Chapter 245: Unable to Rescue

Tang Ying escaped the Fang Family and returned to the Patrol Justice Department without a moment's pause. Little did she know, Vermilion Bird had been tailing her in the shadows the entire time, solely to confirm her identity.

Vermilion Bird stood atop a building, overlooking the ground like a bat in the dead of night. Watching Tang Ying enter the Patrol Justice Department without any obstruction, she confirmed her identity.

Vermilion Bird then pulled out her phone and dialed a mysterious number: "My Lord, the matter regarding the Fang Family requires your personal intervention..."

Tang Ying jogged all the way, rushing into the office of the Patrol Justice Department Director, Xue Zhangming, before he finished his shift.

On her way back, she had already removed the Ghost Gate Needle from her face, and her features had returned to their original appearance. Only her hair was slightly disheveled from her haste, and she said breathlessly, "Director, the Fang Family... the previous case, it was the Fang Family!"

As Tang Ying spoke the sentence in fragments, Xue Zhangming held his phone to his ear and glanced at her, but his response was directed at the person on the other end: "Alright, I understand."

The call ended, and Tang Ying felt a bit more at ease. She hurriedly said, "Director, I followed the trail from the last case to the Fang Family. I snuck into the Fang Family tonight and indeed made a discovery..."

Tang Ying recounted everything she had seen and heard at the Fang Family in one breath, took a deep breath, and requested, "I will go lead men to surround the Fang Family right now. Please issue the order!"

However, Xue Zhangming merely looked at her in silence.

"Director!"

Tang Ying called out, anxious.

"You've worked hard tonight. Go back and rest."

Xue Zhangming said, "I will take personal charge of this matter. You don't need to concern yourself with it anymore."

Tang Ying frowned and asked, "Why? Do you not trust my ability?"

"There is no 'why.' This is an order. You may leave." Xue Zhangming was growing impatient, eager to dismiss Tang Ying.

Tang Ying naturally refused to leave and continued, "Fine, I can stay out of it, but please take men to the Fang Family immediately. If you wait too long, they will certainly destroy the evidence!"

"I have my own sense of proportion. You may go down now."

Xue Zhangming said unhurriedly.

Seeing Xue Zhangming's attitude, Tang Ying was suspicious but even more anxious. Recalling the phone call from just moments ago, she blurted out regardless of the consequences: "Director, could it be that you and the Fang Family—"

"Bang!"

Before Tang Ying could finish, Xue Zhangming slammed his hand down, cutting her off.

"Tang Ying, I am warning you, I am the Director! There are some things that cannot be said recklessly!"

Xue Zhangming glared at Tang Ying, warning her.

"If you want me to stop suspecting you, then go to the Fang Family and make arrests right now!"

Tang Ying insisted firmly.

"I am the Director! It is not your place to point fingers at how I choose to act!"

Xue Zhangming said angrily.

"If you don't go, it means you have something to hide!"

Tang Ying had cast caution to the wind. The moment she thought of Chen Che still being in danger, she felt an indescribable panic.

"You!"

Xue Zhangming stared into Tang Ying's unyielding eyes and truly wanted to slap her.

In the entire Patrol Justice Department, only Tang Ying dared to speak to him like this. Tang Ying was a Martial Artist with outstanding ability, and because of the previous Huang Family incident, she had entered the sights of the Beijing Patrol Division Headquarters.

Moreover, his own handling of this matter was indefensible, so no matter how angry Xue Zhangming was, he could not openly do anything to Tang Ying.

Xue Zhangming sighed and decided to change tactics, appealing to her emotions: "Tang Ying, I know what you are suspecting, but I also have my own hidden difficulties."

Tang Ying raised an eyebrow mockingly, as if to say: "Go ahead and tell me about your 'hidden difficulties.' Let me hear what kind of excuses you can come up with."

Xue Zhangming said slowly, "I received a call just as you arrived, but it wasn't from the Fang Family. It was from the Gu Family."

Tang Ying's expression changed, and she froze on the spot: "What do you mean?"

"This matter is more complicated than we imagined. You are well aware of the status the Gu Family holds in Jinling and even the entire Jiangnan, and what kind of figure that person from the Gu Family is.

They have promised that the Fang Family will hand over a scapegoat, but we are not to investigate the rest. It ends here."

Xue Zhangming said.

"But..."

Tang Ying took a few deep breaths, suppressing the rise and fall of her chest. The name "Gu Family" truly brought her too great a shock; she had never expected that the matter of the Fang Family's Medicine Garden would actually involve the Gu Family!

She had expected even less that the Gu Family would personally step in to calm the situation. This showed that the Fang Family's affair was by no means as simple as just a Medicine Garden!

This could very well be an earth-shattering event, after all, even the Gu Family was involved!

"Then we report it! The Patrol Justice Department is directly subordinate to Beijing. Even for the Gu Family, interfering with the Patrol Justice Department is a major taboo. Beijing will not allow it!"

Tang Ying said.

"How can you be so naive!"

Xue Zhangming's expression was sorrowful, and he said earnestly: "Not to mention whether the report can even be sent out, even if it were, would we have a way to survive before people from Beijing arrive?

What kind of existence is the Gu Family? The head of the Jiangnan noble families, and that Gu Family Patriarch is the new power broker in the imperial court following Gu Zongzhao. In the Jinling elite circles and among the common people, he is even called a Regional Governor and the Jiangnan King.

His influence in Jiangnan is beyond our imagination; it would be no exaggeration to say he covers the sky with one hand!

The Patrol Justice Department is indeed not under his jurisdiction, but we are in Jinling, far from the Emperor. He has been in the court for many years; not to mention the Gu family members spread throughout the court, the Patriarch's students and former subordinates are countless.

You tell me, if we play hardball, how are we supposed to ensure we stay alive?"

Tang Ying's expression was twisted in conflict. She stared fixedly at Xue Zhangming and asked from the bottom of her soul: "So we just let them cover the sky with one hand? Those people who died in the Fang Family's Medicine Garden just died in vain?"

Xue Zhangming sighed and said, "This is the power of authority. Being in the Patrol Justice Department, it shouldn't be hard for you to understand the helplessness within it."

Tang Ying clenched her fists tightly and slammed them onto the table, unwilling to accept it: "Is there no other way?"

"If there were, I wouldn't be telling you all this."

Xue Zhangming sighed again and said, "To be honest, I don't like you. You have great ability but you don't know how to play the game. Even if you weren't working in the Patrol Justice Department, you wouldn't be liked by your superiors elsewhere.

But at the same time, I have to admit that your ability is outstanding and you possess a sense of justice that ordinary people lack. So, no matter how much I dislike you, I admire you, and I won't do anything to you.

This is why I am telling you all this. So, don't investigate anymore. Go back and get a good night's sleep, and leave the rest to me."

Tang Ying suddenly raised her head, took a deep breath, and said, "Thank you, Director, for your honesty, but I am still going!"

"You!"

Xue Zhangming stood up in anger: "Was everything I said to you in vain? If you do this, not only will you throw your own life away, but you will also ruin me!"

"I can quit the Patrol Bureau, but I must go today! Because I wasn't the only one investigating the Fang Family tonight, there was someone else... He was trapped in the Fang Family while covering for me, and he is still waiting for me to go back and save him!"

Tang Ying said with a determined expression: "I have failed him; since I cannot bring people back to save him, then I will die with him!"

"There is someone else?!"

Xue Zhangming asked: "Who is it?"

"My man!"

Tang Ying said with a resonant, forceful tone.

Xue Zhangming was stunned, his eyes rolled, and he blurted out: "Chen Che?!"

This time, Tang Ying did not answer, but instead ran toward the door.

Xue Zhangming's expression changed, and he shouted: "Someone, take her down!"

As the words fell, two fully armed Patrol Bureau Warriors rushed into the office. By the time Tang Ying reacted, she had already been restrained and fitted with Handcuffs that suppressed True Qi.

"Xue Zhangming!"

Tang Ying struggled with all her might and roared: "I don't expect you to intervene, but don't you dare stop me!"

"To think you would go to such lengths for a man; you really are a lovesick fool. I find it truly strange, how is he everywhere? Provoking the Huang Family wasn't enough, and now he's actually wading into these muddy waters; he is completely courting death!"

Xue Zhangming looked at Tang Ying and said: "It is not that I am stopping you; after all, you are still my subordinate. If you appear at the Fang Family, the Gu Family will certainly vent their anger on me."

Furthermore, you know too much. I will not kill you, but for the time being, don't even think about leaving this place."

"Xue Zhangming, you bastard! You are not fit to be the Director of the Patrol Bureau!"

Tang Ying cursed hysterically.

"You are still young, but you will learn later what it means when the situation is stronger than the person."

Xue Zhangming's expression was compassionate, "As for Chen Che, stop thinking about him. I will not get involved in this matter; whether he lives or dies depends on his own fate."

"But do not hold out hope. Even if he can escape the Fang Family, the Gu Family will not let him go. If you want to blame someone, blame him."

"Take her away!"

At Xue Zhangming's command, Tang Ying was escorted away by the two Patrol Bureau Warriors.

"Xue Zhangming, if Chen Che dies, I will risk everything to drag you all down to hell with me!"

Tang Ying shrieked, struggling in vain with all her might, two lines of sorrowful and indignant tears streaming down her cheeks, hanging at the corners of her downturned mouth, exceptionally bitter.

Zhuque still stood atop the building, observing the entrance of the Patrol Bureau. After a long time without seeing anyone come out, he realized the matter had been handled.

He took out the Ghost Gate Needle he had picked up from Lao Jin's ashes from his bosom, examined it carefully, and revealed a ferocious, eerie smile: "You had better not die in the Fang Family just like that, that would be too boring, hehehehe..."

His cloak tightened, and Zhuque vanished into the night, leaving only a sinister laugh drifting in the air.