If I, a death row inmate, am not to become a demon, am I to become a member of the Imperial Guard?

The light from the oil lamp flickered on the table.

The unfolded parchment scroll resembled a sleeping behemoth; the vermilion lines were its veins, and the ink marks its scales. Zhou Yang's finger hovered over the two characters "Eastern Depot," remaining motionless.

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Across from him, Qin Shuang looked at his fingers, then raised her head, her gaze calmly settling on his face. She didn't speak, but her eyes held a question. She knew Zhou Yang had his own methods, and at this moment, urging or questioning was superfluous.

Zhou Yang withdrew his hand and instead reached for his waist. He untied a faded money pouch and tossed it onto the table.

"despair."

A soft sound.

The purse was empty, the opening was loose, and a few copper coins rolled out, swirled a few times on the table, and stopped. There were also two small pieces of silver, covered in dust. This was all their working capital.

Qin Shuang's gaze swept over the money pouch without moving. She also untied her own money pouch. That pouch was more bulging, made of fine satin, revealing its former wealth. She emptied its contents onto the table.

A small silver ingot, worth about ten taels. There was also a string of copper coins, a little more than Zhou Yang's pile, but not by much.

This amount of money would be enough for them to live comfortably for half a month in Anyang County. But in the capital, it wouldn't even cover a decent room in a good inn. The guest room in the backyard of the place they were staying at cost one hundred coins a night.

"It's not enough," Zhou Yang said, his voice a little hoarse. "It won't last more than five days. And that doesn't even include food, supplies, and other expenses."

Qin Shuang flicked the small silver ingot with her finger; the silver gleamed coldly under the lamplight. "I also have some jewelry. The pawnshop will take it."

"How much can I get in exchange?" Zhou Yang asked.

"At most one hundred taels," Qin Shuang said, "and that's 'at most.' The pawnshop staff will try to lower the price."

One hundred taels of silver.

It sounds like a lot, but for their current situation, it's just a drop in the ocean. What can one hundred taels of silver do in the capital? Not even enough to buy a decent sword. To gain a foothold and make a name for themselves in the capital, they need at least a thousand taels. Not to mention they're being hunted by both the Heavenly Principle Sect and Commander Chen.

"By pawning our jewelry, we've cut off our last line of defense," Zhou Yang said. "Besides, this money is stagnant. Every bit we use is a bit less. What we need isn't just money to survive, but capital. It's the goose that lays the golden eggs."

He looked up, meeting Qin Shuang's eyes. "We need a sum of money, a large sum. Clean money, anything goes, even if it's shady, but it has to be fast, and a lot of it."

Qin Shuang fell silent. She understood the rules of Beijing better than Zhou Yang. Money wasn't easy to earn. The legal channels were blocked for them—they had no connections, no status. The illegal channels were even more difficult and risky. They were outsiders, two carp that had stumbled into a crocodile pond.

"You've got an idea." Qin Shuang's statement wasn't a question, but a declaration. She looked at the diagram on the table.

Zhou Yang smiled, a smile tinged with both weariness and excitement. The feeling of finding an opportunity in dire straits gave him a sense of relief.

"When I bought this map, the seller said it represented the 'inner workings' of the capital." Zhou Yang's fingers returned to the parchment scroll. "The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Six Ministries, the Inner Court... these are the 'face,' the visible cards. But what truly determines life and death are the undercurrents beneath the surface."

His fingertips traced over a series of tangled names, finally settling on "Eastern Depot".

"The Eastern Depot," Qin Shuang uttered, her brows furrowing slightly. "That's a den of madmen. We can't touch it."

"Why can't we touch them?" Zhou Yang retorted. "They're people too, and they have to spend money. Besides, they spend more money than anyone else, and their money is dirtier than anyone else's."

"The head of the Eastern Depot is the Nine Thousand Years Old. His subordinates wield immense power. The two of us aren't even captains; how can we possibly touch them?"

"So we won't touch their people." Zhou Yang's eyes gleamed frighteningly under the light. "We'll take their money."

Qin Shuang leaned forward slightly, a gesture indicating that she was listening.

"This diagram is too cluttered, with too much information; I can't make sense of it," Zhou Yang frankly admitted. "Finding useful information comes at a price."

His meaning was very clear.

Qin Shuang didn't try to stop him. She knew Zhou Yang had his own bottom line. He wouldn't waste his time on pointless endeavors. Since he was going to do it this way, it meant he was about 70-80% confident.

Zhou Yang stopped talking. He closed his eyes and gently pressed his fingers on the cinnabar ring that read "Eastern Depot".

A thought crossed my mind.

[System, consuming one year of lifespan, traces the flow of funds within the Eastern Depot's territory, searching for anomalies.]

A cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind.

[Command confirmed. One year of lifespan consumed. Remaining lifespan...]

Before the sound even finished, a chill shot up from his tailbone, instantly spreading throughout his body. It felt as if someone had thrown him into an ice cellar, his blood almost freezing. He could even feel a few fine lines appearing on the skin around his eyes.

Life is slipping away.

This is the most genuine feeling.

But at the same time, the finger he was pressing on the parchment began to burn.

The world has changed.

The flickering lamplight on the table vanished, and Qin Shuang's figure became blurred. The entire world turned into endless darkness. Only the parchment scroll beneath his fingers emitted a faint glow in the darkness.

Countless names written in ink began to wander, like insects that had come to life. The red and black lines connecting them transformed into a rushing river.

He witnessed the flow of power, the transmission of intelligence, and the trading of human lives.

These are not what he wants.

His consciousness sank deeper and deeper, penetrating layer after layer of appearances until it reached the very bottom. He was searching for traces of "money".

He found it very quickly.

A massive, almost dark gold-colored stream of funds emerged from the depths of the Eastern Depot's headquarters, flowing like an underground river to every corner of the capital. Most of it flowed to the mansions of high-ranking officials and nobles, becoming tributes and bribes. A portion seeped into the marketplace, becoming payment for the Eastern Depot's spies and henchmen.

Zhou Yang's consciousness traveled upstream along the dark golden river, returning to its source.

It was a scene he had never imagined.

Beneath the Eastern Depot prison, there appears to be a massive array. Countless tiny streams of funds, like rivers flowing into the sea, converge from inconspicuous corners of the capital and flow into this array. The core of the array is connected to this dark golden main river.

It's like a heart, pumping out funds and also absorbing funds.

Zhou Yang's consciousness was overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of the formation. He couldn't understand it all. But he just wanted to find the "abnormal" node.

Soon, a node appeared.

In Xicheng District, there's a place called "Huai Shu Hutong" (Locust Tree Alley). There's an inconspicuous pawnshop there called "Renhe Pawnshop."

A thin stream of funds flowed out of Renhe Dangdang Shop, not merging into the main river of the Eastern Depot, but flowing in another direction. Zhou Yang couldn't see that direction clearly; it was shrouded in a layer of mist. But that didn't matter.

Importantly, this flow of funds from Renhe Pawnshop carried the aura of a magical formation. It was part of the Eastern Depot's secret treasury. This pawnshop served as a money laundering hub, or rather, a window for external payments.

That's all for now.

Zhou Yang's consciousness was jolted back to his body.

He opened his eyes, breathing heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat. The room was the same room, the light was the same light, but he felt as if an eternity had passed.

"How are you?" Qin Shuang's voice was filled with anxiety. She saw Zhou Yang's face turn deathly pale in an instant, as if he had seen a ghost.

Zhou Yang waved his hand, picked up the cold tea on the table, took a sip, and suppressed the chill and weakness that rose from the depths of his soul.

"Found it," he said in a hoarse voice.

"What did you find?"

"An opportunity." Zhou Yang dipped his finger in tea and drew a simple diagram on the table. "The Eastern Depot has a pawnshop in the western part of the city called 'Renhe Pawnshop.' It's not their property, but we work for them. It's an external node for their secret treasury."

Qin Shuang's eyes narrowed instantly. As a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, she was more sensitive to these kinds of things than anyone else. Money laundering, illicit funds—this was a case that brought more credit than catching a couple of notorious thieves. But the prerequisite was that you had to be alive to solve the case.

"you mean?"

"It's a case of double-crossing." Zhou Yang uttered those four words with a tone as calm as if he were commenting on the weather. "We have no money, they have money. And their money isn't clean. Taking their money to do our thing is only natural."

Qin Shuang didn't answer immediately. Her fingers tapped unconsciously on the table, making a soft "tap, tap" sound. This was her habit when she was thinking.

"The risk is too great." She finally spoke. "Renhe Pawnshop, since they dare to work for the Eastern Depot, must have experts inside. There might even be spies. The two of us, one in the open and one in the shadows, will be exposed once we make a move. At that time, the entire Eastern Depot will hunt us down."

"So they can't know it was us who did it," Zhou Yang said.

"How do I do it?"

"Create chaos." A calculating glint flashed in Zhou Yang's eyes. "The capital is so big, all sorts of things happen every day. Fires, vendettas, robberies... As long as the chaos is big enough, we can muddy the waters. We can fish in troubled waters, and no one can see our hands."

He looked at Qin Shuang and said, word by word, "I need your identity. The identity of a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Appear at the appropriate time to draw attention. And I will do the dirty work."

Qin Shuang stopped banging on the table. She looked at Zhou Yang with scrutiny and hesitation in her eyes, but more than anything, a flame had been ignited within her.

They were people with nowhere to go. Any path is better than waiting to die.

"How much money is in Renhe Pawnshop's vault?" she asked the most crucial question.

Zhou Yang shook his head. "We can't deduce that much detail. But the number of nodes that can become the Eastern Depot must be considerable. I think, at least... enough for us to launch the next phase of our plan."

Next steps.

The explanation was vague, but Qin Shuang understood. They needed money, not to squander, but to gain their own chips at the enormous poker table of the capital.

She remained silent for a long time.

The only sound in the room was the faint crackling of the light bulb.

Finally, Qin Shuang spoke slowly, her voice clear and firm.

"plan."