The crowd gasped and murmured at the spectacle. Even in the Undercity where nearly thirty percent of the people knew magic of one kind or another, it was rare to see a trained sorcerer in action. There was confusion and fear spread amongst the people; after all, from their perspective, the captain of the enforcers had just tackled an innocent bystander for no reason at all.

On the other side of the other crowd, the other enforcers had heard the commotion and were trying their best to part their way through the crowd.

Yue Ran lifted the man’s head off the ground and wrapped his other hand around his throat to prevent any possibility of him casting spells. The man’s face was bloodied with dirt and blood from his nose, but nothing was stranger than his expression. The muscles on his face seemed to be fighting against one another, spasming and jerking as each muscle wrenched for control. The man’s veins bulged on his temple, as his face contorted horribly.

A corner of his mouth lifted as he reached around his waist and pulled out a dagger. Yue Ran stared at the man impassively, reaching around his own waist for the handcuffs. The Steel Body Spell kept him protected from point-blank explosions, let alone a dagger. It never occurred to him for even the briefest moment that he wasn’t the target.

It was too late by the time he noticed.

The dagger cut an unnatural arc across the air and plunged into the chest of its wielder. Dark crimson blood seeped out of the wound and dripped slowly to the ground. For good measure, he twisted the blade and pulled it out of his own heart.

A scream precipitated panic in the crowd.

Yue Ran extended his hands and grabbed the man by the shoulder, but there was nothing he could do. There was no spell that could mend a wound this deep. He watched as the man stared at him, the light slowly fading from his eyes.

Tian Yi arrived at the scene before the enforcers. She got down on her knees and tore a piece of cloth off her shirt which she held over the gaping hole in the man’s chest. The gray cloth turned red and dark in a matter of moments.

Yue Ran placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “He’s dead.”

Tian Yi turned and looked at him worriedly.

The captain simply shook his head.

The rest of the enforcers arrived promptly and immediately started pacifying the crowd and directing them away from the scene.

“What is this, Captain Yue?” questioned the imam in Malay as he emerged from the crowd.

“Your culprit, probably.”

Yue Ran pried the dagger from the dead man’s hand and searched the rest of his body, but he only found a small pouch of coins and no identifying information.

“My culprit? You mean the person who set fire to the funeral house? But why? And why is he dead?”

The captain of the enforcers said solemnly, “I have no idea. For the time being, would you mind if I ask you to try and keep the people from talking about this? Just tell them that the perpetrator behind the arson has been caught and dealt with and that the enforcers are investigating the cause behind the incident.”

The imam pulled a white hair out of his beard and reluctantly agreed, “But keep us updated on your investigations. The Union will be asking about this. Especially if they think this was racially motivated in any way.”

Yue Ran nodded and said, “I’m only afraid this runs deeper than that.”

Having said that, he gave instructions to his enforcers to clean the scene and return to their usual duties. Yan and Zahid put out the rest of the fires and hurried back to their respective tasks on fortifying the city. Ira, on the other hand, insisted on staying.

“I’ve finished my tasks for today and by the looks of things, you are probably going to want a free enforcer by your side,” said Ira. The captain didn’t object.

Together, the two of them hauled the man’s corpse over the captain’s back and headed for the morgue. Throughout the trip, the captain was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice that Tian Yi was still following them.

It wasn’t until he placed the body on an empty table at the morgue that he remembered the widow wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Tian Yi, look, I’m really sorry about this, but as you can see, my hands are completely full with other things at the moment. Your concerns over those deaths are certainly justified and at any other time, I would have made it a first priority to investigate them, but right now, I just had a Chinese man burn down a funeral house at the Malay district and then stab himself in the heart,” he said.

He was right. Tian Yi knew she shouldn’t bother the enforcers any longer when they were so busy, but her senses were telling her otherwise.

“Captain,” she said, finally addressing Yue Ran by his title, “Don’t you find this all very strange? The same month we lose Song Teng and Nazirudin, we get a series of unexplained deaths and now, an arson and a suicide? You don’t think these incidents are linked somehow?”

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Yue Ran was quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time. Ira the enforcer stood quietly by the entrance of the room, but judging from the way she shifted her weight and held her breath, it was clear that she agreed with Tian Yi.

“I—”

“I’m sorry, but Master Chan is not feeling well at the moment. You mentioned that you want an autopsy performed as soon as possible. Would you be okay if I stepped in instead?”

The coroner’s assistant entered the room, a pale, young man with dark-black hair in his twenties.

Yue Ran frowned a little. The coroner had been frequently sick as of late, on account of his old age. He was very knowledgeable and excelled at his job, but if it wasn’t for his friendship with Lin Zheng Yao, the chief administrator, he would almost certainly have been made to retire and be replaced with his younger protégé.

He nodded at the young man, who put on a mask and went to work.

Tian Yi averted her eyes from the butchering and glanced at Yue Ran instead. The captain’s brows were knotted together into a frown again, as if drawn together by some invisible force. The white hairs on his temples were more prominent than before. It was clear that the past month and his promotion hadn’t been easy on him. It hadn’t been easy on anyone. Tian Yi knew what it was like, the burden of leadership, of having everyone’s life weigh on your shoulders, of having to think through every decision and every choice. She had seen her own husband wear that burden for years, saw how it aged him faster than time could. And now it was someone else’s burden to bear.

Her thoughts wandered back to Zhen Xi, back to Qi Ling, back to all the women, children and family who had spoken to her about their dead husbands and dead fathers. She remembered their faces, some numb and expressionless, some frozen in shock and others boiling with fury, but all of them lost in grief. You can never be prepared for death. Something had to be done.

The fire in her heart burned fiercer and hotter than ever. The restlessness that had been brewing and growing ever since she learned of her husband’s fate bubbled higher and higher until it boiled over.

She saw with perfect clarity what she would do next.

“Captain, I implore you, please, investigate these deaths. Whether it’s because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the city or for the victims’ families, this is something that has to be done,” she said.

The captain was still torn and conflicted, wavering between choices and searching for the right step to take. He listened quietly and said nothing.

Tian Yi knew he just needed one more push.

“I know your resources are spread thin and you have no manpower to spare, especially with what happened today. I’m not asking you to assign an enforcer to the investigation.”

The captain looked at her quizzically.

Tian Yi took a deep breath and said, “Let me do it. I’ll investigate the incidents. Just give me the authority to investigate the case and I swear I will find you a conclusion.”

“Out of the question,” snapped the captain sharply.

“I can do this. I’ve seen my husband do it and I know how to investigate a case. I compiled the list of victims and I got statements from their families. I’ve already made it this far. I know what to do!”

“I don’t doubt your abilities, Tian Yi. You are smart and attentive to details. If I could, I would recruit you as an enforcer this very moment. But you don’t understand. You don’t know any magic. You can’t defend yourself. Song Teng was a brother to me and I am not going to endanger his wife’s life for the sake of a case! Especially not when you still have a child to take care of!

I will consider your request, but under no circumstances will I allow you to pursue the case. You saw what happened. If this suicide is indeed linked to those mysterious deaths, then there is almost certainly a mastermind behind all this. Someone who is more than willing and capable to kill,” said the captain.

“I understand perfectly well,” said Tian Yi furiously, “I know the risk that comes with investigating this case. I know I am a mother and I have a child to think of and I know I could die, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. And that’s not something you get to decide for me!

How many people are suffering down here in the Undercity? No matter how hard we toil and how much we work, every year, more and more people die and food gets scarcer and scarcer. And the only thing I can do is watch? No! I’m tired of sitting by the sidelines. I just lost my husband and I refuse to lose anything else. I’ll do what I can to save whoever I can.

Make no mistake, I’m doing this one way or another, with or without your permission. There are plenty of ways to go about an investigation without the authority of the enforcers, and don’t you try and use my husband against me. Even Song Teng couldn’t change my mind if he was alive today!”

The captain said nothing, but he looked deep into Tian Yi’s eyes. She wasn’t lying.

“Sir? The autopsy’s done,” said the coroner’s assistant.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“The cause of death was obvious,” he said as he pointed at the gaping hole in the man’s heart, “I tried looking for any abnormalities like you suggested, but everything appears normal. He has a swollen liver, but that’s pretty common for heavy drinkers.”

“No internal wounds or ruptures?”

“None, sir.”

“Is there the possibility of a curse, captain?” Ira asked.

The round-faced captain shook his head but said, “Not impossible, but highly unlikely. A curse strong enough to drive a person to suicide is very powerful dark magic. Very few people alive still know such magic, not to mention the rare ingredients needed for a ritual like that.

Why use it on this man? Who is he?”

“Probably a miner or a factory worker, judging from the calluses on his hands,” said the coroner’s assistant, who promptly shut up when everyone glared daggers at him for stating the obvious.

The captain said to his enforcer, “Ira, ask around for a missing person. See if anyone has reported a husband or son missing. Come back to me when you’ve identified this man.”

Then, reluctantly, he turned to Tian Yi and sighed before he said, “Qing Tian Yi, on my authority as captain of the enforcers, I hereby declare you a provisional enforcer.”

Qing Tian Yi stood straight and saluted in the fashion of the enforcers.

“Save it. I’m appointing you provisional enforcer on one condition— you are only to work on the case of the mysterious deaths— well, two conditions— and you have to tell me how you intend to investigate it.”

Tian Yi thought for a moment before she said, “Well, since we’re at the morgue already, why don’t we start with the list of all the victims and their autopsy reports?”

The captain nodded and looked at the coroner’s assistant, who hastily shuffled out of the room to retrieve the records.

Tian Yi rolled her sleeves up and prepared to work. She paused for a moment. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she said, “Also, captain, if it’s not too much trouble, could you also get the records for the funeral house that burned down in Batu Langit?”

“The funeral house?”