Rural Intelligence Network: Pirate Traces

Setting up an intelligence network in the countryside was much simpler, because every village had a village chief, and the chief was usually the best-informed person around.

A few villages even had village watchmen. They patrolled every day and were well informed too, so they could be recruited as well.

On Red Maple Island, Yang Yunzhi found the village chief and a hunter who also served as the village watchman.

Both were doubtful at first. Only after he revealed his identity as a Navy lieutenant and promised to send ships to patrol the waters regularly did they reluctantly agree.

"If pirates come, can you really protect the village?" The hunter was a burly man with a face full of knife scars. His hand remained pressed against the woodcutter's blade at his waist as he spoke.

"If I can't, I'll bring you my head." Yang Yunzhi spoke calmly, but his words carried an unquestionable weight.

The village chief of Bluestone Island was a lean, scholarly old man. When he heard that he was being asked to serve as an "informant," he excitedly rubbed his hands together. "I read Nine Methods of Intelligence Gathering and Essentials of Running Covert Networks in my youth! I merely suffered from having no one to recognize my talents..."

Suppressing a laugh, Yang Yunzhi gave this "theorist" a detailed list of assignments.

The village watchman on Emerald Island was a drunkard. When Yang Yunzhi found him, he was sprawled drunkenly across the beach.

Yet this very man accurately listed the arrival times and lengths of stay of every stranger who had visited the island over the past three months, even estimating the rough combat strength of several of them.

"Burp... I used to... run with that crowd too..." The village watchman burped, and a fleeting clarity flashed through his cloudy eyes. "Now, though, all I need is booze."

Yang Yunzhi was somewhat speechless. Who said there were no talented people among the common folk? Weren't they everywhere?

It was just a pity that this world placed too much emphasis on strength. As a result, many capable people found it difficult to rise, while plenty of idiots with nothing but power occupied high positions.

Like the Five Elders.

Yang Yunzhi left behind enough money for half a month's worth of drinking, along with a warning. "If you delay the real work, I'll deduct double the liquor money."

On the evening of the eighteenth day, Yang Yunzhi stood atop the watchtower on Rosy Cloud Island, looking down at the bay as lights gradually came on.

Eighteen days, nine islands, thirty-seven informants.

An invisible net had quietly spread open.

Beggars, newspaper boys, dockworkers, village chiefs, hunters, drunkards... these most inconspicuous little people had all become nodes in this network. Their eyes watched the docks, their ears listened to street gossip, and the charcoal in their hands, their memories, even their drunken mutterings, all converged into trickling streams. Through the encrypted network built by Little Bean, they eventually flowed before Yang Yunzhi.

"Master, all informant reports for today have been compiled." Little Bean's voice rang in his mind, carrying the lightness of someone who had completed a major project. "No unusual activity has been discovered. However..."

"However what?"

"Red Maple Island fisherman 'Old Catfish' reported that at noon today, twenty miles southeast of the island, he caught sight of a ship flying black sails. It was moving very fast and did not approach the fishing grounds, so he did not investigate further."

Yang Yunzhi narrowed his eyes.

Black sails did not necessarily mean pirates—some merchant ships used dark canvas as well. But at this time, in this place...

"Pull up all sighting reports from the waters around Red Maple Island over the past three days," he ordered.

A light screen unfolded before him, and dozens of brief text reports scrolled down like a waterfall. Most were mundane records of fishing boats coming and going, merchant ships docking, and the like. But Yang Yunzhi's gaze fixed on three of them:

"Seventh day, 3 p.m., thirty miles southeast. A ship's silhouette flashed past. Flag could not be identified."

"Eighth day, 7 a.m., twenty-five miles southeast. Sound of a ship breaking through waves. Hull not seen."

"Today, noon, twenty miles southeast. Black-sailed fast ship."

The three reports spanned from three days ago to today. The location had gradually closed from thirty miles to twenty, and the route vaguely pointed toward a concealed anchorage southeast of Red Maple Island—where a freshwater stream flowed into the bay, making it an ideal spot for passing ships to replenish their water supplies.

"Looks like they're scouting the area," Yang Yunzhi murmured.

He pulled up Navy Headquarters' bounty database and entered the keywords "black sails," "fast ship," and "West Blue." The light screen flickered for a moment before displaying seventeen bounty posters. Yang Yunzhi rapidly swiped through them, finally stopping at one wanted poster.

[Blood Knife Pirates Captain: Blood Knife Henry]

[Bounty: 17 million Beli]

[Characteristics: Often travels aboard a black three-masted fast ship, with a figurehead depicting a skull biting a broadsword. Fond of beheading people; vicious blade technique.]

[First Mate: White Sword Good, bounty of 12 million Beli, enjoys cutting out people's hearts.]

[Estimated total crew: 50–80]

Yang Yunzhi stared at the coarse, savage face in the portrait. Henry had a centipede-like scar on his chin, and when he grinned, he revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth. The portrait of his first mate, Good, was far more effeminate—pale and gaunt, with long fingers, just right for wielding a thin sword.

It had to be them!

"Fifty to eighty people..." Yang Yunzhi rapidly calculated his side's combat strength.

Hina could defeat both captains with certainty, but the pirates had greater numbers. If they were drawn into a melee, the new recruits would inevitably suffer casualties. And if the pirate ship was equipped with cannons...

"Master, there's new information." Little Bean's voice interrupted his thoughts. "From Red Maple Island informant 'Dock Rat': half an hour ago, five unfamiliar people asked about freshwater supply points at a tavern. They had South Blue accents. One had a sword at his waist, and its hilt was wrapped in blood-red cord."

Yang Yunzhi's gaze turned sharp.

Blood Knife Henry's signature weapon was a broad-backed saber with a hilt wrapped in blood-red hemp rope.

"It's confirmed." He shut down the light screen and looked toward the darkening southeastern horizon. "Notify Major Hina. Convene an emergency combat meeting. Also..." He paused. "Put every informant on Red Maple Island under radio silence. Observe only. Do not make contact."

"Yes."

Night fell completely, swallowing the last trace of sunset at the boundary between sea and sky. The distant ocean was black as ink, as though some restless beast lurked beneath its surface.

Yang Yunzhi cast one last look in that direction before turning and walking down from the watchtower.

The sea wind suddenly grew urgent, whipping his clothes with a loud flutter. In the air, he seemed to hear the phantom clang of metal striking metal—the omen of an approaching storm.

At the same time, on Ghost Mulberry Island at the other end of West Blue.

Bezos wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and sent out an encrypted report through the Link Network.

His room was piled with messy drafts. A complex family chart of the Oniki Clan was pinned to the wall, its red, blue, and black lines intertwining like a spiderweb.

The report was terrifyingly detailed.

It covered everything from the vague causes of death behind Oniki Ichiro's children who had died young, to the gambling dens and brothels frequented by the three sons of Kijiro Oniki; from the sickly son of Oniki Nobuko, whose excessive indulgence had ruined his health, to the private complaints grumbled by those Generals and Pillars... Even the daily class schedule of Oniki Ichiro's legitimate daughter, Miss Lina, her swordsmanship instructor's comments, and the books she had been reading recently were all recorded.

"A proper organization really is different. The intelligence they want me to gather is far more detailed than anything I collected before!" Bezos muttered, taking a swig of cheap liquor.

What he did not know was that several hundred miles away, on Glass Island, Yang Yunzhi had just finished reading the report and was staring at Lina's portrait on the light screen.

Blonde hair, delicate Eastern features, a straight and upright posture when she held a sword, and clear eyes carrying an untainted sharpness.

"Oniki Ichiro's legitimate daughter, seventeen years old, mixed heritage... royal education... uninvolved in family business..." Yang Yunzhi murmured softly, his fingers unconsciously tapping the tabletop.

Outside the window, the night wind swept past the flagpole of the Navy base, and the flag rolled like waves beneath the moonlight.

A covert war targeting Ghost Mulberry Island, and a naval clash about to erupt, were both quietly drawing back the curtain beneath the same night sky.

Connecting those two fronts was a newly woven intelligence network, delicate yet resilient.

And the man standing at its center, whose gaze had already pierced through the darkness.