Infiltration

The main reason South City was poor was likely because Dragon Abyss City was surrounded by mountains to the south, making the roads difficult to travel.

Even the official roads outside the city twisted and turned. Thus, even merchants coming from the south preferred to enter the city from the east or west. Over time, the East and West Markets emerged, while South City became a gathering place for the poor. Public security worsened by the day, gradually forming a vicious cycle.

Travel seven or eight li out of the south gate along the official road, and one would see a mountain among the surrounding peaks. It looked short and unremarkable, so ordinary that it did not even deserve a name. On the slope behind this nameless mountain stood a cloth shop.

The plaque hanging above it bore the name: "Longsheng Cloth Shop."

Early that morning, Ling Yuanbao hurried to the station again, dragged Liang Yue out, and brought him here.

"Whoa, it's huge." Liang Yue looked up.

Rather than a cloth shop, it would be more fitting to call it a mountain manor. Hidden amid the lush greenery halfway up the mountain, it almost covered the entire slope.

"A cloth shop in such a remote place is absolutely not normal!" Ling Yuanbao said with a frown. Then she turned around. "Our people are all busy investigating the Ministry of Works, so I had to call you over instead. Sorry to trouble you."

"It's fine." Liang Yue smiled.

He was even more enthusiastic than Ling Yuanbao about Zhen Changzhi's case. He ought to thank her for allowing him to take part.

"You've put so much effort into investigating the Ministry of Works. What kind of grudge is this?" Liang Yue knew the Ministry of Justice was investigating the Ministry of Works, but he had not expected them to invest so much manpower and time.

It had been so long, yet it still was not over.

It could not be that they had found no leads. They could only be holding back something big.

"You Imperial Capital Guards are far from the Imperial Court, so it's normal that you don't know these things." As they made their way up the mountain, Ling Yuanbao explained, "The Right Prime Minister oversees the Inner Three Ministries: Personnel, Revenue, and Rites. The Left Prime Minister oversees the outer three ministries: War, Justice, and Works. That is how it is in name, but... every ministry has its own forces."

"The Right Prime Minister came from the Ministry of Personnel. Everyone there was promoted by him, so the Ministry of Personnel is his territory and obeys his every word. But the Ministers of Rites and Revenue are not nearly so willing to give him face. The Left Prime Minister is the same. He came out of our Ministry of Justice, and his word is law here. But the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works are not so obedient."

"The Left Prime Minister does not have as good a temper as the Right Prime Minister. He has long found the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works unpleasant to the eye. As for Grandfather Qi, Minister of National Defense at the Ministry of War, no one can possibly shake him. Minister of Works Lu Yuanwang is the current Emperor's father-in-law, and Lu Fei is highly favored in the palace, so he is not easy to deal with either. That is why he endured it for so long. This time, the Ministry of Works finally slipped up. The Left Prime Minister gave a death order: they must dig the Ministry of Works up from the bottom."

"The Imperial Court is quite a mess too..." Liang Yue listened and nodded thoughtfully.

"Of course. It would be hard to find a more chaotic place under heaven." Ling Yuanbao said, "My father would not let me enter the Imperial Court, but when I wanted to join the army, he would not allow that either, so I..."

"So you what?" Liang Yue asked when her voice abruptly stopped halfway through.

"Hehe, nothing." Ling Yuanbao changed the subject and pointed ahead. "Look!"

The two reached the summit on the other side and looked down. Inside the cloth shop, long bamboo poles had been set up, draped with cloth in every color. The fabric fluttered wildly in the wind, colored silk filling the sky. Yet within that enormous manor, not the slightest glimpse of its interior could be seen.

Stare at it for too long, and one would even begin to feel dizzy.

After watching for a while, they saw only two carriages enter through the main gate and leave through the rear gate, heading down the mountain. It was impossible to tell what sort of place it was, but it definitely was not a normal cloth shop.

"There seems to be some kind of formation. Looks like we'll have to go in and take a look." Ling Yuanbao shaded her eyes and watched for a long while before speaking.

"If a fight breaks out, Constable Ling, you'll have to look after me a little more." Liang Yue immediately gave her a reminder, mentally prepared to cling to her thigh.

"Don't worry." Ling Yuanbao patted her chest. "We're partners!"

Liang Yue nodded. "That's right! We're the best partners."

After interacting with Liang Yue several times, Ling Yuanbao increasingly felt that this person was useful... as though he were a brain growing outside her body. If she went out without bringing him along, she always felt less sharp.

And he was a rather nice person too, willing to help her.

But she was not someone who did not know how to repay kindness. As the saying went, you help me, I help you.

Before coming here, Constable Ling had already promised Liang Yue that whatever he needed in the future, she would absolutely be the first to step forward!

Liang Yue was also quite happy to have a friend like Ling Yuanbao... over this period, he had inevitably offended some people, openly and in secret. Having another friend was unquestionably a good thing.

At the very least, putting intelligence and emotional intelligence aside, she truly was very good at fighting.

The two came near the slope and found a corner hidden from view. Ling Yuanbao said, "I'll go in first and scout the way. If there's no problem, you come in after me."

With that, she leaped up and entered the cloth shop in the blink of an eye.

A moment later, she called softly from within, "Come on in."

Liang Yue leaped over the wall after her. The moment he landed, he saw pavilions and towers ahead, like a rear garden. The two lowered their bodies and moved forward along the covered corridor. There was not a soul in sight. Only after crossing the garden did they reach the edge of something like the main courtyard.

Before long, Ling Yuanbao waved a hand. "Hold your breath!"

Liang Yue immediately lowered himself with her and pressed against the base of the wall, concealing his figure.

After a pause, he finally heard footsteps. There should have been two people approaching. Their steps were light and uniform; they sounded like martial artists as well.

But the fierce Ling Yuanbao was naturally not afraid. She leaned closer and whispered, "You go out and draw their attention. I'll take them out from behind."

"Remember to leave them alive." That was Liang Yue's only instruction to her.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps circled around and finally drew near. Liang Yue took a deep breath, then suddenly sprang out, raising both hands high. "All eyes on me! I have an announcement to make..."

Across an arched gateway stood two people in black robes with brass masks over their faces. The instant the two saw Liang Yue, before their eyes could even reveal their astonishment, a black shadow flashed behind them.

Bang! Bang!

Ling Yuanbao was terrifyingly fast. Liang Yue had barely caught sight of her before she had already circled behind them and struck with a left and right hand chop in seamless succession, attacking like lightning.

The two black-robed men collapsed, revealing Liang Yue's somewhat awkward face. He gave an embarrassed smile. "I hadn't even had time to draw their attention yet."

"Good thing I already took care of them." Ling Yuanbao clapped her hands twice.

The two dragged the black-robed men into the concealed undergrowth. Liang Yue said, "Wake one of them first."

With two crisp slaps, Ling Yuanbao directly slapped one of the black-robed men awake. Her decisive strike made Liang Yue grimace.

"Mm? You..." The man woke and was about to cry out.

"Shut up!" Liang Yue removed his mask, revealing the face of a man in his thirties, then clamped a hand over his mouth. "We want to ask you something. If you answer everything truthfully, nothing will happen to you. Do not even think about lying. We'll wake up the one beside you later and ask him the same questions. If your answers differ, you two..."

Terror filled the man's eyes, and he hurriedly nodded again and again.

Liang Yue lowered his hand. His first question was, "What do you do in this cloth shop?"

"This... this is a bank." The man still hesitated, then met Ling Yuanbao's murderous gaze and immediately said, "A great deal of money is delivered here every day, and a great deal of money also leaves."

"Do you recognize this?" Liang Yue displayed the Gold Silk in his hand.

"That is a token." The man said, "No matter who it is, as long as they bring Gold Silk here, they can exchange it for silver ingots and take them away. One chi of Gold Silk can be exchanged for one thousand taels of silver."

Liang Yue looked at the Gold Silk in his hand and suddenly felt its weight.

Just as expected.

This was an underground bank, specifically for storing stolen silver of unknown origin. Gold Silk was the token for exchanging silver. Since Zhen Changzhi also possessed Gold Silk, this place clearly had an enormous connection to corruption within the Imperial Court.

Such underground banks likely did not care about the identity of their holders. As long as someone brought Gold Silk, they could exchange it for silver, providing convenience for countless crimes.

Whether it had anything to do with Zhen Changzhi's death, however, was difficult to say.

He then asked, "Who is the owner of this bank?"

"I don't know..." The man shook his head. Perhaps to save his life, he added, "I only know that Mister Liu manages this place. We normally follow his orders."

"Where are the bank's silver vault and account books?" Liang Yue asked his final question.

"I don't know... Aah, aah, aah! Important things should all be stored in the Pivotal Secret Pavilion, but I really don't know whether what you want is in there!" The man had just started to shake his head again when he saw Ling Yuanbao's murderous gaze. He immediately pointed in a direction. "Follow this road straight ahead. The one in the very center is it."

Bang.

After he finished speaking, Liang Yue gave Ling Yuanbao a look. Another hand chop landed, and the man went limp and fainted again.

"What do we do now?" Ling Yuanbao asked out of habit.

Liang Yue swept his gaze over the two black-robed men. "Strip off their clothes first."

"Eugh—" Ling Yuanbao's brows drew together. "What are you trying to do?"

Liang Yue turned to her. "Of course we're changing into their clothes. What were you thinking?"