123: Chapter 123 I'll go with you

A gust of wind swept through the South City Caishikou.

Jiang Feiyu was so anxious that she even used her qinggong, grabbing Chen Shanzhi by the arm.

Like two afterimages, the two of them rushed rapidly to beneath the massive archway outside Caishikou.

Chen Shanzhi only just stopped his footsteps then.

"Thump!"

A gaunt figure slammed straight down onto the hard bluestone pavement.

Aunt Wang's hair was disheveled, her face covered in grime, and her coarse, patched hemp clothes were stained with mud and water.

She scrambled and crawled towards Chen Shanzhi, completely oblivious to the pain of her knees scraping against the ground, and immediately began kowtowing frantically.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The muffled sound of her forehead striking the stone slab made one's scalp tingle.

After a few strikes, bright red blood had already seeped from Aunt Wang's forehead, flowing down her cheeks mixed with tears.

"Lord Chen! Honorable Magistrate! I beg you, please save my Yaya! Please save her!"

Aunt Wang's voice was hoarse, permeated with a suffocating sense of despair and hopelessness.

Chen Shanzhi's brows furrowed sharply.

He wasted no words and moved his fingers slightly.

A gentle yet irresistible force of Xuanguan Qi emanated from his body, directly supporting Aunt Wang's shoulders and forcibly lifting her up from the ground.

"Aunt Wang, calm down."

Chen Shanzhi's gaze was cold, but his voice was steady and powerful:

"The sky isn't falling. Don't rush; tell me the whole story from beginning to end, clearly. How did Yaya go missing?"

Feeling the calm aura emanating from Chen Shanzhi, Aunt Wang's crumbling emotions barely steadied slightly.

While wiping away her tears, she choked out:

"Just yesterday afternoon..."

"Over at the Refugee Area outside the city, some benevolent people from the city came and set up a shed to distribute porridge. We people in the Refugee Area are all terrified of hunger, so everyone ran to line up."

"I couldn't leave, so I left Yaya in the dilapidated temple, having her watch over her father who is paralyzed in bed."

Aunt Wang slapped herself hard across the face, her face full of remorse:

"It's all my fault! There were too many people in line for the porridge; I had to squeeze in for nearly two hours before I could bring back a bowl of porridge!"

"But when I entered the temple gate... Yaya was gone!"

Aunt Wang cried heart-rendingly:

"Her father is a cripple and can't move; he said Yaya was originally playing with mud at the doorway. It seems she saw a colorful butterfly and chased after it deep into the alley, and then she never came back..."

Chen Shanzhi's gaze narrowed slightly, his brain spinning rapidly.

"Have you searched the vicinity?" Chen Shanzhi asked with great speed. "Could she have gone to the home of a familiar relative or playmate?"

Aunt Wang shook her head desperately: "No relatives! We all fled here as refugees begging for food; where would we have any relatives? As for playmates, there's not even enough food in this Refugee Area; which child has the leisure to come out and play?"

"I turned the entire Refugee Area upside down last night, even searched the stinking ditches and the mass grave... there was simply no sign of Yaya!"

Chen Shanzhi rubbed his chin.

No relatives, no playmates, searched the entire Refugee Area.

Could a five-year-old girl sprout wings and fly away?

"Aunt Wang." Chen Shanzhi stared into her eyes. "Is there anything else you haven't told me?"

Aunt Wang shivered all over.

She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, a flash of extreme terror appearing in her eyes, and lowered her voice as if afraid of startling some evil spirit:

"Lord Chen... actually, actually during this period, several people have already gone missing one after another in our Refugee Area!"

"There were half-grown boys, and young widows... all of them vanished in the blink of an eye!"

"Everyone says it's the evil hand of a man-eating monster!"

Hearing this.

Jiang Feiyu, who was holding a skewer of candied hawthorn and just about to take a bite, froze in her tracks.

"Several people went missing?"

Jiang Feiyu widened her beautiful eyes, her face full of disbelief:

"How is this possible? This is at the feet of the Capital! How could such a big matter have never been mentioned by anyone?"

She turned her head to look at Aunt Wang: "Aunt Wang, since people are frequently going missing, why didn't you go to the yamen to report it? Or come to our Jiantian Division to beat the drum and seek justice?"

Upon hearing the word "yamen," a bitter smile, more bitter than coptis, appeared at the corners of Aunt Wang's mouth.

"This Young Miss... you are of noble birth and do not understand the suffering of us in the mud."

Aunt Wang lowered her head, large tears splashing onto her feet: "We are refugees; we don't have Great Jiang travel permits, nor do we have household registration."

"In the eyes of those officials, we don't even count as people; at best, we are just two-legged livestock."

"I went to the Jingzhaoyin yamen early this morning to beat the drum... but I couldn't even get through the main gate before those wolf-like yamen runners beat me out with cudgels."

"They said, if a few refugees die, let them die; don't bring such trivial matters to dirty the ears of the officials..."

Aunt Wang looked up again, gripping Chen Shanzhi's sleeve tightly, as if clutching the last straw of hope:

"Lord Chen! You all patrol Caishikou every day, wearing official uniforms; you must also be people of the government!"

"I beg you, please go to the Refugee Area and take a look! Yaya is only five years old!"

Jiang Feiyu's eyes turned red as she listened, and the candied hawthorn in her hand instantly lost its appeal.

She was just about to roll up her sleeves and start cursing.

Chen Shanzhi suddenly raised his hand, signaling her to be quiet.

At this moment, a flash of extremely sharp brilliance flickered deep in Chen Shanzhi's eyes.

In his mind, the walkthrough for that galgame was scrolling and comparing frantically.

None, absolutely none!

In the original game's setting, there was simply no corresponding plot for the Refugee Area outside the city!

Could it be an event that wasn't revealed in the game?

After all, the game was only so large; it certainly couldn't compare to reality.

"Alright, Aunt Wang, don't cry anymore."

Chen Shanzhi gripped Aunt Wang's wrist, steadying her, his tone unquestionable:

"You lead the way; I will go with you to the Refugee Area outside the city right now."

Having said that, Chen Shanzhi turned his head to look at Jiang Feiyu and the others.

"You all stay at Caishikou."

Chen Shanzhi arranged methodically: "The street patrol task given by Zhao Laosan hasn't finished yet; we can't leave our posts before sunset. Leave a few people here to cover."

"Besides..."

Chen Shanzhi's gaze swept over the women's clean and neat silk dresses, thinking to himself:

"The Refugee Area outside the city is, in the eyes of the Capital's powerful, the dirtiest, unluckiest, and most lawless area."

"It's a mix of dragons and snakes inside, reeking with filth. The people here, except for Murong Yun, are all Young Misses; it's not suitable for them to show their faces in the Refugee Area."

Chen Shanzhi made the final decision and turned to leave with Aunt Wang.

"Wait."

A cold yet melodious voice, carrying a hint of unrefusable authority, suddenly rang out in the crowd.

Ouyang Wanqing took a small step forward.

She was wearing a moon-white fairy dress today, the hem spotless.

A light breeze blew by, bringing a pleasant, faint scent of orchids.

She looked straight at Chen Shanzhi, her red lips parting slightly: "I will go with you."