Hidden Moth

Chapter 643 377: Seeking Lost Rituals in the Wilderness—A New Beginning

Shi Yunfeng is twenty-eight years old this year. Ten years ago, he came to the United States with dozens of clan members. Initially, they each went their separate ways, but most of them eventually regrouped here.Ten years ago, he graduated from high school and came to the United States for college. As for the enrollment procedures and various expenses during his studies, the family took care of everything.

Back then, his task was to study diligently and quickly familiarize himself with the local circumstances...

Now, he has officially become a citizen and obtained legal status. Last year, he joined the local State Bar Association and was sworn in as a lawyer. According to some people's impressions, his social status in the United States should not be considered low.

However, the social rules prevalent in the United States don't apply within this community; they're only necessary when interacting with the outside world.

Shi Yunfeng's situation is rather awkward. Despite the clan elders concentrating on cultivating him, his academic performance is good, and he doesn't fear exams, but he has never been able to achieve entry-level in technique cultivation.

Shi Yunfeng is merely a Guest of Fate, but he has at least practiced Foundation Establishment Skills from a young age and consumed quite a bit of auxiliary Spirit Medicine, making him relatively strong and agile compared to ordinary people.

Shi Yunfeng isn't the type to have bulging muscles, but his bones and muscles are quite sturdy. He's not afraid to engage in physical encounters and is skilled in operating various firearms, yet his greatest advantage is his understanding of the local laws and regulations.

Shi Yunfeng's usual work isn't office-based. In a certain way, it is equivalent to being a security patrol officer on Eastern Country streets, akin to the kind of elderly woman with an armband that most Eastern Country People can imagine.

But here, community patrol is entirely different from Eastern Country, more akin to a mobile post in a war zone.

Every day, he drives around to patrol the territory controlled by the Shi Family. If there are anomalies or outsiders, he can handle them momentarily. Even if nothing happens, this is a symbol of asserting territorial control.

Outsiders could be employees of government agencies, business partners, cargo transporters, occasional passers-by, curious intruders, investigators, rival gangs disputing territory, or petty criminals...

Different situations require different handling methods, and many times he has to make on-the-spot decisions.

The patrol team led by Shi Yunfeng is akin to an emergency response team, riding a modified Jeep that usually carries five people, besides three assistants and his cousin Shi Yunqing.

Shi Yunfeng is only the deputy captain; Shi Yunqing is the captain of the patrol team. The entire patrol team consists of thirty full-time members, along with five hundred peripheral part-time members.

Theoretically, Shi Yunfeng is actually a part-time member too, since he is a practicing lawyer at a local law firm, yet he doesn't usually sit in the law firm, with the lawyer profession more like a part-time role.

Shi Yunqing is two years younger than Shi Yunfeng, but he is already a Tier Four Artisan, a high-tier sorcerer in the Microcosm lineage.

The routine patrol every morning is usually led personally by these two captains, Shi Yunqing and Shi Yunfeng, while the other three team members take turns.

After making a round, they return to the command center. The organization they belong to is internally dubbed the Emergency Response Command Center, abbreviated as the command center.

He Kao infiltrated this area, cautiously choosing a target after careful observation, using the Possession Technique to transfer onto Shi Yunfeng, obtaining as much information as possible about the Huiming Shi Family's overseas branch through Shi Yunfeng's perspective.

The command center can monitor all kinds of movements within the territory at any time, possessing more comprehensive information than the local police station.

Of course, there is no police station in this area now. Reports say there was one twenty years ago, but it was dismantled. The command center and the patrol team have effectively taken over the police station's functions, responsible for maintaining local law and order.

Besides the thirty regular members, the patrol team has five hundred peripheral personnel who are equivalent to "auxiliary police." The United States doesn't have anything like auxiliary police, but He Kao couldn't find an appropriate term, so he had to make this analogy; in reality, they are gang members.

How vast is the territory controlled by this gang? About over nine square kilometers, encompassing three adjacent traditional old neighborhoods, with a population close to one hundred thousand, including legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and local citizens.

These three old neighborhoods have now been integrated into a relatively independent major district, particularly to be noted, a separate electoral district was designated here a few years ago, with approximately fifty thousand statistically significant votes.

This is a unique feature of the United States, and if the voting acts align, it becomes a very influential local power.

A gang was mentioned earlier, but what gang is it? This gang does not exist openly, or can be said to exist covertly. Anyway, official documents do not show formal registration records.

Perhaps the police records have it, merely a colloquial term. But in the locals' perception, this is a territory for a large gang.

The Huiming Shi Family sent a group of clan members to migrate here very early on, after thorough evaluation and investigation, they ultimately chose to establish and develop on this piece of territory.

Shi Family forces occupied this neighborhood and became the dominant force, beginning large-scale development and transformation quietly from ten years ago, without attracting attention or seeing any news reports, with assistance in covering up from many local forces.

These three neighborhoods were initially constructed in the early last century, flourishing during World War II and the decades following, declining since the 1980s, and rapidly becoming abandoned districts in the new century.