Once the lockdown went into effect, all movement of people was prohibited throughout the city. For the Academy Guards and the official forces, this undoubtedly made their work much more efficient.
The manhunt proceeded smoothly, and they really did uncover quite a few notorious bandits who had been hiding in plain sight. Titan City-state had long wanted them, but they had always kept several hideouts and evaded capture. No one had expected this sweeping manhunt to drive them into a corner and drag them out by force.
This also resolved quite a few longstanding cases, making many people at the Titan City-state government offices grin from ear to ear.
But the Academy Guards were in no mood to celebrate. Arresting those notorious bandits was not their job. They had only one target: Bronze Coconut Scholar.
If they had to add any other targets, they would be spies from the Treasure Tree Clan hiding in the city, and anyone who had colluded with Bronze Coconut.
Yet no matter how carefully they searched, they came up empty-handed.
They arrested batches of people suspected of being rebels, but they had no concrete evidence that any of them were spies from the Treasure Tree Clan, much less proof that they had covered for Bronze Coconut or colluded with him.
Bronze Coconut Scholar worked at the academy and usually kept to himself. On top of that, he was proud of his status and rarely dealt with outsiders.
After carefully tracing his recent connections, they found that Bronze Coconut's routine was almost painfully dull. Apart from a concubine at home, the only person he had clearly been in frequent contact with lately was Captain Shi.
Captain Shi had already been interrogated many times. They could basically confirm that he had business dealings with Bronze Coconut, but