Transmigrating to the Qi Family - Chapter 174

“Keep moving forward.”

An San waves his hand, signaling the group to leave the tree with the knife marks and continue onward. They walk for a long time. At first, they don’t have a deep understanding of Cangzhou’s environment, surrounded by mountains on three sides, but over the past two days, they have come to realize the sheer scale of the mountains encircling such a vast city.

By evening, they take shelter in a cave, gnawing on dry rations. After an exhausting day, no one speaks. They silently chew on the cold, hard steamed buns, occasionally sipping water.

One of the shadow guards sits at the innermost part of the cave. After finishing his food, he leans back to rest his eyes. However, the moment his head touches the cave wall, his expression turns alert. He shifts his head, positioning his ear closer to the mountain wall.

His unusual behavior puzzles everyone. However, their long-standing camaraderie makes them realize that An Qi must have discovered something. No one dares to speak or even chew. They control their breathing, making it slow and shallow, fearing they might disrupt An Qi’s concentration.

In the complete silence, An Qi’s expression grows increasingly grim. After listening for a while, he finally pulls his head back.

“I think I know what kind of sound they heard,” he says..

“Sound? What sound?” someone asks, still confused.

“Are you referring to the sound An Wu and Zhang Quan heard on the cliff platform?” An San asks.

“Exactly!” An Qi nods firmly. “That sharp clinking sound.” He listens carefully just now. Despite the thick cave wall, the “clang clang” sound is still clearly discernible.

After hearing his words, the group doesn’t wait for An San to issue a command. They instinctively press their ears against the cave wall, eager to hear for themselves.

“Clang… clang…” A faint, intermittent sound comes through. It is indeed the same as what Zhang Quan and An Wu described, resembling something striking against an object.

“The sound is coming through the mountain wall, which means someone is indeed ahead of us, but they’re still quite a distance away. It’s already dark now, and continuing forward would be unsafe. Tomorrow morning, we’ll follow this path and search further down!”

“Understood!”

The group, reinvigorated by the prospect of progress, feels their fatigue from the past two days melt away as hope surges within them.

At dawn the next day, they erase all traces of their presence in the cave and continue following the source of the sound.

The farther they go, the clearer the “clink-clink” sound becomes. At first, they have to press against the mountain wall to hear it, but eventually, it becomes faintly audible just by listening carefully.

As they round a bend, An San suddenly raises his hand, signaling everyone to stop. He then makes a series of gestures, prompting the group to scatter. In an instant, they either climb trees or hide in the bushes, leaving no trace of anyone on the path.

Moments later, two voices approach from the distance.

“…What bad luck! One person died the day before yesterday, and another yesterday. Both were from my group. Now I have to find replacements again!” The speaker’s tone is full of frustration about finding new people, yet shows no emotional response to the deaths. Clearly, death is a common occurrence here.

The other person pats his shoulder and says, “You should be grateful—it’s just two deaths. You can always find more. I heard someone almost escaped recently. Old Zhu, the guard, barely avoided his superiors beating him to death.”

“Easy for you to say! Ever since the new prefect took over, it’s gotten harder to find people. The villagers now always travel in groups when they enter the mountains—there’s hardly anyone alone anymore. Where am I supposed to find people?” The speaker looks sullen. It has been difficult enough before, but now it feels almost impossible.

“Don’t worry—you’ll find someone. If nothing else, more people will come in a while… and then there’ll be plenty, won’t there?”

They lower their voices when discussing the crucial details, leaving the eavesdropping shadow guards sighing in silence. Still, it doesn’t matter—once their crimes are exposed, whoever comes to investigate will ensure they face justice.

The two men have slipped out for a brief chat during breakfast. After venting their frustrations, they turn and walk back, disappearing around the corner.

An San and the others remain hidden, not making a move until the footsteps have completely faded. Only then do they emerge.

An San says, “You all heard what they just said. Whether it’s about the deaths or finding more people, they didn’t bother to hide anything. It’s clear these are the culprits behind the recent spate of disappearances in Cangzhou. When we go in, each of you should look for an opportunity to gather evidence. If you find any, that’s ideal. If not, no matter—our priority is to avoid alerting them.”

Everyone nods in agreement and carefully seizes the chance to infiltrate.

One group finds the overseers, while another simultaneously reaches the base of the cliff they discussed earlier. From a distance, they can see red cloth hanging on the platform above.

The scene at the cliff bottom isn’t what they imagined. Rather than an overgrown, deserted area, it is littered with piles of rocks. The nearby mountain wall has been dug into at numerous points, leaving it riddled with jagged pits and hollows.

There is definitely something wrong here! Before they can feel pleased or discuss their next steps, loud noises come from outside. They quickly hide in a nearby pile of rubble, careful not to make a sound.

With a sharp crack, the sound of a whip echoes, followed by a wail of pain. A sharp voice sneers, “Run! Go on, keep running! Let’s see whether you escape first or I beat you to death first!”

“Mercy, my lord! Mercy! I will never run away again!” the man wails. The whip has barbs, and even a light scrape leaves a bloody mark. A heavy lash tears his skin open, leaving him battered and bleeding. The worst is yet to come—when he resumes work, sweat will seep into the wounds, creating a searing pain that even the toughest man would cry out from.

After flaunting his authority, the man turns to the others and says, “Did you see that? If you dare to run away, this is your fate!”

The others shake their heads and say nothing.

Satisfied, the man smiles and barks, “What are you standing around for? Get to work! We wasted half a day yesterday. No one’s getting lunch today. Start working now!”

As soon as he finishes speaking, the group picks up hammers and chisels and begins working. In the vast, open space at the base of the cliff, the relentless clink-clink of tools echoes without end.