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

The car stopped one kilometer away from the East Suburb Wharf, and everyone got out and walked.

Ye Chen led the way, with Gui Pu bringing up the rear. Ayiguli and Song Tiezhu flanked them, and the four veterans were scattered in front and behind, like a silent net slowly closing in on the dock.

The dock was pitch black, with only the creaking of the tin roof in the river wind, like someone sharpening an old knife in the dark.

The few rusted streetlights had long since broken, hanging half-dead on the utility poles, not even a sliver of light.

Ye Chen walked in the dark to the innermost row of warehouses and squatted down to examine the ground.

Several newly broken hemp ropes were scattered on the ground, and a tin bucket had been overturned.

The bucket was filled with water, and the surface of the water had a thin, oily sheen, which didn't look like rainwater.

"Someone came by, not long ago." Ye Chen lowered his voice, placed his palm on the ground to feel it, and then looked up at the warehouse door.

The two iron doors were ajar, the locks had been cut off from the outside, the cuts were fresh and gleamed with a metallic sheen.

He stood up, drew his knife, and used the tip to gently pry open the door a crack.

A strong smell of diesel fuel and damp mold wafted out, mixed with a very faint trace of blood.

The ghost servant's nostrils twitched, and he said in a hoarse voice, "There's someone inside, and they're injured."

Ye Chen nodded, stepped aside and went first, with Ayiguli following closely behind.

The warehouse was filled with old shipping containers, ropes, and rusty anchors. It was very spacious, and there were occasional faint noises coming from the steel beams overhead, as if something was passing by.

Song Tiezhu gestured to the four veterans. Two left the door open, while the other two followed him into the warehouse, slowly making their way deeper into the warehouse, close to the containers.

The further you go in, the stronger the smell of blood becomes.

Ye Chen's footsteps were extremely light, and his breathing was suppressed, becoming thin and long. Suddenly he stopped.

Behind a wooden crate filled with miscellaneous items, a person was huddled up.

The man was wearing blue dockworker's overalls, was in his fifties, had a sallow complexion, and a short arrow, about the thickness of a pencil, was stuck in his right shoulder; blood had soaked half of his clothes.

He was still breathing, his eyes were half-open, and his lips were trembling, as if he were muttering something.

Ye Chen squatted down, took out silver needles from his waist, and first inserted several needles into acupoints near the man's shoulder to stop the bleeding. Then he put a pill into the man's mouth.

The man frowned in pain, mumbling, "Underground...underground..."

His eyelids fluttered, as if he wanted to say something more, but he had already fainted.

Ye Chen had the veteran carry the man out, and then continued searching inside.

At the very back of the warehouse, there was a dark corner covered by old wooden planks and tarpaulins. Lifting the tarpaulin revealed a sloping concrete staircase leading down to the back.

The steps were damp and covered with moss, clearly indicating that it was a hidden door sealed under the warehouse.

He squatted at the entrance, picked up a piece of cloth with the tip of his knife and looked at it. It was covered in mud and blood, but looked very new.

"This is it," Ye Chen said, his voice low and clear.

Aygul wanted to go down first, but Ye Chen grabbed her arm: "You stay up here to provide support. It's too narrow down there. It would be troublesome if we got blocked from both sides."

Aygul frowned, clearly displeased.

But Ye Chen had already looked at Song Tiezhu: "Take one person down with me. Uncle Gui and Guli will guard upstairs. If we don't come out in an hour, immediately call Qiao San and Zhou Wantong to seal off the entire area around the dock."

The ghost servant nodded. He understood what Ye Chen meant.

If Qin Wuyi is really down there, the fewer people there are, the easier it will be to avoid his sharp edge; the more people there are, the more they will get in the way.

Ye Chen and Song Tiezhu stepped onto the steps one after the other.

The air grew colder, and the moisture on the walls condensed into water droplets, which trickled down the cracks in the bricks.

After climbing about thirty steps, a corridor made of red bricks appeared below.

Wooden crates were piled up on both sides of the corridor, some of them open, containing old account books and rusty metal parts.

At the end of the corridor was an iron door, half-closed, with a faint light shining through it, as if someone had turned on a battery-powered lamp.

Ye Chen listened intently for a while, but there was no breathing sound behind the door.

He made a gesture to Song Tiezhu, and the two silently moved closer together. Ye Chen slowly pried open the iron gate with the tip of his knife.

The light spilled out, illuminating a basement room of about twenty square meters.

The walls were piled with metal cabinets and wooden shelves, with rows of kraft paper files on the shelves, and many documents scattered on the floor, as if they had been hurriedly searched.

In the center was a long table with an old map spread out on it.

The map was nailed to the four corners with rusty iron nails and marked with red and blue pencil marks. Some of the marks pointed to Longyin Mountain, while most were concentrated around the provincial capital.

Ye Chen walked over to look at the map, his eyes suddenly narrowing. There weren't many marked locations, but every single one was related to Blackwater.

Huai Shu Lane in the north of the city, Da Chuan Tea House in the south of the city, the East Suburb Wharf, the West Market of the provincial capital, and several other places he didn't recognize.

There is a name circled in red in the lower right corner of the map; it is Jiang Ruoxi.

"Qin Wuyi came here and took something," Song Tiezhu said, pointing to an open small safe in the corner.

The box wasn't big, it was like an old-fashioned portable safe. The lock had been smashed open, and the inside was empty except for a small black velvet pouch with a very faint plum blossom embroidered on the bottom.

Ye Chen gripped the velvet bag, his brows furrowing.

I'd heard Wu Qingyuan mention plum blossoms before, at the Jiang family's old house. Jiang Ruoxi's mother's maiden name contained the character "plum."

Before he could think it through, a very faint sound came from above his head.

The sound came from the direction of the steps, like someone stepping on and breaking a loose brick.

"Back off." Ye Chen shouted, grabbed Song Tiezhu, and darted to a blind spot next to the iron gate.

The basement lights suddenly went out, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness.

A few seconds later, a thin, snake-like sword light appeared and flew diagonally in from the doorway, aiming straight for the spot where Ye Chen had just been standing.

The Silk-like Sword belongs to Qin Wuyi.

Ye Chen didn't say anything, but with a flick of his wrist, three silver needles shot towards the direction where the sword light was shining.

Several extremely faint clanging sounds came from the darkness. With a flick of the sword, all the silver needles were knocked away and landed in the corner with a tinkling sound.

Immediately afterwards, Qin Wuyi's cold and indifferent voice rang out from the darkness at the doorway: "I was wondering when you would find this place. You found it a little faster than I expected."

Ye Chen pressed himself against the wall, sweat trickling down his forehead, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.

Qin Wuyi did not leave.

He was near the steps, like a venomous snake coiled in the shadows, waiting for them to run into him.

Their current position is like being trapped in a pocket in this basement, with the Silken Sword in front of them and no way to retreat behind.

"Brother Song, is there still a cell phone signal?" Ye Chen asked in a low voice.

Song Tiezhu leaned against the wall, took out his phone, glanced at it, and shook his head.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth.

He had previously considered that this place might be used by Qin Wuyi as an ambush, but he didn't expect the old man to move so quickly, having already circled around outside and returned.

"Ye Chen, I've changed my mind." Qin Wuyi's voice drifted from the darkness, like a water ghost whispering in someone's ear.

"Oh, really?"

"I want more than just the bronze lamp and the jade pendant; I want her too. I've said it before, I only target people's weaknesses, and now your weakness is in my hands."

Ye Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

Jiang Ruoxi.

Jiang Ruoxi has returned to the hotel, accompanied by veterans, but Ye Chen dares not gamble on whether these men can withstand Qin Wuyi's sword.

His muscles tensed to their limit in an instant, and the dormant heat in his dantian surged violently.

"If she loses even a single hair, I'll make sure your entire Blackwater gang pays the price." Ye Chen's voice was colder than he always had.

In the darkness, Qin Wuyi chuckled softly.

The laughter came from all directions, like countless thin snakes slithering across the ground.