A massive black shadow suddenly surged within the waves, and a bronze submersible broke through the surface. As the hatch opened, a prisoner wearing Javanese silk sarong stumbled out. Underneath his tattered clothing, seven cinnabar moles stood out, forming the pattern of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure star chart.
Xiao Heng’s scabbard shuddered violently. The characters "Kaixi Year One" tattooed behind this man’s ears were the exclusive mark of the elite death squad that had gone missing during the Northern Expedition three years prior.
"On the night the city of Sizhou fell, someone saw Han Tuozhou’s confidant leaving the pass with ten carts of saltpeter," Shen Xitang said, her silver needle dancing across the prisoner’s back, causing the cinnabar moles to bleed.
Chapter 77