Rain blew against Xia Lun's boots. The damp air felt cool against his nose and smelled of earth. Although everything was going smoothly, an inexplicable unease nagged at him.
What had gone wrong?
He narrowed his eyes and thought back over the past week. Besides pushing the Ponzi Scheme to funnel the Golden City's resources and manpower toward the Green Wall, he had tried to find the missing Dancer Ossis. But even with Tracking Focus and the surveillance equipment White Line had set up, he had found nothing. Before the Lean Priest died of heart failure, he had mentioned experimenting with Sand Leeches, but Xia Lun had found no trace of Ossis at his Manor either.
Killing Ossis would have eliminated a potential threat and let Xia Lun claim the Deer of Abundance's Head, which could freeze White Line's age and prevent her "little death." But Ossis had hidden herself so thoroughly that he had no good way to find her anytime soon. His priority was dealing with Golden Sand Midnight; pouring manpower and resources into a hunt for Ossis could easily cost more than it gained.
Xia Lun had considered the possibility that Ossis might let them fight it out, then swoop in to claim the prize. To guard against that, he had used Daoist Huang's Eyeball for divination. The result had pleased him.
For at least thirty days, Ossis would not interfere with Xia Lun.
That result made his strategy clear: deal with Golden Sand Midnight and its army of Withered Dead first, then turn back to the Ossis lying low somewhere.
He had entrusted White Line with watching for Ossis. She might have become slow-witted, but she had once been an outstanding Internal Affairs Department Officer. Surveillance and investigation suited her perfectly.
Boom!
Thunder cracked. Cries rose