Chapter 70: The Search

Thump, thump, thump…

The sky gradually darkened, and chaotic, hurried footsteps came from outside the window, mixed with shouts and curses.

“You, have you seen Captain Yin Hu today?”

“Why are you talking about yesterday? I’m asking about today, not yesterday!”

“And you! Have you seen him?”

“No? Think harder! Those who hide information will die a miserable death!”

Chen Chong walked to the window and, using the dim light of the darkening sky, saw a large number of Territory underlings flooding the streets and alleys. They kicked open one dilapidated house after another, grabbed survivors one by one, and shouted curses at them. It seemed most of Blood General’s subordinates had been mobilized, searching everywhere for any trace of Yin Hu.

Chen Chong slightly narrowed his eyes. “They finally noticed?”

Although he wasn’t quite sure why the people in the Territory had only just discovered Yin Hu’s disappearance, Chen Chong felt no nervousness. Instead, he stood by the window and watched leisurely.

Yin Hu’s corpse had already been completely destroyed by him, turned to ashes in the boiler. Even if these underlings turned the entire Territory upside down, they would never find any trace. They were simply wasting their efforts.

Just as Chen Chong was watching the scene by the window like it was a good show, on this very street, Wei De and Lu Kai were sweating profusely. They, along with the members of the Supervisor Squad, were running around like headless flies.

“Big Head, how’s it going on your side?”

“We’ve already questioned all the laborers in the factory. No one has seen Captain Yin Hu today!”

“Chick, what about you?”

“Damn it, I’ve asked around the factories on my side, nothing!”

“To hell with it, did the Captain just ascend to heaven in broad daylight!?”

Two hours later, the sky had turned completely dark. Wei De, Lu Kai, and over a dozen members of the Supervisor Squad held flashlights and gathered in the middle of the street, panting heavily, their faces full of exhaustion and anxiety.

“We’ve basically turned our designated area inside out.”

Wei De propped his hands on his knees, panting like a dog.

“Brothers, what the hell do we do? The General gave a strict order—he wants to see the man alive or his corpse dead. If we don’t have a result for the General by tomorrow morning, we’ll be in deep trouble.”

Lu Kai was somewhat frantic. “But we’ve already searched this area thoroughly. We can only wait and see if the other search teams have found anything.”

This search operation wasn’t limited to just their Supervisor Squad. Under Blood General’s orders, most of the personnel in the Territory—the guards, the Hunting Squad, the Gathering Squad, and others—had been mobilized. Even several Awakeners like Tie Shan, Li Bao, and Zhang Long were involved, which showed how much importance Blood General placed on this matter.

Another short, stocky underling said uneasily, “Why do you think the Captain went missing? Could he have defected?”

All the other members of the Supervisor Squad looked at him as if he were an idiot. “What crap are you spouting? The Captain isn’t a fool. His life in the Territory is so comfortable, why would he defect?”

The short, stocky underling wore a mournful face and sighed. “Then how could the Captain just vanish into thin air?”

The other Supervisor Squad members were immediately speechless, equally finding the situation extremely bizarre.

Unlike the survivors in the Territory, whose lives were worth less than weeds, Yin Hu was an Awakener who could easily fight ten men at once. His silent disappearance seemed to have no explanation other than defection. Yet, Yin Hu held the position of supervisor in the Territory, which was excellent in both treatment and authority. Coupled with Blood General’s presence, there was absolutely no reason for him to defect.

“Wait a moment.”

Turning his head to glance at the dormitory building beside him where Chen Chong was staying, Wei De seemed to think of something and said to Lu Kai, “Come on, let’s go up. There’s still one person we haven’t asked yet.”

…

At this moment, Chen Chong had stopped paying attention to the chaos and noise outside. Inside his room, he was methodically performing the postures of the 27 Styles of Body Tempering Iron Body, continuing to use his True Qi to permeate and temper every single muscle throughout his body.

A burst of hurried footsteps entered the corridor, causing Chen Chong to open his eyes.

The laborers were still at the factory and hadn’t gotten off work yet, so those entering were naturally the underlings searching for traces of Yin Hu. He immediately returned to his bed plank and listened as the footsteps quickly ascended the stairs and came straight to his door.

Bang, bang.

“Chen Chong, are you in there?”

Unlike how they would kick open the laborers’ doors, after knocking, Wei De and Lu Kai pushed the door open. Using the dim light, they looked at Chen Chong on the bed and asked anxiously, “Did you see Captain Yin Hu today?”

“It’s you two. I heard the commotion outside just now. They said Captain Yin Hu is missing?”

Chen Chong shook his head and said, feigning concern, “Yesterday evening, I did happen to run into Captain Yin Hu at Captain Gu Jun’s place, but I haven’t seen him today. When did you discover he was missing?”

Wei De and Lu Kai felt disappointed. The light in the room was dim, so they didn’t pay much attention to Chen Chong, nor did they feel any suspicion toward him. They hurriedly said, “We noticed this morning that the Captain wasn’t in the Territory, but we thought he had gone out with the General’s convoy. It wasn’t until the General returned that we realized Captain Yin Hu was actually missing! We still need to keep searching now, we’ll talk later.”

Outside, it was still a scene of utter chaos. Wei De and Lu Kai had no mood to chat idly with Chen Chong. After leaving those words, the two men left in a rush.

So that’s how it was.

After the two left, Chen Chong stood by the window, watching the flashlight beams flickering everywhere across the Territory, and smiled slightly.

…

Another two or three hours passed. Late into the night, the Crimson Territory was not as peaceful as it usually was at night. Everywhere was filled with the sounds of underlings searching and cursing.

Inside Blood General’s luxurious manor, in the living room.

Before Blood General, Tie Shan’s tall figure stood solemnly.

“Are you telling me that you, along with Li Bao, Zhang Long, and over two hundred men, in all this time, in such a small area, couldn’t find a single living person?”

Blood General’s voice was soft and gentle, but his tone was like a knife in a cold wind, cutting straight into Tie Shan’s heart and making it turn cold.

“General, Zhang Long, Li Bao, and I have already taken men and questioned practically everyone in the Territory. Whether it was the laborers in the factories or those survivors barely hanging on, none of them have seen any trace of Yin Hu today. The others are still searching now, and we will certainly give you a result by tomorrow morning!”

Tie Shan’s expression was also grim as he said with shame, “However, I have already searched Yin Hu’s room. Including the Spiritual Fruit, the supplies quota he just received recently was stored in his room almost completely untouched. This is enough to rule out the possibility of defection. I’m guessing…”

Blood General sat motionless on his tiger-skin chair, a dangerous glint flashing in his crimson eyes. He interjected, “Are you saying that Yin Hu didn’t defect, but was killed silently by someone within the Territory?”