Feng Qi let out a sigh.
“What’s this business?”
Feng Qi decided to be direct; there was no sense in beating around the bush.
At this, the old man let out a laugh.
“Alright, then I’ll just come out with it,” the old man said.
“The three of you are partners now.
That means you’ll be going out on assignments.”
“Assignments, is it…
I wonder what these assignments are,” Feng Qi continued.
“You’ll understand everything once you get there,” Qing Wei cut in.
“Hey Gramps, has a new assignment come up already?”
“Heh-heh, and you still haven’t learned to speak properly with your own grandfather,” the old man said, betraying no sorrow.
At that, Qing Wei flared up.
Apparently she really was on bad terms with her grandfather.
But now, of course, it made sense why Qing Wei let herself act this way toward him.
“Leng Yu, Feng Qi, let’s go!” Qing Wei snapped.
Leng Yu bowed, his eyes on the old man, and said:
“Master, where are we to go?”
※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The wooden houses stood in a row, and behind them rose a large building resembling a temple.
All around, both in the houses and out on the street, life was in full swing.
Children were making merry, adults were selling their wares.
The sun was sinking down, showing that he had slept for at least a day.
Somehow the houses were well lit; perhaps these were some kind of “magical” light sources.
The three of them walked right down the middle of the street, and no one even dared to stand in their way.
Rumble.
Suddenly, the sounds of life were eclipsed by a rumbling.
It was coming from Feng Qi’s belly.
“Feng Qi, you could have said you were hungry!
Then we’d have eaten first, and set out on the assignment after,” Leng Yu said calmly.
It was his own mistake: he had paid no attention to the body’s needs while he was thinking; the miscalculation was entirely his.
“It’s nothing!
I can bear it,” Feng Qi replied.
“Actually, I’m hungry too…” Qing Wei added.
“Well then, when we get back we’ll throw a feast!” Leng Yu proclaimed.
All the while, the gazes of the villagers kept falling on them, as if they were not of this world, which was quite ironic.
Some people have a certain problem: it’s hard for them to get used to anything new.
It might be something trivial, like a new pillow, or it might be something like living in a different apartment or city.
He was even curious what delights this new world might offer him.
Stepping onto his left leg, which no longer hurt, Feng Qi broke the silence with a question, “Shouldn’t we first find out what path I’ve received?”
“Because heading straight out on an assignment without getting proper guidance sounds like a mockery.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be much better for you to get acquainted with our everyday business first.
Much, better…” Leng Yu replied.
Leng Yu’s answer didn’t much please Feng Qi, but at least it gave him a chance.
Feng Qi glanced at the sky for just a second, seeing that the small clouds had turned into a massive storm cloud, beneath which they walked.
“We’d better hurry,” Qing Wei declared.
All three quickened their pace, but even that didn’t change the fact that they walked in a line.
And so, hurrying along, they made it at last to the place the old man had pointed them to.
It was an ordinary wooden house, much like the others.
They were five meters from it, yet Feng Qi couldn’t help but notice a sticky, sweet smell.
“Now I see what this assignment is…”
They drew nearer to the house, and the smell grew ever thicker, catching in the throat like honey.
Qing Wei opened the door without delay, and the sweet aroma took off its mask, spreading the stench of sewage.
Inside, the house was quite well appointed; someone wealthy had certainly lived here.
But sprawled on the floor was a man far from young, or rather, his body.
His belly had been ripped open; inside lay the snail-like coils of his guts, hard to make out through the thick scarlet fluid.
“Well now…
This guy definitely didn’t have butterflies in his stomach,” a thought flashed through Feng Qi’s head.
Feng Qi began breathing through his mouth; of course he couldn’t care less about the corpse, and with his mind alone he could have suppressed the gag reflex for a short while, but better to take precautions.
The house held not only the corpse but a couple of other people as well, who immediately dropped to their knees, as if they had been waiting for instructions.
“Who’s the victim?” Qing Wei demanded.
Qing Wei didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at the sight of the man’s body with its belly ripped open; she and Leng Yu had evidently long since grown used to this.
“Bai Huidan.
It’s Bai Huidan, young miss!”
“Ooh, got what he deserved, then,” Leng Yu smirked.
“And what did he do?” Feng Qi asked.
Leng Yu sighed.
“He’s a former murderer, he was spared in the past.
Looks like karma exists after all.”
Feng Qi turned a blind eye to Leng Yu’s hypocrisy.
“A vigilante, then?” Feng Qi murmured.
Turning his head sharply toward the servant still kneeling on the floor, he asked in a calm voice:
“When was the body discovered?”
“Huh?
Uh, around two hours ago, young master.”
“Leng Yu, Qing Wei, we’re leaving, there’s nothing to look for here,” Feng Qi said with absolute calm, going back to breathing through his nose.
“And why’s that?!” Qing Wei objected.
Feng Qi walked over to the door, nothing showing on his face.
“The body was planted.”
“What makes you say that?” Leng Yu asked. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Feng Qi smiled coldly.
“Heh-heh, the sweet smell shows up around the second day after death, and besides, the puddle here is a bit small for a wound like that.”
With those words Feng Qi stepped out of the house; the smell of raw meat and its sweet tinge vanished, and the aroma of dampness and wet earth rose.
Surprisingly, the first phase of the rain had ended in a couple of minutes, but that didn’t mean the second phase would be just as merciful.
Feng Qi spread his arms slightly apart and raised them, taking a deep breath.
From behind came the footsteps of two people.
“Feng Qi!
Then where are we to go?” Leng Yu said, half-shouting his name.
Feng Qi turned around, a certain satisfaction showing on his face.
“I don’t know.”
“Huh?” Leng Yu and Qing Wei exclaimed.
“If it weren’t for the rain, we could have tracked it all by the blood trail, but as it is, we’d better hurry back.”
“I see…” Qing Wei calmed down.
Leng Yu was calm too; it looked as if they weren’t obliged to puzzle out who the killer was.
But Feng Qi grew more and more interested in these two.
“Then don’t stand in the doorway, and get going.”
With those words Feng Qi turned and began striding away from the house; he had fully memorized the way back, so he wouldn’t be a lost child even if he took a wrong turn somewhere.
At the same moment, Leng Yu appeared to his left, and behind him Qing Wei.
“So this is your work, then?”
“Not quite…
As a matter of fact, we handle almost everything,” Leng Yu objected.
He understood: so Leng Yu had been in that snowy forest because he’d been searching for that orb.
Which meant they had some kind of locators, or something like it.
All the while, Feng Qi was starting to feel a distinct discomfort from hunger; he had the feeling his body was running at fifty percent.
The ground was noticeably sticky, which couldn’t fail to draw his attention, but it stirred no irritation, or any other spectrum of emotion, in Feng Qi.
“It seems these two don’t talk much during assignments,” Feng Qi noted.
But that was normal around a “stranger,” so he couldn’t care less.
Feng Qi glanced at the sky; the enormous storm cloud was still visible there, but it was darker and somehow thicker.
He looked at a bright star that was visible even through that cloud.
“On Earth, one could survive by being an observer…
But here, it seems, that won’t work.”
“So then, doesn’t that role seem boring to you, world?” Feng Qi demanded mockingly.
“Right now you can’t even intervene, like an invalid trying to run.
But I’m sure that someday you’ll take a step after all, and I’ll be ready for it.”
At that, the star began to pulse, as if answering Feng Qi.
Now that Feng Qi had become a piece, he could never again become an observer.
But that didn’t trouble him; he had even found being in such a role frankly boring.
Now that he understood this, he would do what was needed.