Chapter 109

Chapter 109

A baleful deity?

Xie Qingling instinctively reached for Bloodsworn. But as she felt the child’s soft body against her hand, she stopped herself from letting go.

No. The child would fall.

What if she jumped down holding the child?

…That would not work either.

Eight floors would pose no problem if she were alone. But she had a child with her.

The child might not survive it.

Xie Qingling did not even dare lower her head to estimate the height to the ground. She feared that the moment she looked down, the Chicken-Foot God on the balcony would stretch out a foot and kick her hard off the building.

It seemed all she could do was keep herself and the child safe, hold off the Chicken-Foot God as long as possible, and have headquarters members come to reinforce her.

As Xie Qingling prepared to contact headquarters’ Patrol Unit members through her earpiece, the voice in her head spoke first.

[Hateful mortal realm. Hateful Spirit Wielders. The Chicken-Foot God casts a deeply contemptuous gaze upon you. These Spirit Wielders get everywhere. Whenever the deity awakens from faith and incense offerings, they cut down this weak, pitiful deity with their blades. Then, when the deity awakens again from faith and incense offerings, they cut it down yet again.]

[The Chicken-Foot God, which harvests faith and incense offerings by bringing calamities and ill omens, has been unable to claim a single life since awakening.]

[This mortal realm has changed so much, become so dangerous. Even righteous gods receive meager incense offerings. What hope is there for this deity?]

[The Chicken-Foot God has finished considering. The deity decides to flee.]

As the voice fell silent, what seemed like a sudden hurricane whipped up the incense ash on the balcony, raising a cloud of choking dust.

When the dust settled and she looked closely again, she found the chicken-foot prints on the balcony in disarray. The Chicken-Foot God was gone.

Xie Qingling breathed a small sigh of relief. Supporting the child securely, she pushed him forcefully back onto the balcony, then used the railing for leverage and vaulted inside herself.

Only then did the onlookers below breathe freely, their hearts finally settling.

Holding the sobbing child, Xie Qingling walked into the bedroom and closed the floor-to-ceiling glass door behind her, so he would not run out and fall again.

[The dead soul thanks you. He kneels on the floor and kowtows to you. If he still had a physical body, you would hear the thud, thud, thud.]

The child was still crying uncontrollably and seemed badly frightened. Xie Qingling held him and tried to soothe him, but it had no effect.

At the orphanage, she had often helped the Matron look after the little children and was quite good at soothing them. Yet this child had defeated her.

[Four-direction gold paper, the Bed Mother’s paper robes[^paper-offerings], wine offered before the deity, three sticks of burning incense. No other costly offerings are needed. Only a rough porcelain bowl with a little incense ash will earn the Bedside Granny’s favor. As the mother goddess who guards children, she has a loving heart and protects toddling infants as they grow. She invites you to lay the crying child on the bed, letting him fall asleep in a mother’s warm embrace, and let her soothe his frightened soul.]

Xie Qingling did as instructed and laid the child on the bed.

Sure enough, before long, the child who had been crying closed his eyes obediently. Soon he was sweetly asleep, snoring softly.

Not long afterward, someone hurried into the bedroom: an elderly woman with graying hair.

On her way home, a neighbor had told her how perilous the incident had been. The grandmother had been terrified, almost crying herself dry on the way.

Only when she saw the child safe and sound did his grandmother collapse onto the floor on weak legs, weeping. “Oh, you scared me to death! If you left me too, how could I go on?”

“Your grandfather only just died. It’s not even past the seventh day after his death yet…”

“Why is my life so bitter? I only went out to buy groceries. How could something like this happen?”

The elderly woman slapped her legs, then suddenly pinched herself hard, with all her strength, and began wailing.

Xie Qingling hurried to comfort her. “The door wasn’t shut properly, and he ran out himself. Just take care to close it. Be more careful from now on.”

The grandmother wiped her tears and thanked Xie Qingling, but kept looking toward the open door. “But… but today is the day of the spirit’s return for my husband. If I close every door, what if he can’t get in when he comes back?”

Xie Qingling no longer knew what to say. She decided to keep quiet and left the apartment.

She could see now that, compared with other cities, the Old Royal City clearly still had folk beliefs sustained by incense offerings. Not many, but they existed.

An old city stretching back hundreds or thousands of years had plenty of things and rules left by its ancestors, Xie Qingling thought.

And that was precisely why the Old Royal City had far more supernatural incidents than other cities.

She reported what had happened to a headquarters member, who sounded quite unconcerned. “All right. You needn’t keep watch there. The Chicken-Foot God is a baleful deity that accompanies the dead when they return home. If that family didn’t believe in the returning baleful spirit and the need to avoid it, the Chicken-Foot God wouldn’t appear at all. It’s not a major problem.”

Do not touch them. Do not see them. Do not learn about them. It really was a good way to deal with these things.

Xie Qingling ended the call and continued her patrol.

Patrolling a residential neighborhood of twenty-four buildings took Xie Qingling four hours. She had made sure to visit essentially every building.

By then, the sun was sinking in the west. Evening had come, and it would soon be dark.

Xie Qingling met up with Yang Ruoyu. They spent another two hours or more patrolling the remaining residential neighborhood.

[^paper-offerings]: These are traditional ritual paper offerings: paper money and symbolic paper clothing for the deity.
By the time they finished the day’s patrol, it was exactly eight in the evening.

The shift change was almost due.

Headquarters’ night Patrol Unit was already in position. That meant Xie Qingling and the others could leave.

The rest of the time was their own.

On her way back, Xie Qingling passed the open-air tavern again. Tang Yuanxiao was gone.

Tang Yuanxiao might not be much of a person, but he knew the Old Royal City well, including where to find good food and drink.

Remembering his earlier appraisal of Counter Two, Xie Qingling thought it over and went into the little tavern. She sampled its own craft drinks and finally had a bottle filled with mulberry wine to take back.

It really tasted good. She would share it with Shen Huaizhou and the Director when she returned.

Shen Huaizhou’s voice came through her earpiece. “Where are you? We’re off duty. Let’s go back together.”

“I’ll wait for you at the open-air tavern on Eighth Street,” Xie Qingling replied. “Come over.”

When Shen Huaizhou arrived at the tavern, he immediately drew everyone’s attention. Some people were obnoxious enough to whistle at him; the bolder ones asked the bartender to bring him drinks.

Shen Huaizhou swept them with an icy look, as though he might devour them, then pulled Xie Qingling away quickly.

Riding a motorcycle, they sped through the city and soon returned to headquarters.

Headquarters’ parking lot held many reserve vehicles. Shen Huaizhou spotted an empty space, pulled into it, and headed toward the cafeteria.

He was clearly starving.

Xie Qingling had to jog behind him to keep up.

They rushed into the cafeteria and were about to get food from Counter Two and tuck in when they saw Tang Yuanxiao and Ling Fang sitting opposite each other, talking.

Neither looked friendly. The conversation did not seem pleasant.

Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou walked over quickly and stood on either side of Ling Fang, like two guardians protecting him. Their eyes burned as they stared at Tang Yuanxiao.

Tang Yuanxiao paused, then understood. A peculiar smile appeared on his face, with a hint of realization.

“I knew it… So your Director is Ling Fang.”

“Stop following him around. Join the Third Operations Squad instead,” Tang Yuanxiao said. “If you come over, I guarantee that in under three years you’ll have the same rank as Ling Fang. You’ll stand on equal footing with him.”

Ling Fang said nothing. Even his expression barely changed, as though he had not seen Tang Yuanxiao arrogantly trying to poach his people right in front of him.

Xie Qingling snorted. “I’m afraid if we went, there wouldn’t be room for you in the Third Squad anymore. We’d better do a good deed and leave you a way to survive.”

“You -” Tang Yuanxiao was angry again. He sneered. “I really don’t understand why you’re following a useless bastard like Ling Fang. A feeble waste of space who can only cower in the rear -”

Before Tang Yuanxiao finished, Xie Qingling’s fist was already about to come down.

But Ling Fang blocked it with his hand.

Unable to land her punch, Xie Qingling could only purse her lips and stand properly.

“You’ve gone too far, Tang Yuanxiao.” Ling Fang’s expression was cold. “I don’t want to argue with you today.”

“Too far? How have I gone too far? Everything I said is true! If you hadn’t requested a transfer to a regional city, do you think you’d still hold the same rank as me? Dream on! You no longer have that right. You -”

“Veil of Darkness.”

Shen Huaizhou spoke coldly.

A layer of blackness covered Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes, plunging his sight into darkness and leaving him abruptly speechless and quiet.

“Want to fight? Come on, then! Do it!” Tang Yuanxiao immediately took a fighting stance. He rolled up his sleeves, exposing the powerful muscles of his arms, and brandished his fists.

“I’ve been sick of the sight of all three of you for ages! I’ll beat you into submission today!”

By then, however, Ling Fang had already dragged Shen Huaizhou and Xie Qingling away.

Tang Yuanxiao was left shouting blindly by himself.

Once they were far from the cafeteria, Ling Fang said darkly, “At headquarters, fighting is forbidden everywhere except the training ground. Anyone who breaks that rule will be punished.”

Like two little quails, Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou obediently followed behind him, neither daring to speak.

“Tang Yuanxiao and I do have some past grievances,” Ling Fang continued. “I’ve let them go. He hasn’t. You needn’t concern yourselves with him. Treat him as though he isn’t there. I have no desire to argue with a child whose body is over thirty but whose mind is still in adolescence. Consider it looking after the young.”

Xie Qingling: “…”

Was this the art of language? Not a single swear word, yet the insult was so potent.

Adolescence, child, respect the old and care for the young… If Tang Yuanxiao heard that description, he would probably explode again.

But the assessment was entirely accurate.

Xie Qingling pondered it.

Ling Fang gave Xie Qingling an uneasy look. “Avoid disputes with him as much as possible.”

“Got it, Director,” Xie Qingling answered vaguely.

The three returned to the dormitory without having eaten dinner. In the end, they could only send Shen Huaizhou to the dormitory kitchen to cook noodles for them to share.

Since they had prepared no ingredients in advance, it was only plain dried noodles in clear broth, a rather pitiful sight.

That night, Xie Qingling tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for a long time. Remembering the day’s events, she became increasingly convinced she could not simply swallow this insult.

Respecting the old and caring for the young was indeed an excellent traditional virtue. But right now, Xie Qingling had only one thing on her mind.

Punish that brat! That thirty-year-old brat!