Guard Jia traveled throughout the city, inspected every commercial street, and recorded the names and business scope of all shops. I inspected various workshops, those producing cooking oil and seafood products, as well as textile factories and dyeing houses.
The most indispensable thing in Huacheng is seafood, and there are enough grains and vegetables. After some research, Guard Jia and I found that what they lack most is a dye.
There is no such mineral dye locally. The mineral is different from flowers and plants and can be transplanted and cultivated.
It can be found wherever it is found, and there is no place where it cannot be grown.
Things are rare and valuable. This dye is shipped from far away overseas. It is called sea stone and can dye a special blue color.
Girls will like it if it is dyed light, and it will be popular with men if it is dyed.
Unfortunately, there is not a single seastone mine in the entire Fengqi Continent.
Due to transportation costs, the scarcity of production, and the fact that it is so sought after, the price of a pound of sea stone powder is astonishingly high.
Those who can afford seastone blue clothing are either rich or noble.
Guard Jia is worthy of being the head of the intelligence/information station. He spent a few days to find out the characteristics of the sea stone mine, its initial shape, color, and how to find this kind of mine underground from the ground.
He came back with all the information about prospecting methods.
"Is there a sea stone mine on the island?"
"Yes, where there are mines, a kind of flower will grow on the ground. It is a very recognizable blue flower, like this." Guard Jia took the branch and drew a flower on the ground.
The two of us are on our way to the countryside. We have visited the urban area of Huacheng, and next we want to go to the countryside.
"It's very special." The shape of this flower is like a wave. The bottom petals are large and blue, and the upper petals are white and finely broken, just like the sea holding a wave.
"That person said that he will never admit his mistake. This matter is not a secret. Everyone knows it, but it is useless to know that we, Fengqi, do not have a sea stone mine."
"Only on the island..."
"Not every island has them. Alas, there are so many small islands in the sea. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. No wonder they are so rare."
"Do you think there is one on Treasure Island?" Although Yunzhou and I have traveled all over Treasure Island, we have not touched every mountain top.
"You can send people to search and search the land inch by inch."
"Let's talk about it later. Let me first see if there is a tofu shop in the countryside."
All the cities along the coast are ancient cities. In terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, I really can’t find anything they lack.
There is almost no market gap, and we are foreign businessmen. If we want to gain a foothold in Huacheng, we must innovate.
"Young lady, look."
Walking on the country road, Guard Jia suddenly pointed to a village not far away. There was a smell of blood in the wind blowing from there.
The smell can float with the wind, it is definitely not as simple as killing chickens and cows.
It should be cooking time at noon, but there was not a wisp of smoke in the village.
"Do you want to go take a look?" Guard Jia's curiosity was like grapes, growing in bunches.
"One more thing is worse than one less thing." I sensed that there was a group of killers with good martial arts skills in the village. If they killed people for a long time, the life energy group would be infiltrated by dark energy.
Maybe it's what people call evil spirits.
"Oh, let's go then." Guard Jia suppressed his curiosity and continued walking forward.
To go to that village, you need to walk down the side road. There are farmland on both sides of the road, and a little head suddenly pokes out of the field.
"Auntie... help!" The little boy, about five or six years old, with pigtails in high braids, his face covered with water drops and mud marks, had been lying in the field for an unknown amount of time.
"This?" Guard Jia still looked at me and waited for my order before taking action.
"Take him with you."
"Good!"
Guard Jia fished the little boy out from the field. The child was covered in mud. He had a silver collar with a longevity lock around his neck. One of his shoes was missing. His eyes were red and swollen, probably from crying.
The group of killers dispersed towards the outside of the village, but did not leave, as if they were searching for something.
I laid down the gas thread in the field, and then asked the guard Jia to get out of here quickly.
We use Qinggong and go up and down. Anyway, there is no one else on this road.
He ran straight for several miles before jumping back to the ground from the treetops.
"Young madam, what did you find?" Guard Jia asked at this time.
"There is a killer." I gave him a coded gesture, which meant total destruction.
He knew clearly that there was probably no one left alive in that village.
Holding the little boy tightly in her arms, she found that the child was asleep.
The little boy wears a longevity lock, has a chubby face, and is very cute. His clothes and shoes are all made of good fabrics.
I looked at the back of the longevity lock, and his name was cast on it: Tao Abao.
"Young madam, inside this child..." Guard Jia thought the boy was frightened and went crazy, so he checked his pulse.
"There is internal power that does not belong to him. If no one helps him extract it, he will die." I used my powers to check and found more things than Guard Jia.
"That's just right. You can use magic skills. This kid is really lucky."
"You have a great life, but you also have a hard life." I said while absorbing Qigong for the little boy. He was controlled by special medicine, so he did not die when he received a large amount of internal force.
The person who injects his internal energy into him has at least a dozen of internal energy. If this happens, it is estimated that that person will not survive, and all his hopes will be placed on this child.
The effect of the medicine wears off, the inner strength disappears, and the child truly falls into sleep, clutching Guard Jia's collar in his sleep.
On this section of the road, there were no shops in front of Buba Village or in the back. I wanted to find a place to settle the child and get him some food and drink, so I had to go to the next stop quickly.
The two of us traveled more than 20 kilometers before we saw an inhabited house.
The house has a fenced yard. There are chicken coops and kennels in the yard, but there are no dogs. An old man is sitting in the yard repairing a wooden basin.
According to the map, we still have to walk another twenty kilometers to the next village.
Guard Jia and I don't care, I'm just afraid that the child won't be able to bear it.
Guard Jia came up to knock on the door and said hello to the old man, saying that he was the guardian of the Yun Mansion, and he went out with his wife to do errands. He picked up a poor child on the road, maybe an orphan. The child is thirsty and hungry now, and we have nothing on him. Bring food and be willing to spend money to buy some food from the old man.
"Oh? How pitiful, please come in and sit down." The old man put down the tools in his hands, hurriedly opened the courtyard door, and looked at the child in the arms of guard Jia with some sympathy.
An old woman came out of the house with two small stools and set them for me and the guard Jia.
It was muggy in the house that day, so it was cooler to sit in the yard under the shade of a tree.
"Don't be busy, we have nothing to do, just grab something the kids can eat." Guard Jia took out his money bag from his arms, but was stopped by the old man.
"Huh? There's nothing good at home. How can I pay for a sweet potato!"
She said she was eating sweet potatoes, but the old woman took out two eggs from the chicken coop, went to the kitchen to beat them into egg liquid, and steamed them in a pot.
Guard Jia was not in a hurry to stuff the money at this time. He put away the money bag and waited until the little boy finished eating the boiled sweet potatoes and steamed egg custard. Then he went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and quietly put the money on the stove.
He pretended to ask casually about the village we passed by when we came here, saying that it was strange that no one in the village was cooking at noon. Is there some activity in the village and the whole village was participating in the activity?
The old man groaned and said, "No way, I haven't heard of any activities in their village."
The old woman also nodded: "That's right. All the villages in Pinglan County hold any activities together. But when it's so lively, there are people who go to various places to inform retail investors. As an old couple, we can get the trust every time."
"Oh, that's really strange." Guard Jia pretended to wonder.
He brought up this topic just because he wanted to find out more about the village.
How could an ordinary village attract a group of killers?
If you tell them directly that the village was massacred, I am afraid it will scare the old man.
"The Taojia Village is extraordinary." The old man was indeed interested in chatting with the guard Jia.
The name 'Tao Abao' was written on the little boy's longevity lock. The old man also said that the village was called Taojiacun, which was just right.
"Why is it unusual? Tell me, I like to hear new and novel things."
"It's not novel at all. He is a powerful figure in Tao Village. Does Yuancheng know about it?"
"I know, Jianghu City is a gathering place for heroes from all walks of life."
"That's right, there is a Wanwan Bodyguard Agency in Yuancheng, have you heard of it?"
"I've heard that the largest escort agency in Yuancheng has a well-known name in the world."
"Oh, that's right, the old head of the Wan Bodyguard Bureau, Fifth Master Wan Ying Gun Tao, lives in that village!"
"Hey, such an awesome person is in Taojia Village?"
The two of them were teasing each other, as if they were having a cross talk.
"Grandpa..." The little boy was frightened, and his expression was a little grim at first, but when he heard the words 'Ten Thousand Shadows Gun Tao Fifth Master', he finally reacted.
"Huh?" The old man heard the little boy call him grandpa, and caught a glimpse of the collar around his neck. He reached out and turned over the longevity lock, and saw the three words "Tao Abao" engraved on the back.
"Tao Abao, Tao Qi'er?" The old man directly said the little boy's nickname and asked us hurriedly: "Where did you pick up the child?"
The old woman also became nervous at this time, but from the look in their eyes, she probably didn't know Tao Abao personally, maybe she had heard some descriptions about him, such as this longevity lock collar.
"On the way here, he was lying down in the farmland beside the road. We thought he was an abandoned child." There were loopholes in the guard Jia's explanation, but the old couple had no time to pursue the details.
The old man stood up from the bench, looking worried.
"Tao Village... This child is called Tao Abao, nicknamed Tao Qi'er. He is the favorite of Master Tao. He is usually accompanied by three wet nurses and a large group of servants. It is impossible to let him go out alone. , and ended up like this.”
"Old man, something happened in Taojia Village?"
"Eighty percent yes, we have to report it to the official immediately."
"Don't worry, you two. Since something may have happened in Taojiacun, I'll go and confirm it first. If it's true, I'll report it to the official. I'm faster. I'm just asking you, the two elders, to let my young lady rest here."
"Okay, okay, please, young man."
"You're welcome, my young lady has always been kind-hearted, and will definitely help when the road is rough."
I glared at him and he quickly ran away.
There was no one alive in that village, and the killer should have left. Even if he didn't leave, how could the government servants be their opponents? If he went there, he would die.
That's why I didn't rush to report it to the police, lest I risk someone's life.
We do not understand the situation and should not act rashly.
Anyway, the killers are stained with my spirit and have been brought back to see their master.
Wait for the people from the yamen to come over and confirm the situation. If we really want to arrest someone, I will provide technical support to find the murderer.
While waiting, the old man couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "You people in the world still can't get out of the world."
"The Wan Bodyguard Bureau has a good reputation. Everyone praises Tao Wuye's character. I have never heard that he has enemies in the world." This is true. The Wan Bodyguard Bureau has been in business for three generations. They are the third generation. The main thing among the three of them is that they are reliable, love to make friends, especially trustworthy, and do business with integrity.
The martial arts gangsters also admired him very much. His former boss had hired Mr. Tao Wu as his escort several times, and the two sides cooperated happily.
The original person had never heard that Fifth Master Tao had any enemies, and there was no name from the Wan Bodyguard Bureau among the martial arts sect that secretly took refuge in Fuyu Tiangong.
"It didn't happen before. During the chaos in Yuancheng, Mr. Tao Wu didn't know what orders he took. He only accepted the items without sending them out, so he took the whole family back to his hometown to retire."
The old man seemed to be remembering, twirling his beard, and then said:
"When I first came back, I heard that their family sent servants to guard the front and back doors every day, and patrolled inside and outside the courtyard every night, as if they were afraid of someone chasing after them."
"Oh, my youngest son used to work as a coachman in his family. He quit his job half a year ago and chartered a coach at Huacheng Car Company. This young man always wants to have a try in the city."
"Poor Fifth Master Tao, his son and daughter-in-law died during the chaos in Yuancheng. When he was young, he only focused on practicing martial arts, beating people and fighting, and he only thought about making a name for himself. He only married his wife when he was in his forties. When he was old, he could not have children. Easy, but the result...sigh..."
It is true that Tao Wuye only had a son when he was fifty years old, and he was an only son. The child was naturally weak and not suitable for martial arts training. Tao Wuye did not force him to study, draw, and learn piano skills.
His son was quite successful. He fell in love early, got married early, had children early, and became a father at the age of sixteen.
Everyone in Yuancheng knows how grand his son's wedding and grandson's 100-day banquet are.
It turned out that his son and daughter-in-law were killed in the Yuancheng disaster.
However, his son is a scholar and his daughter-in-law is a member of the Menxiang family. The killer recruited by Taojia Village should have nothing to do with his son and daughter-in-law.
"My children always say that the treasure on the young master Tao's neck is unusual. Although it is made of silver, Master Tao hired the most powerful locksmith to build a mechanism in this long-lasting lock. There is an infinite secret hidden inside. Priceless treasure, look at the little stone on the front of this lock."
The old man pointed to the small white stone inlaid in the middle of the front of the longevity lock and said:
"My son said that this stone is not a gem or jade, but a stone dug out of the head of some monster... or a crystal. As long as you carry it with you, the child's mind will become smarter and smarter."
This must be a rumor. I felt it specifically and found that the stone has no special energy.
Moreover, the longevity lock worn by a four or five-year-old child cannot be too big. There are many things that can be hidden in such a small thing.
In addition to the space taken up by the mechanism, the space for storing treasures is too small.
Pearls and elixirs? It can't be a martial arts secret book. Even if the contents of the entire secret book are abbreviated on a piece of paper, it will not fit in it.
So the old man shook his head and said, "What's the treasure? I don't believe it. Such a gadget can't even fit into a golden lump the size of a glutinous rice ball."
(End of chapter)
