I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

By the faint moonlight, Kamino could vaguely make out that a large number of magistrates were rushing toward them from the western street corner.

Coincidentally, the person leading this reinforcement force was none other than Aoto's direct superior: Arima.

Arima, wielding a ten-handed weapon, charged forward with fierce momentum. Although he was not skilled in martial arts, when it came to courage, he was second to none among the officials of the Edo South and North Magistrates' Offices.

Jinno gritted his teeth, then ordered his men to split into several groups and scatter.

Before fleeing, Jinno didn't forget to instruct his men to set a fire—they had poured so much oil on the brothel, it couldn't all be wasted.

Bear!

A fire broke out.

Half of the Tibetan scribe's office was instantly surrounded and engulfed by fire.

In the firelight, Kanna and the others engaged in a cat-and-mouse chase with the officers of the magistrate's office...

……

……

Aoto also participated in the pursuit of Shinno and his group.

The combination of "leading the way" and "strong muscles" is truly a match made in heaven.

The "Strong Muscles" talent's effect of "muscles that don't tire easily" allows Qing Deng to sprint at his top speed for a long time.

In short: Qing Deng is now very good at pursuing people.

He led Saito and the others, along with Arima and the others who arrived, to pursue the fleeing Kanno.

The ability of "strong muscles" and "taking the lead" to cooperate with each other allowed Qing Deng to successfully catch many people.

However, the members of the extermination group had scattered and fled...

They scattered and disappeared into the complex streets and alleys, like fish entering the sea, making it extremely difficult for Qing Deng and his team to capture them.

Often, after following someone around a corner, you suddenly find that they've disappeared, and even climbing to a high place won't help you find where they've gone.

Although some slow-moving or unlucky individuals were successfully captured, those caught by the officers all seemed to be ordinary pawns, and the most important person, Kamino, remained elusive...

Left with no other option, Arima had to request additional manpower from the Magistrate's Office.

Despite the already strained manpower at the Magistrate's Office, Usui and Atsukawa, unwilling to let the leader of the Extermination Group escape, still managed to squeeze in some more people to intensify the search.

Meanwhile, Aoto and Arima received orders that Usui was personally going to the Banshu Investigation Office to check on the current situation of the attacked office. He ordered Aoto and Arima to temporarily stop the search for Kamino and return to the Banshu Investigation Office immediately.

With the order received, Aoto had no choice but to lead Saito and the others, along with Arima, back to the now rather dilapidated Banshu Institute, dragging their slightly weary bodies.

Because the fire was extinguished in time, the Banshu Institute was not severely damaged by the fire set by Kino and his group before they left; only a small part of the buildings were charred by the flames.

The former Tibetan scribes' office, still emitting a thin layer of acrid smoke, is undeniably noisy.

The officials from the magistrate's office and the town's fire-fighting station surrounded the foreign document dispatch office, each performing their duties.

The firefighters checked to see if any embers were still burning.

The officers from the magistrate's office then carried out one after another the bodies of innocent people who had unfortunately been killed by the Expeditionary Force that night from the investigation center.

Aoto spotted Katsu Rintaro—he was sitting wearily in a corner of the investigation office with the other survivors, being questioned by the officers of the magistrate's office.

"Tachibana-kun!"

Suddenly, Usui's voice reached Aoto's ears.

Following the sound, at the gate of the investigation office, Bo Jing, who seemed to have just arrived, took three steps at a time to greet Qing Deng who had returned.

Along with Bo Jing, several officials and constables followed Qing Deng.

"Lord Usui." Qing Deng bowed respectfully to Usui and the others.

“Tachibana-kun…” Bo Jing walked up to Qing Deng and looked him over repeatedly with a complex expression that mixed feelings of excitement, relief and astonishment.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something to Qingdeng.

After considering his words for a long time, he finally sighed softly:

"You've worked so hard tonight."

"Thanks to you for discovering the Extermination Group's whereabouts in time..."

"Good job!"

Bo Jing raised his hands and affectionately patted Qing Deng's shoulders a few times.

Rewinding to just now—the sudden fires that broke out across Edo threw the officers and soldiers of the magistrate's office into disarray.

The crowds rushing into the streets to escape the fire and flee to safety severely hampered the officials' surveillance of various parts of Edo.

The subordinates' requests for instructions were sent to the Northern Garrison like scraps of paper: What should we do now? Should we continue to monitor the movements of the anti-foreign group? Or should we terminate the operation and help the people escape the fire?

Just as Usui and Atsukawa were in a state of panic, a servant from their own unit suddenly rushed to the North Unit.

He said he was sent by Tachibana no Seido and had important intelligence to report: the Tibetan Documents Collection Office was under attack by a large number of unidentified people! And these unidentified people were suspected to be the Expeditionary Army! He requested reinforcements to be sent to the Tibetan Documents Collection Office!

Although the fire was critical, controlling it was not their job.

Ultimately, their primary objective tonight is still to track down the Extermination Group!

Upon hearing this intelligence report from the local official, Usui and the others were initially shocked, but quickly reacted by dispatching all available personnel to the local intelligence bureau.

Under Usui's orders, Arima led a large force to the Banshu Dispatch Office—but that's another story.

He promptly discovered the whereabouts of the Extermination Group and bravely rushed forward to fight them, saving many people, including Katsurin Taro, and buying much time for the magistrate's main force to arrive... For a moment, Usui couldn't think of any words or phrases to praise the many achievements that Aoto had made that night.

Usui praised him enthusiastically—but Aoto's face showed no joy whatsoever.

"Thanks to my timely discovery of the Extermination Group's whereabouts..." Qing Deng softly repeated the praise that Usui had just given him, then smiled wryly, "Lord Usui, the one who discovered the Extermination Group's whereabouts in time... wasn't me."

"Huh?" Bo Jing opened his eyes wide.

Arima and the others beside him also looked surprised.

"Didn't you discover the Extermination Group?" Usui blinked hard twice. "Then how did you discover that the Extermination Group was attacking the Foreign Documents Investigation Office?"

“That’s because…” Qing Deng paused here.

He pursed his lips, and after a moment, continued with a strange expression:

"That's because Cat Monk informed me."

"Cat Monk?!" Suspecting he might have misheard, Bo Jing widened his already staring eyes even further and subconsciously shifted his body to the side, leaning closer to Qing Deng with his left ear.

This matter cannot ultimately be hidden or deceived.

Since the truth must be told eventually, let's just lay it all out now.

Qingdeng adjusted his words, then cleared his throat—

……

……

Rewind to when Aoto and the others were still at the fire site in Kencho—

"Ju Qingdeng! Catch!"

The androgynous voice that rang out from behind Qing Deng, which was completely indistinguishable in gender, instantly drew the attention of everyone around.

Qing Deng, equally startled, quickly turned around and raised his gaze in the direction from which the androgynous voice came.

Behind him, on a shop, stood a petite figure.

He was dressed all in black, with a black headscarf and face mask wrapped around his head, slightly loose black clothes and black trousers, black gloves and black tabi socks on his hands and feet, and the only part of his body that was exposed was his eyes.

Looking at the suspicious-looking guy standing on the roof, Nagakura, Harada, and Todo's expressions turned serious, and they quickly drew and raised their weapons.

The local officials and constables around him were now scrutinizing this mysterious man with various expressions.

Only Aoto and Saito had strange expressions.

Qingdeng recognized this person...

He had only recently encountered this person... and copied a strange talent from him.

“Cat Monk…?” Qing Deng called out the person’s name softly in a volume that only he could hear.

The man in black who suddenly appeared was none other than the great thief: Cat Monk.

Before Qingdeng could even be surprised at why the cat monk had suddenly appeared at this time and place, he saw the cat monk suddenly raise his right hand in full view of everyone and forcefully throw something at Qingdeng.

Such objects landed on the muddy ground at Qingdeng's feet, leaving specks of mud.

Qing Deng looked closely and saw that the object was actually a ball of paper wrapped around something hard.

Cat Monk shouted to Qingdeng again in his neutral voice, "Look at that paper! The foreign book warns of all dangers!"

After shouting those words, Cat Monk turned around without looking back, leaped into the darkness behind the shop, where it could not be seen.

Yongcang and the others instinctively wanted to chase after them, but Qingdeng stopped them.

"Stop chasing! That person is Cat Monk, you can't catch him!"

Qingdeng still vividly remembers the speed and agility of the cat monk when they first met.

Chasing after the cat-monk in the streets and alleys of Edo... they'd probably run their legs off and still not catch him.

"Neko-sō?" Harada's eyes widened, then he raised his head and looked in the direction where Neko-sō's figure had disappeared.

Both Nagakura and Toudou, who were also seeing the renowned phantom thief for the first time, now looked in the direction Nekozo had left with curious and astonished eyes, just like Harada.

—The foreign book is all dangerous...?

As Qingdeng pondered the words that Mao Xiaoseng had just shouted, he bent down and picked up the crumpled paper that Mao Xiaoseng had just thrown at his feet.

Inside the paper was an ordinary stone—it was probably wrapped in something heavy so that it would be easy to throw it to Qingdeng's feet.

Qingdeng casually tossed the stone aside and then unfolded the paper.

Saito and the others gathered around and, together with Aoto, examined what was written on the paper.

On this piece of paper was written only one sentence in extremely neat handwriting:

A group of unidentified individuals is attacking the Tibetan Document Collection Center; the number of attackers is estimated to be around sixty or seventy.

"The Foreign Documents Investigation Office... is under attack?" Toudou looked incredulous.

Nagakura and Harada, who were standing side by side, exchanged a glance—both of them wore puzzled expressions.