Chen Ji watched as Dark Cloud slowly retreated into the shadows, disappearing into the gambling house.

Dark Cloud slipped into the rain, disregarding the pouring rain soaking it, and searched every corner of Hongyi Alley.

It climbed into a backyard, gently lifted a bamboo winnowing basket, revealing a fat orange cat inside.

Dark Cloud saw it was the orange cat and felt a little disappointed, but after a moment’s hesitation, it still asked, “Have you seen an injured human escape tonight?”

The fat orange cat looked up and meowed.

Dark Cloud covered the bamboo winnowing basket again, saying, “I shouldn’t have bothered asking you.”

Enduring the heavy rain, it climbed back onto the roof of “Golden House,” the tallest building in Hongyi Alley.

Standing on the eaves, it overlooked the entire Hongyi Alley, quickly analyzing what the calico and tabby cats might have seen.

However, Dark Cloud suddenly saw hundreds of secret agents cloaked in straw capes, quietly hiding in the shadows and setting up an ambush in the nearby streets.

Not only that, but some secret agents, disguised as civilians, were searching house to house.

Although the heavy rain made it difficult to search for the rogue agent, Golden Pig had not truly given up.

Feeling a surge of urgency, Dark Cloud leaped from the eaves; it had to find that person before the Secret Service did.

At this moment, Chen Ji, looking through the back door of the gambling house at the darkness outside, also felt a growing unease about an approaching crisis.

No matter how skilled Chen Ji was at deduction, it would be impossible for him to find the rogue agent in the current situation.

Fortunately, Dark Cloud brought a ray of hope.

It depended on whether Dark Cloud could find the rogue agent before the Secret Service.

Chen Ji straightened his straw cape, adjusted the brim of his bamboo hat, and turned to go back to the gambling hall.

He found a secret agent, pointed at Chen Wenxiao squatting in the crowd, and said, “Drag him inside and suspend him. I have something to ask him.”

Chen Wenxiao had been squatting on the ground for so long that his legs had gone numb, and he kept shifting his posture as if he urgently needed to relieve himself.

Just then, a secret agent approached Chen Wenxiao, grabbed him by the hair at his temple, and pulled him away, saying, “You, come with me!”

Chen Wenxiao’s scalp was pulled painfully, and he could only grimace as he was dragged to a private room upstairs, where he was bound with ropes and suspended from the ceiling.

A long while later, the secret agent withdrew, and Chen Ji, wearing his bamboo hat, walked in and slowly asked, “Name!”

“My father is Chen Liqin, the Assistant Prefect of Luocheng! You can’t treat me like this!”

Chen Wenxiao roared, trying to get a clear look at Chen Ji’s face.

But suspended from the beam, his vision was entirely obscured by Chen Ji’s bamboo hat, and he couldn’t see anything clearly.

*Thwack!*

Chen Ji struck Chen Wenxiao with a feather duster and said coldly, “Answer what you’re asked. Understood?”

“Understood, understood!” Chen Wenxiao’s bound hands were aching intensely, and he no longer possessed the elegance he displayed while riding through Luocheng.

“Name!”

“Chen Wenxiao!”

Chen Ji asked, “Why are you colluding with the Jing Dynasty?”

“Huh?” Chen Wenxiao was dumbfounded. He had no idea how he got entangled in such a grave crime.

Chen Wenxiao frantically said, “This is a misunderstanding! I haven’t colluded with the Jing Dynasty; I just came to the gambling house to play.”

“Wronged you?” Chen Ji sneered, “Then why are there never any IOUs or records of your transactions in the account books of all the gambling houses in Hongyi Alley? You’re not a gambler here. You’re clearly a Jing Dynasty agent, here to meet your colleague.”

Chen Wenxiao panicked, “I only returned from Donglin Academy a few days ago! How could I have any transaction records or IOUs?”

Chen Ji said darkly, “It seems you have no way to prove yourself. Then come with me to the Inner Prison!”

When Chen Wenxiao heard the words “Inner Prison,” he was so frightened he nearly lost control of his bladder. In recent years, how many people had walked out of the Inner Prison alive?

Let alone the son of a fifth-rank official, numerous fifth-rank officials themselves had died inside.

He thought for a long time. “Wait!” he finally blurted out. “Before I went to Donglin Academy, I always used my younger brother Chen Ji’s name to borrow money from the gambling houses! That’s why my name isn’t there! You can check the account books of each establishment; you’ll definitely find Chen Ji’s name.”

Chen Wenxiao added, “During these past three years, I would return home for a month every Lunar New Year. The account books from that time each year will definitely show Chen Ji’s name.”

Chen Ji was speechless!

Did he have the account books from all the gambling houses?

Of course not.

He had merely based it on his own guess to trick Chen Wenxiao.

For a time, he had truly believed that his former self was an utter gambler, and that the Chen family hated him because he had indeed committed deplorable acts.

But now, Chen Ji suddenly understood many things.

He lowered his head and asked softly, “Since Chen Ji’s name was written, who did the gambling houses demand payment from?”

Chen Wenxiao replied, “Naturally, they would go to my father. If my father didn’t want the family’s shame exposed, he could only acknowledge those IOUs.”

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, “Did your father know these were your debts?”

“No, he didn’t. He thought they were Chen Ji’s!”

Chen Ji was even more puzzled: “Didn’t Chen Ji himself argue against it?”

“He did argue,” Chen Wenxiao said, “but what use was his argument? Over the years, his reputation was already ruined, and my father simply didn’t believe him. My lord, please, let me down. I truly am not a Jing Dynasty agent. It’s too uncomfortable hanging up here!”

Chen Ji let out a soft breath. “I’m still not sure if what you’ve said is true,” he said. “Out of respect for Master Chen, I can let you go for now. But you must write down everything you just said, sign it, and put your thumbprint on it. If any part of it proves untrue, my Secret Service will come to the Chen Residence to find you!”

Chen Wenxiao was so overjoyed he nearly cried. “My lord, rest assured,” he said, “every word I’ve spoken is true. I will write it down clearly.”

Chen Ji walked out of the private room and gave a few instructions to the secret agent.

Then two secret agents walked into the private room and closed the door. A short while later, one of them came out with a sheet of Xuan paper covered in writing and handed it to Chen Ji, saying, “He’s finished writing!”

“Thank you!” Chen Ji nodded, turned, and walked towards the second floor, carefully tucking the confession into his embrace, beneath his straw cape.

“My… my lord…” the secret agent stammered, unsure of Chen Ji’s exact rank or how to address him, but seeing him beside Golden Pig, he assumed Chen Ji was a trusted aide. “How should we deal with the person inside?”

Chen Ji ascended the wooden stairs step by step, his voice drifting back faintly, “Keep him suspended!”

Just as Chen Ji was going upstairs, he saw a secret agent rush in from outside the door. The agent threw off his rain-soaked straw cape onto the floor and, clutching his waist saber, charged up to the second floor.

Reaching the door of the private room on the second floor, the secret agent cupped his hands and spoke to Golden Pig, who was drinking tea inside: “My lord, I’m honored to report that I have not failed my mission. Your humble subordinate has finally found an eyewitness. The witness is a street vendor who saw someone clutching a wound on their waist running west this evening.”

Chen Ji’s heart gradually sank. He hadn’t expected that Golden Pig, who had outwardly claimed there was no way to find the person, had still arranged a large number of people to search for clues.

And they actually found someone.

Where was that rogue agent now? Would anyone else have seen them? What would they reveal if captured?

Chen Ji knew nothing.

Chen Ji composed himself, looked at Golden Pig, and said, “Congratulations, my lord. The credit is almost within your grasp.”

Golden Pig stood up, smiling. “Send people to continue searching to the west,” he said. “He must have been seen by others during his escape. Find all eyewitnesses. The Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence sent so many people to capture him; this person must be hiding a great secret. Tonight, he must be found.”

The secret agent accepted the order and hurried downstairs towards the door.

However, just as he stepped out of the gambling house’s front door, he heard a loud *boom*, and he was sent flying back into the gambling house, smashing a gambling table.

With a *clang*, all the secret agents drew their sabers and aimed their hand crossbows at the darkness outside the gambling house entrance, firing.

But the newcomer was clad in a blue greatcoat. The person merely took the greatcoat from their collar, shook it, and with a swift roll of their hand, swept all the crossbow bolts into the greatcoat, remaining completely unharmed.

The torrential rain poured around him, yet it seemed to be repelled as if by a magnet, not a single drop landing on him.

Chen Ji heard Golden Pig sneer beside him. “This is not a Jing Dynasty agent,” he said. “Judging by his actions, he seems more like a certain itinerant official. Years ago, I heard he went into seclusion, living anonymously in the mountains. I never expected him to reappear today! Attack! I want him alive.”

The next moment, a secret agent pulled out a copper whistle and blew it.

Shouts of attack came from outside Hongyi Alley as hundreds of secret agents surged from the shadows, surrounding the itinerant official.

Golden Pig calmly walked down the stairs and slowly moved around the perimeter of the encirclement.

He was weighing a few copper coins in his hand, seemingly ready to flick them out at any moment to take a life.

Chen Ji quietly observed the situation. He didn’t care whether the Military Intelligence Bureau or the Secret Service won this skirmish.

A cat’s meow suddenly rang out. Chen Ji turned to look out the window, only to see Dark Cloud standing on the windowsill. “Found them!” Dark Cloud announced. “A tabby cat said they saw the person escape to Anxi Street, right into the backyard of that fabric shop that just moved out!”

Chen Ji frowned. How coincidental was it that the person happened to escape to Anxi Street?

The vicinity of Anxi Street was not a major thoroughfare, nor was it as easy to hide in as the chaotic East or West Markets. In fact, because of its proximity to the Prince’s Mansion, there were even more patrolling soldiers at night.

Was this agent trying to find him, or did they genuinely just happen to escape to Anxi Street?

It couldn’t be such a coincidence.

The more skilled one was at deduction, the less one believed in coincidences.

Chen Ji knew he couldn’t stay here any longer; he had to deal with this agent.

But how could he leave?

As he was thinking, the sound of shattering roof tiles came from above.

Chen Ji looked up; above the wooden roof and beams, someone seemed to be approaching the eaves with heavy footsteps!

Not only that, but footsteps also came from other directions, one after another, heading towards the windows of the gambling house’s second floor.

The itinerant official outside was merely a diversion; these secret agents invading from all directions were the ones sent to silence everyone.

*Whoosh!*

A masked figure in black flipped backward from the roof through the window like a hawk, and without a word, drew a saber and slashed at Chen Ji.

In the narrow room, Chen Ji picked up a chair and threw it at the agent, while quickly backing out of the private room and shouting loudly in the second-floor corridor, “Master Golden Pig, someone has infiltrated from upstairs!”

His shout drew everyone’s attention. Golden Pig raised an eyebrow and turned back to attack.

Just then, Golden Pig saw a secret agent chasing Chen Ji with a saber onto the corridor.

The agent’s saber technique was ferocious; wood splinters flew with each chop and slash. Chen Ji, a frail medical apprentice, could only desperately dodge left and right, utterly incapable of fighting back.

*Swoosh!*

The tip of the saber grazed Chen Ji’s chest, tearing a large slit in his straw cape, and blood seeped through his clothes.

Just when everyone thought Chen Ji was about to die, Chen Ji, with an unknown surge of courage, roared and, instead of retreating, charged forward, colliding into the Jing Dynasty agent’s chest.

With all his might, Chen Ji pinned the agent’s knife-wielding arm under his armpit, pushed the agent back into the private room, and then crashed through a second-floor window.

Golden Pig froze for a moment, but then, with a slight flex of his legs, his corpulent figure floated up to the second floor like a feather.

He rushed to the window, just in time to see the Jing Dynasty agent who had fallen downstairs staggering as he pursued the heavily wounded Chen Ji, disappearing into the dark, rainy night outside Hongyi Alley.

Golden Pig leaned against the window frame, allowing the night rain to sweep over him. “Strange,” he mused. “The Jing Dynasty assassin came to silence someone, but why did he disregard his target and instead pursue Chen Ji?”