The assassins descended at the same time as the guards and the postal station officials rushed forward with their swords drawn.

Weapons clashed, blades flashed and shadows danced.

The sounds of metal striking metal filled the air.

The black-clothed men were not gaining the upper hand.

However, one of the black-clothed men suddenly ran into the half-demolished storage room. Seeing this, Jingrong immediately gave chase.

The two engaged in a fierce sword fight!

After several exchanges, the black-clothed man began to lose ground. Jingrong immediately kicked him squarely in the chest.

The man crashed hard against the wall behind him.

Jingrong didn’t kill him immediately. Instead, he said, “This prince knew you would definitely come.”

Eh?

The man’s eyes widened with some surprise.

He didn’t speak.

Jingrong looked at the wall, holding his sword and pointing at the hidden compartment. “You… wanted to come destroy this hidden compartment, didn’t you?”

His tone was certain!

The man still didn’t speak, clutching his chest as he coughed up blood.

Jingrong advanced on him step by step. “You stole the disaster relief silver, which already makes you enemies of the court. You also attempted to assassinate this prince, adding to your crimes. And now, you want to destroy this hidden compartment to cover up your crimes. Today, this prince will see just what capabilities you have.”

The sword in his hand was already at the man’s throat.

“Speak! Who exactly are you people?”

“Only the dead deserve to know.”

Eh!

That voice was very familiar.

Jingrong’s gaze followed the man’s left hand—one sleeve hung empty.

A severed arm!

Was he… Zhao Huai?

“Are you Zhao Huai?”

Jingrong immediately tore off his face covering.

The face beneath the mask was bearded, with rough features showing the accumulated authority and weathering of many years wandering.

Indeed, it was Zhao Huai!

Zhao Huai’s mouth was full of fresh blood. Even with a sword at his throat, he showed no fear. Instead, he sneered coldly at Jingrong.

“If you’re going to kill me, then kill me!”

“Why is it you? What connection do you have to the disaster relief silver matter?”

“You know I’m not afraid of death, and you know it’s impossible to get what you want from my mouth.”

“Don’t think that just because I spared your life back at Gaoshan Stronghold, I won’t kill you now.” The sword in his hand lifted slightly, cutting a gash in Zhao Huai’s neck.

Zhao Huai laughed loudly with his blood-filled mouth. “You’d better be able to kill me, otherwise one day in the future, I will definitely kill you.”

Their eyes met!

That gaze held no fear, only intense hatred and killing intent.

Why exactly?

Jingrong applied force to his wrist, truly intending to kill him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

At that moment—

A figure suddenly appeared from nowhere, moving with extreme speed to kick away the sword at Zhao Huai’s throat. Taking Zhao Huai with them, they darted out in a flash, leaped onto the roof, and disappeared from sight.

Seeing this, the other black-clothed men outside also fled.

The guards originally wanted to give chase.

“Don’t pursue them.”

Everyone stopped!

Jingrong stood in place for a long time, looking at the several corpses in the courtyard, not speaking for quite a while.

Official Lin hurried over. Frightened by the scene in the courtyard, he quickly approached Jingrong to inquire. “Your Highness, are… are you all right?”

No answer!

“Who on earth would dare to assassinate Your Highness?” He was trembling with fear.

This was simply going to cost him his life!

First there was the matter of the hidden compartment in the wall, and now assassins had appeared to attack. It seemed his official position was finished!

Not only finished—he might even lose his life.

Thinking of this, his abdomen tightened!

Just at this moment, Lang Bo returned.

Seeing the traces of fighting in the courtyard, he said, “Your Highness, this…”

Interrupting him!

“Did you find anything?”

Reporting, “I did.”

“Speak!”

“That Craftsman Xiao came from Shanhuai County to the imperial prefecture. No one knows what he did before. Because he had no relatives, no funeral rites were held for him and no one buried him. His body was sent directly to the charity cemetery, so this subordinate went to ask around at the charity cemetery. The caretaker said they had buried him, but when this subordinate went to dig up the grave, we found it was completely empty. That man wasn’t blown up to death at all.”

“Not dead?”

“According to the caretaker of the charity cemetery, Craftsman Xiao had a scar on his arm.”

“Mm?”

“Coincidentally, the old man at the Si family residence also has a scar on his hand—this subordinate saw it with his own eyes.”

The Si family!

It seemed this disaster relief silver matter was absolutely not a small affair.

Jingrong considered carefully and reached a conclusion. “So you’re saying the Si family made preparations before the disaster relief silver was even distributed. They arranged for their own people to build this wall with the hidden compartment, and using the goods they transported to the postal station as cover, they secretly moved the disaster relief silver away through that hidden compartment each year. Moreover, that person who ran to the Si residence and disappeared also used this kind of mechanism to vanish in that room.”

“This matter can certainly be attributed to the Si family. Your Highness, why not send people to arrest them?”

“This prince said before—to catch a thief, you must catch them with the goods!”

Without evidence, how could they arrest anyone?

Lang Bo said, “But right now, we have no idea where that batch of silver is hidden.”

“It’s in the Si family’s mechanism!” Jingrong said. “As long as we find the way to activate the mechanism, everything will be revealed.”

“But how exactly is this mechanism activated? It’s just an empty wall with no switches at all.”

Indeed!

It couldn’t possibly open by itself for no reason.

Jingrong returned to that room, with Lang Bo following.

He stood before that wall.

“Since they sent people here to destroy that wall, clearly there must be a mechanism on that wall.”

The next moment, Lang Bo pressed and tapped around the hidden compartment on the wall surface but discovered nothing.

“What kind of ghost mechanism is this? The old man who designed this thing is a genius—a hundred times more brilliant than the person who designed those mechanisms outside Gaoshan Stronghold back then.”

Eh!

But Jingrong didn’t dwell on it. He only asked him, “Tell me again in detail—what exactly did you see outside the room that night?”

He recalled carefully. “From the shadows, I only saw that old man blow out one of the candles, then carry a candlestick and walk inward. The light didn’t disappear all at once, but gradually grew weaker and weaker, as if… he kept walking deeper inside. But that room is very small—no matter how far he walked, the light and shadow couldn’t possibly keep getting more distant.”

“Light?”

He pondered this.

He asked again, “What did the people who were demolishing this wall do just now?”

“They didn’t do anything strange—they just took a large hammer and prepared to smash down this iron wall. But before the hammer could swing down, the hidden compartment opened by itself.”

“That’s not right!” Jingrong’s brow furrowed sharply.

“Your Highness, what’s not right?”

Without another word, Jingrong suddenly jumped up onto that hidden compartment, leaping from this side into the adjacent room.

Lang Bo quickly followed!

He watched as Jingrong searched throughout that room.

But there was nothing unusual anywhere. Everything that could be moved had been moved, yet there was nothing that could activate the hidden compartment.