The maps on the worn table were old, some of them brittle at the edges, their ink faded from years of use.

Others were newer, crudely drawn, patched together from memory and rumor. It was marked with charcoal instead of proper brushwork.

All of them were wrong. Qingyue knew it the moment she spread them across the table.

"Move the lamp closer," she said.

Lieyin did so without question. The only source of light in the house was from the tiny windows. So they asked to use the lantern.

Shen Yexue, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, let out a soft scoff. "You’ve been staring at those lines for an hour."

Qingyue fought the urge to roll her eyes. "They’re not just lines...they’re routes."

"But they look like lines."

Qingyue sighed, already annoyed. "More like patterns." She pressed two maps together, aligning the edges where the ink overlapped.

"This one is from the village head," she continued, tapping lightly. "Reports of missing livestock. Goats. Chickens. A few cattle."

Her finger slid across another session. "This one is what Madam Xiao already told us. But not every night, not even every week."

Lieyin leaned in. "It’s irregular, there’s no definite pattern."

"On the surface," Qingyue corrected. She picked the charcoal stick and began marking points across the maps. Small circles, each representing a reported incident.

"How did you even get your hands on these?" Yexue asked. "I thought the village head wasn’t willing to help?"

"That’s where my hands come into play." Lieyin wiggled her fingers in the air with a mischievous smile.

"Don’t tell me you stole them," Yexue gasped.

"I didn’t steal them."

"At least your sense with you," Yexue replied. "We can’t get into trouble with the authorities here."

"Can’t say the same for you. You seem to have lost your wits."

It took Yexue exactly three seconds to realize what Lieyin was driving at. She gave her a flat look. "So you did steal them."

"You said not to say that I stole them," Lieyin replied cooly. "There’s no time to waste. We can’t sit around waiting for when information will drop into our laps."

Qingyue tuned out their banter as she continued to drawn lines on the map. It followed terrain, avoiding main roads. The forest was used as cover.

"They’re moving in a circuit," she finally announced. "A controlled path. Rotating locations so no single village is hit too frequently.:

Yexue’s gaze sharpened. "To avoid drawing attention."

"To avoid sustained attention," Qingyue corrected. "It’s how they’ve managed to stay under the radar for so long. A single missing child is a tragedy. Several in one place is a crisis."

Lieyin pushed off the wall. "Bandits don’t think like that, they’re not trained enough to. They just attack, take what they want and leave."

Qingyue nodded.

"And they don’t plan months ahead."

A draft slipped into the cracks of the room, making the lamp flicker. Their shadows shifted.

"She’s not wrong," Yexue said quietly. "Bandits don’t organise like this."

Qingyue didn’t respond immediately. Her gaze moved to something else. A different map.

It was cleaner than the rest. More official.

There was a stamp faintly in the corner with a seal that had been partially scratched away.

"This one," Qingyue said slowly, "is a regional supply route."

Lieyin frowned. "For what?"

"Grain shipments. Tax collection. Trade caravans." Her fingers traced along the marled road. Then...just slightly off it.

A parallel path.

Fainter.

Less obvious.

"Yexue?"

"Yes."

"Those routes you followed this morning while hunting...how far did it stretch?"

Yexue thought for a moment. "Further than they should have. The forest paths were worn, but there were no animal prints on the ground." Realization dawned on her. "It was all footprints."

Just as Qingyue had suspected.

The bandit routes didn’t just avoid the main roads that led to the village. They mirrored them. Close enough to track movement, but far enough to stay unseen.

"There’s something else." Lieyin reached into her sleeve and pulled out a paper. "Madam Xiao helped me write a list of all the children that are missing, and their ages."

Qingyue took the list and examined it. "They’re kidnapping children that are just old enough to survive travel, but not old enough to escape."

"And they’re not asking for ransom either."

Yexue’s hand rested slightly on the table, fingers curling. "Then where are they taking them?"

Qingyue didn’t answer immediately, because there was something else that bothered her. Something worse.

She turned back to the official map. To the supply routes. To the markings that shouldn’t be there.

"This map was updated recently," Qingyue said quietly. The routes the bandits use, align with it."

Yexue’s gaze sharpened. "Are you saying they have access to official information? Because then it will make sense why they’re yet to be caught."

"Yes." Qingyue’s answer was precise. "Someone has to be feeding them information from the village."

The lamp flickered, making the atmosphere colder than it really was.

"This isn’t just banditry, it’s coordinated crime. Someone is supporting and protecting them."

Lieyin let out a quiet, humorless laugh. "Protected by who? The village officials?"

Qingyue didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. Because they all knew. Village officials didn’t have this kind of reach, especially for a village like this that was almost abandoned.

"Nobles..." Yexue said quietly. "Or possibly court officials."

The words settled heavily in the room. For a long moment none of them spoke, because this changed everything.

They weren’t dealing with bandits. This was clearly a small part of a bigger problem.

"We can’t ignore this," Yexue said. "I know the village head told us to stay out of it, but we can’t let lives go to waste."

"But we can’t rush into it either," Qingyue reasoned. "We need time to gather more information. If my calculation is correct, then the bandits will be attacking during the next full moon."

"What do we do until then?" Yexue asked.

"I’ll talk to Madam Xiao about staying for more days. We’ll help around the house and possibly find work to do."

Yexue sighed. "Do you think the villagers will be welcoming? Especially after the incident at the market."

"They don’t have a choice." Lieyin smiled. "And I really want to see the merchant that had the maid all worked up."