The uproar inside the martial arts gym came to a sudden stop.
All eyes focused on the figure who had appeared out of nowhere, dressed in a dark-blue Special Operations uniform.
Qin Bing.
She stood there as straight as a green pine. The form-fitting dark-blue uniform perfectly outlined her tall, powerful curves, while the silver insignia representing the Special Operations Ninth Division on her shoulder glinted beneath the bright lights of the martial arts gym with a cold, imposing radiance.
Her features were so exquisite that they seemed carved from cold jade by a master sculptor. Her brows and eyes were picture-perfect, her nose straight, and her lips tightly pressed together. Yet, combined, they created a frigid aura that kept people at a thousand miles' distance, like an eternal glacier.
What made people's hearts tremble most was her gaze.
Her eyes were like cold stars above the frozen earth of Siberia—clear, sharp,
and icy, carrying a terrifying penetrating power that seemed capable of piercing through flesh and seeing straight into the soul.
At that moment, those eyes were like searchlights locking onto a target. They remained fixed on Lin Xiao's face, which still held traces of flushed color and sweat, yet had somehow forced out a roguish, amused grin. Her gaze was firm and carried an indisputable scrutiny.
The air seemed to drop to freezing point in an instant.
The shock and discussion caused by Lin Xiao "swallowing" the Body Tempering Fluid just moments ago vanished without a trace beneath Qin Bing's icy sweep of the room, like boiling water thrown onto snow.
The students instinctively held their breaths. Even Teacher Li frowned, his eyes filled with a trace of awe toward the government's powerful agency.
"Officer Qin... Qin?"
Teacher Li recognized her. His tone held a hint of surprise and caution. "What brings you here...?"
Qin Bing did not move her eyes from Lin Xiao's face even slightly. She merely nodded, her voice clear and cold, like ice beads falling onto a jade plate, without the slightest fluctuation. "Teacher Li, sorry for the trouble. The Special Operations Ninth Division is investigating a case and looking into a theft that occurred on campus. We need to question the relevant students."
A theft? Suppressed gasps instantly rang out throughout the martial arts gym.
A theft serious enough to warrant an investigation by the Special Operations Ninth Division?
This was definitely no ordinary matter!
Qin Bing's gaze finally swept slowly across the students, who were as silent as cicadas in winter. In the end, it precisely settled once more on Lin Xiao, as well as the Body Tempering Fluid bottle in his hand, which was already completely empty save for a few drops of pale-green liquid.
"Student Lin Xiao," she said. Her voice was not loud, but it carried an invisible, heart-pounding pressure that reached every ear in the room. "I noticed that you seemed to have used this bottle of Body Tempering Fluid in a very unconventional manner just now."
She took a step forward. The hem of her dark-blue uniform did not move at all, while her high heels struck the polished floor with a crisp, icy click. Every step seemed to land upon everyone's heartbeat.
"Exceptionally gifted?"
The corner of Qin Bing's lips lifted ever so slightly. The curve was so cold that it held not a trace of warmth, resembling more a mocking scrutiny. "As far as I know, if a standard dose of basic Body Tempering Fluid is taken directly by mouth without dilution or guidance through special techniques, the active factors from the 'Azurewood Vine' and the extracted essence of 'Ironbone Grass' it contains are enough to burn an ordinary martial apprentice's stomach lining within ten minutes, and cause varying degrees of energy congestion and tearing in at least twelve major meridians within half an hour."
Her gaze was like a cold scalpel as it swept up and down Lin Xiao. "Yet aside from your slightly flushed complexion and somewhat hurried breathing, you appear to be unharmed?"
Her tone was filled with intense doubt. Every word was like a cold needle stabbing at Lin Xiao's claim of being "exceptionally gifted."
The roguish grin on Lin Xiao's face did not change in the slightest. If anything, it became even brighter.
Facing Qin Bing's gaze—one that would have made an ordinary student's legs go weak—he shrugged without the least fear and shook the empty bottle in his hand. "Officer Qin, is it? Good eye!"
His tone was relaxed, with the slickness of a street thug. "Everything you said is right. The instructions clearly say you can't drink this stuff directly. But..."
He deliberately drew out the last word, leaned forward slightly, and moved a little closer. A mysterious, conspiratorial smile appeared on his face as he lowered his voice. "The thing is... I'm poor! I can't afford the high-grade stuff, and I couldn't wait around soaking in it. When you're in an emergency, you've gotta try some crude methods, right? Don't worry, my stomach's tough. I grew up eating at anyone's table—I'm built like iron! This little bit is nothing. I can handle it!"
His joking, evasive, and slick response left the surrounding students dumbfounded.
Fatty Wang was even so frightened that his chubby face turned deathly pale. He desperately winked at Lin Xiao.
The frost on Qin Bing's face did not melt in the slightest.
Lin Xiao's slickness and roguish air appeared so clumsy and deliberate before those icy eyes that seemed capable of seeing through all falsehood.
She had clearly caught the subtle movement when Lin Xiao frowned just now, as well as the disorder and strange mixture in his breathing that he could not completely conceal—signs of having just endured a violent energy impact.
"Crude methods?"
Qin Bing's voice turned even colder. "Student Lin Xiao, your 'crude method' seems to have produced rather astonishing results. From what I observed, not only did you withstand the medicinal backlash that would have seriously injured an ordinary martial apprentice, your qi and blood circulation even became somewhat more vigorous after the medicinal energy surged through you. 'Having a strong stomach' hardly explains that."
Her gaze was like a tangible icicle as it swept over Lin Xiao's distinctly unnatural right-arm posture and the not-so-hidden scratch across the back of his school uniform. "Besides, the injuries on your body... don't seem like something that can be rapidly recovered from simply by being 'exceptionally gifted,' do they?"
She was closing in step by step, pointing straight at the heart of the matter!
Alarm bells rang loudly in Lin Xiao's mind!
This woman was too perceptive—far more so than Su Qingxue!
She had not only noticed him "swallowing" the medicinal fluid; she had even sensed that the medicinal energy had been abnormally absorbed and that his physical condition was unusual!
And then there was that damn injury!
"Officer Qin, you make it sound so serious." The smile on Lin Xiao's face remained brilliant, but his gaze grew calm, carrying a hint of innocence and helplessness. "I'm just a tough guy with a strong recovery ability. Is that a crime? As for the injury... You know how it is. People without any background like us can't avoid getting knocked around at school. Being chased down and bitten a couple of times by a mad dog is pretty normal, right?"
He skillfully steered the subject toward the Zhao Hu incident, implying that he had acted in self-defense, while continuing to fob her off with vague notions such as being "tough" and having a "strong recovery ability."
Qin Bing's brows drew together almost imperceptibly.
Lin Xiao's slickness and ability to change the subject made her feel a trace of difficulty.
The theft she had come to investigate was indeed related to the Body Tempering Fluid, and the situation was even more serious than she had revealed earlier.
Just then, a young team member dressed in a Special Operations Ninth Division uniform hurried to Qin Bing's side and whispered a few words into her ear.
Qin Bing's icy expression tightened slightly. Her eyes instantly grew even sharper, like a drawn blade!
She gave Lin Xiao a deep look. That gaze seemed intent on freezing and dissecting his very soul.
In the end, she did not press him any further. She merely left him with a sentence in a voice as cold as frost:
"Student Lin Xiao, your 'talent' and 'recovery ability' are quite interesting. Regarding the stolen Body Tempering Fluid and your... 'special performance' today, the Special Operations Ninth Division will continue to keep an eye on you. I hope that the next time we come to 'ask you some questions,' you'll have a more convincing explanation prepared."
With that, she did not linger. She turned around briskly, the hem of her dark-blue uniform sweeping out a cold arc.
The sound of her high heels striking the floor was like the Grim Reaper's countdown. Carrying a biting chill, it echoed through the deathly silent martial arts gym until she and the team member disappeared through the doorway.
Only after Qin Bing left did the suffocating pressure inside the martial arts gym slowly recede like the tide.
"Phew..." Fatty Wang collapsed onto the floor, his chubby face covered in cold sweat as if he had just been hauled out of water. "Th-that scared me to death... Brother Xiao, that... that policewoman was terrifying..."
The surrounding students also seemed to awaken from a dream. They patted their chests one after another, and the hum of discussion rose again, filled with lingering fear and amazement at Lin Xiao's "performance" just now.
Lin Xiao leaned against the cold wall as the roguish, carefree smile on his face slowly disappeared.
He lowered his head and looked at the empty medicine bottle in his hand. The spot on his back that Qin Bing's gaze had swept over seemed to retain a lingering, icy sting.
A stolen Body Tempering Fluid case?
The Special Operations Ninth Division was keeping an eye on him?
Trouble... seemed to be piling up.
Source Energy Points: -1.4.
The mixed energy slowly circulated through his body. The medicinal energy he had just absorbed brought a faint trace of warmth, but it could not dispel the ever-heavier gloom in his heart.
He raised his head and looked toward the direction in which Qin Bing had disappeared, his eyes as deep as a frigid pool.
"Qin Bing... the Special Operations Ninth Division..."
He muttered under his breath. The corner of his lips curled into a cold, challenging arc. "You want to investigate me? Then... go ahead and try."
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