Free Web NovelChapter 11: Chapter 11: Vice-Captain
The afternoon sun was making people drowsy, and the crowds in the marketplace had thinned considerably since morning.
Li Yuan walked along West Street toward the inspection team’s headquarters.
The courtyard was still empty. The door to the main building was ajar, and from within came the soft clink of a teacup being set on a table.
Li Yuan knocked on the doorframe. "Captain."
"Come in."
Pushing the door open, Li Yuan went inside. Wang De was sitting behind his desk with several documents spread before him. At his side was a coarse ceramic teacup, its contents long since gone cold.
Li Yuan closed the door and came to a stop before the desk.
Wang De glanced up at him, then looked back down at his documents. "What is it?"
"There’s a Loose Cultivator in the North Alley selling ore scraps. His name is Zhao Wu. He’s at the Qi Refining Second Level and came from the Yuanheng Mountain Range."
Wang De didn’t stop flipping through the documents or look up, merely grunting to show he was listening.
"I noticed a few things during my recent patrols."
Li Yuan paused, then spoke again, keeping his report concise.
"First, he’s been constantly watching the guards at the entrances to the marketplace and the administration office. It’s not just a one-off glance; he’s been observing them for several days straight. Second, he doesn’t seem concerned that no one is buying from his stall. Third, he approached a passing Loose Cultivator today, not to talk business, but to ask if the market’s guard patrol had enough personnel."
Once he finished, Li Yuan offered no further analysis.
He had said what needed to be said. How to interpret the information was the captain’s job. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
A classic case of passing the buck.
The middle-aged man looked up. He took a sip of his cold tea, set the cup down, and leaned back in his chair.
"Anything else?"
"That’s all."
Wang De fell silent for a few moments, then tapped his index finger twice on the desk.
"Noted."
His tone was level, betraying no emotion.
"Continue your regular patrols. Don’t make a point of approaching him, don’t ask around about him, and whatever you do, don’t let him notice you’re keeping an eye on him."
Li Yuan nodded.
"That’ll be all. You may go."
Wang De looked back down at his documents, his expression unchanged.
Li Yuan backed out of the main office and closed the door behind him.
Once out of the courtyard, Li Yuan headed straight for the administration office.
Breakthroughs to the Qi Refining Fourth Level had to be registered at the administration office. That was a rule of the Wang family.
Every external Cultivator in the market who had signed a contract was required to report any changes in their cultivation level. The administration office would then reassess their benefits and work assignments accordingly.
The first floor of the administration office looked the same as always. A clerk sat behind the counter, head bowed as he wrote.
However, as Li Yuan walked in, he noticed three Inspector Generals sitting on a bench near the counter. They were all familiar faces, each with a Cultivation at the Qi Refining Third Level. The three of them waited in silence, their waist tokens laid out in front of them.
Li Yuan stepped up to the counter and handed over his waist token. "I’m here to register a change in my cultivation level. Qi Refining Fourth Level."
The clerk took the waist token and glanced up at Li Yuan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He immediately opened the register, found Li Yuan’s entry, and with a stroke of his pen, crossed out "Qi Refining Third Level" and neatly wrote "Qi Refining Fourth Level" beside it.
After the ink had set, the clerk produced another ledger from under the counter and cross-referenced it.
"At the Qi Refining Fourth Level, you’re eligible for exemption from the upcoming guard rotation. Do you want to take it?"
Li Yuan, of course, accepted.
The clerk shuffled through the documents at hand, pulled one out, and gave it a quick look.
"As it happens, there’s a vice-captain position open for someone at your cultivation level. I’ll go ahead and put you down for it."
Li Yuan paused. "Vice-captain?"
"Vice-captain of the inspection team."
The clerk turned the document for Li Yuan to see. It detailed a staff reorganization. "The Qi Refining Fourth Level is considered Mid-stage Qi Refining, which is enough to qualify for the position in the inspection team. It’s just that you’d normally have to put in your time."
"But as luck would have it, one of the former vice-captains was transferred to the guard patrol last month, and the position has been vacant ever since."
"But with everyone being moved over to the guard patrol right now, your vice-captain role will be in name only for the time being. You won’t have any subordinates."
The clerk said this in a flat tone, then retrieved a new waist token from under the counter. It was a size larger than Li Yuan’s old one. The front was engraved with the title "Vice-Captain," while the back still bore the character for "Wang."
Li Yuan took the new waist token and handed back the old one.
After finishing the paperwork, the clerk added, "Starting next month, your monthly stipend will be adjusted to the vice-captain’s standard: six Spirit Stones, two Meridian Opening Pills, and ten Contribution Points."
Contribution Points were nearly equivalent in value to Spirit Stones. As a general rule, it cost fewer Contribution Points than Spirit Stones to exchange for Cultivation Techniques, but more to exchange for items.
Li Yuan nodded and fastened the new waist token to his belt.
As he turned to leave, Li Yuan noticed a large pile of documents on the other side of the counter, most of them concerning personnel transfers.
The administration office was dispatching more personnel to the guard patrol.
’The situation in the Yuanheng Mountain Range is probably more serious than the rumors suggest.’
Li Yuan didn’t linger. He left the administration office and headed down North Alley.
North Alley was much quieter in the afternoon than it had been in the morning. Vendors were sparse, and some had already packed up their stalls for the day.
When he reached the middle of the alley, Li Yuan saw that Zhao Wu’s spot was empty.
The dirty piece of coarse cloth he used as a mat was still on the ground, but it was bare.
He walked a dozen more paces and saw a nearby vendor of dried herbs squatting down to organize his wares. It was the same man who had argued with Zhao Wu over this spot before. He had a dark complexion, and his gray linen tunic was covered in patches.
Li Yuan stopped in front of the stall and asked casually, "What happened to the guy selling ore scraps next to you?"
The vendor looked up, glanced at the new waist token on Li Yuan’s hip, then at the empty coarse cloth nearby, and shook his head.
"Left first thing in the morning. When I came out to set up my stall before dawn, he was already packing up." The vendor gestured with his hands. "He had a bag on his back, was in a real hurry, didn’t say goodbye to anyone, and headed east."
"Did anyone come looking for him before?"
The vendor thought for a moment. "Well, a young man came by two or three times, looked to be in his early twenties. He never stayed long, just said a few words and left. Didn’t notice anything else."
Li Yuan nodded. He asked no more questions and turned to continue his patrol. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
After finishing his patrol route, Li Yuan returned to the inspection team’s headquarters.
The door to the main office was still ajar. Wang De sat in his usual spot, a new pile of documents on his desk.
Li Yuan knocked and entered. "Zhao Wu has fled," he said immediately. "He left first thing this morning, packed up his stall completely, and headed east."
This time Wang De didn’t look down at his documents. He looked up at Li Yuan, his gaze pausing for a moment on the new waist token.
"Qi Refining Fourth Level."
"I just registered it today."
Wang De grunted, picking up his teacup and taking a sip of tea.
"I already know about Zhao Wu."
Li Yuan’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but he didn’t press for more information.
Wang De put down his teacup, picked up a document from the desk and scanned it, then casually tossed it aside.
"The guard patrol and the Wang family are already on it. It’s not something you need to worry about."
Wang De paused.
"You’re a vice-captain now. Just do your patrol job well. Keep an eye on things, but don’t investigate on your own. If you run into anything unusual, come to me. Don’t worry about anything else."
Li Yuan nodded. "Understood."
Wang De said nothing more and waved his hand dismissively.
Li Yuan backed out of the main office and closed the door.
’Right now, the most important thing is to keep improving my Cultivation and find new equippable items.’
