Market

The excitement brought by the rewards permeated the barracks, but it was soon suppressed by the monotony and exhaustion of daily life.

When the day of rest arrived, the comrades could no longer restrain themselves; they gathered in small groups, preparing to spend their earnings in the market to soothe their frayed nerves.

"Heifu, let's go! The East Market is having a grand fair today; let's go hunt for some good things!" a tall, thin Guard who usually spoke with Heifu called out.

The Langya East Market was far more orderly and bizarre than Chen Jin had imagined.

The plaza, paved with massive bluestone slabs, was laid out in a strict grid, with wooden signs carved with commodity names hanging in different sections.

The "Law Eye" in the sky cast a cold, indifferent halo over the entire market, ensuring every transaction took place under its omnipresent gaze.

There was no boisterous hawking; the merchants were mostly taciturn, simply displaying their goods neatly. Customers also spoke in hushed tones, completing transactions quickly for fear that excessive noise might violate some law.

--The crime of "speaking inappropriately"—there were relevant statutes for that in Qin Law.

The variety of goods in the market was vast, with the Alchemist curiosities and the slave market being the most eye-catching.

In the Alchemist section, vendors sold strange eyeballs soaked in medicinal liquids, claiming that wearing them could grant "clear vision"; others peddled bamboo slips inscribed with bizarre patterns, boasting they could "ward off evil once."

Some were even selling a type of living, writhing black moss, claiming it came from the depths of Mount Li and could "absorb earth energy to slightly strengthen the body."

In this Fruit, the status of an Alchemist was equal to that of high officials; they attended court, functioning somewhat like technical bureaucrats.

Chen Jin spent a few Spirit Coins to buy a few strange little items.

The slave market was a large area enclosed by fences, containing men, women, and children of all ages, wearing wooden cangues around their necks with numb expressions. Most were prisoners of war or "criminals" punished by law, with tattoos marking their status on their chests or foreheads. Purchasing them required not only Spirit Coins but also a special "Service Voucher," issued by the government based on merit.

Chen Jin intended to walk quickly past this area, but his gaze was inadvertently captured by a figure in the corner.

It was a young girl who looked no more than ten years old, dressed in rags and skin and bones, yet her features were exceptionally delicate.

However, what was most striking was her unusually long hair.

Her jet-black hair hung loose, thick as a heavy cloak, cascading from the top of her head; the ends even dragged on the muddy ground behind her, trailing for several steps.

It was rare for a girl of that age to have such long hair.

Just then, a silk-clad, pot-bellied man who looked like a merchant stopped in front of the girl, accompanied by a broker.

The broker smiled obsequiously and yanked the girl's hair, forcing her to lift her head to show her face.

"Master, look, although this one is thin, she has good bones; she'll be quite pretty once cleaned up! Buy her, raise her for two years, and she can be a maid who serves tea and water, or..." The broker let out a suggestive laugh.

The merchant reached out with a fat finger and pinched the girl's cheek.

The girl struggled like a small beast driven into a corner.

"Hey! You dare move!" The broker cursed, tightening his grip on her hair.

Just as the merchant tried to pry her mouth open to check her teeth, the girl suddenly opened her mouth and bit down hard on his fat finger!

"Ah--!" The merchant let out a pig-like shriek and jerked his hand back, his finger already dripping with blood.

"Little bitch! You're courting death!" The broker was furious; he raised the leather whip in his hand and lashed out at the girl indiscriminately.

The whip cracked, landing on the girl's thin frame.

She screamed and tried to curl up to hide, but the heavy wooden cangue and the long hair trailing on the ground were obstacles.

She rolled on the ground in agony, her long hair stained with mud and perhaps the blood seeping from her own body, twisting into matted strands and making her look even more wretched.

Chen Jin's footsteps faltered.

An inexplicable sense of compassion pricked at him.

Almost subconsciously, he reached for the Identity Tablet at his waist. One hundred and fifty-seven Spirit Coins—perhaps enough to buy her. He even took half a step forward.

But the next moment, his fingers tightened, and he stopped dead.

Buy her? And then what?

He was Chen Jin, not Heifu.

He was in a dangerous situation, walking on thin ice; everything he did was dancing on the edge of a blade. Once exposed, it would be a catastrophic crime involving the execution of his entire clan.

He himself was barely hanging on; where could he place her? Was he to let her escape the wolf's den only to enter a tiger's lair, perhaps even implicating her in his own death?

A moment of kindness might only lead to a faster destruction.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the untimely softness in his heart, forced himself to look away, and turned to walk toward the market exit.

The sound of whipping and whimpering behind him gradually faded, drowned out by the bustle of the market, but the image of the girl rolling in the mud with her long hair trailing behind remained etched in his mind.

The sky had turned gloomy again at some point; lead-gray clouds gathered once more, and cold rain began to fall.

The stall owners in the market hurried to pack up, trying to leave before the curfew drums sounded.

Chen Jin pulled his collar tight and, following the navigation information provided by Ren Tu in his mind, walked quickly through the increasingly deserted streets.

The rain grew denser, soaking his shoulders and washing away the filth on the surface of this massive city.

Heifu's home was deep in a dirty, narrow alley near the city wall—a low, mud-brick house that shared a moss-covered wall with its neighbors.

The door was crude, hanging on a rusty copper lock.

Chen Jin opened the door with the Key he had found on Heifu, and a smell mixed with dust, mold, and cheap, inferior wine rushed out to meet him.

The room was small and dim, containing only a mat, a reed mat, a low table, and an empty, dilapidated wooden chest; it was truly destitute.

That works out well; Heifu is a loner, which saves Chen Jin the trouble of faking family ties or dealing with interrogations.

He reached back to bolt the door, temporarily shutting out the wind, rain, and prying eyes from the outside.

Silence descended in an instant, broken only by the rustling sound of rain drumming against the roof and narrow windows.

He stripped off his sodden outer garment and tossed it onto the mat, preparing to inspect the odds and ends he had purchased today and plan his next move—

Knock. Knock-knock.

A soft, somewhat hesitant rapping sounded abruptly at the door.

Chen Jin's body went rigid in an instant; he sprang up as silently as a leopard, his gaze shooting toward the door panel with razor-sharp intensity.

He moved noiselessly to the back of the door, his fingers pressing against the short dagger at his waist, and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

There was a moment of silence outside, and then, an extremely faint, trembling voice belonging to a little girl drifted in, timid and shy:

"It's... it's me..."

Chen Jin's brow furrowed; this voice...

He slowly pulled the door open a crack.

Outside, amidst the bitter wind and cold rain, stood the long-haired girl he had seen at the slave market earlier that day.

She was soaked to the bone, her thin, tattered clothes clinging tightly to her small frame as she shivered uncontrollably from the cold.

Fresh bruises and lash marks were visible on her face and arms.

Her unusually long hair was saturated with rainwater, appearing even heavier, like a wet, ink-black cloak draped behind her; the tips were still dripping, forming a small puddle at her feet.

How did she find this place? And how did she manage to escape from the slave market?

Countless questions flashed through Chen Jin's mind in an instant.

The girl tilted her face upward, rainwater sliding down her cheeks, making it impossible to tell if it was rain or tears.

She looked at Chen Jin's blurred face behind the crack in the door, her voice as thin as a thread:

"...They... they are chasing me... I, I have nowhere else to go..."

"Please..."