Seeing everyone enter the building, Feng Yuan lit a cigar and slowly walked towards the stairs in front of the building. He straightened his coat and quietly sat down. After inhaling and exhaling the smoke for several times, he shifted his gaze towards Lan Luo who was in a suit.
"After the case has ended, you can apply to transfer to Division 2. I'll inform the leader about it. I guess the approval shouldn't be a problem."
"Bro, we handled the case together and we should bear the responsibility together. I don't want to go to Division 2. I'll follow you wherever you go," Lan Luo refused.
"I'm getting married and having kids. Are you going to marry me? Can you give birth?" Feng Yuan teased.
Seeing that Lan Luo did not dare talk about it anymore, he inhaled the cigar deeply and said after a long while, "The victim is Li Jingbiao. I'll bear all the responsibilities. There's no need to get others involved. I'm retiring a few years later. You're still young. If you are loyal to me, listen to me. Don't meddle in this case. Unlock your achievements in Division 2 so that there's a place for me to chill in the future."
"Bro…"
"Stop harping on. Let's call it a deal. If you happen to resign, I'll turn against you. Don't blame me if I ignore you in the future," Feng Yuan stared at his partner who had been with him for almost 20 years and said with a serious expression.
It seemed like Lan Luo had something to say. However, at that moment, both of their Emperor's Heart Rings vibrated at the same time.
The communication page then popped up in front of them, projecting the same person.
"Leader!" Lan Luo immediately stood as straight as a ramrod.
It was a middle-aged man in a short-sleeved checkered shirt that appeared in the projection. He was their boss.
Feng Yue put out the cigar calmly and slowly stood up. Before the man in the projection spoke, he said, "I'll take full responsibility for the case. Lan Luo…"
The man in the short-sleeve caught a glimpse of Feng Yuan and interrupted him, "The victim isn't Li Jingbiao. The victim is just a substitute for Li Jingbiao."
They were stunned when they heard that. After a moment, they recovered from their thoughts and felt relieved.
"However, this is not the end. Despite the fact that he's just a substitute, Li Jingbiao is angry. He feels that the murderer is coming after him. A few minutes ago, he contacted the Union Government headquarters in Division 3 and the top management pressured me. Both of you are given three days to find out who the murderer is. Otherwise, please get ready to file for your unemployment benefits!" The man showed no mercy as he gazed at the both of them with a stern face. After quietly sizing them up, he hung up the phone straight away.
Seeing the projection disappear, Feng Yuan immediately took out another cigar. "I' didn't expect that there'd be good news. Li Jingbiao is still alive."
"Why don't I think that it's good news? Did you miss out on the last sentence? The leader warned us that we'll be fired if the case isn't solved within three days." Lan Luo was worried.
"Do you think he'll fire the both of us because of a substitute?" Feng Yuan smirked.
"I don't think so." Although that was Lan Luo's answer, he was uncertain.
"I'm going home to sleep now. See you tomorrow!" Feng Yuan stood up and waved his hand at him, without turning back. Soon, he placed both of his hands in the pocket of his coat and disappeared as soon as he strode towards a dimensional relic.
"I have to pick up the slack again." Lan Luo was speechless, shaking his head. He turned his head back and looked towards Chenxing Building.
…
On the 186th floor of Chenxing Building, in the brightly lit room No.1.
The living room was about 300 square meters large. It was slightly packed with about 50 of them gathered there. However, most of them stayed for a while in the living room and soon, they rushed towards the bedroom.
There were two corpses in the living room. Both of the victims were muscular and were wearing black suits. One of them was found dead on the sofa whereas the other victim died on the floor next to the wine cabinet. Obviously, the both of them were the security guards.
After the crowd had dispersed, Lin Huang then looked at the two corpses that had turned black. Obviously, both of the dead bodies were tainted with some kind of poison.
Since they had no idea what type of poison it was, Lin Huang dared not touch the two corpses for further investigation. One of the reasons was that they had to properly preserve the crime scene. Also, they would be poisoned if it was the type of poison that could enter their body.
"Can you identify what type of poison that is?" Lin Huang asked Bloody.
"Since an imperial-level rank-9 could be poisoned in a short period of time, it's highly possible that it's a type that's been extracted from the body of an imperial-level rank-9. However, to provide a more accurate answer, it has to be tested." Bloody knew more about this than Lin Huang did. While Lin Huang was a teacher in the Martial Hunter College, Bloody would be summoned whenever Lin Huang was in the library. Its speed of reading was several times faster than Lin Huang's and it had memorized almost all the contents in the books available in the Martial Hunter College, including the knowledge about the use of various types of poisons. "However, for the sake of our safety, we shall just wait for the autopsy report."
"By looking at the position of the two dead bodies, the poison acted very fast as they didn't struggle when they died. The sofa, the tea table, and the liquor cabinet are still in good condition. The poison has a terrifying effect." Since they could not get any other information from the corpses, Lin Huang shifted his attention to the surroundings. Soon, based on the information that he got from the surrounding he concluded, "From what I know, there are 11 types of poisons that are extracted from imperial-level monsters which can result in deaths like this. These are only the raw poisons that are extracted, not considering complex poison which is a mixture of various types of raw poisons." Bloody was not interested in the two corpses since it could not get any other useful information. "Since we can't confirm if the poison can spread and we can't figure out what type of poison it is, let's have a look at the victim in the bedroom."
Lin Huang nodded. He did not stay there any longer and walked towards the crowd in the bedroom.
A minority of them had left after looking around. However, it was still very packed in the room.
Lin Huang finally managed to squeeze through the crowd and reach the dead body. He then saw the "fresh" corpse.
"That's awful." It was the first thing that came across Lin Huang's mind just as he saw the dead body. He had seen many of the corpses in the past two days and still, he gave such a comment.
The bloated corpse was out of shape as he had puncture wounds all over his body that were made with a sharp weapon. There were at least 100 wounds on his body and all of them were about the size of an adult eyeball. The sharp weapon had penetrated through his body and the naked body looked exactly like a human honeycomb.
After observing for a while, Bloody who was hiding in Lin Huang's sleeve said, "The fatal injuries were the two attacks on his eyeballs. The weapon pierced right through his eyeballs and poked out of the back of his head. The victim's brain was smashed into tofu in an instant."
"If the murderer is the same person, he does really have a lot of killing tactics. Since he uses different methods to kill each time he commits a crime, is he trying to show off his skills?" Lin Huang mumbled.
Many of them had activated their detection skills next to the fake Li Jingbiao's dead body. A thought suddenly ran through Lin Huang's mind. "The guy has died for less than half an hour. I remember that there's a chain rune that can recover the scene in a given period of time."
"You're talking about the Backtracking Mirror, right? So, can you really go back in time?" Bloody recalled the Witchcraft Rune as well. However, harsh terms were imposed on it. The rune must be activated at the crime scene and it had to be used within 24 hours after the incident happened. Besides, the time that one could backtrack varied according to one's strength.
"I've used it once and it shouldn't be a problem to set the clock back by half an hour. I should be able to turn back time by an hour if I were to do it at a full stretch."
"I'll do the task. I can set the clock back by about three hours." Bloody was not showing off. "It'll be better if there are fewer people who know that we excel at the Witchcraft Rune. Since the Sorcerer Dao is somehow related to the floating land, it'll easily catch the Union Government and the rest of the organization's attention. We shall activate the Backtracking Mirror after the rest of them leave."
Many of the investigators left after examining the dead body.
At about 1 a.m, Lan Luo, who was in his suit, and a few of the staff with their protection suits entered. There were about seven investigators there.
"We're storing the dead bodies now." Lan Luo gazed at Lin Huang and the rest. He did not urge them to leave. Instead, he nodded his head at the staff.
The staff started taking out a few body bags and stored the corpses.
The investigators did not intend to stay there anymore after the staff had put the corpses away.
"I'm going home to sleep. Aren't you leaving yet?" Xia Hou yawned.
"You may leave first. I'll stay here for a little while." Lin Huang stared at the mattress in the bedroom and did not leave.
Lan Luo glanced at Lin Huang, feeling weird. However, he did not think any further and warned, "Don't damage the evidence at the crime scene." Soon, he left with the staff.
"I guess the guy will be back within a few minutes. We have to be quick." Monitored by the Leech Pods, they ensured everyone in the room had left, then Bloody and Lin Huang then returned to the bedroom.
Bloody's Book of Sorcerer Dao was different from the one that Lin Huang had as it was purple in color. As Bloody flipped opened the book, it quickly inserted Life Power into it, activating the chain rune called the Backtracking Mirror.
The runes appeared in mid-air one after another. Ultimately, all of them collapsed, transforming into a scene with rapid playback.
Bloody could soon capture the scene that happened an hour ago which was the scene that Lin Huang had been waiting for.
They could see from the scene that there was a semi-transparent monster, which body was in liquid form, breaking through the window and making its way to the sofa. It spat a cloud of white mist at the back of the neck of the security guard. The white mist was very thin and was almost invisible. The white mist entered the security guard's body as he inhaled. As soon as he inhaled the white mist, he looked like he had fallen into a kind of trance. However, it lasted for less than three seconds and his skin started turning black from head to toe. Soon, he died soundlessly and the entire process lasted less than ten seconds.
Soon after that, the semi-transparent monster quietly appeared next to the second security guard. A cloud of white mist was released at the back of his neck. The second security guard collapsed as well.
The semi-transparent monster then headed towards the bedroom. He appeared above "Li Jingbiao" who had fallen asleep in a spherical shape. The spherical body started transforming rapidly. In just a few seconds, it transformed into a human form and it looked similar to Li Jingbiao.
After the transformation had been completed, the monster slowly opened its mouth, extending its tongue which was of the size of a human arm. Its soft tongue extended up to a meter long. It looked like a poisonous snake revealing its upper body. It was about ten centimeters away from "Li Jingbiao's" chubby face.
All of a sudden, the tongue broke in half, resembling a shooting arrow and pierced through "Li Jiangbiao's" eyes.
A weird sound was heard coming out from the monster after "Li Jingbiao" was killed. Soon, its body transformed again. Sharp thorns that looked like tentacles were constantly growing from its body, penetrating through "Li Jingbiao's" dead body.
Seeing the entire process, Lin Huang frowned and he attempted to look for information about the monster in his brain. However, it was in vain. "Bloody, do you know what monster that is?"
"I don't know. I've never seen this monster in the monster guide," Bloody answered confidently, "However, we can basically confirm that this monster possesses Enhanced Intelligence and powerful mimicry ability."
"I used to think that the murderer was a human before activating the Backtracking Mirror. I've never expected it to be a monster." Lin Huang smiled, shaking his head. "It possesses both Enhanced Intelligence and powerful mimicry ability in addition to having a variety of attack skills. It must be extremely difficult to kill."
"Yes, indeed. We're now facing the first difficulty. How do we find it!"