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Chapter Type: Social

“I am humbled by your offer, and gladly accept.” Colonel Geng said. “My advocate should be able to take my place until the military can assign a new liaison.”

“We will need details on the case.” Lord Xho said.

“Of course you will. It is room 305, on the third floor. The employees there are Bai Hu, Tao Jun, and Li Ah. They all work the same shift, so I greatly suspect that all three of them are complicit. But again, I have no evidence beyond the missing supplies.”

He then took a deep breath, and two steps. One upon the lip around the edge of the roof, and one beyond it.

“No, wait!” Lady Kismet said.

But he shortly had completed his third step, the step out of this life. There was a soft gong from my System, reminding me to bow in respect of his sacrifice. (And required to receive the Harmonious Society XP offered by it.)

[Raw Award: 6 Harmonious Society XP; Harmonious Society Rank: 4; Award: 2 Harmonious Society XP. You are 145/150 toward rank 5.]

.....

The one not bowing was Lady Kismet, who rushed to the edge and looked over, as if the outcome were somehow in doubt. “By the Emperor’s unshaven ballsack!” she swore. “We never got the evidence!”

Those with hands free and fans covered their faces. I tilted mine to the side to indicate my disapproval. One is tolerant of barbarism from barbarians, but this tolerance only goes so far.

“The emperor-consort, obviously.” she said. “Not the Celestial Emperor.” It was little enough attempt to regain her face, but Lord Xho spoke.

“We should be able to obtain the records from the Colonel’s advocate. Archer Hoo, Chi Specialist Wa, be ready to perform the necessary executions should any of them try to run.”

Room 305 had no door, just a number in naval blue above the entrance. There was just barely room for three desks, each with their own chair, trashcan, and potted plant. The surfaces of the desks were a morass of papers, inks, stamps, idle quills, and seemingly random items, such as a pair of scissors.

“Good afternoon.” Lord Xho said. “We are from the Special Directorate of counter covert affairs. We have evidence that forged identities were made here, by you three. Admit your crimes, and we shall see you do not suffer needlessly.”

Li Ah looked genuinely surprised. Tao Jun made a run for the window, but Hoo Long tackled him from the side, and he bloodied himself on the wall. Bai Hu sighed, which only made him look old.

“You cannot torture us.” Bai Hu said. “You are not an Imperial Magistrate, nor could you have gotten such authority in so short a time.”

Lord Xho shrugged. “Some deaths are quicker and cleaner than others. Come now, accept and be beheaded, and I guarantee you won’t spend even one night imprisoned.”

“What do you want to know?” Li Ah whispered, barely audible over the sound of struggling men by the window. I wandered over that way, and rendered two swift kicks that ended Tao Jun’s awareness temporarily.

“Tell them nothing.” Bai Hu urged. “By law, they still have to give us a trial.”

“YOU were the one who swore you and Mr. Tao were being careful, that it would never reach this stage!” she responded.

“I request a separate interrogation and trial from Missus Li.” Bai Hu said.

“Denied.” Lady Kismet said. “All three of you knew, all three of you acted together...”

“No, never!” insisted Li Ah. “I only kept my silence; speaking would have just as surely doomed me.”

Lady Kismet continued. “...all three of you kept silent together, all three of you shall share the same end.”

“An end,” Lord Xho reminded them, “that is still up for negotiation. But I am told that I have a temper, and if your continued delays trigger it, I shall have you killed by boiling instead.”

“You wouldn’t dare! The heavens would punish you for your insolence.” Bai Hu said.

“Your actions have already resulted in the death by suicide of a military officer.” Pharmacist Hwa said. “That is well above your own station as members of the merchant caste. And for it to happen during a siege...”

“I’ve already said I will cooperate.” Li Ah moaned. “You have us all, although my hands did none of the work, and none of the coins entered my hands.”

Hoo Long spat out the open window. “I can understand betrayal for ideology, but you committed treason for COINS?”

“Not just for coins.” Bai Hu said. “For pure emerald thumb bars.” He said this as though proud, and reached into one of his drawers to pull out four of the things, displaying them as though they were Celestial Gold. “What merchant could resist?”

“Plenty of us.” Li Ah said. “It is blood, and not gold, that flows in our veins.”

“How many?” Lady Kismet asked. “By these figures, you forged an identity every two or three days.”

“Exactly a dozen a month.” agreed Bai Hu. “No picture applied, but with the approval already stamped.

“He lies! They made more than that.” said Li Ah.

“Not for that client.” he said. “And that’s the one you care about, isn’t it? Not people wanting extra identities for their children, so they can get a second ration?”

I came upon a realization. “How much did one thumb bar buy them? A month?”

“Two months.” he admitted.

“What?” said Lord Xho, moving forward to look at them, each just as real as the last. “No, that cannot be. The gems here on the table indicate over two seasons of such work.”

Li Ah snapped her fingernails on each other. “About that long, yes.”

“This is not just a military venture, then.” Lord Xho said. “This uprising has been planned, and has been well funded for some time. I shall recommend to Lord Bien that we rename the Nine; it no longer seems appropriate, given the sheer scale and length of corruption that they have fostered. Tell me, Mister Bai, that either you or Mister Tao have kept records of every false identity you have made for our enemies.”

“Ah-ah, you wish!” Bai Hu ran the tips of his fingers over the gemstones again. “This much wealth buys loyalty. Or mine, at least. I won’t swear for Mister Tao.”

“Please write down a list of those you can remember.” Lady Kismet encouraged.

“That’s easy, none of them. And I appeal any sentence you care to name, other than exile. With funds.”

Lord Xho was properly angered. “I warned you. I warned you what would happen.”

“You can’t touch...”

But I most certainly could touch, and no matter how much fat they put on, most men are still in weight category three. Grabbing the back of his chair, I turned that into a flip that smashed his face against the wall. From there, it was a short spin to hurl him out the window.

“That,” said Lord Xho, “was needlessly rash.”

“Miss Li has said that she will cooperate.” I said. “Mister Bai has said the opposite. And he is correct, we do not have the authority of an Imperial Magistrate. We were just wasting time talking to him, once he made and affirmed his position. Miss Li, do you know any of the names used on the forgeries?”

“No.” she said. “I only know that sometimes he applied pictures he kept in his upper left drawer.”

Lord Xho practically leapt around Bai Hu’s desk, and yanked open the door, pulling out several pages of three by three images.”

“Is that?” Pharmacist Hwa asked.

“Nine.” he affirmed, spreading them out on the table. “After hunting for so long, we have their faces. We have THEM. Gather every scribe capable of copying facial pictures. WE HAVE THE NINE!”

“Hm.” said Lady Kismet.

“What?” asked Lord Xho, suddenly irate.

“This one.” she said, setting a furry digit on the top middle photo. “Am I the only one who sees the resemblance?”

Of course, the males had to gather around the table, all but obscuring it from view. I went to the other side of the room, set a hand on Li Ah’s shoulder. “You have done the Admiral and the entire Guardian Force a great service today, Li Ah.”

She broke into tears. “That means so much, thank you. I can now die happy rather than in shame.”

“What?” Lady Kismet asked. “Oh, come on, there must be some grace that can be shown to her in exchange for her service.”

“Nonsense.” Lord Xho said. “No, wait, I agree. We will still want to question Mister Tao, but so long as he doesn’t say anything to contradict Miss Li’s lack of involvement, I can agree she is innocent.”

“So long as he says nothing to contradict her story?” I asked, looking over at his unconscious form, not more than two feet from the open window.

“No!” Lord Xho said. “There have been enough people falling to their deaths from this building for one day. And he is, I remind you, officially a prisoner right now.”

And... he was right.

I’m just not certain that I was wrong.