Ren Qing's eyes swelled painfully, and in a daze, he fell into darkness.
He could not close his eyes at all. He only felt heavy footsteps gradually drawing nearer, coming from the very direction he was looking.
Just as the presence in the darkness was about to approach—
"Yamen runner..."
Ren Qing's body was given a shove, and all the strange sensations vanished.
He opened his eyes and found that everything around him had slowed. The flies drawn by the stench of blood seemed so clear that he could make out the patterns on their wings.
Two streams of tears slowly ran from Ren Qing's eyes, making his face look all the more terrifying.
Li Mian and the other man retreated several steps. Their backs pressed against the wall; they wanted to flee, but their bodies had no strength at all. They could only keep calling out to Ren Qing.
Only after several breaths did Ren Qing come back to himself. Though he had entered the threshold of the "Eye-less Method" by consuming lifespan, he still needed some time before he could truly grasp it.
Ren Qing Age: Seventeen Lifespan: Five years and eighty-three days Art: Eye-less Method
Moreover, after mastering the "Eye-less Method," something seemed to have changed in his mind. He would have to wait until he returned to the Yamen to investigate it properly.
"My blood rushed to my head just now, and the wind and sand made my eyes ache."
Ren Qing casually made up an excuse. The Li brothers did not question him and instead took the initiative to shoulder more of the manual labor.
People died violent deaths in Sanxiang City every day, and Fire Workers could not avoid dealing with them. Thus, the people White Servants least dared to offend were the Yamen Runners who governed them.
Otherwise, when trouble truly came, they would not even know how they died.
After they finished tidying the bookstore, only large patches of dried blood remained inside. The rest was the Lictors' responsibility.
The bookstore door was sealed with a strip of paper.
Ren Qing led the Li brothers out of the alley. Carrying large and small bundles, they headed toward the open ground where corpses were stored.
Xiao Wu had been waiting for a long time, anxiously pacing in circles.
The corpse beside him had been placed in the most conspicuous spot of the morning market. The sackcloth wrapped around it had already been soaked through with blood.
"Qing Ge'er... Yamen runner, you're here."
Xiao Wu cried out in relief. At his age, being left alone on an empty street to guard a corpse had indeed been hard on him.
"Let's go. We've been busy all morning. Once we get back to the Yamen, we can rest properly."
Ren Qing's brows no longer remained furrowed. Now that things had gotten on track, the pressure from his lifespan naturally eased considerably.
The four chatted as they passed through the streets and returned to the bustling areas.
Several constables carrying sabers stood not far away. Seeing that the corpse had been dealt with, they nodded to Ren Qing before leaving.
Constables in the Yamen mainly patrolled the streets and did not have to deal with horribly mutilated corpses, so Fire Workers and Lictors could not help envying them.
But Yamen Runner positions were hereditary duties, usually passed down from father to eldest son, and their responsibilities could not easily be changed.
Ren Qing's former self had actually come from a village a hundred li northwest of Sanxiang City, called Bazhi Village.
Originally, he had an elder brother. After inheriting their late father's Yamen Runner position, his brother had died in an accident just over half a year later.
With no other choice, his former self could not possibly give up the iron rice bowl passed down through generations. He had gone to report to the Sanxiang City Yamen, only to follow in his brother's footsteps not long afterward.
His former self's mother should still be at home in Bazhi Village. Ren Qing also sent her some silver every month.
Yet something was rather strange. Most households in the city had four or five siblings, as though raising children was no burden to them at all.
What could possibly sustain such a high birth rate? It could not be some supernatural Art, could it...
Ren Qing had little impression of his mother, but he had pieced together a rough picture from Xiao Wu's words. Since they rarely had a chance to meet, he was not worried about being recognized.
The four crossed the West of the City District and arrived at the center of Sanxiang City, where the Yamen stood.
The main gate had red walls and blue tiles, with a plaque reading "Sanxiang County Office" hanging above it. Yamen Runners constantly passed in and out through the entrance.
As a city inhabited by more than a hundred thousand people, the Yamen's scale far exceeded imagination.
Its grounds alone were estimated to cover more than ten thousand square meters. It contained 254 rooms, and its main gates faced east, west, south, and north, dividing the grounds into four sections.
Each section had identical buildings, and they usually had no dealings with one another.
Jailer Hall, Constables Hall, Fire Refining Hall, Lictor Hall, prison cells, Kitchen Courtyard, the magistrate's residence, Immortal Buddha Shrine, Public Trial Hall, training ground, Sibu Hall...
As a Yamen Runner of the West of the City District, Ren Qing could only enter through the western main gate. Thus, he had never come into contact with the other districts.
"We're finally here..."
Xiao Wu rubbed his wrists, a trace of exhaustion appearing on his face.
A human body became as heavy as a stubborn stone after death. Even taking turns among four people, they had been exhausted from carrying it, not to mention all the other miscellaneous items.
The Li brothers did not complain, but their expressions visibly relaxed.
"Let's go."
Ren Qing sighed helplessly. He had so few men under him; otherwise, why would he need to do such rough work himself?
After entering the Yamen, they saw many plaques hanging everywhere, bearing lofty declarations like "A bright mirror hung high" and "Pure as clear water."
After passing along the western path paved with sandstone, they arrived at the Fire Refining Hall.
The Fire Refining Hall stood somewhat far from the other buildings. There were several wells in its courtyard, mainly because furnaces were often lit to burn corpses, so it had to be kept as far from inhabited areas as possible.
There were three Fire Refining Halls in the West District of Government Office, each housing the Fire Workers responsible for two streets.
Twelve side rooms stood side by side. At the far end were the Corpse Room and a furnace tucked into a corner.
The furnace was cast entirely from iron and shaped like a hollow gourd. Its ingenious design allowed the wood placed inside to burn for seven or eight hours.
However, the other group of Fire Workers from Hexing Street assigned to Ren Qing's Fire Refining Hall had been temporarily transferred outside the city. It seemed that a certain village had been struck by plague.
The Li brothers placed the bookstore owner's corpse in the Corpse Room. More than a dozen corpses were already inside, all Fire Workers who had died wearing grotesque smiles.
The furnace could burn three corpses at once, but Ren Qing had been the only one here before. As a result, the bodies had not been burned in time and had already begun to stink of rot.
The newly delivered corpse could only wait several days.
"You get the furnace going. I'm going back to my room to rest for a while."
Ren Qing gave the three of them a few instructions before returning to the side room.
The Li brothers began moving corpses and lighting firewood, while Xiao Wu went to the Kitchen Courtyard to fetch some food. It was already noon, after all.
Ren Qing sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes as he activated the Information Flow.
He felt the information on the "Eye-less Method" begin to converge before melding into a single point, forming an illusory seed.
When his consciousness touched the seed, it immediately took root and sprouted.
Three tender shoots grew from the seed, the patterns on their leaves resembling eerie eyes.
Just as Ren Qing was bewildered, words formed from information appeared on the shoots, accompanied by annotations.
Single-Eyed: See through illusions Hundred-Eyed: Create illusions Double-Pupil User: Foresee Enemy Actions
He froze for a moment, then noticed that each line of text represented a tender leaf.
Choose the Single-Eyed branch? This will consume 1 year of lifespan.
Ren Qing tried the other two as well and discovered that Hundred-Eyed and Single-Eyed each consumed one year of lifespan, while Double-Pupil User consumed one year and six months.
After hesitating for a moment, he chose to withdraw from the Information Flow.
The "Eye-less Method" was already extremely eerie. Choosing a branch would likely bring about uncontrollable changes.
Before Ren Qing understood the power system of this world, risking a year of lifespan was truly unwise.
He took the "Eye-less Method" from his robes.
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