A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

"It faces north!"

In the backyard, Liu Ye whispered.

He revealed all the connections he had found over the past few days.

She grew up in the mountains with the nomadic bandits, so basic skills like following people, identifying paths, and memorizing terrain were essential. These past two nights, she'd wrapped herself in a blanket of cold air, pretending to be an old woman walking at night, following the cart from a distance that was neither too far nor too close.

"Those carriages left the prefectural governor's mansion through the side gate in the middle of the night. They didn't start their engines or take the main roads, but instead took deserted side streets. They drove to the north of the city, out of the city gate, and then drove another seven or eight miles before turning into a village nestled against a mountain that looked like it had been abandoned for over a decade. When the carriages went in, their tire tracks were deep and heavy. When they came out, the tire tracks were shallow and the carriages were empty. They did this for two nights in a row."

Yang Hu and Qin Ying exchanged a glance. They both saw the same meaning in each other's eyes.

The hand that had been hidden for months couldn't resist any longer.

I have to take matters into my own hands.

"It's hiding things outwards," Yang Hu said slowly.

He went through the whole story in his mind.

The silk shop in Wanjia was shipping goods, which were then repackaged at the warehouse in the north of the city. Silk came in, and military equipment wrapped in oilcloth went out. After being passed through layers of pawnshops and spies, the goods were actually located in a place called the Prefectural Magistrate's Office in the west of the city.

"The spy inside who was sourcing the goods was caught by Liu Ye. So, while keeping the line in the dark, he would transport the things that couldn't be exposed to the light of day, such as weapons and accounts, from the county magistrate's mansion to the abandoned manor outside the city, one cartload at a time, when no one was around."

"To escape." Qin Ying stopped wiping the knife, his eyes filled with an intense coldness.

Those things were piled up in the prefectural magistrate's mansion; if the matter came to light, it would be a capital offense, punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan. Moving them to that abandoned manor outside the city, where no one knew about it, would allow them to be burned to the ground if things got heated, cutting off all ties completely.

It completely detached itself from this line before the incident occurred.

"It panicked," Yang Hu said, looking at the snowflakes outside the window.

"If you panic, you'll act rashly," Qin Ying added.

"The old line was hidden so well that it took more than half a month to gradually uncover it. Now it's panicking and moving things out of the city by the truckload. Ironically, on the line outside the city, a clear rut has been left."

She paused for a moment, then lowered her voice and said:

"My father and I were lured into an ambush at Wild Fox Ridge by it. It was able to turn such a massive case of treason into a mere bandit attack. It was able to silence all those in the know in death row and turn the living into the dead. This claw has always been impenetrable, but now it's panicked and jumping out to move things, which only means one thing. Something is slowly but surely closing in."

"What forced it to come to us," Yang Hu continued, "is this rut ​​we're holding in our hands."

Yang Hu pondered.

Tracks: From Wanjia Silk Shop to the North City Warehouse, then to the pawnshop's hidden hideout, then to the Prefectural Magistrate's Mansion, and finally to that abandoned manor at the bottom, piece by piece, the hand hidden in the deepest part of the tail is about to be revealed.

"But it's still not enough." He wasn't worried at all. "The things are being moved into the city by the Prefectural Magistrate's Office, but it's not necessarily the Prefectural Magistrate himself who's doing it. Maybe the Prefectural Magistrate is just a figurehead for someone else. Could there be even more hidden in that abandoned manor? Where will it be moved to later? We don't know yet. If we go up now and forcibly demolish that abandoned manor, we'll startle it, and it will withdraw its hand and hide that part, and we won't be able to find the thread anymore."

Qin Ying nodded slightly. Having worked in the military, she knew he was right: only those who could be patient could catch big fish.

Looking at the young man under the lamp who calmly and methodically dissected this enormous case, a corner of the heavy ice in Qin Ying's heart melted without her realizing it.

For so many years, she has been the only one investigating this enormous case for her: a "dead man" who should have died on the border, carrying a deep-seated hatred and walking step by step down an endless dark road. Now, there is another young man who is not surnamed Qin and is not familiar with her family, who is willing to accompany her to the end.

"They're rushing to cover up the truth and smear the city," Yang Hu said, standing under the eaves looking at the pitch-black north of the city. "We have to see what's inside before they burn down that abandoned manor, and whose wrist that thread is finally tied to."

"Willow Leaf!" He turned around, his expression serious. "Look around that abandoned manor, how many guards there are, when they leave, what kind of vehicle they use to return. Keep a close eye on it, remember everything, and then go back. Absolutely do not get close! Absolutely do not let anyone see the guards in the manor even glance at you. That hand has silenced people in death row, written their names to death, and could easily kill you. Just follow from a distance, make sure you see clearly and remember everything, then come back."

"At the entrance of the manor, two men with swords on their shoulders glanced at my direction a few times today." Liu Ye thought for a moment, "I picked up the empty basket and didn't stop walking."

Yang Hu frowned even more deeply: "Then we must be even more careful. It's in a state of paranoia and seeing threats everywhere right now. We absolutely cannot let it realize that someone is watching it. If we startle it, the first thing it will do in a corner is to silence us. Don't let yourself become the second servant who drowned while handing over the cloth bag."

"Don't worry!" Liu Ye grinned, revealing two large, white teeth. "I've never let a single wild wolf from the mountains escape, let alone the people who look like business owners in this village."

Although that's what he said, Yang Hu was still a little worried, so he added to Qin Ying's instructions: "From now on, when you go out to scout the situation, have Liu Da follow you from a distance, so that he can keep an eye on things if anything unexpected happens."

Liu Ye's smile faded, and she responded emphatically, the indifference in her eyes dimming instantly.

She understood that this time they weren't targeting any villains, but rather a truly cunning and powerful force capable of manipulating events!

The night grew deeper, and the snow began to fall. In this unlit place, it silently buried the path leading to the abandoned village, even the deep ruts, which were gradually covered by the fresh snow...

But Yang Hu understood that the snow could not cover the tracks on the ground, nor could it conceal the panic in the hand's heart, because the more eager it was to burn everything, the more it was falling deeper and deeper into this ever-tightening net.

Time slipped away bit by bit in the hands of the two men.

He wanted to rush to burn it, and he also wanted to rush to watch...

If the fire spreads too quickly, then truckloads of military equipment ledgers and irrefutable evidence of treason will turn to ashes in that abandoned manor outside the city. Without seeing these things, he won't be able to discover the hands that have been hiding for half a year, killing the entire Qin family and betraying the entire frontier. Let alone be able to discern from the tracks on the ground what those hands are holding...

If he can grab the most crucial piece of finger, he will win this game!

The outcome of this battle is weighed down by the blood and tears of the Qin family, the lives of all the soldiers on the border, and the life-and-death bond between everyone in the courtyard!