Chapter 465: Chapter 195: Tracking Down The location Old Qi provided was in the Deep Unexplored District. When Chen Chuan arrived, he found Old Qi’s car parked in a lot. A private tax payment office was just a short distance away.
Old Qi knew how to pick a parking spot.
The city patrol could be unreliable at times, but you could always trust the armed forces stationed at a tax office. If any gang members showed up, their lack of a tax record—citizen or not—would trigger a full investigation that would dig into every aspect of their lives.
He used his Realm Token to contact him. "Old Qi, I’m here."
Old Qi responded immediately. "Brother Chen, over here."
Chen Chuan saw the door of the SUV swing open. Old Qi stepped out and waved him over.
He drove down the parking lot’s scanning lane and pulled into an empty spot. Thanks to his Processing Bureau credentials, he didn’t have to pay for public parking, so the fee that had just popped up was immediately voided.
After getting out of his car, he walked over to Old Qi. The man looked haggard, with a few days’ worth of stubble and dark circles under his eyes, but he didn’t seem to be injured.
In the back seat was a wide-eyed girl of twelve or thirteen with two small pigtails. This had to be Old Qi’s daughter, Qiqi. When she saw Chen Chuan looking her way, she said, "Hello, Big Brother."
Chen Chuan nodded and smiled. "Hello." He then turned to Old Qi. "Old Qi, what’s the situation?"
Old Qi sighed. "They haven’t come looking for me since I started hiding here, but this can’t go on. Qiqi hasn’t been to school in days."
"Is this all about the whereabouts of those materials?" Chen Chuan asked.
"It seems so," Old Qi said.
’That’s a bit strange,’ Chen Chuan thought. ’These Esoteric Materials are difficult to obtain in the Upper City District, but they aren’t exactly rare. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths?’
"I was wondering the same thing at first," Old Qi said. "But then I figured my friend must have gotten his hands on something he shouldn’t have, and now we’re caught up in it."
Chen Chuan thought that was plausible. If so, Old Qi was just an innocent bystander. "Are they watching your apartment now?" he asked.
"Yes. That’s why I don’t dare go back."
"Which gang are they from?"
"The guys who came after me are from a small, local gang," Old Qi said. "If it was just them, I could’ve handled it. My clients aren’t exactly pushovers. But this involves Esoteric Materials, which means there’s definitely a bigger gang from the Lower City District—some other power—backing them. I didn’t want to get in over my head or drag anyone else down with me, so I decided to lay low for a bit."
Chen Chuan knew that Old Qi hadn’t wanted to trouble him, hoping the gang would give up and leave on their own. He understood the sentiment. "Let’s head back now," he said. "I’ll take care of this."
"Okay. I’ll have to trouble you then, Brother Chen." Old Qi’s spirits lifted slightly. With Chen Chuan involved, this matter should be easy to resolve. Still, he felt embarrassed. "Brother Chen, I’m really sorry to make you run all the way out here for my little problem..."
"Don’t say that, Old Qi," Chen Chuan said. "I told you, we’re a team. Besides, I’m the one who asked you to buy the Esoteric Materials in the first place. This involves me too, so you shouldn’t have to shoulder it alone."
They each got into their own cars and drove toward Old Qi’s home, an eighty-story rental tower in the Wuding District. Many of its residents were low- to middle-income citizens.
In reality, most of the money Old Qi earned from his commissions went toward living expenses and his daughter’s tuition; otherwise, renting a place in a better neighborhood wouldn’t have been particularly difficult.
They parked outside, entered the building, and took the elevator up.
As they reached the hallway leading to Old Qi’s apartment, a single glance was all it took for Chen Chuan to spot two men hiding around a corner. They kept glancing in their direction, and the moment they saw Old Qi, they began to touch the Second-hand Realm Tokens on their faces.
"Old Qi, take Qiqi inside," he said. "And don’t come out."
"Right!"
Old Qi understood. Shielding his daughter, he walked to his front door, unlocked it, and ushered her inside before closing it behind them.
Chen Chuan ignored the two men and immediately contacted Wubei, asking him to trace where their communication signals were being sent.
Wubei quickly traced the signal’s destination. It was being sent to two separate locations: one was a small gang’s hideout, and the other was a bar in the Deep Unexplored District. The map also showed the bar was near a tunnel entrance.
The bar was clearly a foothold established in the Upper City District by a faction from the Lower City District. It seemed these gangs often disguised their strongholds as bars or hotels.
He wasn’t familiar with the power structures in the Lower City District. The Processing Bureau had files on them, but the information was mostly outdated, as the gangs there had complex memberships and their hierarchies shifted rapidly.
But now he had other channels. He used his company’s platform to contact Lu Tong Logistics directly, sending them the coordinates of the tunnel and asking which gang’s territory it was in.
After about ten minutes, he got a reply. The people who frequented that tunnel were likely members of the Plague Gang. The message also included a data file describing them.
Chen Chuan reviewed the file. The gang wasn’t large, but it was unique. Its core members were mostly technicians—many of whom were former corporate R&D staff, Implant doctors, and bioengineers.
Its outer circle of members mostly worshipped a certain Evil God. They would intentionally contract contagious diseases and then treat themselves with experimental drugs in a ritual they called "filtering," believing it brought them closer to their deity. They also frequently abducted people for human experiments, making them a universally reviled presence in the Lower City District.
If not for the gang’s loose structure and the fact that certain powerful figures found them useful, they would have been annihilated long ago.
’Many gangs with clear organizational structures can actually be reasoned with,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’They have lines they won’t cross. But these cult-like gangs are different. Not only are their actions insane, but every last one of them is unhinged. They can’t be handled with conventional methods.’
As he was browsing the file, Wubei forwarded a surveillance feed to him. A group of gang members was leaving the hideout in two vehicles, clearly headed for Old Qi.
Instead of confronting these low-level gang members himself, Chen Chuan contacted the city patrol. He explained the situation, and a nearby patrol unit was dispatched immediately upon receiving his report.
The Processing Bureau and the city patrol didn’t have a chain of command, but they worked in close cooperation.
After all, whenever patrol squads encountered crimes involving individuals with powerful Implants or Fighters, they had to rely on the Processing Bureau to handle the situation. The faster the Bureau responded, the fewer casualties the patrol suffered. Therefore, they were always willing to do a favor for a Bureau employee, especially a Second Level Executor.
Less than five minutes after setting out, the two vehicles were intercepted by the city patrol.
Less than half an hour later, the city patrol informed Chen Chuan that the men had been taken into custody. They had also raided the hideout and brought everyone in for questioning.
Since every one of them had a criminal record, the city patrol could hold them indefinitely as long as they kept the investigation open.
After receiving the notice, Chen Chuan expressed his thanks. Just then, Wubei’s voice came through his earpiece. "Brother Chen, I checked the data from the last few days. The people who abducted Old Qi’s friend were from that bar. There’s been no sign of a transfer, so he should still be there."
Chen Chuan thanked him. ’Knowing his location makes things easier,’ he thought. ’The key is to find out what started all this. Then I’ll know how to handle it.’
’But several days have passed. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I’ll have to go and see for myself.’
He asked Wubei to keep an eye on the area around Old Qi’s apartment and to notify him immediately if anything happened. He then got into his car and drove to the bar, arriving about twenty minutes later.
The bar was a converted old-style building. The exterior looked perfectly normal, with a conspicuous sign, gaudy neon lights, and a flickering light screen.
He parked his car and went inside. The interior was filled with the same flashing lights. The floor was made of glass panels, revealing glass pipes underneath through which a blood-like liquid flowed.
It was daytime, so there weren’t many customers. However, as soon as he entered, his Second Self suddenly showed strong signs of becoming ethereal. Following the sensation, he determined the source was somewhere within a sealed decorative wall in the center of the room.
He pulled his gaze away and walked over to the bar. "A friend of mine was brought here a few days ago," he said directly. "Is he still here?"
The bartender, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that revealed muscular arms covered in tattoos, had been watching Chen Chuan warily since he walked in. Hearing his words, the bartender’s expression involuntarily changed. "I don’t know what you’re talking about," he denied.
He shot a look at two thugs sitting in the distance, who immediately began using their Realm Tokens to contact someone outside.
Chen Chuan, acting as if he hadn’t noticed, took a seat at the bar. "In that case, I’ll have a soft drink."
"We only serve alcohol. No soft drinks."
"Water is fine, then," Chen Chuan said.
Seeing that the man with the Realm Token was still making his call, the bartender turned and poured a glass of water. He added two ice cubes before sliding it in front of Chen Chuan. "Your water, sir."
Chen Chuan picked up the glass and sipped it slowly.
Sensing that something was wrong, the few remaining customers quickly paid their tabs and left. Even those who wanted to stick around to watch the show were "persuaded" to leave by the bar’s thugs.
Before long, a group of men walked in from outside. The one in the lead was a well-dressed man in his thirties. Despite the dim lighting in the bar, he kept his sunglasses on.
He gave an order over his shoulder. The bar’s outer gate was rolled down, and the inner door was shut and locked. He then slowly approached, flanked by several men armed with melee weapons and guns.
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