Chapter 69: Search
Cheng Zitong was delighted upon hearing what Chen Chuan said. “That’s right! That’s why I said you’re a true learn-by-instincts type!”
Chen Chuan smiled and continued looking through the papers.
Cheng Zitong took a sip of water from the glass on the table, then pointed at the papers. “The client asked to capture a child in the well. Yes, there should be multiple. The pay is quite high, and no one will compete for this mission with you. It’s not dangerous either. While you still have time, you should start with this to get some practice.”
Since there’s more than one child in the well, I wonder whether it’s the child from the legends. I’ll know once I do the mission, Chen Chuan thought.
He was filled with curiosity.
While he could only attempt to lure out one of the children at night, he needed to check out the wells during the day. After all, the information Cheng Zitong gave him was from a few years ago, so there was no telling whether the things were still the same. He needed to be sure.
Since it was a day off tomorrow, Chen Chuan started thinking about what he should prepare and came up with a plan. After a bit of training, he went to sleep.
In the morning, he went back home and asked Yu Wan to borrow Nian Fuli’s watch. He put it on his bicycle, bought some tools, and cycled to the northern side of the city.
After cycling for about forty-five minutes, he reached the Old City District, located in the north of the city.
He was actually familiar with the place, because old Chen Chuan’s parents’ house was located even further north. The old Chen Chuan had also died there.
Since he did not know the motive behind the old Chen Chuan’s murder, he had not gone back to that place to avoid unnecessary danger.
There were many old houses in the area. Some of them existed since before the establishment of the Great Shun Republic and were around a century old. They were actually the Yangzhi Town. After the Great Development, when Yangzhi Town was used as a logistics hub, it developed into Yangzhi City.
The Chain Links Gang claimed the northwestern part of the city, stretching up to the suburbs, including North Ornament Highlands and the towns and villages in the area. Meanwhile, the Blood Scars Gang’s territory was mostly located in the commercial areas downtown. The northern side of the city was considered the intermediate zone, and dozens of gangs of all sizes gathered there. The people in the area were old-fashioned and did not mix with the other city folk.
Since the situation was complicated and he had to stay until night, Chen Chuan brought the Constabulary’s bag. His status as a Martial Valor University student was not as useful as him being related to a constable.
He started searching for the wells based on the landmarks on the map and the dates written underneath. As he continued cross-checking the map, he found the well which should have been visited by a child of the well the day before. It had dried up.
This meant that no one would have come here, because the children only showed up in old wells that still had water. Then, the night before, one of the children might have showed up in a nearby well. Chen Chuan had to adjust the possible sequence of locations back by one. He did so and left for another well to look around.
***
Soon after he left, four men dressed like gang members walked out of a house.
“Brother Tian, do you think the Constabulary sent the kid here?”
“Do you think I didn’t see that huge bag he was carrying?” Brother Tian snapped at him.
“What should we do about the trade tonight? Those Constabulary hounds have really sharp noses.”
“What can we do? We made a promise and can’t cancel it. We need to change locations. Give everyone a heads-up. We’ll try to finish the trade before the agreed time. We don’t want any problems popping up. Also, get more of our brothers. If anything happens, we’ll take care of it.”
“Alright.”
***
Chen Chuan searched for the next well. Fortunately, based on the map, it was really close to the previous one. After a little over three hundred meters, he found the well, and it was still usable. With this one confirmed to be a possible location, the next well was highly likely to be where a child in the well would show up at night.
So, he rode approximately a quarter of a kilometer eastward and found a well with a rather large rim.
It was a large, empty structure with signs of being washed often. Residential houses surrounded the place. There were two alleys on either side of it, which meant that multiple families shared the well. It had a pulley installed above it, with a bucket attached to it. By the looks of it, it was often in use, too. That would make it easy to get water.
After observing the terrain and thinking about a possible plan, Chen Chuan decided to try the well at night. If it was not the right one, he would think more about it later. Once he came to a decision, he left the place and found a martial arts center to train while waiting for time to pass.
The most troublesome thing about the area at night were the gangs. Most of the shops would close their businesses ahead of shops in other districts. Only the martial arts centers would continue running and holding tournaments that the gangs would join, either blatantly or in secret. This was good enough for Chen Chuan to linger until a suitable time.
He stayed at the martial arts center until 8:30 p.m. When it was about time, he went outside. The noise and liveliness from the crowd inside faded away instantly. The streets were silent, and only the trees on either side extended their branches to Chen Chuan to show him the last of their leaves as they swayed in the wind. The streetlights were on, but Chen Chuan could not see anyone around.
Chen Chuan adjusted the hem of his cap, grabbed his bicycle, and rode to the well.
After around six minutes, he arrived at the alley leading to the well. There was only a sole streetlight nearby. Just then, he saw a man walking over across the street.
The man seemed built and strong. He wore a face mask and a baseball cap. He was walking quickly, but then he saw Chen Chuan and noticed his bag. The man stopped for a moment before pushing his cap further down his head and hurried to another fork.
Judging by his footsteps and body shape, Chen Chuan could tell that he was a martial artist. He was also likely a gang member. But that had nothing to do with him. He got off his bicycle and went into the alley. Since it was dim there, he took out his flashlight to light up the way.
But he started slowing down after only walking a short distance, because he saw eight fierce-looking men standing in the empty space around the well. All of them were smoking and holding bats or knives. One of them shone a flashlight on Chen Chuan and squinted to better see his face.
“Brother Tian, it’s that kid from the day!”
“I knew there was something off about you! I even switched to this place to run away from you, but we’re all still here?! I didn’t want to fight you, but you just refuse to leave us alone! It’s your own fault for being so unlucky, kid!” Brother Tian snapped, clearly frustrated and angry.
Chen Chuan sighed. “I can’t really say who the unlucky ones are here, honestly.”
“Get him!” Brother Tian growled.
Chen Chuan pushed his bicycle against the wall and removed his cap before throwing it into the basket. He walked forward while rolling his shoulders and wrists.
One of the men swung his bat at Chen Chuan, but Chen Chuan just tilted his head slightly to the side before pushing his palm against the gang member’s chest. The man flew back and knocked down some of the people behind him.
Chen Chuan made it out of the alley, and one of the gang members who had been hiding at the side took out a knife from his belt to stab him, but Chen Chuan just turned around and stomped on his shinbone. A loud crack rose, and the gang member cried out in pain. He rolled on the ground while cradling his broken leg.
Someone behind Chen Chuan brought a bat up to hit him, so he turned around and grabbed it. Then, he brought it down against the man’s chest. The wood snapped, and the man fell to the side while cradling his chest. He seemed to be in great pain, but couldn’t even cry out.
The remaining gang members stopped and cowered. Chen Chuan was obviously a martial artist. If they attacked him, they would just be inviting a world of pain upon themselves. This was no joke.
When Brother Tian saw that the other gang members did not dare to move, he found himself in a bind. In the end, he gritted his teeth, brought his machete up, and swung it at Chen Chuan’s head.
Before the machete could cut into anything, his vision turned black, and he lost consciousness.
The other gang members saw their boss rushing forward only to be sent flying by Chen Chuan’s kick to the head. He tumbled on the ground before becoming completely still.
No one dared to linger around anymore. They threw away their weapons and ran out of the alley. They abandoned their boss without a second thought.
Chen Chuan ignored them. He had already wasted quite a lot of time and could not afford to have any more delays.
He went to the well and turned the pulley handle. Right away, he felt something off. The bucket did not feel like how it should when it was full of water. It was too light. After some thinking, he continued turning the handle. When the bucket came up, he found a few sealed plastic bags inside. He touched them and felt a couple boxes inside.
Is this... medicine?