The State of the Archive Hall

Ren Hao led Yi Yang through the front courtyard and around two rows of weapon racks. The farther they went, the more distant the shouts from the Martial Arts Yard became, while the old locust tree at the corner of the wall muffled most of the clash of blades and spears.

The Archive Hall stood in the most out-of-the-way corner of the Inspection Storehouse. It was a small two-story building of blue bricks and gray tiles, with no imposing sign over its entrance, only an old wooden plaque bearing three words.

The Archive Hall.

Ren Hao stopped at the entrance and scratched the back of his head.

"Old Man Yi, here we are."

Afraid Yi Yang might find it shabby, he hurriedly added, "It's a bit out of the way, but it's quiet. Nobody comes to make trouble, meals are delivered, and you boil your own tea. As for drawbacks, well, there's not much grease to skim."

Yi Yang looked at the little building and found it more pleasing by the moment.

Secluded, quiet, and far from the Martial Arts Yard.

With people from the Heaven Patrol Office guarding the grounds.

What did you call this?

A sacred haven for the Dao of lying low.

While others fought to the death outside, he could browse case files in here, collect a Patrol Captain's monthly pay, and learn the ins and outs of every faction in Yunlin County.

Anyone who still complained about a posting like this was living in bliss without knowing it. Their understanding of the current meta was utterly off.

Yi Yang gathered his sleeves, his voice carrying an old man's rasp.

"Not bad."

Ren Hao blinked.

"Really?"

"Really."

Yi Yang glanced at the steps outside the entrance.

"I'm getting old. Noise is what I dread most. It's quiet here. Just to my taste."

Ren Hao breathed a sigh of relief, and his expression brightened.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Boss Zhao was worried you'd be unhappy. He spent half of last night muttering that he hadn't handled this properly."

Yi Yang waved a hand.

"Go tell Brother Zhao I'll treat him to a meal at a restaurant another day."

Pleased that his boss now had someone to help him, Ren Hao turned and left with light steps.

Yi Yang watched Ren Hao disappear into the distance before pushing open the Archive Hall's door.

The hinges gave a dry creak.

The first floor was more spacious than it looked from outside.

Wooden shelves lined all four walls, packed with case files tied with hemp cord and labeled by year and region on bamboo tags.

The smells of paper dust, old ink, and damp wood mingled in the room and crept into his nose, carrying the languid air of a place nobody had properly tended in years.

A long table stood by the window.

A young Patrol Guard lay slumped over it.

He was in his twenties, round-faced and broad-shouldered, with his saber tossed carelessly to one side. Half his face was pressed against his arm as he slept soundly.

Yi Yang walked up to the table, picked up the bamboo tag on it, and took a look.

Sun Hao.

He tapped the tabletop.

Tap.

Sun Hao raised his head groggily, his eyelids still sticking together.

"Who is it? Find the files yourself, and don't mess them up. I'm not taking the blame if you do."

Only after the words left his mouth did he see the gray-haired elder standing before him, dressed in a newly issued black uniform with red trim, a Patrol Captain's token hanging at his waist.

Sun Hao sprang out of his chair and banged his knee against the edge of the table, baring his teeth in pain.

"P-Patrol Captain, sir?"

Watching his reaction, Yi Yang understood the situation.

Caught slacking on his new superior's very first day.

With luck like that, he'd probably gamble away even his belt.

"Your name is Sun Hao?"

"Yes."

Sun Hao stood ramrod straight, sucking in his belly. Sleep marks still creased his face, yet he insisted on looking like a brisk, capable officer. It was rather comical.

Yi Yang sat down beside the table.

"No need to be nervous. Who else is in the Archive Hall today?"

Sun Hao hurriedly replied, "Sir, there are three Patrol Guards assigned here in total. Li Tong went out. He said he was collecting paper and ink from the supplies room. Huang Yushu is sorting files upstairs. I... I'm guarding the first floor."

"A very effortless guard duty."

Sun Hao's face burned. He wished he could shove his head into the piles of files.

"Sir, I was on duty for the second half of last night. I only nodded off for a moment."

Yi Yang opened the register on the table and glanced through it.

"If you're tired, sleep."

Sun Hao froze.

"Huh?"

"The files aren't going to grow legs and run away."

Yi Yang closed the register.

"But if someone comes to consult them, make the proper entries and check what needs checking. Don't let outsiders carry anything off."

Sun Hao swallowed and nodded like a pestle pounding garlic.

"Rest assured, sir. I understand."

Yi Yang rose and walked between the shelves.

Most of the first-floor files concerned local atrocities.

Blackwater Village: seven households wiped out.

Green Bamboo Ravine: twelve hunters missing.

Yellow Mud Bay: traces of an altar, suspected passage of a Nine Evil Sect Incense Master.

The more Yi Yang read, the lower his brows sank.

The people of the Nine Evil Sect were different from ordinary gangs.

Gangs stole money, territory, and women. Vile as they were, they still wanted things that belonged to the living.

What did the Nine Evil Sect want?

They wanted to unleash chaos and hasten this dying dynasty toward its grave.

They wanted to chop villagers apart, hang children from trees, bury old people in jars, then chant some ghostly nonsense about welcoming an evil god into the world.

This was no longer mere wickedness.

It was rot.

Yi Yang returned a file on the Blackwater Village case to its shelf and pressed his palm against the hemp cord.

"Keeping a cult like this alive is a waste of grain."

Sun Hao stole a glance at him from behind the table. Hearing those words, he inexplicably felt his back tighten.

Yi Yang made a circuit of the shelves and gained a basic understanding of the Nine Evil Sect.

Within the sect were divisions for halls and altars, with Incense Masters and Ghost Envoys among its ranks.

Most of the rank-and-file cultists were poor people who had been beguiled. The real trouble began with the Incense Masters and above. They knew dark arts as well as martial arts, and some could wield poison and venomous parasites.

Li Shun from Greenwood Mountain had most likely been a little rat on the fringes.

If he hadn't encountered Wang Yue and Giant Snake, then run straight into Yi Yang's blade, he really could have harmed quite a few people.

Yi Yang went upstairs.

A brass padlock hung at the second-floor entrance, but it had not been locked.

He pushed the door open and entered. The room was tidier than the first floor.

The shelves were divided into several rows.

Martial sects.

Local gangs.

Martial hall rosters.

Great families' trade routes.

There was also another door, sealed with a red strip bearing the words, "May only be opened and consulted with a chief's token."

Yi Yang stood before it for a moment.

A Patrol Chief's token was needed to read those files.

There were probably more deadly things inside.

The three great Lineages' covert networks in the county seat? Dealings between the Commandant's Office and the sects? The movements of the Nine Evil Sect's upper ranks?

The more something was hidden, the more it made people want to dig through it. But Yi Yang merely gave the door two glances before turning away.

These were not things he had clearance to access, nor was there any need to touch them.

By a window on the second floor, a tall, thin young man was reading a case file with his head lowered.

He wore a Patrol Guard's uniform with his sleeves rolled up. Brush and ink lay beside him as he copied out the key points.

His cheeks were lean, his nose high, and a brooding frustration lingered stubbornly in his eyes.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up.

Their eyes met, and the young man stood and cupped his fist.

"Huang Yushu greets the Patrol Captain."

Yi Yang looked at the file beside his hand.

"What are you reading?"

Huang Yushu closed the file with a quick movement. "A summary of the Nine Evil Sect's activities around Cloud Pattern Town over the past month."

Yi Yang walked over and pressed a hand against the corner of the file.

"May I read it?"

Huang Yushu paused, then let go.

"Of course, sir."

Yi Yang turned through a few pages.

They recorded the Shengcang Martial Hall fire, the disappearance of constables on Greenwood Mountain, Yang Er's murder, and signs of cult activity in several nearby villages.

Interestingly, all these cases had been classified as "suspected Nine Evil Sect cases."

Yi Yang studied the words without any change in expression.

The ink on the paper was neat and orderly.

But some things were known only to those involved.

For instance, the Nine Evil Sect hadn't killed Yang Er, nor had it killed Wang Yue.

Of course, truths like those were best left to rot in a mountain ravine. Dragging them out would only dirty everyone's shoes.

Huang Yushu stood beside him, his back excessively straight. He lacked Sun Hao's slickness and Ren Hao's slipperiness.

There was a stubborn grit about him, the kind that refused to accept its lot even after being kicked into a corner.

Yi Yang looked up at him.

"You take the Nine Evil Sect cases very seriously?"

Huang Yushu answered at once.

"This is how the Heaven Patrol Office earns its rice."

"That's the official line."

Yi Yang pushed the file back.

"Try saying it like a person."

Huang Yushu's lips moved. Only after a while did he say, "I used to be in the Third Squad. I worked on a case where the Nine Evil Sect slaughtered an entire village. The only survivor was a seven-year-old child who hid in a well for three days. When we pulled the child out, there was no crying, no talking, just a grip on half a flatbread."

He pressed the back of his hand against the file, veins bulging. "Later, the Patrol Captain buried the case. He said there weren't enough leads, so we weren't investigating further. I talked back a couple of times and got kicked over to the Archive Hall."

Yi Yang nodded. Without passing judgment, he said, "This place actually suits you."

Huang Yushu frowned. That didn't sound like praise.

Yi Yang said, "When you're out working cases, you have to watch your superior's face. Here, there are plenty of files and old cases. If you really want to investigate, you can always dig something up."

Huang Yushu froze. He had expected the new Patrol Captain to give him a warning or two, telling him not to stir up trouble or bring problems down on the Archive Hall.

He had never expected those words instead.

Yi Yang said no more.

Between Ren Hao's earlier introduction and the few things Sun Hao had casually let slip, he had already pieced together most of the picture concerning the Archive Hall's three men.

Sun Hao was a relative of Deputy Patrol Chief Sun.

He had gotten in through connections. He could coast through his days, but probably wouldn't dare cause any major trouble.

Li Tong was Deputy Patrol Chief Zhao's nephew.

Yi Yang had yet to meet him, since he was still out, but his background had arrived ahead of him. He was probably another difficult one to manage.

Huang Yushu had originally belonged to a Patrol Guard squad, but had been kicked over here after offending a Patrol Captain.

Three Patrol Guards: one connection hire, another connection hire, and one thorn in the side.

Well, now.

Anywhere else, this lineup would have been a package deal for sending a superior's blood pressure through the roof.

In Yi Yang's hands, it wasn't so bad.

The connection hires feared trouble, and the thorn had his uses.

As long as nobody forced him to go out and risk his neck every day, he could keep not just three men but thirty ancestors comfortably enshrined.

Yi Yang made a circuit of the second floor, then looked out the window.

The Archive Hall stood in a secluded corner of the inner courtyard, with the Martial Arts Yard out front and a Patrol Guard posted at its entrance. High walls surrounded it, and patrols made their rounds at night.

Any outside enemy breaking in would first have to get through the Heaven Patrol Office's main gate.

If someone inside stirred up trouble, they would hardly choose to charge into a room full of paper scrolls.

Safe.

Quiet.

Resource channels at his fingertips.

Intelligence files he could browse at will.

The more Yi Yang thought about it, the more satisfied he became.

How was this a seat on the cold bench?

This was a recliner tailor-made for an old master of lying low.

When his shift ended that evening, Yi Yang put away the keys to the first and second floors, then instructed Sun Hao to keep a register of everyone coming and going while Huang Yushu continued sorting the files.

Li Tong only returned shortly before the shift ended. He was in his early twenties, neatly dressed, with a touch of that indolence typical of young men from prominent families.

Still, he observed the proper courtesies when he saw Yi Yang.

"Li Tong pays his respects, sir."

Yi Yang glanced at him.

"Be on time tomorrow."

Li Tong smiled.

"Yes, sir."

Yi Yang could not be bothered to weigh out how much sincerity that smile held. He had only just arrived and was in no hurry to establish his authority.

People could be left alone for now.

Who was kindling and who was fire would only become clear once they burned a little.

By the time he left the Heaven Patrol Office, dusk had already tinted the horizon.

With the Medicine Pouch on his back and a Heaven Patrol Office regulation saber at his waist, Yi Yang strolled toward Three Trees Village.