Tongxin Village Second Update!

Leaving the Martial Arts Hall, Chen Xia didn't return to the Patrol Inspection Office. Instead, he planned to take a taxi to the countryside outside South City.

Just then, a commotion erupted from the street corner.

Chen Xia turned his head and saw a group of people holding banners approaching from the street ahead.

The banners read "Give us back our children!" and "Punish human traffickers severely!"

Leading the group was a woman in her forties.

She wore a white jacket, a coffee-colored fisherman's hat, and black sunglasses. A small black leather bag was slung over her shoulder. She cried out to the sky, "Give me back my child! Who will bring us justice? My daughter is suffering so..."

"Give me back my daughter! You must give us justice... We can't let these bad people be so rampant..."

Beside her were other parents who had lost their children, gathered together for a march.

Their procession grew larger and larger, soon blocking the entire street. Police sirens wailed, growing closer. Several patrol cars stopped by the roadside, and officers emerged to maintain order. However, the enraged crowd had already lost control, with some beginning to throw mineral water bottles at the cars.

"Give us back our children!"

"Punish human traffickers severely!"

"Don't let the bad guys get away with it..."

"The old urban district has a much lower crime-solving rate than the Federation's new cities. This is unfair. We must eradicate evil forces and restore our peaceful lives."

Slogans rose and fell, and the woman, caught in the crowd, felt she could barely breathe.

Finally, the protest march alerted Zhou Tong, the Mid-level Captain of Xingou Street.

He arrived at the scene, holding a loudspeaker, continuously trying to appease the crowd. He told them he would definitely help them find the culprits and urged them not to worry.

But the crowd grew more agitated. In the end, it was only after Zhou Tong promised to find the culprits within a month that they finally calmed down.

Sigh.

Seeing the scene, Zhou Tong felt a pang of shame.

There was some truth to what they said; public security hadn't been maintained well here.

Now, after the establishment of the Federation, many new cities had been built, but many old cities were also preserved.

Life in the old urban districts was more chaotic, and order was less complete. In the new cities, such as Handong City in Chujiang Province, a vast region even larger than the former ten provincial capitals, public security was excellent.

The new districts were prosperous, affluent areas, close to the provincial centers, and were indeed strictly controlled.

The old urban districts, occupying the largest area on the outskirts, were adjacent to the activity zones of different races. This required the large-scale cultivation of martial warriors, thus allowing mercenary groups to develop freely within the territory. In many places, mercenary groups were even supported by powerful families in positions of authority.

With many influential people, chaos was bound to occur, endlessly, and could not be stopped.

The authorities were not equipped with firearms, which greatly reduced the deterrent effect of many grassroots patrol officers against criminal elements.

More importantly, since the spiritual energy resurgence a thousand years ago, animal mutations, coupled with the large-scale invasion of outer domain different races five hundred years ago, human family planning had been in a state of near-unlimited openness.

At that time, people desperately had children. Girls as young as eighteen were encouraged to marry and have children early, all for the continuation of the human race. Under this large-scale cultivation, the human population was greater than ever before.

In the country of Huaxia alone, the population exceeded three billion. The authorities continuously developed new forest and plain areas, establishing many cities. After the different races were temporarily driven back and the situation stabilized for a hundred years, the population accumulation did not decrease.

Basically, the outskirts of a province belonged to the old cities, and entering a new city was something ordinary people could not even dream of.

Although the different races had temporarily retreated, the Federation still needed to build many bases outside, requiring vast amounts of money and resources.

Therefore, various facilities in the outer cities were economized and used for the expenses of establishing combat groups, fighting different races, and constructing new city bases. Under these large-scale conditions in the outer areas, governance indeed became problematic.

However, speaking of which, unless they were completely eradicated and strictly forbidden from developing, those people might not even care if they were equipped with weapons.

But this was impossible, because when the different races attacked the outer cities, large numbers of influential groups were needed to resist.

At this moment, Zhou Tong saw Chen Xia and smiled, "Brother Chen, you're here too."

"Mm."

Zhou Tong gave a wry smile, "These people are causing trouble, but the missing persons cases are indeed of a particularly vicious nature. It's just that there are no clues yet, which is quite troublesome..."

"I suspect it's people from the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group, but I haven't found any evidence yet. On the other hand, quite a few people from Gathering Justice died recently. I don't know what's going on."

Hearing this, Chen Xia glanced at Zhou Tong and smiled, "As long as they act, there will be flaws. It's just that they've been restrained lately, making it difficult to find evidence."

Chen Xia didn't discuss these issues extensively with Zhou Tong, because he knew that this case would be solved soon. As long as Edel's stronghold was found, the missing people would be located.

Now, he already had some clues.

While cultivating during this period, he had also had his subordinates keep an eye on the members of the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group, including the business owners in the area he was responsible for in Xingou Street.

According to Chen Xia's plan, he had given them this period to investigate, while he prepared for three days for the final preparations.

If they still hadn't found anything, he would have to report the Gathering of Righteousness Mercenary Group's den directly to the Patrol Inspection Office, have their leader Cao Yi arrested and interrogated, and forcibly extract the location of the stronghold from him. This way, he could gain some merit, which was better than getting nothing.

Xiao Qiang had already found Cao Yi's den, but he hadn't rashly alerted them.

Fortunately, yesterday, Xiao Qiang sent Chen Xia a message saying that the core members of Gathering of Righteousness had begun to gather.

And today, Xiao Qiang had been watching them.

With this thought, Chen Xia hailed a taxi and headed to the outskirts of South City. At the same time, he opened his electronic watch and inquired about Xiao Qiang's progress.

"Captain Xiao, how's the situation?"

A moment later, Xiao Qiang's avatar flickered, and he said, "Captain Chen, I'm currently tracking Cao Yi of the Gathering Justice Mercenary Group. They're driving a large van towards South City, and I'm behind them."

"Follow them, I'll be right there!" Hearing the news, Chen Xia's heart leaped with joy.

At the same time, in a taxi heading to the outskirts of South City, Xiao Qiang, sitting in the back seat, hung up the phone, feeling a bit puzzled.

For the past few days, Xiao Qiang had been leading his squad members to keep an eye on the people from Gathering of Righteousness. He had also utilized his neighborhood connections to closely monitor everything around them.

Xiao Qiang had been in the Patrol Inspection Office for 15 years and knew people from other teams. He had also secretly mobilized them, all in order to make a good impression on Chen Xia.

After all, if he wanted a future, he felt Chen Xia was a great channel for advancement. He had to do something to leave a good impression. Of course, it was highly likely to be of little use, but it was still an opportunity.

The other party was someone favored by Headquarters. Just on that point alone, he had to be observant.

Fortunately, things had progressed. Yesterday, through a friend who did business on the street, he saw people from Gathering of Righteousness gathering. And today, he received news that they had left.

Xiao Qiang immediately hailed a taxi to follow the Gathering of Righteousness's car. Although he knew it was a bit risky, as he had a family, it was precisely because of this that he wanted to strive to improve himself and not miss any opportunity.

He just didn't know what Chen Xia actually wanted to do.

Soon, he followed the Gathering of Righteousness's car and found that they had parked on a small street on the outskirts of South City.

He told the driver to drive past without stopping, to avoid being discovered by the other party. After driving past, he stopped the car a distance ahead. Once he confirmed that the people from Gathering of Righteousness hadn't noticed, he continued to wait where he was.

He observed that people from Gathering of Righteousness were getting off one after another and going into a small hotel.

Not long after, Chen Xia also arrived. He didn't get into Zhang Feng's car but drove directly to the villages on the outskirts of South City. He arrived at a grove of trees by the main road leading to the countryside and then told the taxi to leave.

"When they leave later, follow them. I'll reimburse all your expenses to the higher-ups. You just need to track them. I'll be watching here. Report to me immediately if there's any situation." Chen Xia sent a message.

"Okay!"

Xiao Qiang nodded. He guessed Chen Xia was investigating a missing persons case and didn't ask further. He waited in the car.

He waited for a whole day. He and the driver had already eaten two meals, and they still hadn't come out.

Because Xiao Qiang had paid the driver a lot of money for this trip, the driver was happy to cooperate. It wasn't until eleven o'clock at night, when there were hardly any people outside, that the people from Gathering of Righteousness came downstairs from the hotel and all got into their cars to continue on their way.

However, as Xiao Qiang's car followed, as they gradually drove onto a small country road at night, having a car following behind was quite conspicuous.

Just as the people from Gathering of Righteousness became suspicious, Chen Xia sent a message: "I see your car. You should take the forked road now and don't continue following. I'm afraid it will arouse their suspicion."

"If I don't follow now, and we lose them, it'll all be for nothing. What should I do?"

"It's okay, I'll follow them. After you drive away, find a place to turn off the engine and wait. I'll notify you later."

"Okay..."

"Let's go..."

Cao Bing from Gathering of Righteousness turned and stared at the taxi behind him as it took the forked road. Only then did he relax. He looked around carefully again. There were no problems.

"Brother Cao, don't worry. Who would be so idle on a country road this late at night? We've already been cautious and circled around a few times. Besides, with Lord Edel here, who would dare to cause us trouble? They probably don't want to live!" said the bald-headed Banshou next to him.

"Mm! When you meet Lord Edel later, you must be respectful and not rude. If we can obtain the Lord's Essence Blood this time, our strength can be improved. This is very important for us, concerning the development of Gathering of Righteousness. We cannot be careless, understand?"

Cao Yi's deep voice reminded them.

"Brother Cao, don't worry." The several Banshou in the car nodded, indicating they understood.

However, being crowded in a confined space for too long made everyone uncomfortable, and someone started to complain.

"Lao Si, can you hurry up? It's really uncomfortable being crammed in here!"

"This damn van, it's a manual transmission, and this road is really difficult to drive on. I'm already going as fast as I can..."

"When Lord Edel is done with those women, I'm going to enjoy myself properly. Damn it, otherwise, it'll be a waste of all this bumpy travel."

As he said this, a big man in the van let out an evil laugh, his eyes glinting with unrestrained red light.

Time passed slowly.

Before long, they drove towards Tongxin Village.

However, no one expected that on the dark country road behind them, a shadowy figure had been following them.

This shadowy figure was very fast, no slower than a car.

And it would catch up from behind at intervals, always maintaining a distance of a hundred meters from the van. The people from Gathering of Righteousness did not notice anything unusual.

Soon, their car entered Tongxin Village and stopped in front of a three-story house.

After the car stopped, a group of people looked around and then cautiously opened the door and went inside.