Urban Martial Saint

Upon hearing the guard’s words, Ye Qing immediately perked up. It seemed he had guessed correctly; the disappearance of Broom Star was indeed connected to this strange monk!

Looking in the direction the guard pointed, among the random graffiti covering the walls, there was indeed a symbol that appeared odd. This symbol seemed somewhat like a character, yet also resembled a strange diagram. Its shape was complex, something not easily drawn by a child, but instead looked like it was intentionally created by someone.

What surprised Ye Qing the most was that upon seeing this symbol, he felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before. However, he couldn’t immediately recall where he had encountered it.

”What about the monk afterward?” Ye Qing asked. He had no time to worry about where he had seen the symbol before; his primary concern was Broom Star’s whereabouts. Finding Broom Star would naturally reveal the origin of this symbol.

”I don’t know,” the guard replied. ”After I chased him away in the afternoon, he never appeared again. Boss Ye, is something wrong?”

Ye Qing furrowed his brows slightly. Since the monk had shown such interest in the symbol, he certainly wouldn’t just leave like that. Could it be that the monk had really abducted Broom Star? But why would he do so? And where did the symbol Broom Star drew come from?

”Mr. Ye! Mr. Ye!” At this moment, a man who had been watching the surveillance footage hurried over, shouting as he ran, ”Mr. Ye, there’s a discovery, a discovery!”

”What did you find?” Ye Qing quickly went over and asked anxiously.

The man, somewhat out of breath from rushing, took a few deep breaths to steady his heartbeat and said, ”Mr. Ye, earlier you asked us to pay special attention to that monk. I believe this matter might really be related to him, so I gathered some friends around here to pull up nearby surveillance footage and specifically observe the monk’s actions. And wouldn’t you know it, we did find some suspicious behavior.”

”Oh?” Ye Qing quickly asked, ”What’s suspicious?”

”According to the surveillance footage, the monk didn’t leave the town after leaving our gate in the afternoon. He waited in a street for about twenty minutes before coming to the outer wall of our orphanage. There are no cameras outside this wall, but three cameras nearby cover all routes leaving this section of the wall,” the man said. ”Based on the results from those three cameras, the monk stayed outside our orphanage’s wall for a full half hour. And outside this section of the wall is just a stretch of empty road, with no houses nearby. Who would stand idly on a road for half an hour?”

Ye Qing immediately frowned. It seemed this monk was indeed suspicious.

”Moreover, the surveillance results showed that after the monk stayed outside the wall for that half hour, he did leave, but his appearance when leaving was somewhat different from when he arrived,” the man paused and continued, ”Upon our careful observation, it seems the monk had something concealed in his robe, as some areas were even slightly bulging. However, his robe is very loose, so it’s not noticeable unless you look carefully. Hence, Mr. Ye, we suspect that the monk really did abduct the child!”

”You’ve done an excellent job!” Ye Qing nodded, speaking in a deep voice, ”Now go to Principal Wu, and tell them not to worry. I’ll handle things here.”

”Okay!” the man replied excitedly. Receiving Ye Qing’s praise made him very happy.

He was a local of Eryao Town. Initially, when Ye Qing built the orphanage here, many locals were against it. But after the orphanage was established, the locals realized that Ye Qing’s orphanage truly brought them benefits. Not to mention the consumption of daily necessities by the orphanage, which had to be purchased from Eryao Town, the employment opportunities provided by vacancies at the orphanage offered jobs to many idling locals. Thus, half of the orphanage’s staff were locals, benefiting from high income and easy work right at their doorstep. The locals’ attitude towards the orphanage transformed from resistance to praise for valid reasons.

As for Ye Qing, locals of Eryao Town almost worshiped him like a deity, attributing the transformation of Eryao Town from a poor place to its current prosperous state mainly to him, making them extremely grateful and supportive.

With this information in hand, Ye Qing dared not stay long at the orphanage. As he called Zhao Chengshuang, asking him to track the monk via traffic surveillance, he also contacted Li Lianshan, instructing his subordinates to keep a close watch on the monk.

Zhao Chengshuang was on high alert, and upon receiving Ye Qing’s call, he immediately instructed his technical team to start tracking the monk. They worked efficiently; according to the surveillance footage, the monk left Eryao Town around half-past five in the afternoon, and it was now past eight o’clock. This meant that if he really abducted Broom Star, he had likely already left Shenchuan City with him.

If the monk had indeed left Shenchuan City, tracking him further would become challenging. However, Zhao Chengshuang was now much more influential, having become the deputy director of the Shenchuan City Police Department. Noticing that the monk might have taken small roads out of Shenchuan City, he contacted nearby county police departments, requesting them to cooperate in tracking the monk’s whereabouts.

Most major roads now had surveillance. With the surrounding areas united in this effort, tracking one person was both difficult and simple, depending mainly on whether there was surveillance in the places the monk passed. Such tracking required significant manpower. Luckily, due to Zhao Chengshuang’s high position, his words were orders to the police departments in the surrounding counties, getting everyone mobilized to fully track the monk.

Ye Qing drove away from Eryao Town slowly. He didn’t know where the monk might head, so he could only wander around for now. Once they tracked down the monk, he would pursue him at full speed to rescue Broom Star.

Meanwhile, on a roadway connecting Shenchuan City to Changgeng County, a monk dressed in strange robes was quickly traversing the road with a child in his arms. This monk was the same one who had appeared outside the orphanage earlier in the afternoon, and the child he held was precisely Broom Star.

Everything was just as Ye Qing had suspected; the strange monk had indeed abducted Broom Star.

Despite carrying someone in his arms, the monk’s pace was swift. Mountain winds swept up, billowing his robe and sleeves as he sped ahead. He had traveled over thirty kilometers from Shenchuan City, showcasing his remarkable speed. Most importantly, despite running for so long, the monk showed no signs of fatigue, likely a result of years of martial arts practice.

Broom Star, held in the monk’s arms, showed no panic or surprise, maintaining a calm demeanor as if leaving with someone familiar.

After traveling another five kilometers or so, the monk finally halted, surveying his surroundings before turning and heading into a nearby grove. After about a kilometer’s walk through the woods, they came upon a dilapidated pavilion. The pavilion, covered in cobwebs, seemed to have few visitors.

The monk carried Broom Star into the pavilion, set him down, and took out a canteen, speaking in broken Han, ”Do you want water?”

No wonder the guard said the monk spoke strangely. From his accent, he clearly wasn’t from Huaxia, making his manner of speaking seem odd.

Broom Star shook his head. Seeing this, the monk drank some water himself.

The monk’s attitude towards Broom Star appeared highly respectful. Finished drinking, he placed the canteen aside, reassuringly saying, ”We’re waiting for two people here; once they arrive, we’ll leave Huaxia and return to Brahmanism.”

It turned out, the monk was associated with Brahmanism. He must have been among those who entered Huaxia seeking the Reincarnated True Buddha. And Broom Star must have been deemed the Reincarnated True Buddha, compelling the monk to come to the orphanage and take him away.

Broom Star nodded, sitting quietly and gazing at the darkened forest without a hint of worry. Unlike typical children who would be terrified in such circumstances, he showed neither fear nor concern, instead exhibiting a calmness that was remarkable.

Seeing Broom Star’s demeanor, the monk grew even more respectful. If Broom Star had behaved like ordinary children, the monk wouldn’t have considered him the Reincarnated True Buddha. A Reincarnated True Buddha, according to tradition, was a Spiritual Child endowed with great wisdom and inherent Buddha Nature. Such an individual would not be easily flustered; serenity in all circumstances was characteristic of a reincarnated child.

As they sat quietly waiting, footsteps suddenly echoed through the distant forest. The monk immediately rose, watching as another person dressed in monk robes approached through the woods, delightedly exclaiming, ”They’ve arrived!”