A Pawn's Passage

Zhang Wenyue was truly left with no choice, as Zhang Yuelu was relentless. So he finally told her everything he knew about Lin Yin’s case.

Lin Yin had originally been in the maritime trade business as well. But he was an ordinary merchant with a single ship, earning just enough to get by.

A few years ago, Lin Yin took on a deal connected to the Daoist Mansion, transporting a shipment of goods to an island that lay outside normal sea routes. The Daoist Mansion had built some facilities there. Initially, the supplies had been transported using flying ships, so it had not mattered whether the island was on regular trade routes.

Later, the Daoist Mansion decided that using flying ships was too costly, so they outsourced the task to an affiliated but externally managed trade guild to recruit ships for the job.

Since the route strayed from the normal path and passed through reefs infested with sea monsters, the risk was high. Thus, few were willing to take on the job even though the Daoist Mansion offered a generous payment.

Lin Yin was one of the few who accepted the job. After countless trials and dangers, he successfully reached the island. He even drew a detailed nautical chart, marking how to avoid the reefs and sea monsters, effectively pioneering a new route.

For some time afterward, Lin Yin continued handling the transport of materials for that route. Demand was high, and the guild paid handsomely, so he earned a great deal, enough that he began planning to save for a second ship. But then, the guild suddenly demanded that he turn in his nautical charts. Having to depend on the guild for business, Lin Yin reluctantly submitted the charts despite his misgivings.

To his dismay, not long after he handed over the charts, the guild dismissed him and gave the contract to the Nanyang United Trading Company instead.

The Nanyang United Trading Company had powerful connections and immense resources. It dabbled in all kinds of businesses, with its influence extending to nearly every corner of maritime trade, leaving not even the smallest profit untouched.

At that stage, there was not much Lin Yin could do. Though furious and resentful, he knew that the Nanyang United Trading Company was far too powerful for him to challenge. He had no choice but to swallow his anger in silence.

Later, Lin Yin heard rumors that the Nanyang United Trading Company’s ships often sank, either from hitting reefs or being attacked by sea monsters, causing huge losses. He found this strange, as he had already handed over the nautical charts showing safe passage, so why were their ships still sinking? He quickly suspected foul play.

So, Lin Yin seized an opportunity to secretly follow one of the company’s ships out to sea and uncover the truth. What he found shocked him. The Nanyang United Trading Company’s ships had not sunk at all. They were faking shipwrecks to embezzle goods, and the losses were ultimately borne by the Daoist Mansion. In other words, the company was defrauding the Daoist Order.

After discovering this, Lin Yin concluded that the company could not have done it alone. They must have been colluding with the trade guild. Realizing he could not appeal to the guild, he decided to report the matter directly to the Daoist Mansion.

Lin Yin went to the Daoist Mansion’s Fengxian Hall Branch to report the matter. Fengxian Hall took his report seriously and responded swiftly, forwarding it to Dongdu’s branch of Fengxian Hall. The Dongdu branch then passed the matter down to the trade guild.

Then, there was silence. The guild suppressed the case for more than half a year.

Lin Yin filed multiple follow-up reports, but every one of them was redirected to the guild for handling. As he had expected, the guild was already colluding with the Nanyang United Trading Company, so why would they investigate themselves? One of the guild managers even shouted at him. “Even if you complain to the headquarters of Fengxian Hall in Jade Capital, there’s nothing you can do if I don’t process your case!”

Meanwhile, when the people from the Nanyang United Trading Company learned that Lin Yin had reported them, they immediately sent people to threaten him. They beat him mercilessly, leaving him covered in wounds, and even sank his ship.

The ship was Lin Yin’s lifeblood, but even then, the situation was still somewhat under control. He reported the matter again to the Daoist Mansion, which responded quickly as before and passed the case to Dongdu’s local administration. This time, Lin Yin did not mention the company’s collusion with the guild. Instead, he simply reported that the Nanyang United Trading Company had deliberately sunk his ship.

The local office in Dongdu made a show of investigating for a few days, but it ultimately led nowhere. When Lin Yin returned several times to press them, they brushed him off, citing a lack of manpower and insufficient funds.

That was why Zhang Yuelu later said that Lin Yin had followed proper procedures to report the Nanyang United Trading Company’s unlawful acts, and yet none of the authorities did anything.

However, according to Zhang Wenyue, the local officials had not ignored the case entirely. They had approached the Nanyang United Trading Company, asking them to pay compensation to Lin Yin and quietly resolve the matter before it escalated.

But the Nanyang United Trading Company, arrogant as ever, merely agreed on the surface. Soon after, they approached Lin Yin again, not to offer compensation, but to threaten him. This time, they kidnapped his wife.

The two sides held negotiations, though no outsider knew the details. But the outcome was clear. Lin Yin’s wife had been sold off by the Nanyang United Trading Company or stuffed into a barrel and thrown into the sea, as others claimed. In any case, all negotiations broke down.

At that point, the situation spiraled completely out of control. Lin Yin decided to handle things his own way.

After all these twists and betrayals, Lin Yin completely lost faith in the Daoist Mansion. He was a Xiantian Being with no family left to hold him back, so he went straight to Seven Treasure Pavilion’s black market and spent his remaining wealth to purchase a Sun-Shooting Rifle with seven rounds of Grade-B Series One Dragon Eye Bullet. After gathering intelligence for a time, he began his revenge against the Nanyang United Trading Company, the guild, and the Daoist Mansion alike.

Only Heavenly Beings could withstand the power of the Sun-Shooting Rifle. Ordinary Xiantian Beings would face certain death.

Thus, in a very short span of time, Lin Yin assassinated three of the Nanyang United Trading Company’s managers, including the two who had negotiated with him and the one who had beaten him and sunk his ship. He also killed two guild officials, one of whom had mocked him for wanting to appeal to Jade Capital. One official from the Daoist Mansion was injured but survived.

The incident enraged the Daoist Mansion, which immediately dispatched Spirit Guards to capture Lin Yin.

This time, the Daoist Mansion acted with remarkable speed. There were no more delays, excuses, or evasions. Suddenly, there were neither manpower shortages nor budget constraints.

Knowing there was no way out, Lin Yin ultimately chose to take his own life.

Afterward, the Daoist Mansion charged Lin Yin with committing heinous crimes.

That was why Zhang Yuelu said that the Daoist Mansion accused Lin Yin of being unreasonable, lawless, and defiant.

What infuriated Zhang Yuelu most was not Lin Yin’s desperate vengeance, nor the corruption and collusion between officials and merchants. It was the Daoist Mansion’s complete loss of control, its apathy, and its perfunctory bureaucracy.

The Daoist Mansion had a clear rule that there must always be written correspondence.

When higher authorities assigned a matter to lower offices, it required an official document. After receiving the order, the lower office had to act on the directive and issue a written reply detailing the outcome. Only when both were completed was the case considered closed.

On a larger scale, when the matter involved a Deputy Mansion Master, an extra layer of procedure was required. Subordinates submitted the official document, while the Deputy Mansion Master reviewed and annotated it with orders or comments. Then the subordinates executed the instructions and submitted a follow-up report detailing the outcome. Only then was the entire process complete.

But in this case, the process was not complete. The higher officials appeared responsive, sending directives swiftly downward, quickly washing their hands of it. The lower offices stalled, never replying or reporting results until the case simply vanished.

That was apathy and perfunctory bureaucracy.

This matter could have been nipped in the bud from the start. But because of the Daoist Mansion’s inaction, it spiraled step by step into chaos, ending with Lin Yin’s family destroyed and the guild managers dead as well.

That alone might have been forgivable, as it was the Daoist Mansion’s failure to solve problems in a timely manner.

But even after everything that happened, the root cause of this problem—the very trade route Lin Yin once managed—was still handled by the Nanyang United Trading Company. Their ships still “sank” every month, as if nothing had ever happened. This was what Zhang Yuelu had a problem with.

Even after such a tragedy, everything continued as before. There was no reflection, not even a hint of caution or correction.

How could Zhang Yuelu not be furious?

So she repeatedly questioned Zhang Wenyue if the Daoist Mansion was addressing issues or the people behind them. She could put aside whether Lin Yin was right or wrong. She only wanted to know why the problem was not resolved.

This line of thinking was the same as Qi Xuansu’s. When Qi Xuansu disciplined Huang Jiaoqing, he had also set aside the controversial parts, without debating whether Huang Jiaoqing’s actions were right or wrong. Instead, he focused on the key issue, holding Huang Jiaoqing accountable for privately deploying Spirit Guards without authorization.

Both Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu were newcomers without enough authority to cut through the chaos outright. So, they needed to find a single loose thread in that tangled mess and slowly unravel it, strand by strand.

As for Zhang Wenyue, Zhang Yuelu believed he likely had no vested interest in the Nanyang United Trading Company. After all, he came from the Zhang family and did not have to maintain many mistresses like Zhang Juquan. Being younger and with ample family support, Zhang Wenyue was not short of money. He would not dirty his hands over a paltry profit. To him, preserving his image was still more important.

However, that did not mean Zhang Wenyue was absolved of blame. His negligence and inaction were undeniable. He was overly timid and cautious, preferring to turn a blind eye to maintain superficial harmony.

Zhang Yuelu then issued a direct order for Zhang Wenyue to immediately arrest all individuals involved in the case, including those guilty of inaction.

She intended to conduct a full and thorough investigation of the entire case.