Monday, clear skies.
In a place like Songhai, the morning rush hour was an endless headache. Whether on the elevated expressways or down on the surface streets, the gridlock was enough to send anyone's blood pressure soaring.
Ordinary commuters who took the subway didn't have to worry about traffic jams, but they had to endure the trials of being crammed together from every direction.
Under the early morning sun, Zhang Yuanqing pedaled a shared bike through Songhai's bustling streets with a backpack slung over his shoulders, taking bites out of a jianbing guozi.
He breezed past one private car, business van, and public bus after another, his youthful vigor fluttering right along with his bangs.
Songhai University was only five to six kilometers from his grandmother's house, a mere fifteen-minute bike ride, which was why he didn't usually live on campus.
Thanks to his ascension to Night Wanderer, the bike that usually felt exhausting to pedal carried him all the way to the university gate in one breath. He pulled out his phone and checked the time: only ten minutes.
If not for the electric scooters clogging the bike lane, he could have been even faster.
Songhai University was founded at the start of the previous century. With a history spanning one hundred and twenty years, it was one of the country's foremost top-tier institutions.
Aside from its stellar faculty, the university was most renowned for two things: ladies adept at finding wealthy benefactors, and brave warriors daring to cross swords.
Back then, Grandma used to warn his aunt that girls needed to know how to protect themselves at school. Now that she was older, she was warning her grandson that boys needed to protect themselves at school as well.
Grandma was thoroughly displeased with the state of the world.
Passing through the campus gates, he crossed the central axis adorned with the founder's statue and pedaled slowly along the plane-tree-lined lane to the right, heading toward the classroom building.
The campus grounds were elegant and serene. Students were either filming short videos, chatting on roadside benches, or clutching textbooks as they rushed to class.
With its wide, clean streets, lush lawns, and venerable old dormitories, a glance across the grounds made it look more like a quiet, upscale residential community than a school.
Zhang Yuanqing parked his bicycle outside the building, adjusted his backpack, and entered the integrated academic building.
Arriving at the tiered lecture hall, Zhang Yuanqing scanned the room. The students were scattered in small groups of two or three; quite a few classmates were skipping.
He picked a seat at random, and no sooner had he sat down than he heard two boys behind him muttering:
"I just saw Xu Yingying at the gate. She's waiting for her sugar daddy again."
"Bullshit. How could my goddess be a kept woman?"
"For real. Every Monday a guy comes to pick her up in a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands. I saw it last Monday too."
"Did you see clearly? Maybe it was a ride-hail?"
"Would you make out with a ride-hail driver?"
"...Damn it. In middle school girls liked top students, but in college they go for rich men outside. When will regular guys ever stand up?"
Xu Yingying was their classmate, very pretty, and widely regarded as the class belle.
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't resist turning around with a teasing grin. "The waifus on your hard drive can help you stand up."
The two boys froze, caught off guard by his sudden interjection.
Zhang Yuanqing looked at them. "What?"
The boy named Li Lesheng let out a chuckle. "Zhang Yuanqing, did something good happen to you today? This doesn't sound like you."
Zhang Yuanqing blinked. "Why do you say that?"
Just as Li Lesheng was about to answer, the instructor, wearing black-rimmed glasses and carrying a stack of books, walked in. The chattering classroom fell silent at once.
***
Kangyang District, Maile Hotel.
*Ding!*
On the sixteenth floor, the elevator doors slid open. Li Dongze stepped out of the cabin leaning on his cane, dressed in a formal suit complete with a black vest and white dress shirt.
His lean face was etched with grim solemnity, and Guan Ya followed close behind.
The entire floor had been cleared of guests. Police tape was cordoned off across the corridor entrance from the elevator, guarded by two public security officers.
Guan Ya clicked forward in her high heels, drew out a badge, and flashed it.
The officers immediately stepped aside to make way.
Along the path leading to the room, several uniformed officers were hard at work, taking photographs or collecting fingerprints, hair, and other evidence.
Li Dongze bypassed them and stepped into the hotel room, immediately catching the scent of blood.
His gaze swept across the hotel suite. On the bed lay two corpses covered with white sheets, the pristine linen soaked with large patches of dark red blood.
Li Dongze extended his cane and lifted the sheet. A man and a woman lay naked on the mattress.
He fell silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice: "It really is Zhao Yingjun."
Guan Ya carefully inspected every corner of the room, wisps of white mist leaking from her pupils. After a while, she said:
"There are no signs of a struggle in the room, nor any evidence of deliberate tampering... The trash can only has two condoms, but three are missing from the box..."
With that, she cast a pitying glance at the female victim.
Li Dongze replaced the sheet and said in a heavy voice:
"Guan Ya, stay here and assist the officers in collecting fingerprints, hair, and surveillance footage. I need to contact Centurion Fu and the captains. We'll likely need to hold a meeting."
Guan Ya nodded slightly. "I'll sync the crime scene details and personal profiles to your phone shortly."
Zhao Yingjun was a consultant for the Xiangshui Road Public Security Bureau, a member of the White Tiger Battalion, and a Level 2 Scout.
A member of the Five Elements Alliance had been murdered. This was a grave incident.
***
Second floor of the villa, a small conference room.
The room was exquisitely and lavishly decorated, the floor laid with a soft wool carpet and a solid wood rectangular conference table set in the center.
On the table sat fine fruit platters, translucent slices of cured ham, expensive imported red wine, boxes of cigars, and delicate desserts.
At the far end of the table hung a white projection screen playing a clip of hotel surveillance footage.
In the video, a man wearing a baseball cap and a face mask walked over from the elevator, stopped before the guest room door, took out a keycard to unlock it, and entered.
Forty minutes later, the man walked out with his hands shoved in his pockets, his head lowered as he left.
The video ended. Li Dongze hit pause, looked around at the team captains seated at the table, and said:
"The hotel called the police early this morning. When the maid couldn't get an answer while doing rounds, she went in to check and found both victims dead. Zhao Yingjun was tortured before his death; his body is covered in knife wounds, and his wrists and ankles show signs of being bound. The fatal wound was a sharp weapon piercing his heart.
"The female victim is named Liu Xiao'e. She was also stabbed through the heart, but she was not tortured. Based on the missing condom at the scene, we suspect she was violated by the killer before she died.
"Additionally, the bureau reviewed both of their phones and confirmed that Liu Xiao'e was Zhao Yingjun's mistress.
"We pulled surveillance from the hotel's other exits, but found no trace of how the killer left. He likely possessed special means to evade cameras. Preliminary assessment suggests the killer is a Spirit Realm walker."
A total of six people sat around the table.
At the head of the table sat a young man in a white suit. He possessed the aloof, noble air of a scion from an elite clan, sporting a handsome short ponytail and facial features as sharp and sculpted as a statue, dashing beyond compare.
The first seat on the left was empty—that was Li Dongze's seat.
To the right sat a woman cradling an orange cat. Dressed in a qipao patterned with an ink-wash painting, she exuded all the voluptuous charm of a mature woman. Her well-maintained, lovely face was firm and fair, complemented by light makeup and a serene, refined temperament.
Beside her was a middle-aged man wearing a hardhat and protective work clothes, his dark skin bearing the weather-beaten marks of a laborer.
Opposite her sat a gym coach in a form-fitting athletic suit. His thick biceps rivaled the slender waist of a woman, his brow sharp, radiating an aggressive aura with every glance.
The last person was a woman in her late twenties wearing a white racing suit and tight leather pants. With black wavy hair and an oval face, she looked exceptionally cool and spirited.
These five were the squad captains of the Kangyang District Spirit Realm walkers; several others were absent for various reasons.
The young master in the white suit looked left and right, his deep brown eyes as calm as a placid lake. He spoke in a flat tone:
"Everyone, what are your thoughts? ...Captain Qingteng, you first."
The lovely woman in the qipao furrowed her delicate brows. "Ordinary Spirit Realm walkers wouldn't dare kill our official personnel. Could it have been done by someone from an evil profession?"
Li Dongze replied, "We're still screening Zhao Yingjun's recent social interactions."
If it truly was the work of an evil profession walker, the severity of the matter would escalate to another level entirely.
Da Jiba, the Fire Master musclehead, raised his brows, fury flaring within him. "An evil profession? Those sewer rats dare to kill someone from our Five Elements Alliance? I'll make the bastard pay with his life!"
The others looked grave. Bailong, dressed in her racing suit, pondered aloud:
"How was Zhao Yingjun's combat capability?"
Li Dongze glanced at Fu Qingyang.
Fu Qingyang said, "He had a defensive item."
Hearing that, Bailong's expression grew serious. "A Level 2 Scout isn't suited for direct combat, but with a defensive item, killing him wouldn't be easy—especially without alerting the guests in the neighboring room. From that alone, we can make an initial estimate of the killer's strength."
Tang Guoqiang, the construction company boss in the hardhat, said in a deep voice:
"Very formidable."
Da Jiba snorted, reiterating his earlier words: "So what if he's formidable? Anyone who dares touch someone from our Five Elements Alliance dies, no matter how strong he is!"
Bailong mentally buried her face in her hands, thinking: *Can we kick this idiot from the Scarlet Fire Gang out before we discuss serious business?*
Li Dongze said, "According to our investigation, Zhao Yingjun kept many mistresses, with a particular fondness for college girls. We are screening them one by one."
Da Jiba frowned. "Why?"
"Zhao Yingjun didn't meet his mistresses at a fixed hotel, yet the killer was able to locate the hotel and pinpoint the room number. That means he had a clear grasp of Zhao Yingjun's movements, either through personal acquaintance or prolonged surveillance," Li Dongze explained. "The person who knows you best is always the woman sharing your bed. We might be able to glean some clues from Zhao Yingjun's mistresses."
The captains nodded with somber expressions.
Li Dongze continued:
"Zhao Yingjun was interrogated and tortured before he died. Consider this: what was the killer interrogating him about? What did he reveal? Whether this was a personal vendetta or the work of an evil profession, it is an issue we must treat with the utmost caution."
The captains' expressions shifted slightly.
Evil professions and orthodox professions had always been incompatible as fire and water, perpetually hunting and tracking each other down.
The only thing an evil profession would find interesting was intel on official Spirit Realm walkers, or even their safe houses and hideouts.
And if the killer wasn't from an evil profession, then a powerful walker who was willing to risk offending an official organization just to infiltrate a hotel, torture, and murder someone meant the truth behind the scene might be far more tangled.
Qingteng said heavily, "We need to dig out the killer as quickly as possible."
Hearing this, Da Jiba glanced left and right, then asked, "Why isn't Yuan Ting here? Have him devour Zhao Yingjun's spirit and extract his memories. Then we'll know who the killer is."
The importance of a Night Wanderer capable of commanding spirits immediately became apparent.
Fu Qingyang shook his head and said:
"Yesterday, the Taiyi Sect summoned all official Night Wanderers to the capital for a meeting. Yuan Ting is not in Songhai."
His expression remained calm from beginning to end, as though the sky collapsing wouldn't faze him in the least.
*A meeting in the capital?* The captains' hearts sank. If Yuan Ting wasn't here, the Night Wanderers from the other districts certainly wouldn't be either.
Was this too much of a coincidence? The killer didn't strike earlier or later, but picked the exact moment the Night Wanderers were gathered in the capital.
Da Jiba fumed, "What is wrong with the Taiyi Sect? They couldn't hold their meeting earlier or later, but chose right now? We should have cultivated our own Night Wanderers long ago!"
Li Dongze said helplessly:
"You've got cause and effect backward. The killer deliberately picked this window... Never mind, it doesn't matter. None of you need to worry. We have our own Night Wanderer."
Chapter 23