Chapter 209: Hostage

Once the telegraph clerk sent the telegram, Lei Guangcheng asked the driver to take them to Olive Street. When they were there, the people stationed there responded.

The car slowly came to a stop at the entrance of the street, and a team leader of the Cult Investigation Bureau went up to the car. The moment the car window wound down, he said, “Sir, we’ve found three pillars covered in all sorts of decorations in the shops around the area and pasted paper dolls with the employees’ names written on them. When we went into the company to check, we found that eight of them were missing.

“We checked their work equipment. From the traces, the shortest absence seems to be about five days, while the longest at least two months.

“But the employees all think that they’re still around and working with them. They haven’t noticed anything strange.”

“Give me the list,” Lei Guangcheng ordered.

The team leader immediately handed over a list. Lei Guangcheng read through it before handing it to Chen Chuan. “Is the one you’re looking for here?”

Chen Chuan read it and found that Min Lan’s name was indeed on the list. He gave Lei Guangcheng a nod.

“The employees must be under the influence of the ritual and think that they’re still around despite some people having gone missing a long time ago,” Lei Guangcheng explained.

No wonder they said that Min Lan was around when I called, but could not answer the phone. Their minds are telling them that she’s around, but she can’t answer any calls,

Chen Chuan thought.

Even so, the missing employees’ families had to have noticed something amiss after they went missing for so long, which meant there had to be another reason why the disappearances could be kept secret.

“While we were searching around just now, we found that this company has more employees who go missing due to missions compared to other companies. Most of them have disappeared because of one particular mission,” the team leader continued.

A pensive look appeared on Lei Guangcheng’s face. “Do we have any word from the Communications Department?”

“We’re waiting for it. They should give us an answer soon,” the team leader said, just as one of his teammates walked over and handed a note to him. He took a look before handing it over.

“We found it, Sir. When we went into Green Hawk, we saw someone sending a telegram to this address.”

Lei Guangcheng checked it and ordered, “Tell Lao Gao to search through this place and secure the people inside.”

“Understood,” the team leader answered and quickly left.

“Since the employees feel that the others are around, they should still be alive, because it’s necessary in order to achieve such an effect. Cult rituals are typically bound by restrictions. The ones carrying out the ritual need to pay a price and achieve certain conditions to get the results they want,” Lei Guangcheng explained.

Chen Chuan remembered Lei Ying, Lei Guangcheng’s son. In order to maintain the ritual’s effects, they needed to keep the son alive. Because they were worried about accidentally killing him because he was so young, they didn’t do anything too horrible to him.

But if they only needed to make sure these people stayed alive and nothing else, then the state of the victims was anyone’s guess.

Chen Chuan could only hope that they were healthy and whole.

“Why would they do this, Mr. Lei?” he asked.

“After reading the documents you gave me, it was clear that this was the work of a branch of the Life Cult. We don’t know the origins of the cult, and they have a complex makeup. In simple terms, the cult believes that they can transfer a person’s vital energy to another person.

“The theory itself may be flawed, but the results are achievable. However, while conducting the ritual, they encounter things that they can’t control.

“Judging by the situation, they must have issued a mission and captured those who went out to carry it out to use in their ritual.”

Chen Chuan pondered over his words. Such a method would indeed not stir any suspicion. After all, employees often got hurt during missions. Green Hawk had also released the mission to many companies in order to make it look trustworthy and capture people from there too.

This fit what Min Lan had told him. It was no wonder why the company’s employees had failed the mission, despite attempting it a few times. It was the company’s doing, and there was no way they would let her discover the truth.

Min Lan might have found some clues that there was something wrong with her company, which was why she sent the letter to him.

“Since you specialize in supernatural-related missions, you might often come into contact with cults, because the average person can’t differentiate between the two and think you’re an expert in cults too. I’ll send some documents for you later. Just remember not to let them leak to the public,” Lei Guangcheng said.

“Thank you, Mr. Lei,” Chen Chuan thanked him sincerely.

One could find common folk who had a few tricks up their sleeves and were able to take out supernatural beings, but rituals were a highly specialized thing. It would be difficult to see traces of them unless one went through official channels.

After half an hour, the team leader returned and told Lei Guangcheng that they found the place and arrested a person. Once the man knew that the game was up, he confessed without much interrogation.

The masterminds were the top management of the company, while the employees were hidden less than five hundred meters away. Right away, a large group of Cult Investigation Bureau members went out to rescue the employees and arrest the kidnappers.

“We’ll soon hear the results,” Lei Guangcheng reassured.

Chen Chuan had witnessed the entire process in the car. After just reading through the documents, Lei Guangcheng was able to deduce which cult it was and how to take them out. The matter was over in less than three hours.

This was why people should enlist professionals to do what they did best.

Lei Guangcheng didn’t just have ample experience with cults and rituals, but also had a powerful, professional team and support from the government. He could even mobilize many other departments to participate in his operations.

If Chen Chuan had to solve the problem alone, he would have had to first conduct an investigation and gather clues before coming to a decision. He might even have had a hard time taking out the masterminds because they were people with status and power. In the end, who knows how things would have ended up.

A team would always be stronger than an individual, at least until that individual became strong enough to equal an entire team.

This was the same case for martial arts training. If one didn’t have a well-structured organization providing them with resources needed for training, they could forget about focusing solely on training.

This was a form of restriction, but also a form of help. Before Chen Chuan became strong enough, he had to become one with the things he couldn’t break free of, like groups and organizations. He also had to make good use of them so that they helped him move forward and carved his way up.

“You should have submitted your application to go to Central City?” Lei Guangcheng asked.

“I have,” Chen Chuan answered.

“You have the talent to take part in cult-related jobs. It’d be a waste if you didn’t make use of it. After graduation, if you’re still interested, you should come to the Cult Investigation Bureau. I can be your referrer.”

Chen Chuan felt a stir in his heart. Lei Guangcheng was the director of Yangzhi City’s Cult Investigation Bureau, but could he also affect things in Central City? Or was he going to get promoted?

It could be that Lei Guangcheng had a powerful background. After all, capability alone didn’t make one the director of a governmental organization. They also needed a good background. Sometimes, being capable wasn’t even that important.

To give an example of power, even when it became known that Lei Guangcheng had performed a ritual on his son, no one had been able to remove him from his position. That alone showed just how powerful his background was.

After another fifteen minutes or so, the team leader hurried back.

“Sir, there are quite a number of the company’s security guards around the place, and a lot of them are illegally armed. The pillars of the cult might be inside. When they saw us contacting the Constabulary and surrounding the place, they put up a stubborn resistance and threatened us by using the captured people as hostages.

“Based on the employee list, there should be Second Limit martial artists inside. We’ll have a hard time breaking in with the people we have right now. We might have to get more people from the bureau.”

When Chen Chuan heard this, he pondered over the situation before saying, “Mr. Lei, the longer we drag this out, the more danger the hostages will be in. Why don’t you let me handle this?”

“Aren’t you still under the state summons?” Lei Guangcheng asked while looking at him.

“Yes,” Chen Chuan answered.

“Hang on, we can do it this way. I’m also part of the operation to take down Black Orchid, so this can be considered part of that operation. Chen Chuan, I will now ask you to work with me to take out the cultists in the name of the operation committee. Do your best to rescue the hostages,” Lei Guangcheng said.

“Leave it to me,” Chen Chuan promised with a nod.

The driver started driving while they were talking and took them to a five-story office building. The constables had already surrounded the place with barrier ropes and sent away all those unrelated to the case.

Once the car came to a stop, Chen Chuan opened the door and got out. Even though he hadn’t brought the Frost King Saber for his meeting with Lei Guangcheng, that was fine. As long as there weren’t any Third Limit martial artists inside, whether he used a weapon or not made no difference.

If they had a Third Limit martial artist, the cultists wouldn’t need to hide inside while threatening them with hostages. They could just fight their way out.

The sun in September wasn’t scorching hot, but it remained bright and reflected from the windows. Chen Chuan looked up for a while before shifting his gaze away. Then, with eyes of the constables and Cult Investigation Bureau members on him, he walked forward.

He had a hand in a pocket while he approached the building. When he was around forty meters away, he overlapped with his second self, and everything seemed to slow down.

In what seemed like just one step, he arrived in front of the building, but he didn’t choose to take the stairs. Instead, he jumped on the wall.

Chen Chuan felt as if he was just stepping on flat ground. With the momentum, he reached the fifth-story window.

Chen Chuan’s control over his strength was just right. When he reached the right height, the force of his charge faded, and he hung in the air for a second.

The people inside looked over with shock and anger. One of them aimed a gun, about to fire. While staring back calmly, Chen Chuan leaned forward, extended his arms, and grabbed onto his would-be shooter’s wrist. With a light yank, he used the force generated from the pull to jump in while the person was dragged out the window.

They passed each other by. Then, Chen Chuan landed lightly but firmly inside and straightened up. A fading scream echoed behind him.