A five-star hotel.
Scott stood in the darkness and spoke, "Master, the situation at Warehouse 32 has blown up."
A shadow swiftly condensed into a humanoid form, making the entire room seem to plummet into darkness. An ambiguous, genderless voice drifted from the shadow: "By now, you should understand that warnings hold no deterrence over the people of Huaxia. They will not give up investigating. Have all the leads been severed?"
"Master, your subordinate has cleaned up every trace that could be eliminated. Unfortunately, there was an expert at the Public Security Bureau, so I failed to silence them completely. I fear they will continue to dig deeper," Scott said, lowering his head.
The shadow fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Then let them keep investigating. Employ every counter-surveillance measure at your disposal, and do not expose yourself."
"Understood!" Scott answered immediately.
***
When Yu Xian returned to the Public Security Bureau, the entire perimeter was already under heavy guard by fully armed combat police.
Leading the detail, Zhang Kai saw Yu Xian return and immediately asked with a tense expression, "Yu Xian, was that the Great Blazing Sun Fireball that just appeared in the air?"
This upper-tier Wolf-rank spell was notorious worldwide.
Because its blast radius was relatively small but its temperature was extraordinarily high—enough to melt everything in its area of effect into magma—many criminals favored it for destroying bodies and erasing evidence.
Even though it had hovered over the Public Security Bureau for less than five seconds, the bureau's roof was already scorched black, and much of the equipment on the top floor had been ruined by the intense heat.
"Yeah, it really was the Great Blazing Sun Fireball," Yu Xian replied with a nod.
Zhang Kai frowned. "Could it be... connected to the warehouse over there?"
"Yes. That's why our Evil-Slaying Squad is taking over this case. Your side should step back completely," Yu Xian said, nodding again before speaking to Zhang Kai with utter seriousness.
If he hadn't been standing guard just now, the entire bureau would currently be a giant crater, and every combat police officer would have been reduced to ashes under that Great Blazing Sun Fireball.
The combat police generally ranked between Insect rank and Ant rank, clearly making them unfit to remain involved in this case. After all, the culprit's very first strike was an upper-tier Wolf-rank attack; no amount of combat police would make a difference.
"All right. Then we'll hand Sun Youhu and the others over to you as well," Zhang Kai agreed with a calm nod.
Furious as he was, he had to take responsibility for his men. The criminal lurking behind this case was of far too high a rank; it was too dangerous for the combat police to keep intervening.
"Sounds good. Transfer them all over. While we're at it, I'll have someone examine their bodies to see if injecting those serums truly carries no major side effects," Yu Xian agreed.
At the end of the day, the claim that the side effects were minimal had only been Sun Youhu's one-sided word, and Kang Jimao's test subject had been nothing more than a dog. His conclusion was hardly reliable.
The subsequent handover did not require Yu Xian's personal involvement; it was handled by the bureau's staff and the combat police unit.
Yu Xian sat inside a bubble suspended high above the Public Security Bureau, carefully reviewing his actions from earlier. If the enemy had two people and had been playing a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain, then rashly abandoning the bureau to chase the attacker would have meant returning to find the entire building wiped out.
He had still been too impulsive.
"Salty Fish, should we wake Sister Qingniao and the vice-captain?" Zhang Shou's voice came through the bubble at his right ear this time.
Yu Xian replied, "No need. We'll tell them tomorrow. Let's wait until the test results come out before making any plans. By the way, have Brother Li check who owns Warehouse 32 at Cloud Warehouse, and who it's been rented to recently."
The combat police had originally been investigating the ownership of Cloud Warehouse, but now that the case had been handed over entirely to Qilin, it naturally fell to Qilin to investigate.
The local office had many clerks who served as support staff for the various squads. "Brother Li," whom Yu Xian mentioned, was one of the clerks they knew fairly well.
"Got it," Zhang Shou replied.
Afterward, Yu Xian continued to watch the surrounding area while training his ability.
He remotely controlled two bubbles far outside Silver City, constantly swapping underwater stones and river water between them, even instantly teleporting fish that wandered into the bubbles. One bubble was in a river and the other in a lake, several kilometers apart, granting quite a few lucky fish an impromptu journey.
He understood the space inside his bubbles intimately, but he had no idea what lay outside them.
Guiding a bubble to move far away was like groping forward with his eyes closed; only by encompassing things in the water within the bubble could he discover what he had encountered.
Whenever he had free time, he pondered how he could manage to see the view outside bubbles situated far away.
***
The next day, Yu Xian and Zhang Shou asked for leave again.
Fortunately, the instructors at the Superpower Academy were aware of their affiliated status with the Public Security Bureau, so they didn't make things difficult for them.
At eight-thirty in the morning, Gong Qian and Qingniao came out of their rooms. In truth, both had woken briefly when the Great Blazing Sun Fireball appeared, but the spell had vanished so quickly and was followed by no further commotion. Since neither Yu Xian nor Zhang Shou had notified them, they had assumed it wasn't a major issue, so the two had calmly gone back to sleep.
Inside the office.
Gong Qian and Qingniao ate the breakfast Zhang Shou had bought while listening to Yu Xian recount the events of the previous night. Neither had expected that a routine case of catching petty thieves would unravel into such a massive affair.
A Wolf-rank spell attack against the Public Security Bureau was a capital offense with zero room for leniency. Finding the attacker and killing them on the spot would even warrant a bounty.
"So how many leads do we currently have?" Qingniao asked after hearing Yu Xian out, swallowing a spoonful of century egg and lean pork congee.
Holding his phone and scanning the information sent by Brother Li, Yu Xian said, "We'll have to wait until this afternoon to get the lab results for the serum in the syringes. However, the owner and the tenant of Warehouse 32 have already been identified.
"The owner of Warehouse 32 is Lü Yingshi, master of the Lion Sect in the east of the city, a Snake-rank martial artist. Men have already been sent to invite him in for questioning. The tenant is Hu Weijie, one of the Seven Heroes of the Hu Family. He's a well-known cleaner on the gray path. We've also dispatched people to bring him in for questioning."
"Then we'll wait for Lü Yingshi and Hu Weijie to arrive before continuing to follow the trail," Gong Qian said after listening.
Clearing away the breakfast trash, Qingniao said, "Still, Salty Fish, I have to criticize you. The next time something like this happens, you should wake me and the vice-captain immediately. What if the enemy had a follow-up move?
"Don't think we need special care just because we're girls. We're battle-hardened veterans too, you know."
"Exactly. Next time, just notify us straight away. There's strength in numbers, and it's harder to fall for diversionary tactics like luring the tiger away from the mountain," Gong Qian agreed with a nod.
Yu Xian had already reflected on this the previous night, so he readily nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I accept the fault on that one. I'll definitely inform you two in time next time."
Around ten-thirty, several clerks returned.
Accompanying them were Lü Yingshi, Hu Tu'er, and a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Hu Tu'er.
Brother Li knocked on the door and stepped into the office. "Leaders, Lü Yingshi has been brought in. Hu Weijie's current whereabouts are unknown, but his wife, Hu Xian'er, and daughter, Hu Tu'er, came voluntarily to cooperate with the investigation. They hope we can help look into Hu Weijie's whereabouts."
"Thanks for your trouble, Brother Li. Come on, let's go meet Lü Yingshi first and see what he has to say," Gong Qian took the initiative to say.
The group then headed to the reception room. As soon as they entered, they saw the burly Lü Yingshi. At first glance, Yu Xian felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity; he soon realized that Lü Yingshi's presence was remarkably similar to Jin Sheng's, both resembling lions.
Yet there was a difference between them. Jin Sheng was more like a radiant, shining lion, whereas Lü Yingshi was like an old lion guarding his own territory, interested only in looking after his own modest domain.
Lü Yingshi was already ninety-eight years old, but because he was a Snake-rank martial artist who kept his body in peak condition, he looked like a middle-aged man in his fifties.
Yu Xian estimated that in a few more years, if the man couldn't break through to Eagle rank and still refused to face death, he would probably have to consider becoming a long-lived species like a vampire.
Chapter 56