Read Chapter 12: — THE CEREMONY

The river-god ceremony could not simply be cancelled.

Too many people believed.

Too many conspirators would scatter if warned.

So Lin turned the fraud into a trap.

At dusk thousands gathered near the shrine. Incense smoke drifted above the water. Families threw silver into marked baskets while cult attendants promised protection from flood, sickness and shipwreck.

Behind painted screens, Jinyiwei agents replaced Li Sheng’s guards.

Su Shanhe took command of the legitimate canal patrols.

Xiaoxi organised rescue boats in case the fighting spread onto the river.

Tang Zheng demanded a role.

“You are under arrest for impersonating an imperial officer,” Lin reminded him.

“Technically.”

“There is no technically.”

“You opened the cell.”

“I temporarily misplaced you.”

Tang grinned.

Lin saw his master in the expression and hated how much he loved it.

“Stay on the rescue boat,” he said.

Tang bowed with exaggerated respect.

“Of course, Inspector.”

Lin did not believe him for a second.

At the height of the ceremony, the river changed.

The dark shapes appeared again beneath the surface.

People screamed.

This time Lin knew what they were.

Men in black waterproof skins, using breathing tubes and weighted frames, struck the hulls from below. Crude charges burst near the waterline. The “river monsters” were trained saboteurs.

The god had always been a gang.

The revelation spread through the crowd as captured divers were dragged onto the bank.

Then signal fires appeared downstream.

Yagyu Ichiro had arrived.