4. A quarter of an hour

Lament the fleeting horse within the crevice, the fire within the stone, the self within a dream…

In the obscure echoing, Chen Ji didn't know how long he had wandered in the darkness, as if trudging through an icy river for a century, forever unable to clear the mist before his eyes.

Yet this darkness seemed to last only an instant, as brief as the sparks that fly when stones strike each other.

Chen Ji couldn't control his own body; he could only listen.

The sound of wind, rain, and even the splash of oars stirring the surface of the water bore semblance to someone ferrying him across a black sea of clouds in a flatboat.

Chen Ji wanted to break through the darkness, but everything around him was as sticky as glue, rendering him incapable of breaking free.

Outside the darkness, someone suddenly spoke in a relaxed tone, "Lord Zhou, we wouldn't have come to you personally if we weren't absolutely certain. The moment you see us, you either cooperate and catch the Jing Dynasty spy in Luocheng City for us, or we'll make your life worse than death. There is no other choice."

But a middle-aged man replied in indignant fury, "I still don't know what crime I have committed to warrant such slaughter in my home by you two. I do not recognize any Jing Dynasty's spy!"

That previously relaxed voice said, "On the twenty-seventh of last month, you entertained Craftsmanship Supervisor Lord Li at the Mingzhu Garden in Baiyi Lane of the East Market, where you redeemed Miss Cui Huan from Mingzhu Garden and presented her to him. However, this Miss Cui Huan happens to be a Jing Dynasty's spy, and she has already sold you out... Need I say more?"

"What does it have to do with me if Miss Cui Huan is a spy? I had never had any dealings with her before!"

"You want evidence?"

"Yes!"

In the room, a girl laughed, "When has the Spy Department ever needed evidence to kill a spy?"

The interrogated Lord Zhou fell silent, and the room quieted down, save for heavy panting breaths.

The room was a mess, with porcelain shattered all over the place and the curio shelf used for display also broken, resembling a wasteland.

Amidst this ruin, seven or eight corpses lay twisted, with only a middle-aged man sitting on the ground, his hair disheveled and his appearance wretched.

Opposite him, a young man dressed in black, agile and neat, looked relaxed and amused. Not far from him, a slender girl in black squatted on a Taishi Chair, watching the spectacle.

The two black-clad individuals, barely in their twenties, had murdered a houseful of people.

In the darkness, Chen Ji suddenly felt as if these voices were like a hand grasping him, who was sinking into the abyss, dragging him back from hell to the world of the living.

"Lord Zhou, who else are your colleagues in Luocheng? It's fine if you don't want to tell the truth now; we have all night to pass," the young man said with a smile, "Just wait a moment, we'll bring over your family hidden in Chaimu Lane and see if you're willing to talk then…"

The next moment.

A corpse inside the room suddenly sat up!

Hiss!

Chen Ji gasped for breath, like a drowning person coming back to life, greedily inhaling. His breathing was so harsh in the silence that it broke the room's oppressiveness.

Chen Ji sat up from the floor, feeling dizzy and dazed.

He instinctively reached for the knife wound at his waist, but there was nothing there.

The girl squatting on the Taishi Chair suddenly turned her head, "Eh, Yun Yang, have you gone rusty with your skills, failing to kill someone properly?"

Yun Yang retorted defensively, "Impossible, his heart must have been off-center!"

"Admitting a mistake isn't shameful, right?"

"What should we do then?"

"Kill him again."

At this very moment, Chen Ji was filled with too many questions: Why had he been reborn, where had he been reborn to, and could he find his way home? If something as miraculous as reincarnation could happen, could he hope to see his loved ones again?

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

As his words fell, footsteps sounded from outside, drawing everyone's attention.

They saw more than ten men, dressed in the same black agile attire, leading seven or eight people into the yard, including two children, a boy and a girl, both about eight or nine years old.

Seizing this gap, Chen Ji quickly surveyed his surroundings: The room wasn't large, with a rosewood desk to the left, two Taishi Chairs in the middle, and a table.

Books, writing brushes, ink, and paper were scattered about, a complete mess.

Had he traveled through time?

Was this the dream world spoken of by Li Qingniao?

He seemed to have reincarnated into someone who had just died, but he didn't know who the deceased was before death.

Chen Ji wanted to stop and think about his situation, but the crisis before him happened too quickly, giving him no chance to ponder.

During his thoughts, more than ten men in black attire kneeled down the family members of Lord Zhou on the ground, and one of them reported with bowed hands, "All the family members Zhou Chengyi hid have been brought here; this woman was redeemed by him from Baiyi Lane ten years ago, the two children are offspring from both of them, a boy and a girl; the others are the butler and maidservants."

These men in black had resolute faces and all carried sheathed long knives at their waists.

Yun Yang smiled as he squatted in front of the woman, "Lady, do you know that Lord Zhou is a Jing Dynasty spy?"

The woman clutched the little boy tightly in her arms, shaking her head in terror, "We don't know anything, we don't know anything!"

Yun Yang pulled a thin silver needle from his sleeve and stabbed the woman in the chest as quick as lightning; she could not utter a sound and slumped to the ground.

She was dead.

A chorus of wails rose within the house, and the butler asked hoarsely, "My lord, what is going on, my lord?!"

Yet Zhou Chengyi did not answer, only looking at the scene with a dark expression.

Yun Yang glanced at him, then squatted in front of a maid, "Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

The maid stammered, "I... My lord only comes two or three times a month; even seeing him is difficult for us."

Yun Yang stabbed forward with the silver needle. The maid tried to dodge, but the needle was too swift to evade, and she could only watch it pierce her chest.

Chen Ji instinctively touched his own chest.

Yun Yang killed his way forward until he reached the little boy. He squatted down with a smile but did not look at the boy. Instead, he stared straight at Zhou Chengyi, "Little one, has your father told you anything?"

Zhou Chengyi's face twitched slightly, "Your Ning Dynasty is founded on the principles of books and rites, and yet you would torture a child to death?"

Yun Yang sneered, "This spring, the Jing Dynasty cavalry swept southward, killing countless innocent civilians of my Ning Dynasty, and you expect me to speak to you of poetry and etiquette? Besides, last year you bought a ten-year-old girl to keep at home, then gave her to the Luocheng City Prefect. Was she not a child? Lord Zhou, if you do not confess, your child is going to die."

"Dad, save me!"

However, Zhou Chengyi merely turned his head slightly, ignoring his child's cries for help.

Yun Yang whistled, "Such a hardened heart, it seems we've caught a spy above the rank of Hai Dongqing, allowing you to lie hidden under our noses for so many years, truly shameful."

Stab.

The boy collapsed, breathless.

Chen Ji silently watched, the child's eyes still not closed, staring wide at him.

Veins throbbed on Zhou Chengyi's forehead.

At that moment, the girl named Jiao Tu approached the little girl and squatted down, whispering softly, "Did you see, when your mother only held your brother just now?"

The little girl nodded in fright.

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

But the little girl did not agree, simply looking bewildered and fearful toward her father.

"In this world, being a fragile girl will lead to much suffering," Jiao Tu smiled, pulling the little girl into her embrace, "Don't be afraid, it'll be quick."

She drew a silver needle identical to Yun Yang's from her hair and personally pierced it into the back of the little girl's neck. The girl immediately went limp in Jiao Tu's arms, lifeless.

Chen Ji's pupils contracted.

Yun Yang watched the scene with indifference and approached the only remaining butler and Chen Ji, "Young man, you were lucky just now. Since you accidentally survived, I'll give you another chance. Let's play a game: whoever gives me information first gets to live."

The butler immediately crawled forward on his knees, crying and snotting, "My lords, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything you want to know! Let me live!"

Yun Yang laughed, "I do love this kind of scene, where they sell out their masters for glory!"

Then Chen Ji also spoke up, "I have no information, but give me a quarter of an hour, and I will find it for you."

The butler hurriedly explained, "He's just an apprentice from a Medical Hall, what information could he know? Listen to me!"

Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji, his expression sincere, "I have to wait a quarter of an hour for your information, and it's not even certain you have any, so I am very sorry... Oh, you!"

He was mid-mockery when he saw Chen Ji suddenly pounce on the butler, pressing him firmly to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, a piece of broken porcelain hidden in Chen Ji's hand slit the butler's throat, but alas, he didn't have much experience in killing, and didn't hit the carotid artery at first.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu didn't lift a finger to stop him.

In his panic, the butler lay on the ground flailing his fists at Chen Ji's face, but Chen Ji, unflinching, tightened his grip on the shard and cut again.

This second slice cut through the butler's carotid artery, and blood spouted like a fountain.

The butler was dead.

Chen Ji slowly rose to his feet, his eye corner bruised from the butler's punches, his palm also cut from gripping the sharp porcelain, blood dripping down to the floor.

Jiao Tu's eyes lit up for a moment.

Yun Yang was intrigued, "Do you really want to live?"

Chen Ji panted, "I have no information, but give me a quarter of an hour, and I will get it for you."

"Oh?" Yun Yang raised an eyebrow, "Deal, but I'll only give you fifteen minutes."