Chapter 1856: This is a Barrier

"Alright." Anran nodded and walked forward with Chen Yu.

Chen Yu reached out to touch it, only to feel that the stone of the pillar was ice-cold to the touch, and there were many profound Talisman symbols on the pillar.

Chen Yu closed his eyes, feeling a surge of power, and after a moment, he opened his eyes and said, "This place is a Barrier entrance."

"A Barrier entrance? I've lived here for over twenty years and have never heard of such a thing." Anran looked at Chen Yu in astonishment.

"The Barrier was previously sealed, but it has loosened recently for unknown reasons." Chen Yu's expression was serious: "The Pope reaching his hand here must be for this reason."

"What is inside the Barrier?" Anran asked, puzzled.

"I don't know, but I feel that there must be something inside that Hepens needs; perhaps his purpose in coming here is because of this Barrier," Chen Yu said.

"What should we do next?" Anran was a bit nervous, as things from an unknown world might appear in this place.

"Let's hold our ground for now." Chen Yu thought for a moment and said, "First, go inside and find that little girl; after ensuring she is safe, we will resolve the matters here."

"Alright." Anran nodded and drove the car straight into the entrance of the slum.

As soon as the car stopped, a group of half-grown children ran over, reaching out to beg from the two, while not far away, some cold-looking people were watching these children.

Anran reached out to disperse these children and told Chen Yu: "These little children are all controlled by others; they will steal things."

"Moreover, even if they beg for money, it will be taken away by the people controlling them behind the scenes; they only have a little food every day to sustain their lives."

Chen Yu nodded slightly; even though he had never been here before, he still knew the ins and outs of such places.

In this world, no matter where it is, as long as these children are controlled by others, their Life and Appearance are mostly like this, right?

Even in Huaxia, it is the same; it is not as if there haven't been cases in recent years where trafficked children had their hands and feet broken to beg.

Bypassing these children, the two officially walked into the small town.

This small town was not as dilapidated as imagined, but the expressions on the faces of everyone passing by were numb and indifferent; there was no luster in their eyes, as if they had no expectations for life.

Occasionally, one or two clear-headed passersby would pass by, and the look they gave the newcomers was like that of wolves; it seemed as if Chen Yu coming here was like a sheep entering a pack of wolves.

"Mr. Chen, I have already contacted an elder here who has seen Dis before, that is, Yilin's daughter," Anran said.

"Take me to see him." Chen Yu nodded; right now, he knew absolutely nothing about this place, so he could only look for clues bit by bit.

In a large courtyard enclosed by mud walls, Chen Yu met the elder Anran had spoken of.

This was an old man, nearly seventy years old, who had lived here his whole life, and this large courtyard enclosed by mud walls was also the only welfare home in the area.

The old man had adopted hundreds of orphans in his life, including several famous stars and ball players who were now outside, all of whom were raised by him.

He had no desires or demands, working hard every day just to maintain the life of the orphanage, and in the orphanage, there were more than twenty orphans without fathers or mothers.

This old man had helped Anran, so in Anran's eyes, he was like an elder of his own; the two had not seen each other for a long time, so they were naturally very affectionate.

The words the old man spoke were the local dialect, which Chen Yu could not distinguish, so Anran translated for Chen Yu on the side.

"Mr. Chen, he said that those from the Pope had already been stationed here a few months ago; they were preaching here, and many people disappeared after believing in them," Anran said: "As for that girl, before her mother went missing, she had been fostered in the orphanage."

"Later, I heard she believed in the Lord, so the girl was taken away by the Pope."

"Ask him again if he knows what exactly the Pope is doing." Chen Yu pondered slightly and said.

"Yes." Anran turned his head and said a few words to the old man.

The old man glanced at Chen Yu, his expression somewhat puzzled, then he gestured with both hands while saying something to Anran; finally, his gesture was to wave his hand and shake his head, signaling that he did not know anything more.

"He said he doesn't know, and he is not very willing to offend the Pope's people, so there are some things he is unwilling to say out loud." Anran asked repeatedly, but the old man was unwilling to answer anymore.

"I understand, thank him for me." Chen Yu nodded slightly and took out some money, handing it to the old man.

The old man accepted the money, then put his hands together, bowed deeply to Chen Yu, and kept saying words of gratitude.

Chen Yu nodded, then left the place with Anran.

"The old man left a clue, telling us to go find the human trafficker Thomas," Anran said in a low voice after stepping outside.

"A human trafficker?" Chen Yu was puzzled.

"Yes, there are many homeless orphans in this place every day; Thomas is the biggest human trafficker here, and he sells children outside the slums," Chen Yu said: "The fate of those children he traffics is uncertain."

"Those with good luck are sold to families without children, and the children can grow up safely, but they might also be sold to some nobles, and these children will become servants for the nobles' children."

"And those with bad luck will be bought by extremist organizations and trained from a young age to be cold-blooded child soldiers."

"What kind of human suffering is this." Chen Yu shook his head; while speaking, the two arrived at Thomas's home.

Several seven or eight-year-old children stood at the entrance; although these children were not old, their speech and behavior were very mature.

Some of them had cigarettes in their mouths, and some were even smoking marijuana, pointing fingers at the two uninvited guests, Chen Yu and Anran.

As soon as the two walked up, two children surrounded them, and one of them opened his mouth and spat out a string of dialect.

Although it was also the local dialect, the accent was not that heavy, so Chen Yu used his Mental Power to communicate and could understand it.

"Who are you? What are you doing coming to Thomas's house?"

"We are here to find Thomas; is he home?" Anran asked.

"He is not home; you are not welcome here, leave immediately." The two children's tone was stiff; they waved their hands, and more than ten children of similar age surrounded them.

"We will not leave today without seeing Thomas." Anran said: "We have important business with him; you had better let him come out to meet us."

"You want to see Thomas? Play a game with me." A boy grinned and walked up, extinguishing the cigarette in his hand.

His action of extinguishing the cigarette was very mature, as if he were not a child, but an old smoker.

"Fine, what game do you want to play? I'll play with you." Chen Yu smiled slightly.