Li Bie's gaze gleamed coldly like an unfurling blade, slowly sweeping over every shadow beneath the eaves, every crowded alley mouth, every face flickering in the lantern light.
He now enjoyed Han Zhan's deep trust and had been appointed chief inspector of Wuwei City's Patrol Office.
When Great Han was founded, it inherited the former Great Liang dynasty's system, assigning official standing by rank. Yet its intricate, cumbersome regulations were worlds apart from the rough, unrestrained ways of the old Western Liang followers, and the result inevitably became something of a mismatched hybrid.
The Patrol Office resembled the Five-City Military Command in Luoyang of the Great Chen Kingdom. Its duties chiefly involved nighttime patrols, catching thieves, and questioning suspicious persons. Its authority was modest, but enough to give Li Bie a legitimate reason to patrol, observe, and listen in the dark.
The veteran scout who had once told Li Bie so many secrets, along with accounts of his father's life, had succumbed to a chronic illness. On his deathbed, he had entrusted his adopted daughter, Mao Xixi, to Li Bie's care. Now that Li Bie held an important post in the Han Kingdom's Capital, Mao Xixi no longer needed to show her face in public every day, probing here and there for information.
Wuwei City was especially lively that night. Acrobatic acts, folk festivities, and even ritual processions from Daoist temples filled the streets, where an endless tide of people surged along.
Suddenly, the crowd ahead parted like waves, and thunderous cheers erupted.
A troupe of stilt walkers approached, towering high above the street. The wooden stilts beneath their feet stood two people tall, and their colorful robes fluttered as though gods had descended to earth. Their leader was dressed as a divine guardian, with a golden face and red