Chapter 470: Chapter 470: News of Du Xiangbao

After commanding the vines to bury Ye Yuefeng underground, Su Qing turned to the several still-unconscious Japanese men. There were six of them in total, now lying in a disheveled heap in a corner, out cold.

She bound them tightly, then cracked a vine through the air like a whip, striking them hard again.

"Aargh!" The men were instantly jolted awake by the pain, crying out in agony. They then realized they were bound tightly by plant vines.

The scene from before they passed out flashed through their minds. Seeing that Su Qing was the only other person in the courtyard and that Ye Yuefeng was nowhere to be found, the Japanese men panicked.

’Ye Yuefeng was either defeated and killed, or he fled on his own. Either way, he left us ordinary men to face this terrifying woman alone.’

In their eyes, Su Qing was terrifying. ’What kind of young girl could command dead branches and vines? Besides, it seems even Lord Ye Yue was no match for her.’

"Ma’am, ma’am, we’re just small fry! Please spare us." Understanding their predicament, the men immediately began to beg for mercy.

"Which one of you is the leader?" Su Qing asked, not wasting any words.

’She needed to cross-reference what Ye Yuefeng had said with these men and see if they had any new information.’

At Su Qing’s words, the other five men all turned to look at one person among them.

The man being stared at by his five companions cursed inwardly. ’At a critical moment, these bastards sold me out without a second thought. How despicable!’

"So you’re their leader?" Su Qing asked lightly.

"Yes, I... I just have a little bit of authority, but I’m really about the same as them," the singled-out man answered cautiously, trying to make himself as small as possible.

Su Qing nodded and, without another word, fed the man a drop of the gray liquid.

After swallowing the gray liquid, the man’s eyes widened in fear before his gaze turned vacant. Su Qing casually asked him the same questions she had asked Ye Yuefeng. His answers were identical. Then, he provided Su Qing with some new information.

In recent years, Qiutian Sanlang had colluded with several groups of tomb raiders in Hua Country. Their operations spanned almost the entire country, targeting ancient tombs that had not yet been discovered by Hua Country authorities. They stole numerous ancient books and cultural relics from these tombs, all of which were sent back to the Qiutian Clan in Japan. Roughly speaking, over a thousand items of various sizes had been stolen in the past few years, spanning all historical periods. More than half of them were extremely precious artifacts.

These artifacts were all stored in the basement of the Qiutian Clan’s ancestral home. Some had even been made "legal" through various means.

Hearing this made Su Qing’s blood boil. She took a deep breath and made a silent decision.

Then, Su Qing asked, "Among the tomb raiders Qiutian Sanlang colluded with, is there one named Du Xiangbao?"

"Yes!"

To Su Qing’s surprise, the man actually knew of Du Xiangbao. She had only asked on a whim.

"Then where is this Du Xiangbao now?" Su Qing asked hurriedly.

"He should be in Beijing right now," the man replied. "Some of the items in today’s shipment were found by Du Xiangbao in the mountains around Beijing. He has a house in the city. After every job, he rests in that courtyard for ten to fifteen days. It’s only been three days since the last job, so he should still be there. However, he doesn’t use the name Du Xiangbao in Beijing. He uses an alias."

"What’s the alias, and what’s his cover identity?" Su Qing pressed. "Also, what’s the address of his house?"

"It’s at 36 Huaihua Alley. It’s a single-entry courtyard house. He wears a disguise and goes by the name He Wenqiang. He poses as an unemployed man," the man said quickly.

Su Qing frowned. "This Du Xiangbao used to live in the Northeast and only came to Beijing a few years ago, right? If he goes out tomb raiding, he must disappear for at least a month or two at a time. And he’s supposedly unemployed. Wouldn’t the neighbors get suspicious?"

Having consumed the gray liquid, the small-time leader unconsciously revealed everything he knew. "No, they wouldn’t. While He Wenqiang is an alias, the real He Wenqiang died long ago. Du Xiangbao just assumed his identity. That He Wenqiang was a street loafer since he was a kid. His parents and siblings are all dead, and he has no other relatives. The courtyard house was left to him by his parents, along with plenty of money for him to squander. All the neighbors know this. Besides, the original He Wenqiang used to hang out with a bad crowd and would be gone for days at a time. He also never interacted with his neighbors. So, Du Xiangbao’s impersonation of He Wenqiang wouldn’t arouse any suspicion at all."

’So that’s how it is!’

Su Qing narrowed her eyes slightly and asked a few more questions, but the small-time leader didn’t know anything more.

As for the other men, they were the grunts among grunts, responsible only for transporting the antiques. They knew even less.

With all the information gathered, Su Qing naturally wouldn’t let these Japanese men go. She killed them all and buried them underground. ’Since they came to Hua Country to be thieves, they can serve as fertilizer for its plants.’

The large truck prepared for transport was loaded with over a hundred artifacts. They ranged from large items like vases and scroll paintings to small ones like earrings and bronze mirrors. There was even something that looked suspiciously like a chamber pot.

Su Qing couldn’t help but frown. ’These Japanese men really don’t miss a thing. They’d probably scrape the land three feet deep if they could.’

With a wave of her hand, Su Qing stored all the artifacts in her space, planning to find an opportunity to hand them over later. Of course, she didn’t take the suspected chamber pot. Even if the thing was from the Shang or Zhou dynasty, she had no intention of keeping it. The mere thought of having an ancient chamber pot in her space made her skin crawl.

She casually buried the chamber pot and collected the few lamps in the courtyard. Just as Su Qing was about to use her vines to sweep the inside and outside of the abandoned factory one more time, she suddenly heard a noise from within the factory building, followed by a series of distinct sounds.

That sound... It was the sound of a telegraph machine!

’I’ve been careless. The area around the factory is filled with plants and is within my Domain, so I wasn’t worried about anyone escaping. There are no phones here to contact the outside world, either. But I forgot—besides phones, there are telegraph machines! The people here could use one to send a message!’

Su Qing rushed toward the source of the sound. At the same time, all the vines around the abandoned factory swarmed into the building like a tidal wave. Instantly, Su Qing saw a man sitting at a table, sending a message with the telegraph machine on it. Gritting her teeth in fury, she flicked her wrist, and a whip shot out, brutally lashing the man and sending him flying.

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