The Crown Prince Treats

Heaven Dou City shone brighter at night than Suotuo City.

Streetlights flowed in rivers. Carriages rattled over the flagstones, their wheels mingling with laughter from the taverns. The sound rolled all the way to the Crown Prince's Mansion Gate, where its vermilion doors shut it out.

Bai Jin stood at the Gate, looking at the two rows of guards in gleaming armor. He felt in his pocket, pulled out half a strawberry-flavored candy stick, and leisurely put it in his mouth.

"If the Crown Prince's treating us, I don't have to pay, right?"

The attendant leading them faltered, his smile nearly slipping off his face.

Behind Bai Jin, Ning Rongrong pressed a hand to her forehead. "Uncle Bai, could you at least try to look like an expert?"

"Don't I?" Bai Jin turned back, utterly confident. "Don't experts all love eating and drinking on someone else's dime?"

Tang San said nothing.

His gaze swept over the outer wall of the Crown Prince's Mansion, then settled on the lamps beneath the eaves. The wicks were laced with an incense that sharpened the senses. Its scent was too faint for an ordinary person to notice, but if anyone attacked at night, it would slow them by at least half a breath on the way from the Gate to the front hall.

Half a breath was enough for a true Soul Master to kill.

The Crown Prince's Mansion was not as gentle as it looked.

Xue Qinghe was waiting in the front hall.

He wore pale gold everyday clothes, his features warm and refined. Beneath the lamplight, he looked like jade polished by water. When Bai Jin entered, Xue Qinghe rose to greet him, his courtesy flawless.

"Mr. Bai, thank you for making the journey."

"It was fine." Bai Jin sat and picked up the tea on the table. "It's just that Heaven Dou City has too many rules. Three bows for every step. Exhausting."

Xue Qinghe smiled faintly. "If you dislike them, I'll have everyone withdraw."

"Don't." Bai Jin took a sip of tea, his eyes brightening. "Leave the pastries."

Xue Qinghe: "..."

The Shrek group sat to one side. Even Dai Mubai fell silent for a moment.

Xue Qinghe did not linger on the banter. He waved a hand, and an attendant soon brought over a map of Heaven Dou City. Spread across the long table, it showed three places circled in vermilion, like drops of blood seeping through the night.

"The people who tried to assassinate you last night had accomplices in the city."

Xue Qinghe's tone remained calm, but his finger paused lightly as it touched the map.

"One location is in the Old City District, another on the street behind the Auction House, and the third is a pharmacy in the west of the city. People have gone missing near all three over the past month. Their families gave different accounts. Some said they had fled their debts, some said Evil Soul Masters had taken them, and others claimed to have seen a White Ghost Mask with their own eyes."

Bai Jin held the candy stick between his teeth and looked over the three vermilion marks.

"They weren't there to kill."

Xue Qinghe looked at him. "What do you mean, sir?"

"You don't need to go in such a wide circle to kill someone." Bai Jin tapped the map. "They're looking for something. Or rather, they're checking whether someone can serve as a key."

Tang San's heart tightened.

He instinctively recalled what he had heard in the Star Dou Great Forest: Blue Silver Emperor Blood, Slaughter City, the Ghost Face Society.

Bai Jin seemed to notice his reaction and waved lazily. "Don't look like you're about to pull out a Hidden Weapon. You don't even know where the keyhole is yet."

Tang San was silent for a moment. "There's dried Blue Silver Grass dust at the edge of the map."

Xue Qinghe's eyes shifted slightly.

Tang San pointed outside the vermilion circle around the Old City District. "It didn't get there naturally. Blue Silver Grass is hardy enough to grow even in cracks between stones. But this powder has lost all its vitality, as though it was forcibly drained dry."

Bai Jin smiled.

"See? That brain of yours works pretty well."

The praise did not relax Tang San. He looked at Bai Jin and lowered his voice. "Are they still after me?"

"Most likely," Bai Jin said. "But don't think you're too important. Evil Soul Masters are just as disgusting no matter who they're after."

At that, Xue Qinghe pushed a copper box across the table.

Inside were scraps of cloth and fragments of a mask left by the assassin the previous night, along with a little black ash sealed in a glass vial. The ash trembled faintly under the lamplight, as though it were still alive.

"People from Spirit Hall's Heaven Dou Branch Hall examined it," Xue Qinghe said. "It doesn't resemble the Soul Power of an ordinary Evil Soul Master. It's more like an aura steeped in a certain place over a long time."

Bai Jin picked up the vial and glanced at it.

"Slaughter City."

The four words made the air in the front hall grow noticeably heavy.

Dai Mubai frowned. "What kind of place is that?"

Bai Jin put the vial back. "A rubbish bin that's easy to enter and hard to leave. It's full of things the world doesn't want to see, and fools who think they can crawl out of it and become kings."

Tang San committed the name to memory.

He did not press for more. He knew Bai Jin had said everything he was willing to say. Ask about the rest, and all he would get was "You're still young."

Xue Qinghe looked at Bai Jin. "If Slaughter City is involved, this can't be treated as a mere public-safety case in Heaven Dou City."

"Which is why you can't make a big show of it," Bai Jin said. "What a net fears most isn't a knife, but wind. One gust from you and it'll cling to the wall. Then you'll never find it."

Xiao Wu instinctively edged half a step closer to Tang San.

Bai Jin saw, but said nothing.

Xue Qinghe curled up one corner of the map. "What do you plan to do, sir?"

"Sleep first."

Everyone: "..."

Bai Jin stretched. "We fought as soon as we got into the city, and tomorrow I have to take a bunch of kids to the academy. Do you really think a Soul Saint doesn't need rest?"

Ning Rongrong could not help saying, "But the Old City District..."

"If they were truly in a hurry, they would've come straight to your beds last night." Bai Jin cut her off. "They're still hiding, which means they haven't gathered everything, finished checking people, or set their trap."

As he spoke, he tapped the map with his candy stick.

"We have time."

Flender sat to one side. He had barely spoken.

He looked at the map, then at the lamps in the Crown Prince's Mansion, and finally at his students. A bitter feeling rose in him. The Shrek children were talented, certainly, but the more talented they were, the more likely all this trouble was to set its sights on them.

"Bai Jin," Flender said quietly, "can the children stay out of this for now?"

Bai Jin glanced at him.

This time, he did not immediately make a joke.

"They can't stay out of it completely," Bai Jin said. "The Ghost Face Society has already reached for them. You can have them shut their eyes and pretend they saw nothing, but the knife won't stop just because their eyes are closed."

Flender fell silent.

Bai Jin smiled again and added, "Don't worry, though. I'll teach them how to run before I teach them how to fight."

Ma Hongjun muttered, "That doesn't make me feel much better."

Oscar said, "At least it means we still have legs."

Xue Qinghe looked at Bai Jin. "I can send men to seal off the Old City District."

"Don't." Bai Jin looked up. "You're the Crown Prince. Make too much noise, and the ghosts will scuttle back into their holes. Your job is simple: keep being a good Crown Prince. Smile, drink tea, meet people, say pretty things."

Xue Qinghe's lips twitched. "You sound familiar with it, sir."

"What would I know? It's not like I'm a spy."

For an instant, the front hall went quiet.

Xue Qinghe's smile did not change in the slightest. Only his fingers tightened around his teacup.

Bai Jin acted as though he had noticed nothing. He lowered his head, popped the last pastry into his mouth, and mumbled, "But if you want to sneak into the Old City District to watch the excitement, tell me first."

"Why?"

"I can't be bothered to fish you out."

Xue Qinghe held back for a moment, then laughed despite himself.

"You jest, sir."

"I generally don't." Bai Jin stood and brushed off his sleeves. "Tomorrow morning, Shrek goes to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. In the afternoon, I'll teach them. At night, we'll see which way the wind blows in the Old City District."

Tang San looked up. "Can I go?"

"That depends on how well you take a beating during the day."

"..."

Bai Jin reached the Gate, then turned back to Xue Qinghe.

"Your Highness, the tea was good."

Xue Qinghe smiled. "If you like it, sir, I'll have some kept ready."

"The pastries were good too."

"I'll have those kept ready as well."

Bai Jin nodded in satisfaction and led the Shrek group out.

After they left, the lamplight in the front hall flickered softly.

Xue Qinghe lowered his gaze to the map on the table. The spot Bai Jin had tapped with his candy stick lay precisely on a hidden canal between the Old City District and the Imperial City.

The line was so thin it looked like a needle hidden within the city.

The warmth in Xue Qinghe's eyes slowly faded.

"Bai Jin, how much did you see?"