Caught a Hold over the Mastermind

The Fragmented Imprint of Spirit Control was an incredibly wondrous existence. Any living creature affected by the imprint's power would form an invisible connection with it at the soul level.

From then on, no matter how far apart they were, as long as the creature was alive, the connection would not disappear.

After sensing for a moment, Cheng Han identified the Bird he had "lost contact" with—Blue Lark.

He immediately thought of a crucial question—had this been a simple accident, or had Qin Zi Cheng discovered that the Bird had been spying on him?

If it was the former, then Blue Lark could only be called terribly unlucky.

If it was the latter, well... that did not seem particularly dangerous either.

After all, Cheng Han had specifically prepared a set of anti-divination precautions. He did not believe Qin Zi Cheng had the ability to trace things back to him.

The only trouble was that this fellow would certainly become even more vigilant, making surveillance far more difficult. He would have to find other methods in the future.

As these thoughts turned in his mind, Cheng Han pushed his Bicycle toward the entrance of the Vegetable Market.

After only a few steps, someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Young man, wait a moment."

Cheng Han turned around and saw a gray-haired Old Man hurrying after him, panting heavily.

He stopped and asked politely, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

The Old Man asked directly, "Do you have any Cave Rabbits left?"

Cheng Han shook his head. "Sorry, they're all sold out."

The Old Man was shrewd with age and asked probingily, "Young man, you caught so many Cave Rabbits. You probably kept one for yourself, didn't you?"

Cheng Han did not answer.

The man had guessed correctly. He had indeed kept some Cave Rabbits—not one, but six of them. He planned to cure them for winter provisions.

The Old Man tried to appeal to his emotions. "My Third Brother's wife gave birth to a boy half a month ago. Her milk has been insufficient these past few days, and the little one often cries his lungs out from hunger.

"Cave Rabbit meat helps with lactation. I wanted to buy one to help my daughter-in-law recover, but I've been wandering around the Vegetable Market for most of the day without seeing a single Cave Rabbit."

Cave Rabbits had rather unusual habits. When raised in captivity, they became exceptionally violent and attacked one another, resulting in large numbers of young rabbits dying.

Wild Cave Rabbits, meanwhile, were extremely cautious. Methods such as traps were rarely effective against them. Thus, it was common for no Cave Rabbits to appear at the Vegetable Market for an entire day.

Only because Cheng Han possessed extraordinary power and had such a capable Black Cat could he catch so many rabbits in one go.

The Old Man gritted his teeth and began tempting him with profit. "I'll pay two Silver Coins for one!"

To ordinary people, this was an extremely enticing price.

But with the Eye of Omniscience, Cheng Han had picked up more than thirty Silver Coins over the past year. The offer was not enough to move him.

The Old Man pleaded eagerly, "Young man, my grandson was frail to begin with. If he keeps going hungry, I'm afraid he won't survive the winter."

Cheng Han sighed inwardly and silently said, "Deduction!"

He did not entirely believe the man's side of the story and decided to use his skill to verify it.

Spirit Value decreased by 1.2 points.

A series of Illusions appeared.

A moment later, the scenes vanished.

Cheng Han raised an eyebrow slightly and said decisively, "Sir, I'll head home first. Wait for me here at the Vegetable Market."

The Old Man hesitated a little. "You're not just making an excuse to leave, are you?"

He immediately realized that his words could easily offend someone and hurriedly apologized. "Young man, please don't take offense. I'm old, and my mind is a little muddled."

Cheng Han replied, "It's fine," then turned and left.

A quarter of an hour later.

Cheng Han returned to the Vegetable Market right on time.

The Old Man saw the Rabbit hanging from the Bicycle's handlebars and immediately beamed. "Young man, you truly keep your word!"

He added flatteringly, "When I was young, I wanted to catch rabbits to earn some money too, but these things are far too clever. I worked in the wild for three days and caught nothing. You're truly impressive, young man!"

Cheng Han smiled faintly and made up an excuse. "I was lucky. A few companions and I found a Cave Rabbit burrow."

After examining the Rabbit for a few moments, the Old Man voluntarily raised his offer. "This Cave Rabbit must weigh six catties, right? I'll give you two hundred and twenty Copper Coins. How about it?"

Cheng Han nodded. "Sure!"

The Cave Rabbits he had left at home were among the bigger ones, so a higher price was only natural.

They exchanged money and goods at the same time.

The Old Man carried off the Rabbit and headed home happily.

Watching his retreating back, Cheng Han said softly, "Who would've thought that the affairs of this Old Man's family would be connected to Qin Zi Cheng?"

The Deduction showed that the man's daughter-in-law had recently been plagued by nightmares. Her mental state had affected her body, causing her milk supply to fall short.

More importantly, her home was less than fifty meters in a straight line from Qin Zi Cheng's house.

Was that a coincidence? Cheng Han did not think so!

Cheng Han got on his Bicycle and thought, I actually overlooked this. His neighbors are so close by, so they're the people Qin Zi Cheng is most likely to target.

What he did in the school's Botanical Garden before was probably just a spur-of-the-moment act, like how youths enjoyed showing off in front of their classmates.

Thinking of the Old Man's daughter-in-law's nightmares, his expression shifted uncertainly. The first time I performed a Deduction on the Black Cat, the shadows turned into a ghostly hand and sucked the Black Cat into a sheet of cat skin.

And in that woman's dreams, grotesque and terrifying black shadows appeared again and again. It sounds rather like that ghostly hand. Could this be the Alien God's power again? Blue Lark's death probably wasn't an accident. Its feathers were brightly colored, so Qin Zi Cheng likely noticed it lingering nearby for too long, sensed something was off, and killed the unlucky Bird.

Cheng Han felt somewhat relieved. Luckily, I was extremely careful and didn't rashly go near Qin Zi Cheng's home to investigate in person. Otherwise, I might have met the same fate as Blue Lark.

He pedaled his Bicycle hard, thinking, I'll conduct a Deduction later and verify my theory.

Night fell.

Cheng Han arrived at his doorstep.

He pushed open the door and immediately saw the Black Cat lying beside the wooden bucket holding the rabbits, seemingly guarding its spoils.

As for the two Sentinel Birds, they stood together atop the cabinet. They clearly had a severe psychological shadow from the Black Cat and did not dare approach it.

"Meow~"

The Black Cat stood up at once and greeted its master.

The two Birds flapped down, landing on his left and right shoulders respectively.

Cheng Han rubbed the cat's head a few times, then stroked the Birds' heads before pulling open a Drawer in the cabinet and taking out a feather.

It was Blue Lark's feather.

To prevent accidents, before releasing the three Birds, he had deliberately plucked a feather from each of them to serve as a "linked object" for tracing.

Cheng Han gently stroked the feather and chuckled. "If you hadn't touched my Bird, there would've been nothing I could do to you. But you just had to touch it and form a direct connection with it. Aren't you delivering yourself right to my door?"

He focused his mind and silently said, "Using this feather as a clue, Deduce the cause of Blue Lark's death!"