At that moment, Su Ming, who had already left the academy, naturally had no idea that the School Belles who had come into contact with him one after another had already encountered each other, and that their relationship had grown somewhat tense.
At that time, Su Ming was strolling through the streets of Longyao City like an ordinary person. Mingling with the crowds, he stroked his chin as he pondered the matter.
"Now that I'm out, I might as well start handling Xu Qianqian's commissioned task."
With that thought, Su Ming turned into an alley, deliberately avoiding the crowds and even the surveillance cameras along the streets before entering an unoccupied area.
After repeatedly confirming that there was no one around besides himself, he took an item out of his backpack.
It was a device shaped much like a honeycomb.
Su Ming opened the device as if he were opening a phone case, causing an input panel to appear.
Immediately afterward, Su Ming placed one of his fingers on the input panel.
The next second, the panel lit up.
As if scanning a fingerprint, it emitted a faint glow of modern technology and seemed to sample Su Ming's finger. Inside the honeycomb, a constant series of beeps rang out.
While waiting for the scan to finish, Su Ming murmured softly.
"It's been almost a week since then. Although it's a bit of a stretch, it should still be able to detect the Spiritual Power from that night, right?"
The honeycomb-shaped device in Su Ming's hand was an Alchemy Tool he had obtained from a package.
It could detect the residual Spiritual Power on the person who touched it and trace it back to the source of the spiritual energy.
On the night he encountered the suspicious group, Su Ming had been secretly investigated by two Warlocks from that group using Ascension Restraint Flow. The Spiritual Power waves released by the two Warlocks had swept over him several times.
Under such circumstances, there was a good chance that some residual Spiritual Power from the two Warlocks remained on Su Ming. Even if it was extremely faint, there should still be traces to follow.
That was why Su Ming had brought out this seemingly modern device—an Alchemy Tool—to detect the residual Spiritual Power on his body and see whether he could find any trace of the two Warlocks.
Before long, the honeycomb finished scanning.
The input panel began to sink inward, like a tiny door opening, and bees flew out one after another.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz~~~"
The bees circled in the air for a while with faint buzzing sounds. A few seconds later, they scattered in all directions.
Su Ming watched the swarm fly away and stood there muttering to himself.
"The residual Spiritual Power has been detected, but whether it can be traced back to its source is still unknown."
The bees would slowly spread out in all directions. Once they found a Spiritual Power fluctuation with the same readings as the scanned residual Spiritual Power, the honeycomb would react.
In other words, if the swarm failed to find a Spiritual Power fluctuation with matching readings, this search would definitely end in failure.
"Well, I hope those two guys weren't cautious enough to keep their Spiritual Power restrained all the time, or erase all Spiritual Power fluctuations they left behind in the areas where they moved."
That was what Su Ming hoped.
Although Su Ming had more than one tool for searching for specific people, some of the other search tools were consumables, while others had unstable effects. Only this honeycomb could be used repeatedly while remaining sufficiently discreet and stable. If possible, Su Ming hoped to accomplish his goal using only this honeycomb.
"Speaking of which, Xu Qianqian sent over the investigation records she had, right?"
Su Ming remembered this and took out his phone.
That morning, Xu Qianqian seemed to have already sent the encrypted file she had promised the night before to Su Ming's phone.
Unfortunately, because An Zijin had raided the men's dormitory, Su Ming had been woken up amid Ye Bai's harassment and hadn't had time to look at it.
Only now did Su Ming finally have the mood and leisure to read the investigation records.
"Let's see what Miss Xu, the School Belle, managed to find after investigating that group for so long."
Su Ming began looking through the encrypted files.
The files contained far less information than Su Ming had expected.
They recorded Xu Qianqian's actions each day since she had received the investigation task. The records were rather rigid, giving the impression that she had been writing an investigation report.
Xu Qianqian had written quite a lot in the report, but after browsing through it, Su Ming discovered that there was actually very little useful information.
"According to Xu Qianqian's report, the suspicious group was first discovered showing signs of activity forty days ago, while she only received the task ten days ago. She hasn't been investigating for very long."
Before the task fell into Xu Qianqian's hands, the higher-ups of Base City had been sending people to investigate. However, because of the secret protection provided by the supporters behind the suspicious group, almost none of the investigators had been able to come into contact with it.
Later, Xu Qianqian received the task. On the surface, she continued attending classes as if nothing had happened, but in secret, she investigated everywhere, carefully checking all the places where the suspicious group had previously caused a commotion.
At first, Xu Qianqian likewise gained nothing.
Therefore, Xu Qianqian searched all over according to the suspicious group's range of activity. In the end, she discovered that the suspicious group was pursuing something.
After discovering this, Xu Qianqian stopped searching for the suspicious group and instead began looking for the thing they were pursuing.
And in this search, Xu Qianqian really did find some traces of activity left behind by that mysterious presence.
Thus, several days ago, Xu Qianqian followed the activity traces of the mysterious presence to investigate and stake out the area. In the end, she successfully saw the suspicious group that night.
Unfortunately, just as Xu Qianqian was preparing to investigate the suspicious group more deeply, someone set their sights on her and severely wounded her in a surprise attack.
"Judging from Xu Qianqian's condition, the attacker really didn't seem to have anything to do with this mission or the suspicious group."
Su Ming pondered.
He guessed that the person who attacked Xu Qianqian might have been an assassin who had been keeping an eye on that young lady all along. After seeing Xu Qianqian leave late at night to investigate the suspicious group, the assassin had seized the opportunity to attack her.
As for why the other party had targeted Xu Qianqian, there were simply too many possible reasons.
"It could have been an enemy of the Xu Family deliberately targeting one of the family's outstanding younger members. It could even have been vicious competition within the Xu Family."
Only then would Xu Qianqian have had no choice but to put aside her task, without explaining the reason to Su Ming, and face the attacker alone.
One was a suspicious group that posed no threat to her, while the other was an attacker who threatened her life, property, and even the safety of her family. Xu Qianqian could not possibly have been unclear about which was more important.
Su Ming had never planned to get involved in disputes between major families. Once he understood this point, he immediately stopped paying attention to the matter.
"What I should focus on is the suspicious group. Xu Qianqian's own problems can be left for her to worry about."
That was what Su Ming thought.
"The problem is that Xu Qianqian actually doesn't know much either."
That night, Xu Qianqian had only just prepared to investigate more deeply when she was ambushed.
As a result, the attacker fled far away after failing to kill her in one strike. Meanwhile, Xu Qianqian, who had suffered severe injuries, experienced a mental abnormality due to her innate traits. Her head had become muddled and she was no longer thinking rationally. After driving away the attacker, she had actually continued tracking the suspicious group.
Afterward, Xu Qianqian encountered Su Ming, who had wanted to keep his distance at the time, and clashed with him.
After Xu Qianqian drank some of Su Ming's blood, her injuries recovered and her mental state improved. The young lady had then withdrawn without a word.
It was not until yesterday that Xu Qianqian sought out Su Ming and formally commissioned the matter to him.
That was the entirety of Xu Qianqian's records concerning this incident.
"It's not much use to me."
After reading the records, Su Ming reached that conclusion.
However, Xu Qianqian's actions also gave Su Ming an idea.
"Perhaps I should do what Xu Qianqian did and start with the mysterious presence being hunted by the suspicious group."
Su Ming recalled what had happened that night.
At the time, the suspicious group seemed to have discovered something. In the end, they had all pursued the mysterious presence and engaged it in a fierce battle.
"Judging from the commotion back then, the mysterious presence must have been extremely powerful. It was able to hold out for quite some time even while surrounded by twenty or thirty Hunters and Warlocks. Its origins were probably extraordinary."
The Hunters and Warlocks in the suspicious group were all professional-level Hunters and Warlocks. Every one of them was far stronger than the students in the academy.
Against such a group, the mysterious presence had still been able to struggle with them for so long and avoid capture for more than a month. Its strength could be imagined.
"What exactly is that presence?"
Su Ming fell into deep thought.
A minute later, Su Ming made a decision.
"I'll go take a look at the place where they fought that night."
Having made up his mind, Su Ming turned and headed toward the outskirts.
That area on the outskirts was located in the uninhabited region behind the Demon Hunter Academy.
Su Ming nervously passed by the Demon Hunter Academy and entered the outskirts. He dashed through the grass, passing the places where he had crossed paths with Xu Qianqian that day and conducted a transaction yesterday, before continuing upward.
Su Ming's destination was the site of the explosion that had lured the suspicious group there that night.
However, when Su Ming arrived, he discovered that the place had already been sealed off.
The law-enforcement personnel of Base City had stretched yellow tape around the area as if they were sealing off a crime scene.
Some stood guard in front of the yellow tape, some took photographs everywhere as if verifying evidence, and some searched the area. Others chatted in low voices, making the atmosphere at the scene seem rather grim.
"As expected, the commotion caused by the suspicious group and the mysterious presence was no small matter."
Although Su Ming thought this, he did not leave. Instead, he took out the honeycomb once more.
"Let's detect the residual Spiritual Power here and see whether we can find anything."
Su Ming opened the honeycomb and began scanning the scene.
As soon as he finished scanning, several bees flew out of the honeycomb. After buzzing for a moment, they flew in one direction.
"This is..."
Su Ming was slightly stunned. Once he realized what was happening, he immediately chased after them.
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