We hurriedly welcomed Jiang Yongguang, who had been up all night, into the house. Uncle Mei personally cooked him a bowl of noodles. This time, Jiang Yongguang didn't stand on ceremony and devoured two bowls.

While eating, he reported the situation to us:

"Old Man Wang is indeed a sly old fox. As soon as his men broke through the waterproof wall, the tomb was flooded by underground water, and he slipped away. He knew the underground water would wash the corpses of the rats into the Tuo River, which would definitely attract our attention."

I couldn't help but ask, "So, before we even went into the tomb, Old Man Wang had already retreated with the main force?"

"That's right."

Jiang Yongguang nodded.

"He left his son, Little Man Wang, to clean up the mess, sending people down into the tomb to filter for valuables and also to scour the antique market for the ancient Shu jade slips that Gao Shiye had requested. The rats we encountered in the tomb were sent down by Little Man Wang. The leader was nicknamed 'Bamboo Pole,' a ruthless character with several lives on his hands."

Hearing this, I immediately recalled the skinny, tall rat we encountered in the main burial chamber. You could tell from his face that he wasn't a good person, especially since he had killed Xiaoling Guard Shao Qiang right in front of us.

At this moment, Uncle Mei anxiously asked, "What about Old Man Wang? Where did he run off to? Can we still catch him?"

Jiang Yongguang took a sip of the soup, put down the bowl, and said, "Don't worry, even if he runs to the ends of the earth, I will bring him back!"

I didn't doubt this, after all, the Xiaoling Guard had sacrificed many brothers on this trip, and this blood debt had to be settled with Old Man Wang.

Jiang Yongguang continued, "According to Little Man Wang's confession, when they went to Beijing to invite Gao Shiye, they only intended to do one deal. Little did they know that when Gao Shiye set off for Sichuan, his dragon seeking and gold dividing skills pointed out two tomb locations!"

"Pointed out two tomb locations?"

We were all stunned.

Jiang Yongguang nodded slowly, "That's right, pointed out two tomb locations. I have to say, this Gao Shiye is indeed a remarkable person. After exploring the Tuo River, he actually pinpointed two locations with one stroke—the tomb we found is only one of the two. In addition, upstream on the Tuo River, there is another ancient Shu tomb!"

Hu Wazi immediately asked, "So, Old Man Wang is now robbing the other tomb?"

"Yes," Jiang Yongguang said.

"Then that's easy! We'll just take people straight there, block the entrance to their tunnel, and catch them all in one fell swoop!" Hu Wazi said, rolling up his sleeves.

Jiang Yongguang smiled helplessly and said,

"Hu Wazi, you're making it sound too simple. Although Gao Shiye pinpointed two locations, he only identified the approximate location of the tombs. Where the rats specifically dig their tunnels, how many tunnels they dig, these are all decided on the spot, and the tunnels are often very hidden, making them difficult to find...

In addition, a mature tomb raiding gang often has several lookouts posted, and any sign of trouble will immediately be relayed to their accomplices underground. By the time we try to encircle them, they'll already be gone."

The more Hu Wazi heard, the more frustrated he became. He stared wide-eyed and said, "Then what do we do? Is there no way to catch this Old Man Wang?"

"Don't worry," Jiang Yongguang said patiently, "We can definitely catch him, but we need to be patient and set up a plan. We can't go after him with fanfare; we can only infiltrate quietly, investigate secretly, and then strike with one blow after we've locked onto the criminal gang!"

At this moment, Uncle Mei patted Hu Wazi's broad shoulder and said, "Alright, Hu Wazi, let's leave everything to the Xiaoling Guard. They're the professionals when it comes to catching rats; we shouldn't make things more complicated."

Hu Wazi glanced at Jiang Yongguang, half urging, half threatening, "Don't forget, An'an is still missing. You guys need to move quickly! Catch Old Man Wang as soon as possible and rescue An'an as soon as possible! If anything happens to An'an, I'm not finished with you!"

Jiang Yongguang quickly nodded and said, "Don't worry, we will definitely do our best. I'll go back and have a meeting in a little while to discuss the arrest plan."

After reporting the situation to us, and finishing the two bowls of noodles, Jiang Yongguang wiped his mouth, stood up, and prepared to return to the front lines.

I escorted him to the door and, seeing that his steps were a little unsteady, couldn't help but say, "You haven't slept all night, why don't you get some rest here before going back to work?"

Jiang Yongguang waved his hand and said, "No sleep, no time. Old Man Wang is not only related to Little Mei's whereabouts and Aunt Mei's murder, but he also owes a blood debt to many of my Xiaoling Guard brothers. I can't rest easy until he's caught."

I nodded and didn't try to persuade him further.

After walking out of the courtyard gate, I asked again, "By the way, did you question the person locked in that room?"

"I was just about to tell you about that."

Jiang Yongguang stopped in his tracks and lowered his voice.

"It's really strange. Little Man Wang isn't a hard nut to crack. He honestly confessed everything about his old man's whereabouts and Gao Shiye pointing out the two tomb locations, but when asked about this matter, he wouldn't say a word, no matter what."

"What?"

I was taken aback.

"He didn't say anything? Not a single word?"

Jiang Yongguang rubbed his forehead and nodded, saying:

"After I finished questioning him about Old Man Wang's whereabouts, I started asking him about the room. I asked him who was locked in the room, why there were so many medicines, and whether that person had escaped through the window. Little Man Wang acted like he knew nothing, answering me with only three words to every question—'I don't know.'"

"Then what happened? Did you just give up?" I asked anxiously.

"There was nothing else I could do, after all, it wasn't a critical issue. The kid had confessed all the key information, and I couldn't keep pressing him about something so unimportant, in case I accidentally interrogated him to death, right?" Jiang Yongguang shrugged helplessly, saying.

Thus, the clues about the monster were cut off again, and the matter ended inconclusively.

But I understood in my heart that neither Jiang Yongguang nor I would easily give up the investigation. Sooner or later, the truth would come out.

...

The Xiaoling Guard's efficiency was indeed very high. Jiang Yongguang and the others had a meeting in the morning, and they formulated an arrest plan before noon.

In the afternoon, Jiang Yongguang came over with Xiao Liang and told us that the Xiaoling Guard was planning to take action that night, heading to the second ancient Shu tomb pointed out by Gao Shiye to make the arrest.

This tomb was located on the Duck River upstream of the Tuo River, adjacent to a small town called Hongyan Town.

Because they didn't know how many lookouts Old Man Wang had arranged in the area, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, the Xiaoling Guard planned to send a small group of people to scout things out first.

According to Little Man Wang's confession, this tomb was likely another flooded water cave, so in order to find the tomb entrance, they needed helpers with excellent swimming skills.

This was also the purpose of Jiang Yongguang's visit.

After explaining the whole plan to us, he came straight to the point:

"Third Brother, Little Chen, I'm afraid we still need your help with this underwater tomb search. Besides that, there's another reason for finding you two—most of us in the Xiaoling Guard are from out of town, and our accents would give us away. If we infiltrated Hongyan Town, it would definitely attract attention. On the other hand, Third Brother, you're a local, and you're in the corpse fishing business. If you moved to Hongyan Town with Little Chen, it would definitely be reasonable, and no one would suspect anything."