Free Web NovelChapter 49: Chapter 49: Entering the Urn
"On the way here with the oil, half the street’s rats smelled it and came running out. They nearly overturned the cart..."
A wiry, squinty-eyed man in a short-sleeved tunic chimed in from the side.
Fu Juemin saw his large, coarse palms, the cracks between his fingers still caked with grease.
"You’re an employee from the Yongfeng Oil Workshop?"
Fu Juemin thought for a moment, then said, "Take this jar of oil, get on a cart, and do a couple of laps around the east side of the city." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Then he turned to Fu Guoping. "Second Uncle, have a few men follow him."
Fu Guoping naturally understood Fu Juemin’s intentions. He nodded and immediately assigned a few men to lead the oil workshop employee away.
Fu Juemin watched as they boarded a horse-drawn cart and swayed off toward the east side of the city. This jar of century-old oil from the Yongfeng Oil Workshop was a pleasant surprise.
Before, Fu Juemin had only been fifty or sixty percent confident about luring out the Civility Venerable Sect’s Mouse Demon. Now, he was eighty percent sure.
He had absorbed the memories of the Black-Scaled Snake Demon from Taohuang Village, so he had a certain understanding of these Demon Fiends that had, for some unknown reason, gained sentience and become monsters.
Once these demonic abominations gained sentience, their base instincts didn’t fade. Instead, they were magnified to the extreme.
Since the Yongfeng Oil Workshop’s century-old oil paste could make half a street’s worth of rats risk their lives to chase a cart, the Merciful Rat Demon hiding in the shadows would surely be unable to resist such a temptation.
The men Fu Guoping sent out left, and the remaining people continued their work.
The men from the Civil Affairs Bureau hauled barrel after barrel of oil from the flatbed carts that had arrived from the city. It was all top-grade sesame oil, a golden-yellow liquid like flowing amber, and they poured all of it into a recently cleared-out, abandoned brick kiln.
One barrel, two barrels... After an unknown number of barrels, when more than half of the kiln was filled with sesame oil, the men who had been ordered by Fu Juemin to circle the city with the old oil paste returned.
The crucial century-old oil paste was poured in as well. Fu Juemin then had his men add two barrels of lard and one of molasses, stirring it all together with a long bamboo pole...
The aroma inside the brick kiln instantly reached its peak.
It was an indescribable, almost violently sweet and cloying fragrance.
Even ten paces from the kiln’s opening, the scent was still so strong it made one’s head spin.
When the wind blew, stray cats and dogs from miles around came running, drawn by the smell. The men from the Civil Affairs Bureau couldn’t even chase them away with sticks; the animals just kept circling the kiln’s opening.
Fu Juemin had his men place several coarse hemp ropes soaked in tung oil into the brick kiln. Then, they covered the opening with several layers of oilcloth and piled on flammable materials like cotton, dry pine needles, and saltpeter. All that was left was to wait patiently.
The men from the Civil Affairs Bureau set up several ambush points around the brick kiln. Fu Juemin and Fu Guoping hid behind one that faced the east side of the city, speaking in low voices.
"Lingjun, should we add dozens of pounds of knockout powder?"
Fu Guoping said, clutching his pistol and squinting at the kiln’s opening.
Fu Juemin shook his head. "The powder would ruin the scent. We can’t risk messing this up.
"Besides, once we light the fire, it’ll wake up no matter how much powder we use."
Fu Juemin glanced at the pistol in Fu Guoping’s hand and added, "If my method works, Second Uncle, you might not even need to use that gun."
Fu Guoping thought that made sense and nodded in agreement, relaxing his posture.
"You’re becoming more and more like your father."
Fu Guoping surveyed the elaborate setup and sighed with emotion. "I’ve been in charge of the Civil Affairs Bureau for so long, and when it comes to dealing with these things, I’ve only ever known how to meet them head-on with brute force. I never would’ve thought of such a clever tactic..."
"It’s just a bit of cleverness. Whether it works or not is another matter."
Fu Juemin shook his head, but Fu Guoping waved his hand dismissively. "It’s fine if it doesn’t work. At worst, we’ve just wasted some oil."
Fu Juemin thought for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject. "Second Uncle, did someone from the County Government come by earlier?"
While they were unloading the oil, Fu Juemin had seen a uniformed Patrol Police officer arrive, exchange a few words with Fu Guoping, and then leave in a hurry.
"Yes."
Fu Guoping nodded. "That fellow Zhou He tried to use County Magistrate Hu’s authority to pressure me. He told me to hurry up and bring my men over to help, but I sent his man packing."
Fu Juemin’s expression flickered. "What does County Magistrate Hu plan to do about this situation?"
"What can he do?"
Fu Guoping said in a flat tone, "Arrest those who can be arrested, kill those who should be killed, and drive the rest... out of the city.
"Don’t be fooled by that man Hu acting all frantic and overwhelmed. Deep down, who knows how happy he is?"
"County Magistrate Hu is happy about it?"
Fu Juemin was confused.
"Of course he’s happy."
Fu Guoping sneered. "With all this chaos, he has the perfect excuse to make the wealthy families in the city donate money for disaster relief.
"What are a few refugees? He can just set up a few soup kitchens to deal with them. As long as they don’t starve to death... and even if a few do, it’s no big deal.
"But after all these maneuvers, how much profit do you think our County Magistrate Hu can skim off the top?
"That man Hu will probably be laughing in his sleep tonight."
"Isn’t he afraid of provoking a popular uprising?"
Fu Juemin couldn’t help but frown.
Fu Guoping shook his head. "We in Luan River haven’t reached that point yet. And even if that day comes, he’ll just pack up and leave without a care. Why would he worry? He bought his position as county magistrate anyway..."
Fu Juemin’s brow furrowed slightly, and he said nothing. Fu Guoping glanced at him and said in a low voice, "I heard the Provincial Government has already sent a special commissioner down to specifically handle the disaster situation. They should be arriving in Luan River in a few days..."
Fu Guoping also mentioned the Snake Demon Skin Gloves Fu Juemin had requested, saying they would take a few more days to be made and that he would have someone deliver them then.
Without them realizing it, dusk settled completely, and a bright moon rose into the night sky.
Fu Juemin and Fu Guoping had long since stopped talking. The vast kiln yard was deathly silent. Everyone held their breath, their focus absolute. The only sound was the occasional scrape of stray dogs digging at the earth.
An unknown amount of time passed, long enough that Fu Juemin’s resolve began to waver—
’Maybe after the man in colorful clothes escaped, the Mouse Demon behind the Civility Venerable Sect already fled?’
’Maybe the Demon Fiend behind the Civility Venerable Sect isn’t a Mouse Demon at all, or maybe this Mouse Demon doesn’t actually like to eat oil?’
As all sorts of distracting thoughts arose, he noticed the mosquitoes in the abandoned kiln yard had become surprisingly numerous after nightfall. freēwēbnovel.com
Fu Juemin casually swatted a mosquito that had landed on his arm and had been struggling for ages to take a bite. He then pulled a pocket watch from his suit vest and checked the time.
8:32 PM.
By now, most of the common folk in the city should be asleep.
Suddenly, Fu Juemin’s heart leaped. An inexplicable tremor rose rapidly from the depths of his being.
’It’s here!’
He knew exactly where that feeling came from. His expression tightened, and he quickly ducked down, fixing his gaze on the kiln’s opening.
Ever since he added points to Life, Fu Juemin’s eyesight had been steadily improving. Coupled with the bright moon tonight, he could see clearly even without any lamps—
at the gate of the abandoned brick kiln, a black shadow was rapidly approaching.
Wherever the shadow passed, the overgrown weeds in the kiln yard rippled violently like waves. The stray cats and dogs that had been roaming about earlier had vanished.
In their place were rats!
A dense, writhing mass of rats swarmed in from all directions. As far as the eye could see, it looked like a vast black tide rapidly squirming toward them.
Everyone, Fu Juemin included, felt their scalps tingle at the sight.
It looked as if nearly half the rats in Luan River County had shown up. There were enough of them to devour everyone present, leaving not even a bone fragment behind.
Fu Juemin stared at the approaching shadow and the tide of rats, his brow tightly furrowed. He suddenly shouted in a cold voice, "Second Uncle, hurry! Have your men hold back the swarm! Don’t let them make the kiln’s opening collapse!"
