Shock and Awe
In a back alley of Luoyang.
"The heads are properly hidden!"
The merchants' severed heads had been stored in the abandoned warehouse arranged in advance with the client. With that, the commission was splendidly complete.
But the most important task still remained.
"This way! Hurry!"
The mercenary company that had raided the Ganghwa Merchants' Alliance and slaughtered them nearly wholesale was rushing to withdraw.
"Have you spent every last coin I gave you on booze?! Why are you so damn weak?! Run like your fucking lives depend on it!"
Standing mid-alley to point the direction, the mercenary captain then began running after her subordinates from the rear.
"Captain…!"
One of her men approached while running alongside her and asked,
"Can we really escape unharmed after making this mess?!"
Instead of answering, the mercenary captain glanced upward as she ran and barked,
"You bastards…! What the hell are you staring at?! Want your eyeballs ripped out?!"
A voice thick with killing intent.
"H-hieek…!"
Residents who had been peeking down at them from the buildings along the alley hurriedly slammed their windows shut.
"Captain! There are too many witnesses…!"
Her subordinate voiced his concern. The people of Luoyang were ordinarily viciously indifferent to others' affairs, but the moment a bounty for information was posted, that was a different story. They would fabricate even non-existent tales and report every last one to the constables investigating from the public security office.
"It's fine! Don't worry!"
The mercenary captain answered firmly, though in truth she had nothing she could truly call certainty either.
"Entrance to the Underground Great Waterway found!"
The moment she heard her subordinate's report, she shouted,
"Now! All of you, crawl inside!"
While her men secured the barred entrance with chains they had prepared in advance to delay any possible pursuit, she pushed past her panting subordinates and headed deeper into the waterway.
"Oh-ho…! You've arrived right on schedule!"
There stood a middle-aged man holding a lantern.
"Right, so…"
The mercenary captain forced down her ragged breathing and growled,
"As you boasted when we made the contract, you can get our mercenary company out of Luoyang, correct?"
"Of course!"
The middle-aged man laughed heartily and spread both hands.
"Luoyang—no, the foremost, finest group of escape specialists in the entire Central Plains! Trust only in this Path of Life Merchant Group!"
He was none other than the former representative of the Path of Life Merchant Group—the very one who had smuggled the Spring of Luoyang vigilantes out of the city in the early hours of that morning.
"Suspicious…"
The mercenary captain's adjutant stepped forward, gripping his sword hilt.
"You mean to escape through the Underground Great Waterway? I heard that was impossible."
"Good heavens, not at all!"
The middle-aged man, former representative of the Path of Life Merchant Group, waved his hands. As he waved while holding the lantern, the shadows danced wildly.
"Even normally the Underground Great Waterway is a dreadful place, and right now 'hunting dogs' who have lost their way are roaming inside as well. If you go in now, ten out of ten will die!"
"Hunting dogs…?"
The mercenaries never imagined those hunting dogs might be the Tanlang of the former Murim Alliance.
"We will briefly pass through the 'shallow-depth passages' of the Underground Great Waterway…"
He paused for a moment, then cried out with a meaningful smile,
"And walk right out through the city gates!"
"Walk out…?"
As everyone's gazes turned doubtful at once, the former representative of the Path of Life Merchant Group thumped his own chest.
"Set your worries aside and prepare to be amazed!"
He winked playfully.
"A previous client of ours said our merchant group's skills were like sorcery itself!"
Luoyang Central Public Office, Public Security Annex.
"Incident in Gahyo District! Requesting troop support!"
"Tell them we have no spare troops either!"
The annex building, also known as the Central Public Security Office, currently resembled a living hell.
"My head! Don't take my head! Give it back! You fucking bastards!"
A bare-chested man covered head to toe in blood was hurling abuse at the government soldiers dragging him away. Of course he wasn't talking about his own head.
"The head is evidence! Confiscate it!"
At the constable's order, one of the soldiers reluctantly confiscated a leather sack with a disgusted look.
"You fucking bastards! Do you know how much that head is worth?!"
Bright red blood dripped steadily from the leather sack. Inside was the merchant's head the man had cut off after raiding some small merchant house.
"…Crazy bastard."
The constable muttered a curse as he watched the man being dragged away, still bellowing in every direction. But his curse wasn't directed solely at that man.
"Let go of me while I'm asking nicely!"
"Want your skulls smashed in?! Come at me, you fuckers!"
On one side, mercenaries captured at the scene had grabbed furniture and were facing off against the government soldiers.
"Emergency patient!"
On another side, one contractor had beaten another contractor to death with a chair.
"Ptui."
She spat on the corpse and flung the blood-soaked chair aside.
"Bastard… That's what you get for sniffing around a head I marked first."
Soon she was thoroughly beaten by the soldiers who rushed her.
"This place has gone mad."
It seemed people with preexisting grudges had picked fights with each other.
"…Senior."
A junior constable approached him.
"I've lost count of how many cases this is. We don't even have troops left to respond when reports come in."
The junior constable shook his head.
"No time even for a smoke. I'm dying here."
It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but he already looked completely drained.
"Dealing with an assassin from an assassin guild isn't easy, is it?"
The rest of the assassin guild had all fled the scene. They had only managed to arrest one assassin who had been unlucky enough to be injured and abandoned by his group.
"Those bastards are pure poison."
The senior constable took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and chuckled.
"Ugh. Don't even get me started."
The junior constable took the cigarette the senior offered and shook his head.
"No matter what we do, he won't budge an inch, like his mouth's been sewn shut. At first I thought he had no tongue and forced his mouth open."
All they found inside was a hidden throwing weapon.
"So these serial beheading cases that are still happening one after another remain a complete mystery."
"None of the ones we've arrested will open their mouths properly."
The junior constable sighed.
"Besides, every last one of them is the type who only moves for money. They probably don't even know the reason."
The senior constable lit his cigarette using the office lantern, then exhaled smoke like a sigh.
"With this insane situation, all of Luoyang is trembling in fear."
In case others might overhear, his voice was low.
"They say the number of pedestrians in Luoyang's commercial districts—places that didn't so much as flinch during the war between powerful families acting as proxies for the Luoyang Sword Family's heir—has dropped sharply."
"…I've heard merchants are scrambling to hire mercenaries and wandering martial artists."
Ordinarily, if cases of this scale occurred one after another, they would have sealed off all of Luoyang and still had room to spare. But the high-ranking officials, mindful of the Luoyang Sword Family, were dragging their feet excessively. Something about political issues stemming from whatever had happened from last night through early this morning—though mere constables had no way of knowing the inside story.
"The deputy magistrate of Luoyang must be cursing the vanished magistrate something fierce by now."
The senior constable gave a bitter smile.
"Probably envying the absent magistrate before he even gets to the cursing."
The junior constable took a long drag, trying to light his own cigarette from the one the senior had passed him, when—
"Please help me!"
At the entrance, an old man in splendid silk robes cried out. He had run so desperately he was barefoot in his socks.
"The First Young Master…!"
First Young Master? What First Young Master?
Eyes around them turned toward him. The old man, hands trembling violently, cried out once more.
"The Sword Family's First Young Master is after my neck!"
At those words, the cigarette the junior constable hadn't even managed a single puff of fell from his mouth and rolled across the floor.
"I will answer any questions you have. But first, give me a firm guarantee of personal protection."
"You are already under protection, so speak at ease."
The senior constable seated the silk-robed old man before him and asked,
"The Sword Family's First Young Master, you say."
Scratching his head, he first confirmed what he had just heard.
"You mean the First Young Master of that Luoyang Sword Family?"
His voice was low and small enough. Whether Luoyang Sword Family or First Young Master—neither was a name that would do anyone any good if overheard.
"Yes."
The silk-robed old man answered, restlessly scanning the surroundings with bloodshot eyes.
"I mean that First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family."
The answer made his thoughts grow complicated.
"That's strange…?"
The junior constable frowned and crossed his arms beside him.
"That First Young…"
He checked the people around them and changed his wording.
"That individual has been surrounded by considerable noise lately, but fundamentally he has a reputation for being just and upright, doesn't he?"
It was hard to believe such a person would be orchestrating this kind of madman's work from behind the scenes.
"…We thought so too."
The silk-robed old man sighed and raised both trembling hands to clutch his face.
"But he wasn't. That man was a complete madman."
"Just what…"
The senior constable spoke with an expression of incomprehension.
"Just what happened? Why is that First Young Master going after people's necks?"
"All because we were arrogant. We were far too arrogant."
The old man trembled in the legs and bit his nails.
"We touched the reverse scale of a dragon. It was essentially an act of suicide…!"
The words made no sense.
"Please explain more precisely."
He was the first proper witness they had secured. And if the First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family was involved, this was absolutely no ordinary matter. Well, in truth—with Luoyang already plunged into a whirlpool of chaos and becoming a sea of blood, it was already no ordinary matter.
"What did the people being hunted now do to that First Young Master?"
The old man's focus wavered anxiously, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"It wasn't something done to that mad First Young Master."
The constables reflected in those eyes also wavered unsteadily.
"It was about targeting the merchant associations of his younger sisters and allies—the Third Young Lady and Fourth Young Lady."
"The Third and Fourth Young Ladies' merchant associations? Of the Sword Family's Third and Fourth Young Ladies?"
"Yes. As for how it all began…"
The old man rambled, but he somehow managed to explain to the constables the reason the present situation had come about.
"You're saying he would unleash this level of retaliation for hostile commercial acts?"
But getting them to accept it was impossible. The junior constable shook his head.
"It makes no common sense whatsoever—"
The silk-robed old man screeched,
"That's why I called him a madman, isn't it?!"
"According to what you've said…"
The senior constable pressed a hand to his forehead and opened his mouth.
"The mercenary companies and assassin guilds, the professional contractors and day-labor hired killers who are carrying out these rampaging assaults…"
His brow furrowed deeply.
"Are all of them men acting under the First Young Master's instigation?"
"Of course not!"
The junior constable voiced his dissatisfaction.
"You said it was that individual's doing earlier, so what is it then?"
"Aigoo, Buddha…!"
When the constables failed to follow, the old man pounded his chest in frustration.
"Do you think that devilish mad First Young Master would dirty his own hands?! Of course there are others to dirty their hands in his place!"
"Who do you mean by others?"
The old man bellowed,
"How should I know?!"
The old man's already bloodshot eyes grew even redder.
"It could be a specific organization, or certain families. Or it could be powerful figures…!"
It was an incident of a scale mere constables could scarcely dare imagine.
"……"
The junior constable clasped his hands behind his back and sighed, and the senior constable put a cigarette in his mouth and dragged over the writing implements buried among the documents.
"…I understand the situation. Then first let's properly draft a written statement."
The old man shot up from his seat.
"Do you think writing some statement is going to solve anything in this situation?!"
Now the old man's eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets beyond mere bloodshot, and even his face had flushed bright red.
"The opponent is that First Young Master! I'm saying there's no measure you lot can even take!"
The old man repeatedly slammed the desk.
"So stop with the pointless nonsense and just properly protect my person—"
The old man swayed for a moment.
"Properly protect…"
The constables' eyes widened.
"Uh? Elder?"
The moment the junior constable started to approach him, the senior constable, sensing something wrong, yanked him back by the shoulder.
"Cough…!"
His face now completely crimson, the old man vomited a bowlful of blood right there. Black, dead blood.
"What on earth…?"
The old man's legs gave out, and he planted his face in the dead blood he had vomited.
"In the end… I could not escape the wrath of the dragon…"
Those were the old man's last words. Black blood continued to gush from the mouth of the old man who had collapsed dead on the spot.
"…Poison!"
The junior constable covered his face in horror.
"His complexion was strange from the start."
The senior constable stepped back from his seat and gritted his teeth.
"…He was already poisoned when he came in?"
Just then, a government soldier rushed in through the entrance and shouted,
"Incident in Tanryung District! Large-scale combat has broken out between a merchant group's hired escort mercenaries and an unidentified armed force!"
The senior constable threw his cigarette to the floor.
"Fuck. What a fucking day."