Kingdom of Hairy People

Of course, Jiang Ran remained expressionless.

That did not mean there was no issue with the Psychological Profiling image.

The essence of Psychological Profiling is the deduction of a target's inner state and behavioral logic, based on observed details combined with psychological knowledge.

It produces possibilities, not actual footage.

A profile of a monster as realistic as this one.

It was also the first time such a situation had occurred since he gained the ability to profile.

"President, time is running out."

Beside him, Wang Zhenguo reminded him in a low voice.

The voice pulled Jiang Ran back from his thoughts to reality.

Jiang Ran nodded and said softly, "You go ahead."

Upon hearing this, although Wang Zhenguo was curious, he was sensible enough not to ask further questions.

He turned and walked away quickly.

Jiang Ran watched the two of them turn into a side street, pondered for a moment, and then stepped forward to follow.

However, halfway through the pursuit.

Jiang Ran stopped in his tracks.

The two people ahead were clearly looking for a temporary place to stay as the return time drew near.

They stopped in front of a five-story residential building, checked the door lock briefly, then opened the door and went inside.

Although this area had been designated as a Safe Zone, housing allocation and management were still in a chaotic state, and most of the houses were vacant; whoever occupied them first claimed them.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran found another building nearby.

He locked the door, pulled the curtains, and checked the time: 23:47.

Thirteen minutes left.

He walked to the living room and found a desktop computer in the corner. The tower was covered in a thin layer of dust, but the plug was still in the socket.

Jiang Ran pressed the power button, the screen lit up, and he waited for the system to boot.

Taking advantage of this time, he walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain to observe the building the two had entered.

A faint flashlight beam lit up a window on the third floor, then extinguished; clearly, the two had settled in.

The computer finished booting.

Jiang Ran sat back at the desk, opened the browser, and typed in the images he had just seen, along with keywords like Classic of Mountains and Seas monster.

There were many search results.

But none of them matched perfectly.

Jiang Ran frowned slightly.

According to the current knowledge base, if there were relevant terms, they should have appeared.

Could it be that he was overthinking it?

Or was it some kind of monster not recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?

If he was just overthinking, that would be fine.

After all, it was just a profiled image; it couldn't be taken entirely at face value.

At most, the other party had a habit of eating people.

Or perhaps they were gay.

But if it were an unrecorded monster, that would be a bit terrifying.

Being able to disguise oneself as a human, and seeing the other party laughing and chatting with others, even possessing language functions.

A monster like that lurking among the crowd...

One wouldn't even know when they died.

But clearly, there was no time to investigate in the Abyssal Void, and Jiang Ran checked the time.

He shut down the computer and walked to the center of the living room, standing in a relatively open space.

The familiar sense of trance arrived right on schedule.

Opening his eyes again, he was already back in his own bedroom.

It was the early morning of the real world, and everything was as usual.

Jiang Ran walked to his desk, pulled open the drawer, and took out a sheet of white paper and a pencil.

Ten minutes later.

A lifelike sketch was complete.

On the paper was a bust of a man around thirty years old.

His face and body had been twisted and alienated, his entire form covered in gray-black feathers.

Jiang Ran stared at the drawing for a few seconds, folded it up, and tucked it into his pocket.

He still decided to go find a professional to ask about it tomorrow.

He then returned to the center of the bedroom and sat down cross-legged.

He took out the Heavenly Net Pouch.

With a flicker of his intent, a pile of grayish-white spirit crystals appeared on the floor in front of him, roughly estimated to be over a hundred.

Before coming out, Jiang Ran had just taken a nap, so he wasn't sleepy at all now.

He might as well cultivate.

He gripped a spirit crystal in each hand, closed his eyes to focus, and set the Blood-Qi Circulation Method into motion.

Cool energy surged into his body along his arms, merging with the scorching blood-qi in his dantian, and rushed through the circulation path of the heavenly cycle.

One, two, three...

The grayish-white spirit crystals turned into powder one after another.

Time slipped away quietly during his cultivation.

When the sky outside the window began to brighten and the first ray of morning light filtered through the curtains, Jiang Ran slowly opened his eyes.

He looked down at the floor.

The small mountain of grayish-white spirit crystals had now all turned into powder, covering the floor in a thick layer.

Jiang Ran sighed softly.

"Consumed so quickly..."

In one night, over a hundred gray spirit crystals were completely exhausted.

Clearly, the gray spirit crystals could no longer keep up with his current cultivation progress.

Fortunately, there were still blue spirit crystals, enough to get through tonight.

However, Jiang Ran didn't feel any heartache.

The results of this night's cultivation were tangible.

The total amount of blood-qi in his body had grown significantly.

At this rate, he estimated it wouldn't be long before he could cultivate the Blood-Sensing Chapter to perfection.

Jiang Ran stood up and stretched his limbs.

His joints let out a series of faint cracking sounds.

He walked to the bathroom, took a shower, and changed into a clean shirt and trousers.

Once ready, he picked up his backpack, packed his lesson plans and textbooks, and prepared to head to school.

The first period this morning was a Chinese class, so he had to get to the office early to prepare.

However, just as Jiang Ran was about to pull the door handle.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell suddenly rang.

Jiang Ran paused, his brows slightly furrowed.

At this hour, who would come looking for him?

He looked out through the peephole.

Standing outside the door were two men in suits, both around thirty years old, standing straight with serious expressions.

Jiang Ran opened the door: "You are..."

"Hello, Expert Jiang." The man standing in front immediately showed a gentle smile and pulled an ID card from his inner pocket. "We are from the Federal Cultural Relics Bureau. My name is Zhou Yuan, and this is my colleague Xiao Li."

He opened the ID and showed it to Jiang Ran.

It was indeed a Federal Cultural Relics Bureau work permit, and the photo matched the person.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran frowned slightly and asked: "What can I do for you?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan immediately said gently: "Regarding your excavation mission with Director Wang Wenjuan at the Tang Dynasty Tomb on Cuiping Mountain last time, we have some details we would like to confirm with you. I wonder if you are available now?"

Jiang Ran felt a stir in his heart, but he nodded calmly and said: "That's fine, but I have to go to class in a little over an hour."

After speaking, he stepped aside to let them in.

Zhou Yuan nodded immediately and said: "That's enough time, Expert Jiang."

The two entered the house and sat down on the living room sofa.

Zhou Yuan took a tablet out of his briefcase, his tone remaining gentle throughout: "Expert Jiang, when you participated in the excavation of Tang Dynasty Tomb M47 on Cuiping Mountain last year, you were mainly responsible for the preliminary exploration and structural analysis, right?"

"Yes," Jiang Ran nodded.

"When we re-examined the archives, we discovered that during the preparation phase before the main tomb chamber was opened, you had proposed several hypotheses regarding the internal trap structures."

Zhou Yuan swiped across his screen, pulling up a hand-drawn diagram. "According to the records, you judged that the middle section of the tomb passage likely contained a quicksand pit and that the sides of the corridor were rigged with arrow arrays. These speculations were all confirmed during the actual excavation later on."

Jiang Ran looked calmly at the analysis sketch he had drawn offhandedly back then. "It was merely a logical deduction based on common Tang Dynasty tomb structures and the surface collapse marks at the time.

Director Wang and the professors on the archaeological team had much more experience."

"You are too modest." Zhou Yuan smiled, though his tone shifted slightly. "However, what we are more curious about is the specific basis for the judgments you made at the time... for instance, how did you determine the depth and range of the quicksand layer?"

Over the next forty minutes.

Zhou Yuan asked more than a dozen questions.

Every single question revolved around the preliminary process of that excavation.

After more than forty minutes, Zhou Yuan and his companion finally stood up with smiles.

"Sorry to have troubled you, Expert Jiang." Zhou Yuan put away his tablet. "Do you need me to drive you to the school?"

Jiang Ran listened and shook his head with a smile. "No need, thank you. I'm used to riding my bike."

Zhou Yuan didn't insist on further pleasantries; after saying goodbye, he and Xiao Li left in a hurry.

Jiang Ran closed the door and stood in the entryway, remaining still for a few seconds.

Afterward, he turned to pack his things and, for the first time in a long while, hopped on his mountain bike to head to school.

On the road, the morning breeze was slightly chilly.

Jiang Ran recalled the questions Zhou Yuan had just asked, lost in thought.

Zhou Yuan had asked in great detail, yet he hadn't asked a single thing related to the artifacts themselves.

Everything was about the scene before they had entered back then.

At that time, when Jiang Ran and Wang Wenjuan had just arrived, the mausoleum hadn't been fully opened yet.

Because the tomb was well-preserved, the internal mechanisms were complex.

The archaeological team had conducted a large amount of surveying and exploratory excavation in the early stages.

Relying on his understanding of ancient tomb structures, Jiang Ran had indeed helped by offering many ideas, avoiding several potential dangers.

Most of the questions Zhou Yuan had just asked were about this part.

But that mausoleum had long since been fully excavated in reality.

The unearthed artifacts had all been cataloged and stored, and the archaeological report had been published long ago.

It was clearly abnormal for the other party to come asking about these processes now.

So, one only needed to think about it to know...

The other party was most likely asking on behalf of the tomb in the same location within the Abyssal Void.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ran looked thoughtful.

It seemed that the replica inside the Abyssal Void might have undergone some kind of mutation.

However, that was ultimately a matter for the Abyssal Void.

If he wanted to understand the specific situation, he could go take a look next time he went in, if he had the time.

For now, he still had to finish his business in reality.

Soon, Jiang Ran arrived at the school.

After parking his bike, he walked into the office just as the morning study session was ending.

The first class for Grade 2 Class 15 today was Chinese.

Perhaps the previous talk about the extraordinary and knowledge had taken effect, or perhaps those troublemakers weren't acting up today; the classroom order was much better than before.

Jiang Ran stood on the podium, his gaze sweeping across the students below.

Quite a few students were actually taking notes, their eyes following his lecture.

[Chinese Experience +3]

[Chinese Experience +2]

[Chinese Experience +4]

The prompts on the panel flickered from time to time.

When the bell rang for the end of class, Jiang Ran closed his lesson plan.

The experience gained for Chinese this time had increased quite a bit compared to last time, totaling 51 points.

It seemed that more people had actually listened this time.

Jiang Ran felt deeply gratified.

Shortly after, before 10:00 AM.

Jiang Ran left the school early.

However, this time he wasn't in a rush to go to the archery club; instead, he turned toward a private library located in the old district.

The library wasn't large.

But it was well-stocked, especially with local chronicles, facsimile editions of ancient texts, and obscure academic works.

Jiang Ran pushed open the wooden door, and the bell above it gave a clear ding-dong.

Behind the front desk sat a round-faced girl with glasses, who was looking down and organizing catalog cards.

Hearing the bell, she looked up and her eyes lit up when she saw Jiang Ran. "Brother Jiang, you're here!"

Jiang Ran walked over with a smile. "Xiao Shuang, where's Teacher?"

"Teacher is wiping books by the cabinet in front," the girl said, pointing towards the back of the library. "It's been a bit humid lately, and Teacher is worried the books might get damp."

Jiang Ran nodded with a smile upon hearing this. "Thanks."

He then headed towards the historical documents section.

Over there, an old man in a grey Chinese tunic was standing on an old stepladder, carefully wiping the spines of books on the top shelf with a soft cloth.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran quickly walked over. "Teacher, let me."

As he spoke, Jiang Ran stepped forward, helped the old man down, and then climbed the stepladder himself, taking the soft cloth. "I'll wipe the ones up here. You sit and rest."

The old man chuckled and patted his arm. "You rascal, what brings you here at this hour?"

The old man's name was Li Baishi, and he had been Jiang Ran's teacher for artifact appraisal.

Jiang Ran sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I was busy with school matters a while ago and didn't get a chance to visit you."

Li Baishi rolled his eyes at this. "Don't act embarrassed now.

Spit it out, what problem have you run into?

You wouldn't come all the way here at this time for no reason."

Jiang Ran didn't stand on ceremony any longer.

He took out the sketch he had drawn that morning and unfolded it, handing it to the old man. "You know a lot about the Classic of Mountains and Seas and ancient oddities. I wanted to ask if you've seen any records of a monster like this in the Classic of Mountains and Seas or other ancient texts?"

The old man listened, took the paper, and put on his reading glasses.

His initially relaxed expression gradually sobered as he took in the contents of the sketch.

His brow furrowed slowly.

He stared at the drawing for a good ten seconds before looking up, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

"A monster... probably not."

"But there's a country whose people look very much like what you've drawn."

Jiang Ran's pupils contracted. "A country?"

"There's a passage in the Classic of the Great Wilderness: North."

Li Baishi put down the sketch and walked to a row of bookshelves. He skillfully pulled out a yellowed, thread-bound facsimile edition and quickly flipped to a certain page. "Look here..."

He pointed to the text on the page.

Jiang Ran looked down.

"The Kingdom of Hairy People is to its north, they have surnames, eat millet, and keep exotic beasts. Their bodies are covered in black hair, they are fierce and cunning, and eat their own kind."

Beside the text was an illustration.

Although the style was ancient, the hairy body, the mouth that stretched to the ears, and the protruding eyes bore a seven to eight-tenths resemblance to the figure in Jiang Ran's sketch.