Chapter 601: 601

All the matters of that girl, he paid extra attention to, just for the purpose of secretly seeking out a master to expose her and lodge a complaint.

Unable to defeat her, wouldn’t he still lodge a complaint?!

Around the Guo residence.

Hu Miaomiao, leading the Shadow Guard, hurried over and took the lead. Approaching the Guo residence, he made a hand gesture, and the group began to muffle their sounds, stealthily advancing.

They quickly reached the outskirts of the Guo residence, directly scaled the wall, and headed for the backyard, their movements quieter than a cat with padded feet.

The agents of the Internal Guard Bureau were a few minutes slower. After Hu Miaomiao and his group had entered the Guo residence, they hurried in from the road intersection.

Under Chen Fa’s order, the agents of the Internal Guard Bureau split into several teams and dispersed, moving to surround the Guo residence.

At one of the main roads outside the Guo residence, Guo Shun hid in a corner, vigilantly observing his surroundings, focusing on the direction of the incoming people.

The direction in which Hu Miaomiao and his group had passed was precisely the one he was guarding.

As the group passed by, integrating with the night, both fast and soundless, their stealth skills nearly slipped past him as well.

If it weren’t for his constant focus on the approaching direction and his innate intuition for danger, he would have missed them entirely. Even so, he only noticed them when they were close to approaching.

After spotting the incoming figures, his hairs stood on end, he suddenly held his breath, his heart pounding wildly, only daring to breathe again long after the figures had moved far away.

He had an intuition that if he let out even the slightest breath, he would definitely be discovered by this group.

After the figures had passed, he was shocked in his heart, realizing that the Guo family was truly finished, these were no ordinary individuals, they could knock open city gates, and the direction from which they had come, it was the direction of the Imperial Palace…

At this moment, Guo Shun seemed to understand something, all the uncertain matters on the road came clear to him.

He couldn’t muster the thought to resist anymore, now he just wanted to use the expendable pieces within the Guo residence to hold off those people, then take the young master and flee.

On that journey, the things he had done were too extreme, if captured, death might not come so easily.

Thinking this, Guo Shun became even more frantic.

There was no time left, he only had one chance, he must do something…

On the main road back to the Guo residence from the south, a carriage sped along, on it sat Guo Neng, with two Dead Soldiers driving it.

Outside the carriage, uninjured guards followed the carriage on foot.

Qian Chen lightly touched the rooftop tiles, trailing the carriage from afar.

This tracking mission, Lian Bao had instructed him to follow Guo Neng, to verify if Guo Neng would release Uncle Ma as agreed, and to use a dagger as a threat if necessary.

They were soon near the Guo residence when sudden changes occurred.

A dark figure suddenly jumped out, blocking the carriage’s path.

The Dead Soldiers driving the carriage abruptly pulled on the reins, the horses neighed, the soldiers shouted, “Who?” hand already reaching for their weapons.

The dark figure hurriedly said, “Young master, it’s me, something has happened, puh…”

Before he could finish, the dark figure was pierced in the chest by a sharp sword, blood spattered on the spot, and he fell to the ground dead.

This change occurred extremely fast, from the appearance of the shadow to its death, it was but two breaths of time.

The Dead Soldier driving the carriage was greatly shocked and upon closer inspection, discovered that the deceased was one of the Dead Soldiers who had earlier followed Guo Shun out.

Another Dead Soldier on the carriage drew his weapon and leaped down from the carriage, cautiously watching the surroundings. The guards at the back of the carriage, out of panic, frantically drew their weapons as well.

In the carriage, Guo Neng, who had hit his forehead due to the abrupt halt, didn’t bother about his head and hurriedly lifted the carriage curtain, “What’s happened?”

Seeing the fallen shadow, Guo Neng instantly realized, “Drive, quick!”

But it was already too late.

From the shadowy part of the street, a fat man emerged, blocking the path like a hill, his face wearing a joyful smile as he said with a grin, “Is the person in the carriage the great young master of the Guo family—Guo Neng? My master invites you.”

Guo Neng, horrified, was about to order the Dead Soldier to turn the carriage around when he suddenly realized that, at some unknown time, many shadows had appeared around the street, silently blocking every direction of the carriage.

Qian Chen, holding a sword atop a distant rooftop, watched the incident on the street and slightly frowned.

In an unnoticed spot, a shadow was poised to strike…

At the Guo residence, people were coming and going. Officers from the Internal Guard Bureau efficiently tied everyone up, gagged them, and threw them outside into the open space of the hall, shivering uncontrollably.

Among these people were maids and masters, most of whom were still in their beds when the doors were forcibly smashed open. Before they knew what was happening, they were bound; many were barely clothed, shaking from the cold.

Even a young master from the Guo family, who had been sleeping on his concubine’s belly, quickly got dressed and came out upon hearing the commotion. He was immediately grabbed and, after hardly shouting a few words, was kicked senseless, tied up, and gagged.

Chen Fa sat in the Guo residence’s main hall, listening to reports from all directions. A young man hurriedly reported, “Sir, we have discovered a dungeon.”

Chen Fa perked up, instructed the rest to continue the search, and told them to turn the Guo residence upside down to ensure no individual from the Guo residence was overlooked, then followed the young man to the dungeon himself.

Upon reaching the dungeon, Chen Fa saw various torture devices and his gaze grew cold: “Setting up a private dungeon, establishing a private court, and misusing private punishments are all serious crimes, note them down.”

The Guo residence had yet another crime added to its list.

“Yes, sir,” the young man replied, leading Chen Fa a few steps forward and pointing to the ground, “Several skeletons were found in the dungeon; there are still two alive. One has been confined for so long that he is emaciated and no longer recognizes people, his mind seems deranged. The other has sustained severe injuries; his entire body is covered with fresh wounds, recently tortured. How shall we proceed?”

Chen Fa followed the direction of his gaze and saw several skeletons lying on the ground. Next to the skeletons, a man in unrecognizable clothing, reeking, appeared completely dazed, the duration of his confinement unknown.

Beside him lay another man covered in wounds, his eyes tightly closed, his face flushed, clearly feverish from the severe torture. He appeared resolute, in his forties or fifties, and was carried out by the people of the Internal Guard Bureau, his body devoid of any uninjured flesh, a ghastly sight to behold.

Such scenes were all too familiar to the people of the Internal Guard Bureau.

After giving a brief look, Chen Fa waved his hand, “Take them all back, especially this man. Have the Guo family’s physician see to him, address these wounds first to keep him from dying. Once he awakens, determine his identity and why he was detained here.”

This severely injured person, evidently an important figure, should be crucial for gathering evidence against the Guo family.

It’s better to treat him first to ensure he survives. Once he recovers and the details are clear, he will be perfect for digging out the crimes of the Guo family.

Meanwhile, everything was proceeding very smoothly for the Internal Guard Bureau. After searching the entire Guo residence, Chen Fa, overseeing the Guo residence’s steward, began pointing out who was still missing.

The Guo residence’s steward had done a great service. If not for him, Hu Miaomiao wouldn’t have known that Guo Neng was still unaware of the exposure and hadn’t fled. Otherwise, the whole direction might have been wrong.

At Hu Miaomiao’s end, he and his men had sneaked into the Guo residence but hadn’t found Guo Neng. He immediately grabbed the Guo residence’s steward and interrogated him, learning that the Dead Soldiers who had fled from Ma Xiapo station were also searching for Guo Neng and the two parties had yet to meet.

The timing was neither too early nor too late, just right.