Moon Island is brightly lit at night. The trees in the Marquis's mansion are covered with lights, and even the forests on the island are decorated with lights wherever there is a path, regardless of whether anyone walks on the path or whether the lights will blind the birds and insects.

Zhang Fan and Qiu Wanyan sat in the garden pavilion, drinking tea and chatting. Every now and then, servants would come over to refill their tea or take away the empty snack boxes.

Alice had come and gone several times, and eventually she simply sat down and listened to her mother and that bastard chat.

Hey! I didn't realize this bastard knew so much. He can actually chat with his mother, who comes from a scholarly family, about everything under the sun.

Qiu Wanyan listened with a smile, then beckoned to a servant to bring a Go set, and played a game with Zhang Fan in the pavilion.

Alice didn't understand Go, so she could only watch the spectacle from the sidelines. Listening to the ticking sound of the Go stones hitting the board, and watching the black and white pieces fall onto the squares, Alice felt like all she could see were the spinning black and white stones. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and finally she simply lay down on the table next to her and fell asleep.

The two were able to continue their conversation. Alice was snoring loudly beside them. Zhang Fan felt he should record the sound so that Alice's admirers could see that their fairy-like girl actually snores when she sleeps.

The three of them sat there past dinner time, but there was actually enough snack on the table to fill them up, so Qiu Wanyan didn't ask the servants to prepare dinner for the three of them.

"Madam, the Marquis has returned to the manor and instructed his servants to bring General Zhang over." Butler Ralph bowed in greeting under the pavilion.

"Okay." Qiu Wanyan stood up and shook Alice awake. "Baby, it's dawn!"

"Huh? It's dawn?" Alice looked up, her face covered in strands of hair. "Where's my bag? I have to go to school..."

"This child's sleep gone mad." Qiu Wanyan shook her head helplessly, took Alice's hand, and helped her out of the pavilion. "Go back to your room and sleep some more!"

Watching the two leave, Zhang Fan suddenly felt a little guilty. Alice was forced to take a leave of absence from school, and it seemed that the reason was him.

From the perspective of the nobility, Alice wasn't actually that bad; she was just a bit arrogant. Compared to those so-called nobles who treated human life like dirt, Alice could even be considered kind-hearted.

"General Zhang, this way please." Butler Ralph extended his hand and waited respectfully under the pavilion.

Zhang Fan walked down the steps and followed Ralph to the room where Marquis Charles was. This was his second time here, and he knew the way very well.

The butler, Ralph, knocked on the door a few times.

"Master, General Zhang has arrived."

"Come in."

The butler, Ralph, opened the door, stood there without going in, and waited for Zhang Fan to enter before gently closing the door behind him.

Marquis Charles was reviewing documents at his desk in the room. When he saw Zhang Fan enter, he put the documents aside, smiled, and pointed to the chair opposite the desk, inviting Zhang Fan to sit down.

"Good morning, sir!"

Zhang Fan gave a standard military salute in front of his desk before sitting down.

He was nominally there to report to the Marquis Charles, so it was more appropriate for him to act as a soldier. The Marquis Charles, in addition to his title, also held the rank of General, though it was merely a nominal civilian post, he was still his nominal superior.

"I heard from Madam that you went to Xiliang?"

Marquis Charles sat across from Zhang Fan at the desk, his sharp gaze and the iconic hooked nose of the Charles family making Zhang Fan feel as if he were sitting opposite an eagle.

Qiu Wanyan believed that it was pointless to hide Zhang Fan's trip to Xiliang from Marquis Charles. Given his abilities and concern for Xiliang, any slight movement in Xiliang would surely be reported to him by someone else.

In that case, it would be more likely to avoid arousing suspicion by openly and proactively bringing up the matter with Marquis Charles.

So Qiu Wanyan estimated the time, and before Marquis Charlie received the intelligence after Zhang Fan entered Xiliang, she generously and naturally told the Marquis about her request for Zhang Fan to go to Xiliang on business during their daily conversation.

“Yes, entrusted by the lady, I went to Xiliang to capture a group of tomb raiders.” Zhang Fan’s wording had been discussed with Qiu Wanyan in the pavilion, and their words corroborated each other, so there was no logical problem.

“Xiliang is not a place you can just come and go as you please,” Marquis Charles said with a smile. “Even I need the old gentleman’s permission to enter Xiliang.”

Zhang Fan felt that Marquis Charles was being sarcastic, because when he said he was going to Xiliang to investigate the tomb raiders, the other party's focus was not on the tomb raiders, but on how he got to Xiliang. Wasn't that strange?

“My lord is busy with official duties, and my wife does not want to trouble you with such trivial matters,” Zhang Fan replied without hesitation. “My wife knows that I am Princess Alice’s classmate, and that my lord personally recommended me to Prince Reinhardt. I also have a female soldier regiment under my command, so she thought I was the most suitable candidate and that’s why she chose me.”

"In my humble opinion, the Madam's order is naturally also the Marquis's order, so I went to Xiliang without reporting to you beforehand. Please forgive me, sir."

“You did nothing wrong in this respect, no need to apologize. The lady’s orders are my orders.” Marquis Charles nodded, letting Zhang Fan continue, “How was the result? Have the people been caught?”

“Tomb raiding is rampant in Xiliang Lingshan. The mountains surrounding the Tang King’s Mausoleum have been dug up beyond recognition.” Zhang Fan answered seriously, as if reporting a work report. “The underground rock strata are hollow, causing the Tang King’s Mausoleum to collapse and become a lake recently. The tomb raiders have all perished in the fish, and their remains have not been found.”

"Has the identity of the mastermind been investigated?" Marquis Charlie asked Zhang Fan casually, twirling the ring on his finger. "Xiliang not only has strict restrictions on outsiders, but the Ryan National Army also has a tight blockade of Xiliang's outer space. Small thieves without connections can't sneak in."

Zhang Fan glanced at Marquis Charlie's fingers out of the corner of his eye and muttered to himself: "These little hand movements are so obvious, it's a sign of guilt. Isn't the mastermind right here?"

However, Zhang Fan still maintained a serious expression: "We haven't been able to find out who's behind this yet, but we have identified the identities of three of the tomb raiders."

As he spoke, Zhang Fan placed a document containing the nicknames "Third Uncle," "Big Monkey," and "Dog" on the table in front of him.

Marquis Charles took the document, glanced at it briefly, and then closed it.

"Has anyone else seen this document before this?"

"No." Zhang Fan shook his head. "The lord was the first person I reported to."

“Very good.” Marquis Charles nodded. “I will handle the follow-up investigation myself, and you don’t need to follow along anymore. This involves the lady’s family, which is a private matter and also my responsibility.”

“Okay.” Zhang Fan nodded, offering no objections.

Marquis Charles put the documents aside, seemingly satisfied with Zhang Fan's answer.

Zhang Fan then gave Marquis Charles a detailed report on what he had seen and heard after entering the Tang Dynasty Mausoleum. His report was entirely true, without a single falsehood, except for the part about entering the underground dome of the mausoleum.

According to Qiu Wanyan, there's no need to hide things from Marquis Charlie since he'll find out sooner or later; revealing them beforehand will actually earn his trust.

The dome-shaped space beneath the coffin of the Tang King has now completely collapsed and no longer exists. As for entering the underground dome, the floating island, and conversing with the Tang King inside the "cocoon," Zhang Fan only told Mr. Qiu Qingquan and Qiu Wanyan. Including Qiu Wanlan, only four people in total knew about it.

Even if tomb raiders occasionally succeeded in entering the Tang Dynasty Mausoleum, Zhang Fan believed that he was the first person to enter the underground dome. He did not think that Marquis Charles had extraordinary abilities to investigate this matter thoroughly. Therefore, after mentioning that he saw the coffin of the Tang Dynasty King in the underground palace, he considered the matter closed and did not continue.

"Is that all?" Marquis Charles asked with a smile after listening to Zhang Fan's account. "You simply opened the Tang King's coffin and then came out?"

"There was nothing we could do." Zhang Fan nodded, explaining with some regret, "The underground palace had already begun to collapse, and we couldn't stay any longer."

"Is that so?"

Marquis Charles stopped turning the ring, his eyes narrowed into slits with a smile, the corners of his mouth turned up, and his hooked nose cast a shadow on his lips, making him look like a viper spitting its tongue.

"Why don't you tell me about your entry into the underground dome?"