On the day of meeting with the Restraint Officer, the prolonged sweltering heat was suddenly swept away by a cool breeze as a faint drizzle began to fall.
Ren Qing left the yamen early in the morning, heading toward the southern district.
He noticed that the presence of Blood Dog Gang members on the streets had significantly diminished, with only brothels and gambling dens still under deliberate surveillance.
This indicated that the Rotten Mud Gang incident had indeed begun to spread.
Although Ren Qing didn't know the specifics, the unexplained deaths of Half-Corpse Realm cultivators, with their Supernatural Remnants unaccounted for, could never be dismissed as mere accidents.
Once the Restraint Officers intervened in the investigation, gangs like the Blood Dog Gang tacitly chose to stand down.
For gangs in Sanxiang City, survival hinged first and foremost on not offending the Restraint Officers.
Ren Qing arrived unhurriedly at the southern district, where the surroundings had visibly deteriorated, with homeless beggars sprawled along the streets.
Compared to other districts, the southern area was far more chaotic, with gangs large and small occupying nearly every street.
These gangs had no connection to cultivation techniques, their numbers ranging from a dozen to over a hundred members.
The Rotten Mud Gang wasn't strictly a southern district gang, it operated across all districts, allegedly favoring hidden, out-of-the-way corners.
Shortly after entering the southern district, Ren Qing attracted the attention of certain individuals, prompting a group of furtive thugs to tail him.
All were gaunt and malnourished, keeping their distance out of wariness toward the Great Miao Blade on his back, sizing him up with their eyes.
The sound of swallowed saliva was faintly audible.
Ren Qing felt not an ounce of pity. He knew these hyenas would swarm him the moment he showed the slightest vulnerability.
He continued deeper into the southern district.
The streets gradually grew livelier, lined with stalls of all kinds, their prices markedly cheaper than in other districts.
This was likely due to the gangs demanding less protection money.
Following the directions on the paper, Ren Qing reached the outskirts near the city walls, where he finally located a dilapidated wooden shack.
The thugs hastily dispersed at the sight, their eyes brimming with terror.
Several days prior, someone had come here.
Rumors spoke of a terrifying ghostly deity that left witnesses pissing themselves in fear, some even falling gravely ill afterward.
Ren Qing meticulously inspected the area but found no traces left by the Restraint Officer.
After waiting patiently for some time without even a stray dog appearing, he simply pushed open the shack's door and stepped inside.
The interior was crammed with clutter, emitting a strange, pungent odor.
Having advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm, Ren Qing's sense of smell had sharpened considerably, allowing him to identify the source.
As a Corpse Burner, he'd never mistake the stench of rotting flesh.
His Twin-Pupiled eyes shifted, soon spotting a gnawed bone in the corner, scraps of flesh still clinging to it.
Frowning, he reasoned that if the Restraint Officer had designated this as the meeting point, it couldn't be wrong, was there some hidden mechanism?
Ren Qing pondered briefly.
Every detail in the room imprinted itself in his mind, down to the finest speck of dust.
He quickly noticed something amiss: the gaps between adjacent floor tiles showed subtle inconsistencies, likely disturbed recently.
After testing with his foot, he confirmed the presence of a hidden passage below.
Clearing the clutter revealed a large wooden plank covering a half-meter-wide tunnel.
The tunnel walls bore countless gnaw marks from rodents.
To Ren Qing, this suggested prolonged excavation, as if thousands of rats had painstakingly carved it out bit by bit.
Otherwise, there'd be no need for Restraint Officers to seal off Forbidden Zones; a few cultivators proficient in the Rat Plague Technique could easily hollow out a mountain.
Similar tunnels probably existed elsewhere in Sanxiang City.
However, these tunnels all extended outward, never burrowing into the city proper, indicating the Restraint Officers' Hall was at least somewhat aware.
The Restraint Officers would never permit gangs to expand unchecked.
Ren Qing cautiously entered the tunnel, sealing the entrance behind him, plunging himself into darkness.
The cramped space forced him to crawl initially, though he could eventually straighten up after some distance.
He'd expected the air underground to be stifling, but to his surprise, ventilation was adequate, with faint breezes wafting through.
After progressing for nearly an hour, he suddenly heard faint noises ahead.
Softening his footsteps, he rested his right hand on the Great Miao Blade, his legs faintly exhibiting signs of Wolf-Footed transformation.
The noises abruptly ceased, the other party had evidently sensed his approach.
Ren Qing cursed inwardly. Had he mistaken the meeting location?
Wait... why did this feel familiar?
A shadowy figure crawled along the ceiling toward him, moving almost imperceptibly fast without a sound.
In an instant, it halted nearby, a slender tongue shooting out like an arrow from a bow.
The tongue grazed past Ren Qing.
Smiling, Ren Qing remarked, "After all this time, Old Huang, you're still pulling this stunt?"
"Little Brother Ren, we happened to need someone with ocular techniques, so I recommended you."
Huang Ziwang dropped down from the wall, his expression complicated.
If he wasn't mistaken, Ren Qing had instinctively leaned aside just before his attack.
Moreover, the tunnel's entrance wasn't easy to find, he'd expected it to take hours, yet Ren Qing had arrived so swiftly.
How had his strength improved so noticeably in such a short time?
He'd probably reach the Ghost Envoy Realm soon.
Ren Qing asked curiously, "How did the Rotten Mud Gang get ambushed in their own territory?"
Huang Ziwang took a swig from a liquor bottle and said, "Let's talk while walking. The bodies are still some distance away."
He truly loathed being stuck in tunnels, but the Rat Plague Technique involved pestilent toxins, leaving him no choice but to endure this assignment.
"This case is complicated. The corpses died in extremely bizarre ways. The Restraint Officers' Hall suspects far-reaching implications."
"..."
Ren Qing had already noticed the strangeness, as they neared the site, the tunnel became littered with opossum carcasses.
All bore identical human faces, their dead eyes wide with shock, their bodies exhibiting varying degrees of anthropomorphism, their teeth a deep green.
Huang Ziwang warned, "These opossums are saturated with pestilent toxin. Anything below the Ghost Envoy Realm dies on contact."
Nodding, Ren Qing grew increasingly puzzled.
He'd encountered cultivators of the Rat Plague Technique, transforming opossum clones into human forms exacted a heavy toll, making such sustained use impossible.
Moreover, the Rat Mother mutation path shouldn't produce toxins this virulent.
As they rounded a corner, Ren Qing's pupils dilated.
A mountain of opossum corpses lay ahead, some fully transformed into human forms, all with identical faces.