Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

The moment Ye Chen rushed out, a very thin beam of refracted light lit up on the side road.

Ye Chen was never the type to waste words before taking action.

Three silver needles were flicked out from the sleeves and accurately pierced the wrists of the two people closest to Jiang Ruoxi's car door.

Before the two men even touched the car door, they screamed and pulled their hands back. The needle tip pierced their acupoints, and their entire arms went limp as if a tendon had been pulled out.

The others reacted extremely quickly, each one seemingly having practiced teamwork. Almost at the same moment Ye Chen appeared, they scattered to the sides, three flanking Ye Chen while the other three continued to advance towards the black van.

Ye Chen swayed, his ghostly footwork leaving afterimages under the dim streetlights, dodging the two iron pipes that were coming at him, and then struck the man on the left in the temple with a backhand elbow.

The man groaned, then flew sideways, hitting the curb on the back of his head. His eyes rolled back, and he was motionless.

Ye Chen didn't stop moving. He took a step forward and struck the chest of the person directly in front of him with a palm strike.

The man was struck as if by a sledgehammer; his feet left the ground and he flew more than two meters before crashing into the roadside guardrail, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The remaining one panicked and turned to run away.

Ye Chen chased after him and kicked him in the back of the knee. The man fell to his knees with a thud, and the iron pipe in his hand flew far away.

Ye Chen grabbed his collar and flung him backward, causing the man to roll to Song Tiezhu's feet, where he was pinned to the ground by two veterans.

At the same time, Aygul's knife was already drawn.

She emerged from the shadows on the north side of the road, her blade flashing like lightning, forcing the two men who wanted to approach Jiang Ruoxi's car to retreat repeatedly.

Her swordsmanship was already ruthless, and having held back for so many days, her attacks were even more swift; within three strikes, she severed the tendons in a person's wrist.

The man screamed and clutched his bleeding wrist before being kicked to the ground by Song Tiezhu, who had rushed over.

Another man tried to pull out his weapon, but Aygul wouldn't give him the chance. She turned around and slammed the back of her knife into the man's neck, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

The ghost servant blocked the end of the road. He didn't have an iron ruler in his hand, but he forced the two people who wanted to escape back with his aura of being a mid-stage Transformation Realm cultivator.

The two men exchanged a glance, then steeled themselves and charged forward, only to be slapped to the ground by the ghost servant, leaving them dazed and confused, like two fish thrown ashore.

In less than two minutes, all eight people were taken down.

Ye Chen stood by the car door, glanced at the haphazardly scattered objects on the ground, and then turned his gaze to the black minivan behind him that had been running all the time.

The car door was half open, and inside sat a middle-aged man who was missing a little finger on his right hand.

He was wearing a dark jacket, had a faint scar on his face, and his expression was so gloomy it seemed to drip water.

It is Fang Jiuzhi.

"Fang Jiuzhi, we meet again." Ye Chen walked to the car, held onto the door frame, and leaned down to look at him.

The light from the streetlamp fell into the car, making the scar on Fang Jiuzhi's face look like a centipede.

Fang Jiu didn't run away, nor did he pull out his weapon.

He knew better than anyone that there was no way to escape this road that was completely surrounded.

He slowly raised the hand missing his little finger, made a "stop" gesture, and said in a hoarse voice, "Ye Chen, I admit defeat. Whatever you want to ask, I can tell you. I only have one request: don't touch my brother."

Ye Chen didn't speak, he just looked at him.

Fang Jiu sighed and said in a low voice, "My brother doesn't know anything. I let him into the Jiang Group just to pass on a message to me. He has nothing to do with Blackwater. He's just a fool who takes money to do things. If you want to settle accounts, put it on my head."

"Who gave you permission to touch Jiang Ruoxi?" Ye Chen asked.

Fang Jiu replied, "It was Qin Wuyi. He asked me to bring men to kidnap Jiang Ruoxi, saying that once we got her, we could force you to hand over the Dragon Heart Copper Lamp and the jade pendant. He also left a backup plan in the provincial capital, but I don't know exactly where it is. I was only responsible for carrying out the plan; I know nothing else."

Where is he?

"He's not in the provincial capital. He left a couple of days ago, saying he'd come back after finishing something. I really don't know where he went or who he went with."

Ye Chen stared into his eyes for a while, then straightened up and gave Song Tiezhu a wink.

Song Tiezhu and his men dragged Fang Jiuzhi out of the car, tied him up, and stuffed him into the back seat.

Jiang Ruoxi's car left first, escorted back to the hotel by two veterans.

Ye Chen, along with Gui Pu and Ayiguli, escorted Fang Jiuzhi and several others back to their lodgings.

Back at the old house behind Qing Shi Lane, Song Tiezhu separated and imprisoned the prisoners.

Ye Chen interrogated Fang Jiuzhi separately.

Aygul sat outside the door, holding a knife, while her ghost servant stood guard in the courtyard.

Jiang Ruoxi didn't arrive from the hotel until late at night. As soon as she walked in, she asked, "What did you find out?"

Ye Chen repeated Fang Jiuzhi's words.

Jiang Ruoxi frowned after hearing this.

If Qin Wuyi isn't in the provincial capital, then where did he go?

Ye Chen had just recovered from his serious injuries, and Blackwater seized this opportunity to have Fang Jiuzhi make his move.

But Qin Wuyi himself didn't move, which means that the matter he was going to handle might be more important than kidnapping Jiang Ruoxi.

"Where do you think he'll go?" Jiang Ruoxi asked.

Ye Chen remained silent for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed. He stood up, walked to the table, unfolded the provincial capital map again, pointed his finger at the location of Longyin Mountain, and slowly moved it south, stopping at a spot on the riverbank.

Ye Chen looked up at the ghost servant, his voice tense: "East Suburb Wharf."

The ghost servant was taken aback, but then he understood.

The East Suburb Wharf was the Blackwater warehouse they had previously raided.

But what if there's more than one warehouse there?

If Blackwater has hidden some important things underground at the dock, such as ledgers, lists, or personnel files related to Blackwater... then the first thing Qin Wuyi will likely do upon returning is to retrieve them.

"What if he has already been there?" Song Tiezhu asked.

Ye Chen shook his head and said, "After the incident at the dock, the Qiao family and Brother Song's men kept a close watch on that place. No matter how arrogant Qin Wuyi was, he wouldn't dare to force his way in at that time. He waited for the storm to pass before going there. Now is the perfect opportunity. With Jiang Ruoxi kidnapped, I will be distracted and unable to attend to the dock. This is Qin Wuyi's real plan."

Jiang Ruoxi's expression changed slightly.

Having followed Ye Chen for the past few days, she had long since grown accustomed to his erratic yet meticulous way of thinking.

If Qin Wuyi's goal is something hidden in the dock's basement, then he might have already made his move there tonight.

Ye Chen grabbed his coat quickly: "Let's go now, we might still make it."

Aygul slung the knife over her back and followed him.

The ghost servant blew out the oil lamp on the table.

Song Tiezhu selected four of his most capable veterans, and several cars drove out of Qing Shi Lane in the dark, speeding towards the East Suburb Wharf.

Ye Chen sat in the passenger seat, his gaze calmly fixed on the road ahead.

He had a strong intuition that the person he was going to meet tonight was not just Qin Wuyi.

Perhaps there are even more things lurking in the shadows, waiting for them by the river.

But Ye Chen wasn't afraid. On the contrary, the fire that had been dormant in his chest slowly reignited.