After appeasing Vladimir, Guo Kang promised him that he would help him seek justice.
Vladimir thanked him. After that, everyone was silent all the way and quickly approached the destination.
Guo Kang and Guo Ponu discussed it for a while and thought that since Sergey already knew about it, they should simply publicize it in a big way. So they held up flags all the way and deliberately took a detour on the main road.
Even so, Sergei's gang did not ambush or intercept, and the outpost never discovered a large group of enemies. It is estimated that the round of fighting just now was as expected, and almost all the thugs that could be mobilized near them were wiped out.
Since there were no thugs to harass or fights, the bystanders around them became a lot more emboldened. Along the way, many people were looking at them curiously.
Although most people just looked at it from a distance and did not dare to ask directly, after seeing the few people following behind, everyone went to inquire about the situation.
Therefore, it didn't take long for more and more people to follow behind. Obviously, what happened just now has spread throughout the neighborhood.
As the number of people following him increased, people who didn't dare to get too close before started to come over.
They may have been afraid of retaliation, or were frightened by the fighting scene, and did not dare to step forward, but seeing that there were more people now, they became bolder. The crowd quickly swelled and quickly formed a circle outside. Following them, they arrived at a wooden two-story building.
This time, the man guarding the door was much more timid and shouted loudly from afar: "Who!...Who is that person!"
Although he tried his best to sound fierce, even Guo Kang, who had no business, could tell that these people were speaking tremblingly, and they obviously had no confidence and were just pretending to be vicious.
He asked everyone to ignore it, so everyone remained silent, maintained a normal pace, and continued to move forward calmly.
Seeing that this group of people ignored the minions at all, the onlookers calmed down a little. Some people who originally stopped also took the opportunity to move forward, preparing to observe the confrontation between the two sides at close range.
Of course, in the eyes of the gatekeepers, things may not be that simple - in front of them, a small group of murderous people are approaching, escorting an accomplice who looks familiar, with blood on his face. In the distance, local residents huddled together and surrounded them in a dark crowd. Although they did not continue to move forward, they were obviously not here to support them.
The minions know exactly what they do on a daily basis. It's a pity that things have reached such a point that if you want to reconcile, it is obvious that others will not agree.
The leader took courage, picked up an iron fork, and placed it across his chest in an attempt to stop them.
This time, Guo Kang decided not to talk nonsense.
It wasn't that he wanted to act cool or show off his fighting skills, it was really because he was scared of him last time.
In various stories, the first battle of heroes is often full of epic feeling. Geniuses in real life, such as Alexander, Xiang Yu, and Huo Qubing, often show their talent the first time they go into battle. But it's a pity that Guo Kang doesn't seem to have anything outstanding in this aspect...
In fact, he also knew that most of the children of the Zhu Kingdom had their first battle arranged by their families, which would give them a chance to adapt and practice. But even so, the encounter just now was still somewhat different from what he expected.
He wasn't quite sure yet how high Tuo Huan's expectations were for him - Tuo Huan even felt that it would be a waste for him to go to a secondary direction like Egypt, and he should go to the more important northwest border.
But it is a pity that even a man like Sigismund, who is not known for his talent in history, and whose military presence is even more negative, and whose "reputation" is basically based on being beaten by the Hussites, performed better when he was young than He shines much brighter now.
The aristocrats of this era are not the vases in modern times that are deliberately raised to be useless. On the contrary, almost everyone who can survive in this violent and chaotic environment is a ruthless person. For example, Sigismund himself was elected emperor at the age of 10, took charge of a territory at the age of 13, and was actively participating in the intricate civil war between the HRE, Poland and Hungary by the age of 18.
With Guo Kang's performance, I'm afraid he really can't beat Sigismund...
Although he didn't know about this yet, Guo Kang knew about the predicament of the Shi family. At that time, Shi Ke was very worried and said that his brother Stan had fought several battles with the Poles on the front line, but he had not achieved much results. But now that I think about it, Stan at least fought the Polish army with real swords and guns, but his commanding ability was mediocre.
Guo Kang thought about it and found that his best solo record so far was a 50-50 draw with a gangster leader, and he finally won with his sister's help...
If this continues, even if others don't say anything, he himself will be embarrassed. But Guo Kang really didn't have much confidence in his fighting ability, so without thinking too much, he subconsciously made the most direct choice - he took out the prepared flintlock pistol, pointed it at the guy blocking the road, and directly fired the gun. Pull the trigger.
The moment the trigger was pulled, the sear was released, and the hammer hit the fire sickle with a crisp sound, carrying the flint.
However, next, nothing happened.
This time, Guo Kang was mentally prepared: when he failed to fire, he had already stretched out his left hand, pinched the hammer, pulled it back, and then released it again. But after firing it again, the ignition device, which was obviously fine during the test firing, still showed no response.
As for the guys blocking the road, even if they don't know the model of this "advanced weapon", they can still realize that it is definitely not a good thing to have someone with an unfriendly attitude pointing an iron pipe at them.
But this time Guo Kang was in the middle of the crowd and attacked him to interrupt... If he made these strange moves, the people next to him would immediately stop him. Not only will it be of no use, but it will be targeted by these guys who look even more difficult to mess with.
Therefore, after reacting for a moment, he turned around and ran away without hesitation.
Guo Ponu next to him looked at me, then at Guo Kang, and hesitated for a moment. After realizing that her brother pulled the hammer twice more, but there was still no response, she glanced around again and found that other team members were also looking at them.
She had no choice but to pick up a short spear, step forward, and throw it violently, causing the men who had already run to the door to fall two steps and nail them to the wooden wall.
Fortunately, the people behind him couldn't see Guo Kang's movements. They only saw the guy being scared away suddenly and then being killed in one fell swoop. For a moment, it was quite exciting.
Several other minions were so frightened that they dispersed, and no one gave chase. They just broke into the house and arrested people.
The guards here were weaker than those there just now. They searched every house and met little resistance. In the end, except for the two remaining men who were blocked in the house and could not escape, only a few cooks and servants who cleaned the room were captured, as well as three young girls wearing revealing clothes.
Everyone searched for a long time, but could not find where Vladimir's children were. We had to separate people to continue searching and interrogate these people at the same time.
The experience just now, coupled with the frustration of missing again, made Guo Kang a little anxious.
"Where are the people?" He stepped forward and hit one of the minions with his pistol: "Where did your boss die? Tell him to get out and see me!"
"He, he, he, he is not here..." The man was so frightened that he trembled when he spoke: "He left with the elder in the morning and hasn't come back yet."
"Elder? Which elder?" Father Mikhail seemed to know something about the situation here. Hearing his words, he asked: "Ivan 'Wine Barrel'?"
"It's not him, it's not him." The gangster denied: "It's not the elder in charge of our area, it's the elder Alexander from the 'Golden District'."
"What is he doing here?" Father Mikhail asked, frowning.
"Of course it's a commission from a big shot." The minion said without hesitation, but regretted a little, and actually calmed down: "Forget it, Father, you'd better stop asking. Oh, actually I shouldn't even tell him... "
Seeing his reaction, Guo Kang was a little surprised and looked at Father Mikhail. The priest then explained: "The Golden District is a wealthy area. Strictly speaking, the new residential areas from the Imperial Palace area to the west of the city are all included. Alexander is the gang leader there."
"That residential area is okay, the Imperial Palace District..." Guo Kang said in surprise: "These gangs are mainly composed of people from the lower class of the city. Do the Imperial Palace District and the Noble District have fixed members?"
"Of course, not all aristocratic districts are aristocrats." Father Mikhail shrugged: "Although the aristocrats always have various methods, from explicitly stipulating status levels to indirect screening with the help of land prices, in short, they are to distinguish themselves from the lower class. People, separated by space.”
"But this is actually impossible." He said: "I traveled everywhere before, going north to the territory of the Swedes, and going south to the east of Sarai, where the Tianfang believers live. I found that people from different places , have different hobbies, the treasures they admire and the way they show off their wealth are also different. However, they all have one thing in common, that is, the highest expression of status lies not in how many items they control, but in controlling people."
"So, even if there are not such high demands, noble people always need to create a set of demands, and then gather a large group of people to serve them to show their control over people."
"This is more than just ordinary living needs. Therefore, as long as the nobles still feel that they are superior to others, there will always be a large number of lower-class residents who want to live in their territory. Moreover, there have always been a lot of such servants, so the gangs will also Nature followed in there.”
"No wonder he has such an important position." Guo Kang understood immediately: "I guess he has to do dirty work for others."
The interrogator did not understand what they were saying, but when he saw that the two men knew Elder Alexander, he quickly said: "It would be better if you knew the situation. People who deal with the elders are all We are not the ones who can compare. If we offend them, it will not only be troublesome for me, but also for all of us here. For everyone’s sake, let’s forget it.”
However, Guo Kang didn't bother to pay attention to him at all.
"If I ask you, just tell me. What kind of tiger skin are you trying to pull?" He hit hard again, beating the man until he screamed: "Have any little boys or girls been sent to this place in the past few days?"
"Yes, yes." This guy was obviously not a tough guy. He immediately lost his momentum and hurriedly explained: "Our boss did bring some children here in the past few days, but I don't know who they are, and I don't know who is hiding." Where is it? I am the one who works as a gatekeeper outside..."
"You are still pretending to be stupid, right? Let me tell you, this is a major case that the War Commander is personally watching." Seeing this, Guo Kang simply took out the flag from his arms: "That elder of yours, and the corrupt officials he serves You dirty officials are going to be finished soon! If you don’t want to die with them, just answer my questions honestly!"
"But..." The minions became entangled again: "I heard that Elder Alexander's friends are the inspectors of the city. The people they serve are important figures in the palace who can meet Basileus."
"What is this Warmaster of yours? Can you protect us?" He said anxiously: "I have never heard of it? Is he as big as the inspector?"
"..."
Guo Kang and Father Mikhail were both silenced by him.
Since the minions were so ignorant, it was useless to scare him. Guo Kang and others had to give up and go to interrogate other people.
After asking around, they discovered that these minions might really not know. In the past few days, these two little boys and girls were not the only ones taken away. It should have been prepared by their boss for this elder. Yesterday, the elder visited in person, and Boss Sergei hosted a banquet for him.
However, these minions are not qualified to participate and can only guard the gate outside. Even the chef had only been cooking on the first floor all night. He only knew that it was noisy as usual, and he didn't know what was going on.
As for the attendees, they have all been taken away, along with the people who were robbed. The whole thing was completed by Alexander and Sergey with their confidants, from beginning to end, without even letting outside minions help.
The minions thought that the maids who were caught should know the situation better, but they were so frightened that they refused to speak no matter how they asked. Guo Kang had no choice but to come out and promise that he would send them to a nunnery managed by the church for protection afterwards, and those few people said something.
One of them said that when she went to deliver food last night, she saw Elder Alexander's men throwing some sundries out, and there seemed to be someone inside. When she went to clean up afterward, she could still see blood on the ground.
However, Alexander and others were very rough with the maid, punching and kicking her at every turn, so she did not dare to inquire about the specific situation.
But she suspected that it might be the victim who had been kidnapped before.
However, the placement of these "entertainment gifts" was the responsibility of Sergei's mistress herself. This woman is more vicious than those male thugs, especially towards them. She is often jealous for no reason. She will find an unlucky person almost every day, torture her, and even beat her to death. The maid is even more afraid to approach or confirm anything that has anything to do with her.
"That's enough." Guo Kang said quickly.
He asked the church prosecutor to go again and check the room next to the banquet hall she mentioned. Then, together with Father Mikhail and others, he hurried to the garbage dump across the road and found a large sack.
The appearance of this thing was very sudden.
These days, the big bag itself means a big piece of fabric. For the poor people here, this whole piece of fabric is valuable in itself and can be used for many purposes. It is too wasteful to use it to throw away garbage. The only explanation is that it was thrown out by Sergey and others and placed here temporarily. No matter how much the poor people next to them want it, they dare not touch it.
The knight captain drew his sword and opened the sack, and a strong stench spread immediately.
Guo Kang was so smoked that he retched several times, but no one around him was surprised and no one paid attention to him. Everyone looked at the young body that rolled out of the sack.
Vladimir hurriedly squeezed in, but as soon as he squeezed out of the crowd, his wife glanced at the body and stopped. She kept chanting "It's not her, it's not her" on the spot, then made the sign of the cross and prayed.
Guo Kang didn't know if she recognized that this was not her child, or if she simply didn't dare to confirm it and could only hope for God's blessing. However, Vladimir had no time to worry about her. He rushed over, turned the body over, and then paused for a moment.
"no no."
He turned around and shook his head at Father Mikhail.
Hearing this, Guo Kang also looked carefully.
The body was mutilated, with bruises on the face and body. The face seemed to have been hit many times and was severely deformed. The eyes were also swollen and could not be opened. Several large holes were opened in the chest and abdomen, and the intestines spilled out. The corpse had messy half-long hair on its head, and its lower body was bloody. It seemed that several pieces of flesh had been cut off, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a little boy or a little girl.
Guo Kang frowned and subconsciously took half a step back, just in time to bump into Guo Ponu behind him. Guo Ponu patted him casually to help him recover from his discomfort.
"Record this evidence." He turned back to the clerk and said: "In addition, since the biological parents think it is not the case, it means that the person we are looking for is still not here. Let's continue..."
Before he could finish speaking, Vladimir's wife suddenly screamed.
She jumped out directly, startling Guo Kang, and even the knight captain next to the sack was frightened by the inhuman voice and took two steps back.
Then, the ragged middle-aged woman lay down on the cold and dirty ground and burst into tears.
Guo Kang stretched out his head and saw that she was holding a severed limb in her hand. That should have fallen out when the knight captain was fiddling with the bag just now.
Vladimir also rushed over. After watching for a moment, he knelt on the ground without saying a word.
Father Mikhail strode forward and supported him.
Vladimir did not burst into tears like his wife, but seemed to be confused. He looked at Father Mikhail in confusion, then at the mutilated calf in the garbage pile, and fell silent.
"Child, child!" Father Mikhail shook him hard: "Wake up! Our Father is watching you in heaven!"
Vladimir raised his head and looked towards him. But Father Mikhail knew that his somewhat distracted gaze was not looking at himself, but at the higher and further existence behind him.
Vladimir clasped his hands, trembling, and let out a long sigh.
"Father——"
Then, he fell silent again. After holding on for a moment, he lowered his head and collapsed on Father Mikhail's chest, crying silently.
Not far away, Guo Kang was still staring at the severed limb.
In his field of vision, this young limb that had lost its vitality seemed to gradually wither and change color, and was eventually superimposed with the blurry image of his uncle's remaining stump that he had witnessed when he was a child.
"Barbarian..." Guo Kang muttered.
"What did you say?" Guo Ponu came over and glanced at him worriedly.
"Nothing." Guo Kang shook his head. After a moment of emotion, he quickly regained his composure: "Gather the team. We have to continue tracking."
"You want to see people alive, you want to see corpses when you're dead." He ordered the people gathered nearby: "Even if they eat the corpse, they have to cut open the stomach and dig it out for me. Do you understand!"
Everyone responded in unison.
(End of chapter)
