Chapter 4: A Quarter of an Hour

A snorting steed, a stone striking fire, a dream dwelling within the body...

In the echoing silence of the nameless, Chen Ji knew not how long he had drifted in the darkness. It felt as though he had journeyed through a river of ice for a century, the mist before him stubbornly refusing to part.

Yet, this darkness also seemed but an instant, fleeting as the spark struck when stones clash.

Chen Ji found himself unable to command his own body, able only to listen.

The sound of wind, the patter of rain, even the rhythmic dipping of oars in water, as if someone in a tiny skiff carried him through a sea of black clouds.

He yearned to break free from the darkness, but everything around him clung like glue, trapping him, preventing escape.

From beyond the darkness, a relaxed voice suddenly spoke, "Lord Zhou, we wouldn't have come personally without full certainty. As we see it now, you either cooperate fully and root out the Jing Chao spies in Luo City, or we'll make your life a living hell. There are no other options."

Then, a middle-aged man's angry voice interjected, "I don't know what crime I've committed, for you two to cause such mayhem in my residence! I don't acknowledge any Jing Chao spies!"

The earlier relaxed voice returned, "On the twenty-seventh of last month, you invited Master Li, the Supervisor of Works, to drink wine in the Famous Bamboo Garden in East Market's White Clothes Lane. During that time, you redeemed the girl Cui Huan from the Famous Bamboo Garden and gifted her to him. However, this girl Cui Huan is precisely a Jing Chao spy; she has already implicated you... I needn't continue, need I?"

"What does that girl Cui Huan being a spy have to do with me? I've never had any dealings with her before!"

"You want evidence?"

"Yes!"

Within the room, a girl's laughter rang out, "When our Secret Spy Office eliminates a spy, why would we need evidence?"

The interrogated Lord Zhou fell silent. A heavy quiet descended upon the room, broken only by the sound of rough breathing.

Inside the room, porcelain shards littered the ground, and the decorative antique shelves lay shattered, the space a scene of ruin.

Amidst the devastation, seven or eight twisted corpses lay scattered, leaving only one middle-aged man slumped on the ground, his hair disheveled, his appearance wretched.

Facing him was a young man clad in neat black attire, his demeanor relaxed and playful. Not far away, a slender figure in black, a girl, squatted on a grandmaster's chair, watching the spectacle.

These two individuals in black, a male and a female, appeared to be barely twenty years old, yet they had slaughtered everyone in the room.

In the darkness, Chen Ji suddenly felt as though these voices were a hand, grasping hold of his sinking self, pulling him back from the abyss, dragging him from hell back to the human realm.

"Lord Zhou, which other colleagues do you have in Luo City? It doesn't matter if you don't speak the truth now; we have a whole night to waste," the young man said with a smile. "Just a moment, we'll bring the family you've hidden away in Firewood Wood Lane, and then we'll see if you're willing to speak..."

The next moment.

One of the corpses in the room suddenly sat up!

*Hiss!*

Chen Ji inhaled sharply, like a drowning man given a new lease on life, breathing greedily. His ragged breath was especially jarring in the silence, shattering the oppressive stillness in the room.

Chen Ji sat up from the floor, his head spinning.

He subconsciously reached for the knife wound on his waist, but there was nothing there.

The girl squatting on the grandmaster's chair suddenly turned her head. "Eh, Yun Yang, your technique is sloppy. How did you kill someone so messily?"

Yun Yang retorted, "Impossible. It must be that his heart clung to life stubbornly!"

"You failed, just admit it. Are you losing face?"

"Then what should we do?"

"Kill him again."

At this moment, Chen Ji's heart was filled with countless questions: Why had he been reborn? Where had he been reborn to? Could he still find his way home? If something as miraculous as rebirth could happen, could his loved ones also be reunited?

He opened his eyes. "Wait, I have something to say..."

Just as the words left his mouth, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside, drawing everyone's attention.

More than a dozen men, dressed in the same black tight clothing, were escorting eight or seven people into the courtyard, including two children, a boy and a girl, aged eight or nine.

Taking advantage of this diversion, Chen Ji quickly surveyed his surroundings: the room wasn't large, with a red wood desk on the left, and two grandmaster's chairs and a table in the center.

Books, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were scattered everywhere, the room a complete mess.

Transmigrated?

Was this the world within a dream that Li Qing Niao spoke of?

He seemed to have transmigrated into the body of someone who had just died, though he didn't know the deceased's identity before death.

Chen Ji desperately wanted to pause and ponder his situation, but the crisis unfolding before his eyes was too swift, leaving him no opportunity to think.

While he was still thinking, the more than a dozen men in black forced Lord Zhou's family to their knees on the ground. One of them cupped his fist and reported, "We've brought Lord Zhou Cheng Yi's hidden family. This woman is the one he redeemed from White Clothes Lane ten years ago. The two children are their flesh and blood, one male and one female. The people beside them are the housekeeper and maids."

These more than a dozen men in black had stern faces, and each had a sheathed long knife hanging from their waist.

Yun Yang smiled and squatted in front of the woman. "Madam, did you know that Lord Zhou is a Jing Chao spy?"

The woman clutched the little boy tightly in her embrace, shaking her head fearfully. "I don't know, we don't know anything!"

Yun Yang drew a slender silver needle from his sleeve and lightning fast stabbed it into the woman's chest. She didn't utter a sound before collapsing to the ground.

Deceased.

A chorus of wails and cries erupted in the room. The housekeeper, his voice hoarse, cried out, "Old Master, what is happening, Old Master?!"

Zhou Cheng Yi didn't answer, only watching the scene with a grim expression.

Yun Yang looked at him, then squatted in front of one of the maids. "Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

The maid stammered, "I... My master only comes two or three times a month. We thought... we thought it was difficult to even see him."

Yun Yang jabbed the silver needle forward. The maid tried to dodge, but the needle was too fast to evade. She could only watch with wide eyes as the silver needle plunged into her chest.

Chen Ji subconsciously touched his own chest.

Yun Yang continued his killing spree, until he reached the little boy. He narrowed his eyes with a smile, squatting down but not looking at the boy, instead staring directly at Zhou Cheng Yi. "Child, what did your father tell you?"

Zhou Cheng Yi's face twitched. "You Ning Chao, a country built on literature and rituals, actually want to torture and kill a child?"

Yun Yang gave a cold laugh. "This spring, the Jing Chao cavalry rode south and slaughtered how many innocent commoners of our Ning Chao? Should I speak to you of poetry and rituals? Besides, last year you bought a ten-year-old girl and raised her in your home, then sent her to the Luo City prefect. Wasn't she also just a child? Lord Zhou, if you don't confess, your child might just die."

"Dad, save me!"

However, Zhou Cheng Yi only slightly turned his head away, not listening to his child's pleas for help.

Yun Yang whistled. "So heartless. It seems we've caught a major spy, of the Hai Dong Qing level or above. To have lurked under our noses for so many years truly makes one feel ashamed."

*Stab.*

The boy collapsed, deceased.

Chen Ji watched in silence. The child's eyes were still open, wide and staring at him.

The veins on Zhou Cheng Yi's forehead throbbed.

At this time, the girl named Jiao Tu came to the little girl, squatting down and saying in a soft voice, "Just now your mother only hugged your younger brother, did you see?"

The little girl nodded fearfully.

Jiao Tu continued, "If you're willing to come with me and call me 'sister,' I won't kill you."

But the little girl didn't agree, only looking towards her father with a blank, lost, and fearful expression.

"In this world, weak girls suffer many hardships," Jiao Tu smiled, pulling the little girl into her embrace. "Don't be afraid, it will be over quickly."

She drew a silver needle, the same as Yun Yang's, from her hair and personally stabbed it into the back of the little girl's neck. The little girl instantly went limp in Jiao Tu's embrace, no longer breathing.

Chen Ji's pupils constricted slightly.

Yun Yang watched this scene indifferently. He came before the only remaining survivors, the housekeeper and Chen Ji. "Young man, just now your life was tenacious. Since you were fortunate enough not to die, I'll give you another chance. Let's play a game: whoever among you two first offers intelligence, that person will live."

The housekeeper immediately shuffled forward on his knees, crying with snot and tears. "My lords, I'll speak! I'll tell you everything you want to know! Let me live!"

Yun Yang grinned. "I just love this kind of master-betraying game!"

Chen Ji on the other side also spoke, "I don't have intelligence, but give me two quarter hours, and I'll help you find it."

The housekeeper quickly explained, "Though he's just a medical hall apprentice, what intelligence could he possibly know? Listen to me!"

Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji, his face sincere. "I'll have to wait two quarter hours for your intelligence, and I'm not even sure if you truly have any. So, I'm very sorry... Ah, you!"

Just as he was teasing, he saw Chen Ji suddenly pounce on the housekeeper, pinning him tightly to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, a piece of broken porcelain, unbeknownst to anyone, was held in Chen Ji's hand and slashed across the housekeeper's neck. It was a pity that he didn't have much killing experience; his first attempt didn't cut the major artery.

Neither Yun Yang nor Jiao Tu moved to stop him.

In his panic and confusion, the housekeeper on the ground hammered Chen Ji's cheek with his fists, but Chen Ji neither avoided nor dodged, tightening his grip on the porcelain shard and cutting down again.

With this second slash across the throat, the housekeeper's major neck artery was finally severed, fresh blood spurting out like a fountain.

The housekeeper died.

Chen Ji slowly stood up. The corner of his eye was bruised from the housekeeper's blows, and his palm was also cut by gripping the broken porcelain too tightly, blood dripping onto the ground.

Jiao Tu's eyes brightened.

Yun Yang also became interested. "You truly want to live?"

Chen Ji breathed, "I don't have intelligence, but give me two quarter hours, and I'll find it for you."

"Oh?" Yun Yang raised an eyebrow. "Deal, but I'll only give you one quarter hour."