A Father's Love Is Like a Mountain

As Liu Jian transferred money to Wenren Sheng through his phone, Wenren Sheng was looking at him.

"Liu Jian, Mystery Points: 0/40."

"Mystic components: Seed of Wrath, Extraordinary Power, Mystic Cognition, Seed of Hatred (latent)."

"You have discovered a rare Dual Otherworldly holder. Mystic Cognition has increased, and the Mystery Points cap has increased by 1. Current cap: 105."

Two otherworldly entities—this was the root of why Liu Bo had obliterated his conscience, manipulated people's hearts, fabricated cases, and helped his son cultivate them!

Wenren Sheng had naturally never encountered a Dual Otherworldly, but by ordinary reasoning, if one wanted the cultivation progress of each otherworldly entity to remain comparable to that of a holder with only one, the resources and time required would certainly exceed twice the amount. After all, there was also the issue of internal coordination.

It was a bit like the cultivation novels he had read in his previous life. In the early stages, those with two spirit roots normally cultivated far more slowly than those with a Single Spirit Root, unless they made up for it with resources.

But spirit roots did not have the issue of self-elimination. Otherworldly entities also faced an external Qualification Exam. Before Dual Otherworldly holders could even compete in the later stages, they would be eliminated during the early examinations, their otherworldly entities taken away because their cultivation progress was too slow.

Wenren Sheng knew the standards for the Otherworldly Qualification Exam very well. The primary metric was whether the cultivation progress of the otherworldly entity exceeded the average in the statistical data—or at the very least, did not lag too far behind.

During the test, Liu Jian could only display the cultivation progress of the Seed of Wrath, its manifest aspect. Yet in reality, his cultivation results had to be split evenly between two otherworldly entities. What would ultimately be shown was inevitably that of a hopelessly poor cultivator.

Liu Bo must have only recently discovered this. Thinking of his past failures and his crippled legs, he had hastily tried to force a remedy through external means.

The effect was indeed quite good. Judging by 40 divided by 2, he was only slightly behind Wu Shanshan. Passing the exam would not be a problem.

A father's love truly was like a mountain. Only beneath that mountain lay the bloodstained bones of innocents.

As he was thinking, someone knocked on the door outside.

"Come in."

Someone pushed the door open. It was none other than Inspector Liu, who had been in contact with Wenren Sheng all along.

"Manager Wenren, I'm here to take Liu Jian away," he said politely.

"Thanks for your hard work. Go ahead," Wenren Sheng said, rising to his feet.

Liu Jian's expression was complicated. In the end, he bowed to Wenren Sheng, then followed Inspector Liu out.

Watching this, Zhao Han subconsciously asked, "Is it Inspector Liu every time?"

Xu Yunshuang smiled. "Of course. The Patrol Division and Mysterious Realm experts use fixed contacts to communicate. The benefits are, first, convenient communication and better coordination; second, if someone impersonates them, it can be detected more quickly."

"Oh, thank you, Shuang-jie." Zhao Han smiled as well. After hesitating for a while, she asked, "Teacher, how is Zhao Xu now?"

"Oh, you're still worried about that guy?" Wenren Sheng stared at her, his gaze somewhat cold.

"No, I'm just worried about Uncle. Such a huge blow... I'm afraid he won't be able to take it." She hurriedly waved her hands.

She was not foolish enough to worry about someone who had tried to murder her. The two of them had not only never been close, but their relationship had always been strained.

"Fine." Wenren Sheng nodded, then opened a new Video Recording on his phone.

It was an interrogation room arranged the same way, with a metal barrier separating the inside from the outside. However, the interrogator was no longer Inspector Liu, but two unfamiliar male and female inspectors. Naturally, the person being interrogated behind the barrier was Zhao Xu.

Judging by the time on the recording, it seemed to coincide with the Video Recording of Liu Bo's interrogation just now.

Clearly, they had been interrogated simultaneously and cross-checked against each other, leaving them no time or opportunity to coordinate their stories.

Behind the barrier, Zhao Xu wore a gloomy expression. He seemed entirely unafraid despite having been arrested, nothing like a sixteen-year-old Youth.

But the interrogation did not go anywhere near as smoothly as Liu Bo's. He refused to cooperate at all, merely sneering from where he sat.

Zhao Han understood. Liu Bo had been so cooperative in order to protect Liu Jian.

Someone as utterly selfish as Zhao Xu would never consider anyone else.

However, the male inspector soon found a breakthrough.

"Zhao Xu, do you want to know why you repeatedly missed your chances to activate an otherworldly entity?"

Zhao Xu's expression immediately changed. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Are you mocking me for being useless?"

"No. Not only are you not useless, you are a genius in a certain sense. With your temperament and aptitude, you had enough to activate a certain type of otherworldly entity. Yet you were rejected by one person," the male inspector said calmly.

"I get it. It had to be that bastard Zhao Wei. He never wanted me to obtain an otherworldly entity. I'm not even his real son!" Zhao Xu snapped furiously, his earlier gloom entirely gone.

"Just as expected. That person's assessment of you was completely accurate. Let me play you a recording first." As the male inspector spoke, he took out his phone and played an audio clip.

Zhao Xu's eyes immediately widened, and he leaned forward.

"Wenren, Zhao Xu will also be attending the next otherworldly activation, and it will be his first time, so I need to recuse myself. By convention, if two or more candidates meet the activation requirements for the same otherworldly entity and their qualifications are not far apart, the Expert Panel's opinion will be given significant consideration. You must faithfully follow the rules. Remember, you must follow the rules."

The male inspector cut off the recording there.

"It really is his voice!" Zhao Xu said, extremely agitated.

"This recording was made before you first went to activate an otherworldly entity. Do you want to know how Wenren Sheng answered?" the male inspector asked leisurely.

"Hmph, of course I do." Zhao Xu took a deep breath. He had to know why he had failed. He had to know!

"Then answer our previous questions properly."

"Fine." Zhao Xu finally lowered his head.

The interrogation that followed indeed went much more smoothly. There were certainly plenty of lies and attempts to shift responsibility in his answers, but the worst thing was for the other party to refuse to speak.

The male inspector's questions covered every detail, from how Zhao Xu had found Liu Bo, to how they had selected their targets, how the funds had moved, and how they had avoided the Patrol Division's investigation.

Zhao Xu claimed that at first, he had wanted to cause trouble in lawless places overseas. But Liu Bo had provoked him by saying that he had long known Zhao Xu lacked the guts to cause trouble under his father's nose.

He said he only later understood that Liu Bo had done it for his own son. Those who activated otherworldly entities were all subject to strict entry and exit surveillance, especially temporary holders. Liu Jian could not leave the country, and he would also be placed under basic surveillance—though it was also for his protection.

Finally, the male inspector asked why he had held such great hostility toward Zhao Han when she clearly posed little threat.

"That woman... from the very first day she moved into my house, I felt that she might discover my secret! But that guy never let her be alone, so I never found an opportunity to deal with her," Zhao Xu said coldly.

Zhao Han listened with chills crawling down her spine. She suddenly realized how fortunate she had been to survive until now.

Only then did she understand why Uncle had not gone after Zhao Xu overnight yesterday. After seeing her, he had instead come to find her first and arrange things for her first. Perhaps he had sensed something as well.

"You have never activated any otherworldly entity. Why did you have such an intuition?" the male inspector continued curiously.

Zhao Xu said disdainfully, "Because that woman always seemed able to notice certain things in advance. I suspected that the otherworldly entity she activated was a prophetic type. And her skin was obviously so thin, so why could she endure all my mockery? Why did she know to take the initiative to approach Wenren Sheng? She even shamelessly wrote something about an Otome Strategy in her diary."

"I'm truly honored..." Wenren Sheng interjected quietly.

In the recording, the male inspector looked somewhat puzzled. "What is an Otome Strategy?"

The female inspector beside him finally got a chance to speak. "An Otome Game is a type of game developed specifically for female players. It is one category of female-oriented games, with a woman as the protagonist—the player—and male characters as romance targets."

Zhao Han was currently searching for a crack in the sofa to crawl into... She had never regretted anything so much. She should never have asked to watch this Video Recording.

"Hmph, my instincts really were right." Wu Shanshan, however, was not surprised in the slightest.

The Video Recording continued playing stubbornly, without stopping because of the awkward atmosphere.

"Fine, now it's time for you to let me know what Wenren Sheng actually said," Zhao Xu said impatiently.

The male inspector nodded, then continued playing the recording.