Speculation

Bai Xiaowen didn't keep Ahan either. He knew that the main task of solving this missing persons case still depended on Ya Han himself.

Bai Xiaowen spent the entire morning in the archives, carefully reviewing the documents. He wasn't just looking at the information on the thirteen missing residents; he browsed through all the documents in the Hodge Town archives.

With over 30,000 registered legal residents in Hodge Town, it was clearly impossible to review them all. Bai Xiaowen's Hodge Town was selective, focusing on wealthy, influential families with high social standing, as well as families that had experienced significant changes in the past two months.

"Did you find anything?" Li Shuyi hadn't been idle either; she had been acting as Bai Xiaowen's assistant. Seeing that Bai Xiaowen had finished browsing and frowned, she immediately asked.

Bai Xiaowen squinted and said, "There have indeed been some unexpected discoveries. I now suspect... the missing persons cases are related to the patrol teams under Ahan's command."

"Huh?" Li Shuyi had a good impression of Sheriff Ahan, but after hearing Bai Xiaowen's words, she was taken aback. "You're saying Ahan is a thief crying 'stop thief'? Ahan... doesn't seem like that kind of person."

Bai Xiaowen said, "Ahan himself should be unaware. What I mean is, there must be a mole within the patrol team."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen pointed to the files of the thirteen missing persons cases and said, "After the curfew was implemented in Hodge Town, patrol teams would patrol at night, but new residents still went missing, and each time it happened in a blind spot of the patrol teams, perfectly avoiding them. That's quite strange."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen continued, "This alone might not prove anything. However, looking at the missing residents' records, the missing persons all share some common characteristics. First, they are in good health and have no diseases. Second, they are of middle age, in their prime. Third, most are male. From these common characteristics, we can speculate on the kidnapping motives of the mastermind..."

Li Shuyi thought for a moment and said, "Human experiments?"

Bai Xiaowen laughed and said, "Don't let the Norton incident mislead your thinking. Human experimentation requires samples of various ages and genders. Therefore, the mastermind behind it is probably not doing any human experimentation; in my opinion, it's more like they're raising slaves."

Li Shuyi: "Slavery? When I was studying Earth's history in the Common Era, I learned about the slave trade, how Africans were sent to the newly developed United States to serve as serfs..."

Bai Xiaowen nodded and said, "That's right. I think there must be a slave trade going on behind the scenes in Hodge Town. The kidnapped residents definitely can't stay in Hodge Town; they have to be transported elsewhere, otherwise it would be too easy to expose them. And to support such a slave trade without being discovered, only someone who controls public power in Hodge Town and has great influence can do it."

"So you think there's something wrong with the patrol team?" Li Shuyi followed Bai Xiaowen's train of thought. "The patrol team's commander is Ahan, so he should be very capable in leading troops. He shouldn't be unaware that his subordinates are carrying out such a big operation behind the scenes... Could it be that our main mission is ultimately to deal with Ahan?"

Bai Xiaowen shook his head again in denial. "It couldn't be Ahan."

Li Shuyi blinked.

"Do you remember the prefix on our ticket? Wasn't one of the items called ' Speculation '?" Bai Xiaowen explained, "Where exactly does the 50% reduction in the difficulty of the main quest come from? As I understand it, this 50% reduction in difficulty is reflected in the location where we live. We're neighbors on the same street as Ahan, so he already has some impression of us and is very accepting. That's why we were able to stay at Ahan's house."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen continued, "Therefore, Ahan is an important NPC in the main quest. According to the Spirit Realm Rules, having Ahan's implicit trust is equivalent to completing 50% of the main quest, which shows his importance and strength. If the main quest ultimately involves dealing with Ahan, then where does the 50% difficulty reduction of the Speculation' prefix come from?"

Bai Xiaowen deduced from this "off-site" information that Ahan was not behind the missing persons case, which Li Shuyi found convincing. After ruling out this possibility, she continued her thought process, "So you just focused on reviewing the files of influential families in Hodge Town to find the slave traders? Did you find them?"

Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes slightly. "Unfortunately, most of the families of standing in Hodge Town didn't reach the level to support the slave trade. After many rounds of elimination, only one family remained, and it's the one that Ahan finds most unacceptable. It's possible..."

"Stop keeping me in suspense..." Li Shuyi grabbed Bai Xiaowen's hand and shook it. "Tell me already!"

"The family of Halerum David, the mayor of Hodge Town."

Li Shuyi said in surprise, "Isn't this Ginny's family home? Mayor Halerum is Ahan's father-in-law, right?"

"That's right."

"But...why would the David family do this? Logically speaking, they are the rulers of Hodge Town, and a stable Hodge Town should be in their best interest. Now that people are in a state of panic and the market is depressed after the curfew, it is the David Family who will suffer losses." Li Shuyi understood this point clearly.

"Don't rush, I only have suspicions. There's no concrete evidence yet. All of this is based on the assumption of a 'slave trade'," Bai Xiaowen said. "We don't need to tell Ahan about this for now... Let's investigate ourselves first."

This time, after consulting the materials, Bai Xiaowen finally found some clues. He and Li Shuyi walked through the Bread Mill on Windmill Street and arrived at the David Family Estate on the north side of town.

Two militiamen stood before the gates of the David Family Estate.

Bai Xiaowen tried to enter, but was stopped by the militia. "Stop! You don't have permission to enter."

Bai Xiaowen blinked and took out the "Patrol Militia Insignia".

"This is not a valid pass," the militiaman said sternly. "If you have private business to attend to with Mayor Halerum, please make an appointment in advance. But I must warn you, Mayor Halerum rarely sees guests, especially a nobody like you."

Bai Xiaowen: "Hey, your helmets are really cool. Can I borrow them for a bit? And let me tell you, I'd love to be a sentry too."

The two sentries on duty looked at Bai Xiaowen with eyes that seemed to say he was an idiot, then shoved him and drove Bai Xiaowen ten meters away from the gate. "Go away, don't bother us."

"Okay, I'm leaving." Bai Xiaowen shrugged.

As he turned to leave, Bai Xiaowen summoned the Shadow Assassin, carefully avoiding the two sentries, and slipped through the gate.