Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1297: Chapter 425: Chen Qing, Defection and Tragic News

In the ninth year of Great Xia, on the tenth day of the third month, during the day

Northwest of Hongmen, southern outskirts of Beining Mountain’s snow forest.

[Tomb of Ji Jiang]

Lin Kai, Liu Yuan, Zhao Bao, and Li Longkai, with furrowed brows, were looking at a solitary grave before them, surrounded by hundreds of Cloud Dragon Army soldiers clad in golden armor, who were searching meticulously in all directions for any traces or clues.

The three Vice Chiefs of Punishment were working grimly around the solitary grave; Bai Shanning was inspecting the soil; Xiang Liang was closely examining the tombstone; and Tong Xingsheng, most dramatically, was directly using a shovel to dig up the grave, clearly intending to unearth the body.

“No wonder Ji Hong didn’t return to the camp; his sister Ji Jiang is actually dead…”

At this moment, Lin Kai stood in front of the grave, his face full of confusion and incomprehension. He instinctively turned his head to Zhao Bao, noticing the latter’s face filled with shock mixed with complexity. After pondering for a moment, Zhao Bao’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

“Yuanxiu’s marriage is finally settled?”

At this moment, Zhao Bao could only think of this one sentence.

To be honest, when he had just received a report from the Prison Department’s envoy who was out searching for the siblings, saying that they found Ji Jiang’s tombstone on the outskirts of Beining Mountain, his first reaction was genuinely one of hidden delight.

But after the initial delight, he quickly sensed something was amiss.

Because not only Ji Jiang was dead, but her brother Ji Hong was also missing!

Five days ago, when he first received Zeng Rou’s report, Zhao Bao didn’t take it seriously at all. After all, Hongmen was the gateway of Great Xia, where the Eight Towns people came and went, a mix of good and bad, always in chaos. Moreover, with a few deceitful monsters causing trouble in the city, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that not only missing a couple of people, even a few people dying every now and then could be considered a normal phenomenon.

If it weren’t for Ji Hong’s identity as a Dragon Martial Army soldier, to be honest, Zhao Bao wouldn’t have bothered to send a Prison Department envoy to look for them.

Because of the marriage of his daughter Zhao Yuanxiu, he was already displeased with the Ji Hong siblings, constrained by the strict regulations of Great Xia and his brother Zhao Long’s warning, he dared not take action against them himself, but naturally hoped that the siblings would suffer some hardship outside.

It was precisely because of this that on the third to fifth, he only sent two Iron Order Prison Wardens to symbolically search around Hongmen, with no results naturally.

Until the night of the seventh, Dragon Martial Army Commander Hou Quan sent a message from Bashang to Liu Yuan, saying that Scout Camp’s squad five soldier Ji Hong did not return on time from a seven-day leave, asking him to check what was going on.

Liu Yuan, now also serves as the Commander of Hongmen Military Department besides being Cloud Dragon Army Commander, as a soldier not returning on time for muster is a military affair, Hou Quan naturally needed his cooperation for investigation.

Three days ago, when Liu Yuan received Hou Quan’s message, his initial reaction was naturally confusion, but due to responsibility, he first looked into Ying Yi from Hongmen Civil Affairs Department, found Ji Hong’s lodging in Hongmen, and immediately visited.

Upon visiting, Liu Yuan discovered the problem.

The Ji Hong siblings, astonishingly, had not returned home for six days.

Great Xia strictly enforces military discipline, and failed attendance during non-leave periods is a serious offense, punished with ten to fifty strokes of the military rod at minimum, or expulsion from the military at worst, this is the first rule everyone memorizes upon joining the military.

Ji Hong not reporting back to the Dragon Martial Army after leave, in itself was significant, otherwise Hou Quan wouldn’t have contacted them personally about it.

Considering the siblings went hunting and hadn’t returned for six days, it was almost certain something happened to them.

Upon determining something was amiss, Liu Yuan immediately turned to the Prison Department.

From Liu Yuan’s account, hearing that Ji Hong didn’t report back to the Bashang Military Camp on time, Zhao Bao immediately realized the seriousness of the matter, and thus began to treat the siblings’ disappearance case seriously.

This seriousness soon bore results.

With three Vice Chiefs of Punishment, he investigated around the North City for two days, quickly identifying the last destination before the siblings disappeared as the outskirts of Beining Mountain.

Last night, the three Vice Chiefs of Punishment, along with over a hundred Iron Order Prison Wardens, coupled with a battalion Liu Yuan dispatched from Cloud Dragon Army, totaling over two hundred individuals, conducted a thorough search around the outskirts of Beining Mountain.

The solitary grave of Ji Jiang before them was the outcome of this search.

Ji Hong is no trivial figure, with his identity as a Dragon Martial Army soldier already carrying weight, not to mention his top-grade Battle Body Qualification, and having personally received commendation from Lord Xia Hong; such a person, with his sister dead and himself missing, created a matter that Zhao Bao dared not conceal, and he instinctively sensed a whiff of conspiracy in it, thus immediately informing Lin Kai and Liu Yuan.

This led to the present scene, with Lin Kai, Liu Yuan, and Li Longkai, together with Zhao Bao, staring intently at the solitary grave.

Zhao Bao, with his mind racing, suddenly sensed something and turned to see Lin Kai watching him. He immediately guessed what Lin Kai was thinking and hastily responded with urgency, “Lord Lin, you wouldn’t suspect that I killed Ji Jiang, would you? Even if I were more muddle-headed, I wouldn’t commit such a stupid act…”

“I’m not suspecting you!”

Lin Kai directly waved his hand to interrupt Zhao Bao, shaking his head and solemnly said, “Let’s not talk about how Ji Jiang died, she left with Ji Hong on the first night’s second half; this tombstone, most likely, was erected by Ji Hong for her…”

Saying this, he furrowed his brow and continued, “What do you think, why didn’t Ji Hong return to Hongmen after erecting the tombstone for her?”

“Dare not return, unwilling to return, cannot return, these are the only three possibilities!”

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