Anna Brooks didn’t mind much and quickly said, “But this song, a lot of people on my grandmother’s side can sing it... That’s how it was when I was a child, I don’t know about now. Back in my hometown, I’m not even sure how many of the elders are still alive. I haven’t been back in years.”

Anna Brooks saw that Henry Thompson was interested and added, “How about this—if you’re really interested, let’s find some time to go to my hometown and check it out in person. If we run into any elders who can sing it, maybe we can ask them something.”

Henry Thompson thought for a moment and nodded.

“The day after tomorrow is our day off. Ms. Anna, are you available?”

“I am!”

After making the arrangement, Henry Thompson didn’t dwell on it and quickly said, “Ms. Anna, you have more connections in the Inspection Bureau than I do. Can you help me with something?”

“Tell me.”

At this moment, since he had shown Anna Brooks the files, Henry Thompson no longer hid anything and said in a low voice, “Can you help me check the whereabouts of a few people? First, Wang Haoming’s younger brother. He’s not in Silver City—here in Silver City, Wang Haoming was his only relative. After Wang Haoming died, his brother hasn’t come back for a long time.”

“Second, Zhao Shihao’s daughter! After Zhao Shihao died, his daughter and wife moved away from Silver City and there’s been no news since.”

The Silver City Inspection Bureau only has jurisdiction over Silver City. They have no authority over other regions, nor do they have the right to access files from elsewhere.

He sought out Anna Brooks because she knows more people in the Inspection Bureau.

As for the Inspection Bureau, Henry Thompson isn’t familiar with the bureaus outside the city, but there are always colleagues, classmates, or friends of others working in other bureaus. If you really want to inquire, you can still get some information.

Anna Brooks’s eyes flickered slightly.

Looking into the families of a few involved parties?

What does Henry Thompson mean by this?

“Ms. Anna, do you think you can find anything?”

Anna Brooks thought for a moment and nodded, “If you have a general area, it’s easy to check. The problem is if there’s no clue at all. You know, once you’re out of Silver City, the world is huge. We don’t have cross-regional law enforcement authority, nor do we have access to information. If you want to ask someone for help, you need a fixed target.”

“I understand. I have some information on them. I’ll write it down for you later. I don’t know the exact locations, but I do know which cities they’re in.”

Henry Thompson had been investigating for a long time and had some understanding of the families of the deceased, but since they were out of town, he couldn’t get in touch.

“That makes it easier. Leave it to me!”

Anna Brooks agreed readily.

Henry Thompson quickly thanked her.

After chatting for a while, Anna Brooks suddenly lowered her voice and said, “Henry Thompson, there are some things... just be careful, okay? I think... I think this might not be so simple.”

She wasn’t stupid—she had guessed a bit.

At this moment, Anna Brooks was considering: if Henry Thompson really is the Li from the “Li Family’s Sword” in the folk song, could he also be in danger?

The Inspection Bureau isn’t afraid of danger; what they fear is danger from unknown sources.

Those cases were all caused by accidents.

Henry Thompson nodded slightly and didn’t say much.

He himself had a lot to do and needed to verify things.

He wanted to investigate the case from ten years ago—did the Zheng family really die?

If possible, he also wanted to visit Zhang Yuan’s home. After Zhang Yuan died, his house was left empty. Henry Thompson wanted to see if the Zhang family’s knife was still there.

Not just the Zhang family’s knife, but also the Hong family’s hammer, the Zhou family’s spear—do these weapons from the folk song really exist, are they still around?

Is the Red Shadow targeting the eight families themselves, or the weapons from the folk song?

As for martial arts, there’s not much to say—once someone dies, that’s the end of it.

But if the weapons have really been passed down in each family, like the Li family’s heirloom, maybe he could find some clues.

He needed to determine the Red Shadow’s goal and understand the opponent better to deal with the crisis.

……

Henry Thompson didn’t go straight to the Zhang family, nor did he go home—he still had things to do.

Inspection Bureau.

Archive room.

Mrs. Clark, who managed the archives, carried out a stack of files from the dusty storeroom, patted off the dust, and sent a cloud of it into the air.

She handed the yellowed files to Henry Thompson, looking a bit puzzled, “Little Henry, what do you need these for? The list of Zhengs who died and had their household registrations canceled in Silver City from 1715 to 1719 is all here—there are a few hundred people, but they’ve all been dead for many years...”

Henry Thompson’s face was full of innocent smiles. “Ms. Clark, there are some suspicious cases in the confidential office that involve these. I can’t say much, but if you help me and I find any clues, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“Forget the meal, Little Henry, you’re already 20, not that young anymore. My daughter is 22 this year, two years older than you...”

“……”

Henry Thompson was a bit helpless but kept smiling, “Ms. Clark, let’s talk later. I’m still young.”

With that, he hurriedly took the files and left in a bit of a rush.

The aunties at the Inspection Bureau were very enthusiastic, but the only problem was they liked to introduce their daughters to him.

If not their daughters, then their nieces, or some girl from someone’s family.

After all, Henry Thompson had gotten into the Silver City Ancient Academy—even though he dropped out, it didn’t affect his popularity.

With the list in hand, Henry Thompson quickly started flipping through it.