Green Mountain
Chapter 33 - 32. Unceasing
CHAPTER 33: 32. UNCEASING
Coming to this world, Chen Ji knew nothing about his former self, only able to piece together his identity bit by bit from information revealed by others.
Now, the past connected to him was becoming increasingly complete... and increasingly horrifying.
A Jing Dynasty spy? Was he truly a Jing Dynasty spy?!
For Chen Ji, this was the worst possible outcome, as if he were walking on a knife-edge cliff, with a deep abyss on either side, a fall to the left or right signifying irrevocable doom.
What to do?
The person holding a knife to Chen Ji’s back said calmly, "Don’t make any rash moves, or you will die."
The voice was dry and muffled, yet it carried an absolute confidence.
The other party must be a long-practiced Executive Officer, a big shot from the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department!
Chen Ji did not move, but he heard the Shopkeeper say, "Lord Si Cao, I have already confirmed it; Lord Zhou was exchanging intelligence with this lad the night of the incident. Now that Lord Zhou and his entire household have vanished, only this boy is still alive, he must have betrayed us."
Military Intelligence Department Si Cao pressed the cold blade tightly against Chen Ji’s neck and asked in a solemn voice, "Have you anything to say?"
Chen Ji’s mind raced, but he eventually responded calmly, "The night I went to Zhou Chengyi’s Mansion, he had already been betrayed by the thin horse from Baiyi Lane’s Green Bamboo Garden. Only then did Yun Yang and Jiao Tu seek him out... How could my supposed defection be the cause of his death?"
The Shopkeeper asked sternly, "Then how did you survive? Jiao Tu and Yun Yang are notoriously bloodthirsty; if you did not betray and prove your worth, how are you still alive? You have betrayed the Jing Dynasty!"
The Shopkeeper had just been kicked and, speaking in anger, took the chance to send a kick toward Chen Ji’s stomach, bending him over.
Chen Ji wanted to strike back, but did not anticipate the person behind him kicking the back of his knees.
Chen Ji’s knees buckled, and he almost fell to his knees.
But he braced himself, and before his knees touched the ground, he stood up again.
Si Cao kicked several more times, but each time Chen Ji did not kneel, he struggled back to his feet.
Seeing this, Si Cao then pressed down on his shoulders with immense force, yet this time Chen Ji would rather fracture his shoulders than bend his knees.
He stood erect, glaring at the Shopkeeper and said fiercely, "No matter how many times you torture me, the result will be the same. I have just one question; if I truly had defected, why are you still alive to speak with me?!"
The Shopkeeper’s expression faltered.
That was the reason they had not immediately killed Chen Ji; although all the signs indicated that Chen Ji had defected, apart from Zhou Chengyi and Liu Shenyu, everyone else was unscathed.
With Chen Ji’s identity, if he had defected, it would be a disaster for the entire Luocheng City Military Intelligence System. The Military Intelligence Department had to confirm what exactly had happened.
The storage was filled with herbs, crowded, and the three could even hear each other’s breathing in the room.
Chen Ji took a deep breath, pinched the blade with two fingers, and pushed the dagger, wedged against his neck, away slightly, "You want to kill me without questioning right and wrong? Let me finish what I have to say. After arriving at Zhou Mansion, I hadn’t spoken much with Zhou Chengyi before Yun Yang and Jiao Tu showed up. Zhou Chengyi knew there was no hope of survival and told me to save myself. Later, he committed suicide by poisoning, and I survived under the guise of a Medical Hall apprentice, with the Spy Department yet unaware of my real identity."
Having said that, he no longer looked at the Shopkeeper of Bailu Pavilion but turned around to directly face the person behind him, from the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department, the third-ranking figure lurking within the Ning Dynasty!
Si Cao, clad in gray with a simple outfit, had patches on both elbows and knees.
Strangely, Si Cao wore a thin wooden mask on his face, carved with fierce fangs, terrifyingly ferocious.
Before he could speak, Si Cao raised his hand and struck precisely at Chen Ji’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
...
...
When Chen Ji groggily awoke, he suddenly found himself hanging upside down in an unknown place, a black cloth over his head, shrouded in darkness, and his wrists in pain as if they had been cut.
He could hear the thick dripping sound, as if his own blood was dropping drop by drop.
The dripping sounds, like the countdown of life, incited fear and urgency in one’s heart.
But Chen Ji became even calmer instead.
"Judging by the speed of the bleeding, you only have half an hour to live," Si Cao’s voice came from behind the mask, somewhat muffled, "Now I ask you, the Spy Department always errs on the side of killing rather than letting go. Even if they don’t know your spy identity, they would never let you live. Tell me, why did they let you go?"
Chen Ji explained in the darkness, "Because I had made an accomplishment. Using alum as a clue, I applied vinegar to paper to reveal the secret letter from the Xuan Paper Shop to Zhou Chengyi."
Si Cao asked in a deep voice, "If what you say is true, then the capabilities you’ve shown do not match your identity as a Medical Hall apprentice. Yun Yang and Jiao Tu would certainly suspect! Yuan Ming, were you certain no one was following him when he came?"
The Shopkeeper shook his head, "No."
"Check again, see if there are any unfamiliar faces near Bailu Pavilion."
"Understood."
The Shopkeeper named Yuan Ming immediately stepped out the door and stood in the courtyard, sending out sharp swallows’ calls with a copper whistle.
Soon, swallows’ calls came back successively from the east, south, west, and north sides outside the Bailu Pavilion.
The Shopkeeper returned inside with a puzzled expression, "Lord Si Cao, the brothers in charge of the surroundings report that indeed no one was following him."
Lord Si Cao fell into deep thought, "Why would the Spy Department trust you enough to not even assign someone to tail you?"
Chen Ji also fell into deep thought, yes, why...
It seemed he had suddenly gained the trust of Yun Yang and Jiao Tu; he was not only allowed to go to the inner prison, but he could also freely access the archives.
Those archives were of utmost importance to the Spy Department. If Yun Yang and Jiao Tu still suspected that he was a Jing Dynasty spy, they would never allow him access.
Why, though?
Wait, it was because of that strange dream.
Chen Ji recalled that in the dream, someone had controlled his subconscious and answered some questions.
And he had narrowly passed the interrogation because... at that time, he truly did not know that he was a Jing Dynasty spy!
That was close; he had inadvertently evaded the interrogation!
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The sound of blood dropping continued as if hastening death.
Chen Ji spoke calmly, yet urgently, "I had a dream before, where someone kept asking me if I was a Jing Dynasty spy. At that time, I was nearly overwhelmed, but in the end, I managed to hold onto my mind and answered ’no.’"
Lord Si Cao seemed surprised, "Meng Ji himself took action? You actually resisted Meng Ji’s interrogation."
However, Lord Si Cao did not fully believe him.
Chen Ji felt a pain in his arm as if he were being sliced by a knife again.
The sound of the blood dripping vanished, replaced by the noise of blood pouring into a wooden basin like a thin thread, incessantly urging, plop, plop.
Lord Si Cao said calmly, "No matter how flowery your words, they could all be a story concocted by the Spy Department. If you want me to believe you, then prove your continued loyalty to the Jing Dynasty. If you cannot prove it, I can only kill you. I believe your uncle would understand my actions."
Chen Ji was startled for a moment, uncle?
At that moment, the shopkeeper said, "My lord, there’s no use talking nonsense with him, the Spy Department keeping him alive must be part of some plot. If we let him go back, who knows if Bailu Pavilion could be destroyed one day? That is one of our most important assets in the South; many people depend on Bailu Pavilion for their livelihood."
Lord Si Cao did not reply, simply waiting for Chen Ji’s response.
Chen Ji closed his eyes, pondering how could he prove his continued loyalty to the Jing Dynasty?
When he opened his eyes again, he declared decisively, "I saw the ’Reflections On Things at Hand’ employing the Reverse Cut Technique to hide information at Liu Shenyu’s house, but I did not hand it over to Yun Yang and Jiao Tu. The book revealed that a high-ranking official from the Prince Mansion was in contact with our Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department and disclosed that the entire Liu family had already aligned with the Jing Dynasty. If I were to hand over the book, the Liu family would likely meet with doom!"
Lord Si Cao caught his breath, "Where is the ’Reflections On Things at Hand’?"
"It was burned."
Lord Si Cao slightly squinted his eyes, a fierce look flashing as he pondered silently, "You did not lie about that point; indeed, the Spy Department never found the ’Reflections On Things at Hand.’ I sneaked into Liu Shenyu’s mansion later to find it but also came up empty. It turns out you had hidden it away in advance, very well..."
Chen Ji felt a chill in his heart, the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department actually knew the Spy Department hadn’t obtained the ’Reflections On Things at Hand’? Could it be that there were other spies in the Liu family estate that night?!
As Lord Si Cao thought, the shopkeeper urgently said, "Lord Si Cao, no matter how cleverly this youngster talks, he can’t change the fact that he betrayed his colleagues. Do you realize that after the ordeal with the Liu’s Xuan Paper Shop being seized, it involved a vast array, not only leading to the death of Liu Shenyu but almost causing a major disaster?"
Chen Ji, hanging inverted from the beam, asked solemnly, "May I ask, who else from the Jing Dynasty has ever gained the trust of the Spy Department’s Twelve Signs? Who else has escaped Meng Ji’s interrogation?"
Lord Si Cao’s expression shifted.
Meng Ji was one of the biggest obstacles for the Military Intelligence Department’s infiltration into the Spy Department; countless spies undertook the mission to permeate the Spy Department, but ultimately fell before Meng Ji.
Now that Chen Ji had escaped the interrogation, perhaps it truly was an opportunity.
But how could it be determined that Chen Ji had really escaped the interrogation?
Chen Ji heard no response from Lord Si Cao for a long time, finally pushing his chips all-in, "Give me one month’s time; within a month, I can prove that I haven’t defected and demonstrate my loyalty to the Jing Dynasty."
Lord Si Cao thought for a moment, then turned to the shopkeeper, "Send a message out, I need to see ’Long Whale,’ I have important matters to entrust to him."
The shopkeeper hesitated but ultimately turned and left the room.
Lord Si Cao remained silent in the room for a long time, eventually cutting the rope and letting Chen Ji down.
He slowly slid the dagger back into the sheath in his sleeve, "On this trip to the Ning Dynasty, your uncle asked me to take care of you on his behalf, yet I didn’t anticipate such an upheaval. Rest assured, if it is as you say, I won’t just spare you; I’ll protect you. But if you’re deceiving me, don’t blame me for turning heartless."
Chen Ji removed the black cloth from his head only to see that he was still in the Herb Storage, and Lord Si Cao, holding a chicken in his hand, had poured its blood into a wooden basin.
Chen Ji was not surprised in his heart but still feigned shock while touching his arm; the spot that had hurt earlier bore no wound.
Lord Si Cao explained calmly, "I’m still banking on you to infiltrate the Spy Department, so naturally, I wouldn’t leave a wound on you that could arouse suspicion. Besides, for the sake of your uncle, I’m inclined to give you a chance to prove yourself."
His own uncle was not from the Ning Dynasty, but from the Jing Dynasty? Then, at the very least, he also had Jing Dynasty blood.
Chen Ji originally thought the Jing Dynasty would be a nomadic tribe, with a physical appearance vastly different from that of the Ning Dynasty. However, judging by his own appearance, the people of Ning Dynasty and Jing Dynasty clearly shared the same roots, which contradicted his understanding of the world.
For a moment, he only felt his identity become more confused once again, no wonder the other person had said earlier...
"You betrayed your identity, you betrayed your surname."