Emperor Weapon (232)

Old Zhou was collecting laundry in the yard when Snow Empress finished speaking. He threw the clothes into a basin and said, "I'll call the town police station right now. They have a joint defense team there; they can send four people."

"Four people are enough. The Mute might not have a weapon. The main thing is to keep him from escaping; we need to follow him to Old Dao."

Twenty minutes later, Snow Empress arrived near the scrap yard with four members of the joint defense team. The Vein Guardian was squatting in the ditch by the dirt road, waving to them. "The Mute has finished unloading the goods and is driving the donkey cart west. I've asked Zhao the Lame to follow at a distance on his bicycle, placing a stone by the roadside every so often as a marker."

"Walk."

The group followed the dirt road westward. After about a mile, they found a fist-sized stone by the roadside, marked with a cross in chalk, which Zhao the Lame had placed there. They chased for another half a mile before spotting the slow-moving shadow of a donkey cart ahead. Zhao the Lame, squatting under a tree by the roadside pretending to tie his shoelaces, gestured with his lip towards them and whispered, "Keep going west, no turning."

Snow Empress instructed the joint defense team members to slow down and follow the donkey cart at a distance. After walking about two more miles, the donkey cart turned onto a side road. At the end of the side road was a small village. At the entrance of the village was a large locust tree, under which sat several old men sunbathing. The Mute drove the donkey cart into the courtyard of the third house at the entrance of the village, went inside himself, and did not come out again.

Snow Empress instructed the joint defense team members to wait outside the village while she and the Vein Guardian went in first to scout the area. Upon reaching the third house, they saw that the courtyard wall was made of adobe, the gate was ajar, and they could hear donkey braying and the sounds of things being moved coming from inside. The Vein Guardian went around to the side of the courtyard, stepped on a stone, peeked over the wall, then withdrew and whispered, "There are a few dark-colored clothes hanging in the yard, the same ones worn by the radar station crew. The main house door is open, and there are people talking inside, more than one."

Snow Empress retreated to the village entrance and discussed with the joint defense team. "The person might be inside. We are outnumbered and cannot force our way in. Here's the plan: the four of you split into two groups, one to block the front gate and the other to block the back wall. I'll go in with the Vein Guardian from the side, take control of the Mute first, and find out where Old Dao is."

The head of the joint defense team, a stern-faced man, nodded. "Alright. We'll follow your orders."

Snow Empress led the Vein Guardian to the side of the courtyard. The Vein Guardian squatted down to act as a human ladder, and Snow Empress stepped on his shoulders to climb over the wall. She glanced into the courtyard. The courtyard was not large, with three main rooms. The door to the east room was closed, while the two rooms to the west were open. The Mute was unloading goods on the ground in the west room. There was no one else in the courtyard.

Snow Empress vaulted into the courtyard, landing silently. The Vein Guardian followed. The two crept to the door of the west room, where the Mute was squatting with his back to them, fiddling with a crowbar, completely unaware. Snow Empress took two steps forward, covering the Mute's mouth with his left hand and pressing the back of his knife against the back of his neck. The Mute stiffened, and the crowbar clattered to the ground.

The Vein Guardian quickly twisted the Mute's hands behind his back and tied them with rope. Snow Empress released his hands, and the Mute turned his head, staring wide-eyed, and made two "ah ah" sounds.

"Don't shout." Snow Empress waved the knife in front of him. "Where's Old Dao?"

The Mute shook his head, making incoherent sounds.

"You've been delivering goods to him in a donkey cart for over half a year now, and you still don't know where he is?"

The Mute continued to shake his head, his expression a mixture of anxiety and fear. His hands were bound, preventing him from gesturing, so he could only frantically shake his head. The Vein Guardian squatted down and stared at him for a while. "He doesn't seem to be faking it. The Mute is illiterate; Old Dao probably only told him where to take him, not where he is."

Snow Empress thought for a moment, then stood up and pushed open the closed door to the east room of the main house. Behind the door was a small cubicle with a straw mat on the floor and a few old clothes and a canvas bag piled in the corner. She rummaged through the canvas bag; inside, besides a few pieces of dry food, there was a crumpled note with a line written on it, "Come to the Old Kiln Cave after you finish delivering the goods; there's new work."

"Old Kiln Cave." Snow Empress showed the note to the Vein Guardian. "Do you know of a place nearby called Old Kiln Cave?"

The Vein Guardian took it and examined it, his eyes lighting up. "Old Kiln Cave, there's an abandoned brick kiln to the north of the Blind Zone, the locals call it Old Kiln Cave. It's not far from here, a twenty-minute walk."

"Walk."

Snow Empress ordered the joint defense team to take the Mute back to the town's police station, while she and the Vein Guardian headed north to the brick kiln. As they left the village and headed north, the dirt road gradually turned into a road of broken bricks, with abandoned farmland on both sides, and a large chimney that had collapsed halfway in the distance.

"That's the Old Kiln Cave," the Vein Guardian said, pointing to the chimney. "It used to be used for firing bricks, but it was abandoned after they ran out of clay. The cave dwelling is a maze of interconnected passages; if several people hid inside, they'd be impossible to find."

The two approached the brick kiln but didn't rush in. They first circled the perimeter. The main body of the kiln was a large mound of earth, surrounded by broken bricks and waste bricks. There were seven or eight kiln entrances, all dark and gloomy. Snow Empress squatted behind a pile of broken bricks and observed for a while. Suddenly, she noticed a cigarette butt on the ground outside the third kiln entrance on the west side, with a little smoke still rising from it.

"Someone just went in," she whispered, "From the third entrance on the west side."

The Vein Guardian gripped his machete tightly. "I'll block the back, you block the front?"

"No need to block it. We don't know how big it is or how many people are inside. Let's sneak in and check it out first."

The two of them groped their way along the cave wall to the third entrance on the west side. The entrance wasn't high, so they had to bend over to get in. Snow Empress peeked inside first. There was a brick-built passageway inside, with a kerosene lamp hanging on the wall, casting a dim yellow light. The passageway extended for about ten steps and then turned a corner.

She slipped inside, her steps barely touching the ground. The Vein Guardian followed behind, a woodcutter's knife held horizontally in front of him. Reaching the corner, Snow Empress peeked out. Beyond the corner was a circular kiln, with a small fire burning in the center. Two people sat beside the fire, one warming his hands, the other rolling a pipe. A straw mat lay on the ground, and several canvas bags and a short crowbar were placed nearby. There was no one else.

Snow Empress shrank back and made a gesture to the Vein Guardian: "Two people, I'll go left, you go right."

The Vein Guardian nodded.

Snow Empress counted to three, and the two of them simultaneously rushed into the kiln. Snow Empress's blade struck the man on the left in the back, causing him to stumble forward and fall to the edge of the fire, letting out a yelp from the burns. The man rolling his pipe on the right had just stood up when the Vein Guardian's woodcutter's knife was already at his neck. "Don't move."

Neither of them had brought weapons, or rather, they didn't have time to. Snow Empress pinned them to the ground and tied them up with rope before taking a look around the kiln. There were several empty boxes piled up in the corner, with system logos printed on them, exactly the same as the three metal boxes in Node 01.

"Old Dao's stuff." The Vein Guardian kicked the box.

Snow Empress squatted down and asked the man roasting his hands, "Where's Old Dao?"

The man who had just been singed on the eyebrow was now in pain and fear, stammering, "Brother Dao... he left yesterday. He said he was going to find some kind of tower in the south, and told us to wait here to pick up the goods."