Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 19 The Flying Thief? A Local Bandit King!
The eastern part of the capital has always been the most prosperous area, with shops such as money exchanges and silk shops lining the streets, and behind each vermilion door lies astonishing wealth.

Chen Ye's target today is Hengtong Money Exchange.

The owner of Hengtong Money Shop was the Zhang family, the Minister of Revenue. Like the Lin family, Minister Zhang was a nobleman who made his fortune by exploiting the people. He was greedy and cruel, and the people in the capital privately called him "Zhang the Skinflint".

Having learned from last night's experience, the defenses of Hengtong Money Shop were noticeably strengthened. Not only were there servants guarding the entrance, but archers were also patrolling the rooftops.

Unfortunately, these precautions could only keep out ordinary thieves, not Chen Ye.

With his powerful professional talent as a night stalker, Chen Ye swaggered past the patrolling servants as if they were nothing, and went straight to the backyard of the money shop.

The vault's gate was extremely sturdy, with three exotic locks from the Western Regions hanging on it, making it impossible for ordinary thieves to escape.

But Chen Ye never even considered unlocking it.

He went around to the back of the warehouse, stood against the wall, tapped his fingers lightly on the cold surface, and pressed his ear against the wall, carefully examining the internal structure.

After a moment, he finally found a weak point, then inserted his short knife into the crack between the bricks and pried off a brick with a little force.

The rest was simple. Chen Ye followed the same method and quickly dismantled an opening large enough for a person to pass through.

Once inside the vault, boxes of copper coins gleamed with an alluring luster.

Gold and silver were scarce and extremely expensive in the Great Zhao Dynasty, so they were rarely seen on the market, and even large banks rarely kept them.

However, the amount of copper coins stored here is still not small, as they are mostly in denominations of ten or one hundred, and there are even some large coins worth one thousand.

Faced with such a fortune that could drive anyone crazy, Chen Ye remained completely unmoved.

He moved boxes of copper coins out of the warehouse and quietly transported them to a secluded spot in the city that he had already chosen.

The whole process was so smooth and seamless that it didn't disturb anyone.
-
"Boom."

Inside a dilapidated courtyard, a woman who was feeding her child with rice water so thin it was almost reflective was startled by the sudden noise.

She looked warily into the courtyard and saw a small cloth bag lying quietly on the ground.

She hesitated for a long time, but finally couldn't resist her curiosity and carefully walked over and picked it up.

The cloth bag felt quite heavy when I picked it up.

Upon opening it, the woman immediately covered her mouth.

Because inside were dozens of large copper coins worth ten or a hundred, enough for her and her child to eat their fill for several months.

She immediately rushed out of the courtyard, wanting to find the benefactor who had given her the money.

But at this moment, there was nothing on the empty street outside except for the cold moonlight.

The woman knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly towards the void, murmuring, "Thank you, Bodhisattva, thank you, living deity..."

And similar scenes are constantly playing out throughout the city.

Many impoverished people struggling to survive received this windfall.

Some people reacted quickly and rushed out of their homes just in time to see a black figure standing quietly on the rooftop in the distance.

The man was dressed in black, his face covered with a black cloth. He stood tall and straight like a sword, with a bright full moon behind him. The cold moonlight outlined his proud and aloof features, making him look like a god descending to earth.

This scene was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the witnesses, leaving them deeply shaken.

He wanted to catch up and thank him, but in the blink of an eye, the figure on the rooftop vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed, leaving only a patch of cold moonlight.

The next day, it was bright.

The clerks at Hengtong Money Exchange yawned as they opened the door, ready to begin their day's work. But when they went to check the warehouse as usual, they were all dumbfounded.

The warehouse was completely looted, and more than a dozen boxes of copper coins disappeared without a trace.

The news caused an uproar throughout the capital.

Almost at the same time, news spread that hundreds of poor households in the city had received money.

What drives these powerful figures crazy is that the money has already been distributed to hundreds or even thousands of households in varying amounts, making it impossible to trace. And the ordinary people who benefited from it are even more tight-lipped than anyone else, making it like searching for a needle in a haystack to recover it.

This is no longer just a matter concerning one family or household; it is a provocation against their entire social class!

Lin.

"Snapped!"

Lin Hong slammed the teacup in his hand to the ground, his face turning ashen.

Sitting opposite him was a middle-aged man in brocade robes with an equally grim expression; he was none other than the owner of Hengtong Money Shop, the skin-peeling Minister Zhang.

"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!" Minister Zhang was trembling with anger.

"Yesterday it was your Lin family, today it's my Zhang family! Is this person trying to rob all of us noble families one by one? And he even gave all the money to those peasants, it's simply outrageous!"

Lin Hong's expression was even more grim than his. "This matter must be thoroughly investigated, otherwise it will not be convincing to the public."

“That’s right, I’ll contact the others right now and make sure this kid is found and brought to justice!” Minister Zhang immediately echoed.

In an instant, all the influential and powerful families in the capital united and mobilized all their resources, vowing to find this audacious flying thief.

Meanwhile, at Hengtong Money Exchange, Cheng Ming and Cheng Zhiwei returned to the crime scene once again.

After inspecting the scene, the grandfather and grandson fell into a long silence.

"Distributing tens of thousands of taels of silver to hundreds of households overnight, all while keeping it a secret." Cheng Ming stroked his goatee, his brow furrowed.

"Logically speaking, this is something that no one person could have done, but there are only traces of one person at the scene, so what exactly happened?"

According to Cheng Ming's experience, thieves and bandits in the martial arts world, especially those who commit crimes while on the run, rarely travel alone.

After all, they were unfamiliar with the place and people, and without the help and guidance of local accomplices, they could easily have run into trouble.

So when he learned that the bank had been robbed and the money had been distributed overnight, he thought that he would definitely be able to find more clues this time, and maybe even catch the master thief by following the clues.

When they arrived at the scene, the situation turned out to be completely different; all the clues proved that the other party was still just one person.

But is that really possible?

Just then, Cheng Zhiwei suddenly raised her head and uttered a startling deduction: "Grandpa, is it possible... we're thinking in the wrong direction?"

"Ok?"

“We’ve always assumed this person is an outsider thief, which is why he needs an accomplice to guide him. But what if he’s not an outsider at all?” Cheng Zhiwei’s voice wasn’t loud, but it sent a shiver down Cheng Ming’s spine.

“If he were originally from the capital and knew the streets and alleys, the distribution of wealthy households, and the location of slums like the back of his hand, then he wouldn’t need any accomplices at all.”

"So this is very likely... a major local bandit!"

His granddaughter's words were like a thunderbolt in Cheng Ming's mind!

He suddenly understood, and many things he couldn't figure out became clear in that instant.

But then, a deeper doubt arose in my mind.

"Is this... possible?" Cheng Ming muttered to himself.

It should be noted that the capital city is under the emperor's nose, and therefore the government has extremely strict control over the Jianghu forces.

With the Six Doors, the Arrest Bureau, the Military Patrol Station and other forces forming a large net, how could there be such a powerful bandit hiding there without anyone else knowing?
But apart from this explanation, there seems to be no more reasonable inference.

After a long silence, Cheng Ming slowly stood up, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"Zhiwei, prepare the car, we're going to see someone."

"Who?"

"Zhao An, from the Arrest and Repatriation Division."

(End of this chapter)