Chapter 44: Chapter 42 Black Crow
A moment later.
Chen Mu, accompanied by Liu Song, Li Tie, and seven or eight servants, arrived at an alley located on the west side of Ninth District.
This was a territory where thieves’ gangs were active.
The thieves’ gang might sound like a unified gang, but in reality, it was very chaotic inside; there were thieves, kidnappers, and their activities were not confined to Ninth District—they were completely different from comparatively cohesive gangs like the Red Gold Gang and the Black Crow Sect.
In fact, the thieves’ gang was always suppressed by gangs like the Red Gold Gang because the latter collected “protection silver,” which is protection money. The activities of the thieves’ gang could ruin the Red Gold Gang’s revenue.
The gang that occupied this territory had to offer a hefty sum to the Red Gold Gang in order to operate here.
“Yo, Head Constable, good morning!”
An outsider with a sneaky appearance had already seen Chen Mu and his party approaching, but did not run away. Instead, he stood up with a smile, performed a salute, and clasped his hands towards Chen Mu and the others.
Chen Mu did not speak. Liu Song, who was next to him, asked with a cold face, “Where’s your leader?”
“Boss Wu is inside. May I ask if the Head Constable is here to find someone or something…”
The man asked in a low voice, head bowed.
Liu Song cursed, “Who are you to be in charge? Lead the way!”
“Yes, yes.”
The man glanced at Chen Mu in his blue clothes, smiled obsequiously, and responded repeatedly, saying, “Please, this way.”
In fact, he wasn’t really trying to find out the purpose of Chen Mu and others’ visit; it was just a ploy to buy some time to alert and allow a response from people inside. After all, it is never good news when law enforcement shows up at your door.
And since a Head Constable had arrived with a group of men, they had to be even more cautious.
The man cautiously led Chen Mu and the others into the alley, which was very narrow and complex, like a labyrinth. They turned here and there, and after several twists and turns, they finally arrived at a spacious courtyard.
In the courtyard.
A man around forty or fifty years old with white at his temples and a tobacco pipe hanging from his waist came out to meet them. He smiled and clasped his hands towards Chen Mu, “Is this Head Constable Chen from the City Defense Division? If there is anything you need, just call for me. There was no need for you to take the trouble of coming here in person.”
Others might not be well-informed, but as Boss Wu of this sector’s thieves’ gang, he knew that Chen Mu was not just on good terms with Min Baoyi; he even had connections with Xu Hongyu from the City Guard General, and his prospects were boundless.
A normal constable, even a Head Constable, he could deal with. But Chen Mu was someone he absolutely did not want to offend.
“It is Boss Wu, I have heard of you. I have a relative who has gone missing, and I need your help to find someone.”
“The person’s name is Zhang Youying, a girl, not yet twenty years old.”
Chen Mu spoke in a calm tone.
Upon hearing this, Boss Wu immediately smiled, “A small matter. Just give the order, and we’ll get right on it… Xiao Liu, go, find someone, see which blind fool has messed with Head Constable Chen’s relative!”
Someone on that side immediately responded, then hurried off.
Meanwhile, Boss Wu clasped his hands towards Chen Mu, saying, “Finding the person might take a little time. This place is humble, but I’ve hidden a few bottles of good wine. Head Constable Chen, why don’t you sit and rest, moisten your throat?”
“No need,”
Chen Mu replied indifferently.
“Alright, then please rest.”
Boss Wu responded with a smile, and everyone waited in the courtyard for news.
About half an hour passed.
The skinny man who had run out earlier sneaked back, hesitating when he saw Chen Mu. But he still went to Boss Wu’s side first and whispered a few words in his ear.
Upon hearing this, Wuye’s brow furrowed slightly, and he let out a wry laugh before saying, “Head Constable, Xiaoliu has already asked around among the people of the kidnappers, and nobody has seen your relative. The people there wouldn’t dare to defy my wishes; most likely, they genuinely have no idea.”
“No idea?”
Liu Song stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, “In the Ninth District, things and people go missing. Is there anything you, Wuye, don’t know about?”
Wuye was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure of how to respond. He glanced at Chen Mu, and after much hesitation, he finally said, “The Head Constable must have also noticed that over these past two or three months, quite a few people have gone missing. But actually, most of these cases have nothing to do with us. As for where these people have gone, we truly have no clarity. But if I had to say, well… we do have a vague suspicion about the direction.”
“Speak.”
Chen Mu said indifferently.
Wuye looked around, and after briefly hesitating, he still stepped forward a few paces to Chen Mu’s side, and said in a lowered voice, “It seems that there’s something going on with the Black Crow Sect, but this is just our guess…”
He didn’t want to offend Chen Mu or the Black Crow Sect, but with Chen Mu having come to him, he really had no choice.
The Black Crow Sect?
Upon hearing Wuye’s words, Chen Mu’s eyebrows immediately knitted together.
Compared to the thieves’ gangs and a character like Wuye, the Black Crow Sect was a much more troublesome affair.
According to what Chen Mu had learned recently, the Black Crow Sect’s territory and influence in the Ninth District was somewhat inferior to that of the Red Gold Gang. However, the issue was that the Red Gold Gang was based solely in the Ninth District, whereas the Black Crow Sect had its reach and infiltration in several nearby districts.
If this had been a normal situation involving the Black Crow Sect, he would have preferred not to get involved. But since Chen Hong had come to him for help, he felt obliged to lend a hand.
Chen Mu thought for a moment, then turned to Wuye and asked, “Are you sure?”
Wuye responded with an embarrassed smile, “This is precisely our line of work…”
He actually had no evidence and wasn’t very certain, but, at his level of operation, various bits of intelligence had reached his ears. In these last two or three months, the most suspicious activity had indeed been linked to the Black Crow Sect.
“Fine.”
Chen Mu nodded and turned to leave with Liu Song and the others.
Wuye only breathed a sigh of relief once he saw Chen Mu depart.
The thin man beside him edged closer and said, “Wuye, why were you so polite to him? He’s just a Head Constable, not the Prefecture Chief.”
“You know nothing.”
Wuye slapped the man on the forehead in annoyance.
From his perspective, Chen Mu was not only a man of considerable background and heritage, but his abilities were also far from ordinary. In the future, he was certain to be somebody important, at least capable of reaching the position of Prefecture Chief and unlike those other Head Constables who did nothing but loaf around and wait for death.
Otherwise, he would not have revealed any information about the Black Crow Sect just now; if the sect found out and came after him, it would be like inviting disaster for no reason at all.
…
“Head Chen, where to now?”
Once out of the alley, Liu Song quietly asked beside Chen Mu.
Wuye’s voice had been very low earlier, and although he was quite close, Liu Song hadn’t heard exactly what had been said. However, judging by the expressions, he could guess that some useful information had been passed to Chen Mu, otherwise Chen Mu wouldn’t have left so readily.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Mu said, “To the Red Gold Gang.”
That’s right.
Instead of looking for the Black Crow Sect, they were going to seek out the Red Gold Gang.
The reliability of the information provided by Wuye was still unclear, yet the Red Gold Gang had always been in conflict with the Black Crow Sect, with many encounters between them. The most knowledgeable about one’s adversary is often the adversary themselves.
If the Black Crow Sect was secretly abducting people and causing some trouble, the Red Gold Gang would definitely know something about it, perhaps even more than Wuye’s group. Moreover, they would definitely not conceal it from him, considering they would be all too pleased with him causing trouble for the Black Crow Sect.
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