CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“First, did you recognize any of the men that left after Bai did?” Li Feng asks An Yu as they walk back to the stairway.

“No, they were all unfamiliar,” An Yu replies.

“And how long exactly did it take them to follow Bai out?” Li Feng asks.

“Less than a minute,” An Yu answers.

“Zheng, lead me to where the whorehouses are down here,” Li Feng says.

“Why’s that?” Zheng Chao asks.

“Simple; this group of men probably took Bai so they could perform unspeakable acts with her. If that’s the case, they would have needed a few minutes to disqus the plan beforehand. Since it didn’t take more than a minute for them to leave the shop, they must have done something like this before,” Li Feng says. “I’d guess the miners did it underground first, where they had less of a chance of being caught. Right now, I need to find a previous victim or a whorehouse that knows about them.”

Li Feng and the two waitresses reach the stairs and ascend to the third level of the mine, where they step out. “Most whorehouses are on this level and higher,” Zheng Chao says. “But there’s at hundreds of whorehouses in Quanchang.”

“Well then, I better get started,” Li Feng says and enters the closest whorehouse.

The inside of the whorehouse is dark except for a single candle on the desk at the end of the lobby. A large man sits behind the desk and waits for customers to come in, smiling when he sees Li Feng followed in by two women. “Aren’t you a little young to be here?” He asks Li Feng.

“My good man, I was hoping you could a tell me about a group of five men that might frequent this establishment,” Li Feng says, moseying on up to the desk.

“You know, I’m not in the business of information sharing,” The man says, leaning forward in his chair. “However, I might be convinced otherwise.”

“But I’m just a child,” Li Feng says, pointing to himself. “What could I possibly give you to change your mind?”

“Maybe your ma or pa has a shiny trinket at home you’d be able to trade me,” The man says, shrugging his shoulders. “I like shiny things.”

“Oh,” Li Feng says and reaches into his pocket to create a small gold nugget with ground magic. It won’t last long, but the nugget should be enough to convince the man. Once it’s made, Li Feng pulls the gold nugget out of his pocket and holds it in the air. “You mean something like this?”

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“Yes, exactly,” The man at the desk says and stands to take the nugget from Li Feng. Li Feng hands it over, and the man begins speaking again, “I had a group of five men come in here quite recently. They tried being too tough with the girls, so I had to kick them out.”

“Do you know their names or where I could find any of them?” Li Feng asks, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out another gold nugget.

“Even more than I’m not in the business of information sharing, I’m not in the business of information collecting,” The man says, leaning back in his chair like before Li Feng arrived. “I Don’t take any names or addresses.”

“Do you know where else these men have been kicked out of?” Li Feng asks, shaking the gold nugget.

“Maybe,” The man says, and Li Feng places the nugget on the desk. “Try Hua Harem on the first level. The owner said something about five guys stealing a girl a few weeks ago. It didn’t end too well for her; I hope you’re not looking for your mother.”

“Something like that,” Li Feng says and turns to exit the whorehouse.

Outside of the whorehouse, Li Feng starts walking back to the stairway up. “Did you really give that man gold?” Zheng Chao asks.

“No, it’s just a trick,” Li Feng replies and keeps walking ahead of the waitresses. “He’ll realize it’s fake soon enough, so we should get going.”

The three walk back to the stairway and ascend two floors, getting off at the first level of the mine. Here, Li Feng can faintly see the night’s sky through the chains keeping people from falling into the giant hole, and he suddenly realizes how long Lam Bai’s been gone for. ‘Half a day,’ Li Feng thinks and uses air magic to increase his walking speed.

As if he’s using a movement technique, Li Feng moves through the first level of the mine at twice the speed he walked in the third and fourth levels. Zheng Chao and An Yu are able to keep up by walking a little faster, but they have to run when Li Feng reaches an area without anyone to slow him down. “Don’t run so fast,” An Yu tries to tell him.

“Walk faster,” Li Feng says, not slowing his speed in the slightest. Neither Zheng Chao nor An Yu want to leave the young Li Feng alone in the mine, so they keep following him until they reach Hau Harem.

The brothel is larger than the whorehouse on the third level, and it has two women working at the entrance. One is talking to a man about the price when Li Feng enters, but the other is open for him. Without wasting any time, Li Feng approaches. “Hello,” He says, arriving at the counter the women are seated behind.

“Aren’t you a little young to be here?” The woman asks.

“Yeah,” Li Feng says, recalling what the man at the whorehouse said to him. “I’m trying to find a group of men that might have abducted a girl of yours a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, them,” The woman says, rolling her eyes. “They haven’t come back since, so we’ve forgotten about it.”

“I have reason to believe those men have taken another woman, and I need to find them,” Li Feng says, and the woman gasps. “Do you have anything that would lead me to them, or can I speak to the girl they took last time?”

“I, no, there’s nothing…” The woman says, trying to think of something she can do to help Li Feng. “You can talk to the girl, Ya, on floor six, quadrant two, room eighty one.”

“Thank you for your help,” Li Feng says, bows, and leaves the brothel. Zheng Chao and An Yu follow him, avoiding the gazes of many men around them.