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In the past, his status was low and his understanding not deep enough. Now, as a Head Constable, he was able to chat casually with Min Baoyi and naturally knew much more.

For instance, places like Yu City had almost completely slipped from the control of the Imperial Court. The only reason a semblance of order was maintained was due to a tacit agreement among the major families of the Inner City.

The sky grew darker.

Chen Mu quickened his pace.

He wasn\'t particularly worried about encountering any danger, but as he swiftly traversed several streets, suddenly, a gray shadow flashed by, lunging towards his face.

Chen Mu reacted quickly, his hand drawing the Servant\'s Knife from its sheath in a swift motion, its blade slicing through the air. The gray shadow was split in half from the center, its blood splattering as it fell to the ground.

It turned out to be a giant gray-haired rat.

Chen Mu slowly lowered his knife, looking at the twitching halves of the rat\'s corpse and shaking his head slightly. It was astounding to see such a large gray rat these days, making one wonder what it had eaten to grow so large and even dare to attack a human.

Just as Chen Mu was deep in thought, a squealing noise came from nearby. He saw seven or eight rats, each only half the size of a fist, emerge from some crack and pounce on the corpse of the large rat, gnawing at it without hesitation, making a crunching sound.

This scene made Chen Mu feel uncomfortable.

Putting away his knife, he quickly left.

By the time the sky had completely darkened and night had set in, Chen Mu finally reached his home. He knocked on the door and called out twice, prompting the old servant to cautiously open the door from inside.

"Master."

Seeing that it was indeed Chen Mu, the old servant fully opened the door and carefully bowed.

Chen Mu stepped over the threshold and said, "Nothing happened today, right?"

Usually, people would still visit him, like other Head Constables such as Wang Gong, sometimes coming to drink with him, though he would generally turn them away if possible.

The old servant, while closing the door, cautiously recounted the day\'s events. Chen Hong had come looking for him today, apparently with some matter, but he had already left for the Inner City by then.

"Didn\'t you ask what it was about?"

Upon hearing that Chen Hong had visited, Chen Mu asked.

The old servant bowed his head and said, "Master, how dare I pry into your affairs."

"Hmm, alright, we\'ll talk about it tomorrow."

Chen Mu nodded, then headed towards the inner courtyard. He had barely reached the door leading there when a shrill scream, filled with terror and sobbing, came from inside the courtyard.

Whoosh!

Chen Mu\'s expression changed slightly, and he quickly quickened his pace, darting into the inner courtyard. There he saw Wang Ni retreating in fright, facing a gray rat at least the size of two fists, seemingly ready to leap.

Relieved to see the scene was not as serious as he had feared, Chen Mu quickly raised his hand and swung his knife, decapitating the large gray rat, which jerked wildly in its death throes.

"Clean this up."

Chen Mu ordered the old servant.

The old servant hurried to comply.

Chen Mu then turned to the still visibly shaken Wang Ni, slightly amused, "I thought something serious had happened. How could you be frightened by this thing?"

How could a child from a poor family never have seen a rat? Even a young girl shouldn\'t be so easily scared.

"I... I..."

Wang Ni\'s face was still somewhat pale, hesitating for a moment before catching her breath, murmuring, "I\'ve never seen such a big one, and… and it even damaged the broom."

Uh-huh.

It did seem a bit too large, almost like the one he had encountered previously in the alley.

Chen Mu\'s smile faded when he heard Wang Ni\'s words, his brow furrowing slightly. Such large grey rats were not particularly unusual, but encountering two in one day was a bit too much.

Along with the litter of smaller mice earlier, it subtly gave him an uneasy feeling.

Could it be that the Outer City was about to suffer a \'rat plague\'?

But in these times, poor families had no food to spare for rats, and the rats themselves often ended up on the dinner table, especially in a world with armed forces unlike his previous life. He probably was worrying over nothing.

With that thought, Chen Mu shook his head, walked over, and gently patted Wang Ni\'s head, comforting her, "Alright, let\'s go back inside. It\'s all right now."

Wang Ni nodded timidly, then followed Chen Mu into the house, serving him by helping him change and fetching water for him to wash his feet. After busying herself, she still seemed a bit uneasy because of the incident, so Chen Mu let her rest on a small couch nearby.

After Chen Yue went to the Inner City, Wang Ni stayed with him, sleeping on the small couch outside his room, partly because she was too young and timid, and partly because the couch outside was actually meant for maidservants to rest.

Chen Mu didn\'t really care much about these arrangements, but Chen Yue insisted that it didn\'t matter when the household had few people; however, if Chen Mu rose in rank, and their household staff increased, then there must be proper rules, so Chen Mu followed Chen Yue\'s arrangements.

The next day.

It was barely dawn.

Chen Mu had just woken up and was washing up when an old servant came to report that Chen Hong had arrived.

"It seems there really is trouble," he thought.

Chen Mu pondered for a moment, then instructed the old servant to let the visitor in, and he went out to meet him.

Soon, Chen Hong entered the courtyard, his face filled with worry, and started, "Xiao Mu, Youying went missing yesterday. We searched all day and didn\'t see her, and she didn\'t come home last night. These days, for a young girl…"

"She\'s missing?"

Chen Mu was slightly startled, then replied, "Let\'s not panic, Auntie. I\'ll ask around for you."

These days, it was all too common for people to go missing - not just women, but even slightly effeminate men could disappear. For ordinary families, when someone went missing, they were usually gone for good.

But for families with some influence, finding a person was still possible, like Chen Mu now, he had at least several ways to search for someone, though not having returned for a day and a night, the situation might not be good, but he could only reassure Chen Hong outwardly for now.

Shortly after.

Chen Mu dressed in his servant\'s uniform, left Chen Hong at home waiting for news, and went straight to the City Defense Division.

Upon arriving and inquiring at the City Defense Division, his brows furrowed at the information he received, as the cases of disappearances had been happening quite frequently, starting roughly over the past two to three months.

Those from impoverished and broken households would come to report missing persons, and often the City Defense Division would just take note and nominally send people out to patrol, but really, they would just stroll around aimlessly, not truly looking for anyone, showing no real concern for such matters.

"The number of disappearances has increased so much over the last two or three months?"

Chen Mu, holding the file in his hand, pondered, then said, "Come on, bring a few people and follow me to question the thieves\' gang."

Among all the different social classes and mixed characters, there was specifically a line of business involved in human trafficking, abducting people from the South City District to East City, where they would instantly be turned from legitimate citizens into slaves or lowly registries. The City Defense Division often turned a blind eye to these activities.

To put it bluntly,

they had received benefits from these groups, maintaining a mutual understanding.

If those people kidnapped someone they shouldn\'t have, especially someone with a bit of background or someone who had connections, then the City Defense Division would also go there to look for the person and inquire. Normally, there was still a chance to find them.

But this was traceable if it were about the thieves\' gang of kidnappers. If it were like Wei Lun who randomly kidnapped people on his own, it was often hard to trace unless they mobilized the entire network of the City Defense Division to carefully search.