Zu An barked sternly, “Who were the ones in charge of this matter? Arrest everyone involved!”

His first reaction was to think that there was something wrong with the Embroidered Envoys. Otherwise, how could Hua Bao have gotten away? However, Xin Rui’s little brother really had a crappy name. Didn’t it basically mean ‘straw bag’? What the hell were his parents thinking?

The two Embroidered Envoys reported, “The one in charge of the troops this time was Sir Xiao. He immediately locked up all of the members involved in the case in Gaoling County’s prison.”

The two silver token envoys Zu An was speaking to were named Dai Seventh and Chen Eighth. They had been working with Zu An all throughout the case.

Zu An had thought that their names were just nicknames at first, but they were actually their real names. What kind of careless parents would name their kids this way? He had felt that these two names were just too good to not be made a pair, so he had put them together.

It wasn’t just their names; they were both quite young, but both of them seemed to have some hair issues. Dai Seventh’s hair was receding from the sides into an M shape, while Chen Eighth was the opposite, balding from the center like the Mediterranean Sea. Zu An thought that he had run into his programmer friend from his past life the first time he saw Chen Eighth.

As for this Xiao Jianren they were talking about, he was another silver token envoy. He had voiced quite a few suggestions during the Xin Rui case investigation, so he was definitely a sharp fellow. He had left Zu An with a deep impression.

Apart from the golden token envoys, who were a bit more mysterious, the names of the other envoys weren’t a secret. At the very least, they were known among the Embroidered Envoy.

“Xiao Jianren…” Zu An muttered to himself. They hadn’t found Xin Rui’s corpse in the palace back then, nor could they find records of her leaving through Xuanwu Gate. It was Xiao Jianren who had suggested that Xin Rui’s corpse might have been brought out of the palace, which had led them to begin investigating the records of other gates. Did this fella deliberately mislead me from the start?

But it was pointless to think about that too much without taking a look for himself first. Zu An had Dai Eighth and Chen Seventh call over some Embroidered Envoys, then they headed toward Gaoling County.

Gaoling County wasn’t far from the capital. It was just a satellite town of the capital, somewhere on the outskirts. They quickly arrived at the yamen, where Gaoling County’s magistrate welcomed them cautiously. He was scared that he might be blamed as well now that the investigation had led them to his territory. All officials, civil and military, were extremely fearful of the Embroidered Envoy's vicious reputation.

“Who decided on this arrangement?” Zu An asked, surprised.

Dai Seventh replied, “It was Sir Xiao who arranged this. After the arrest’s failure, the first thing he did was to detain all of the Embroidered Envoys involved, the boss of the casino, as well as all related personnel.”

Zu An nodded inwardly. This Xiao Jianren really is quite formidable. Then, he quickly arranged for some of his men to interrogate those who were part of the operation. The Embroidered Envoy specialized in this field.

But after two hours, they didn’t find anything suspicious. Zu An wasn’t able to obtain any new information even when he personally interrogated Xiao Jianren. That shouldn’t have been the case unless these people were all in on it together, but it really was hard to imagine that so many Embroidered Envoys would be colluding over this.

Every single Embroidered Envoy’s background had been strictly investigated. It might be possible for one or two traitors to be present, but it was completely impossible for so many of them to have rebelled together.

“So many of you went to capture a single person, yet he got away? I need an explanation for this,” Zu An said as he looked at the report. Hua Bao didn’t even have any cultivation. Forget about the Embroidered Envoy, he shouldn’t even have been able to get away from an ordinary bailiff.

Xiao Jianren said in a low voice, “Sir Eleven, I’ve been thinking over this case all this time. Too many coincidences took place during Hua Bao’s escape. I believe there are only two possibilities. The first is that there are moles within our operation, and the other is that there’s something wrong with the casino. I suspect that they might have aided Hua Bao’s escape, but there’s unfortunately no proof. We can only detain them for now.”

Zu An’s expression changed. Recently, if it wasn’t the emperor, then he had been dealing mainly with kings and other high officials. He had subconsciously disregarded the casino’s staff as passers-by. He quickly ordered Chen Eighth, “Bring over the boss of the casino.”

Before Chen Eighth could even move, another Embroidered Envoy reported in alarm, “Bad news; the casino’s boss, Ning Hao, has died!”

“What!?” Zu An quickly got up and ran to Ning Hao’s room. Xiao Jianren and the others followed him. They had just undergone strict questioning, so they were pretty much free from suspicion.

They quickly saw the casino owner’s corpse. Ning Hao was seated in a corner with his back to the wall, an expression of horror frozen on his face. He had already passed away a long time ago.

“Who came into contact with him during this period?” Zu An’s eyes shot towardsGaoling County’s magistrate.

“No… no one! All of them were kept under close watch after these individuals had been detained, for fear that something might happen. No one was allowed to approach them!” The Gaoling County magistrate wiped the cold sweat on his forehead.

Hua Bao escaping from the casino was troublesome, but it wasn’t too big of a deal. However, a prisoner had been silenced under his county prison’s management. This was now a huge problem. Even losing his post wouldn’t be the worst outcome at this point. If his entire family were banished to serve a penal sentence, then they really would be done for.

Zu An squatted down by the corpse and examined him. His brows furrowed. Then, he gestured  at his subordinates to investigate the corpse. This was another one of their specialties.

The result came soon afterward. An Envoy reported, “There were no wounds or poison. He seems to have died from extreme shock.”

Zu An frowned. These casino bosses probably all had a bit of a dark past. All of them were frighteningly bold. How could he possibly have died from fear?

Furthermore, based on the intelligence they had, this Ning Hao was close to a sixth rank cultivator. After all, it was impossible for someone engaged in this type of business near the capital to not have any strength.

Xiao Jianren was a famous know-it-all from the Embroidery House. Even though his cultivation wasn’t anything special, the fact that he could take the silver token envoy post had been because he had read enough books. He had read through almost everything in the Embroidery House.

Xiao Jianren said, “Replying to sir, there are three possibilities. The first would be that a grandmaster killed him through their divine will, and the second would be that a Fiend Race individual used sorcery. It’s rumored that they’re proficient in some kind of mystical art that can lock onto a target based on their birth data and personal items. The third possibility would be that someone from one of the races that cultivate special abilities, such as the Dragon Race’s Soulspeak, could also silently end his life. It’s all my fault for sending them to an ordinary county prison. If he had been in the Embroidery House, the special runes there would have been able to block most of these powers.”

Sensing Xiao Jianren’s vexation, Zu An said in consolation, “You’ve already done quite well. None of us could have predicted that this would happen. It’s not your fault.”

He quickly deduced that, as there were only a few grandmasters in this world, they were unlikely to attack a mere casino boss. He had witnessed Dragon Soulspeak before; it was similar to his Keyboard Come ability, so that was indeed possible. Meanwhile, even though the Fiend Races mostly lived in the borderlands, after centuries of war, many Fiend Race individuals had mixed into the world of humans.

For example, Snow and Yun Yuqing were both Fiend Race individuals who had successfully integrated into human society.[1] Various powers in the capital had raised Fiend Race experts as well. However, it was hard to say which clan had done this.

As such, Zu An immediately made arrangements. He had Xiao Jianren return to the Embroidery House to investigate which clans had raised Fiend Race experts. Xiao Jianren was familiar with the capital’s situation, so he was most suitable for this job.

Meanwhile, Zu An himself began to interrogate everyone else from the casino. Unfortunately, he didn’t obtain any useful information even after questioning them all the way into the night. The only ones left from the casino were all some young workers who didn’t know much about their boss. They only knew that he’d had a mysterious background, and he seemed to have had a backer from the capital. Unfortunately, Ning Hao had always remained quiet about who this backer was.

Zu An knew that this trail wouldn’t lead anywhere. As such, he decided to return to the capital first and rushed back.

On the way, however, he suddenly frowned and quickly pulled back his reins.

“What’s wrong, Sir Eleven?” the other Embroidered Envoys asked. Zu An didn’t reply because he felt a strange sensation, as if he were being watched.