Chapter Nine: Chou Shilu

Crow Lord was not just an ordinary crow; he also possessed the uncanny ability to discern truth from falsehood in human speech.

Fixing his gaze on Liang Zhi’s eyes for a moment, his beak slowly widened.

“Incredible—what you said is actually true. Could I have misjudged you? Are you truly a villain beyond redemption? Yet, somehow, it still doesn’t feel right.”

“Haven’t you always wished I were that kind of person? By the way, you’ve got something dirty on your feathers,” Liang Zhi deftly shifted the subject.

Crow Lord glanced at his plumage, then immediately raised his wings. “I need a bath! Prepare a basin of water for me!”

Liang Zhi grinned in satisfaction. Crow Lord had already forgotten their previous conversation. With such a tiny brain, crows couldn’t manage complicated thoughts; they were easy to fool.

“I want chick feed, too! With mealworms! And… I want a little of the lollipop you snatched!”

Liang Zhi’s smile faded into resignation, a helpless look crossing his face. Keeping a bird was like waiting hand and foot on a spoiled old man.

“Fine, fine. One day you’ll eat yourself to death, I’m sure.”

…

“If everyone dares to say no to bad behavior, then Dazong is bound to become a better place. This is Qiu Shilu, reporting for the News Bureau.”

Returning home, Qiu Shilu began to jot down the bizarre events she’d faced that day. When she finished, she picked up the photo frame on her desk, her expression turning somber. “I will become a good journalist. I will find what you believed in and show the world the truth.”

Carved into her desk was a line of words—her personal motto:

“Let the account be honest, the facts verified; embellish not, conceal not evil, thus is it called a true record…”

Setting the frame down, she stretched with a yawn. “What a tiring day. I’d better take a good bath—tomorrow I need to get up early and deliver the article to the editor. This news piece ought to earn me some bonus.”

As Qiu Shilu rose, her body suddenly swayed.

A strange sensation surged through her mind, as though something had abruptly connected with her thoughts.

“Come here. I’m waiting for you…”

Her gaze grew vacant. She opened her front door and stepped alone into the shadowed street.

At night, the East District was not nearly as safe as by day.

Like a drunken wanderer, Qiu Shilu quickly drew the attention of several people as she walked down the avenue.

A long-haired man in a short jacket sauntered over, slinging his arm over her shoulder. “Hey, gorgeous, out this late…”

Bang!

Qiu Shilu’s fist slammed into the man’s chest. He flew backward, crashed through a wooden barrel, and the sharp crack of breaking bones echoed. Had she been conscious, the punch would have been lighter—this was only an instinctive reaction.

After that, no one else dared bother her. No one was so eager to court death.

Soon she arrived at an overgrown, neglected courtyard. Pushing open the gate, she stepped inside—and instantly snapped out of her trance.

“I should be in my dorm. Why am I here?”

She looked up. In the center of the courtyard sat a man whose expression was clouded and sinister. His face was long, reminiscent of a shoehorn—it was the same man who’d sold lollipops earlier that day.

But now, instead of a bandage, there was a large mole on his left cheek.

Behind him stood two burly men: the one on the left wielded a machete, the one on the right hefted a club studded with nails.

At the entrance behind Qiu Shilu, two more men lurked, their intentions equally ill—one held a short knife, the other a length of rope.

“I get it now—the lollipops you sold earlier were tainted. That’s why I ended up here!”

The long-faced man only smiled at her. “Miss Reporter, we meet again. I brought you here to help you, not harm you, so I hope you’ll cooperate.”

The man with the machete sidled up, an ugly leer on his face. “Boss, this one’s a looker. Can we…”

The long-faced man’s smile vanished. He fixed the henchman with a cold, red-tinged stare. The thug swallowed hard, falling back into line, hands trembling.

The long-faced man turned back to Qiu Shilu. “You don’t need to worry that we’ll harm you. I simply want to send you somewhere better.”

Qiu Shilu frowned. “Somewhere better? And where exactly is that?”

“A place with no oppression, where everyone is equal.” The man spread his arms, his face alight with fanatic zeal.

Qiu Shilu snorted. “Do you take me for some little girl who loves fairy tales?”

He shook his head. “You’re a journalist; you should know better than anyone the rot and decay beneath Dazong’s glittering surface. This is a sea of misery! The place I speak of truly exists—no exploitation, no plunder or slaughter, only hope and dreams.”

Qiu Shilu looked at him with open contempt. Even human traffickers had to invent excuses for themselves these days?

The long-faced man remained impassive, gesturing to the two men behind her.

“One day you’ll understand my intentions. For now, forgive the inconvenience. We have another guest to greet.”

Creak…

Just as the two men at the door were about to act, the gate swung open again.

A man in black crow-patterned pajamas stumbled in, a large crow perched atop his head, his eyes still heavy with sleep.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Liang Zhi snapped awake. Wasn’t he sleeping at home? How had he suddenly appeared here? The woman before him looked familiar—wasn’t she the one who reported his stall?

“Oh, it’s you, scum. I’ve been looking for you all day.”

“I only cheated you out of ten coins! Did you have to report my stall and drag me here as well?”

They both spoke at once, then realized simultaneously that neither of them had brought the other here.

Then, with a crash, the gate slammed shut, locked with a fist-sized iron padlock—no one in the courtyard could leave now.

Liang Zhi turned to the long-faced man. Clearly, he was the one responsible for luring them here in their sleep.

The long-faced man glared at Liang Zhi, nearly gnashing his teeth.

Everything he’d proclaimed earlier wasn’t entirely a lie; at least, he believed it himself.

Even so, a great cause required funding. For certain reasons, they couldn’t simply rob openly, so using a drug like Heart’s Call was the most suitable method.

Heart’s Call was expensive to produce, but with just one successful job, they could make a fortune.

But now, the entire batch of costly Heart’s Call had been stolen by Liang Zhi.

Even with the beauty Qiu Shilu, they could still make a profit—but for people like him, failing to meet their quota meant losing money.

Seeing Liang Zhi, the long-faced man let out a vicious grin.

“This lady is the one we need. She can go to that wondrous ideal world. But you… the one who stole my Heart’s Call—you’re as rotten as this country, and I’ll see that you die a death worthy of such decay.”