Chapter 68 – Missing Girl Case
```
[Martial Arts: Life-taking Judge's Brush]: Profound Grade, Medium Level, Base Force +110 points. This martial art uses an iron brush as a weapon and consists of seven iron brush moves. Each hit on an enemy deals 800~2000 skill damage, and hitting the same enemy three times in succession causes a bleeding effect of 30 points per second for 15 seconds.
Prerequisite: Must use an iron brush-type weapon to unleash its power.
Consumption: Each move consumes 100 points of internal strength.
Condition: Martial artists with a comprehension of 52 points or higher can learn.
....
Seeing the martial arts manual handed over by Zhan Hongling, Lin Feng couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
This thing, apart from increasing force, wasn't very useful to him. Moreover, iron brushes were rare weapons, and he basically didn't know how to use them. Learning it would be a waste.
"Miss Zhan, can I exchange it for another one..."
"No negotiation, I never said you could choose. Besides, do you think Profound Grade manuals are like Chinese cabbages for you to pick? It's good enough to have one. If you don't want it, give it back."
Zhan Hongling haughtily declared there was no room for negotiation.
Lin Feng had no choice but to accept it. Better to have it than not. Even if he didn't learn this Profound Grade martial art, he could sell it for a good price.
In addition, Zhan Hongling also gave him two bottles of Power Boost Elixir and a property deed.
[Power Boost Elixir]: Yellow Grade Elixir, increases force by 50 points, lasts 30 minutes, cannot be stacked.
The elixir was mediocre, just passable.
As for the property deed, it was for a small courtyard around the fourth ring of the Capital City, covering about three hundred square meters.
Although not large, it was still property in the Capital City. It was useless to Lin Feng, but selling it could fetch around ten taels of gold.
The two were currently sitting in a restaurant, eating and chatting.
After taking away the shadowy figure, Zhan Hongling invited him to the best restaurant the next day for a meal.
Apart from fulfilling her promise, her main purpose was to inquire about Bai Zhantang from Lin Feng.
When Lin Feng mentioned that Bai Zhantang and Tong Xiangyu were deeply in love, she was visibly disappointed and murmured, "Yes, he has long forgotten our relationship. I shouldn't be trapped in this anymore. Maybe I should try to accept Senior Brother Chasing Wind's affection..."
Lin Feng couldn't help but feel sympathy for Chasing Wind, who was like a backup option. Only after being dumped by the main person did she think of being with him. Even later, on her wedding day, Zhan Hongling ran away to see Bai Zhantang.
The key was that Chasing Wind didn't mind and still accepted Zhan Hongling. Such a pure-hearted warrior, whoever wants to be one can be, but Lin Feng definitely couldn't be one.
"You've asked me so many questions, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead." Zhan Hongling sipped her drink, feeling down.
"Why did you save that shadowy person yesterday?"
Zhan Hongling didn't hide it anymore and explained, "That girl's name is Hu Ping. She's very pitiful. She was deceived by that scoundrel Wealthy Gentleman Wang, and after he abandoned her, Hu Ping, unwilling to accept it, began to expose his vile deeds. Unexpectedly, it brought disaster upon her, and her entire family was killed. Since we couldn't find the killer, Department Six couldn't do anything."
"Afterwards, Hu Ping trained hard in martial arts for revenge and returned to the Capital City to seek vengeance. The first report from Wealthy Gentleman Wang was actually handled by me. I caught her that night, but after learning about her plight, I chose to release her and started helping her secretly."
Lin Feng suddenly understood why Zhan Hongling was determined to protect Hu Ping at all costs.
"Aren't you afraid that Wealthy Gentleman Wang will accuse you later?"
"Hmph! What is there to fear? I'll just say she escaped during transport. What can he do? Actually, everyone in Department Six knows he's scum, but we constables need evidence. Without it, we can't do anything to him. But we all sympathize with Hu Ping, so every time Wealthy Gentleman Wang reports, we just go through the motions, either saying we couldn't catch her or notifying Hu Ping in advance to hide for a few days."
Lin Feng couldn't help but chuckle at this clever maneuver. He quite admired this humane side of Department Six.
"By the way, you mentioned you need my help to complete a task. What's the task?"
"The Southwest Three Poisons."
"Hiss, you took on that task? Isn't that a death wish? How can you alone be a match for those three?"
"That's why I'm asking you to help."
"Just the two of us?"
"At least two more helpers."
The five people Fang Zhiqiu inquired about yesterday had all responded.
But upon hearing it was to kill the Southwest Three Poisons, only two agreed.
One was Lin Shiba, and the other was a female player named Mo Baibai, who was also willing to help.
Hearing there were additional helpers, Zhan Hongling reluctantly agreed.
After the two parted ways, while the Southwest Three Poisons were still not found, Lin Feng took on another difficult task.
Seeing that no one had located them yet, Lin Feng decided to temporarily leave the Capital City and head to Little Yellow Village.
He had taken on two extremely difficult tasks: one to deal with the Southwest Three Poisons, and the other to investigate the missing girls case.
Although both were extremely difficult, the challenges were different.
The difficulty with the Southwest Three Poisons lay in the strength of the opponents, while the missing case was challenging due to the difficulty of the investigation.
Little Yellow Village was located thirty miles north of the Capital City, a village with a population of about three thousand, known for its simple folk, green hills, and clear waters, with a beautiful environment.
Upon arriving in the village, Lin Feng went straight to the yamen, and after revealing his identity, the county magistrate courteously invited him in.
"Sigh, this village is usually peaceful, with the people living in harmony. But a month ago, young girls started disappearing frequently. I sent all the bailiffs and constables to search, but they found no clues. We had no choice but to seek help from the Capital City. I hope Advisor Lin can help us solve this major problem and restore peace to this place."
Hearing this, Lin Feng carefully reviewed the list of missing persons. Over the past month, eight girls had disappeared, all aged between 13 and 18.
He tried to find some clues from the list, but the addresses of these eight girls were in different parts of the village, far apart, and according to their families, they barely knew each other.
Clearly, this couldn't be a vendetta. The most likely explanation was a flower thief, as otherwise, the perpetrator wouldn't only abduct girls.
But the information provided, including the time and environment of the crimes, showed no pattern, making it impossible to determine the habits of the flower thief.
Lin Feng attempted to ask, "Has there been any stranger in the village?"
The county magistrate replied, "There are many people from the martial world taking on tasks around the village. Our village is close to the Capital City and not far from the official road, so strangers often appear. The range is too broad to investigate."
"Has this happened before?"
"No."
"Have you searched the surrounding areas?"
"We have, but found nothing, not even in the Capital City."
Now Lin Feng was deep in thought. There were no clues at all. How could he investigate?
The only option seemed to be staying in Little Yellow Village and waiting for the perpetrator to appear again.
Lin Feng had no choice but to accept this fact for now.
He was beginning to regret taking on this task, realizing he lacked the experience.
Investigation tasks with clues could be solved quickly, but without clues, they required a lot of effort.
He could only hope the culprit would act soon; otherwise, the task completion time might be delayed repeatedly.
Lin Feng decided to wait a few days to see if anything turned up. If there were no leads, he might have to abandon it and take on a different task.
....
This is the fourth update today~ Please send some free power to Qingjiu and give a five-star review~~
```