The order itself sounded ordinary enough because both items genuinely existed.
The real code lay within the wording.
Specifically...
Extra crispy.
A detail intentionally unnatural for the dish.
That single addition served as the identifier.
Five minutes later, the waiter returned carrying a tray.
He placed down a ceramic wine pot alongside a wooden bowl filled with fried Coconut Worms.
The wine slled sharp and mineral rich.
Han Yu recognized it imdiately.
Salt Mountain Wine originated from the frozen northern regions. Certain mountains there contained enormous natural salt caverns where alcohol was aged deep underground. The result produced a distinct flavor impossible to imitate elsewhere.
The Coconut Worms looked strange to outsiders.
Fat white larvae fried until golden brown.
Yet despite their appearance they were considered delicacies throughout the frontier. They naturally grew inside dead tropical coconut trees and their flesh genuinely tasted similar to coconut cream.
Han Yu casually picked one up and bit into it.
Crunch.
Sweetness spread through his mouth.
Not unpleasant.
Though he still found it mildly strange every ti.
As Han Yu continued eating and drinking calmly, he waited patiently.
About a minute later, another man approached the table.
The newcor appeared utterly ordinary.
Middle aged.
Average height.
Forgettable face.
The kind of person one would never rember after a single glance.
"Brother," the man said politely, "may I share this table? The lighting here is good and the airflow is tolerable."
Han Yu did not even look up imdiately.
"The light is good," he replied casually while pouring wine. "And the noise is tolerable."
The final verification.
The man sat down naturally.
Han Yu poured him a cup.
At the sa ti, the man reached toward the bowl of Coconut Worms casually.
During the motion...
A small jade token slid silently across the table into Han Yu’s sleeve.
Smooth.
Professional.
Han Yu approved internally.
The jade token served as a silent communication device. Simple but useful. ssages could be written discreetly through spirit sense without moving lips.
The man picked up a Coconut Worm and ate it normally before speaking quietly.
"This subordinate greets senior."
His tone carried respect without excessive fear.
Clearly Daoist Snake Face trained his people well.
Han Yu drank another cup before responding.
"What are the latest developnts?"
The man kept his expression neutral while answering.
"We continued investigating according to earlier instructions. More corpses have appeared recently."
Han Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tiline."
The informant nodded imdiately.
"Two corpses appeared four months ago."
"Then nothing happened for approximately three weeks."
"Afterward another corpse appeared."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Four days later... three more corpses were discovered."
"Then activity stopped completely for so ti."
"Until one week ago."
At this point even the informant’s voice lowered slightly.
"Eleven corpses appeared simultaneously."
Han Yu stopped moving briefly.
Eleven.
That escalation was abnormal.
Far too abnormal.
"Location?"
"Different sites," the man answered. "Though all within roughly seventy kiloters north of the town."
Han Yu tapped his fingers lightly against the table.
"Victim identities?"
"Mixed," the informant replied. "Three rogue cultivators. Four beast hunters. Two traders. One wandering physician."
He hesitated slightly.
"And one child."
Han Yu’s expression finally grew colder for a brief mont.
The informant continued carefully.
"All corpses displayed similar conditions."
"Frozen internally."
"External frost damage limited."
"Blood loss present."
"And bite marks."
Han Yu quietly drank more wine while thinking.
The description matched the earlier reports almost perfectly.
Exactly like the deaths connected to Madam Cold Fang years ago.
But sothing still felt strange.
The tiline.
The escalation pattern.
The pauses between killings.
It felt...
Deliberate sohow.
As though sothing was adapting or changing over ti.
Han Yu finally looked toward the informant directly.
"Has anyone survived contact with whatever caused this?"
The man shook his head.
"None so far."
Han Yu leaned back slowly.
Then through the jade token hidden within his sleeve, a ssage appeared silently from the informant.
A final detail.
One that had not been spoken aloud.
"Senior," the ssage read, "the latest eleven corpses..."
"...were all found smiling."
Han Yu slowly lowered the wine cup in his hand after hearing the final detail.
Smiling corpses.
That single detail bothered him far more than the frozen bodies themselves.
He stayed silent for several monts while the surrounding tavern remained noisy and lively around them. Nearby cultivators laughed loudly while drinking. Soone in the distance argued over spirit stone debts again while another table discussed beast hunting routes deeper into the tropical region.
The atmosphere of the tavern remained warm and lively.
Yet Han Yu’s thoughts had already turned cold.
He finally looked toward the informant calmly.
"Why the strangeness?" Han Yu asked quietly. "Did any of the previous corpses show similar expressions?"
The man imdiately shook his head.
"No."
He lowered his voice further before continuing.
"The previous victims all died differently."
"So looked terrified beyond belief."
"So looked shocked."
"So appeared completely blank, almost as though they never even realized death had arrived."
The man hesitated briefly.
"But none of them smiled."
Han Yu tapped his finger lightly against the wine cup.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
That ant the earlier killings likely happened through ambushes or sudden attacks. Fear, shock, confusion, and blank expressions all fit such circumstances naturally.
But smiling?
That changed things entirely.
There were only a handful of possibilities that could create such expressions at the mont of death.
The victims could have been happy.
Comfortable.
Trusting.
Perhaps speaking with soone they liked.
Or...
Their emotions could have been manipulated sohow before death.
Han Yu did not limit his thoughts to ordinary explanations.
After all, cultivators possessed countless strange thods.
Illusions.
Poisons.
ntal techniques.
Emotional manipulation.
Soul arts.
All were possible.
And if Madam Cold Fang truly stood behind this...
Then things beca even more difficult to predict.
Han Yu calmly picked up another Coconut Worm while asking his next question.
"Were the corpses examined for foreign substances?"
The informant nodded.
"The earlier bodies were examined thoroughly."
"Poisons, drugs, parasite infestations, hallucinogens, curse marks."
"Nothing was discovered."
User Comments
0 comments from readers