127: Chapter 127 Refugee Zone (1/4 of the chapter is missing)

They followed Aunt Wang all the way out of the city.

After passing through the towering and majestic city gates of the capital, the scene before them felt as if it had been abruptly split into two separate worlds.

Inside the city, there was the stench of meat and wine from the vermilion gates, a scene of flourishing prosperity.

Outside the city, it was mud everywhere, with withered bones exposed in the fields.

The moment they stepped into the territory of the Refugee Area, an extremely pungent stench, a mixture of excrement, rotting flesh, and fermented slop, hit them.

It was like an invisible wall, slamming fiercely into their faces.

In the black mud covering the ground, one could not tell what indescribable liquids were mixed in.

Flies gathered in black whirlwinds above this area, emitting a scalp-numbing "buzzing" sound.

"Ugh—"

Ouyang Wanqing stopped abruptly, her stunningly beautiful face instantly turning pale.

Her eyes, usually dignified and elegant like autumn water, were now filled with shock and intense physical discomfort.

In a panic, she pulled a silk handkerchief scented with orchids from her sleeve, pressed it tightly over her nose and mouth, and knitted her delicate brows into a tight knot.

This daughter of the Prime Ministers Mansion, who had never done a day of manual labor and traveled only by carriage and sedan chair, had never seen such a filthy place in her life.

She didn't even know where to step in her expensive moon-white brocade boots, and could only stand on the tips of her toes, extremely stiff.

In contrast, Chen Shanzhi beside her...

Dressed in luxurious brocade robes, he seemed to have completely lost his sense of smell, his expression unchanged and his heart rate steady.

Even when passing by a foul-smelling puddle, Chen Shanzhi reached out naturally, grabbed Ouyang Wanqing's slender wrist, and pulled her towards him abruptly.

"Be careful, don't step in that mud; who knows if it's feces or urine."

Chen Shanzhi reminded her without looking back, his tone extremely calm.

Ouyang Wanqing stumbled as he pulled her, her body inevitably pressing close to Chen Shanzhi's chest.

Feeling the warm and domineering strength transmitted from her wrist, Ouyang Wanqing's large eyes, visible above the silk handkerchief, flashed with intense astonishment.

She stared fixedly at Chen Shanzhi's profile.

"How is this possible?"

"He is the dignified heir of the Marquis of Zhenguo, the number one playboy of the capital; when it comes to being pampered, he definitely doesn't lose to me!"

"How could he be so indifferent to such a wretched environment that even the servants would despise?"

"He didn't even frown!"

"Where is there any trace of a playboy who only knows how to eat, drink, and play in this behavior?"

What Ouyang Wanqing didn't know was that in his previous life, Chen Shanzhi was just an ordinary corporate slave.

Having grown up in rural mud pits and beside dry toilets, although this smell was pungent, it was still within his psychological tolerance.

"What are you dazed for? Keep up, this place is very chaotic."

Chen Shanzhi released her wrist and strode to catch up with Aunt Wang, who was leading the way.

Ouyang Wanqing bit her red lips, quickly suppressed the shock in her heart, forcibly endured the churning in her stomach, and followed cautiously.

The three of them wound their way through the Refugee Area for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

Finally, they stopped in front of a ruined temple with half of its roof collapsed.

The ruined temple was extremely crowded, with dozens of emaciated refugees lying every which way.

The air was filled with a strong smell of sour sweat and morbid Death Qi.

Seeing Chen Shanzhi and Ouyang Wanqing, whose attire indicated they were either rich or noble, walk in, the originally lifeless eyes in the ruined temple instantly lit up in unison, like starving wild wolves in the dark.

But when they saw Aunt Wang walking in front, these gazes instantly turned into intense envy and jealousy.

"Yo, isn't that Sister Wang? Which wealthy family took a fancy to you and chose you to be a domestic servant?"

"What good luck! Once you become a servant, even if you have to dump night soil, at least you can eat dry cakes every meal!"

"Pah, this woman usually looks honest, who knows how she hooked up with the nobles in the city behind our backs..."

The undisguised whispers from the surroundings reached their ears.

In the eyes of these refugees, being chosen by a rich person to be a dog that gets fed was already the highest luxury they could imagine in this life.

Aunt Wang had no intention of paying attention to these idle whispers; with red eyes, she stumbled and rushed toward a dark corner at the very back of the ruined temple.

In the corner lay a tattered, blackened straw mat.

A sallow, emaciated man with obviously atrophied and paralyzed legs was lying lifelessly on it, staring hollowly at the leaky roof.

"Husband!"

Aunt Wang threw herself over, her tears instantly flooding.

Hearing Aunt Wang's voice, the man's hollow eyes suddenly erupted with an extremely intense light.

He struggled extremely hard to prop himself up with his elbows, his withered fingers gripping the tattered straw mat tightly, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Mother of our child... where is Yaya? Did you find Yaya?"

Aunt Wang covered her mouth and shook her head in despair.

"Thud!"

The man seemed to have all the bones in his body drained instantly, and he crashed heavily back onto the straw mat.

He closed his eyes in pain, two lines of murky tears rolling down the corners of his eyes, his cracked lips bitten bloody by himself: "What a sin! It's all my fault! I'm just a useless cripple; I couldn't even keep an eye on my own daughter!"

The man wailed while crazily pounding his senseless legs with his fists.

"That's enough, save some strength to cry after we find the child."

Chen Shanzhi stepped forward and looked down at the man, his tone crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation: "Tell me the time and details of when Yaya went missing yesterday, word for word, again."

The man only then noticed the two nobles behind Aunt Wang and was stunned.

"Husband, these two are officials from the Jiantian Division in the city!" Aunt Wang quickly wiped her tears and said urgently: "The officials are here specifically to investigate the case of missing people in our Refugee Area!"

Upon hearing the words "Jiantian Division".

The man's gray eyes instantly erupted with an extremely fanatical look of hope!

Officials! There were actually officials willing to care about the lives of lowly people like them!

"Off... Officials!"

The man was incoherent with excitement, swallowed his saliva, and hurriedly recalled: "Yesterday afternoon, the child's mother went to the village entrance to line up for porridge, and Yaya was playing with mud on the steps outside the temple gate."

"I was lying here, tilting my head to watch her... Suddenly, a colorful butterfly flew over. Yaya was happy, so she clapped her hands and went to chase that butterfly."

The man pointed in a direction outside the ruined temple: "I saw with my own eyes that she chased the butterfly and ran into that narrow alley over there."

"Later, Old Li from the stall nearby also said he saw Yaya enter the alley. But... but later, I never saw her come out!"

Chen Shanzhi's gaze sharpened, and he immediately turned to look at Ouyang Wanqing: "Let's go, to the alley."

The two walked quickly out of the ruined temple and arrived at the narrow alley in the direction the man had indicated.

As soon as they walked in, both of them frowned simultaneously.

This alley was extremely narrow, with high walls made of gravel and mud on both sides.

The two walked less than thirty steps into the alley before they reached the end.

A smooth brick wall, fully two people high, blocked their way firmly.

Is this a dead end?

Chen Shanzhi walked to the base of the wall, reached out to touch the slippery moss growing on the wall surface, and said with absolute certainty: "There isn't the slightest trace of footprints on the wall."

"A five-year-old girl absolutely could not have climbed over this wall out of thin air."

Ouyang Wanqing also carefully investigated the surroundings and nodded slightly: "Indeed it is a dead end."

Afterwards, the two returned to the entrance of the alley and questioned each of the refugees who were begging nearby at the time.

Everyone's testimony was surprisingly consistent: they saw Yaya run into the alley with their own eyes, but during that time, they absolutely did not see anyone or any child walk out of the alley.

It wasn't until Aunt Wang returned with the porridge and went into the alley to look for her that she found it completely empty.

Chen Shanzhi and Ouyang Wanqing exchanged a look.

The answer was obvious.

"Disappearing into thin air in a dead end."

Chen Shanzhi dusted off his hands, his tone cold: "There is only one possibility for this. Someone was hiding in the alley the whole time. After Yaya went in, they covered her mouth and took her over the wall to escape!"

"Moreover, when they climbed the wall, they didn't attract the attention of the surrounding people, and they didn't leave any traces of leverage on the wall."

Chen Shanzhi made an extremely precise judgment: "To be able to do this, at least it is a Martial Artist with the Xuanguan Seven Apertures!"

Ouyang Wanqing nodded in agreement, but a look of helplessness appeared on her stunningly beautiful face: "Chen Shanzhi, your deduction is indeed reasonable."

"But the Great Jiang Dynasty lacks nothing more than Martial Artists. Relying solely on the clue of 'being a Martial Artist'. In the surroundings of this vast capital, it is equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack; there is simply no way to know who did it."

A curve of extreme confidence, however, hooked at the corner of Chen Shanzhi's mouth.

He turned his head and looked at Aunt Wang, who was waiting anxiously at the entrance of the alley.

"Since we can't find clues from one point, we will expand the scope."

Chen Shanzhi said with a firm tone: "Didn't Aunt Wang say that several people have gone missing in the Refugee Area recently? Such frequent crimes are definitely not committed by random individuals; it is most likely the same person, or the same force, playing tricks in the dark!"

"Aunt Wang, lead the way! We will go find all the families who have lost someone, one by one!"