Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 27 My Lord, that's the young master's head!
Looking at Cheng Zhiwei's corpse, Chen Ye slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and his nerves, which had been stretched to the limit, finally relaxed a little.

From setting fire to break the deadlock, to ambushing Li Chunfeng, and then to luring and attacking Cheng Zhiwei, this series of actions seemed to go smoothly, but in reality, every step was a perilous one, and the mental and physical exertion was enormous.

Especially during the assassination attempt on Li Chunfeng, the arrow that Cheng Zhiwei suddenly shot almost grazed his ribs. If he hadn't forcibly turned his body at the last moment, he probably would have been able to escape from Li Chunfeng.

Fortunately, it's all over.

Although it's unclear whether Li Jun is dead or not—given the limited technological level of this world, the explosives I concocted weren't particularly powerful—that's no longer important.

After all, Li Chunfeng is dead, along with two experts from the Six Doors. The deterrent effect has already been achieved; the rest is up to fate.

Just then, a faint light flickered in the distance, accompanied by the sounds of hurried footsteps and shouts.

Chen Ye understood that the pursuers had caught up, so without hesitation, he turned and plunged into the darkness, disappearing from sight.

Moments later, squads of men carrying torches and weapons poured into the area.

Constables from the Six Doors, soldiers from the Military Patrol Station, and officers from the Arrest and Rescue Bureau... all the personnel from the three major government offices in the capital were gathered here at this moment.

It turned out that during the pursuit, Cheng Zhiwei hadn't forgotten to leave behind unique markings along the way that could only be understood from inside the six doors. This was precisely why these people were able to track her down so quickly.

But when they arrived, all they found was a still-warm corpse.

"It's...it's Miss Cheng!"

"Quick! Check if there's still any gas!"

An old constable trembled as he put his finger under Cheng Zhiwei's nose, then shook his head, his face turning ashen.

Everyone present felt a chill run from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads.

Li Chunfeng, the eldest son of the Duke of Anguo's mansion, was beheaded in public.

Cheng Ming, a highly respected old constable of the Six Doors, was stabbed in the throat.

Now, even Cheng Zhiwei, who was hailed as the most outstanding young master of the Six Doors, has died tragically in this desolate corner.

Not to mention Li Jun, the Duke of Anguo, whose fate is still unknown!
This notorious thief, who traversed the moon, practically rubbed the faces of these government officials to the ground tonight.

That day, he completely exposed the truth!
The leaders of the Six Doors, the Arrest Division, and the Military Patrol Station all looked ashen-faced.

They knew that they probably couldn't keep their official positions.

With such a huge mess caused, yet not even a trace of the thief has been found, how furious will the officials in the court and the emperor who lives deep in the palace be?
They didn't even dare to think about it.

"Let's take Miss Cheng's body back first," an old constable from the Six Doors said in a hoarse voice, breaking the deathly silence.

Meanwhile, the fire at the Duke of Anguo's mansion was finally extinguished thanks to the efforts of countless people.

But for the people in the mansion, putting out the fire was secondary; the safety of Duke Anguo, Li Jun, was what concerned everyone.

If the eldest son dies, they'll at most get a beating.

But if the Duke also dies, every single one of these servants and guards will have to be buried with him.

Therefore, in the ruins of that attic, which was mostly destroyed by the bomb, hundreds of people searched frantically with their hands and shoulders.

"Found him! The Duke is here!"

After an unknown amount of time, a joyful shout woke everyone up.

With everyone working together, they moved aside the broken walls and rubble that were pressing down on them, and finally dug out Li Jun, who was covered in blood.

The Duke of Anguo, who held immense power in the court, looked utterly miserable at this moment.

He was covered in blood, had a broken arm, and one eye was completely blind from the blood and gore.

But he was still alive! It turned out that when the explosion occurred, he was sitting in a corner of the roof beam, which created a small survival space, allowing him to escape with his life.

No one dared to delay and quickly carried him out. After some emergency bandaging, Li Jun slowly regained consciousness.

"Where is my son? How is my son now?" These were the first words Li Jun spoke after waking up.

No one dared to answer.

Everyone lowered their heads and remained silent.

Li Jun immediately understood, and then struggled to his feet, saying, "Take me to see my son's body!"

No one dared to stop him, and soon Li Jun saw Li Chunfeng's body.

At this moment, Li Chunfeng's head had been carefully placed on the severed neck. Someone else tidied his clothes and wiped the blood from his face; from a distance, he looked as if he were asleep.

"Wind...my wind..."

Tears streamed down Li Jun's face as he reached out his intact hand, trembling as he tried to touch his son's face.

But he was too agitated, and with a tug, the head rolled off, revealing a bloody, headless cavity.

Because Li Jun was blind in one eye, he was not used to it at first and did not see clearly what was rolling down, so he asked the person next to him.

"What is that? Why has my son suddenly become so much shorter?"

"My lord, that...that's the young master's head!"

"what--!"

Li Jun then realized what was happening, let out a shrill scream, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.

After another flurry of activity, Li Jun finally woke up. He stopped crying, but his eyes were bloodshot, making him look like a vengeful ghost.

"Prepare the sedan chair, I am going to the palace to file a complaint with the Emperor!"

As Li Jun's sedan chair sped towards the palace in the night, Zhang Bo, the Minister of Revenue, Lin Hong, the head of the Lin family, and other powerful figures received the news and rushed to the scene.

When they saw the tragic state of the Duke of Anguo's mansion, they were all terrified.

Upon learning that Li Jun had gone to the palace to meet the emperor, these people quickly discussed it and then followed him.

By the time this grand procession arrived at the palace gate, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

The current ruler of the Great Zhao Dynasty is the thirteenth emperor, Yang Zhao.

This man has just turned forty this year, in the prime of his life, but he is lazy by nature. In addition, the country is declining, so he is obsessed with Taoist immortality techniques and has not attended the morning court for a long time.

For ordinary officials, getting an audience with him is as difficult as climbing to heaven.

However, due to the special status of Duke Anguo Li Jun, and the fact that urgent reports from the Six Doors and the Arrest Bureau had already been sent to the Emperor, Yang Zhao made an exception and summoned everyone to his own palace.

As soon as Li Jun entered the main hall, he knelt down and, with tears streaming down his face, recounted the events of the previous night in an exaggerated and embellished manner.

He went to great lengths to portray the brutality and hatred of the Moon-Treading Bandit, and how innocent and pitiful his own son's death was, but he didn't mention a word about the crimes his son had committed.

As Yang Zhao listened to his lamentations from the dragon throne, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

He offered a few words of comfort to Li Jun, then his gaze swept over the group of ministers below who also wore expressions of fear, and his voice suddenly turned cold.

"By imperial decree, seal off the entire city! No one is allowed to leave, only to enter! Order the Six Doors, the Military Patrol Station, and the Arrest Bureau to cooperate in this case, mobilizing all available resources to dig out this Ta Yue!"

"I want to see who dares to be so insolent under my feet!"

(End of this chapter)