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

That hand could mobilize the military law department to openly and legitimately take the only survivor from their hands to silence them.

This move made Yang Hu realize that its position in the central command was higher and deeper than he had thought.

But the claw it extended to kill also revealed an even more crucial flaw.

As night fell, in a secluded corner of the wounded soldiers' camp, Yang Hu, Su Heng, and Qin Ying gathered together once again.

"It can directly command the Military Law Department," Yang Hu recounted the events of that night to the three of them, "which means that its position in the central army must be high enough to command the Military Law Department. A mere military advisor like Sun, who manages the armory, is far from being able to do so."

"The Military Law Department." Su Heng's eyes were calm yet sharp. "In the military, the removal of people, the interrogation of criminals, and the punishment of soldiers all require the signature and approval of the Military Law Department. That order to remove the suicide soldier must have a record in the Military Law Department's archives."

"That soldier died halfway to the central army camp, 'fearing punishment, he struck a pillar,'" Yang Hu's voice deepened. "For a soldier awaiting punishment, every step—whether to bring him in, to escort him, or to dispose of him—requires the signature and order of the military law department. If he died halfway there, every single military legal document involved must be incomplete. Follow this order upwards. Investigate who signed this order and whose orders they were acting on."

"I'll go check right away." Su Heng lowered her voice. "I can get in and out of the archives under the pretext of copying military reports. The military order to transfer the man, and the military report from three years ago that said 'fought to the death for the country,' should both be in the old files of the Military Law Department."

Yang Hu's heart skipped a beat.

"That military report that said 'fought bravely to the death for the country'," he looked at Su Heng, "was also sent out by the Military Law Department. It was the same false military report that claimed your father's battalion had died in battle."

Su Heng's hand, which was hanging in her sleeve, slowly clenched, and a trace of hatred that had been suppressed for three years flashed across her calm eyes.

"Yes." She said each word clearly, "My father's battalion was framed by that hand and sent to its death. Three thousand soldiers were wiped out. Afterwards, the military law department submitted a report stating 'fighting to the death,' turning the crime of colluding with the enemy into a meritorious death on the battlefield. From then on, no one dared to mention this case again. I disguised myself as a clerk and hid in the army for three years, waiting for the opportunity to unearth this old case."

"Supplies are one line, military law is another," Yang Hu said slowly, his eyes filled with a calm, cold light. "Military Advisor Sun was in charge of supplies, sending military rations and weapons to the border regions. But the one who issued the military law orders and suppressed reports of martyrdom was someone else. In the end, both lines should lead back to that other person."

"The officer in charge of signing military reports," Qin Ying said in a deep voice. She was a military talent raised in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and had commanded troops in the army. She knew the people in the central army better than anyone else. "Those who can sign military reports and order the military law department to arrest people can be counted on one hand in the entire military law department. Although I didn't see the person who signed that military report back then, since Miss Su copied the records for three years, she must have found out the name clearly."

Su Heng nodded slightly.

"He was a military clerk in charge of military law, surnamed Zhou." Her voice lowered. "On the day that military report was submitted, he personally signed it. My father's deputy battalion of three thousand soldiers were framed and sent to their deaths by that hand, their bodies barely cold. But on that military report, it read 'Fought bravely to the death, the entire army was wiped out.' A huge miscarriage of justice, a case of collusion with the enemy, was lightly suppressed for three years by these eight words. In the military law department, this Clerk Zhou was considered a big shot."

"Zhou Lushi." Yang Hu looked at the two of them and deeply memorized the name.

Sun, the military advisor in charge of supplies, and Zhou, the clerk in charge of military law. One was sending knives beyond the Great Wall, while the other, in the name of military law, covered up and suppressed all the shady dealings of that hand.

Military supplies were the knife, and military law was the sheath. Military Advisor Sun carried sacks of rations and weapons to the barbarians, feeding them a knife held to Da Cheng's neck; Registrar Zhou, with military orders and fabricated reports, fitted this knife with a sheath that no one could open. The barbarians, relying on supplies, launched a fierce attack from outside the pass, while the other hand, relying on military law to cover the sky from within, worked together to push Qing Shi Kou and the Western Camp step by step towards their doom.

These two people are like the two claws that the hand extended.

"Those two might not be the real 'hand'," Yang Hu cautiously avoided making any definitive statements. "One is in charge of military supplies, and the other is in charge of military law; they are the two most powerful members of that 'hand.' But above them, there is someone who can command them both. That person is the real hand holding the reins."

"Regardless of whether he is the real one or not," Qin Ying's cold voice carried a resolute tone, "if we follow the leads of Military Advisor Sun and Registrar Zhou, we will eventually find the source of this force."

"But these two men, one in charge of military supplies and the other in charge of military law, are both powerful figures in the central army, and are under tight security." Yang Hu's eyes were calm and cold. "If we investigate them forcefully, we'll alert them; if we interrogate them aggressively, that hand will immediately silence them, just like it did with that assassin."

Inside the tent, there was a moment of silence.

They had witnessed the ruthlessness of that hand in silencing witnesses far too many times. With each step it was pushed closer, it would hastily silence anyone who could identify it.

"We can't take them by force," Yang Hu said slowly. "We need to have some irrefutable evidence that they can't deny and that the other side can't cover up for them."

"The falsified accounts for military supplies, the allocation of poison, and that poisoned arrowhead were all fabricated by Military Advisor Sun," Su Heng recounted one by one. "The military order and the report of martyrdom were fabricated by Registrar Zhou. When these irrefutable pieces of evidence are put together, they can firmly pin these two men, along with the crimes of treason they committed for that other hand."

"But these pieces of evidence are currently scattered throughout the Quartermaster Department and the Military Law Department," Qin Ying said in a deep voice. "It will take quite a bit of effort to extract them one by one and string them together into a line that points directly to that hand."

The three of them sat around the dim light, meticulously going over every step of the game. They meticulously planned out when Su Heng went to the military law archives to retrieve the transfer order and copy the military report, how Yang Hu used the pretext of the medical officer inspecting military supplies to keep an eye on Military Advisor Sun, and how Qin Ying secretly provided support while guarding against the claws that could reach out at any moment. Every detail was carefully calculated.

The net, woven specifically for that hand, is slowly unfolding, inch by inch.

But they didn't expect that while they were secretly investigating, the hand hidden deep within the central command tent had already silently noticed the unusual activity in the military law archives.

It was discovered that someone was going through the old transfer order that promoted people, and checking the military report from three years ago about martyrdom.

Its gaze fell upon the archives of the military law department, where documents were copied, and upon the unassuming clerk who spent his days burying himself in copying military reports.

Why would this clerk, who had spent three years burying himself in copying military reports and rarely uttering a word, suddenly go and dig up that old transfer order for promoting someone and examine that piece of military report about martyrdom that should have been rotting in the dustbin of history? That hand, which had been entrenched in the military for many years, could sense best what kind of people were after its deepest sin.

Without making a sound, it had already quietly prepared a deadly move for this troublesome clerk in that bottomless net.

A deadly plot, more insidious than poisoned arrows or assassins, was brewing silently in the unseen shadows.