Chapter 201: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole

Bianliu County lay at the southernmost edge of Minhu. Surrounding it from east to west in a counterclockwise ring were the Domains of Mechanism Alley Entrance, Zhennan County, Crop Plains, Baile Manor, and two-and-a-half wastelands that included Silent Valley.

The county's only train station stood on a Domain situated between Crop Plains and Baile Manor.

Heading out from North Street and walking straight for a few li would get you there.

Yan Jing and his group had barely arrived at the north entrance before they were stopped by the inspector's men.

Right now, everyone entering or leaving Bianliu County had to undergo an inspection.

Yan Jing had never seen the inspector, but these subordinates wore grayish-yellow woolen coats and flat-topped squire hats, a stark contrast to the ordinary residents of Bianliu County.

This perfectly matched the fashion of the era.

In an era that could only be described as a hodgepodge, you could find people dressed in anything from traditional long gowns to Western suits.

Naturally, Yan Jing's group had nothing illicit on them, and they were quickly let through.

"What exactly were they checking for?" Tiger asked, slightly bewildered.

"Never mind what they were checking. The point is whether they checked at all," the Old Man said leisurely.

"Then what's the difference between checking and not checking?" Tiger grew even more confused.

"Never mind whether there's a difference. The point is whether they checked at all," Yan Jing chimed in, earning a thumbs-up from the Old Man.

"You really know the score, Yi Ji."

The group soon arrived outside the station.

Compared to train stations in the Surface World, the station before them was a bus stop at best. Aside from the addition of a ticket office, there was practically no difference.

Eight or nine wooden benches sat inside a room with only three walls. A small arched opening had been cut into one of those walls and sealed with a wooden lattice, leaving only a slot just large enough to slide a hand through. This was the ticket office.

Beside the ticket office hung a wooden board listing the train schedule.

As the terminus for several lines, Bianliu County saw very few trains. Since there was no electricity, tickets were generally only sold two hours before a train's arrival.

If you wanted to know the train schedule, you had to ask the ticket clerk directly.

As for how the ticket clerk got that information, the answer boiled down to a single word:

Cultivator.

In Minhu, this word was the very foundation of how society operated.

"Kid, where do we start investigating?" the Old Man asked, eyeing the two station workers stationed on either side of the empty wall.

"Let's go say hello first," Yan Jing said with a smile.

The group stepped forward, but the two uniformed workers immediately blocked their path.

"Buying tickets or shipping cargo?" the slightly taller worker on the left asked.

"Buying tickets," Tiger replied, immediately catching on when Yan Jing and the Old Man threw a glance his way.

"We're not selling tickets right now," the worker said, his expression stern. "Trains leaving Bianliu County aren't taking passengers anymore. They're afraid people might run."

"Go back," the man added mercilessly.

"I'm not here to buy tickets," Yi Ji spoke up.

"You're not together?" The man's gaze grew suspicious.

"We aren't. Just heading the same way," Yan Jing lied without missing a beat.

"What kind of cargo are you shipping?" The man remained skeptical.

Yan Jing casually conjured a stack of black-and-white photos. "Shipping these."

"You're a reporter cultivator?"

"I am."

"Photos are classified as high-risk items. I need to verify them with my superiors," the man stated.

"Photos are high-risk items?" Yan Jing asked, his tone full of doubt. Beside him, the Old Man stepped forward and discreetly slipped a few pieces of broken silver into the guards' hands. Yan Jing smiled and continued, "Sirs, this is my first time shipping cargo. I just wanted to ask—if photos are high-risk, is there anything even more dangerous that's strictly forbidden?"

"Of course there are." Having pocketed the money, the man's expression softened considerably. "Ancient Relics, opium, and meat cargo. Those three are absolutely forbidden."

"And if someone wanted to ship out this 'meat cargo'..." Yan Jing fished out a few more pieces of silver and pressed them into the man's hand. "Could you shed some light on the exact process, sir?"

"..." The man glanced at the silver in his hand, then suddenly hurled it to the ground with a smack. His expression turned dead serious, his tone hostile. "There's no route for meat cargo! I'm starting to think there's something wrong with you lot. If you know what's good for you, get out of here right now!"

"Alright, alright, alright." Yan Jing and the others retreated. But after a brief discussion, Yan Jing and Tiger only pulled back a few hundred meters before looping around and squatting in the brush.

Meanwhile, the Old Man hurried back to change his outfit and returned dragging several large chests of fabric, walking right back up to the two men.

Yan Jing and Tiger watched from the brush. They saw the Old Man exchange a few words with the guards—though they couldn't hear what was said—before he dragged the chests right back.

"No good. Those two must be Warden Cultivators, or maybe investigator cultivators. They have the skill to see through disguises," the Old Man said as he approached.

"It's fine." Yan Jing told the two to wait there. A short while later, he returned with Dong Pingping, the girl who played the Suona from diagonally across from their shop. Dong Pingping, dragging two boxes of rouge and cosmetics, walked up to the two guards.

"What's your business?"

"I—I'm selling goods..." Dong Pingping looked quite fidgety and nervous.

But ultimately, the two guards let her pass.

Before letting her through, however, they made a point to open her boxes and root through them.

Sitting in the waiting room, Dong Pingping felt even more on edge, glancing outside from time to time.

A short while later, however, that anxiety eased.

That was because her younger brother, Dong An, had also arrived. This time, he was carrying two chests of rice.

The chests were large—big enough to easily fit a person inside.

The two guards retrieved the Long Bayonets leaning against the wall, posturing as if they were going to stab through the cargo.

"This is Boss Bai's cargo," Dong An said, mustering his courage.

"What?" The two guards were taken aback.

"I said, this is Boss Bai's cargo." Seeing that the two were intimidated, Dong An grew bolder.

Unexpectedly, the two men exchanged a grin. Then, one of them glared fiercely and snapped, "Do you know what happens to people who impersonate Boss Bai's men?"

"I'm—I'm not impersonating anyone," Dong An stammered, but he quickly recovered, speaking exactly as Yan Jing had taught him. "This is my first time delivering cargo. If you don't believe me, go ahead and stab! But if you ruin it, you're paying for it!"

"..." The two men exchanged another look before one of them said, "Wait here."

The guard promptly ran into the waiting hall and spoke to a man standing inside.

When he returned, he wore a malicious grin and immediately moved to grab Dong An.

Dong An immediately turned and bolted. One of the abilities of the Thief Cultivator First Tier was leg techniques. Since he was already prepared, he vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

In the distance, Dong Pingping, who had watched with her heart in her throat, waited until the train arrived, loaded her goods on board, and then headed back as well.

Yan Jing thanked the Dong siblings and advised them to hide out at Old Monkey's place for a while and avoid wandering around.

After that, he, the Old Man, and Tiger held an impromptu meeting right where they were.

"Under these circumstances, Mr. Tiger, how would you smuggle a person out?" Yan Jing asked, looking at Tiger with his hands tucked into his robe's pockets.

"Me?" Tiger hadn't expected Yan Jing to ask him. He scratched the leather mask on his head and carefully deliberated. "From what I can tell, their inspections are pretty strict. If I had to smuggle someone out without getting caught, I guess I could only hide the corpse more covertly."

"What do you think, Mr. Yi Ji... Hide it in a much larger piece of cargo? Or maybe chopping it into pieces would work better?"

"Right, that's what most smugglers would do, but it's definitely not how Bai Qiu would handle it." The one who spoke was Old Master Liu.

He grabbed the left cuff of his long gown with his right hand, rubbing it gently while his brow furrowed.

"As a running dog for the dignitaries Across the Lake, he has absolutely no need to go to such lengths. The trade of dead bodies is a daily routine for him. Something like a corpse could be shipped out effortlessly... You saw it just now. The station's guards have clearly been bribed by Bai Qiu."

"Wait a minute... Something doesn't seem quite right here..." Yan Jing began to smile.

Indeed, he had also noticed that something was off.

A flash of insight struck Old Master Liu. "That's right! If Bai Qiu traffics in the dead, why would he bury that batch of corpses inside the city?"

"There was absolutely no need to bury those bodies. All he had to do was ship them outside and sell them, right?"

"He must have been unable to sell that batch of corpses for some reason. By the same logic, why not just ship out the people who disappeared?"

"The inspector couldn't possibly have failed to think of this. So why isn't he investigating in this direction? Just to cover up a scandal? To avoid dereliction of duty? That doesn't make sense. He could just pin the blame on Bai Qiu and be done with it."

The Old Man pondered for a moment but couldn't come up with an answer.

But he did realize one thing: they needed to inform Bi Jie. Bi Jie was the main person in charge of this investigation.

The inspector might have been forced to come by his request, but Bi Jie definitely wanted to genuinely solve the case.

"I'll go look for him." After wrapping up the discussion, the Old Man headed back toward Bianliu County.

Meanwhile, beneath Tiger's bewildered gaze, Yan Jing actually ran right back to the two guards and started talking to them again.

Tiger had no idea what Yan Jing said, but he saw their initially calm exchange rapidly devolve into an argument.

Then, after receiving a stern warning from the two men, Yan Jing was driven away.

...

"Boss, that guy came back again, still asking about the meat cargo." The taller guard approached the man managing the waiting hall. "Should we deal with him?"

The manager, who wore a plaid suit and a bowtie, chuckled. "Several people coming here one after another—it's obvious they're targeting Bai Qiu. Why should I wipe Bai Qiu's ass for him?"

"But... we broke the rules too..." the guard whispered.

"Do you think Inspector Liu is going to let his record be stained?" the manager sneered. "If this doesn't get thoroughly investigated, it's Bi Jie's problem. If it does get uncovered, it'll be Bai Qiu's problem alone. Understand?"

"Understood. So we just stay put?"

"No, go tell Bai Qiu about this," the manager laughed.

"Tell him someone is snooping around his business. He wouldn't dare make any big moves lately anyway. If he can afford our price, we'll take care of it for him. If he can't, tell him that if things are exposed, we aren't covering for him."

"Got it." The guard nodded, then turned and left.

...

"Mr. Yi Ji, aren't we beating the grass to scare the snake?" Tiger asked.

Facing Tiger's concerns, Yi Ji smiled. "Mr. Tiger, as the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Here in Minhu, there's no such thing as beating the grass to scare the snake."

"Then what is it?" Tiger was a little confused again.

"It's called luring the snake out of its hole."