The location Old Qi provided was in Shenwei District. When Chen Chuan followed the directions and arrived, he saw Old Qi's car parked in a parking lot. Just a short distance outside lay a private tax collection station.
Old Qi certainly knew how to pick a parking spot.
The city patrol might be unreliable at times, but one could always count on the armed forces of the tax office. If any gang members came around here, citizen or not, their utter lack of any tax records meant they would inevitably be scrutinized and stripped bare from birth to the present day.
He reached out via boundary credential. "Old Qi, I've arrived."
Old Qi replied immediately, "Brother Chen, over here."
Chen Chuan saw the door of the off-road vehicle swing open. Old Qi climbed down and waved to him.
He drove in along the parking lot's scanning lane and pulled into an open space. With his Disposal Bureau credentials, he did not need to pay parking fees in public lots like this, so the billing notice that just popped up was canceled immediately.
Stepping out, he walked over to Old Qi. Though the man hadn't shaved in days, looking somewhat haggard with dark circles under his eyes, physically he appeared unharmed.
In the backseat sat a big-eyed girl of twelve or thirteen with twin braids, likely Old Qi's daughter, Qi Qi. Seeing Chen Chuan glance over, she said, "Hello, big brother."
Chen Chuan nodded and smiled. "Hello." Then he turned to Old Qi. "Old Qi, what's the situation now?"
Old Qi sighed. "After I hid out here, those people stopped coming after me. But this can't go on forever. Qi Qi hasn't gone to school in days."
Chen Chuan asked, "Is it just over the whereabouts of those materials?"
Old Qi said, "From the looks of it, yes."
Chen Chuan found it a bit strange. While esoteric cult materials were relatively hard to obtain in the Upper District, they were hardly rare treasures. Was there any need to go to such lengths?
Old Qi said, "I was puzzled at first too, but later I thought, maybe my friend touched something he shouldn't have, and that ended up dragging us into it."
Chen Chuan felt that was reasonably plausible. If so, Old Qi had simply been caught in the crossfire. He asked, "Are those people watching your home right now?"
"Yeah, so how would I dare go back?"
"Which gang is it?"
Old Qi said, "The ones showing their faces are from a small neighborhood gang. If it were just them, I could handle it myself—my fellow commissioners aren't pushovers either. But since esoteric cult materials are involved, there's bound to be some gang or faction from the Lower District behind them. I didn't want to suffer an immediate loss or drag others into it, so I slipped away first."
Chen Chuan knew Old Qi originally hadn't wanted to trouble him, hoping the thugs would leave on their own once they couldn't find him. Understanding this, he said, "Let's head back now. I'll handle this."
"All right, thank you for the trouble, Brother Chen." Old Qi perked up slightly. With Chen Chuan stepping in, resolving this shouldn't be difficult. Still, he felt embarrassed. "Brother Chen, I'm truly sorry. Making you make a trip for a petty matter of mine..."
Chen Chuan said, "Don't say that, Old Qi. I've said before that we're a team. Besides, I'm the one who asked you to buy those cult materials. This was connected to me in the first place, and you shouldn't have to shoulder it alone."
The two returned to their respective vehicles and drove toward Old Qi's home. He lived in an eighty-story rental apartment building in Wuding District, where many of the residents were low- to middle-income citizens.
In reality, most of the money he earned from commissions went toward daily living expenses and his daughter's tuition; otherwise, renting a place in a nicer environment wouldn't have been particularly difficult.
They parked outside, entered the building, and rode the elevator up.
Stepping out into the hallway leading to Old Qi's apartment, Chen Chuan glanced around and immediately spotted two figures lurking around a corner, repeatedly glancing in their direction. The moment they saw Old Qi, they began tapping the second-hand boundary credentials on their faces.
He said, "Old Qi, take Qi Qi inside and don't come out for now."
"Understood!"
Knowing what to do, Old Qi shielded his daughter as he walked to his apartment door, took out his key, entered, and shut the door behind them.
Chen Chuan paid the two no mind, contacting Wu Bei at once to trace where their communications were going.
Wu Bei quickly tracked down the recipients. The signal was being transmitted to two locations: one was the hideout of a small local gang, and the other was a bar located in Shenwei District, which on the map could be seen sitting close to the mouth of a tunnel.
The latter was clearly a foothold established in the Upper District by some faction from the Lower District. Such gangs seemed fond of disguising their strongholds as bars, inns, and similar establishments.
In the past, he hadn't known much about the factions of the Lower District. While the Disposal Bureau had records, they were largely outdated, given the district's convoluted makeup and rapid turnover of power.
Now, however, he had avenues. Using the company platform, he contacted Lutong Logistics directly, sent over the marked tunnel location, and inquired whose gang territory it fell under.
After waiting about ten minutes, a reply came back, stating that the people frequently operating near that tunnel were very likely from the Plague Gang, accompanied by a dossier detailing the group.
Chen Chuan looked it over. The gang was small in scale, but quite peculiar. Most of its internal members were technical personnel—many originally R&D staff from megacorporations, implant doctors, and bioengineers.
Most of the peripheral gang members worshipped an evil god. They would deliberately infect themselves with communicable diseases and then take experimental drugs to treat them—a practice they called "filtering," believing this was the only way to draw closer to their deity. Furthermore, they frequently abducted people for human experimentation, making them universally loathed even in the Lower District.
Had the gang's internal structure not been rather loose, and had there not been certain individuals who found their existence useful, they would have been wiped out long ago.
Reading this, he shook his head. Many gangs with clear, formal structures could actually be reasoned with and possessed at least some sense of restraint. But a cult-like gang like this was not only unhinged in its conduct, but also full of fanatics whose minds were warped; conventional means were useless against them.
While he was reviewing the files, Wu Bei routed a surveillance feed over to him. A group of gangsters had set out from the gang hideout in two cars, clearly heading straight for Old Qi.
Faced with these petty gang members, Chen Chuan didn't step in personally. Instead, he contacted the city patrol and explained the situation. Upon receiving his report, a nearby patrol squad mobilized immediately.
Although the Disposal Bureau and the city patrol did not share a hierarchical relationship, their cooperative ties were close.
After all, whenever the patrol faced crimes involving heavily augmented individuals or fighters, they essentially relied on the Disposal Bureau to wrap things up. The faster the bureau mobilized, the fewer casualties the patrol suffered. Thus, they generally gave face to any Disposal Bureau employee, let alone a Rank 2 enforcement officer.
The two cars hadn't been on the road for five minutes before the city patrol intercepted them.
Less than half an hour later, the patrol informed Chen Chuan that the suspects had been detained and everyone at their hideout had been brought in for questioning.
Since every one of these thugs had priors and dirt on them, as long as the city patrol was willing to dig, they could lock them up for as long as they pleased.
After receiving the notification, Chen Chuan expressed his thanks. Right then, Wu Bei's voice sounded in his ear: "Brother Chen, I looked up the records from a few days ago. The people who took Old Qi's friend belong to that bar. There's been no sign of him being moved over the past few days, so he should still be inside."
Chen Chuan thanked him. Knowing the person's location made things much simpler. The key was to uncover the root cause so he could address the problem at its source.
Still, after several days, there was no telling if the man was still alive. He would just have to go see for himself first.
He asked Wu Bei to keep an eye on Old Qi's home and alert him to any developments. Then he got into his car and drove toward the bar, arriving at his destination about twenty minutes later.
The bar, converted from an old-fashioned building along the street, looked entirely normal from the outside: an eye-catching sign, flamboyant neon lights, and constantly flashing light curtains.
He parked and walked inside. The interior was likewise bathed in flickering lights. The floor consisted of glass panels, through which one could see blood-like fluid flowing through glass conduits underneath.
Because it was daytime, there were hardly any patrons yet. However, upon stepping inside, his Second Self suddenly showed distinct signs of insubstantiality. Glancing in that direction, the source appeared to lie inside a sealed decorative wall in the center.
Pulling his gaze back, he walked over to the bar counter and spoke frankly: "A friend of mine was brought here by your people a few days ago. Is he still here?"
The bartender wore short sleeves, revealing muscular arms wrapped in rings of tattoos. He had been watching warily ever since Chen Chuan walked in. Hearing those words, his expression shifted, and he denied it immediately. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He cast a glance toward two enforcers sitting in the distance, who immediately began using their boundary credentials to alert people outside.
Chen Chuan acted as if he hadn't noticed at all, taking a seat at the counter. "Then give me a soft drink."
"We only serve alcohol here. No soft drinks."
Chen Chuan said, "A glass of water is fine too."
Seeing that the man with the boundary credential was still on the line, the bartender turned around to pour him a glass of plain water. He did not forget to drop in two ice cubes before sliding it over. "Your water, sir."
Chen Chuan picked it up and sipped slowly.
Noticing the tension, the few patrons sensed trouble. Settling their tabs, they made for the exit; even those who wanted to linger and watch were ushered out by the bar's enforcers.
Before long, a group entered from outside. Leading them was a smartly dressed man in his thirties who kept his dark sunglasses on despite the dim lighting.
He turned his head and gave a command. The bar's outer shutter was pulled down, and the inner doors were closed and locked tight. Then, flanked by several men wielding lethal weapons and firearms, he stepped forward slowly.
Chapter 424