With kindling and kerosene in hand, lighting a fire inside the cave was no challenge. Just as the fire was kindled, I heard rustling noises near the cave entrance. Po Jun and I nearly simultaneously aimed our crossbow and handgun toward the entrance — ready to pull the trigger if it was the Bloodshade Fiend stepping in.
Just as my heart jumped into my throat, a voice came from the cave mouth: "How's it look? You see the smoke, right? Like I said, Lazi and Dajun got here first — they must have cleared the cave inside…"
As the voices drew closer, two people entered the cave, one behind the other. Neither were strangers, but I wasn't very close with them. The one ahead was Deputy Director Yi from the Fifth Office; following him was Deputy Director Wang Ziheng from the Second Office.
Old Yi was fine — when Sun Fatty and I first joined the Bureau, he was the one who taught us the theories. Wang Ziheng was more familiar; Sun Fatty and I had been tormented by him more than once before. When Hao Wenming was still around, he once said Wang Deputy Director didn't have Wu Rendi's skills but had Wu Director's flaws. As per Sun Fatty, that was a sickness… and it needed curing!
If not for Sun Fatty's promotion to Deputy Commissioner, busy as he was, he might have already started curing him.
The two had come from far away and were soaked from the rain by the time they reached the cave. Old Yi first looked at us and smiled, saying, "I told you guys you had better luck. Look, you found a cave that blocks the rain, much easier than what we got." Meanwhile, they had taken off their wet clothes and hung them by the fire to dry.
Wang Ziheng maintained his usual arrogant demeanor and only nodded briefly to me and Po Jun, then turned away. Po Jun was used to his style and didn't react. But I felt irritated looking at Wang and ignored him, instead turning to Old Yi: "Director Yi, I have a question for you. I've seen the Bloodshade Fiend files in your office, but there's very little information and some things are unclear. I heard that decades ago, Director Gao and Old Xiao dealt with one, right?"
After I spoke, Old Yi looked surprised and glanced at Po Jun. After a pause, he returned his attention to me and said, "It's normal you don't know about it yet. You wouldn't think Sun Dajun would tell you everything. Back then, that Bloodshade Fiend caused a huge mess. Its files were encrypted and classified — only accessible at your level or mine as deputy directors."
"Back then, the Bureau was still called the Special Case Handling Office, much like now. There was evidence proving the Bloodshade Fiend attacked people, but their initial judgment was wrong — they thought it was just a low-level beast with no real cultivation. When Director Gao, Consultant Xiao, and Xiao… and other Special Office leaders arrived and reviewed new evidence, they realized this Bloodshade Fiend wasn't something they could handle with normal gear."
"After discussion, Section Chief Pu rushed back to Special Office to fetch some special tools. Gao, Xiao, and Xiao searched the mountain for the Bloodshade Fiend. Unfortunately, something went wrong — if Chief Pu hadn't returned with the Bureau's most treasured relic in time to sever the Bloodshade Fiend's head, Director Gao and the others might have died then."
Old Yi blinked and seemed to recall something else. He continued, "Speaking of that Bloodshade Fiend, it's nothing compared to one that appeared in the Greater Khingan Range in the eighties. That one had truly cultivated. It survived lightning tribulations. If Director Wu hadn't already joined the Bureau then, no one would have handled it…"
Hmm? Those last words made my eyes widen immediately. This story sounded so familiar — wasn't it the experience my Third Uncle told me about? I hadn't realized its origin until now. None of the four of us in the cave had clearance for those files, meaning Old Yi guarding Ouyang Pianzuo's side, and Ouyang's loose lips, were why he knew so many secrets.
Seeing my wide-eyed expression, Old Yi realized he had said too much. But it was too late to retract now. My mind was filled with my Third Uncle's story. I was the first to ask, "Director Yi, why did I hear that the Bloodshade Fiend in the Greater Khingan Range wasn't like this one?"
Now it was Old Yi's turn to widen his eyes and glare at me: "Sun Dajun, with that foul mouth of yours. I told you he's already a Deputy Commissioner, so how can he talk nonsense like that?" Not only him, even Wang Ziheng shot me a sideways glance. The blame was fully placed on Sun Fatty's head. Aside from Gao Liang and a few directors, only Deputy Commissioner Sun had clearance about that incident.
In this situation, I had to defend Sun Fatty, but telling Uncle's story didn't convince anyone. Po Jun just shook his head silently, and Wang Ziheng, fearing trouble, said quietly, "If I'd known you two were tight, you wouldn't have dragged out your relatives to side with him."
I ignored Wang Ziheng to avoid making things worse. Whatever, believe it or not, Mr. Wang! I turned back to Old Yi: "Director Yi, don't ask how I know. Just tell me what happened in the Greater Khingan Range."
Old Yi tilted his head, gnawed on his lower lip, hesitated, then said, "If you want to know, go ask Sun Desheng down the mountain. That incident caused such an uproar, it would blow the lid off if it got out."
Po Jun added fuel to the fire: "Come on, Old Yi, stop playing hard to get. Lazi already knows everything. No harm in a few more details. Just spill it. Worst case, we'll say we heard it from Sun Dajun — it's none of your business anyway." He glanced at Wang Ziheng, who didn't object, tacitly agreeing.
Seeing our united front, Old Yi finally spoke: "Just so you know, all this was relayed by Deputy Commissioner Sun through Lazi. The Bloodshade Fiend changed appearance because one, it reached a level where its features naturally changed; two, it got struck by heavenly thunder, displacing its facial features. The great fire in the Greater Khingan Range was caused by that lightning strike hitting the Bloodshade Fiend and igniting the forest. With a few more thunderbolts, the Bloodshade Fiend would have been done for, but Wu Rendi interfered…"
This was the first time I heard this. But hearing Wu Rendi's name, I couldn't help interrupt: "Wait, wasn't Director Wu the one who dealt with the Bloodshade Fiend?"
Old Yi glanced at me and gave a wry smile. "Wu Rendi... can you measure him by ordinary standards? You know what he said when Director Gao asked him upon his return?" He looked at the three of us and chuckled, then answered his own question, "He said he was tired of listening to the thunder, so he used the Thunder Summoning Method to lure the heavenly thunder away. That's how the Bloodshade Fiend got a breather. But Wu Rendi didn't like how the Bloodshade Fiend looked all messed up from the lightning strike, so he didn't finish it off on the spot. That gave the Bloodshade Fiend a chance to escape. If it hadn't been for that later on the train, when Wu Rendi finally took it down, that would've been his shame."
Then came the story my Third Uncle once told me. Since Old Yi wasn't personally involved, his account wasn't as thrilling as my uncle's, but even so, both Po Jun and Wang Ziheng nodded along.
After finishing this "anecdote," Old Yi finally changed the subject and started talking shop with Po Jun, with Wang Ziheng occasionally chiming in. I couldn't get a word in and didn't want to engage Wang Ziheng, so I made an excuse about the draft making me uncomfortable. I rummaged through the fire pit, pulled out some half-burned kindling, gathered five or six sticks of wood, and went into the inner cave chamber to start another fire.
The inner chamber was better than I had imagined. Maybe because people had been lighting fires here for warmth over the years, it wasn't as damp as I expected. I found two bundles of tarpaulin inside — one laid on the floor, the other against the wall — so I half-reclined, basking in the warmth and feeling surprisingly relaxed.
Out of boredom, I took out the pill Wu Rendi had given me from my sleeve. The pill was still tightly bound to the strange silk thread. I rolled it around in my hand for a while, and a faint, indescribable scent began to waft out. Wu Rendi didn't even know when he had made this pill; I was surprised it still had a medicinal aroma.
I brought the pill close to my nose and inhaled the fragrance, which shot straight to my brain. A wave of dizziness hit me; my eyelids fluttered uncontrollably. I thought to myself, Don't fall asleep, whatever you do. But it was like swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills — an irresistible drowsiness washed over me. I could no longer fight it and leaned against the cave wall, falling asleep.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an unfamiliar place. Before me was an old office. On a wooden desk sat a white enamel tea cup and a vintage thermos flask. Judging by the furnishings, this wasn't the 1980s as I had guessed, but more like the 1960s or 1970s.
"I" was now standing in front of a metal filing cabinet, organizing the documents inside. The body felt light as air, completely out of my control. I could only watch myself busily sorting through the files.
It had been a while since I'd felt this sensation. I had experienced it twice before, though both times were unpleasant. Now I finally understood: I was dreaming, entering Xiao Sanda's memories.
Sure enough, when I spoke, it was Xiao Sanda's voice that came out. I heard myself say, "You don't have to say anything more. I can't stay here. I've arranged passage on a ship to Hong Kong tonight." "You're traveling alone, so be careful in all matters," a voice behind me replied. Then silence.
After speaking, Xiao Sanda paused, then took from the filing cabinet an object wrapped in red silk. He unwrapped it to reveal a piece of parchment. The parchment bore about 70-80% similarity to the fragment of the Heavenly Principle Diagram I had seen in the U.S., almost as if one sheet was cut in half.
Xiao Sanda looked somewhat dazed, running his hand over the parchment. After a smoke's worth of time, he snapped back to attention, turned, and handed over the parchment along with the red silk wrapping: "It's inconvenient for me to carry this. Hold on to it for now. If you don't hear from me within ten years, this Heavenly Principle Diagram will be yours."
Someone silently accepted the parchment. Although this person appeared decades younger with a youthful face, I immediately recognized him. Decades later, this man became Lin Feng, Director of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation.