Le Yu had only triggered the "Rebirth Through Death" ability once so far.
After all, the activation conditions for this skill were far too harsh. There was immense terror between life and death. The first time, Le Yu had successfully crossed from his original body into Qian Yuliu's body, but what about the next time? Could the skill fail to activate? Could there be other hidden requirements? Were there any other side effects? Was there a limit to the number of times it could be used?
Because the activation condition was death, Le Yu simply didn't dare test it casually. Besides, the basic instinct of any normal human was to survive. Who would willingly seek death? The skill itself went against human nature.
"Rebirth Through Death" had also clearly stated that Le Yu could only cross into the body of the killer. Until he had other examples to go by, he could only trust the skill description.
In other words, if there was no killer—or if he committed suicide, died of illness, or died of old age—then Le Yu would truly be dead.
During his final clash with Lin Xue, Le Yu could certainly have twisted Lin Xue's neck, but the light from Lin Xue's scabbard could also have pierced through his body.
If Le Yu killed Lin Xue first, and then Lin Xue's scabbard light caused fatal blood loss, could Le Yu's "Rebirth Through Death" still activate? Even if he crossed into a corpse with a shattered neck, he would still be dead!
Although "Rebirth Through Death" stated that, apart from the final killer and the direct killer, an indirect killer could also trigger the ability, Le Yu wasn't sure how broad the definition of "indirect" was.
For example, Yin Yinyin was actually the mastermind behind the vendetta. If Le Yu died during the vendetta, could the blame be placed on Yin Yinyin? And Yin Yinyin had made the request for the vendetta because the Lin Family had produced Lin Xue'en, a traitor. Would the blame then fall on Lin Xue'en? And Lin Xue'en had become a traitor because of...
If he kept nesting causes within causes, the scope of "indirect" would be infinite. Rather than trust that his soul could trace the chain backward indefinitely and possess each successive body, Le Yu would be better off making sure he could cross into the body of the final killer.
Therefore, even if Lin Xue had really used her scabbard light to kill him back then, he wouldn't have attacked her.
You've got to be kidding. This body is going to be mine soon. How could I possibly damage her?
He simply hadn't expected Lin Xue to suddenly regain her conscience. Le Yu's beautiful-girl possession plan had naturally fallen through, leaving him with a tiny bit of regret... Just a tiny bit.
Naturally, he couldn't tell Lin Xue that.
In reality, Le Yu didn't need to answer Lin Xue.
"You said just now that I could ask you one question, and this was the second question." Le Yu smiled and gestured for the female medical officer to push him away.
This time, Lin Xue didn't stop him. Only after watching Le Yu's wheelchair-bound figure disappear around the corner did she turn and leave.
"Captain Qian, you need to take care of yourself."
"Captain Qian, I brought some fruit."
"Captain Qian..."
After four in the afternoon, the members of Statistics Department Team One came together to visit Le Yu at the Medical Officer Department. Le Yu, who was lying in bed and working out a battle-card deck, raised his brows slightly. "You were allowed to get off work early today?"
"The department head specially approved us to leave early today to visit you, Captain!" Ai Lili's eyes were filled with little stars. "It's wonderful!"
Is your "wonderful" referring to getting off work early, or to Lan Yan...? Le Yu looked at Chen Fu. Chen Fu shrugged. "Our assignment today was to calm the fallout from your vendetta. Oh, and this is my gift. Drink it."
Chen Fu placed a wooden bottle on the bedside cabinet. When Le Yu picked it up, it felt cold. A layer of moisture covered the outside of the bottle. He opened it and took a sip, then licked his lips. "Oh, it's chilled Honey Five-Flower Tea."
Zhou Guangshi was surprised. "Captain, you like sweet tea?"
Le Yu smiled. "I like many things. You just don't know about them."
"Yeah. If the Statistics Department hadn't held an internal battle-card tournament these past few days, who would've known that Captain was a Wolf-Eagle Deck expert?" Zhu Junjie said with a laugh.
Over the past few days, Le Yu had relaxed and stopped being constrained by Qian Yuliu's identity. Although others felt that Qian Yuliu had suddenly become a different person, very few found it strange. After all, Qian Yuliu had killed his mentor a few days ago. It was only natural for someone like that to develop a twisted personality.
Besides, what ordinary person could imagine something like transmigration, possession, and reincarnation? At most, everyone privately grumbled that Captain Qian looked so aloof on the outside, yet was so fragile inside. Killing his teacher himself had caused his personality to change completely.
Some of the female officers in the Statistics Department who had rather liked Qian Yuliu's handsome face quietly snuffed out their romantic feelings after hearing about his change, deciding that Qian Yuliu had strong yandere potential. Other female officers, however, approached Qian Yuliu even more proactively, because they thought yandere traits were cute.
Le Yu realized that he had overthought things when he first crossed over. As long as he acknowledged Qian Yuliu's identity, went to work and returned home normally, and gave money to the household, the others actually didn't care much about Qian Yuliu. They would even invent plenty of explanations for his changes.
After chatting for a while, everyone left. Only Chen Fu stayed behind to play battle cards with Le Yu.
Chen Fu's battle-card skills weren't bad either. His deck, like his combat arts, was based on the Ethereal Combat Arts.
What did "Ethereal" mean? Walking across snow without leaving a trace and riding the wind—that was ethereal.
The Ethereal Combat Arts were also one of the few combat arts centered primarily on leg techniques. Dodging, shifting, moving, and stepping were all top-notch, while their kicks were especially powerful. If the kicks of the Pouncing Combat Arts were "continuous and unceasing," then the kicks of the Ethereal Combat Arts were "earth-shattering."
However, the Ethereal Combat Arts had long been considered a sewer combat art. Martial artists would at most learn the movement techniques and footwork as supplementary skills, and few would make the Ethereal Combat Arts their main discipline. That changed only after firearms became the dominant weapons. The Ethereal Combat Arts suddenly became popular.
After all, martial artists who cultivated the Ethereal Combat Arts in the past could only hold short blades in both hands for support. Their lethality was relatively weak, and their role leaned toward scouts and assassins. Now, martial artists could wield firearms in both hands. They could dash and shoot at close range without losing accuracy, and their firepower was enough to severely injure anyone without armor. The weakness of the Ethereal Combat Arts was instantly made up for.
The times had advanced. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. When some combat arts declined, others would rise.
The Ethereal Deck had also been strengthened by the progress of the times. The Royal Academy assumed that anyone who used the Ethereal Combat Arts would also use firearms. Thus, the Ethereal Deck's special trait was: "After successfully counterattacking, play a direct-hit card to deal additional damage." At the same time, the Ethereal Deck's critical-hit cards were extremely powerful, since it excelled at kicks. Taken together, the Ethereal Deck was one of the current top-tier decks.
Chen Fu immediately set a concealed card at the start. The strengths of the Ethereal Deck were concealed-card counterattacks and concealed-card direct hits. If you played a direct hit, your opponent could counterattack and follow up, smacking you in the face. If you played a critical hit, your opponent's critical hit would deal even more damage to you.
But Le Yu was using the Wolf-Eagle Deck. If his direct-hit card was countered, the damage of his next direct-hit card would increase. Therefore, playing a direct hit in the first round was absolutely worthwhile!
After they had exchanged moves for several rounds, Chen Fu suddenly said, "The firearm uses 5.66-caliber rounds, one of the three standard types. Based on where you were standing at the time, the firing position was probably in a building more than 150 meters away from you. However, after questioning people, no one nearby heard a gunshot. That area was noisy, though, so it's possible they didn't hear it. Or perhaps..."
"It had a sound disruptor installed, scrambling the gunshot." Le Yu set down a concealed card. "Were there any traces of a light explosion on the bullet?"
Chen Fu played a direct-hit card, "Ethereal Flying Kick," and said, "No. If we rule out the possibility that it was deliberately concealed, then the shooter probably wasn't a martial artist of the Flying Flower Combat Arts."
"A firearm capable of accurate shooting from 150 meters away, using 5.66-caliber rounds..."
Le Yu flipped over his concealed card. It was the "Hawk-eyed Wolf-gazing" counterattack card, knocking three drops of health off Chen Fu.
Chen Fu raised a brow. He had only one drop of health left, while Le Yu still had four. He immediately covered his cards and stopped playing, then said seriously, "Only three types of firearms have that kind of range, and all three... necessarily require identity verification to use!"
Not all firearms required identity verification. In fact, aside from firearms officially produced by the Radiant Court, all firearms made independently by civilians could be used immediately. Firearm mechanisms weren't complicated. Although obtaining gunpowder was troublesome, it wasn't impossible. Homemade firearms were common. In fact, wealthy families and villages in the wilderness would invariably keep homemade firearms to defend against bandits.
The court couldn't stop civilians from possessing firearms, but it could tamper with its own products. In addition to requiring Radiant Stone identity authentication every time an official firearm was used, they made the rifling and bullet dimensions extremely unusual, ensuring that civilian firearms couldn't use official bullets and official firearms couldn't fire civilian bullets.
Moreover, civilian manufacturing standards were only so-so. Any firearm with a range exceeding 100 meters that could maintain its accuracy had to be produced by an official Radiant factory.
Even when the situation was chaotic and prefectural governors ruled their own territories, the rulers never canceled the identity-authentication function of factory-made firearms. After all, they also relied on weapons to control their subordinates. How could they allow powerful firearms that required no authentication to circulate?
The purpose of Chen Fu's investigation report was actually to lead to one conclusion:
The person who shot Le Yu had not used an unidentified homemade firearm, but a standard firearm used by an official officer!
"Only three kinds of people in Star Engraving Prefecture are qualified to pass the identity verification of a firearm with an accurate range of more than 150 meters."
As Le Yu spoke, he showed Chen Fu the cards in his hand. Both were direct-hit cards. Chen Fu glanced at the two counterattack cards he had just thrown out and regretted it so much that he hammered his thigh.
Le Yu held up one finger. "The first possibility is a sniper officer from the Riverside Army. However, every one of those sniper officers cultivates the Flying Flower Combat Arts. If they had really made the shot, my entire body would've been torn in half."
The Flying Flower Combat Arts were a combat art involving the throwing of concealed weapons. They could "stuff" a light explosion into an object, then detonate it after the object struck its target. Like the Ethereal Combat Arts, the Flying Flower Combat Arts had once been a sewer combat art. They only rose to prominence after firearms appeared. Every army's sniper officers had to practice the Flying Flower Combat Arts. A legendary sniper officer could even fire a bullet with the power of an artillery shell.
"The second possibility is a mobile officer from the Judicial Department." Le Yu raised two fingers. "However, ever since the Statistics Department was established, the Judicial Department's mobile unit was merged into the Statistics Department. I don't know whether the Judicial Department rebuilt its mobile unit."
"And the third possibility is..."
"It's a special officer from our Statistics Department."
An answer suddenly came from the doorway. Le Yu and Chen Fu turned their heads and saw a heroic-looking man in a purple-and-blue uniform smiling at them. He pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses and said gently:
"Good evening, Captain Qian. Deputy Captain Chen."
It was Lan Yan!
Before you continue