# 126
Chapter 126 – The Note
“Braised prawns!”
“Supreme crab pot!”
“Captain’s braised pork!”
“Xiangnan roast suckling pig!”
Hongying swung bulging plastic bags of meat and veg, shouting down the street, eyes sparkling.
Lin Qiye and Si Xiaonan trailed behind, equally laden, watching her exuberance and sighing in unison.
“Hongying-jie… we’re on the main road… could you not be so loud? People are staring,” Si Xiaonan whispered.
Hongying waved it off. “Who cares? We’ve been cooped up in the office forever. It’s New Year—why worry about strangers?
Besides, what’s wrong with being happy? Right, little Qiye~?”
She hooked an arm around Lin Qiye’s neck, grinning.
He sighed again. “While I was away, no Mysteries appeared?”
“One did,” she mused. “Just a River-realm lizard. Fast and hard to kill, but nothing like that psycho Nanda snake. Way easier.”
“Hard to kill? How’d you finish it?”
“Blades failed, but my gun and fire didn’t.” She planted her hands on her hips. “One shot—dead.”
“……”
“Still, something felt off.”
“Off how?”
“When logistics arrived, only half the body was left…”
“Half?” Lin Qiye’s brows knit.
“Yup. Thought my Rose-Flame Plumage incinerated the rest, but Captain and Wu Xiangnan suspect otherwise—Nanda’s head is still missing, after all…”
“Someone’s collecting Mystery corpses?”
“No idea.”
Lin Qiye pondered, then shook his head. He was still only a Night Watch trainee; he’d return to camp in two days. Captain and Wu Xiangnan could handle it.
The trio strolled into a quiet alley. A black blur suddenly streaked toward Lin Qiye!
His Mortal Divine Realm flared; he sidestepped and darkness erupted outward.
Whoosh—
A small metal dart clanged off the asphalt and rolled, harmless, wrapped in shadow.
Across the street, a black-cloaked figure stood on a rooftop, face hidden beneath a hood. Spotting them, he pocketed his hand-crossbow and sprinted away.
“Seeking death?!”
Hongying thrust her shopping bags at Lin Qiye and blurred after him, leaving after-images.
“You two head home—I’ll teach this punk some manners!”
Her voice lingered as she vanished. Lin Qiye frowned at the dart.
A sneak attack? Too clumsy. Even if it had hit, the point wasn’t sharp—poison, maybe?
He crouched, spirit sense sweeping the dart. His eyes snapped to a tiny paper scroll tied behind the fletching.
He unfurled it—and his pupils shrank.
He crushed the note, shoved every grocery bag onto Si Xiaonan’s skinny arms, nearly toppling her.
“Take these back. I’ve got business.”
He sprinted away before she could protest.
Alone in the empty alley, Si Xiaonan, buried in bags, pouted at the falling snow.
……
Snow drifted again. Lin Qiye raced over trampled sidewalks, retrieved two black cases from the team’s van, then dashed out.
No taxis on New Year’s Eve; no license either. He gritted his teeth and ran toward the old quarter.
The note, soaked with sweat, bore one crooked left-handed line:
“Old Quarter #3901—someone’s going for your family.”
The address he longed for yet dared not approach—home.
Who wrote it? How did they know? Friend or foe?
No time. One thought blazed:
Whoever dares touch Auntie and A Jin—
Even Yama will die!
Through the snow the boy flew, twin cases in hand, killing intent piercing the sky!