"How come... we're not leaving?"
Bai Wanqing stared at Zeng Anmin in a daze.
Cold sweat streamed down her face, and the horse beneath her finally gave out and collapsed to the ground.
Fortunately, she was the Bai Family's legitimate daughter and had entered the martial path from a young age. Though her rank was not high, she still had enough strength to handle the situation before her.
A trace of gravity showed in Zeng Anmin's eyes.
He did not respond to Bai Wanqing. In his mind, countless trains of thought and clues slowly intertwined.
His mind turned at lightning speed.
Everything that had happened over this period, bit by bit, surfaced one after another in his mind.
Every clue came together as a tiny puzzle piece.
Piece by piece, they filled in the enormous puzzle within his mind.
"We can't leave."
Zeng Anmin narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at the Imperial City Department mark on the tree.
"What do you mean?" Bai Wanqing looked utterly confused.
"This mark was carved wrong." Zeng Anmin's expression was grave.
"Bai Ziqing is being held hostage right now."
"Setting aside whether he even had the ability to carve these Imperial City Department marks."
"Even if he did, he would definitely have carved them in some hidden corner, not..."
Zeng Anmin looked at the mark on the tree. "Not carved it so openly on a tree."
"So this mark wasn't carved by Bai Ziqing."
"Not Big Brother? Then who was it?" Bai Wanqing stared blankly at Zeng Anmin.
Her breathtakingly beautiful face bore the bewilderment fitting for her age.
Zeng Anmin slowly raised his head.
His blade-carved jaw was exposed beneath the moonlight, and his voice carried a faint, eerie note.
"This mark was carved far too conspicuously, as though they were afraid I