One of the kneeling men hesitated. "Th-they’re awake, but..."

The scar-faced man scowled, his patience worn thin. "But what?"

The man’s voice trembled. "But... they all say they don’t remember anything that happened!"

The scar-faced man’s expression shifted. "Don’t remember? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"I-it means... their memories of the last few days are completely hazy!" The man was clearly anxious. "We interrogated them for a long time and even got rough with them. But their stories are all the same. They insist they can’t remember a thing... Maybe they were poisoned!"

The scar-faced man’s expression turned icy, a savage glint in his eyes. He let out a cold sneer.

"Well, well! Aren’t they well-prepared!"

The men remained prostrate on the ground, trembling, none daring to utter another word.

’The mine collapse isn’t the biggest problem. The key is—someone broke into our heavily guarded mining site, and from the looks of it, their intentions were hostile! More importantly, they escaped completely unscathed!’

The scar-faced man’s grip tightened on the hilt of his blade, veins bulging on the back of his hand. It was a clear sign of the towering rage in his heart.

"Keep searching! I refuse to believe they could’ve gotten far so quickly!"

"Yes!"

The men answered in unison. Just as they were about to leave, one of them remembered something. He turned back, his expression tight with nervousness.

"Sir... if the higher-ups ask, then... what should we say?"

The moment he spoke, the courtyard fell silent, the atmosphere turning frigid.

Even the scar-faced man’s jaw tightened.

A moment later, he said, "Report the mine collapse first. As for the rest... we can wait until the investigation yields results before reporting that."

The men exchanged uneasy glances.

’Does that mean... we’re supposed to hide it for now?’

"But we’ve been tearing the city apart all day. There’s no hiding that. Won’t they punish us for it later?"

The scar-faced man gave him a cold glance.

"The Master has enough to deal with lately. Why bother him with this?"

’The higher-ups have been lax with their supervision here recently, and now this mess happens. If they find out, we’ll all be dead!’

Hearing the threat in his voice and recalling their superiors’ methods, the men shuddered.

"Yes!"

...

Shiluan City was on edge.

Many kept to their homes, doors and windows shut tight, terrified of getting drawn into the trouble.

Fewer people ventured out onto the streets.

After noon, the sky quickly grew dark, and before long, rain began to fall.

A heavy twilight mist descended, shrouding the ground in a white haze.

A group of men hurried down the road.

On the second floor of a teahouse, Ye Chutang quietly watched the men leave, then leisurely took the last sip of her tea.

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed!

As the last man in the group rounded a corner, she caught a glimpse of a wooden token tucked into his sash.

The token was a deep, inky black.

A closer look would reveal a pattern faintly carved onto its surface.

That was—

Ye Chutang shot to her feet.

...

Ye Chutang moved silently through the alleyways.

She took a completely different route from the men, but it would lead her to intercept them in less than a quarter of an hour.

While at Su Pei’er’s, she had studied a map of all of Shiluan City. Thanks to Su Pei’er’s frequent excursions after arriving, what was once a vague map now had most of its routes clearly sketched out.

Ye Chutang had only needed a single glance to commit the entire layout of Shiluan City to memory.

She wouldn’t have to say a word. Just a single look at the men would be enough to confirm if it was—

Suddenly, her steps faltered. Slowly, she looked up.