extensive, fatal cuts?
Those were the last things he feared!
His Flesh of Vision inheritance surged through him almost instantly. He took a step forward, ready to charge into the courtyard and rescue her!
But the moment he moved—
"Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!"
Several extremely fine, deep wounds suddenly split open across his arms, cheeks, and chest! It was as though countless invisible, razor-sharp blades had sliced through his body in an instant!
His limbs were severed, and blood gushed out at once, but his wounds began to heal furiously at a visible speed!
[Spider Cutter]
Category: Weapon
Quality: Rare
Notes: Not a traditional Japanese famous blade, but an unusual weapon forged by combining the Yin Flow Strange Path with Mechanism Art.
North Sea Cold Iron was mixed with strands of a strange spider's silk and tempered, then treated with a secret method to produce exceedingly fine threads that were colorless and invisible, yet incredibly strong and exceptionally sharp.
The threads are usually carefully set up in advance across a designated area. When pulled taut, they are almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Touch them, and bones snap and tendons tear, as though cut by invisible blades—hence the name "Spider Cutter."
It excels at creating killing traps, dividing the battlefield and slaughtering living beings without a sound.