Chapter 461: The Red Lotus Sect Lurking in the City

Tongluo Lane is in the south of Heimu Prefecture City; it is an old residential area. The lane is so narrow that only two people can walk side by side, and the houses on both sides are low and dilapidated, with mottled, peeling wall plaster revealing the dusty mud bricks underneath.

At the entrance of the lane stands an old, crooked locust tree. Under the tree sit several old women cooling off, shaking their palm-leaf fans and chatting about daily life.

After arriving at Tongluo Lane, Cheng Feng did not go to visit immediately; instead, he walked back and forth through the lane twice to observe the terrain.

Both ends of the lane have exits, but they are quite concealed, and there are two side paths in the middle that lead to adjacent lanes. If human traffickers were at work, such terrain would indeed be suitable for committing a crime.

Only then did he begin to knock on doors one by one.

The parents of the first two missing children had already told the Yamen people what they needed to say countless times, repeating the same few sentences over and over—the children were lost on the way to buy sugar figurines in the evening, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they were gone when they returned.

There were no witnesses and no suspicious sounds; it was as if they had vanished into thin air.

Cheng Feng was not anxious; he sat at the third house for a long time.

The child lost from this family was an eight-year-old boy named Douzi. Douzi's mother cried until her eyes were swollen, speaking incoherently, but Douzi's grandmother remained relatively calm.

Cheng Feng squatted in front of the old woman and patiently asked questions one by one, from the details of the day the child went missing, all the way to the child's usual habits, favorite places, and who he played well with.

At first, the old woman did not say anything useful, but just as Cheng Feng was about to take his leave, she suddenly remembered a detail.

"Before Douzi went out that day, he told me there were magpies calling in the empty house at the end of the lane, and he said he wanted to go raid the magpie nest," the old woman said, wiping away tears again. "I was busy at the stove at the time and didn't take it to heart. Who would have known..."

Cheng Feng's heart stirred slightly.

He had noticed the empty house at the end of Tongluo Lane when he was walking through the lane earlier. It was an old house that had been abandoned for several years; the door panels were crooked, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and the walls were covered in dead vines.

When he passed by the entrance at that time, he had faintly smelled a trace of blood, but he thought it was someone nearby killing chickens or fish and did not think much of it.

He did not alert anyone and climbed over the wall into the empty house alone.

The courtyard was quiet, and a few rats in the weeds scurried away quickly upon hearing the movement.

Cheng Feng crossed the courtyard and pushed open the half-closed door of the main room; it was empty inside, with nothing but dust-covered broken tables and chairs and thick spiderwebs. He went to the east wing and west wing, which were also empty.

Just when he thought he was overthinking, he noticed an inconspicuous stone slab in the corner of the kitchen.

In the cracks of the stone slab, a small patch of dark brown stains seeped out.

Cheng Feng squatted down, gently scraped the stain with his finger, and brought it to his nose to sniff; his expression suddenly darkened.

It was blood. And it was fresh, no more than three days old.

He lifted the stone slab, and a thick, bloody stench rushed toward him. Under the stone slab was a cellar, pitch-black and bottomless.

Cheng Feng took a fire starter from his bosom, lit it, and leaped down. The cellar was not large, only about a zhang square, and in the corner were piled several children's corpses, all of which had already stiffened.

The chests of the corpses had been sliced open, their internal organs missing; the state of their deaths was extremely miserable.

Cheng Feng's gaze suddenly turned icy.

"This technique... I'm afraid it's an old friend."

He did not rush to examine the corpses, but instead used the faint firelight to carefully inspect the four walls and the floor of the cellar.

Twisted, strange symbols were carved on the walls, and a crude magic array was drawn on the floor with fresh blood—an eight-petaled lotus, with a bronze bowl placed in the center of the flower, the blood inside already congealed and blackened.

It was undoubtedly the Red Lotus Sect.

Cheng Feng did not alert anyone, quietly retreated from the cellar, and rushed back to the Imperial Guard Division at top speed.

After Chen Wenjing finished listening to his report, that eternally unchanging smiling face finally disappeared completely.

He slammed the table and stood up, his voice as cold as if quenched in ice: "It really is the Red Lotus Sect? Are you sure?"

"The technique matches the evil arts of the Liefuoyimai of the Red Lotus Sect." Cheng Feng's tone was calm, but the coldness in his eyes was undisguised.

"If my judgment is correct, the three children missing in Tongluo Lane are just the beginning. If left unchecked, there will be more to follow."

Chen Wenjing was silent for a moment, then asked in a deep voice: "How many people? Where is the stronghold?"

"Based on the freshness of the bloodstains on the ground, I speculate that he is still in the city and will continue to commit crimes in the near future." Cheng Feng paused and took a piece of paper from his bosom with the symbols from the cellar drawn on it. "As for his whereabouts, I need more time to investigate."

Chen Wenjing took the paper and glanced at it, a cold light flashing in his eyes as he made a prompt decision: "I give you three days of authority to call upon the brothers of the patrol battalion near Tongluo Lane to assist. You must ferret him out before the murderer strikes again."

As he spoke, he took a token from under the desk and handed it to Cheng Feng. "This is a temporary transfer order; you can use this to mobilize ordinary public servants, but I will take responsibility if anything goes wrong."

Cheng Feng took the token, his expression unchanged, and only asked: "This case... how are the merit points calculated?"

Chen Wenjing was stunned, then shook his head, unable to laugh or cry: "You kid, what time is it and you're still thinking about merit? This case was originally just an ordinary missing persons case, twenty points. But if it is indeed the work of the Red Lotus Sect, the nature of it changes. According to the standard for exterminating evil cultists, the reward is one hundred and fifty merit points. I will apply for an additional special reward for you."

One hundred and fifty points.

Cheng Feng silently did the math in his heart. Adding the sixty-five points he had saved before, plus these one hundred and fifty, that made two hundred and fifteen points. This amount of merit was still far from enough to exchange for a superior cultivation technique, but at least it would allow him to take a look at the second floor of the Gongxunge.

He tucked the token into his bosom and cupped his hands toward Chen Wenjing: "Within three days, I will catch him."

When he came out of the Merit Hall, the sky had already darkened. The shadow of the old locust tree in the courtyard was stretched long by the setting sun, and several strongmen at the Martial Arts Arena were finishing their work, patting each other on the shoulders and making plans to go drinking.

Wang Meng saw Cheng Feng from afar and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Brother Cheng, the brothers are putting together a gathering tonight, are you coming?"

Cheng Feng waved his hand and walked out of the Imperial Guard Division gate without looking back.

His figure soon merged into the night, and the Black Iron Token at his waist swayed gently with his steps, casting a cold luster in the moonlight.

The second floor is getting closer and closer.

Once this case is finished, my basic mission quota will be almost complete.

According to the news I got from those old men,

it's just like the probation period at a job in my past life; once the probation period is over, you start taking on missions based on your real, hard strength.

Free choice, life and death voluntary.

Although this probation period has the suspicion of being exploited,

it is what it is; capital is everywhere...

Cheng Feng couldn't even be bothered to complain.