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Ten minutes later, Wu Bei wiped the sweat from his forehead, lowered his hand from the back of his neck, and breathed a sigh of relief. "All set." Turning back, he said, "Brother Chen, I'm heading inside to search for residual data. I'll share some of it directly to your boundary credential so you can look through it. If you spot anything, you can initiate a search on your own, and I'll back you up." Chen Chuan nodded. "All right." Wu Bei stripped off his soaked outer coat, dabbed his face and neck with a handkerchief once more, and stepped toward the opening of the resonance nest. Chen Chuan had originally wondered whether Wu Bei could squeeze through such a narrow opening given the difference in build between him and Youxing. But as Wu Bei drew near and made initial contact, the opening naturally expanded outward, adapting itself to its new master. It seemed the earlier field calibrations had worked. Once inside, Wu Bei sat down, pulled down a vine from above, and plugged it into a port of the implanted boundary credential at the back of his head. A moment later, more vines crept over him as if guided by an unseen hand, wrapping around his body. The faint, rhythmic pulse of light within the resonance nest suddenly flared bright. A soft luminescence ran through the surrounding tangle of threadlike vines, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow across the floor. Standing outside, Chen Chuan watched for a moment before sensing a steady stream of data arriving at his boundary credential. Inside the resonance nest, Wu Bei had retrieved Youxing's stored records from the past year. The vast majority were assassination contracts accepted through a certain platform, detailing jobs targeting various individuals. Youxing seemed to harbor a deep fascination with witnessing the exact moment of his targets' deaths. He had recorded them all with specialized technology, preserving the complete biofield data within the resonance nest. Consequently, these were not simple video playbacks; the entire scene was rendered with vivid, total immersion, allowing Chen Chuan to witness each target's demise as though standing right there in person. More than that, because Youxing's own emotional impressions had been captured alongside the records, Chen Chuan could even sense the assassin's mood at those moments—a faint twinge of guilt laced with intense, perverse thrill. From what the logs indicated, Youxing had faint ties to several corporations and a mysterious covert organization. The name "Black Gate" cropped up repeatedly, yet whenever his records brushed against it, he seemed to shy away from digging deeper. The emotions transmitted with those entries carried a strange mix of dread and yearning. Chen Chuan sensed that some profound secret lay buried here, quite possibly connected to urban legends. He decided to probe further into the data surrounding the Black Gate. The moment he made the attempt, his surroundings abruptly shifted. He found himself standing in a hall lit by fluorescent lamps. An altar stood before him, flanked on either side by figures robed in black, prostrating themselves on the floor. Directly ahead hovered an object flickering with light, its true form impossible to discern. It looked as though it were glowing from within, or perhaps all surrounding light was being sucked toward it. Right then, he noticed his Second Self showing faint signs of destabilizing and fading into translucence. What was more, even the Xuejun Saber in his grip began to vibrate gently. His gaze narrowed. He peered toward the source of light, but before he could get a clearer look, the surrounding curtain of light dimmed, and the illusion collapsed. The scene snapped back to the room he had been standing in. Wu Bei pulled the vine from the back of his head and rubbed his temples, looking like he had a headache. "That's my first time using a resonance nest," he said. "Still getting used to it. The resonance amplitude spiked way too high just now and exceeded my field range. Luckily, all the residual data inside has been cached. I'll send over the bits I didn't get to transfer in time." Chen Chuan glanced at him. Wu Bei seemed entirely unaware of what Chen Chuan had just experienced. At that moment, another batch of text files arrived on his boundary credential. Skimming through, he saw that in addition to Youxing's assassination contracts, there were records of business ties with several corporations. These companies frequently hired him for dirty work in exchange for legitimate identities—which also explained how he had acquired the resonance nest. According to the logs, over the past year, Youxing had relied on an urban legend and superb field techniques to succeed in virtually every endeavor—until he ran into a brick wall this time. Yet among all of it, Chen Chuan couldn't find a single clue regarding the contract on him. Chen Chuan pondered. Youxing had clearly possessed the means to destroy his boundary credential, yet he hadn't done so. That suggested he had wanted Chen Chuan to trace the lead. Whether Chen Chuan dragged the client down with him or ended up killed by the client, either outcome would satisfy the dying assassin's spite. Yet that relied on one premise: Chen Chuan had to find the clue first. If it wasn't in the boundary credential, nor in the resonance nest, then it was likely information that had never been stored in either place, yet was still meant to reach him. In that case, only one possibility remained. "Brother Wu," Chen Chuan asked, "in Youxing's boundary credential, was there any log of an outgoing transmission sent right at the end?" "There is one," Wu Bei replied. "But the destination address was wiped. I can't tell who it went to, and I don't know what the message was." Chen Chuan felt increasingly certain. "Brother Wu, can you help mask my current location data?" "No problem." Wu Bei plugged the vine back into the socket behind his head. After a moment, he said, "Done." Chen Chuan immediately accessed the Wuyi Academy platform through his boundary credential, then checked the public mailbox. There, he found a message addressed to him. The sender's signature was blank, and the timestamp matched the exact moment he had slain Youxing. Just as he suspected. Before dying, Youxing had transmitted certain information directly to him. But Chen Chuan had swapped his boundary credential before heading out. Realizing this and fearing Chen Chuan might miss it, Youxing had instead chosen to send it straight to Wuyi Academy's external message inbox. Naturally, Youxing hadn't done this out of goodwill; he simply wanted to see Chen Chuan clash with the employer behind the contract. Chen Chuan wanted to open the message right away, only to find it wouldn't open. Inquiring with Wu Bei, he learned it employed a targeted frequency encryption technique. He would need to return to Wuyi Academy and ideally use his original boundary credential to view it. In that case, it would have to wait until he returned. "Then we'll need to head back," Chen Chuan said. "We can pack up anything useful here." Wu Bei looked around. "This place is pretty nice. Secluded and safe." Chen Chuan agreed on the seclusion part. If not for the boundary credential's readings, it really would have been difficult to locate. As for safety, that was doubtful. Although he hadn't encountered any gang members on his way in, it stood to reason that Youxing had cleared them out. Such people wouldn't vanish forever; without that deterrent, they would likely reappear before long. Furthermore, the guest rooms on the upper floor indicated visitors had stayed here. This place was not somewhere they could linger. Chen Chuan said, "Brother Wu, take your haul back first. I'll wait here. If Old Qi is free, call him over too to help drive the cars out. We can stash everything we haul away in your warehouse for now." Wu Bei raised a fist from inside the resonance nest. "No problem! Leave it to me." He tidied up, put his clothes back on, and headed down the hill under an umbrella. Having walked the path once and knowing the right route, he drove his truck straight up the hill. Chen Chuan remembered seeing a handcart on the third floor. He loaded the items marked for transport onto it, wheeled it down the gentle slope behind the third floor, and loaded everything into the truck parked below. This first run mainly consisted of the resonance nest, the high-energy nutrient cans, and the medicines from the cabinets. Given the volume of goods, it would likely take two trips. Once the resonance nest was carefully placed onto the truck and secured, Wu Bei finally relaxed. Then, remembering something, he slapped his forehead. "Brother Chen, I almost forgot! I need to pay you for this resonance nest. And those high-energy nutrient cans—I'll take those too. Conducting such a massive transaction over the account platform would easily draw attention, plus there's transaction tax to pay, so cash is better. I don't have that much on hand right now, but I'll scrape it together and pay you later." Chen Chuan said, "Brother Wu, we're a team. Getting you better equipment helps the team as a whole. If you really insist on paying, we can put the money into our shared fund." Wu Bei had been helping him free of charge, and there would undoubtedly be many more occasions where his assistance would be needed. Strictly speaking, hiring a high-level resonator didn't come cheap. Besides, Wu Bei was hardly strapped for cash, so paying him in cash would only make them distant. Chen Chuan had been looking for a way to return the favor, and this resonance nest was the perfect opportunity. Wu Bei didn't argue; he had never cared much about the money anyway. "All right, settled then!" he said cheerfully. He climbed into the driver's cab, waved to Chen Chuan, switched on the headlights, and slowly drove down the mountain. Chen Chuan watched until the truck made it safely onto the lower road, then turned back inside to continue packing. As he stepped through the door, his eyes caught the long staff lying on the floor. He walked over and picked it up. The moment it rested in his hand, a subtle sensation washed over him—an inexplicable resistance, as if the weapon were rejecting him. He realized at once: this must be a mutated weapon. Such things were exceedingly rare. No wonder repeated slashes earlier had failed to cleave it in two. A thought surfaced in his mind: in the future, he ought to have a display room dedicated to weapons like this. Taking the staff with him, he returned to the third floor. After testing the Jiade commuter car and confirming it ran, he contacted Ni Xixi and logged the two seized vehicles with the bureau. She promptly issued him a temporary transit permit. According to seizure regulations, keeping the vehicles required paying a fee to the Disposal Bureau and relevant administrative authorities, along with some paperwork. The amount wasn't large; it was essentially a perk the Disposal Bureau provided to field operatives. After some thought, he decided to keep them. Currently, he relied on the tram to get around, which wasn't very convenient for certain destinations. Setting aside the Silver Lightning, this Jiade had been modified with armor plating—inconspicuous, protective, and capable of hauling cargo. It was remarkably discreet and practical. He loaded the rest of the items into the trunk and back seat, then returned to the ground floor hall. Rather than leaving Youxing's remains out in the open, he placed them into the crater smashed into the ground, fetched a shovel, and buried them.