Black Crow

A moment later.

Chen Mu, along with Liu Song, Li Tie, and seven or eight Yamen Runners, arrived at an alley in the west of Nine Stripes Ward.

This was the active territory of the Thieves Guild.

The Thieves Guild sounded like a gang, but in reality, it was very chaotic internally, with pickpockets and kidnappers, and it was not only active in Nine Stripes Ward. It was completely different from relatively complete gangs like the Red Gold Gang and the Black Crow Sect.

In fact, the Thieves Guild had always been suppressed by gangs like the Red Gold Gang, because the Red Gold Gang collected 'safety silver,' which was protection money, while the Thieves Guild engaged in theft and kidnapping, which would damage the Red Gold Gang's income.

The Thieves Guild entrenched in this area had also given the Red Gold Gang a lot of benefits in order to operate here.

"Yo, good morning, Yamen Runner!"

A shifty-eyed man outside the alley had seen Chen Mu and his group coming a long time ago, but he didn't run. He stood up with a smile and bowed, cupping his hands at Chen Mu and the others.

Chen Mu didn't speak, and Liu Song next to him asked with a cold face, "Where's your boss?"

"Fifth Master is inside. May I ask, Yamen Runner, are you here to find someone or something..."

The man asked in a low voice, lowering his head.

Liu Song cursed, "What can you decide? Lead the way!"

"Yes, yes."

The man glanced at Chen Mu, who was wearing blue, and responded repeatedly with a smile, saying, "This way, please."

In fact, he didn't really want to ask the purpose of Chen Mu and others' visit, but just wanted to find a way to delay a little time, to give the people inside some time to inform and react, after all, it was definitely not a good thing for the Yamen to come to the door.

Moreover, the one who came was a Yamen Runner Captain, leading a group of people, so he had to be more careful.

The man carefully led Chen Mu and others into the alley. The alleys in this area were very narrow and intricate, like a maze. After turning around seven or eight times, they finally arrived at a spacious courtyard.

In the courtyard.

A man with graying temples, a pipe and tobacco pouch hanging from his waist, about forty or fifty years old, greeted them, cupping his hands at Chen Mu with a smile and saying, "This must be Yamen Runner Chen from the City Guard, right? If you have anything, just say the word, why bother you to come all the way here in person."

Others might not be very clear, but as the 'Fifth Master' of the Thieves Guild in this area, he knew that Chen Mu was not only on good terms with Min Baoyi, but had even climbed up to Xu Hongyu of the City Guard Main Division, so his future was limitless.

He could still deal with ordinary Yamen Runners or even Yamen Runner Captains normally, but he was completely unwilling to offend Chen Mu.

"You must be Fifth Master, I've heard of you for a long time. I have a relative who is missing, and I need your help to find someone."

"Her name is Zhang Youying, a girl, not yet twenty years old."

Chen Mu said in a calm tone.

As soon as Fifth Master heard this, he immediately smiled and said, "A small matter, just give the order, and we'll do it right away... Xiao Liu, go, find someone for me, and see which short-sighted person has touched Yamen Runner Chen's relative!"

Someone responded immediately and left in a hurry.

Fifth Master then cupped his hands at Chen Mu and said, "It will take some time to find someone. This humble abode is a bit simple, but I do have a few bottles of good wine hidden away. Yamen Runner Chen, why don't you sit down and rest, and wet your throat?"

"No need."

Chen Mu said lightly.

"Alright, then you rest."

Fifth Master responded with a smile, and the group waited for news in the courtyard.

About half an hour passed.

The skinny man who had run out earlier slipped back, looked at Chen Mu hesitantly, but still went to Fifth Master first, whispering a few words in his ear.

After hearing this, Fifth Master frowned slightly, then smiled wryly, and said, "Yamen Runner, Xiao Liu asked the kidnappers, and no one has seen your relative. They shouldn't dare to disobey my orders, so they probably really don't know."

"Don't know?"

Liu Song stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "In this Nine Stripes Ward, if something or someone is lost, is there anything Fifth Master doesn't know?"

Fifth Master was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to answer. He looked at Chen Mu, hesitated again and again, and then said, "Yamen Runner probably knows too, there have been quite a few people missing in the past two or three months, but most of them have nothing to do with us. As for where these people have gone, we really don't know, but if you insist on saying it... we actually have some suspicions."

"Speak."

Chen Mu said calmly.

Fifth Master looked around, hesitated briefly, then took a few steps forward, came to Chen Mu's side, and lowered his voice, "It seems like something's going on with the Black Crow Sect, but this is just our guess..."

He didn't want to offend Chen Mu, nor did he want to offend the Black Crow Sect, but Chen Mu had come to his door, so there was really no way around it.

Black Crow Sect?

Hearing Fifth Master's words, Chen Mu frowned slightly.

Compared to the Thieves Guild and figures like Fifth Master, the Black Crow Sect was much more troublesome.

According to what he had learned during this period, the Black Crow Sect's territory and influence in the Nine Stripes Ward area were still somewhat inferior to the Red Gold Gang, but the problem was that the Red Gold Gang was only entrenched in the Nine Stripes Ward, while the Black Crow Sect had strongholds and infiltration in several nearby 'wards'.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't want to get involved with the Black Crow Sect, but since Chen Hong had come to him for help, he had to help.

Chen Mu thought for a while, then looked at Fifth Master again and asked, "Are you sure?"

Fifth Master smiled sheepishly and said, "This is what we do for a living..."

He didn't actually have any evidence, and he wasn't really sure, but being at this level, various messages entered his ears, and the most unusual thing in the past two or three months was the Black Crow Sect.

"Alright."

Chen Mu nodded, turned around, and left with Liu Song and the others.

Seeing Chen Mu leave, Fifth Master breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The skinny man next to him leaned closer and said, "Fifth Master, why were you so polite to him? He's just a Yamen Runner Captain, not a Yamen Director."

"You know nothing."

Fifth Master slapped the man on the forehead unhappily.

In his view, Chen Mu not only had a background, but his strength was probably not simple either. He would definitely be someone in the future, at least able to become a Yamen Director, completely different from those Yamen Runner Captains who just muddled along.

Otherwise, he would never have revealed the Black Crow Sect's information just now, because if the Black Crow Sect found out and came looking for trouble, wouldn't he be inviting disaster for no reason?

"Chen Captain, where to now?"

After leaving the alley, Liu Song asked Chen Mu in a low voice beside him.

Fifth Master's voice was very low just now. He was relatively close but didn't hear what the other party said, but judging from his expression, he could guess that he must have told Chen Mu some useful information, otherwise Chen Mu wouldn't have left so easily.

Chen Mu pondered briefly and said, "Go to the Red Gold Gang."

Yes.

Instead of looking for the Black Crow Sect, he was going to find the Red Gold Gang.

He didn't know for the time being whether the information Fifth Master provided was true or false, and the Red Gold Gang and the Black Crow Sect had always been hostile to each other, with many conflicts between them. As the saying goes, the person who knows him best must be his opponent.

Whether the Black Crow Sect was secretly arresting people or doing something else, the Red Gold Gang must know something about it, and may even know more than Fifth Master's side, and they certainly wouldn't hide it from him, after all, they would be too happy for him to go and make trouble for the Black Crow Sect.