kingnovel Chapter 747: The Left Green Face Chen Lao Explores the Reasons for the Rebellion
Chapter 747: The Left Green Face Chen Lao Explores the Reasons for the Rebellion
The late spring evening breeze, wrapped in the damp smell of grass, entered the alley.
The soles of Zuo Qing's cowhide boots rolled over the bluestone slabs, and every step felt like a knock on people's hearts.
The black iron knife at his waist tapped his thigh lightly with his steps, and the rustling sound of the scabbard rubbing against the fabric of his clothes was particularly clear in the quiet alley.
The low house where Mr. Chen lived was at the end of the alley. A kerosene lamp was flickering under the green-tiled eaves, and a few flying insects were floating in the halo of light.
Zuo Qing stopped in front of the door, and just as he was about to knock with his knuckles, he paused again - the red string wrapped around the door knocker was a little loose.
The mottled copper rust underneath is exposed, and it looks exactly like when Mr. Chen tied it with his own hands three years ago.
At that time, he was not yet the commander of the Night's Watch, and Old Chen was not yet a "senior" who lived in seclusion.
"Squeak-"
The moment the door opened, Zuo Qing took a half step back and lightly pressed the hilt of the knife with his right hand.
The old man inside the door was wearing a coarse cloth shirt that had been washed white, and holding a half-rolled thread-bound book in his hand.
The silver beard was blown up by the draft.
Old Chen's cloudy eyes suddenly widened, and the book fell to the ground at his feet: "Xiao Zuo? So late..."
Zuo Qing's fingers pressed lightly on the hilt, and the friction between metal and leather made a slight sound. "Mr. Chen, can you please spare a moment to talk?"
Old Chen paused as he bent down to pick up the book, and his back became even more hunched.
When he looked up, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were filled with smiles: "What are you talking about, kid, standing at the door?"
"come in."
Before he finished speaking, Zuo Qing had already noticed that the knuckles where he was holding the book were bluish-white - those were the calluses that only people who had been holding swords for many years would have.
Even after retiring for many years, the memory of the muscles and bones remains.
The aroma of aged tea wafted through the low house.
Zuo Qing followed Old Chen across the threshold and glanced around the room:
On the Eight Immortals table stood a half-carved peach wood talisman, and in the corner were piled several bundles of dried mugwort.
The leaves of the ten-year-old orchid on the windowsill are even more wilted than they were last month.
His hand never left the hilt of the knife, and the tip of his boot left a very shallow mark on the blue brick - this was the vigilance engraved in the bones and blood of the night watchman.
Especially when facing a senior who once was in charge of secret operations.
"sit."
Old Chen opened the wooden lid of the teapot, and the hot steam from the spout of the purple clay teapot blurred his face.
"Mingqian Longjing, you always said this tea was refreshing when you were doing the secret work."
When Zuo Qing sat down, the scabbard knocked against the edge of the wooden table, making a clear sound.
He stared at Chen Lao's hands as he poured water into the teacup - the hands that had crushed the throats of three assassins in a bloody incident thirty years ago.
But at this moment it is as steady as a rock in a mountain stream.
"Mr. Chen, three days ago, at the explosion at the West Market warehouse, half a piece of sealing wax was found at the scene."
He suddenly spoke, his voice like it was soaked in ice water.
"The crimson crescent pattern is the same as the mark from the 'Blood Cocoon' case twenty years ago."
The teacup fell on the table, splashing a few drops of amber tea.
Chen Lao's pupils shrank slightly, and he tapped the teapot lightly with his fingertips, and the wooden lid snapped shut. "Do you doubt me?"
"Don't dare."
Zuo Qing's thumb stroked the cloud pattern on the hilt, which was carved by Old Chen himself when he became the commander.
"But the Night Watch archives show that someone can mobilize secret agents and know the Red Moon Mark at the same time."
"There are no more than five people in Daxia who can cause thirty-seven witnesses to collectively lose their minds."
He paused, his eyes swept across Chen Lao's waist - where the "evil-suppressing" jade token bestowed by the emperor should have been hung.
But it's empty at this moment,
"And among these five, you are the only one who secretly went to Miaojiang last month."
Mr. Chen suddenly laughed and started coughing.
He fished out a copper pipe from his bosom, and when he lit it, sparks flew everywhere. "Xiao Zuo, you're still the same as you were back then. You can't tolerate any sand in your eyes."
He took a puff of cigarette, smoke leaking out from between his fingers.
"Do you know why I retired? It was the blood cocoon case twenty years ago."
"One hundred and seven civilians died, among them an old man selling sugar paintings, who was my master's last disciple."
He tapped his pipe on the table. "They are not Outer Gods. They are something even more foul than Outer Gods—something hiding right under our noses."
Zuo Qing's breathing became heavier.
He recalled the secret report from Lin Qiye this morning: the bone spurs found in the underground palace of Ningchang County had been found to contain poison;
Thinking of the burnt note I found in the office trash can three days ago,
The dark red crescent mark remaining on the edge overlapped with the crossbow tail feather mark that Lin Qiye mentioned.
The light in Old Chen's eyes at this moment was very similar to the look in Old Chen's eyes when they were staking out the drug lord in the secret camp.
"Are the 'they' you're talking about related to the beast tide in Ningchang County?"
Zuo Qing's voice lowered a little, and the cloud pattern on the hilt was warmed by the sweat of his palm.
"Last month, all the Miao Gu Masters disappeared. The two days before yesterday, the Phoenix team intercepted the Gu worms at the border. They are all..."
"The tea's cold."
Mr. Chen suddenly interrupted him, picked up his teacup and drank it all.
"When you were little, you always said my tea was too bitter. Now you should understand - only when the bitterness reaches your heart can you taste the sweetness."
He stood up and walked towards the inner room, his back stretched out in the dim light.
"I'm going to get something, please wait."
Zuo Qing's fingers tightened on the hilt of the knife.
He watched Old Chen disappear behind the door curtain and heard the sound of someone rummaging through a wooden box in the inner room.
Suddenly I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the Eight Immortals Table—it was from the thread-bound book that Old Chen had just dropped.
The words "July 15th, the moon is at its zenith" can be vaguely seen in the wet ink.
"Xiao Zuo." He was awakened by the sound of Old Chen lifting the door curtain.
The old man held a faded cloth bag in his hand. The red moon pattern embroidered on the cloth glowed dark red under the light.
"There are some things I should let you know."
Zuo Qing's Adam's apple moved.
He watched as Mr. Chen placed the cloth bag on the table. When the corner of the cloth fell down,
The lower half of the bronze mask was revealed - the outline was exactly the same as the attacker's mask described by Lin Qiye.
The evening breeze suddenly blew in through the window, rustling the papers on the corner of the table.
Zuo Qing stared at Chen Lao's wrinkled hands, which were slowly untying the knot of the cloth bag.
And his fingertips were already pressing on the swallowing beast on the hilt.
"Mr. Chen."
Zuo Qing's voice was darker than the night.
"You said you wanted to save Daxia. But the rules of the Night's Watch are—"
"I know."
Old Chen's hand stopped at the knot. When he looked up, Zuo Qing saw tears in his eyes.
"But some mistakes have to be made up by someone."
From outside the alley came the sound of a night watchman striking a gong. With a "dong" sound, the night birds under the eaves were startled and flew away.
Zuo Qing looked at Chen Lao's trembling fingers.
Suddenly, I remembered the last message Lin Qiye sent three days ago: "The Red Moon Mark has reappeared, and it is suspected to be related to the Night's Watch."
At this moment, the sound coming from the cloth bag was the sound of metal friction, which was very similar to the sound of the spiral arrow on a crossbow.
His thumb slowly pushed open the lock on the handle of the knife.
The knot on the cloth bag slowly loosened under Chen Lao's fingertips.
Zuo Qing's thumb had already pressed down the lock of the knife handle, and the fangs of the swallowing beast made his palm hurt.
But Old Chen's cloudy eyes kept staring at him.
It was like looking at the young man squatting at the door of the secret post and eating cold steamed buns. "Xiao Zuo, you just asked about the West City warehouse explosion."
He traced his fingers over the crimson moon embroidered on the edge of the bag. "I had someone set the fire."
Zuo Qing's pupils suddenly contracted.
The cloud pattern on the hilt was slick with sweat. He could hear his Adam's apple rolling, "You admit it?"
"Admit what?" Old Chen finally untied the last knot, and the cloth bag unfolded with a "swish".
Zuo Qing's sight first fell upon half of a bronze mask—it was exactly the same as the attacker's mask described by Lin Qiye.
Then came a stack of yellowed pages, the top one of which was clearly stamped with the wax seal of the Night Watchman.
"Admit that I'm investigating a case that I didn't finish twenty years ago? Admit that I used some shady methods?"
He tapped the paper with his fingertips. "One hundred and seven people died in the Blood Cocoon Case, and Chen Moyu was the thirty-seventh one among them."
Zuo Qing's breathing suddenly stopped.
The teacup made a crisp sound on the table - only then did he realize that he had been clenching the teacup tightly without knowing when, and his knuckles were turning blue and white.
Chen Moyu was his guide when he joined the Night Watch. Three years ago, he fell off a cliff while chasing a murderer in southern Xinjiang. The official conclusion was that it was an accident.
But last month, when he was looking through old files, he discovered that Chen Moyu's autopsy report had disappeared.
"You said she wasn't an accident?"
His voice was hoarse, and the lock on the handle of the knife made a light "click".
"So you set up hidden stakes, set off explosions, and made witnesses lose their minds... just to bring up old scores?"
Old Chen took out a rusty bronze nail from his cloth bag.
The nail was engraved with twisted insect patterns: "Three days before the black jade fell off the cliff, a secret letter was delivered to me."
He pushed the bronze nail in front of Zuo Qing.
"She said she saw someone in Miaojiang use this thing to drive a nail into the heart of a living person. The nailed person would turn into a walking corpse, but could control monsters."
The old man's nails dug deep into his palms.
"But by the time I arrived in southern Xinjiang, her body had been gnawed by wild beasts, leaving only a bloody cufflink—which contained half a map pointing to the Ningchang County Underground Palace."
Zuo Qing's eyes fell on the bronze nails.
He remembered Lin Qiye's secret report this morning: poisonous insect components were detected in the bone spurs in the underground palace of Ningchang County.
It turns out it's not a coincidence.
"You're using the red moon mark to lure the snake out of its hole?"
His thumb slowly loosened the lock.
"But thirty-seven witnesses lost their minds. Was it you who did it?"
Elder Chen suddenly laughed, tears welling up in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "That's Mo Yu's Gu technique."
He lifted up his trouser leg and saw purple spots crawling on his left calf.
"Back then, she was infected with the 'Bone-Eroding Gu' while trying to save me. Before she died, she implanted the mother Gu in me."
"The witnesses lost their souls because the Gu Mother was devouring their memories—those memories contained 'their' faces."
He lowered his trouser legs again.
"Xiao Zuo, do you think I want to be the mastermind behind this? I've been in retirement for ten years. I was planning to grow some mugwort, carve some wooden talismans, and wait for death."
"But last month I dug up half a stele in Miao territory. The inscription said, 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the moon reaches its zenith, the blood cocoon opens again, and myriad beasts devour the sky.'"
Zuo Qing's back rested against the back of the chair.
He remembered the burnt note he found in the office trash can three days ago.
The dark red crescent mark remaining on the edge overlapped with the crossbow tail feather mark that Lin Qiye mentioned.
It turned out that Mr. Chen had already handed the clue to him, waiting for him to discover it himself.
"So you bombed the West Market warehouse to destroy 'their' supplies?"
His voice lowered.
"Were the Gu worms intercepted by the Phoenix Squad also clues you deliberately missed?"
"Yes."
Mr. Chen pushed the paper in the cloth bag over to him.
"These are the files of all the monster riots in the past ten years. The places I marked in red have traces of poison."
He stroked the bronze mask with his fingertips.
"The person wearing this mask can control poisonous insects and drive monsters crazy."
"They can make the Night's Watch mute—they are not Outer Gods, but a cancer hidden in the blood of Daxia."
Zuo Qing's fingers clasped the edge of the paper.
The top one was a secret letter from Chen Moyu, written in sloppy but clear handwriting: "Master, I saw people in official uniforms in Miaojiang. They were hammering bronze nails into children's hearts..."
His temples throbbed. "You mean 'they'? Are they officials from Daxia? Are they night watchmen?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
Mr. Chen suddenly reached out and pressed the back of his hand. The temperature of his palm was incredibly hot.
"But I know that if I don't take action now, on July 15th, the blood cocoon in the underground palace of Ningchang County will hatch something more terrifying than a demonic beast."
"The clue that Mo Yu exchanged his life for, I can't let it end in my hands."
Zuo Qing pulled his hand back abruptly.
He stood up, his scabbard clattering against the teacup on the corner of the table. "So you acted on your own? The Night's Watch's rules are about collective investigation, not individual revenge!"
There was a suppressed tremor in his voice.
"Did you know that Lin Qiye's Phoenix Squad spent three days and three nights at the border chasing the Gu worm?"
"Did you know that An Qingyu, in his attempt to find a witness, was attacked by the Soul Loss Gu and became vomiting blood and fell ill?"
Old Chen looked up at him, his silver beard gleaming coldly under the light: "I know."
His voice was as light as a sigh,
"That's why I'm waiting for you. Xiao Zuo, you're the most stubborn kid I've ever taught—back when you were a secret agent squatting there,"
"You can lie in a stinking ditch for three days to catch a drug lord; after becoming a commander, you can search through twenty years of files to solve an unsolved case."
He pointed at the bronze nails on the table and said, "You are the only one who will stare at these 'dirty things' until they are completely uprooted."
Zuo Qing's breathing gradually became rapid.
He looked at the purple worm spots on Old Chen's legs and recalled Lin Qiye's last message three days ago: "The Red Moon Mark has reappeared. It is suspected to be related to the Night's Watch."
It turned out that Mr. Chen had long regarded himself as an "internal" target and used himself as bait to lure him to investigate.
"You said 'they' weren't Outer Gods."
His voice was hoarse. "So what are they?"
Mr. Chen closed his eyes.
The evening breeze from outside the window blew in with the smell of grass, making the pages of paper in the cloth bag rustle.
The bronze mask glowed faintly in the light, like an open eye.
The old man tapped the mask lightly with his fingers.
The voice was so low it sounded like a dream whisper: "It is something more terrifying than the Outer Gods... It is a ghost that we ourselves have nurtured in our bellies."
From outside the alley came the sound of a night watchman striking a gong. With a "dong" sound, the night birds under the eaves were startled and flew away.
Zuo Qing looked at Chen Lao's pale face.
Suddenly I noticed a few broken grass leaves in the white hair at his temples - as if he had just come back from the wilderness.
His hand slowly loosened the knife handle and fell on the pile of files.
His fingertips touched the ink on Chen Moyu's secret letter, which was still a bit damp.
"Mr. Chen."
His voice became softer.
"July 15th, forty-three days left."
Old Chen opened his eyes, and the light in his eyes was exactly like when he found the clues in the secret pile that year: "Enough for us to dig up the roots."
He pointed to the bronze mask on the table.
"Tomorrow night, take Lin Qiye to the Old City God Temple in Xishi."
"Someone will be there waiting for you—with 'their' secrets."
Zuo Qing looked down at the mask.
The moonlight had climbed onto the windowsill at some point, casting a shadow on the concave part of the mask, which looked like a grinning mouth.
His Adam's apple moved, and just as he was about to speak, Mr. Chen suddenly started coughing violently.
The old man bent down with his hand covering his mouth. A few drops of blood seeped out from between his fingers and fell on the bronze nail, like a blooming little red flower.
"You..." Zuo Qing took half a step forward and paused.
Old Chen waved his hand and took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms.
He raised his head and swallowed two pills: "The bone-eating insect has come back, an old problem."
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Xiao Zuo, some things can't wait. Don't be late for the Old City God Temple tomorrow night."
Zuo Qing stared at the porcelain bottle in his hand.
The bottle was engraved with the Night's Watch Pharmacy logo—it was a healing medicine that only core members could receive.
It turns out that Mr. Chen had already calculated his own fate.
"I will go."
He bent down to pick up the teacup on the ground and put it back on the table.
Glancing at the thread-bound book at Mr. Chen's feet—the corner of the paper that had just slipped out,
The words "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the moon is at its zenith" are particularly clear under the moonlight.
Old Chen leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and smiled: "Go ahead. Remember to sharpen your knife - this time, the people we are going to kill are our own people."
Zuo Qing turned and walked towards the door.
The moment he pushed open the door, the evening breeze, carrying the fishy smell of grass, blew in his face, making the corners of his eyes sore.
Behind him came the sound of Old Chen flipping through a book, and the crisp sound of bronze nails touching the mask.
He stood at the alley entrance and looked back, seeing a shadow swaying on the window paper of the low house - the old man was putting the half bronze mask on his face.
The moonlight filtered through the window lattice, casting two balls of faint blue light in the eye holes of the mask.
The night watchman's clapper sounded again, "Dong——" This time, Zuo Qing heard it from farther away.
There was a low wolf howl floating in the wind, as if something sleeping was waking up.