Wandering Gods of Day and Night

Si Ming and his wife, Duan Qinglan, hurried into the courtyard and then into the house, cautiously rummaging through their surroundings.

"Madam, do you really think Liu Hao is this suspicious?" Si Ming, a straightforward man, had a business meeting scheduled at the Si Mansion earlier in the day, but he was summoned to Liu Hao's house by Duan Qinglan's phone call.

Liu Hao was the head of maintenance at one of the Si Family's printing factories.

While investigating who was behind smearing Zhou Xuan at her family's newspaper, Duan Qinglan's trail led to Liu Hao.

At the critical moment of the printing process, Liu Hao, along with a few repair workers, forced the printing staff to leave under the pretense of machine maintenance. Then he swapped the printing plates with pre-prepared ink blocks.

The end result was that the printed newspapers carried content smearing Zhou Xuan.

Why didn't the printing workers notice?

It was quite simple. Even in a highly economically developed state like Mingjiang Prefecture, literacy rates remained relatively low.

The printing workers were responsible only for the printing; they were essentially illiterate. After the newspapers were printed, they became the last checkpoint. Once printing was completed, the newspapers were distributed to kiosks and newsboys.

Some kiosk owners and newsboys could read, but they didn't recognize Zhou Xuan. They assumed the smearing of Zhou Xuan was just another piece of news fabricated by the newspaper.

Duan Qinglan determined that the smearing must have occurred during the maintenance incident at the printing stage. She went to the maintenance department looking for Liu Hao, only to find he had shattered a teacup and slit his throat with a shard of porcelain.

When she inspected the corpse, she discovered it was already somewhat cold. Evidently, Liu Hao had anticipated that his actions would be exposed once she arrived at the printing factory, deciding to end his own life preemptively.

"Liu Hao is already dead. What are we searching for in his house?" Si Ming was perplexed by Duan Qinglan's intentions.

But Duan Qinglan said, "Old Si, think about it. The Young Master despises evil, that's true, but has he ever bullied ordinary folks? When he comes to the Si Mansion, he even greets the coachmen and stable boys. How could he offend someone like Liu Hao?"

"Hmm, you're right. Why would Liu Hao smear the Young Master?" Si Ming caught on, beginning to taste the truth of the matter.

"Who has the Young Master deeply offended in Mingjiang Prefecture? Kidnappers! I suspect that Liu Hao might be one of the kidnappers' men."

"But that doesn't add up; Liu Hao wasn't tied to any incense rituals."

"If he had been tied to incense rituals, it'd be less terrifying. For someone who hasn't participated in incense rituals yet dares to risk his life to smear the Young Master… that's truly indefensible."

Duan Qinglan continued meticulously searching through everything in Liu Hao's home and finally came across a notebook on the bookshelf. The notebook contained numerous drawings.

There were over a dozen drawings, each depicting a massive flood overwhelming Mingjiang Prefecture, with an enormous evil ghost grabbing fleeing civilians and stuffing them into its mouth.

"This Liu Hao is truly extraordinary."

Duan Qinglan handed the drawings to Si Ming.

Si Ming took a glance and was immediately stunned—the content of these drawings precisely depicted the apocalyptic imagery Mingjiang Prefecture had predicted.

"A man like Liu Hao, tied to no incense rituals, capable of producing such artwork?"

Even someone as blunt as Si Ming quickly grasped that his wife's concerns were well-founded after seeing the drawings.

At that moment, a lantern floated in front of Duan Qinglan.

"It's the teacher's lantern."

Duan Qinglan crushed the lantern and heard Li Chengfeng's voice: "The kidnappers' second-in-command, Mo Tingsheng, is from Buddha Country. He has laid out a plan to destroy Mingjiang Prefecture…"

Li Chengfeng's voice detailed Mo Tingsheng's scheme to annihilate Mingjiang Prefecture in meticulous detail.

This intelligence was sent to all members of the Bone Elder Association via a secret message by Li Chengfeng. He aimed to mobilize all Bone Elders and the City Gods to rapidly uncover all disciples of the kidnappers hidden in Mingjiang Prefecture.

But this idea was overly ambitious.

"Uncovering them won't be possible, unless we obtain their roster."

Duan Qinglan sighed as she spoke.

If someone has undergone incense rituals, the kidnappers' first incense grants them hardened ankles; by the second incense, their feet, in alignment with "Stepping on Grass Without Trace," become exceptionally soft.

Their physical transformations make spotting them relatively easier,

However, individuals like Liu Hao, who haven't undergone incense rituals, are far harder to trace. They appear indistinguishable from ordinary people, with clean backgrounds.

If Liu Hao hadn't smeared the Young Master, Duan Qinglan would never have suspected a problem with him.

In Mingjiang Prefecture, how many disciples of the kidnappers like Liu Hao might exist? How could they be found?

With a wave of her hand, a "Copper Coin" appeared before Duan Qinglan. As the manager of the Bone Elder Association's financial affairs, her emblem was naturally tied to money.

"Teacher, I investigated Liu Hao from the printing factory. He seems to be one of Mo Tingsheng's operatives, planted as a terrorist inside Mingjiang Prefecture. His home contains some drawings depicting the apocalypse of Mingjiang Prefecture."

Duan Qinglan understood that the clue she provided wasn't of significant value, as those creating such paintings would never do so openly. Nonetheless, it was still a lead. Reporting it might be of some use.

"Is Mingjiang Prefecture truly this difficult?" Si Ming muttered with a sigh. "Such calamities, these kidnappers truly persist like lingering ghosts."

...

The Qinglianshan Reservoir, one of the eleven reservoirs in Mingjiang Prefecture, was neither the largest nor the smallest.

At the reservoir's administrative office, Liu Sheng, the head supervisor, was hunched over a desk, sketching a diagram… depicting Mingjiang Prefecture submerged by overwhelming floods.

When he was ten years old, his hometown suffered from disastrous flooding, drowning his parents. He survived only by clinging to his brother's back, drifting along the raging waters until they reached a shore dozens of miles away.

Both he and his brother lived through sheer luck, but it was Mr. Feng who later brought them to Mingjiang Prefecture.

"Mr. Feng said that Mingjiang Prefecture has a God, and Gods have their own business. They scour the world manufacturing calamities. We kidnappers are but a vengeful Tangkou,