Thud.
The blade was withdrawn.
A foul stench of blood sprayed across the wooden door.
The three-chi-tall black figure twitched twice and then collapsed limply to the ground.
Even in death, its eyes remained locked on the sliver of refined iron visible through the warehouse door crack.
That gaze was greed.
A greed more insane than a starving dog seeing a bone.
Qinglong shook the blood off his blade.
He did not immediately move again.
He simply stood in the shadows like a statue without warmth.
Outside the warehouse, in the open ground—
Hundreds of the same short black figures were bent over, grunting as they hauled scattered iron scraps and coal.
“Squeak!!”
Two of them collided.
Fighting over a piece of rusted scrap iron, they actually drew blades.
Stab!
One drove a dagger into the other’s neck, then excitedly hugged the iron scrap, making strange gibbering noises.
Ghosts?
Not at all.
They were nothing more than rats that had never seen the world.
Qinglong’s face showed no expression.
In fact, he found it somewhat boring.
These were the so-called “Sea Dragon King” that had terrified the entire court?
The “gods” that made Confucian scholars kneel in fear?
Too weak.
So weak that he couldn’t even feel like killing them properly.
“Begin.”
Qinglong spoke three words calmly.
His voice was not loud.
But in the silent night, it was like a bolt of thunder.
Shing! Shing! Shing!
In the fog, eight hundred black figures simultaneously drew their blades.
The most elite Embroidered Uniform Guards of Great Qin.
No shouting.
No war cries.
Only synchronized footsteps and the sound of blades sliding from scabbards.
“Enemy attack!!”
The group of iron-hauled dwarves finally reacted.
The one who had just killed his comrade and stolen the iron looked up—
Bang!
A black military boot slammed directly into his face.
No technique.
Just pure brute force.
His head exploded like a watermelon smashed by a hammer.
The headless corpse flew three zhang away, crashing into a pile of coal.
“Ghosts… ghosts!!”
The remaining dwarves screamed in terror.
They threw down their iron pieces, pulled out their crooked short blades, and tried to fight back.
But—
In front of the Embroidered Uniform Guards who had been strengthened by the national fortune golden rain…
Their movements were as slow as rowing through mud.
A guard swung casually.
Crack!
The charging dwarf was split in half along with his blade.
Blood and organs spilled across the ground.
“Too fragile.”
The guard frowned, clearly dissatisfied.
“Not even as tough as a wild wolf from the grasslands.”
This was a slaughter.
No.
This was garbage collection.
In less than half an incense stick of time—
More than half of the “water monkeys” had already fallen.
The rest huddled together, trembling violently.
“Baka!!”
A sharp roar came from the largest black ship.
A short figure wearing a beast-bone mask and colorful feathers jumped out.
He was the leader.
He held a clay jar covered in strange talismans.
“Ignorant Central Plains people!”
“How dare you offend the envoys of the Sea God!”
He shouted in broken Central Plains speech and smashed the jar to the ground.
Crash!
The jar shattered.
BOOM—
A burst of eerie green flames erupted instantly.
The fire shot upward, crackling and hissing, extremely strange in the fog.
The already terrified dwarves immediately became excited again.
“Divine fire! The divine fire has appeared!”
“Burn them! Burn them!”
They knelt and frantically kowtowed toward the green flames.
The leader stood behind the fire, dancing wildly like a shaman.
“I am protected by divine fire! Mortal fools, kneel and accept death!”
“Otherwise, the divine fire will devour your souls—”
Before he could finish—
A hand.
A large black-gloved hand.
Passed directly through the so-called “divine fire.”
And grabbed his throat.
“Ugh…”
The chanting stopped abruptly.
The leader stared in horror at the tall man before him.
Qinglong’s arm was burning inside the green flames.
Yet he did not even frown.
“Phosphorus powder mixed with fish bones.”
His voice was cold enough to freeze bone.
“This kind of trick for deceiving children—our young master stopped playing with it at eight.”
“You…”
The leader struggled desperately, scratching at Qinglong’s arm.
But the arm was as hard as iron, completely unmoving.
“Playing god?”
Qinglong tightened his grip.
Crack.
A sharp sound.
The leader’s collarbone shattered instantly.
“Aaah—!!”
A scream tore through the night sky.
Qinglong reached out with his other hand and ripped the beast-bone mask off the leader’s face.
Then, with a violent tear, he ripped apart the colorful feathered clothing along with the leather armor underneath.
A torch was brought closer.
Everyone finally saw the truth.
These were not “envoys of the Sea God” at all.
It was just a middle-aged man with a receding “Mediterranean” hairstyle, a face full of acne scars, protruding buck teeth, and a height of less than five feet.
A grotesque, shameless-looking man.
“This is what you worship as a god?”
Qinglong lifted him into the air like a chicken and turned him around, showing him to the captured dwarves—and to the craftsmen hiding in the distance watching.
Silence.
Dead silence.
The dwarves who had been kneeling in worship moments ago were stunned.
The craftsmen who had been terrified to the point of wetting themselves were furious.
“Damn it!”
One craftsman picked up a stone and hurled it hard.
“We haven’t dared sleep these past few days because we were afraid of being eaten by ghosts!”
“And this is what it was?!”
“Beat him to death!!”
“Pay us back our wages!!”
The enraged craftsmen rushed forward and kicked the captured dwarves pinned down by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
Fear?
Gone.
What remained was pure rage at being fooled.
Qinglong did not stop them.
He dragged the leader to a large rock.
“Two choices.”
Qinglong spun a dagger in his hand.
“One: I remove every bone in your body one by one and throw them into the sea to feed fish.”
“Two: speak human language.”
The leader tried to stay stubborn.
“I… I am the envoy of Lord Xu Fu—”
Stab!
The dagger pierced his palm and pinned it to the rock.
“Aaah!!”
“Xu Fu sent you?”
Qinglong twisted the dagger.
Flesh and blood tore apart.
“Yes! Yes!”
The leader sobbed uncontrollably, his face twisted in agony.
“It was Lord Xu Fu!”
“He… he has declared himself king on that island!”
“He was afraid Great Qin would build ships and cross the sea… afraid Emperor Qin Shi Huang would settle accounts with him…”
“He sent us to sabotage everything! To steal iron! To create the illusion of ghosts!”
“Don’t kill me! I was just following orders!”
Everything was confessed.
Just like that.
Qinglong pulled out the dagger and wiped it on the man’s clothes.
“Xu Fu.”
“As expected, that old dog.”
…
Three days later.
Outside the 麒麟 Hall of the Qin palace in Xianyang.
A messenger pigeon flew through the clouds and landed on Prince Yinye’s shoulder.
Yinye took the bamboo tube, unfolded the thin strip of paper inside, and glanced at it.
Pfft.
He burst out laughing.
Laughing so hard he bent over, unable to stand straight.
Even the building blocks in his hand fell apart.
“What’s so funny?”
Emperor Qin Shi Huang had just finished court and was walking over.
Seeing his son laughing like this, he couldn’t help but be curious.
“Father.”
Yinye handed him the note.
“The ‘Sea Dragon King’ from the East Sea has been captured.”
Qin Shi Huang took the note and glanced at it.
His expression immediately turned strange.
Half amused, half filled with rising killing intent.
“Xu Fu…”
He gritted his teeth as he said the name.
“The same Xu Fu who once tricked me into sending three thousand boys and girls, and took countless treasures of gold and silver.”
“I haven’t even gone to find him yet…”
“And now he dares to reach his claws back here?”
He crushed the note in his fist.
“What audacity!”
Inside the hall, the Confucian scholars and officials who had previously advised against building ships kept their heads down, wishing they could bury themselves.
It hurt.
It really hurt.
Just days ago, they were calling it “heavenly punishment” and “divine wrath.”
And now it turns out it was just a group of iron-stealing thieves sent by Xu Fu?
Their faces had been thoroughly slapped.
“Father, don’t be angry.”
Yinye jumped down from the steps and patted Qin Shi Huang’s hand.
“This is actually a good thing.”
“It means that old fraud is afraid.”
“And it also means that island definitely has something valuable, otherwise why would he be scared of us going there?”
Yinye clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the entrance of the hall, looking toward the eastern sky.
“Qinglong’s report says they captured over three hundred alive.”
“We were just running out of entertainment anyway.”
He turned around with a smile—pure and innocent, yet enough to chill everyone to the bone.
“Issue the order.”
“Have the Gongshu family build three hundred special iron cages.”
“Put these so-called ‘Sea Dragon Kings’ inside one by one.”
“No need to hide them.”
His voice suddenly rose.
“Beat drums and ring gongs all the way!”
“From East Sea Prefecture all the way to Xianyang in a public parade!”
“Let all the people of Great Qin see them!”
“Let everyone take a good look!”
“Let them see what kind of creatures these so-called ‘Sea Dragon Kings’ really are…”
“Short, balding, petty thieves—what kind of beasts they truly are!”
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