Chapter 133 Soft People, Hard Hearts! (Two in One)
The people in the port were talking about their own things at once. Kuzan, Ji Guoyuan and other navy officers' minds were suddenly filled with all kinds of information. For a moment, they had no way to make sense of what they were saying.
All we know is that a large number of children have disappeared on the island, reaching dozens of people.
"Everyone, please be quiet for a moment."
"Please let this old gentleman speak first! Then we will listen to what you have to say one by one."
"I can't make any sense of what everyone is saying at once!"
In order to make the whole story clearer, Kuzan shouted loudly. As his voice fell, the dock suddenly became much quieter, with only some parents who had lost their children unable to control their emotions and still sobbing.
Seeing that the situation was under control, Kuzan helped Mayor Xi Suo up and then said to the old man in a friendly manner, "What is your name, old man?"
"I think you should be able to represent everyone. Could you please tell us in detail about the specific matter?"
When Kuzan was asking Hisoka, a wooden ladder had already been lowered from the warship. Jigoku Yuanyi led more than ten sailors on the ship to get off the ship one after another, surrounding Kuzan, and their eyes were focused on Hisoka.
"Captain Kuzan, my name is Hisoka. Thanks to everyone's trust, I am now the mayor of this small town called Miguo."
"In our Miguo Town, dozens of children have gone missing in the past ten days!"
"During this period, I have mobilized the masses to search carefully, but there is no trace of those children at all."
"I couldn't find any!"
"I suspect these children were abducted by a human trafficking gang, which is why we can't find them on the island!"
"We are just ordinary people. The boats we have in our town are small and can't go far."
"So I would like to ask everyone in the navy to help us find those missing children!"
As Mayor Hisoka was speaking, his knees became weak again and he was about to kneel down to Kuzan and the others. Fortunately, Kuzan was quick-witted and held Hisoka back, preventing him from kneeling down.
"Come, give the photos of your children to this Captain Kuzan."
Hisoka was supported by Kuzan and did not insist on kneeling. Seeing that Kuzan was easy to talk to, he immediately greeted the people behind him. After he finished speaking, the crowd once again swarmed in front of Kuzan, and hurriedly handed photos of various sizes to Kuzan.
Kuzan didn't refuse. After taking the photos from the people, he began to flip through them quickly. Not only did he look at them himself, but he also gave half of them to Tsugakuin Yoriichi, who also quickly checked them out.
The subordinates gathered behind Tsugikoku Yoshiichi at this moment, watching Tsugikoku Yoshiichi quickly flipping through the photos, and could not help but say angrily:
“This is truly abominable!!”
"The children abducted were all so young!"
"These human traffickers really deserve to be killed!"
"Commander Jiguo, it must have been done by the slave-catching team. There are countless people like them in the New World. This kind of thing happened in my hometown before!"
A seaman looked at the photo in Ji Guoyuan's hand and sympathized with the parents who had lost their children. In his words, there was not only anger but also hatred.
"Everyone, please help us!"
Hisoka and the people behind them turned pale when they heard the word "slave-hunting team". In the New World, slave-hunting teams and pirates are almost synonymous.
The only difference is that their economic sources are different. Generally speaking, the combat effectiveness of the members of the slave-hunting team is weaker than that of pirates, and their main source of wealth is capturing and selling slaves.
The origin of this slave is also very complicated. He may be a pirate, a good family boy, someone who sold himself to pay debts, or a captive captured by the victorious country.
And those slaves would be sold all over the world, providing "commodities" for the nobles in the world who needed slaves.
The world's largest consumer of slaves are the Celestial Dragons living in Marinjoa.
In this vast ocean, finding those abducted children is essentially the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Slave-hunting team?"
"If it was just for slaves, for money, why did they kidnap children as young as five or six?"
"Aren't middle-aged men and beautiful women more valuable?"
Tsugakuni Yoriichi quickly flipped through the photos in his hand, frowning, and suddenly asked. His words also made the marine who had just spoken startled. At the same time, Kuzan, Hisoka, and the surrounding people also quieted down and looked at Tsugakuni Yoriichi.
"this"
"Maybe it's because children are easier to abduct."
"Low risk, yeah, that's probably it."
The navy officer thought for a moment and replied.
After hearing his answer, Tsugakuin nodded slightly, reluctantly agreeing. But after a while, Tsugakuin looked up at Hisoka and asked:
"Mayor Hisoka, how many people are there in Miguo Town?"
"Can you search the entire island in such a short time?"
Hearing Tsugikoku Yoriichi's question, Hisoka looked at Kuzan and asked with some confusion: "Captain Kuzan, who is this..."
It's no wonder Hisoka was confused. This group of marines was clearly led by Kuzan. Even though Kuzan, the leader, hadn't said a word, his subordinates kept interrupting, leaving Hisoka a little confused. Who was the one making the decisions among these marines?
"He is Commodore Tsugakuni Yoriichi of the Naval Headquarters, and my adjutant."
"You can tell me what's going on. It's the same whether you tell him or me."
Kuzan replied, thinking about the doubts that Jigoku Yoshiichi said in his mind.
In this world, the most valuable slaves are young girls of rare races, followed by good-looking human women, then powerful combat slaves, and the next level down are strong laborers.
"Materials" like children were worthless, and few nobles would need them. Even if they did, they would be children in their early teens, able to work and cultivate the so-called "slave mentality."
For example, a five or six-year-old child still needs someone to take care of him, so few people would spend money to buy such a "money-losing item". Of course, if it is a baby, there will be a certain market.
But children of five or six years old even dislike dogs. Whether it is for money or for some other reason, it is not "worth it".
"Our town has less than 100,000 people."
"I've been the mayor for almost 30 years. I don't know everyone in this town, but I know the situation there best."
"Everyone in our town has searched for these children, and they're definitely not there! They must have been kidnapped!"
Hearing the mayor's confident words, Kuzan and Jiguo Yuanyi subconsciously looked at each other.
"Yuichi, what do you think?!"
Kuzan scratched the back of his head, his mind was a little confused and he didn't know where to start.
He has been in the navy for so many years and has almost never encountered anything like this. When Kuzan was performing tasks in the special forces, he was also fighting against pirates. When he led the fleet out to sea, he was also hunting pirates. He has no experience in such things.
"Mayor Hisoka's words are of some reference value. I think we should first carefully interview all the parents who have lost their children to see under what circumstances the children disappeared."
"Find the clues from here."
"Well, let's investigate the ships that have been coming and going in the port recently to see if any of them are suspicious."
"Don't stop the search on the island. With such a large town, we can't rule out the possibility that the child is hidden."
As Tsugikoku Yoshiichi spoke, his Observation Haki had already rapidly spread across the island. For ordinary humans, the strength of a child's aura and that of an adult's aura could be instantly distinguished.
Considering that there are so many missing children, if the children are concentrated in one place on the island and are still alive, it would not be difficult to find them.
The fear is that people are dead, or have been separated and hidden, or, as Mayor Xi Suo said, have been abducted to the sea. Once the situation develops into this, things will become complicated.
Seeing that Jigoku Yoshiichi was speaking in a very clear and concise manner, Kuzan immediately decided to give full responsibility for the matter to Jigoku Yoshiichi.
He is not good at this kind of thing, so it is better to let someone who is good at it.
Things like questioning and investigating cases cannot be completed in a short period of time. Kuzan also has the task of setting up a new branch. He can still distinguish between priorities, but he cannot ignore these things. Division of labor has become an inevitable method.
Kuzan himself planned to take the lead in replenishing supplies, recruiting personnel to fill the population, and setting up branches, and asked Jiguo Yuanyi to help the residents of Miguo Town find people.
In this way, it will neither hurt the people's feelings nor delay the navy's own affairs.
To be honest, it is also a matter of effort. Establishing a naval branch and capturing more pirates will be more conducive to the peace and stability of the ocean from a global perspective.
However, Kuzan and Yoshiichi will not use this simple and cold-blooded method of measurement.
There are people who need help right in front of them, and they feel guilty if they ignore them.
"Yuichi, I'll leave this matter to you. I'm not very good at this. If you need help, I'll try to send someone to you."
"The establishment of the branch cannot be delayed. I will be responsible for this matter."
Kuzan said this to Yoriichi Tsugikuni, but his words became an excuse when heard by Mayor Hisoka and other residents.
Tsukuni Yoriichi is such a young navy, it is really not convincing. To put it bluntly, Hisoka's grandson is much older than Tsukuni Yoriichi.
Entrusting such an important matter to a young navy officer with no experience in talking really made Hisoka and others feel uneasy, even if the other party was a brigadier general of the navy headquarters!
Hisoka's knees weakened, and he was about to kneel down again, crying out in pain, "Captain Kuzan! You can't just ignore this!"
"Children, children, need the Navy's help!"
"Aren't you, the Navy, responsible for justice? Is leaving the people alone an act of justice?!"
Moral kidnapping!
Mayor Hisoka's two simple sentences directly put the young Kuzan on the pedestal.
Kuzan is a moral person, and moral kidnapping is very useful to him.
Sometimes, desperate and helpless people will often do whatever it takes to get others to help them, and moral kidnapping is just child's play.
Although such operations may make those who lend them a helping hand uncomfortable, so what?
As a navy, even if the other party's actions make you feel a little uncomfortable, can the navy, which claims to be just and has justice in its heart, really ignore such things?
At least, Kuzan would never be able to do that.
Kuzan frowned slightly, and after a moment of thought, he was about to speak when he was interrupted by Jiguo Yuanyi:
"Hisso, Mayor, right?"
"Our navy will investigate this matter."
"I will devote my energy to helping you find those missing children. Of course, please give us some time to investigate."
"Since you've come to our navy for help, we will definitely not ignore it."
"But at the same time, we won't give you any guarantees or promises like 'I'll definitely find it.' I hope you can understand that!"
"You have been searching for so long, you should know that this is not an easy task."
"Our navy will do its best, and no matter what the outcome, we will give you an answer."
"Before that, please, and the parents who lost their children, give our navy enough trust!"
Tsugikoku Yoriichi walked up to Kuzan and spoke in a high-sounding manner, directly suppressing what Kuzan was about to say. Mayor Hisoka looked at Tsugikoku Yoriichi, who looked indifferent, opened his mouth, was silent for a moment, and nodded.
The red-haired young navy man in front of him was actually more experienced than the base commander!
This also made Hisoka's originally tense heart relax a little.
Although what Tsugikoku Yoshiichi said were all so-called "official words", the other party at least did not "promise without hesitation". This attitude could make Hisoka feel some "rigor".
"As long as the navy agrees to help, we're already satisfied!"
“What’s the result?”
"We also know that this kind of thing cannot be forced."
"Thank you. Thank you, Commander Kuzan, and thank you, Brigadier General Jiguo."
Hisoka bowed to Kuzan and Jigokuyuan and expressed his gratitude. His actions also inspired the people behind him. The families who had lost their children all expressed their gratitude.
The thing has been agreed upon, and we have to do it.
Mayor Hisoka set up a separate "office" for Yuichiro Tsugakuin in the town, so that Yuichiro Tsugakuin could have a place to listen carefully to the families who had lost their children talk about their situations.
Kuzan left two subordinates to Yuichiro as helpers, and he took the rest of the navy to purchase supplies and recruit people willing to migrate.
Yuanyi's investigation lasted from day to night.
When the moon was high above the branches, Tsugumi Yuichi finally finished his "record".
At night, Ji Guoyuan returned to the cabin to organize and read the transcripts, frowning.
"The children disappeared within a period of one week."
"There were no signs before and after the incident. There is a high probability that he was abducted and taken out to sea."
"It can't be a slave ship. The port's shipping records don't show any medium or large merchant ships docking for more than a week."
"The only ship that stayed longer than a week"
"It's the World Government's ship!"
“Could it be…”
At night, the sea breeze blows and the temperature drops sharply.
With some guesses in mind, Tsugakuin Yoshiichi walked onto the deck, looked up at the starry sky, and the cool breeze blew on his body, making Tsugakuin Yoshiichi, who was wearing a thin pajamas, feel a little cold.
It's not just the physical coldness, but also the heart's coldness.
After looking at the starry sky for a long time, Jiguo Yuanyi raised the knife in his hand, pulled it out, and looked at the "destruction" at the root of the knife. Jiguo Yuanyi already had the answer in his heart.
"Let me see if my inference is correct!"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com