Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 22: The Standoff Under the Waning Moon (Please continue reading)

Chen Ye was unconcerned about the turmoil raging outside.

He was sitting in his hut, preparing for the operation three days from now.

The reason for choosing such a public approach, and even announcing it in advance, is not out of arrogance.

He just wanted to test how much benefit a high-profile operation could bring him, and whether it could allow his career and skill levels to break through again.

Of course, experiments are experiments, but he never does anything without certainty. Before leaving the note on the wall, a complete plan had already taken shape in his mind...

Night falls again.

While most people in the capital were focused on the heavily guarded Duke Anguo's mansion, a dark figure silently slipped into the night.

This time, Chen Ye's target is the properties under the name of Duke Anguo.

When Duke Anguo, Li Jun, transferred all the elite troops from his mansion back to protect his beloved son, the shops under his name became empty shells, all show and no substance.

With the experience gained from previous incidents, two money exchanges and one pawnshop were robbed overnight.

As for the money he received, Chen Ye did the same as before, breaking it down into smaller amounts and distributing it all to the poor at the bottom of society.

The news sent shockwaves through the capital.

Duke Anguo, Li Jun, was so angry he almost vomited blood. He pointed at the arresting officers and the Six Doors and cursed them.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings! The court supports you just so you can watch a thief run rampant in the capital? Huh?"

No one dared to speak; everyone kept their heads down.

At this point, Li Jun was in a dilemma. If he continued to keep his men in the mansion to protect his son, his other shops would become easy targets, easy prey for others to exploit.

But if we assign people to protect the shops, what if the Moon-Treading Bandit really comes knocking on our door? How can we guarantee our son's safety?
The crucial point is that he still doesn't know whether the other person is male or female, tall or short. This feeling makes him extremely frustrated, so he vents all his anger on the Six Doors and others.

Zhao An and his men were thoroughly berated, but they could only obediently accept their orders and take their leave. They then mobilized all their resources and launched another round of frantic searches throughout the capital.

Unfortunately, the people simply wouldn't cooperate, so after a whole day of effort, they still came up empty-handed.

Unlike the chaotic scene outside, Cheng Zhiwei's room was quiet.

Instead of joining the crowd to hunt people all over the world, she stood quietly in front of a huge map.

This map of the capital city was drawn by her personally, over a period of three years, by walking through every street and alley. Its level of detail far surpasses that of the official archives.

At this moment, several red dots were prominently marked on the map with vermilion ink, which were the locations of Fumancang, Hengtong Money Shop, and the properties of the Duke of Anguo's mansion that were robbed last night.

Cheng Zhiwei frowned slightly, her clear eyes slowly moving across the map, trying to find a pattern among these seemingly unrelated red dots.

Occasionally, she would also sketch lines on scrap paper that were difficult for outsiders to understand.

Just then, Cheng Ming pushed open the door and walked in.

"Zhiwei, have you made any discoveries?"

Cheng Zhiwei shook her head with a wry smile, "No, I originally wanted to use these crime scenes to roughly determine the person's activity range or find out the pattern of his target selection, but I failed."

"This Ta Yue's style of doing things is unpredictable and completely haphazard, but..."

Cheng Zhiwei paused for a moment, then said, "It wasn't all fruitless. I marked the locations of all the properties under the name of Duke Anguo, and combined with his characteristic of robbing the rich to help the poor, I identified three of the most likely locations."

At this point, we have no choice but to try anything, even if it seems hopeless.

Cheng Ming immediately made the decision, and the grandfather and grandson, along with a team of elite constables, quietly headed to the location that Cheng Zhiwei had identified as the most likely location.

This is a silk shop located in the western part of the city, also owned by the Duke of Anguo.

The group silently lay in ambush in the shadows surrounding the silk shop, holding their breath and waiting patiently.

Time ticked by, and by the early hours of the morning, even the watchman's clapper sounded weak and listless. The constables lying in ambush were also getting tired, their eyelids heavy and drooping.

Only Cheng Zhiwei sat under a tea stall on the street corner, her eyes clear and bright, showing no signs of sleepiness.

And her gaze wasn't fixed on the entrance of the silk shop, but rather occasionally swept across the surrounding rooftops and alleyways.

Suddenly, in the backyard of the silk shop, a ball of orange-red flame shot into the sky without warning! "Fire!"

"Quickly put out the fire!"

The silent night was instantly torn apart, and the ambushing crowd was startled, instinctively rushing to put out the fire.

Cheng Zhiwei also stood up abruptly, but instead of rushing into the fire, she did the opposite and ran towards the streets and alleys surrounding the silk shop!

As she ran, Cheng Zhiwei drew her repeating crossbow from her waist.

She learned martial arts from her grandfather from a young age and was quite skilled, especially in crossbow shooting, which she honed to an extremely high level.

However, as she quickly turned a street corner, her steps suddenly stopped.

Because on the eaves of a house right across the alley, a black figure was standing quietly.

The man was dressed in black, his face covered with a black cloth, and his figure was as straight as a sword.

Behind him was a crescent moon, like a hook.

Cheng Zhiwei was shocked and almost instinctively raised the crossbow in her hand.

But just as she aimed, the figure on the roof merely glanced at her indifferently, then vanished into thin air.

Cheng Zhiwei stood there, holding the crossbow, lost in thought. The cold moonlight shone on her slightly pale face, and her eyes were filled with a daze.

A moment later, she snapped out of her daze and quickly pulled out her charcoal pencil and paper from her pocket. By the moonlight, she began to sketch rapidly on the paper.

She did not paint that god-like or demonic figure, nor did she paint that iconic black-clad, masked figure.

What she drew was a pair of eyes that had been deeply imprinted in her mind from that fleeting glance.

A moment later, Cheng Ming also rushed over. When he saw the portrait drawn by his granddaughter, he was immediately invigorated.

"This is……."

“Yes, it’s him!” Cheng Zhiwei said softly. “I just saw him on that rooftop.”

"But before I could make a move, he mysteriously disappeared."

Disappeared.

Cheng Ming pondered these three words, his mind churning with turmoil.

He knew his granddaughter's skills, and even more so her ability to use a repeating crossbow so skillfully that she could calmly leave the moment she aimed—such agility was simply astonishing.

But Cheng Ming immediately felt a surge of excitement.

Because this is the only clue they have so far about the Moon-Treading Thief.

Although finding someone in a vast sea of ​​people with just your eyes is like finding a needle in a haystack, at least you have a clear direction!

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Chen Ye had already returned to his dilapidated little house.

He took off his night clothes and put on a faded coarse cloth outfit, once again blending into the everyday life of the common people, as if he had never left.

He naturally saw the female constable rushing out of the alley.

While everyone else was drawn to the firelight, she alone was able to calmly determine her escape route. This keenness and decisiveness truly made her stand out among the incompetent bunch at the Six Doors.

This is actually quite interesting!
Chen Ye smiled but didn't take it to heart.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the three-day period.

He closed his eyes, reviewed the entire plan in his mind, and only after confirming that there were no oversights did he lie down to rest.

A new day is about to begin.

I hope tomorrow... will be a good day.

(End of this chapter)