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

The military clerk attempted to frame someone for the epidemic, but Yang Hu exposed the scheme in public and the clerk fled in disgrace.

The hand hidden in the shadows, when one plan failed, devised another, and Yang Hu thwarted each and every one of them.

But these victories were not easy to win. Each time, it was like walking on a knife's edge; the slightest misstep could lead to utter ruin.

As night fell, the commotion in the wounded soldiers' camp gradually subsided, leaving only the intermittent low groans of the wounded soldiers.

By the light of a solitary lamp, Yang Hu spread out a sheet of straw paper and carefully went through in his mind all the clues he had found over the past few days, one by one.

The leaked inferior weapons, the poisoned arrowheads, the shoddy cotton clothing and charcoal, the poisoning in the well...

These individual incidents, scattered across various corners of the border, seemed unrelated. But once traced through the military supply accounts, they all became a blood-sucking ditch, pointing to the same hand hidden deep within the central army.

And that hand, which had been hiding its head and tail, was being forced out step by step by him.

From the plague that ravaged the village, to the inferior weapons, poisoned arrows, and embezzled military supplies at the border, and now this poisoning and framing, the deeper that hand hides, the more flaws it reveals. Each move is like adding another thread to the net that leads to the depths of the central command tent for Yang Hu.

"He's getting desperate." Yang Hu looked out the window at the heavily lit central command tent and said in a low voice, "First he seized the tent, then he framed someone. His methods are getting more and more urgent and ruthless, which means that what I found out has hit him where it hurts."

Qin Ying, disguised as a medicine boy, sat quietly to the side, grinding ink for him in the dim light. A layer of unyielding coldness lingered in her clear eyes.

"But you're in increasing danger," she said softly. "When one plan fails, he devises another. Today it's poisoning to frame someone; tomorrow, who knows if he'll use an even more insidious killing move?"

Yang Hu did not deny it.

He understood the weight of Qin Ying's words better than anyone. That force had been operating at the border for many years, deeply rooted and powerful, with manpower and authority wherever needed. He, on the other hand, was just a newly arrived, lone medical officer, with nothing to rely on but his medical skills and a kind heart.

After a long silence, he slowly nodded.

He knew better than anyone that once the fight had reached this point, that hand, having already torn off all pretense, would have no more scruples.

A visible spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. A medical officer checking accounts, in this heavily guarded camp, was weak and isolated. That hand had a hundred ways to harm him. Today he escaped by poisoning and framing, but next time that hand struck, it would never give him such an easy way out.

"But the more this is the case," he said, his fingertip tapping on the paper covered with names, "the more it shows he's afraid, the more it shows this lead is nearing its end. A person will only act so recklessly when they are truly guilty and truly afraid of having their secrets exposed."

Qin Ying stared blankly at him, at this young man who, amidst the deadly danger, showed no sign of panic but instead became increasingly calm and composed. The unease in her heart caused by the peril was inexplicably soothed.

He picked up his pen and circled the name of the military clerk heavily on the paper filled with names.

These were the names he painstakingly pieced together, meticulously tracing the supply chain through the medical officer's audit. Each circled name represented a step closer to that hand.

"This document is a claw of that hand that extends into the open." Yang Hu tapped the name lightly with his fingertip. "Through him, that hand leaks military supplies, undermines morale, poisons and kills, and carries out one shady business after another without leaving a trace."

"But he was ultimately just a henchman, unable to make decisions. A mere clerk in the central army could neither mobilize the barbarian troops beyond the pass nor suppress a deceptive military report like 'fighting to the death for one's country.' There must be someone with connections and influence standing behind him."

Yang Hu's gaze passed over the name on the document and landed on the blank thick fog that represented the central command tent.

"The person above him is the one who truly holds the reins. If we trace this document and follow the trail upwards, we'll eventually find out who that person is."

Qin Ying looked at him quietly.

The light from the oil lamp flickered on the young man's calm face.

She recalled their first encounter when she was ambushed and seriously injured. It was this seemingly weak young doctor who protected her all the way, carving a path to survival from piles of corpses and the pursuit of barbarian soldiers.

She suddenly realized that, following this man from the plague that ravaged the village to the traitors on the border, she had never had a truly peaceful moment. Yet, it was precisely this young man, who always remained silent but managed to defuse one deadly situation after another, who gave her an unprecedented sense of certainty.

The injustice done to the entire Lu family, her hope of clearing their names, and the lives of millions of soldiers on this border...

These heavy burdens should not have been placed on the shoulders of a traveling doctor. But this young man in his early twenties took them all without a word, carrying them steadily without bending over even slightly.

She was used to seeing fierce and brave men on the battlefield, but for the first time, she was quietly moved by such a calm sense of responsibility.

"Are you cold?" she suddenly asked out of the blue.

Yang Hu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.

The cotton robe he had draped over her shoulders during the day while he was busy helping the wounded soldiers was still on her shoulders.

"You're wearing my robe, yet you ask me if I'm cold."

Qin Ying's ears turned red for no apparent reason. She turned her face away, hiding her slight fluster, and said softly, "I mean... it's late, you should rest too. Tomorrow, there's probably still a tough battle to fight."

Yang Hu looked at her without saying anything more.

These days, in this camp fraught with danger, his tense mind has finally relaxed. There is someone who understands his thoughts, relieves his worries, and stands shoulder to shoulder with him in this wind and snow, never abandoning him. Even in a den of dragons and tigers, it doesn't seem so cold anymore.

The weariness in his eyes was quietly dispelled by an inexplicable warmth.

Outside the window, the north wind howled and snow fell heavily.

The lights in the central command tent shone unusually brightly amidst the wind and snow.

Yang Hu's gaze lingered on the lamplight for a long time. He knew that the hand hidden deep within, having suffered this defeat, would not sit idly by and wait for its doom. A cornered beast is often the most ferocious. The next strike will surely be more ruthless, more urgent, and more merciless.

An even greater storm is quietly brewing in the cold night of this border region.

Yang Hu knew that to overthrow that force, to save this border post, and to clear the name of the Lu family... he had only just begun his journey.

The road ahead is long and fraught with danger, every step is fraught with peril.

But as long as there is such a caring person by your side who walks alongside you, no matter how difficult or dangerous the road is, it doesn't seem so hard to walk.

He looked down at the figure beside him who had once again lowered his head and disguised himself as an ordinary medicine boy, and a slight smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.

Beneath the surface, the game is far from over.

Both sides are waiting, waiting for the other to reveal that fatal flaw first.

The person who made the move had already quietly grasped that piece that could change the entire game, waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal blow to the hand hidden in the shadows.