Searching the Hundred Flowers Brothel

Li Chen Zhou turned and headed towards the room where the Captain was, pushing the door open without knocking.

Captain Zhang Qiang was startled by the sudden intrusion.

But seeing Li Chen Zhou's murderous gaze, he suppressed his reaction. Before he could speak, Li Chen Zhou cut him off.

"I need men."

Captain Zhang Qiang: "What are you planning to do?"

Li Chen Zhou didn't elaborate, slamming the confession from the Imperial Prison onto the table in front of Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang picked it up and read it, a surge of anger rising within him as well: "These beasts."

The candlelight cast dancing shadows on the confession in Li Chen Zhou's hand. When Zhang Qiang's gaze swept over the vermillion annotation, "Prince Rong's hidden stake," the knuckles of his hand gripping the cup turned stark white, the tea spilling over the rim and staining the blue bricks like dark red bloodstains.

"This water is too deep." Deputy Captain Zhang Biao lowered his voice, the beast-head pommel of the Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist flickering in the swaying candlelight. "Last year's sudden death of the Ministry of Revenue's Vice Minister, I heard Prince Rong's Estate was involved..."

Before he could finish, Zhang Qiang slammed his hand on the table, interrupting him. The burly man stood up abruptly, the sound of his armor clashing startling the crows roosting on the rafters: "If you're afraid of offending the powerful, don't be a Brocade Guard! Have you forgotten how you were polishing your blade under the eaves last month when the Millennium pointed at my nose and cursed me?" As he turned, his iron bracer scraped across the table, leaving three deep gashes that revealed the bone beneath. "Li Chen Zhou, today you are the Millennium, show me a bloody path!"

Li Chen Zhou didn't decline, stating decisively: "In that case, we'll split into two groups. Captain, you take one team to the Hundred Flowers Brothel and dismantle the hidden den. I'll go to the Chen Residence."

Zhang Qiang: "Good. There's no time to lose, let's move out now. Chen Biao, you go with this kid."

Having left, Prince Rong turned around and entered the Imperial Palace.

Inside the Imperial Palace, Prince Rong hurried in, kneeling on the ground: "Your Majesty, you must stand up for your old subject!"

"Uncle, what is it? Speak plainly. I will certainly stand up for you," the Emperor said, putting down his memorial.

Prince Rong raised his head, wiping his nose and tears: "That Li Chen Zhou is lawless! He not only arrested my son and my Consort's nephew but also extorted thirty thousand taels of silver from me. Now my Consort's nephew is still in the Imperial Prison, his fate unknown. This is clearly disrespecting the Imperial Family and disrespecting you!"

The Rain-Before-the-Grain Dragon Well tea on the jade table had long gone cold, the Emperor's fingertips tracing the raised dragon pattern on the bottom of the cup—this was a teacup specially made for the Brocade Guard's hidden stakes, with 'Three Quarters Past Si Hour' engraved on the bottom, precisely the time the Brocade Guard reported the operation's commencement.

As early as when Li Chen Zhou took action, Wei Wuji had already sent someone with a memorial to the Emperor.

The Emperor sat on the dragon throne, frowning slightly: "Uncle, please rise first. Tell me what happened. How did Li Chen Zhou arrest the heir? Explain it to me properly."

Prince Rong hastily defended himself: "Your Majesty, Li Chen Zhou is settling personal grudges! He's taking advantage of his status as the Zheng Duke Estate's young master to act recklessly. My son merely had a small conflict with him, and he wants to put him to death!"

The Emperor's expression darkened: "Uncle, you must speak with evidence. I don't need to say more about Li Chen Zhou's identity. You're making baseless accusations here, aren't you making things difficult for me? Uncle, have some tea here first, and I will send someone to investigate the matter thoroughly."

Prince Rong wanted to say something, but the Emperor interrupted him: "Alright, Uncle, just relax and have some tea. You don't trust my Brocade Guard to handle things?"

In front of the Hundred Flowers Brothel.

"Surround this place! Don't let even a mosquito escape."

The Captain took the lead, charging into the Hundred Flowers Brothel.

"Everyone freeze!" He gestured for his men to move up.

The air inside was thick with a pungent smell of rouge and powder.

"Search!"

A large group of Brocade Guards swarmed in, determined to turn the Hundred Flowers Brothel upside down.

"Sir, we've found something here!"

In an elegant room on the third floor, they discovered a hidden compartment, leading to a narrow staircase descending into a basement, the deeper they went, the more sinister it became.

Zhang Qiang pointed: "Go down."

A sickeningly sweet smell of corpse oil mixed with the metallic stench of iron, with a few strands of strange sandalwood incense floating in between, like sprinkling sugar on rotten meat, making one want to vomit.

Zhang Qiang lit a torch, using the light to see dense scratches of fingernails on the stone walls, the newest ones still oozing blood.

When the torch illuminated the dungeon, thirty-six cages held young girls like livestock, bronze collars around their necks, their trembling causing them to emit a soft jingling sound, intertwined with the sound of dripping water in the darkness, forming a requiem for hell.

Further into the dungeon, hanging on a rack, was a green-clad woman barely clinging to life, her fingernails torn off, blood dripping down the wooden frame onto the blue bricks.

"Sir, here!" Others called from further ahead.

Further inside, there were newly deceased girls, still wearing tattered pink dresses, their faces full of tears and scars, their clothes ragged, their eyes empty, their bodies covered in wounds and bruises, some already beginning to rot, maggots wriggling on them.

Several young subordinates couldn't help but vomit on the spot.

The Captain suppressed his nausea, his brow furrowed, his eyes full of anger: "These sons of bitches."

Just then, at the end of the underground room, six or seven burly men appeared, their exposed skin all tattooed with the Joyful Union Sect's unique lotus brand.

Their faces were fierce. Their job was to train these girls, and the recently deceased girl was clearly their handiwork.

Those six burly men were all at the seventh-grade realm. The Joyful Union Sect's dual cultivation techniques could replenish internal energy by extracting yin, although their realm advanced quickly, their strength was always at the bottom.

One of the burly men suddenly tore open his upper garment, a fleshy tumor with a woman's face appearing on his chest, that was the 49th cauldron he had cultivated to death.

Zhang Qiang cracked his neck: "No wonder. So you're remnants of the Joyful Union Sect. Everyone stay back, I'll handle this personally. I need to keep you in good shape to hand over to the brothers in the Imperial Prison to take care of."

As soon as he finished speaking, Where the fist wind passed, the air seemed to be torn apart by the claws of a beast, and white tiger claw marks appeared on the blue brick floor. The sixth-grade White Tiger Killing Qi shook the dungeon's cobwebs down.

The seventh-grade demonic cultivator who practiced evil arts should have been vulnerable, but when the fist wind touched the fleshy tumor on the burly man's chest, there was an explosion of infant cries!

Zhang Qiang's tiger's mouth burst with blood, and he then saw clearly that half a placenta was embedded in the fleshy tumor—the Joyful Union Sect had actually refined a pregnant woman into a human shield.

Zhang Qiang roared: "Trash!"

The force of his fists suddenly changed, becoming a brutal, bone-on-bone assault, as if only through such violence could he release the anger within him.

Before long, the six burly men were sprawled on the ground, utterly defeated.

Just then, someone reported, "Sir, there's a secret passage here."

Zhang Qiang composed himself. "Lead the way."

Following the passage, they arrived at a stone door. Turning it, they found a large quantity of gold, silver, and valuables, along with several thick ledgers.

These recorded the earnings related to the women.

"Sir, this…" A Banner Officer beside him was wide-eyed.

"Take it all back. We'll discuss it when we return."

Looking at the mountain of gold and silver before him, Zhang Qiang couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This time, I've truly accomplished something great. Killing a few remnants and breaking up a human trafficking ring would normally only earn him average merit, but with the national treasury empty, handing over silver at this time would truly please the Emperor.