Chapter Ten: The Difficult Crafting of the Information Network
A few days later, through an official in charge of transferring low-ranking guards whom Bai Yu had managed to contact, a simple transfer order was issued.
The reason given was grand and respectable: "Recently, there have been frequent disputes in the palace, and the security around the Ziguang Hall needs to be strengthened. Guard Li Yue is diligent in his duties and strictly abides by palace rules, so he is hereby promoted to one of the captains of the patrol team around the Ziguang Hall and shall take office immediately."
This was merely a minor job change, barely causing a ripple in the vast Demon Palace guard system.
However, for Shang Jiuya, who was huddled inside the Ziguang Palace, it meant that she at least had a small "territory" that she could perhaps manage, as well as a silent but potentially sharp "sword".
But a "sword" alone is not enough. Bai Yu is the first pair of "eyes" she unexpectedly gained, and now she needs to weave this single gaze into a net, however simple, that is effective.
An opportunity quietly arrived late one night.
In the Demon Realm, there is no alternation of day and night in the "night," but the color of the churning demonic clouds in the sky becomes deeper and darker. The patrol shifts in the palace change at this time, which is a moment when the defenses are relatively relaxed.
Using the excuse that she was feeling better after several days of "rest" and needed to burn incense to calm her mind, Shang Jiuya dismissed all the palace maids standing in the inner hall, leaving only Bai Yu to serve her. The heavy hall doors closed, isolating most of the outside sounds, leaving only the faint crackling sound of the ghostly blue flames dancing on the walls and the wisp of cool sandalwood incense rising from the incense burner.
The dim light inside the hall cast a shadow on Shang Jiuya's pale face.
"Has he... arrived yet?" she asked in a low voice.
Bai Yu nodded nervously, quickly walked to a side door in the inner hall that led to a secluded corridor, listened for a moment, and then slightly opened the door a crack.
A dark figure slipped in silently; it was Li Yue. He was still wearing his guard's armor, but his movements were completely stealthy.
After entering the hall, he dutifully remained in the shadows by the door, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
This was the first real "meeting" between Shang Jiuya, Bai Yu, and Li Yue.
"Let's begin." Shang Jiuya took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady.
“Your Majesty,” Bai Yu knelt on the cushion at Shang Jiuya’s feet, carefully taking out several rough animal hides from her bosom, “These past few days, I’ve heard some gossip from various places…”
She began to report in a low voice, the content of which was trivial and rambling:
The demon servant in charge of purchasing in the kitchen complained that the Third Elder Gongliang's mansion had been hosting frequent banquets lately, consuming far more rare demonic food than usual, and the demands were also demanding, leaving the storeroom manager extremely frustrated...
Two low-ranking maids responsible for laundry were whispering among themselves, saying that Hanzhu, the most favored maid of the Ninth Prince Guan Shanyue, had secretly gone to the Eighth Elder Jiang Zheng's Law Hall the day before yesterday and stayed for almost half an hour before coming out, looking rather hurried...
An elderly gardener, drunk, muttered that he seemed to have seen Elder Youchi's confidant quietly leaving through the back gate of the Fourth Prince Ao Li's side courtyard during the night...
There are also rumors about border skirmishes, saying that the Sixth Prince's subordinates have clashed with a certain tribe again, seemingly over a newly discovered small magic crystal mine...
There were even some almost unverifiable whispers about the guards protecting the Demon Lord's palace hearing a strange noise that was quickly suppressed on the night the former Demon Lord died suddenly...
Bai Yu spoke slowly, trying his best to recall every detail, including the speaker's tone and the occasion. The information was a mixture of truth and falsehood, mostly just guesses and idle chatter from lower-ranking servants.
Shang Jiuya listened intently, her brows furrowing slightly. This information, though seemingly useless, might contain crucial clues.
Then, Li Yue spoke up, "The guards in the barracks are saying that the guards under Prince Ao Li's command have recently received significantly better supplies than other teams, and the newly issued standard magic blades have a higher level of enchantment."
"The patrol rotation time outside Prince Guan Shanyue's palace has been unusually adjusted recently, with increased frequency and the patrol passing through several non-main passages."
"Two unfamiliar faces were added to Elder Jiang Zheng's Law Hall guards the day before yesterday. They had a deep and imposing aura, unlike ordinary guards."
“In the area under my jurisdiction, there was a brief energy fluctuation at the southwest corner tower last night around midnight, as if someone had stayed briefly and then quickly left, and the traces were deliberately erased.”
The information provided by Li Yue is more focused on specific trends and anomalies. Although it also lacks direct evidence, it is more directional.
After the information was gathered, the small inner sanctuary fell into a brief silence.
Shang Jiuya's gaze fell on the parchment. The information integration and analysis skills cultivated in the modern workplace unconsciously began to operate at this moment. She began to doodle on the blank parchment. "Bai Yu, Li Yue, look. We can't just look at individual pieces of information. We need to... connect them."
She began drawing on parchment in a way that was completely unfamiliar to Bai Yu and Li Yue—a relationship diagram.
She drew a small circle in the center and labeled it "You Chi". Then she drew several circles around it and labeled them "Ao Li", "Guan Shan Yue", "Gong Liang", "Jiang Zheng", "Qi Mu", "Shi Yi Niang", etc. Then she connected them with lines.
"Bai Yu said that You Chi's confidant left Ao Li's place late at night. Li Yue noticed that Ao Li's subordinates were unusually well-supplied." She drew a line between You Chi and Ao Li, and marked it "Secret meeting late at night? Resource allocation?".
"Bai Yu heard that Guan Shanyue's maid went to Jiang Zheng's place. Li Yue discovered that unfamiliar guards had been added to Jiang Zheng's quarters." She connected Guan Shanyue and Jiang Zheng, noting "Contact? Legally related?".
“The banquets at Gongliang are frequent and consume a lot of resources.” She noted next to Gongliang, “Is the demand for resources high? Is there cooperation with Guan Shanyue?” because Bai Yu had mentioned that Gongliang supported Guan Shanyue.
"Trouble has broken out on the border of Qimu, with people vying for mineral veins." The entry for Qimu is marked as "belligerent and expanding resources."
“Abnormal energy fluctuations in the southwest corner tower…” She drew a circle around it and marked it “Unknown? Be vigilant.”
She struggled to draw, the diagrams were rudimentary, and the logical connections were full of guesswork. But in Bai Yu and Li Yue's eyes, it was a clear and intuitive way of organizing information. Those scattered fragments seemed to be strung together by invisible threads, vaguely revealing certain outlines and connections.
"Elder Youchi seems to support the Fourth Prince, but perhaps he is also wary of him in private, or perhaps both sides have ulterior motives?"
"What is Ninth Prince planning on legal grounds by contacting Eighth Elder? And who is he targeting?"
"Where did the Third Elder get the resources for his lavish banquet? What stage has his cooperation with the Ninth Prince reached?"
"The Sixth Prince may seem reckless, but is his expansionist behavior also influenced or tacitly approved by other forces?"
As Shang Jiuya drew, she murmured various hypotheses and questions. She was trying to use modern logical analysis models to interpret the power struggles in this magical and cruel world.
Bai Yu and Li Yue's expressions shifted from initial confusion to surprise, and then to a focused understanding. They began to proactively add details and offer their own perspectives:
"Your Majesty, I just remembered that the people in the kitchen also said that Elder Gongliang's banquet used an extremely expensive 'Blood Marrow Wine,' which seems... seems to require a special magical plant from His Highness Ninth Prince's territory to brew..." Bai Yu added timidly.
“The abandoned watchtower in the southwest corner,” Li Yue pondered, “that location may seem remote, but in fact, its view covers the western perimeter of the Ziguang Hall and part of the path leading to the Law Hall.”
The three of them—a soul from another world, a lowly maid, and a suppressed guard—are struggling to piece together a blurry portrait of their enemy, relying on fragmented information and rudimentary charts, within the dimly lit Demon Lord's palace.
This process is extremely mentally taxing; too much information cannot be verified, and too many possibilities cannot be ruled out. Every step could lead to a misstep, and every misjudgment could be catastrophic.
“We must be more careful.” Shang Jiuya rubbed her aching temples. “This information is hard to verify, and it might even be a smokescreen deliberately released by someone. Bai Yu, when you transmit and receive information, make sure it is safe. It’s better to miss it than to expose yourself.”
"Li Yue, when you're on patrol, just observe. Don't investigate unless absolutely necessary. Your safety is the most important thing."
“We… need to find a way to verify the information. For example, regarding the southwest corner tower, Li Yue, next time you patrol, you can ‘inadvertently’ pay attention to the usual activity in that direction, but you must never get close.”
"Regarding the flow of resources among all parties, Bai Yu, see if you can find more specific, cross-verifiable details from the casual conversations of the lowest-ranking servants in the kitchen and storerooms..."
She painstakingly used all the knowledge she had about information screening and risk control to give instructions to her two companions.
Bai Yu and Li Yue nodded solemnly.
The first informal "meeting" ended. Li Yue, just as he had arrived, silently disappeared into the shadows and left through the side door, as if he had never been there. Bai Yu carefully put away the animal-patterned parchment filled with relationship diagrams, intending to destroy it when the opportunity arose.
Shang Jiuya sat alone in the dimly lit hall, the incense in the burner about to burn out.
Exhaustion washed over her like a tidal wave, almost overwhelming her. But this time, mixed with the exhaustion was a strange sense of fulfillment.
She was still weak, still fearful, and still surrounded.
But it is no longer complete darkness.
She gazed out the window at the eternally gloomy sky of the demon realm, her fingertips lightly brushing the rough edges of the parchment.
Rong Jiang... Look, I've started... struggling too.
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