"Well I suppose we should start walking," Ling Qi said, shaking her head slowly. It was best not to overcomplicate things. "I have an appointment with the exterminators to keep."
"Ha alright! You're not half as uptight as you put on, are ya?" Zheng Fu said, pushing himself up straight, bounding down the steps after her.
"And you're probably not completely a rude buffoon," Ling Qi said. With any other member of the high nobility she would watch her words more, but her instinct here was that it was not only a waste of time, but actively counterproductive.
"Different people need different approaches," Zheng Fu said. "I admit, I have a hard time getting a lock on you, so I just flung out everything and tried to find what worked. Then again, you changed a bit after the first time."
"And what worked?"
"Casual and earnest, just a lil bombast, no innuendo."
"Is it a good idea to admit that you're just using the mannerisms you know won't offend me?" Ling Qi wondered.
"It's what you do, isn't it?" Zheng Fu said, throwing his hands up behind his head as they walked. He was actually a bit taller than her, how unusual.
"I'm not deceiving anyone."
"You're shaping your words so that they'll receive them better. Ain't that what I'm doing?"
"I suppose, but it's expected that you don't say it outright," Ling Qi said, a little amused.
"And that's why us silly apes don't get you folks. If everyone knows something, refusing to talk about it is just silly."
"If you tell me the Zheng clan does not have customs which everyone expects to be followed but no one talks about. I am going to call you a liar."
Zheng Fu was silent, and Ling Qi glanced his way, wondering if she'd gone too far.
"Y'know, that's fair. We might be better about it, doesn't mean we're not hypocrites in our own way," he said with a shrug.
"...People hide parts of themselves. It's only natural," Ling Qi said as they stepped out onto the road.
He hummed noncommittaly, and followed after her, letting conversation lapse for the couple of minutes it took to arrive at their destination. At the imperial Embassy building, she entered to find a blank masked Ministry Agent waiting for her patiently by the hall leading down to the stairs which descended into the old Hui bunker.
"Baroness Ling. You are expected," the man? -she couldn't quite tell- said. He tilted his head, peering past her to Zheng Fu. "Sir Zheng is… surprising."
"Zheng Fu has assisted me with a related matter in the past," Ling Qi said, thinking back to the overgrown sewers. "He has offered me his support in this as well, and I trust his intentions."
"I'll keep it reigned in. You lot of all people should know we can be quiet when we need to," Zheng Fu said.
The man held a hand up to his ear, silent for a long moment. Finally he gave a nod. "Inspector Cao approves. Please. Follow me."
Ling Qi gave a patient nod, and waited a beat for the agent to descend the stairs in front of her before following.
"You're generous with the credit huh? I barely got to do anything last time." Zheng Fu murmured.
"You're intentions were good and you listened," Ling Qi said. He could have easily ignored her and killed the ith-ia gardener, triggering much worse results as its sacrificial ritual completed.
The stairs downward had been cleaned and dried, the whole underground complex tidied up immensely. She could also sense the faint power in the air of the security formations that had hidden this place for so long, reworked and repowered, turned inward to make this underground bunker disappear. She suspected it would be all but invulnerable to divinatory arts, unless something truly powerful was used.
As expected for the place the Ministry was making their temporary field office.
It was not the scribblers chamber where they found Cao Chun though. That was sealed off, instead they met him out where the giant spider corpse had been, the grand chamber turned into something of an office. Partitioned off with cheap wood and paper dividers, painted with security formations. The agent led them through the bustling center to the room where the Inspector waited.
Cao Chun waited for them behind a desk of dark wood, a neat stack of documents off to one side, which at a glance Ling Qi found she could not see the contents of.
"Baroness Ling, welcome. I will not censure you for the surprise guest. The Zheng clan is spontaneous," The man said, folding his hands in front of his face. His mask was up, tied to the side of his head.
"We sure are! Thanks. I kinda figured you'd be fine with it. You know what I'm about."
"Your master is known to us, Zheng Fu," Cao Chun said dully. It did not sound like a complement.
She glanced at Zheng Fu, he grinned. "My Master, Zheng Gen the Formless, is pretty sneaky, they taught me good. It's why I figured I could help."
"It is doubtful that you or this event are a direct target of Zheng intelligence. That one prefers to simply instill a mindset, send out his pieces, and let events unfold, when not involving himself." Cao Chun said.
"Man, you make everything sound like a plot, don't you?" Zheng Fu wondered. "But I'm just here to assist that brave lady here. She's worked pretty hard on this, I can tell. It'd be a shame for some idjits to ruin it."
"It is not acceptable for plots to go about under the ministry's nose uncovered," Cao Chun agreed. "Baroness Ling, you wished to talk about the accidents."
"I do," Ling Qi said. "I doubt it is a surprise to you when I say that our own assets are quite sure that they are not accidents at all."
"No. We are not surprised. The signs are hidden well, but in the final week of preparations the frequency was too much. Enough so that I suspect that the culprits wanted to see attention brought to this," Cao Chun said.
"May I ask if the Ministry has found any leads on the matter."
"Frankly, the signs point to the barbarians, or if I am being generous, some rogue faction within them."
Ling Qi frowned deeply. "How so, Inspector?"
"They have significant mastery of geomancy and spiritualism. All of the incidents involve some disruption or manipulation thereof. And there have been signs of their distorted form of qi at the sites of investigation. It is most subtle, and required my direct investigation to find," Cao Chun said crisply. "However, I am not ready to make accusations."
"And why's that I wonder?" Zheng Fu asked, crossing his arms.
"Because I am disinclined to accept a result where I am being so easily shown what I wish to see," Cao Chun said flatly. "Nor does it fit my observation of these barbarians' methods. No, frankly this reminds more of the mind treachery of the Hui."
"Honestly, my suspicions run more toward our other foes," Ling Qi said, nodding toward the ground. "Given their methods and penchant for intrigue. I think the Ith-ia and their own allies would stand to benefit the most from this all dissolving into violence, or simply failing. I have no direct evidence yet, but the motive seems right."
"That is something I have considered," Cao Chun agreed. "As it stands, there are multiple barbarian culprits possible, and…"
"And our own folks," Zheng Fu said with a shrug. "It'd be dumb, but since when has that stopped us?"
Cao Chun looked irritated. "Yes. It is possible. There are elements in the Empire much more upset by this than I."
"Regardless, finding the truth of the matter is paramount. I admit, my own investigations have been limited so far. We suspect that there will be another accident during the first week, but haven't narrowed it further."
Meng Dan had been working quite hard divining that from the current information and patterns of behavior, but he also had other duties meaning he couldn't devote his full time to it.
Cao Chun was silent for a long moment, tapping his gnarled fingers together. "I have reason to believe there will be an incident tomorrow. I suspect either a crumbling of the road up to the severed peak, spilling men and materials down to injury or death, or an incident at the road junction where our crews are finishing the connection of our warding networks. It will likely take place around the middle of the day, when I am occupied with watching over negotiations. It is very possibly meant to distract me, and allow something untoward."
"There are many potent cultivators there," Ling Qi pointed out. "You could…"
"Not with eyes like mine, and I do not trust those Crow creatures among our delegates without my sight," Cao Chun replied. "Further, while nothing is confirmed yet, I suspect the culprit or culprits are making use of infomorphic arts of some kind."
"Our kinda stuff, dream stuff," Zheng Fu said, glancing at her.
"If you must be crude," Cao Chun replied. "Yes, liminal manipulation. Of what kind I am not yet certain, but the taste is in the air. It is not just the Hui remnants clinging to this valley like pollution, though that is not helping. I would prefer to handle this matter, but I will not turn away field expertise. That is why I accepted this meeting."
Ling Qi nodded, she understood now. He must have been considering it already, but in approaching him with at least a tentative peace offering he had become a little more willing. "I see, Of course, I will assist however I can. We can't afford saboteurs in this, with how delicate negotiations are. How can I help with this?"
"The simplest method, the one certain to prevent any real world harm, would be for you to lurk in wait on the 'other side' at the appropriate locations," Cao Chun said. "However. This will likely simply spook the suspects. Your absence will be too obvious. But, it may inform us of their priorities based upon how they react"
"Huh? Maybe I could relay?" Zheng Fu wondered. "I'm just a feckless observer, you know. Don't got anything to do. I can lurk around and send you a message when I notice something going down? You're good enough to step that far once you can make excuses to get out of the meeting hall for a minute, right?"
"I can," Ling Qi said slowly. It was at most a couple kilometers if the strike site was the mountain path, less for the road nexus. That was no distance at all really, if she was skimming the border.
"Possible, this will still be an alteration to the meeting which may tip off the suspects. It is less risky, however," Cao Chun frowned. "My apprentice has some skill in these arts as well, and I had thought to assign him as a spotter for the agents involved before your proposal. I will make use of him for communications with you during any operation regardless, but I propose you make use of him here."
Ling Qi did not care for Jin Tae very much. However if Cao Chun believed in his skill, then she supposed it had to be real. She knew herself the best though, and Zheng Fu's cultivation… and spotting him in the deep liminal of Xiangmen, meant she had some direct evidence for him. So…
[ ] She would make her excuses tomorrow and lay in wait. (Immediate response, Obvious tip off)
[ ] She would ask Zheng Fu to lay in wait. (Slight delay, less obvious tip off)
[ ] She would agree withCao Chun to allow Jin Tae to spot. (Longer delay, No tip off)
