Chapter 53

The village is gone, and no one cares.

Li Banfeng forced his way into the ticket hall, and someone cared.

This world is too unfamiliar to Li Banfeng, and there are too many things to adapt to.

Xiao Yeci urged: "Benefactor, let's go faster; that old woman was a member of the Jiang Xiang Gang; this point should not be a lie."

Li Banfeng turned his head and asked: "What is the background of the Jiang Xiang Gang?"

Xiao Yeci was stunned for a moment.

This man is brave and resourceful; he looks like someone who has been in the world for a long time. How could he not even know the Jiang Xiang Gang?

It's fine if he doesn't know; I'll just explain it to him properly, let him learn something from me, and it will be easier to get along on the road.

"The Jiang Xiang Gang is a large gang, with disciples in Yaowanggou, Lushuiwan, and Haichiling, but they generally don't go to Kudai Kan; people in Kudai Kan kill members of the Jiang Xiang Gang whenever they see them."

Hearing these familiar place names, Li Banfeng was very interested: "What grudge does Kudai Kan have with the Jiang Xiang Gang?"

"There are all kinds of people in the Jiang Xiang Gang; there are quite a few robbers like that old woman who kill and rob, and quite a few who set up traps to cheat money. Kudai Kan doesn't care about these things, but there is one type of person that Kudai Kan cannot tolerate."

"What kind of person?"

"Human traffickers, those who kidnap and sell people. There are many joy cultivators in Kudai Kan; although they cultivate by seeking pleasure, joy cultivators have special constitutions and it is very difficult to give birth to children. Being able to give birth to one is a great thing, so joy cultivators value children very much.

Human traffickers make a living by selling children, so naturally, joy cultivators cannot tolerate human traffickers, so the people in Kudai Kan and the Jiang Xiang Gang are at odds."

Joy cultivators value children; this gave Li Banfeng a new understanding of joy cultivators.

As for this Jiang Xiang Gang, Kudai Kan's attitude toward them is completely correct; as long as they are involved with human traffickers, kill them whenever you see them, and you can't go wrong.

Xiao Yeci reminded: "Benefactor, you must be more careful; once the people from the Jiang Xiang Gang discover that this old woman is dead, they will definitely investigate. If they find us, they will definitely retaliate."

Li Banfeng smiled bitterly in his heart!

Even if I hadn't killed this old woman, the Jiang Xiang Gang wouldn't let me go; their gang leader wants to execute me!

Li Banfeng's grudge with the Jiang Xiang Gang will not end in a short time; Li Banfeng had long been prepared for this.

But would the Jiang Xiang Gang care about the life or death of this old woman?

A gang composed of evil criminals, yet their connections are so tight?

"The old lady hides at home every day; would the people from the Jiang Xiang Gang still care about her?"

"They care; I've seen it in the newspaper," Xiao Yeci explained patiently, "There was once a poison cultivator from the Jiang Xiang Gang who hid in the deep mountains to refine poison and often kidnapped villagers from under the mountain to test the poison.

Later, the village under the mountain couldn't bear it anymore, raised a sum of money, hired two swordsmen, went up the mountain, and killed the poison cultivator.

They thought they could live a good life from then on, but who would have thought that the people from the Jiang Xiang Gang would come back for revenge and slaughter the entire village, not leaving a single one behind."

Li Banfeng was shocked: "For such a big case, surely someone cares! I've also seen people in uniforms! Don't they care?"

"People in uniforms..." Xiao Yeci pondered for a long time, "You mean the police, right?"

Police?

Isn't it only in the concessions that they are called police?

Li Banfeng didn't dwell on the title and continued to ask: "For such a big case, don't the police care?"

"They care, but they only do superficial work. The police are people of the Guanfang Envoy; they only do things according to the Guanfang Envoy's instructions. If the Guanfang Envoy tells them to go to the village and take a look, they will go and take a look, record the matter, and that's considered finishing the job."

"And who is the Guanfang Envoy?"

"The Guanfang Envoy is a person from the outer states." Xiao Yeci looked Li Banfeng up and down; Li Banfeng's lack of common sense made her even more surprised.

But Xiao Yeci did not deceive Li Banfeng; all the way, she explained a large amount of common sense about Puluo Continent to Li Banfeng.

"Ask the Guanfang for external affairs, look at the banner for internal affairs; this is the rule of Puluo Continent!"

This one sentence almost summarized the entire order system of Puluo Continent.

Puluo Continent is composed of many towns; how many towns there are, Xiao Yeci couldn't say clearly.

Matters between towns are called external affairs, and matters within towns are called internal affairs.

Yaowanggou is a town, a very large town. If the residents of Yaowanggou want to leave Yaowanggou through legal channels, they must pass through the Guanfang Envoy.

The Guanfang Envoy is a manager sent from the outer states. Their task is to maintain public order, and their key task is to control the flow of personnel between towns.

"If you want to go to Kudai Kan, you must have a travel permit, otherwise you can't take a car, you can't take a boat, and even if you walk, you can't pass the checkpoints!"

Through Xiao Yeci's explanation, Li Banfeng understood the channels for obtaining a travel permit.

To get a travel permit, one must contact the local Guanfang Envoy and the destination Guanfang Envoy.

Only if the local Guanfang Envoy is willing to let you go and the destination Guanfang Envoy is willing to receive you, is it possible to obtain a travel permit.

Without a travel permit, one does not possess the legal qualification to leave Yaowanggou; this is also the main duty of the Guanfang Envoy and their subordinates, the police.

If Li Banfeng is hunted down on the street, the police might not care.

But if Li Banfeng wants to cause trouble at the station, the police will definitely care because the station is a key management area for the Guanfang Envoy.

Can Li Banfeng get a travel permit?

Judging from Xiao Yeci's description, this matter is very difficult.

Like Li Banfeng's situation, the local Guanfang Envoy generally would not let an outsider of unknown origin pass.

On the outer states' side, it's also not certain that they would allow Li Banfeng to return. Looking at it this way, Li Banfeng's hope of obtaining a travel permit is almost zero.

"Without a travel permit, can't even leave Yaowanggou?"

Xiao Yeci shook her head: "It's not that everyone can't leave; the peddler comes and goes as he pleases, and no one can stop him."

The peddler wanders through various places in Puluo Continent and seems not to be restricted by the Guanfang Envoy.

What kind of existence is he?

Where do the drugs he has that lead people to enter the path come from?

Ask the Guanfang for external affairs, Li Banfeng understood; look at the banner for internal affairs, what does that mean?

Xiao Yeci explained: "Matters within towns are handled by the families in the towns. Whoever's banner is harder, whoever's words count."

"Last year, something happened in Haichiling. There was a tofu flower seller surnamed Wang, and a fried dough stick seller surnamed Liu."

"These two were both poor people; logically speaking, they shouldn't have caused any trouble, but one day, they were fighting for business at the station, and they really blew the matter up."

"Old Wang, who sold tofu flower, hit Chen Laoliu, who sold fried dough sticks. Chen Laoliu couldn't swallow this anger; after leaving the station, he fought Old Wang again."

"Inside the station, they were under the control of the police, so they fought with some restraint; after leaving the station, the police no longer cared, and both of them used lethal force, and Old Wang, who sold tofu flower, was seriously injured."

"This matter alarmed the wealthy family in Haichiling, the Wang family."

"Although Old Wang was a poor person, he was ultimately a member of the Wang family. The Wang family wanted to take revenge for Old Wang, and Chen Laoliu, who sold fried dough sticks, was also seriously injured."

"The Liu family also had influence in Haichiling, and for this, they broke out into conflict with the Wang family. The conflict lasted for a month, both sides suffered many casualties, and finally, under the mediation of the Chu family, a large family in Puluo Continent, it calmed down."

"Can the Chu family control the Wang family and the Liu family?"

Xiao Yeci said: "The Chu family is different; the Chu family is one of the four big families in Puluo Continent. Besides the Chu family, there are the Ma family, the He family, and the Lu family."

The He family, the Lu family?

Could it be the families of He Jiaqing and Lu Xiaolan?

Li Banfeng didn't distract his energy and listened carefully to Xiao Yeci's account.

The so-called "look at the banner for internal affairs" refers to the banners of these large and small families.

Large families have appeal throughout Puluo Continent, and small families have a certain influence in a certain region.

These large and small families have varying degrees of influence in various places in Puluo Continent, and they use their own influence to control the order of the entire Puluo Continent.

Then what is the relationship between these large families and the Guanfang Envoy?

There is a relationship, but Xiao Yeci couldn't say clearly.

She talked about the common sense of Puluo Continent all the way, talking for several hours until her throat was hoarse.

The thirty-mile mountain road was muddy and rugged; for Li Banfeng, it didn't count for much, but for the exhausted Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying, this journey was truly too hard.

Arriving at Ligou, it was already dawn. Li Banfeng first went to the Feng Ji General Store; the shop's front door was tightly closed, and after knocking for a long time, no one answered.

Where did Shopkeeper Feng go?

Afraid I'd settle scores with him, so he ran away?

Not necessarily, right?

A business of over a hundred thousand, he couldn't just throw away the shop and not want it.

Yu Nan, the owner of the Yu Family Cloth Shop next door, wearing a cheongsam and holding a lady's cigarette, took a puff, gently exhaled a cloud of smoke, and took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Their shop hasn't opened for several days, and I don't know where they went to find fun."

This female boss had a long face, a high nose bridge, almond-shaped eyes, a full forehead, a rounded chin, and a tight cheongsam that could barely contain her honest conscience and the roundness below her waist.

Just like what He Jiaqing described, this was a beauty who walked out of a calendar.

Li Banfeng's attention was not on this beauty; he was thinking about Shopkeeper Feng's whereabouts.

Went to find fun?

What kind of thing could be so happy?

Li Banfeng turned his head to look at Xiao Yeci: "Where are you going? I'll send you to the door."

Business is business; the service must be in place.

Xiao Yeci said: "We are going to the He family's old residence; I heard it's near this main street."

The He family's old residence!

"You can't go there; if you go, you'll lose your life." Hearing that this mother and daughter were going to the He family's old residence, Li Banfeng hurriedly advised them to stop.

Lu Xiaolan lived in the He family's old residence; to be precise, it was Lu Xiaolan who was trapped by the house spirit.

With the strength of this mother and daughter, if they went to the old residence, they would just be substitutes for Lu Xiaolan.

Hearing that the He family's old residence was dangerous, Xiao Yeci was in a dilemma: "Benefactor, what exactly happened at the He family's old residence? We traveled thousands of miles to come here, just to go there, and now you say we can't go..."

Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment, his expression gentle: "I said you can't go because if you go, you will die. Do you want to die that much?

If you want to die that much, why go through so much effort to escape? Isn't dying anywhere the same? I can also send you on your way."

Xiao Yeci looked at Li Banfeng blankly, not knowing how to respond.

Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci calmly; he really might take action.

Lu Chunying stood in front of Li Banfeng and said: "Benefactor, we won't go; we'll listen to you!"

Xiao Yeci was somewhat hesitant.

She knew Li Banfeng must have good intentions, and she also knew the He family's old residence must be very dangerous.

But the purpose of this trip was the He family's old residence; having walked to here, how could they not go?

We won't enter the door; can we just stand at the door and take a look?

Xiao Yeci looked at Li Banfeng earnestly, hoping Li Banfeng could give her some more suggestions.

Li Banfeng revealed a smile and said kindly: "Pay money."

"Uh..."

"One thousand yuan, do you want to renege on the debt?" Li Banfeng was not so kind anymore.

PS: Yesterday I received over two hundred posts; Sala sincerely thanks all the readers for their support!

(End of chapter)