Intelligence

Chapter 284: Intelligence

“Is this person from the Supervisory Heavenly Office? Did Hong Da bring him here?”

Li Huowang stared warily at the figure before him. It was a big-headed doll, the kind shaped like a little girl, with a bright red dot on its forehead that seemed to emit a faint glow even in the dim stable.

Since this person was from the Supervisory Heavenly Office, Li Huowang didn’t dare to be careless. What happened next could determine whether he could join or not. But first, he had to rule out whether this person was a trickster from the Zuowandao.

Just as Li Huowang was trying to think of a way to test him, the big-headed doll seemed to know what was on his mind. “Don’t worry. The Grand Triple of the Zuowandao just took a heavy blow. They’ll lie low for a while.”

After hearing this and mulling it over, Li Huowang finally spoke slowly. “I already helped Hong Da out quite a bit before. That got me thinking—if I can do this kind of work, why give the reward to someone else for free?”

At Li Huowang’s words, the big-headed doll wobbled slightly in place, leaning towards him as a muffled voice came from within.

“Joining the Supervisory Heavenly Office… simple to say, but hard to do. Some things, all you have to do is think a little more about other people’s interests, and the road gets a lot smoother. You understand what I mean?”

“Huh?” Li Huowang froze, not getting it at first. But after a moment, it clicked. This guy was asking for a bribe.

For Li Huowang, that was good news. At least these people were alive, with desires.

After everything he’d been through, his expectations for others were already pretty low.

He handed over a heavy jewelry box full of gold nuggets.

“Gold?” The big-headed doll took it with one wrinkled hand, gave it a little heft, then let it drop to the ground. Gold coins spilled everywhere.

Watching the big-headed doll stand there unmoving, Li Huowang picked up the gourd at his waist and poured out five yang-life pellets wrapped in yellow talisman paper.

As soon as he saw the yang-life pellets, the big-headed doll’s tone noticeably softened. “Ah, you know the right way to do things. Good, good.”

He handed over the five pellets, and in return received an iron token half the size of his palm.

On the back were three big characters: 监天司—Supervisory Heavenly Office. On the front was carved: 癸卒耳玖 (Gui Zu Er Jiu).

Around these characters were delicate constellations linked by lines, making it look very fine.

“Looks like this was prepared in advance? But this seems a bit too smooth…” Li Huowang examined the token, then looked back at the doll. “If I may ask, what does ‘Gui Zu’ mean?”

“We’ll skip what ‘Zu’ means for now. You don’t even know ‘Gui’? The Ten Heavenly Stems: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui. The further back, the lower the rank. That’s all you need to know for now. You’ll figure it all out eventually. Here’s a job.”

The doll held out an envelope with a red slip of paper pasted in the center. “Go check it out. Looks like it’s about the Zuowandao again. If it’s real, just handle it the same way you did for Hong Da.”

“The Zuowandao? Right now?” Li Huowang couldn’t hide his surprise. This was way too fast.

“What? Can’t do it now? If you don’t want to take it, that’s fine. I’ll find another Gui Zu.”

The big-headed doll started to pull back the envelope, but Li Huowang reached out and took it.

“Alright, I’ll take it. But let me ask—what’s the pay for this job? And what about the promotion process within the Office? Also… any way to trade for intelligence on enemies?”

At the last question, Li Huowang’s heartbeat quickened. Joining the Supervisory Heavenly Office was all about this, after all.

Maybe, just maybe, they had records about the Heart-Element somewhere in the Office.

“Do the work first. Let’s see how well you perform. Only capable people get paid. The details on your enemies are in the envelope.”

With that, the big-headed doll turned and headed out of the stable. Even though his body had turned around, the big-headed doll mask on his head remained facing Li Huowang, its painted black eyes staring at him unblinkingly.

After the doll vanished from the back courtyard, Li Huowang stood there, deep in thought, staring at the envelope and the iron token in his hands.

He knew joining the Supervisory Heavenly Office wasn’t that simple. This job was a test.

Only if he passed the test would he officially join. Otherwise, this token in his hand was just a piece of scrap metal.

“The Zuowandao again… coincidence? Or were they deliberate? Are they suspicious that I’m from the Zuowandao too, throwing this at me as a test?”

“And does this mean that when I’m on the job, the Office will send someone to watch me?” Li Huowang thought it over, then tore open the envelope and read it carefully.

The content wasn’t much. It simply stated that according to a scout’s report, there were signs of Zuowandao activity in a certain village, and the Office was sending someone to investigate.

Standard content, perfectly normal. But on the next page, there was actually an introduction to the Zuowandao.

The text was in classical Chinese, and Li Huowang struggled to read it, but after some effort, he got the gist.

According to the introduction, the origins of the Zuowandao were unknown—even the Supervisory Heavenly Office didn’t know where they came from.

What they did know was that everything these people did was for their own amusement. To please themselves.

As long as the fun was big enough, they could gamble their own lives without hesitation.

And somehow, the Zuowandao had some special method to trick other Simings into lending them power.

Li Huowang already knew all of this. But one term caught his attention.

“Siming? So that’s what the Supervisory Heavenly Office calls those things behind the White Jade Capital? Why does every group have a different name for them?”

Li Huowang filed the word away in his mind and kept reading.

The entire Zuowandao was organized using the colors of mahjong tiles. They had their own hierarchy. “Bamboo,” “Dots,” and “Characters” were the lowest-ranking.

Above them were the “Four Joys”: East Wind, South Wind, West Wind, and North Wind. Above the Four Joys were the “Three Fundamentals”: Red Center, White Board, and Prosperity. And above even the Three Fundamentals, there was rumored to be a “Dice” that controlled the entire Zuowandao.

As to why it was just a rumor—at least no one within the Supervisory Heavenly Office had ever seen a Dice even once.

The entire Zuowandao was weird: their names, their powers, even the way they recruited.

Unlike other sects, the Zuowandao’s entry method was based entirely on deception.

They tricked Simings, they tricked others, and they even tricked themselves.

Every new member of the Zuowandao was lured in by a previous one through deceit. Not everyone in the Zuowandao was just a liar—they were also the deceived.

“Heh. I should have guessed. Those lunatics—nothing they do should surprise me.”

Li Huowang wanted to keep reading, but there was nothing more. The abrupt end left him with an uncomfortable sense of incompleteness.

A loud rooster crowed. Li Huowang looked up, realizing the sky had already brightened. He’d been standing here, lost in thought, all night without realizing it.