Destiny in Cinders

Zheng Mo almost felt like offing himself so that he wouldn't have to deal with this troublesome matter any longer. Any careless involvement with imperial-clan affairs could result in the extermination of oneself and all of one's kin. If Zheng Mo took his own life, he would be the only one in his family to be sacrificed and he could pass the buck on to some other unlucky official.

But with him already wrapped into the whole thing, he would be punished if he didn't complete his task. Even if he did capture the princess, or rather, commanderial princess, she might end up saying some unsavory things about him and... Waaaah! I don't want to die! The thought made him curl up in pain.[1]

Fortunately, the prefect wasn't completely heartless and had mobilized some of the Crimsonguard and Counterfiend Guard in the vicinity to help fortify Keensight, ensuring that Zheng Mo wouldn't suddenly die before he had a chance to right his wrong. At the end of the day, only a living person can become a scapegoat, Zheng Mo thought. Regardless, he was still thankful at the helping hand of his superior.

Not long after that, however, bad news came once more. The vilespawn fiend that had escaped from Direlife Canyon resulted in residual fiend qi spreading throughout the area. The Crimsonguard and Counterfiend Guard had to first clean up the fiend qi, which would delay their arrival by twenty days. By then, the snow would have stopped falling!

At the end of the day, Zheng Mo had to deal with all those pressures alone without help. Yet, even with how empty the city was at that time of year, signs of discord began to surface. As people picked up on the adept's long absence, their first thought wasn't that he was dead; they were quite confident in his strength. Even then, they thought he must've run into some kind of trouble that kept him from returning to the city.

As such, the various factions that had laid dormant due to pressure from the adept began to take action. Some of them had begun testing the waters. They weren't actually trying to incur Grand Chen's full wrath, but that wouldn't stop them from trying to steal a bite when nobody was looking.

The local gangs based around Keensight had begun to fight discreetly against the mercantile companies. When Shu Zheng was around, nobody dared to cause any trouble, but with him gone, they were free to redraw territorial lines or take out minor factions or seek redress for grudges. Zheng Mo was certain that the vagabonds and the other disappeared folk were victims of the secret wars that had just begun.

Yet, that thought proved to be far too naive. He later received word that demonic cultists had infiltrated Keensight! Though he wasn't aware of their goals, their presence alone was a massive headache. Recently, information from Grand Chen suggested that the snow calamity had yet to end, spreading even farther into the western mountains. Though the areas weren't fully impacted, it was still a huge change where humans were concerned, and most disasters in the world were manmade.

Soon, a large snowstorm that would topple many homes would reach Huang Prefecture. Zheng Mo would have to use the terrestrial-vein formation to shelter the city from the snowstorm. But without Shu Zheng there to guard him while he did so, he was vulnerable to attack from the demonic cult. Such was the dilemma that pushed him to desperation. Yet, he didn't have any other choice.

Right as Zheng Mo sighed within the large hall, a tiny lotus-shaped drone focused its lens on a lamp nearby. An Jing put down the drone goggles, still within his inn. "It seems that the city manager isn't a bad person. He probably isn't the one who's targeting me. Then again, the snow calamity finally reached this place, huh? It's no wonder he's freaking out to this extent."

Even though it was winter proper, Keensight seemed to fare rather well with snow not piling up in the city. It had stopped snowing for the past few days, allowing the streets to dry once more. Yet, that was merely the calm before the snowstorm. An Jing knew better than anyone that it was no exaggeration that the whole city could end up buried in snow once the calamity hit, not that it would ever come to that.

Keensight was fortunate enough to have a mandated official that could prevent disasters. Besides, the magnitude of the snow calamity that spread to the far western reaches was not nearly as impactful as that of the source. It would snow heavily for half a month at most. With proper shelter, there should be no casualties.

But if someone attacked the official while he was busy resisting the natural disaster, City Manager Zheng wouldn't be the only one to perish. It would affect the hundreds of thousands of citizens in Keensight, hence the pressure Zheng Mo found himself under. Apart from worrying about the cult, he was also tasked to help locate the gold-eyed girl.

"I don't think the demonic cult is behind this. This isn't how they do things..." he said as he piloted the drone back and put it away. "Shu Zheng was a cultist to begin with, so there's no need for them to send anyone to infiltrate the city. Word of his death should have spread throughout the cult. With Direlife Manor gone and the settlements near it decimated by the vilespawn fiend, the demonic cult should be focused on regrouping at their main base."

"Then... did someone deceive the city manager?" Yvelbane wondered.

"Yes, but they might have mixed in some truth with the lies. The easiest way to deceive others is to tell nine parts truth, one part lie, after all. It's true that Keensight has become less secure lately, so it's no surprise if any other people managed to sneak in here. However, this place was already infiltrated by the demonic cult long ago. If they send more people here, they wouldn't have been detected at all. I theorize that somebody already knew that and intentionally shifted the blame on the cultists when they reported it to Zheng Mo. What better scapegoat is there than the dastardly demonic cult? These people are also looking for the terrestrial veins. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Madam Huai got wrapped up in all this. It all makes sense now,"

Back then, he wasn't quite sure what the other party's objectives were. However, it was sure to be something massive when it involved terrestrial-vein nodes. But even if that faction had managed to infiltrate the ranks of Grand Chen's officials, they hadn't taken over the entire administrative body, much to An Jing's relief. He wasn't too concerned even if the mysterious faction could have taken over a large part of the constabulary. An Jing could simply escape as long as the mandated official didn't activate the terrestrial-vein formation.

"What we need to do next is to capture the people who are lying low in hiding to learn what their true plan is." An Jing began to plot what he would do the next day. What he didn't expect was that the people in hiding actually revealed themselves before him.

"What is the meaning of this?" An Jing was just about to leave the inn the next day when two constables stopped him at the entrance. He looked at the paper slip that read "temporary residence registration form" and said, "Are you guys serious?"

"Do we look unserious to you?" The constables crossed their arms and laughed. "What are you gawking at? Fill it out and sign! You'll need to do this every day you're in the city. That'll show a Dustdawner bumpkin like you. Do you think this is a lawless place like your backwater home?"

1. Typically, "princess" translates to 公主, but in Chinese, that title is typically reserved for daughters of the ruling monarch. The alternative title used here is 郡主, which can be used for a highborn girl that isn't the daughter of the monarch. Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_and_noble_ranks_of_the_Qing_dynasty ☜