The captured watcher gave them little more under proper questioning than he had in the alley, but what small fragments he offered proved enough to send Lei's investigation in a new, urgent direction — a series of coin transfers traced back to a merchant house near the eastern docks, one with quiet, longstanding ties to Xilan trade routes.
Yuan stood in the merchant house's cramped back office three days later, Lei beside him, the proprietor — an older man with nervous eyes and considerably less composure than his careful ledgers suggested he usually maintained — sweating visibly under their questions.
"I only handle the transfers," the merchant insisted, for perhaps the fourth time. "I don't ask who sends them or why. That's not how this business survives."
