After travelling for another 3 days , the group finally arrived at the city gates of Jingxi city, the final city before they entered the barren and harsh lands of the northern territories.
Yang Changtian , Li Cheng and Liu Ying parted ways temporarily to stock up on supplies and gather data from their respective branch offices. They all agreed to meet at the city gates 2 days later.
When Yang Changtian reached their sects branch office , he saw a man waiting for him. The man introduced himself as an informer of Prince Jinlong.
“ Mr. Yang , high highness Prince Jinlong ordered me to look into the background of the group dispatched by the king. I’m here to report my findings to you sir.”
Yang Changtian nodded before asking the man to follow him into the study.
“ You can continue now.” Yang Changtian gave the man the green light to continue. And the man handed him 3 scrolls , that included all the information about the 3.
“ First up is the man named Jin Wei , he is from a foreign country , his mother was a dancer and his father is said to be a minister from the neighbouring country . Since he is an illegitimate child , his mother decided to flee to Jin Xiu in hopes he could have a better life here. When he was a teen he was scouted by the founding head of the Imperial Investigation department, who heard about his skill. Since his mother was a dancer , she was skilled in the art of face painting , Jin Wei inherited this skill from his mother and with further training under a senior detective from the Department , he is extremely skilled in the art of disguising. His skills in disguising combined with his outgoing personality makes him one of the best undercover agents in the department. notable missions he engaged in includes The case of the Raven sect and the embezzlement by the magistrates of the Western territory. “
“ Da Xiong is Jin Wei’s partner , he is from a small village in the North , so he is familiar with the area. He is known for his big structure and bear-like strength. He is skilled in a form of martial arts that involves hand to hand combat that evolved in the north. His Father is said to be a fallen general , who was demoted under the previous king’s rule when he tried to expose the embezzlement that took place at the war zone. He was paired up with Jin Wei from the beginning , and they took part in missions together. Ignoring the founding members of the department , they are the best senior detectives in the department who engage in field missions.”
Yang Changtian was reading the scroll while listening to the man. He expected the king to simply send 2 detectives , but never did he think that the king would send 2 of the best detectives of the department. Jin Wei and Da Xiong , played vital roles in multiple high profile cases.
“ Liu Ying is a bit on the mysterious side. She was one of the founding members of the department , quiet and observant by nature, unlike other founding members she takes on a more passive role. She appeared suddenly in the capital around 12 years ago , it is said that she is from the Liu family in the South. “
“ The Liu Family ?” Yang Changtian wasn't too suprised to hear this, from her clothes , to her pickiness about food , it was obvious that she was from a pampered background. The Liu Family was a family well known in the merchant business. 23 years back , the Liu family all perished in a house fire , leaving the youngest child , a girl, orphaned . The Feng family in the capital heard about this tragedy and took in the child out of their deep friendship with the Lius.
“ Liu Ying is very elusive and prefers to stay out of the public’s eye. She often supports the department's mission from the shadows, by helping them with analyzing and planning.She is incharge of managing and maintaining the vast data net of the department, which she herself established. Surprisingly this is the first time she was dispatched to a field mission. She is known for her excellent analyzing ability. It is said that she can predict an individual's actions simply by observing them for a while. It also seems like she has an eidetic memory , though this isn't confirmed. While she is a person of few words , it's said that she doesn't sugar coat anything and is very straightforward. “ The man continued to report.
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“ From what we have found so far , while all three of them are quite peculiar , they are not bad people , so for now we can be sure that they have no ulterior motives. All 3 of them are upright people who will fight for justice. So for this mission we can be sure that they are honest people.”
“ What about the attackers ? “ Yang Changtian raised his head and asked the man. After the attack , Yang Changtian immediately sent Prine Jinlong a letter detailing the situation that transpired.
“ We did look into it Mr. Yang , it looks like someone hired assassins from the assassin guild , the group dispatched were the clay puppeteers , a group of astray martial artists from the Clay wielding clans in the southwest. While we don't have much info about the person who hired the assassins , it can be estimated that the person is someone rich and powerful.”
Yang Changtian raised his head again when he heard this , “ How can you be sure it’s someone powerful and rich ? “
“ Mr. Yang , the clay puppeteers , are some of the best assassins under the Assassin guild , only going out on missions that are extremely high profile. And it is said that so far they haven't failed any missions. Besides, the deployment of this investigation group was kept top secret, only known by the King , the 4 senior ministers and the Senior detectives from the Imperial Investigation department.”
Yang Changtian nodded , this reasoning was logical , it couldn't be the King , nor can it be any of the senior detectives as they are only loyal to the King. So it was likely one of the 4 senior ministers , the prime minister , the defense minister , the minister of rights and the finance minister.
Yang Changtian was quick to notice the informant's face twitching. “ Is there anything else you wish to tell me ? “
“ Mr. Yang i shouldn't say this , especially considering i don't have much proof on it , but 20 miles away from the location you and the others fought the assassins, 5 people were found dead , they didn't have any clothes on , and they were found near a bandit den , so it was concluded that they were some unlucky passersby attacked and killed by the bandits , but ….” The man hesitated.
“ But what ? Continue, “ Yang Changtian instructed.
“ Mr. As I said , I don't have much proof , but all 5 of them were martial arts practitioners and the only thing left on their bodies were some whistles that I haven't seen before. And it is said that the clay puppeteers usually create and manipulate clay figures using a unique type of whistle , so I suspect that the dead are actually the assassins who attacked you. “
Yang Changtian slammed his hand down on the table , “ Why didn't you tell me this sooner , can you remember what the whistle looks like ? “
“ Mr. Yang , since they were unique , I had my subordinate keep one in one in our archive , I’ll have some send it over before you depart.”
“ Good , can you also give me the autopsy reports of the deceased ? And I understand that you work for Prince Jinlong , but can you look into it and find out whether the deceased are in fact the assassins ?”
The man cupped his hands and bowed to Yang Changtian , “ Mr. Yang , while I serve his highness Prince Jinlong , he has ordered me to assist you , so I am glad to look into it. I shall have the autopsy reports sent along with the whistle . They concluded that they were killed by a stab into their hearts , the peculiar thing is , the fact that their tongues were cut off. “
Yang Chanhtian was confused at this , “ If they're tongues were cut off , why were they classified as bandit victims , bandits usually don't cut off their tongues.”
“ Mr. Yang , the bandits here sometimes cut off a person's tongue if they lied to them. Also Mr. Yang, I forgot to mention that the dead bodies had a tattoo of a lotus etched into their abdomens.”
“ Lotus flowers ? That's unusual . Lets not worry about that now , for now we should focus on finding out if these bodies are in fact the assassins sent to kill the investigations group. “
“ Yes Mr. Yang . I shall take my leave then Mr. Yang.” The man bowed and left.
Yang Changtian sat for a while lost in thought. ‘ If the dead people do turn out to be the assassins , who would be strong enough to kill them , the informant said that they were some of the strongest and most ruthless of assassins in the assassin guild , so who would be strong enough to completely wipe them off , this case was getting more complex by the minute.’
He then glanced at Liu Ying’s profile . ‘ I sense that you’re not this simple either. What are you hiding ? Are you good or bad ?‘ he thought . He then turned his head to look out the window, it was getting dark. So he stood up and walked outside , he jumped up onto the roof and sat down.
The sky was clear as usual , the moon was staring down accompanied by thousands of stars. “ Jingyou …..” Yang Changtian let out a soft whisper “ What have I gotten myself into. I feel it deep in my soul that this is just the beginning or a long chain of mysteries and troubles.”