“Understood. Get back to work.”

Shen Yi gave a small nod and said nothing more.

From the moment they’d cut off his information at Willow Leaf Street yesterday, he’d seen this coming. Clerk Liu’s response was methodical — the work of someone who’d been playing this game for decades.

The trap was clean enough. Stay inside and become the county’s joke, forced eventually to lower his head and accept their terms. Step outside and take on every demon alone — which any sane person would call suicidal.

Who in the world would make enemies of demons for nothing? There was no money in it. Why throw your life away?

The one thing Clerk Liu hadn’t accounted for was that Shen Yi genuinely, materially benefited from killing demons.

Not silver. Something better than silver. Lifespan, measured in years.

Which was why he felt no particular disturbance. If anything, a mild satisfaction.

“Sir—”

Chen Ji had the persistent feeling that Shen Yi hadn’t been listening to a word of what he’d said. This was a matter of life and death.

After a moment, he dropped his hands and rested one on his scabbard, resigned.

What kind of world was this. A few days ago he’d been denouncing this man as everything wrong with the county — and now he was standing here as his advocate.

He thought of Shen Yi alone in front of that village. This wasn’t someone who only talked.

Chen Ji let out a quiet, self-deprecating breath and tightened his grip on the hilt.

Right. Got to start saving for that dowry faster.

“How much does your family typically expect for a bride price?”

“What?” Shen Yi turned around, puzzled.

“Nothing. Never mind.” Chen Ji drew a sharp breath and forcibly evicted the thought from his head. Separate matters entirely. Shen Yi was a tolerable constable at best, but his personal life was — and Chen Ji would not be responsible for pushing his sister toward that particular fire.

Good thing Shen Yi hadn’t caught it clearly—

“I prefer the more mature type, personally.”

Shen Yi shook his head, with the faint air of a man briefly remembering something pleasant about Song Changfeng’s wife’s enthusiastic welcome.

He drifted into the duty room before Chen Ji’s expression had finished processing.

“So that’s just — settled? That’s it?” Zhang Dahu was nearly hopping. He rounded on the two large men crouching at the doorway. “You two are mute now? Speak up!”

The Niu brothers had been quietly unhappy with Constable Shen for some time. Currently they looked like large, sealed jars.

“My wife didn’t let me in last night.” Niu Da scratched the back of his head with genuine bewilderment. The news that he’d joined Shen Yi’s unit had apparently created a domestic incident — as if he’d personally gone out and harassed someone’s daughter.

“But then this morning, she woke me up while I was still asleep, and she just—” his face broke into a slow, satisfied grin, “—heh. Heh heh.”

He rubbed his thigh vigorously with both hands.

“…” Zhang Dahu.

“…” Chen Ji.

Shen Yi glanced over with tired eyes. “Open the gate.”

Ordinary people didn’t walk into yamen offices if they could avoid it — and the duty room of the notorious Constable Shen was doubly off-limits. But Shen Yi wasn’t in a hurry.

He’d seen the Liu family’s particular brand of desperation. People with demons at the door didn’t leave a single thread unpulled, because the world hadn’t given them any other options.

The gate opened. A notice went up.

The courtyard became Baiyun County’s one and only demon-handling office. Chen Ji and Zhang Dahu went out to gather intelligence. The Niu brothers rotated shifts every three hours.

Shen Yi leaned back in the rattan chair, eyes closed, conserving his strength.

Somewhat to everyone’s surprise, the first visitor arrived within half a day.

A thin, middle-aged man with dark sun-worn skin — someone used to rough work. He eased his head through the gate with the caution of a person who wasn’t sure they’d made the right decision.

The Niu brothers’ expressions shifted the moment they saw him. Both straightened up. Even Niu Da’s foolish grin faded into something approaching actual attention.

Killing demons — easier said than done. They’d been constables in Baiyun County for years, and in practice, real demon work had been someone else’s problem.

“Constable Shen, sir. I have information about an evil spirit.”

The thin man swallowed nervously, eyes darting, and let the brothers usher him inside.

“What kind of demon? Quick, out with it.” Niu Er leaned forward, tense.

“Not — not a demon. An evil spirit.” The man waved his hands hurriedly.

Shen Yi straightened in his chair.

Between his own observations and the predecessor’s memories, this was the first time anything involving an evil spirit had come up.

“No rush. Take your time.”

The man calmed slightly under that measured gaze. He’d half-expected the Constable Shen of legend — the one from the rumors — and had been shocked to find someone looking at him with something resembling patience.

“It wasn’t me that saw it. It was my wife.”

He worked to organize his words. “About a month ago, when evening came, she’d light a candle in the bedroom and sit combing her hair in front of the mirror. I’d be washing up in the courtyard.”

“She’d comb and comb and laugh to herself. Like she’d gone somewhere else in her head.”

“That was the first part.”

His complexion darkened. “One night I woke up needing to relieve myself. I reached over and she wasn’t there. I went looking, and — sir, I found her standing in the doorway in her good dress. Hair soaking wet. Sweat all down her neck. I got my nerve up and shook her shoulder, and she took one look at me and screamed. Screamed like she was looking at something that wasn’t me.”

“She said she had no memory of getting up. None at all.”

“And after that — I started feeling strange too. Didn’t matter how early I went to sleep, I’d be out until full morning. She’s something attached to her, sir, draining my energy — I’m sure of it. My wife made me an herbal remedy but it’s made it worse, the more I drink the more I can’t keep my eyes open.”

Shen Yi’s expression had been growing progressively more peculiar throughout this account.

“And she won’t — she’s not interested in — we haven’t—” The man coughed. “She just smiles to herself all day. Makes my skin crawl.”

“And yesterday was the worst. I’d had a slow day at the stall and came home early. From outside the room I could hear her — voice completely gone, screaming over and over—”

“Something like spare me, spare me—”

“Have you ever heard a pig being slaughtered, sir? It was that kind of—”

He appeared to be preparing a live demonstration.

Shen Yi pressed his fingers to his temple, looked at the Niu brothers, and said with great restraint: “Both of you do a night shift. Go sort this out for him.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Niu brothers gave the man a sympathetic look and led him out.

Shen Yi settled back against the rattan chair and gently kneaded the bridge of his nose.

Picking up easy cases inside the city wasn’t going to be as simple as he’d hoped. Before, demons entering Baiyun County had always been accompanied by the predecessor himself. Now that the Dog Demon faction had been wiped out, word would have spread to the other factions. Luring anything in would be considerably harder.

Then quick footsteps crossed the courtyard and Chen Ji appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. He stopped, and even pitched low, his voice couldn’t quite conceal what was moving behind it.

“Sir. Liu Qi is dead.”

Shen Yi looked up.

He remembered the name. Chen Ji had mentioned it once.

Iron Palm Liu Qi.

The martial artist retained by the Lin family, brought down from Qingzhou.

The Lin family — the same Lin family currently sheltering a fox demon.

The same Lin family whose daughter was asleep in his back courtyard.

(End of Chapter)