Chapter 34

The following day came. Aurora woke up in her bed, crammed together with Hender, Moreena, and Rose. It had been a pretty great night. Hender had gotten to fuck every girl there. Koren had offered to do Moreena, but she and Hender had refused profusely. Koren had four much prettier girls to put his dick inside, so he didn't care.

When they went downstairs for breakfast, Hender and Moreena received some bewildered stares, making them blush. Their decision to participate in an orgy was influenced by a considerable amount of alcohol, leaving them no trivial amount of shame now that they were clear of mind again.

While eating breakfast at one of the larger tables, the group made their plan of action for the day.

"Very well, then. I think it's quite simple what we need to do. Just spread out and ask questions, same as yesterday. We need to focus on those specialized tattoo tools, set up a meeting with the local crime boss, and discover people of interest who might help us. There has to be someone who might know something interesting that can give us a lead. I'm thinking people like community leaders or anyone who interacts with a lot of individuals. If anyone knows who is doing this, the pressure of sect disciples showing up at their doorsteps might also make them reveal what they know. It's worth a shot. For now, let's divide the area where the kidnappings have happened into six locations. We'll group up into pairs and ask around," Koren said.

They quickly manage to divide out the six areas. Aurora and Rose paired up again, and the twins did the same. Koren went with one of the White Sword sect's people.

Walking in the city, Aurora and Rose garnered a lot of attention, dressed as they were. Incredibly beautiful, in revealing clothing, most of that attention was from one gender.

The two went from person to person, asking random questions, hoping to get something useful while keeping an eye out for interesting people. This being the poorest part of town, it didn't take too much effort to find something criminal in nature.

As they walked past a store's windows, Aurora and Rose noticed a group of people talking with the storekeeper and roughing the place up. The two chose to go inside. A ringing sound appeared as the door opened, getting the attention of everyone inside. The mood tensed, and the supposed gangsters immediately stopped their actions.

By now, the presence of the disciples of the Blossoming Rose and White Sword sects had become common knowledge. They were easily recognizable, as no one else dressed in that style of clothing.

Many sects still kept the style of several hundred years ago, specifically how cultivators dressed back then. With Aurora and Rose's arrival, the group inside the store didn't know how to react. Just looking at those two beautiful young women made them worry. Powerful people had a certain air about them, one which weaker people could feel. It was similar to how Aurora felt around the core disciples or elders.

"You in the green shirt, answer my questions. There is a criminal organization in this town. Are you part of it?" Aurora said, her tone firm but carefree.

"Hey, we didn't do nothing! This guy's a paying client of ours, and he owes us money! We're just here to collect," mister green shirt said.

"I don't care. Answer the question," Aurora said.

"Oh, eh, yes. We're with the syndicate. Why?"

"We need to speak with your boss. Call him."

"Oh, um, I don't have his number," the man replied, a look of worry about him.

"Then call whatever number you do have. Help me get a hold of him," Aurora said, her tone growing impatient.

"Oh, yes, of course! I'll call right away!"

"Good. And stop saying oh all the time," Aurora said.

"Oh, uh, I mean, yes." The man quickly dialed a number and waited for a few seconds.

"Hey, sir, there's one of those sect big shots here. No, two, actually. They say they need to speak with the boss… I don't know why… well, sir, they're frightening," the man whispered the last part.

"Oh, yes, I'll hold, sir. Good, thank you," the man continued. Another minute of Aurora impatiently tapping her foot passed. She didn't have much patience or respect for these criminal types.

"Y-you're back. Yeah, I'll ask her, just a sec," the man turned back to Aurora.

"The boss is busy today. Can you meet him at noon tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure. Just set up the meeting," Aurora said.

"Great. Sir, she said that's fine. Alright, thanks. Goodbye. Uh, miss, I'll give you the address. The boss will be expecting you guys at noon exactly. Please don't be late."

"Whatever. Give me the address."

After Aurora and Rose left the store, Aurora sent a group text out with the news before continuing their search for useful tidbits.

In another part of the district, Koren walked with Sarla, the one woman in the group who wasn't in a relationship. A citizen gave them a helpful tip about a good-natured doctor and psychologist who worked nearby. He gave cheap medical and mental aid to people who needed it, so perhaps he might have some ideas of who the kidnapper might be. He spoke with a lot of unstable people, after all.

Inside his clinic, you could really see this was the slums of the town. The equipment was fundamental but by no means advanced, and the beds for patients were in the same room as the entrance. Right away, as they stepped inside, Koren and Sarla spotted the good doctor, who also turned his head towards the newcomers.

The doctor looked like a busy fella. His hair was messy, and half his shirt stuck out of his pants.

"Ah, welcome! Are you in need of aid? No, probably not. You seem to be those sect people everyone's talking about," the doctor said while pulling out two chairs.

"Sit, sit," he continued while taking a seat of his own. Koren and Sarla took their seats and looked at the doctor.

"Well then, spit it? How can I help you?" He asked.

"We are here to investigate the kidnappings which have occurred during the last few weeks. As a doctor and psychologist, we hoped you might have some insights for us," Koren stated.

"Insights, you say? Well, I have spoken with many of the victims after they came back. They all seem to suffer from a considerable lack of energy. Some can't even get out of bed for hours after waking up. There's also the matter of lost cultivation. I did some tests on a few individuals, and indeed, their cultivation has receded to the base of their level. And there are those tattoos. Quite interesting, if I do say so myself. In my professional opinion as a scholar, I dare say that the culprit has an altruistic goal in mind. Some sort of research, most likely pertaining to cultivation. For the exact nature of said research, I cannot say," the doctor said.

"Indeed, those are the same conclusions we came to. But what makes you say the culprit's goals are altruistic? It's difficult to see kidnapping as altruistic," Koren said.

"Why it's quite obvious, isn't it? The victims, none of them have suffered injury, nor starvation, or dehydration. They've been well-fed for the two to three days they've been gone. The only ill side effect is the lack of energy, which will fade away in the span of a week or two. And the tattoos. I dare say the culprit has simply resorted to kidnapping because they have no other way of testing their research. Of course, I cannot say for sure. Perhaps the culprit is simply trying to avoid the death sentence should they be caught. Or mayhap they have a weak stomach and can't bring themselves to cause pain or death. There are many possibilities," the doctor said.

"I see. However, when I asked you for insight, I hoped for something more on the line of you having a patient who might have done it. Is there no one who has said something that might make you think they could do this? Anyone who fantasizes about kidnapping or someone who's seen weird symbols and arrays in their dreams. Anything?" Koren asked.

"Sir, I will have you know that I'm a legally operating psychologist. There is such a thing as doctor/patient confidentiality. If I had such a patient, I could say nothing of it. However, lucky for you, I have no such patients and therefore have nothing to tell. Or perhaps that isn't so lucky. Anyway, I fear I cannot help you in this matter," the doctor said.

"Is that so. That's a shame. You gave us some information about our culprit's potential personality, though, so thank you for that. If you can think of anything else, here's my number."

Koren handed the doctor a note with his phone number before departing with Sarla.

"That was a whole bunch of nothing. Knowing that our perp might not be a murderous psychopath doesn't help us any, and isn't really new information either," Sarla said.

"It was a long shot. Let's just hope we have some luck with that crime boss tomorrow. If they don't have anything for us, we might have to stay here for a while. We'll have to start patrolling at night to see if we can catch him in the act. Only, our presence here is very public, so he might not act again for a while," Koren said.

"Indeed. But there are still two missing people who are yet to return, including the one who was reported missing yesterday. Maybe we can spot the culprit as he's releasing them.

"That's true. We should start patrolling tonight. We can manage a couple all-nighters. Let's lay out a plan during our evening meeting," Koren said.

"Mh."

Hours passed. When the sun was about to set, the group of twelve disciples returned to the hotel. Sitting around a long table, every person looked from one to the other, waiting for someone to speak.

"So, did we learn anything today? Aurora and Rose set up that meeting, but is there anything else?" Koren said. For a while, not a word was spoken.

"No one we asked knew anything. We checked out a few empty buildings, but again, nothing of interest," someone said.

"Yeah, we're the same."

"Other than learning of a couple of tattoo artists that might have the skill to make those strange tattoos, we didn't learn much."

No one had learned anything useful whatsoever. In fact, other than Aurora and Rose's accomplishment, the only mildly useful thing was Koren and Sarla's chat with the doctor and the names of the tattoo artists in that part of the city.

"Too bad. No use brooding, though. I think we should start patrolling the city. It's doubtful anyone will be kidnapped while we're here, but maybe we can witness someone being released," Koren said.

"Sound like as good a plan as any. Kinda sucks to go patrolling, though. How do we do this? Go alone or in pairs?"

"Let's just do it the same as this morning. Travel in pairs and keep to the same areas as before. But remember, we need to catch this guy in the act, but that won't work if he sees us coming. Try to stick to rooftops," Koren said. For people of their level, jumping stealthily from rooftop to rooftop was easy enough. With everything decided, everyone departed once more in the same groups as earlier in the day.