Green Mountain
Chapter 155 - 113, Interrogation

Chapter 155: 113, Interrogation

The sky was not yet bright, the river water like black ink.

Chen Ji’s head emerged from the surface, gasping for air, the cold touch felt as though it seeped through his skin into the seams of his bones, burrowing into his bone marrow.

The soaked clothes clung to his body, retaining not a bit of warmth.

Chen Ji surveyed the waters around him, trying to find traces of Manager Yuan amid the waves, but his attention was suddenly drawn to the scene overhead.

One after another, meteors streaked across the river surface, trailing long tails like the rare meteor showers seen only once in many years, dazzling, brilliant, and radiant.

With bows fully drawn, the meteors covered a distance of a hundred paces, and more than twenty Elephant Armor Guards on the bridge didn’t even have a chance to retaliate before being pierced through one by one.

A tattooed man on the bridge hid on the other side of a carriage, dodging one meteor after another, and took a copper whistle from his waist to blow it.

A dense crowd of Elephant Armor Guards poured out of the alleys, responding to the whistle, rushing towards the Mudan Bridge like a brown torrent.

The tattooed man roared, "Catch Jin Zhu, cover the escape of our second brother! It’s just one Heavenly Horse, I don’t believe he could loose hundreds of bows!"

But no sooner had he spoken than the sound of iron hooves came from the distance.

Those iron hooves approached from afar, as if a great battle formation was marching, breaking through the icy river.

Chen Ji suddenly turned his head and saw a middle-aged man in a straw raincoat and bamboo hat standing silently on the corner of a pavilion’s eave in the distance.

Like a black hawk, in the flickering firelight, he held a black banner in his hand, pointing towards the Peony Arch Bridge!

On the banner were the gold-embroidered characters for Jiefan!

It was Lin Chaoqing, Heavenly Horse has also called up the Jiefan Guard from Mengjin Camp!

Chen Ji gazed at Jin Zhu on the bridge, who was awkwardly bending and scampering to take cover, and finally, seizing the opportunity, jumped into the water. It seemed that Jin Zhu wouldn’t be killed today, and although Liu Mingxian had laid out an extensive trap, the Ritual Supervision seemed to have outplayed him.

The larger situation was already decided.

Yet the task Chen Ji had for tonight was not yet finished.

At this moment, the sound of water waves came from not far beside him, and he saw Manager Yuan forcefully swimming towards the west, stirring constant splashes.

Chen Ji carefully followed, neither getting too close nor too far away.

Manager Yuan looked back at him with a cold glare and swam even faster.

The two, one after the other, left behind them the sky-scraping firelight and the cries of combat, with only the sound of splashing water remaining. The firelight reflected on the black river surface, as though even the icy waters of the Luo River had lit up with a cold flame.

Chen Ji called out while swimming, "Stop running, with a through-and-through wound on your leg, where can you possibly escape to?"

Manager Yuan sneered but did not reply.

Chen Ji continued to shout, "Work with the Spy Department and you might be spared!"

Manager Yuan still gave no answer, just swimming towards the shore.

Chen Ji swam vigorously a few strokes to catch up, but Manager Yuan suddenly turned and kicked him in the head.

Amidst the surging undercurrents, Chen Ji was kicked to the riverbed, and if not for the resistance of the water, he might have passed out right then.

He shook his head and with a strong push from his legs against the riverbed, gritted his teeth and followed once again.

Manager Yuan looked back and just felt like he was being followed by a lone wolf, seemingly determined to drag him to death in the barren wilderness.

Moments later, he limped across the pebbles, slowly wading ashore.

Manager Yuan looked down at his wound, only to see a hole as wide as a thumb still bleeding, his trousers soaked a dark purple color.

Bowed in contemplation, the roaring sounds of displaced air reached him, and with a slight tilt of his head, a flying stone grazed his ear before landing on the faraway muddy shore.

Manager Yuan turned to look back and saw Chen Ji standing in the river, waist-deep, bending down to pick up several pebbles and clutch them in his hand, flinging one after the other in his direction.

He couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation, "Who the hell are you, chasing me with a few pebbles? The Spy Department only pays you a few silver pieces a month. What are you playing at with your life against mine?"

Chen Ji said nothing.

Manager Yuan wanted to stoop down to tear off a piece of his garment to bind the wound and stop the bleeding; any longer without tending to it, and he wouldn’t get far.

But just as he bent over, he heard the sound of another stone cutting through the wind.

Manager Yuan easily stepped aside, pretending he would go back into the river and put an end to Chen Ji first, but as he moved to do so, Chen Ji promptly waded back into the river.

Frustrated to the point of a pulsing vein on his forehead, he snarled, "You think you can delay me?"

After speaking, Manager Yuan simply ignored Chen Ji, not even dodging the incoming stones, focusing instead on binding his wound. A common person’s thrown pebbles couldn’t hurt him seriously, even if they hit.

The next moment.

With a thud, a massive rock struck Manager Yuan on the forehead, causing his eyes to darken as he staggered several steps to the right.

Fuming, he glared and saw Chen Ji grappling with another rock from the river as massive as a human head.

The river’s youthful figure turned blue, his lips pale, his body shivering from the cold, as chill and hard as the pebbles on the bottom of the Luo River.

"Are you ever going to stop?" Manager Yuan narrowed his eyes, "Don’t continue to bother me. I’ll give you more wealth than you could ever spend in your life, far more than what you get for working at the Spy Department."

Chen Ji sneered, "If you survive tonight, we’ll talk."

At that moment, someone nearby said with an ingratiating smile, "Looking down on the Spy Department’s salary? Can the Military Intelligence Department offer more? Excuse me for asking, but is this gentleman from the Military Intelligence Department, Si Cao? We’ve been through a lot of trouble to find you."

Manager Yuan turned abruptly, only to see Jin Zhu, who had somehow arrived, his clothes still dripping with water, slowly wading from the river onto the bank.

In the middle of the river, on a small black-canopied boat, an old man in a raincoat poled the boat, carrying the White Heavenly Horse slowly closer.

The Heavenly Horse stood unmoving at the prow like a pillar stabilizing the seas, as if the river wouldn’t dare churn into mighty waves while he was present.

Manager Yuan tried to flee up the riverbank, but as soon as he turned, he saw a man squatting on the embankment behind him, staring at him with a jocular grin.

The man wore a bright brown cross-collared robe, rising from the embankment down to the flats.

His robe was embroidered with dozens of brightly colored pheasants, his face clean-shaven, his hair slick and orderly, resembling an important character in traditional Chinese opera.

Meng Ji.

Manager Yuan growled, "Three of the Twelve Signs have arrived, including the Top Three’s Heavenly Horse—quite the grand gesture. Yet instead of going after Liu Mingxian, you all come after me. Why is that?"

Jin Zhu smiled and replied, "The Prime Minister wants the Liu Family eradicated; there’s no reason for Liu Mingxian to live. Liu Mingxian is just a minor character. The Liu Family’s roots are in Henan Province; where could he run? Stop struggling and surrender."

Manager Yuan didn’t respond, but instead, turned to pounce on Chen Ji, determined to take the bothersome thief down with him in his dying moments.

But as he turned, he realized Chen Ji had anticipated his intention and had already moved back into the river ahead of time.

The next instant, a meteor flew from the heart of the river, piercing Manager Yuan’s other good leg.

Jin Zhu approached with a smile, flipping Manager Yuan onto the ground and holding him down.

He took out a small knife from his sleeve, cut a lock of Manager Yuan’s hair and handed it over, "Meng Ji, let’s interrogate him right here. And the boy in the river, too, let’s deal with him here."

Jin Zhu squatted on the ground, turned his head to look at Chen Ji in the river, and spoke slowly in a haunting tone: "I won’t be at peace until after we finish with him."