Chapter 6 - 5: Mist and Misunderstanding
The wind was still heavy with morning dew when they found the corpses.
Two bodies.
Scattered across a narrow forest trail not far from the southern edge of the Jungwon Plains. Damp earth clung to their robes, and the birds nearby refused to sing. A low silence seemed to press down over the scene, as if the world itself knew something unnatural had taken place.
The scout from the Crimson Flow Blade Union crouched beside the nearest corpse. He was young, barely past twenty, his armor still stiff from polishing. But even he could tell this wasn’t a simple skirmish.
"Look at this," he muttered, brushing away the leaves on the man’s chest.
Another martial artist stepped beside him — older, with a thick scar across his cheekbone and narrow, calculating eyes.
"Still warm," the older man said. "They were struck not long ago. Whoever did this is barely an hour ahead."
The scout nodded, but his eyes flicked to the others. The pattern disturbed him. The bodies weren’t clumped. They were spaced apart. As though they’d been taken down one by one — methodically. Not in a battle.
A clean execution.
"Any signs of weaponry?" someone behind them asked.
"No," said the older man. He gently rolled the corpse over. "No blade cuts. No fractures. But look here..."
He pointed to the subtle bruising near the neck. Two points.