Military Roll Call

Shen Gui glanced at Yan Li.

"sit."

Yan Li straightened her back, not daring to sit down immediately.

"Do you know my young master?" Zhaoyue asked, holding her teacup and turning her head back and forth between the two of them.

Seeing the other person grinning widely, their eyes filled with innocence and harmlessness, Yan Li felt a little relieved.

"Sir, you saved my life."

"Oh, then you're just as lucky as me."

Zhaoyue rubbed her chin with her short hands and nodded repeatedly.

Yan Li gave a wry smile: "It is quite good, otherwise we wouldn't have made it this far."

"Sit down, it's too high to stand," Shen Gui said again.

Yan Li sat down opposite Shen Gui, sitting very upright.

For a fleeting moment, he felt that... this powerful figure before him was easier to get along with than the last time he met him.

He wasn't exactly approachable, but at least his eyes weren't as cold as they were last time.

The people in the teahouse were still watching this side when Yan Li bowed, which confused them as well.

They sensed the gray-clad man was not someone to be trifled with as soon as he entered, and now that someone had come forward to call him "sir," they felt even more uncertain. Some held their teacups but didn't drink, while others lowered their voices but kept glancing this way.

Ignoring the stares, Shen Gui asked, "Why are you here?"

When this was mentioned, Yan Li's expression became solemn, and he told the truth: "That day, I took the silver from the bandits, quit my job as a guard for the caravan, and thought that I had some silver in hand. Anyway, I had enough for the travel expenses, so I brought my father to the border that he had been longing for, to visit my younger brother who had not returned home for many years, and to put my father's mind at ease."

He pursed his lips as he finished speaking.

"When we arrived here, we heard that something had happened at Guifeng Camp."

"We just arrived and we've heard about it too. Everyone's talking about it." Zhaoyue listened with great interest, forgetting to drink the tea in front of her.

"Yes." Yan Li lowered her eyes. "I didn't believe it at first, so I went north before dawn to verify it. But after walking more than 20 miles, I still hadn't seen any camps. I was stopped by the patrol and told that the camp was under lockdown for verification and that family members were not allowed to approach."

What does "closed-off camp review" mean?

"Literally, the camp is sealed off, the roster is sealed off, not even a fly can get in."

Yan Li twitched the corners of her mouth, but didn't actually smile.

"But I can't go back and tell my father that my brother is in trouble. He will ask a lot of questions and he will be very anxious. I dare not tell him. I have kept it a secret for two days."

"Don't rush, what if it's just closed-camp training?" Zhaoyue offered her guess.

Yan Li shook his head, took out a piece of old cloth from his pocket. The cloth was small, the edges were covered in dirt, and he had wrapped it three times with rope.

He untied the rope and pushed the contents onto the table.

That was a military license plate.

The front is engraved with the character "炎" (yan).

The name "Han Shouyi" is engraved on the back.

Zhaoyue leaned closer to look, "Isn't this your brother's?"

"no."

Yan Li shook his head. "My brother's name is Yan Ci. I don't know this person. I dug the token out of the ground outside the quarantine zone."

"Huh? Picking up someone else's sign doesn't mean your brother is in trouble."

"Military license plates are a soldier's lifeline. They rely on them to receive their pay while alive, and they will stay with them even in death. They would never be thrown away carelessly. The fact that I found a military license plate means that something really has happened in the barracks."

The other tea drinkers in the teahouse were also listening, and they nodded frequently in agreement with Yan Li's statement.

At that moment, Shen Gui raised his hand and picked up the military tag.

The brand felt very light, and the edges were uneven, as if it had been rushed out.

He flipped it over and looked at the three characters "Han Shouyi," as if he remembered something.

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhaoyue couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Young master, is there something wrong with this brand?"

Shen Gui placed the sign back on the cloth, looked at Yan Li, and asked, "How many days have you been here? Have you heard the drumbeats at night?"

Yan Li nodded: "I did hear the drumming at night three days ago."

"Aside from the three sounds just now, were there two sounds at midnight and one sound at 1-3 am?"

The conversation wasn't deliberately kept secret from anyone, and all the customers in the teahouse heard it.

In the corner, a middle-aged man with a goatee paused for a moment.

He was holding a handful of fried beans, but before he could even put them in his mouth, they froze in mid-air.

"How did you know, sir?!" Yan Li was also surprised. "Just as you said, there were two sounds at midnight and one at 1 AM last night. The sounds were deep and resonant. I listened to them all night by the window of the inn and didn't dare to sleep."

Shen Gui nodded and returned the military tag to Yan Li.

Yan Li took it with both hands, wrapped it back in the cloth, and moved very slowly.

The more Zhaoyue listened, the more bizarre it became. Unable to sit still any longer, it jumped off the bench, leaped to the next table, and placed its teacup on the table.

"Brothers, I have a question. The Third Battalion is under lockdown. Is there any official word from the city? What's the exact wording?"

A portly tea drinker spoke first: "The three northern battalions are Guifeng Battalion, Zhenbei Battalion, and Heishi Battalion. All three battalions are surrounded, and a wooden fence has been erected around them. The army is guarding them and not allowing anyone to enter or leave. The isolation zone is being moved outwards every day. Yesterday it was over at Beigou, and today it has been moved to Luanfenpo."

Zhao Yue felt a chill run down her spine: "Why are we moving outwards?"

The chubby tea drinker looked around and squeezed out a voice through clenched teeth, "Something is running out of the circle."

"people?"

"No one does that."

He swallowed hard. "My neighbor's uncle's son is on patrol. He saw it with his own eyes. He said that at night, a line of things came out of the black mist from the north. They were wearing armor, their feet didn't touch the ground, their faces were all rotten, and they were heading towards the county town. They were driven back by talisman arrows."

Someone cursed, "You said yesterday that your uncle saw it."

"Pretty much, they're all relatives."

"Keep bragging."

"What are you bragging about? Which son would lie to you? Haven't you seen that even the dogs outside the city have stopped barking?"

The two argued, and although they spoke forcefully, they both actually hoped the rumors were false.

Because ghosts and demons are different.

Demons can be seen in physical form, and their behavior and logic are not much different from humans. In addition, the Yan Kingdom has a mature system for controlling demons, so when people see demons, they only feel curious and occasionally afraid. It is the kind of fear that comes from encountering a ferocious beast. They can take precautions, so they feel somewhat at ease.

But these demons and monsters are different.

If a person's lingering attachments remain after death, and they happen to encounter the yin energy underground, there is a chance they will become a ghost.

The Imperial Observatory published a book called "Record of One Hundred Ghosts".

Hanged ghost, long-tongued ghost, water ghost...

Because of their yin energy and obsessions, their temperament and thinking are all imbued with strong negative emotions.

Apart from those that have reached a certain level of cultivation or certain types of ghosts, all other ghosts recorded in the Hundred Ghosts Record will harm humans.

Therefore, when the topic of ghosts came up in the teahouse, everyone started to feel uneasy.

Zhao Yue felt increasingly uneasy as she listened, and returned to Shen Gui's table with her teacup in her hand, her voice weak.

"Young master, this place is rather gloomy. Why don't we find somewhere else to eat noodles?"

Shen Gui's thoughts were still on the military tag. He didn't respond to Wang Yue's question, but instead asked, "How many roll calls are there in the military these days?"

"Nine down, is that even a question?" A customer in the teahouse casually remarked, "My dad used to deliver grain to the army. The knocking would start before dawn, keeping everyone up at night."

Another person added: "When the enemy attacks, there are three long and one short strikes; nine strikes for roll call; and six strikes for shift change. The rules have been like this for a long time."

Zhao Yue asked, puzzled, "Then what were those two sounds and one sound late at night?"

Now nobody knows.

Shen Gui looked at the cold tea on the table and said, "It's also a military roll call, an old camp rule that was changed after the founding of the nation."

Zhao Yue didn't understand, Yan Li didn't understand, and the other tea drinkers were completely bewildered.

Only the middle-aged man with a goatee in the corner suddenly looked up.

He glanced at Shen Gui, his eyes flickered for a moment, then quickly lowered again, grabbed the bamboo hat from the table, and got up to leave.