Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

Leaving the Lu Si Mansion.

On the way, Feng Zongqi started cursing: "That damned old man, he can just stop a transaction worth hundreds of thousands of dollars like that. He may be full and not hungry, but those wolves under him are starving."

"Those bastards are ruthless and heartless. They only care about money and not people. Who knows what kind of trouble they'll cause when they're starving."

Yun Zongqi, carrying a gourd of wine, drank and laughed: "Old Feng, you have to take this matter seriously. Don't be greedy when you shouldn't be. Don't lose big for small gains. If they really need money, just give them the money."

Feng Zongqi said with concern, "I know, alright, let's stop talking and let's go. We're chatting so enthusiastically, it wouldn't be good if someone with ulterior motives saw us and it got back to the commander."

"Withdraw!" Yun Zongqi nodded, transforming into a wisp of cloud and drifting into the distance.

……

"Damn, a case from nearly five years ago, and there's not a single problem with it." In the archives of the Night Patrol Division, Zhou Qingfeng, his hair disheveled and eyes bloodshot, was utterly astonished and bewildered.

For seven whole days, I read through tens of thousands of case files, including dismemberment cases, rape cases, water ghost cases, fox demon cases, vampire cases, ghost baby cases, and many other murder cases.

The case file is well-organized, with a complete chain of evidence, including witness testimonies, confessions, and physical evidence, and is flawless.

No matter which angle you look at it from, you can't see the problem.

"This isn't normal, it doesn't make sense!"

No matter how young and inexperienced Zhou Qingfeng was, he knew a basic logic: whether it was a human or a demon, once someone killed someone or committed a crime, they would always choose to hide and escape, which would inevitably lead to unsolved cases.

But now there are no unsolved cases; every case on record is flawless.

What does this mean?

It's terrifying to think carefully.

Either the Lu Sifu (the Lu Sifu government) is very clever, the case is real, the witnesses are real, the physical evidence is real, and the confessions are real, but they just found a scapegoat to close the case.

Either someone reports a case, and the police selectively accept it, investigating the easy ones and ignoring the difficult ones, so that there are no difficult cases to investigate and naturally no unsolved cases.

Regardless of the possibility, Zhou Qingfeng sensed a great terror beyond the case files.

It seems there's no point in staying in the archives anymore if we want to remove the explosives under our backsides.

Zhou Qingfeng got up, took a shower, changed his clothes, and went to the cafeteria to find Ye Tingxiu and see how they were doing.

At this moment, Ye Tingxiu was having dinner with Xiao Hongyun when he saw Zhou Qingfeng. He was quite surprised because Zhou Qingfeng was staying in the archives and never came out, a fact known to everyone in the Night Patrol Division.

"Old Zhou, you've finally decided to come out?" Ye Tingxiu teased with a smile.

Zhou Qingfeng, carrying the food he had brought, sat down next to Ye Tingxiu and said while eating, "There's no point in staying any longer. What about you guys?"

Ye Tingxiu chuckled: "One word: awesome. Now I'm a big shot in Sword Tower City. Everyone who sees me has to respectfully call me Commander Ye. I don't know how many people are lining up to give me money."

Xiao Hongyun casually said, "My situation is similar to Lao Ye's. The families of the prisoners all privately try to bribe me for favors. They often throw tens of thousands of yuan at me, and I'm fed up with it."

Zhou Qingfeng wasn't particularly surprised by this; with such power, the money would come naturally: "Take it?"

Xiao Hongyun and Ye Tingxiu exchanged a glance but remained silent.

Seeing this, Zhou Qingfeng understood what was going on and didn't ask any more questions, much less remind them.

Because I am neither their friend nor their relative, at most I am an acquaintance.

There was absolutely no affection between the three of them; in fact, they were rivals.

That being said, if I were one of them, I wouldn't accept the money no matter who offered it to me.

Using power for personal gain means giving others leverage against you.

Even if you want to take it, you have to be mindful of the methods and approaches.

With their audacity, if someone were to target them, they would likely face dire consequences.

Zhou Qingfeng shook his head secretly, quickly finished his lunch, and turned to leave.

At this moment, Ye Tingxiu and Xiao Hongyun were practically dead in Zhou Qingfeng's eyes.

Right now, I should go out and look around the streets, carefully inquire whether there are any wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice, whether anyone has reported a case but the Night Patrol Office is not handling it, to confirm my suspicions.

"Commander Zhou!"

"Commander Zhou!"

"Commander Zhou!"

As Zhou Qingfeng walked out of the Night Patrol Bureau, people who met him clasped their hands in greeting. Zhou Qingfeng nodded slightly in response. When he reached the entrance, he saw someone entangled with Ah Gou, so he stopped.

"Ah Gou, what's all this commotion?" Zhou Qingfeng asked, his expression calm as he rested his hand on his sword.

When Ah Gou turned around and saw Zhou Qingfeng, he hurriedly bowed and replied, "Commander Zhou, this old woman is making a fuss about reporting her son missing."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng frowned slightly: "Missing? Then just take her in, why are you stopping me?"

Ah Gou said with a wry smile, "Chief Zhou, we don't investigate missing persons cases."

"Because every year countless people leave Sword Tower City and never come back."

"Some ran away because they gambled and owed money, some went to other places to make money, some eloped with others, there are just too many reasons like this, every household comes to report missing persons, how can we possibly investigate them all?"

"Yes, comfort her gently and don't make a fuss. The old lady is anxious because her son is missing. You have to understand." Zhou Qingfeng instructed Agou, then turned to the old woman who reported the case, nodded, and took a detour to leave.

Seeing that Zhou Qingfeng was a person in charge and quite reasonable, the old woman grabbed his sleeve and said excitedly, "My son is missing, but he's not missing, he's been kidnapped."

Seeing this, Zhou Qingfeng reassured him, "Old man, don't get agitated. Tell me slowly. You just said that your son wasn't missing, but kidnapped. Did you see him being kidnapped, or did someone else see him?"

The old woman said, "I didn't see it, and neither did anyone else, but I'm certain my son was kidnapped. He would never leave without saying goodbye."

Seeing this, Ah Gou was speechless: "Old woman, don't throw a tantrum. Chief Zhou is in a high position and has no time to bother with you. You said your son was kidnapped, but someone is asking you for ransom, right? Chief Zhou, just ignore her."

Zhou Qingfeng frowned slightly, raised his hand to stop Agou from saying more, and then said to the old woman, "I don't have anything important to do right now, so I'll go with you to your house. If your son has really been kidnapped, I will definitely give you an explanation."

Upon hearing this, the old woman was overjoyed and repeatedly bowed in gratitude, saying, "Thank you, thank you, sir."

Zhou Qingfeng said, "My surname is Zhou. I am the head of the Night Patrol Division. I am responsible for investigating cases and apprehending criminals. Old folks can just call me Qingfeng."

"No, no, I wouldn't dare." The old woman waved her hands repeatedly, not daring to call Zhou Qingfeng by his name directly.

Seeing this, Zhou Qingfeng didn't insist any further: "Agou, go and call a team of people to come with me to investigate the scene."

Ah Gou was dumbfounded, not understanding why Zhou Qingfeng would take such an ordinary missing person case so seriously. But since Zhou Qingfeng had already given the order, Ah Gou dared not disobey. So he scratched the back of his head and said, "Yes, I'll go get someone right away."

A moment later, a red-clad flag bearer led ten black-clad warriors out quickly and formed a line.

The red-clad flag bearer bowed and said, "Commander Zhou, this subordinate, Jin Wei, a flag bearer from the Night Patrol Division, has arrived with ten strongmen as ordered."

Zhou Qingfeng nodded to them, then said to the old woman, "Please lead the way."