What's Done in the Dark (Part 3)

A shadowy figure completely shrouded in darkness, sat beside a small, wooden table of a small, merchant restaurant. They ate a bowl of glutinous rice dumplings soaked in sweetened rice wine. It was a very satisfying meal in the beginning, but that's when he noticed the sun had set a few minutes prior to his scheduled meeting.

The man casually stood up and violently flipped the wooden table, causing it to break on impact.

The restaurant owner had been busy all day, tending to his customers, who were valuable and friendly patrons, who never missed a day a meal when at the eatery. Only now, he was shocked speechless at the blatant act of vandalism that just took place. The two men locked eyes for a moment, before the disruptive man simply walked out of the restaurant, without a word spoken, as a wide grin was glued to his face.

It was only until the man was halfway down the street, did the restaurant owner decide to summon the courage to confront him.

“Where do you think you're going?!”

The man stopped after a few more steps. Turning around, he faced the restaurant owner with a rather questionable expression, as if this confrontation was more like a game to him.

The man, himself, was dressed in black and gold peony embroidery. With a high nose bridge, a sharp jawline, and thin lips that had the hue of a soft red, he could almost be described as handsome. Even his hair shimmered like a raven’s wings under the pale moonlight.

“I'm on my way to a meeting.” the man answered.

“You rat! You eat my food, you don't pay, and you think you have the right to vandalize my restaurant?!”

The man said nothing as he seemed to almost relish at the restaurant owner’s anger, as figurative smoke could be seen billowing from his ears. With a simple flick of his thumb, the man dressed in black and gold casually unsheathed his sword with a shing. This alone caused the restaurant owner to bite back his words and keep his mouth closed.

The sword's blade emitted an a toxic stench of demonic energy, as it was rising back from tne dead.

The restaurant owner’s face was a mix of shock and fear. As he watched the man turn around and walk in the opposite direction, he breathed a shaky sigh of relief, especially after he avoided his life being cut short on a whim.

With light and steady paces, the man walked through the marketplace, before he noticed a series of remarkably gorgeous hair combs that were artfully crafted from wood and decorated by the finest of jewels. His hand stopped just short of touching one of these priceless hair combs, after which he turned and was face-to-face with his two intels.

“You've caused us quite a lot of trouble to fix. I decided to leave you alone for twenty-four hours and you've already cost me your next salary.” spoke Jingshi Xuanwu, as he saluted the man.

“Your petty coins don't mean anything to me.” the man spoke in return, his voice saccharine.

“Surely not.”

“Then why are you frowning?”

“Because I knew it was only a matter of time~ Why can't you be more like my little Xue Xue and be on your best behavior?”

The man turned back to the hair combs and instinctively plucked the prettiest one he could find and pocketed it. The street vendor was so shocked, that all he could do was stare with his mouth agape at the most shameless act of theft he'd ever witnessed.

“Back in my hometown of Kaifeng, I never had to pay for anything. I was born in the Year of the Rat. So I've embraced it.”

Jingshi Xuanwu smiled, as he stared at the man with a rather enticing and intimate look on his face.

“You can wreck as many places as you want. You can break them, destroy them, or burn them down with fire as much as your little heart’s desire~”

“However there's one thing you mustn't do.” Xue Song added, quickly steering the conversation back on track.

The man perked his ears up, despite his entire demeanor being unbothered and, somewhat, bored by the explanation Xue Song gave him. But he took the intel that had been inscribed on a scroll and scanned over it. Through the corner of his eye, he saw the two men staring at him silently, as if they were waiting for him to say something. Instead he sneered and rolled the scroll up.

“I know. I know. You don't need to remind me. So what, you need me to be your pest control now?”

“If we really wanted you to do that, do you think we would be standing here in front of you~?” Jingshi Xuanwu asked, his voice heightened with lustful manipulation.

The man felt like he'd been slowly backed into an invisible corner, so he sighed under his breath.

The three men left the marketplace in Guilin City and entered a small tavern. Entering the main entrance of the tavern, Jingshi Xuanwu casually walked straight up to the tavern owner, as the tavern room and hallways were completely void of any other customers around.

“Is this the best tavern in Guilin?” Jingshi Xuanwu asked the tavern owner.

“Indeed sir. The tavern has been fully booked upon your request.” the tavern owner answered, as he nervously followed the aristocrat through the hallway.

“Was booking the entire tavern necessary?” the man asked nonchalantly, as he followed the two aristocrats.

“Privacy is a necessity in this situation.” Xue Song answered, as he walked alongside their intel spy.

Jingshi Xuanwu sat down and casually smiled at Xue Song and their spy. When the other two men joined him at the table, two servants politely entered the room carrying a wooden tray. The silence between the three of them was eventually broken, after Jingshi Xuanwu silently gestured to the cups that were sitting in front of each person.

“Tea.”

The young spy glanced at the tea and held the cup in his hand. The young man only appeared to be kind and negotiable at first glance. However, it was because of these exact traits that he was more street smart than a lot of people gave him credit for. Pressing the cup against his lips, he chose to swallow it down in one gulp.

Just as I suspected. the spy thought to himself. The tea isn't just a simple “tea” after all. It seems like this old man isn't as senile as he appears.

However, when he placed the porcelain cup back on the table, Jingshi Xuanwu and Xue Song immediately noticed the cup still had the exact same amount.

With a crooked grin, the spy gently pushed the cup away from him.

“Thank you.” he spoke, his voice calm yet sly.

Jingshi Xuanwu noticed this and kindly pushed the teacup back towards the spy, his own smile showing undermining kindness.

“Now Qing Xue~ this tea was something I've had specifically prepared ahead of the time of our arrival. Why are you refusing to drink it~?” Jingshi Xuanwu questioned, affectionately.

“It’s precisely because you had the tea prepared ahead of time, is the reason why I won't ever drink it.”

Qing Xue took out the scroll that he was given and placed it on the table. Opening it up, he placed his gloved hand on the scroll and tapped his finger in a rhythmic pattern. While he was buying this information off of the two aristocrats, he realized that he needed to know as much information as he possibly could about the subject that was mentioned in the reports.

“Why the hurry~?” Jingshi Xuanwu asked with a smile, “After all, we have all the time in the world to finish our sale.”

Jingshi Xuanwu withdrew a second item from his robe and gently placed it on the table, before sliding it over to Qing Xue to look at.

“Perhaps this might come in handy~?”

Qing Xue looked at the small black book that had beautiful golden designs etched into the spine. As he flipped through the book itself, he immediately straightened his back. His eyes glowered in great intrigue.

“The woman's personal manuscripts?”

“That's right~” Jingshi Xuanwu answered gleefully.

“Are these really the manuscripts she wrote? Back when she worked for that research center?”

“Of course. This manuscript took us quite some time to gather all of this information for you~.”

“The scroll unfortunately contains very little information.” Xue Song added, as he stared at Qing Xue with a serious expression.

Qing Xue focused his attention back on the book and continued to flip through it again, the excitement he felt was soon hidden away.

“So it seems.”

“It’s unfortunate we won’t be able to assist you any further than this~” Jingshi Xuanwu sighed as he dramatically frowned.

“If this ‘Wolf’ that's mentioned in the manuscript, is theorized to be somewhere in this world, why wouldn't she come here to finish the job herself?”

“She has more important matters to attend to.” Xue Song answered immediately, before taking another sip of tea.

“You really ask us to do the impossible, Qing Xue~” Jingshi Xuanwu sighed, as he stared at the man with a sympathetic expression. “How can anything like that be so simple? Which is why I've asked one of the most capable men I know~ isn't that exciting?”

“Then you wouldn't mind if I hired some help?” Qing Xue asked, his smile flashed in conjunction with his eyes brightening in surprise.

“A mad dog, you are~”

As the two men seemed to have some sort of telepathic understanding of what this “help” was going to be, Xue Song raised his hand and with a snap of his fingers, he gestured to two of the tavern attendees, who immediately left the room only to return a few moments later.

A cultivator had been forcefully dragged into the room, her hair a tangled, disheveled mess. The eyes of the young cultivator darted around frantically, her selaras bloodshot red. She struggled against the two attendees, who were actually Qing Xue’s own criminal personnel, who Xue Song personally hired for this exact moment. Her eyes eventually found Qing Xue, as an intense fire spewed from his pupils.

“I see you've found the game's missing pawn~” Jingshi Xuanwu purred, his voice sounding full of his bloodthirsty lust.