418: Chapter 418 Covert Investigation, Clues Gradually Become Clear

The night wind continued to blow, but the candlelight no longer flickered.

Chen Wuwang sat on a stone chair beneath the ancestral hall. Before him, three bronze wicks burned quietly; the flames were straight, undisturbed by even a hint of noise.

He didn't look at the paper covered in a network of relationships again, nor did he touch the dagger at the corner of the table.

His fingers merely rested lightly on his knee, tapping rhythmically like a beat on an invisible drum.

The things he had figured out in his study seven days ago were now ready to be put into action.

"Come in," he suddenly spoke. His voice wasn't loud, yet it penetrated the entire secret passage.

The sound of footsteps arose as three people emerged from the shadows, their steps as light as if they were treading on cotton.

They wore the most common coarse cloth short-suits, their faces smeared with grime, and they didn't even have blades hanging from their waists—yet their posture was upright and their gazes sharp, marking them as long-trained veterans.

"Clan Leader," the three whispered in unison, kneeling on one knee with movements in perfect synchronization.

"The three of you were personally picked by me from a pile of corpses ten years ago." Chen Wuwang slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over them. "Back then, you didn't even have names; you only knew yourselves as the shadows of the Chen family."

"Now, I want you to be shadows once more."

He paused, his fingertips finally moving to tap a blank Jade Slip on the table.

"Lately, the Eastern Desolation has been too clean—unreasonably clean. Some people are hiding too deep to be caught by rules alone. I want you to find something—an organization with no name and no base, but one that has been active for three years."

"How shall we search?"

"The first route: go to the Northern Border black market. Don't ask about the 'Shadow Council'; no one will admit to it. Go to the gambling dens, wine houses, and slave markets. Listen to rumors and note anomalies—such as who suddenly became wealthy, who is hiring Loose Cultivators to investigate the Chen family's past, or who is particularly concerned with the Alliance's movements."

"The second route: blend into the merchant caravans. Especially those camel teams traveling along the edge of the wasteland. Monitor the flow of supplies and see if any team always veers toward the direction of the valley of death, never changing course even if it means taking a long detour. Take snapshots of any runic remains along the way; immediately mark any materials that seem suspicious."

"The third route," he looked up at the person on the far left, "you take the maps. Not the current ones, but the war damage maps from twenty years ago. Back then, the maps had many blank areas that were filled in later. But what if someone deliberately erased a certain point? Go investigate those places that 'shouldn't exist but disappeared'."

The three lowered their heads and took note; no one asked why.

"All intelligence is not to be transmitted by voice, and no Divine Sense marks are to be left," Chen Wuwang continued. "Use dead drops for handovers."

Every day at the third quarter of the Hour of the Dragon, leave an encrypted Jade Slip at the designated location and take the previous day's instructions.

The contact will not see you, and you are not to look for them. Whoever breaks the rules will remain outside forever."

"Understood!"

"One more thing—" his voice dropped low, "what you are doing now cannot be mentioned even to family once you leave this door. After tonight, you are no longer Chen family deacons, guards, or managers. You are dead men, do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Go then." He waved his hand, and the light flickered slightly.

The three rose and turned to leave, their footsteps still light, as if they had never appeared.

Silence returned to the secret room.

Chen Wuwang did not move, nor did he light a lamp. He just sat there, listening to the footsteps fade away until the last trace of echo was swallowed by the earth.

Three days later, the first Jade Slip appeared at the bottom of an abandoned well in a back alley of the Northern Border black market.

The scout codenamed 'Grey Rat' wrote: 'Heard at a gambling den last night that a masked guest is offering high prices for all eyewitness records of Chen family mecha out-of-control incidents within the last three years. Payment is in Spirit Crystals and live Yao Cores; they refuse to use Transmission Talismans for contact. The other party trades through an intermediary; the clue ends with a former servant of the Zhao Clan of Xiling.'

After Chen Wuwang finished reading, he tossed the Jade Slip into the lamp flame, where it burned into blue smoke.

Five days later, the second Jade Slip arrived in the hollow of a withered tree at a border relay station.

'The camel team reached the edge of the wasteland and discovered a hidden path. There is slight residual spiritual power on the road surface, and its direction does not match official routes. Two stone monuments along the way were obscured by low-level illusion arrays. I followed in disguise as a straggler and took images of the valley entrance—there are remains of metal bases, and the surface markings are consistent with the alloy patterns on the legs of the rebel Puppets from three years ago.'

He stared at that projection for a long time, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table three times.

Late on the night of the seventh day, the third Jade Slip was brought back by a messenger bird; its beak was bloody and its wings were tattered.

'Investigated according to the old maps; a total of seven areas with erased markings were found. Six have been confirmed as natural collapses or old battlefield ruins. Only one place is abnormal—located on the western side of the Northern Border wasteland, the Dry Bone Valley.'

'This place is covered in poisonous mist year-round; official records state its Spiritual Qi is exhausted and no living creatures survive. However, I used a night eagle for high-altitude observation and found that the migration tracks of birds in the valley show avoidance patterns, and the activity range of nearby Yao Beasts has clearly contracted.'

More crucially, for three consecutive nights, there have been regular flashes of spiritual light at the bottom of the valley, with intervals of exactly two hours, suspected to be the timed activation of some device.'

'Additional note: Hunters from a nearby small town claim that two months ago, they saw an unmarked team escorting large crates into the valley. The guards all wore black veils, and the silence order was extremely strict.

One of them lost his footing and fell off a cliff. Before dying, he shouted half a sentence: "May... the Eclipsing... Light never fade," and was immediately silenced by his companions.'

Chen Wuwang finished reading and remained silent for a long time.

He reached into his robe and took out a bronze fragment; its edges were rough, as if it had been forcefully broken off from some ancient artifact.

On the front was carved a twisted arc, faintly forming the outline of a valley.

"So it was true," he whispered. "Someone actually dares to build a nest right under my nose."

He placed the fragment on the table, side by side with the Jade Slip.

Three pieces of intelligence, three lines, all ultimately pointing to the same place.

It wasn't a coincidence.

It was a gap someone had deliberately left—thinking they were hidden deep enough, when in fact, they were already in the net.

He closed his eyes, rapidly deducing in his mind: gathering intelligence in the black market was to erase traces; rerouting supplies was to replenish the base;

And that death soldier who misspoke... perhaps it was negligence, or perhaps, cracks have already begun to form within.

"You aren't afraid of hiding; you're only afraid of not moving." He opened his eyes, his gaze cold and sharp. "Once there is movement, there is wind."

Outside, the sky was not yet bright.

He didn't call for anyone, nor did he order a siege.

He knew it wasn't time yet.

The bait had just been scattered, and the net had just been spread. If he rushed in now, he would only scare away the rest.

He had to wait.

Wait for more clues to surface, wait for the enemy to reveal their own flaws.

He stood up, walked to the wall, and picked up a cloak to wrap around his shoulders. His movements were very light, as if he were afraid of disturbing something.

Then he walked to the end of the secret room and pushed open a hidden door.

Outside the door was a narrow passage leading to the surface.

He walked up step by step, his pace steady.

Behind him, the three bronze lamps were extinguished one by one.

By the time the last wisp of fire vanished, his silhouette was already near the exit.

The wind poured down from above, bringing the coolness of early morning.

He stopped and looked up at the sky that was about to turn pale.

"Soon," he said.

A crow flew past the eaves, its wings shattering the morning mist.

He raised his hand, and a feather slowly drifted down, landing right in his palm.