Yang Qing gently poured a cup for the member of the Shadow Hawks department and then poured himself some. He seemed to hesitate about something but eventually came to a decision.
He took out bamboo leaves that were wrapping something. He unwrapped them and inside was smoked pork crisply burnt. He managed to store away a few dishes from last night's party and this was one of them. The pork used in the dish was from the green flowered babirusa. He had intended to save it and eat it on a special occasion but he decided this was a good time as any.
"Mmh, the flavor isn't bad," said the 12-year-old boy as he took a bite of the pork and drank a bit of the vermilion wine to go along with it.
Yang Qing didn't stand on ceremony and immediately began eating and drinking his part of the share too as he waited for the 12-year-old boy from the Shadow Hawks division to introduce himself.
The division itself was cloaked in mystery even to the people of the Order. Even for someone like Yang Qing, he didn't know much about them other than they were the intelligence branch of the Order. Every information they had on their cases, within the libraries of the Order or even the dossiers they received during their ceremonies, all came from the hands of the Shadow Hawks Division.
Their primary purpose was essentially to be the eyes and the ears of the Order so it doesn't get blindsided and also shed light on the current state of the continent for the Order.
Yang Qing didn't know where they stayed, if they even had a floor or a building within the Order as for the identities of their members, he couldn't say that he knew them. He did know a few people from his year at the Institute who may have gotten into the Shadow Hawks after their training at the Institute, but that was just about it, an unconfirmed rumor.
However, even if he didn't know about their members, he did know a few things about them such as their recruitment criteria. Their recruitment focused more on the adaptability of a cultivator rather than cultivation talent, however, despite not having any strict demands in cultivation, due to the nature of their occupation, their training was extremely strict and dangerous.
It was one of the few departments where dying in training was a common occurrence whereas in other departments it was almost nonexistent.
Yang Qing felt the two siblings would do well in the Shadow Hawks, however, the dangers of the place made him a little hesitant.
…
"My name is Shi, just Shi and I'm the assistant to the chief of staff of the Shadow Hawks, since she is a busy person, I'm the one who handles this particular handover and induction," said the 12-year-old boy as he placed his chopsticks down.
"Did the person who did your induction tell you what your duties in regard to the Shadow Hawks, are?" asked Shi.
"He didn't go into much detail other than it involved an intelligence network and that someone from the Shadow Hawks would tell me more," said Yang Qing as he put his dish to the side and sat upright.
"Mmh, that's good…" said Shi as he paused for a few seconds with his gaze locked on Yang Qing.
Yang Qing was okay at first but when it hit the one-minute mark he started getting uncomfortable. He felt like all his secrets were being laid bare for Assistant Shi with every passing minute. Luckily he didn't have to bear the discomfort for long when Assistant Shi broke the silence.
"We have been monitoring you for a while.."
Yang Qing who had just taken a sip of the vermilion wine to calm his nerves found himself spitting it all out the moment he heard that statement.
"What?!!!!!" he asked wide-eyed.
"I thought you knew?" answered Assistant Shi with an innocent expression.
"With how many things you have done over the years, of course, the Order will place a close eye on one of their most active employees," said Assistant Shi with a light chuckle.
"Since when?" Yang Qing nervously asked.
"It's been a few years now."
Assistant Shi peeled off another smoked pork immediately after and proceeded to eat it with relish.
Yang Qing sat there frozen as he tried to make sense of the response that practically told him nothing.
"No wonder they caught me easily," thought Yang Qing as his face turned paler.
"The reason I told you that wasn't to scare you but rather because I happen to admire something you said a week ago to a colleague of yours, her name was Mao Yunru, another promising talent though she does use a lot of white jade talismans, even more than normal. I think the logistics department will start charging her, so you could warn her after this to reduce on her extracurriculars," said Assistant Shi.
"I will," answered Yang Qing solemnly but inwardly things were different.
"About time someone else suffered the Order's wrath. I'm sorry Mao Mao," thought Yang Qing.
He was inwardly gleeful much more than he even expected, which helped reduce the fear of being spied on by the Shadow Hawks. He even went as far as to mirror Assistant Shi's actions and picked smoked pork of his own.
Assistant Shi smiled a bit as he took in Yang Qing's actions and continued,
"As I was saying, something you said happened to resonate with the ideals of the Shadow Hawks.
What was it you said?" Assistant Shi took a pause as he adjusted himself.
"You wanted to cause as much chaos as possible in the continent so the organizations around the continent would be much more wary of each other than the Order.
In some sense, your thoughts happen to align with some of our undertakings and one of them happens to now fall under your purview as a palace court judge.
Once you become a palace court judge, you gain the authority to supervise and manage your own intelligence network. However, that statement in and of itself is rather misleading since the network you'll be managing may not necessarily help you in the conduct of your duties.
I think it would be more apt to say, you will be managing an intelligence network on behalf of the Shadow Hawks and the Order as a whole," said Assistant Shi in an unhurried tone.
At this point, Yang Qing was already drawn in.
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