Reasoning and Rebellion

In the end, they didn't actually fight.

Qu Xuanqing had a weapon she was used to, and even if she were unarmed, neither of them could Yu Xing's strength.

So after Yu Xing ruthlessly subdued her, Qu Xuanqing sensed the difference in their abilities and changed her tune expressionlessly. "I was wrong. Even now, you can still beat me."

Yu Xing chuckled and released her. This kind of sparring had happened many times between the two of them. He had watched Qu Xuanqing grow from a little girl with no fighting style to the female demon she was now.

About ten years ago, Qu Xuanqing and Zhu Yan received training from Yu Xing together. Later, she moved to another province and lost the opportunity to meet Yu Xing.

When she returned, the girl was already in her early twenties, a Deducer, and had settled down in Mijin City. She was independent and confident, and her Combat Power was incomparable to what it used to be, but she still maintained respect for Yu Xing.

Hmm... if occasional sarcasm and confrontation are considered respect.

"I didn't want to hurt you, otherwise I would have used my sword and killed you ten times over." Touching her slightly sore wrist, Qu Xuanqing rarely showed a hint of girlish defiance.

Yu Xing nodded indifferently. "You're right, I'm just taking advantage of the fact that you won't have the heart to hurt me."

He knew Qu Xuanqing wasn't exaggerating at all; Qu Xuanqing, wielding the sacrificial short sword, was someone even he had to keep his distance from.

Otherwise, if he really offends her, with his current half-crippled physique, his resurrection speed won't even be as fast as her killing people.

Qu Xuanqing: "..."

I was a little angry, but I couldn't refute it.

Just as she was about to say goodbye, she saw Yu Xing's expression change, and he turned to look in a certain direction. However, there was only a wall there, and a landscape painting wallpaper on the wall.

"What's wrong?" Qu Xuanqing asked.

"My bait has finally caught a big fish." Yu Xing's lips curled into a smile. "I left a wisp of ghostly energy inside Ling Heng's body to monitor him, and just now, he moved swiftly."

"How fast?" Qu Xuanqing crossed his arms, showing some interest.

"Quickly... so I knew his plane had taken off immediately." Yu Xing took out her phone, checked the flight information, and then smiled, "Based on the departure time and his direction of travel, he's going here—"

Yu Xing tapped the screen twice more, then turned the phone over to show Qu Xuanqing.

Qu Xuanqing glanced at it.

The phone screen displayed a magnified map, with a medium-sized city in the very center.

Fuhua City, Southern Anhui.

"Is he going to find the other members of Single Prism? But why now?"

After asking the Qu Xuanqing lowered her eyelashes slightly and calmly analyzed, "These past few days you've been monitoring his movements with your ghostly energy without interfering, clearly waiting for today. This means you knew he would definitely seek help from his companions. And judging from your description of Ling Heng, he's ostensibly a biologist, which means... has he been conducting some kind of experiment lately?"

Yu Xing looked at her thoughtfully.

Qu Xuanqing didn't notice his gaze and continued along this line of reasoning, "Such urgency must be related to recent changes. His biggest recent change is that his girlfriend died, right? What, does he want to resurrect her? If that's true, his offering must have the ability to capture souls, which is quite rare—what kind of look is that?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing~" Yu Xing looked at her with interest. "I was just thinking, since entering the deduction Yugi, your reasoning skills have certainly improved."

The key is this keen insight—the ability to see through problems until all distractions are eliminated, and to get straight to the heart of the matter.

"That's inevitable. I had no teammates; I had to rely on myself for everything." Qu Xuanqing accepted the praise readily and calmly explained, "At the beginning, I had no offerings, no experience, nothing. To survive the threats from ghosts and humans, I had to improve myself and make sure that no aspect of me was a weakness."

"The same goes for reasoning; if I were weak, I would have died long ago."

The girl was only twenty-three years old, which matched the age on Yu Xing's ID card.

She was nothing like a twenty-three-year-old; she was frighteningly resilient, and the more casually she spoke, the more it revealed how many hardships she had endured.

A hand with distinct knuckles landed on Qu Xuanqing's head and ruffled her soft hair.

Qu Xuanqing was taken aback, then without thinking, slapped Yu Xing's hand away, tidied her hair, and said disdainfully, "Don't misunderstand, I'm not sad. Even if you're old, don't try to pity me."

"Wait a little longer." Yu Xing wasn't annoyed, and withdrew her hand, smiling. "Once I reach the Differentiation Tier, you'll have teammates."

"..." Qu Xuanqing didn't look at him, went to the kitchen and got a glass of ice water to drink.

After taking a sip, she muttered to herself, "It's only been ten years. Ten years ago, you looked like my older brother; ten years later, you'll look like my son. Just you wait, son!"

After all, this old monster's appearance never changes!

"What about the ten years in between?" Yu Xing followed silently, leaning against the kitchen door frame with a smile.

"The middle ten years." Qu Xuanqing glanced at him sideways, holding her water glass, showing no embarrassment at being caught gossiping behind his back. She walked past him back to the living room. "As long as you don't do anything that makes me misunderstand that you like me, you won't look like my boyfriend."

She paused for a moment, then thought of an answer, "The middle ten years were like working together."

Yu Xing clapped her hands. "Impressive, impressive! Okay, then, Miss Colleague, I need to buy a plane ticket to Fuhua City now, you—"

"I'm going too," Qu Xuanqing said. "I don't want to let any of the people from Single Prism get away."

Lying in the hospital, Zhu Yan, with a long face, listened as the young policewoman Han Jiang had stayed behind to take care of her explained to her how "being a consultant has so many more advantages than being an informant."

After she was injured, Han Jiang came to see her after work, and he also brought along the only female police officer in the Criminal Investigation Detachment —the intern.

The young policewoman was particularly excited when she learned that she was the only person besides Captain Han who knew Zhu Yan's identity as an informant. After receiving Han Jiang's instruction to "keep her entertained," she insisted on chatting with her.

For example, the team members were discussing who the suspect they had caught had stabbed, and they even made a bet about it. In the end, Han Jiang said that the suspect had stabbed one of his important informants, and the deputy detachment leader lost the bet and treated the entire detachment to breakfast for the day.

For example, the deputy detachment leader was very dissatisfied and found an opportunity to treat Detachment Leader Han to a lavish meal.

After telling all the funny stories about the team, the policewoman seemed to have received instructions from Han Jiang and started changing the subject.

"Actually, being a consultant is much safer than being an informant. Once your identity is revealed, the entire team can protect you. They complain every day that there aren't any girls in the team, so they'll definitely cherish you! Something terrible like what happened the other day won't happen again..."

Zhu Yan had a headache from her constant noise.

She regretted it; she regretted not falling to the ground and hitting her head, so she could at least pretend to be unconscious.

The phone on the bedside table vibrated, Zhu Yan perked up, picking it up and bringing it to her eyes.

It was indeed a WeChat message from Yu Xing.

San: I have something important to do and will be going to southern Anhui for at least a week, so I won't be able to come see you. Feel free to call or text me if you need anything. Take good care of yourself and recover well!

Zhu Yan was touched by the first few sentences, thinking that Yu Xing still cared about her even after leaving.

Until she saw the last sentence, with its obvious schadenfreude, she gritted her teeth inwardly.

Damn it, next time you ask me for help with an investigation, I'll show you what a rebellious subordinate looks like!