Eternal Night City (5)
“What do you mean by that?”
“Out of all those people, only you carried the scent of the tracking incense.”
The constable’s gaze pierced straight through my eyes. I met his stare without flinching. There was no way I would shrink from pressure like this.
I’ve faced far worse on the battlefield countless times.
I shrugged my shoulders as if I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about, careful not to show any sign of panic.
“I don’t know why the tracking incense would be on me. Are you sure no one else has it?”
“None.”
“I’ve never done anything that would get tracking incense on me.”
Where the hell did it come from?
No matter how hard I searched my memory, nothing came to mind. The number of people I’d come into physical contact with was extremely limited, so the list of suspects was almost nonexistent… but it definitely wasn’t anyone from the Hainan Sword Gate. And there was no reason for the hairpin-selling old man to smear tracking incense on me either.
When exactly did it happen?
“You really don’t remember?”
Man, threatening me like that won’t work. If you’re going to intimidate someone, at least put a blade to my throat.
“I don’t.”
“Truly?”
“You’re free to think I’m the culprit… but there are three solid reasons why I absolutely cannot be the perpetrator.”
Constable Meng looked at me with renewed interest. His expression was clearly curious about what I was going to say. I immediately began laying out the reasons I couldn’t possibly be the criminal.
“First, when the man in black was waiting for an opportunity on the roof, I was with a martial artist from the Hainan Sword Gate.”
“Hainan Sword Gate… couldn’t that be a disguise?”
“There was also a warrior from the Sichuan Tang Clan present. I can easily prove that my companion was indeed a martial artist from Hainan Sword Gate. I trust you don’t believe that a member of the Nine Great Schools would get involved in something like this.”
After all, if I demonstrated the Hainan Sword Gate’s martial arts right now, everyone would have no choice but to acknowledge it. Martial arts techniques were never leaked outside one’s own sect. Since they were the harmonious fusion of internal energy cultivation and physical combat, they served as the most reliable proof of identity imaginable.
That was why Constable Meng had no choice but to nod at my first reason. He could try to suppress me with authority, but that would only damage his own reputation. No matter how big the case was, a false lead would deal him a serious blow.
I presented my second reason to the reluctantly convinced constable.
“Second, I am a foreigner. I didn’t even know there was a treasure in this city.”
“To pull off something this big, you need proper preparation, don’t you? We traveled all the way from Hainan Island up to Hubei Province, so we physically didn’t have time to prepare for this. If you want solid proof, you can contact the Beggars’ Union. They will vouch for our innocence.”
“You speak our language remarkably well.”
“I studied hard.”
He’d never believe me if I told him it was a perk from my possession, so I glossed over it and moved on to the third reason.
“And third… I cannot use light footwork.”
“You cannot use… light footwork? I was told you were an outstanding expert.”
Constable Meng stared at me in disbelief. No matter how he looked at me, what couldn’t be done simply couldn’t be done. I shook my head and gave him a suitable explanation.
“I was a cavalryman, so I never learned light footwork separately.”
“You were a soldier.”
“It was a long time ago. So, has my suspicion been cleared now?”
“…Ugh. It has. I thought this would be resolved easily, but… I ended up intimidating an innocent man. I apologize. Still, there’s one thing I must ask. Do you have any idea who might have done this?”
I don’t have any leads either.
The only people who had physical contact with me were the hairpin shop owner and Hye-ryeong at most.
…No, that’s not right.
When I thought about it, the number of potential suspects was actually much higher than I expected. There were so many people around that anyone could have smeared the tracking incense on me just by brushing past while I walked down the street.
“Yesterday the night market was open and the streets were packed with people.”
“Putting tracking incense on me wouldn’t have been difficult at all. If you investigate everyone who was at the night market, you might find more people carrying the scent.”
It was a little embarrassing, but with Hye-ryeong clinging to me the whole time, I hadn’t had the attention to spare for anything else.
“Hmm… this is troublesome. Still, I’m curious why only you ended up with the tracking incense. If the goal was to confuse the investigation, there would be no need to target only you, would there?”
“Maybe they wanted to divert attention. My appearance stands out, so they might have thought it would buy them more time.”
Honestly, I couldn’t think of any other reason. If a merchant had sprinkled the tracking incense, it should have gotten on Hye-ryeong as well.
“Hmm… you have a sharper mind than I expected.”
“You flatter me. So, may I go now? It’s been confirmed that I’m not the culprit, hasn’t it?”
“…You. Would you consider working on this case with me?”
“I am merely a lone martial artist.”
“For a mere martial artist, your head works far better than most people in the murim. Those people revere martial arts so much that they often lack brains.”
So he’s calling murim people brainless.
“Anyway, I’ll be on my way.”
“Don’t be like that. Why don’t you give it a try? I’ll pay you handsomely.”
Hmm.
It wasn’t a bad offer for me. In Chinese society, where personal connections were everything, forming ties with the government was a powerful asset in itself. If I built up favors now, I could receive help later when things went south. There was no guarantee that annoying incidents like this wouldn’t keep happening, so maybe it was worth building some connections with the authorities while I had the chance.
“Let’s work together.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you finished all the interrogations?”
I sat down across from Constable Meng, who had been sighing in the corner after finishing the questioning, and grabbed the handle of the teapot. It was still warm. I poured tea into a cup, inhaled the aroma, and looked at him.
“I have. No results, though. But the trail of the tracking incense ends here. How did this happen…”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? The thief knew the tracking incense was on the treasure.”
“That must be it.”
In a quiet corner of the restaurant, Constable Meng and I put our heads together and sank into thought. After half a day of interrogations, we hadn’t caught a single plausible suspect. To catch the culprit, we needed either a change in perspective or a new clue.
And the conclusion that came to my mind was one thing.
“Constable Meng. We should start from the very beginning. What exactly is the treasure that Lord Zhang displayed?”
“The treasure?”
“Yes. If it’s not a secret, please tell me. Without knowing what the treasure is, it’s difficult to make any deductions.”
“Ah, you didn’t know. The treasure Lord Zhang displayed… is a secret manual left behind by the Shadowless Divine Thief.”
“Shadowless Divine Thief?”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Constable Meng realized I wouldn’t know and explained.
“Ah, of course you wouldn’t know of him. The Shadowless Divine Thief was a notorious thief from several decades ago. He was infamous for his elusive light footwork and his ‘Golden Snatching Hand’ technique that could steal any object. The public called him a righteous thief, but in the end he was nothing more than a criminal.”
Shadowless Divine Thief, huh.
Did he appear in the original story?
To be honest, I couldn’t remember. I didn’t have every detail of the original memorized. Besides, most wuxia novels felt similar, so it was easy to get them mixed up. If you just slapped the title “Sword King” on someone, you’d never know which novel they came from. There were easily over a thousand characters with that epithet across the genre.
“A thief…”
“Rumors say he was an unparalleled master who even stole treasures from the imperial palace, but one day all news of him suddenly vanished. Then, by some coincidence, Lord Zhang obtained the Shadowless Divine Thief’s secret manual and tried to sell it this time.”
The story is starting to take shape.
“We should look into the Shadowless Divine Thief.”
“But he’s a figure from decades ago. I’m not sure how much meaningful information we’ll find…”
True.
This wasn’t the 21st century. Finding records from decades ago wouldn’t be easy. Even if any remained, they would only be fragmentary pieces, so it would take quite a long time.
I took a sip of the tea on the table and spoke.
“Constable Meng. Let me ask you directly. Have you interrogated Lord Zhang?”
“…Lord Zhang?”
I shared my thoughts with Constable Meng, who was looking at me as if what I said was absurd.
“The secret manual of the Shadowless Divine Thief itself might be the key to this incident. We need to contact Lord Zhang and find out exactly how he obtained that manual.”
When I thought about it, there were too many suspicious points to simply say a thief stole it. How did the thief know about the tracking incense? Why was the incense on my body? How did Lord Zhang obtain the missing manual of the Shadowless Divine Thief?
The clues to all three questions lay with Lord Zhang. It was only a gut feeling, but since we couldn’t find any leads here, we had to meet him.
I stood up from my seat.
“Let’s go meet Lord Zhang.”