I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Today is May 20th, which is June according to the modern Gregorian calendar.

This year's weather has been quite unusual. As early as the beginning of May, the temperature was already so high that even wearing just a single layer of clothing did not cause any discomfort.

To describe it using Japanese terminology... tonight is truly a "tropical night".

The temperature was at least 26 degrees Celsius, making the air feel muggy and sticky.

The sweltering weather caused Qingdeng to sweat profusely... and her mood became uncontrollably irritable.

For some reason... since this morning, a strange sense of unease has been lingering in Qingdeng's heart.

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Today’s update is 1.1W words!

Making porn is definitely the primary productive force! In order to let Aoto show off in front of Sanako as soon as possible, the author worked like crazy yesterday and successfully produced 1.1 words.

Today's chapter is a bonus update to make up for the missed chapters for the Silver Alliance member 【Handsome is Handsome】. I still owe this reader 10 bonus chapters.

The author still owes 12 chapters of 10,000-word length.

Today's chapter was incredibly long, packed with words and content, with the plot unfolding at a breakneck pace. If you don't vote for me with your monthly tickets, it's truly outrageous! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

The author will keep working hard today! Striving to reach 1+ views tomorrow! The author is even more eager than you guys to let Qing Deng show off in front of Sanako.

I'm asking for some monthly votes today, is that too much to ask? (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets!

The author has started a book club on Tencent!

Group number: 1162513690. Simply answer one question that anyone who has carefully read this book will know the answer to to join the book club.

The author occasionally appears in the group chat.

Chapter 178 "Miss Sanako, you may leave now, everything is alright!"

Feeling uneasy and anxious? I can't think of a suitable word to describe it.

In short, I've felt very uneasy since this morning.

Perhaps it was because his surveillance of Natsume Sohachiro had yielded no results, and he was involuntarily feeling anxious... Aoto explained to himself.

Including today, the surveillance of Natsume Sohachiro has continued for several days.

They have been conducting continuous, round-the-clock surveillance, but so far, they have not seen Natsume Sohachiro contact any suspicious individuals.

With no results in sight for a long time, the higher-ups began to put pressure on Qingdeng.

Originally, these superiors, who were only concerned with avoiding mistakes and using the most conservative methods to investigate cases, were already very opposed to Aoto doing something as easy as "investigating Natsume Sohachiro."

Now that Aoto's investigation into Natsume Sohachiro has yielded no results, his superiors are bound to start gossiping about him.

See, didn't I tell you? There's nothing to investigate about Natsume Sohachiro, but you wouldn't listen! Look, what a waste of manpower and precious time—although the superiors didn't say this to Aoto so openly, Aoto could read this thought from the looks they'd been giving him lately.

Qingdeng was indifferent to the pressure from his superiors.

Regardless of what his superiors said, Qing Deng remained convinced that the strangely behaving Natsume Sohachiro was the key to finding Sanako, so his belief remained unwavering and he had no intention of changing his current method of monitoring Natsume Sohachiro around the clock.

While Kinoshita Mai was leaning against the alley wall, resting with her eyes closed, Aoto, concealed in the shadows of the alley, meticulously continued his mission of "monitoring the Natsume family," his gaze fixed on the Natsume family's gate.

At this moment, Kinoshita Mai, who had just closed her eyes to rest, suddenly opened one eye slightly and then quietly looked at Aoto's face beside her with that open eye.

Looking at Aoto's face, which was unusually serious because he was intently monitoring the Natsume family, a strange emotion appeared between Kinoshita Mai's brows.

Her hands were clasped together in front of her, fingers interlocked. Her delicate, pink toes, like tender white lotus sprouts, scratched at the flat wooden clogs beneath her feet.

Aoto's investigation of Natsume Sohachiro was authorized by the government.

Therefore, since he didn't need to act secretly, he naturally didn't need to dress up as a "fox monk".

Similarly, Kinoshita Mai, who came to assist Aoto openly at his request, did not need to disguise herself or change into "Nekozo" clothes.

To keep herself cool and to make it easier to move around, tonight... no, it should be said that in the past few days since I accepted Qing Deng's request for assistance, Kinoshita Mai has been wearing a light and cool bright red thin yukata, with her fair feet without socks on a pair of red button flat wooden clogs.

"Hmm? Ms. Kinoshita, what's wrong?"

Qing Deng noticed Kinoshita Mai's gaze out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, no, it's nothing..."

Kinoshita Mai quickly averted her gaze from looking at Aoto.

"It's just that... I think you're really serious and responsible, Tachibana-kun."

“The other officials all had an attitude of ‘as long as I haven’t made any major mistakes, it’s fine.’”

"Only you handled this case with such seriousness."

When Kinoshita Mai first came to help, Aoto mentioned to her the extremely annoying attitude of his superiors in handling cases, which was that "as long as no major mistakes are made, it's fine."

“It’s nothing serious.” Qing Deng chuckled. “After all, Miss Sanako… can be considered my friend, too.”

Even if we don't mention something as vague as "the responsibility of officials".

"The reason alone, 'finding my friend,' is enough to motivate me to dedicate myself to this case."

Hearing the name Sanako from Aoto's mouth, the strange emotion that had just appeared between Kinoshita Mai's brows resurfaced.

Kinoshita Mai, her fingers interlaced once more, lowered her gaze to her toes, which resembled white jade petals, and whispered in a tone tinged with trepidation:

"Tachibana-kun, are you and that Chiba Sanako... very close friends?"

"Hmm? I wouldn't call us close friends." Taking Kinoshita Mai's question as just casual conversation, Aoto answered without thinking, "Strictly speaking... I probably wouldn't even call her a friend. Since I met her, I've only spoken to her for a short while."

“I am quite familiar with her brother, Chiba Jutaro.”

Upon hearing Qing Deng's response, Kinoshita Mai pursed her lips slightly.

In her beautiful, black crystal-like eyes, a glint of light rippled out, revealing an emotion that could be loosely interpreted as "fortunate."

Then, Kinoshita Mai suddenly paused, then raised her hands and slapped her tender face hard with both hands.

"Miss Kinoshita?" Qing Deng quickly cast a questioning look at Kinoshita Mai.

"What are you doing?" Qing Deng asked Kinoshita Mai with a look in his eyes.

Kinoshita Mai, having understood Qing Deng's meaningful glance, gave a few embarrassed, wry smiles.

"I am punishing myself."

"While you, Tachibana-kun, were seriously thinking about how to save people, I was daydreaming about all sorts of nonsense... It was really wrong of me."

"While punishing myself, I also want to remind myself: I am here to help you, Tachibana-kun, to save lives. Compared to human lives, everything else is trivial. Focus on saving lives first, and we can deal with everything else after that."

Kinoshita Mai's tone carried a hint of guilt.

Overthinking? Random, nonsensical thoughts?

Aoto, who hadn't quite understood what Kinoshita Mai was saying, blinked.

Just as Aoto was still wondering what Kinoshita Mai had been saying... suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Aoto caught a glimpse of a dark figure moving in the direction of Natsume's house.

Upon seeing this, Qing Deng quickly averted his gaze from Kinoshita Mai and focused it on the swaying black figure.

Upon noticing Aoto's unusual behavior, Kinoshita Mai quickly stood up straight and looked towards the Natsume family's gate with Aoto. Then she also spotted the dark figure.

Although tonight is a cloudy night with dim lighting and extremely poor visibility... such weather will not have much impact on Qingdeng.

Because Qingdeng has the talent of being able to see clearly even at night: "night vision".

No matter how dark the space, it is as bright as day to Qingdeng.

Upon looking at the suddenly appearing dark figure, Qing Deng immediately recognized its full appearance—it was none other than Natsume Sohachiro!

Natsume Sohachiro pushed open the gate of the mansion by himself, just enough for one person to pass through, and then tiptoed out of the mansion through the gap. He then turned around and strode straight towards the east street corner.

He looked around nervously the whole time, as if he was on high alert to see if there were any passersby or people following him.

After staking out for so many days... we finally discovered Natsume Sohachiro's unusual behavior.

No words were needed…and there was nothing to say. Aoto and Kinoshita Mai looked at each other simultaneously, exchanged a glance, and then, side by side, took silent, light steps out of the dark alley where they had practically lived for the past few days, closely following the elusive Natsume Sohachiro…

……

……

Edo at night is very quiet.

Natsume Sohachiro hurried through more than a dozen deserted streets and finally entered a remote town. He turned into a secluded alleyway shrouded in the thick darkness of night, where even if he screamed loudly, no one would hear him.

“It’s me, Natsume Sohachiro.”

As he stepped into the deepest part of the alley, Natsume Sohachiro lowered his voice and spoke in a deep voice into the darkness ahead.

"You've arrived much earlier than scheduled."

The darkness in front of Natsume Sohachiro seemed to "wriggle"... A very thin samurai with many pimple scars on his face slowly emerged from the darkness and stood in front of Natsume Sohachiro.

Without any pleasantries... after the "Scarred Samurai" appeared, Natsume Sohachiro spoke quickly in a tense tone, barely suppressing his unease and fear:

"I have already handed over the donkey cart containing the sake ordered by Mr. Bright, which was scheduled to be delivered to the settlement today, as you instructed! Now, you should return A-Yue to me!"

When Natsume Sohachiro said this, his back was hunched over so badly that he looked much smaller.

His shrunken body, coupled with his pleading expression... the word "utterly humble" perfectly describes Natsume Sohachiro's current state.

Faced with Natsume Sohachiro's plea... the "Scarred Samurai" remained unmoved and expressionless.

He lowered his eyes, glanced at Natsume Sohachiro with a cold, emotionless look, and then revealed a faint smile.

"Mr. Natsume Sohachiro, thank you for your cooperation these past few days."

"We are very grateful for your help."

"Don't worry, we will keep our promise and release Miss Natsume."

“We never intended to hurt Ms. Natsume Tsuki from the very beginning.”

The words of the "Scarred Samurai" were like sunlight, illuminating Natsume Sohachiro's originally extremely dark face.

Natsume Sohachiro's originally rather cloudy eyes had become much clearer at this moment.

However... before the light in Natsume Sohachiro's eyes had even appeared for long, the scene that followed made his expression and body harden like stone.