"I saw what the killer looked like!"
Zhang Yuanqing's vacant eyes came back to life. He immediately turned his head to look at his two colleagues.
As he spoke, he felt an intense fear. The shadow of death lingered in his heart, refusing to fade.
Devouring a spirit was both deeply satisfying and deeply unpleasant.
Li Dongze and Guan Ya relaxed with a sigh of relief. The former hurriedly asked:
"What did he look like? Hmm, were there any distinctive features?"
As Zhang Yuanqing recalled, he said, "Male, around thirty to thirty-five years old, medium height, burly build, a scar about half a finger long on his left cheek, sparse eyebrows, and a very fierce look in his eyes."
Li Dongze listened patiently, sketching the killer's general appearance in his mind.
The killer's facial features were very distinctive, making him easy to recognize.
When Zhang Yuanqing finished, Guan Ya asked:
"Did he assault the female victim?"
Zhang Yuanqing thought back to the scene just before his memory ended. "I think he did."
Guan Ya confirmed one of her suspicions. She immediately turned to Li Dongze with a frown.
"Squad Leader, I suspect the killer is mentally unstable."
Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand. What person capable of such a cruel act could possibly be mentally normal?
Li Dongze nodded and said furiously, "That bastard deserves to go to hell."
Seeing the confusion on Zhang Yuanqing's face, Squad Leader Li gently stroked his beard with two fingers and explained:
"Do you remember the punishment mechanism for Moral Value?"
Zhang Yuanqing nodded.
"The killer murdered Zhao Yingjun's mistress to silence her. That's a normal motive. But assaulting the female victim before killing her meant he lost additional Moral Value."
Li Dongze believed that a student from Songhai University with Zhang Yuanqing's intelligence wouldn't have trouble understanding what he meant.
Uh, so there really is a chance he's mentally unstable. Zhang Yuanqing understood.
Spirit Realm Walkers lost a certain amount of Moral Value when they committed crimes. So anyone of sound mind would try to avoid triggering the punishment mechanism. Killing someone to silence them was a last resort, but assaulting them before killing them meant losing even more Moral Value.
Only two kinds of people would do something like that. One had so much Moral Value that they feared nothing. The other was mentally unstable, unable to restrain their inner beast.
The second possibility seemed more likely.
Old Driver Guan Ya was unusually serious now. With one hand supporting her chest and the other resting beneath her chin, she said:
"Spirit Realm Walkers with unstable mental states must be eliminated, whether they're from an orderly or an Evil Profession. People like that lurking in a big city are like ticking time bombs."
Even if their Moral Value fell below 60 and the Spirit Realm revealed their location, drawing other local Spirit Realm Walkers to hunt them down, a powerful individual with supernatural abilities could still kill their way from one end of the street to the other in the meantime.
Old Driver looked at the only novice present and warned him:
"The Spirit Realm is full of dangers, especially solo instances, where the death rate is extremely high. Many Spirit Realm Walkers are left with deep psychological scars even after successfully completing their missions. Given enough time, mental problems are inevitable.
"You Night Wanderers in particular—if you ever feel like something's wrong with your mental state, you must tell us. The organization will arrange counseling for you."
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help thinking of everything he had experienced at the Mountain God Temple. Still shaken, he nodded. "I understand."
"By the way, did they find the killer's DNA at the crime scene?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Guan Ya shook her head.
Did the killer pack up his little swimmers and take them with him? Zhang Yuanqing felt a little disappointed. If they had the killer's countless little offspring, the Red Dancing Shoes could help find him.
Just then, Li Dongze finished thinking and asked:
"What else did you see in Zhao Yingjun's memories?"
"I did," Zhang Yuanqing said. He had been waiting for him to ask, and hurriedly continued:
"The killer was forcing Zhao Yingjun to tell him where the Holy Grail and the Roster were."
The Holy Grail and the Roster. Guan Ya and Li Dongze exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes.
Li Dongze asked:
"What do the Holy Grail and the Roster refer to?"
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. "There was no information about them in the memories."
Li Dongze thought for a moment, then furrowed his brow.
"This case is more complicated than we thought. Zhao Yingjun was hiding quite a bit from us."
He patted Zhang Yuanqing on the shoulder and praised him:
"Good work. You found an important lead for us. Once we arrest or kill the suspect, I'll put in a commendation for you. For now, go with Guan Ya and have a facial composite made so we can recreate his appearance."
"All right, Squad Leader."
Zhang Yuanqing immediately followed the long-legged beauty out.
"Oh, right." Li Dongze called after Guan Ya. "Get him a set of formal clothes. From now on, he should wear them at the office."
Zhang Yuanqing had just been about to say, But I don't come here often, when Guan Ya beside him replied, "All right."
Once they left the morgue, Guan Ya chuckled. "You'll have to wear formal clothes at the office from now on."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "I know. Big companies have strict dress codes."
Guan Ya giggled. "No, it has nothing to do with the organization. It's Squad Leader's requirement. He thinks casual clothes aren't elegant enough."
What does that have to do with elegance? Zhang Yuanqing grumbled inwardly. But when his gaze swept over Guan Ya's long legs in black stockings, her short skirt and rounded bottom, her white blouse and slender waist, he suddenly decided Squad Leader was right. A person ought to live with a little elegance.
As they walked, he checked his status panel:
[Name: Yuanshi Tianzun] [Race: Human] [Profession: Night Wanderer] [Level: 1] [Skills: Night Roaming, Spirit Devour, Lunar Spirit] [Experience: 44%] [Moral Value: 60 (initial value)]
His experience had risen from 42% to 44%. After devouring the spirit, he had felt a warm current course through his body, leaving him completely relaxed. The Lunar Power seemed to have grown stronger.
"Sister Guan Ya, did my experience go up by two points?" Zhang Yuanqing asked excitedly.
Experience represented strength. Even among level-one Night Wanderers, the difference between 1% and 99% experience was enormous.
Guan Ya paused. "Oh, yes, that's right. You Night Wanderers can increase your experience by absorbing spirits. But the Night Wanderers from the Taiyi Sect don't seem to like doing that. Whenever they help with Spirit Inquiry, they always look grim and unwilling, and their attitude is terrible."
"Why?"
The mixed-race beauty rolled her eyes at him, both pretty and alluring. "How would I know? I'm just a helpless little Scout."
Sure. Scouts might not be good at fighting, but a level-two Scout's basic attributes would still crush mine. And after advancing to level four, Scouts gain terrifying solo combat abilities. Their physical abilities at the Transcendent Stage must be impressive.
Zhang Yuanqing didn't believe her. "You really can't even lift a chicken?"
Guan Ya looked at her new colleague, glanced down, and smiled sweetly.
"Why don't you let your big sister put you through your paces?"
Zhang Yuanqing refused with a straight face. "Don't do that. I'm still a child."
Then he pulled out his phone and said, "Are you free tonight? I'll book a hotel online right now. If you don't mind, you can practice your squats too."
"Hahaha, you're hilarious." Guan Ya laughed so hard her whole body shook. "Yuanshi, you really should come to the office more often. With you around, big sister will never be bored again."
They left the glass building and entered the Public Security Bureau headquarters. Guan Ya led him straight to the technical department, where she was clearly a regular.
After carefully asking about the killer's facial features, the technical staff spent a full two hours piecing together his appearance.
Zhang Yuanqing studied the result, rubbing his chin. "It looks a little like him, but somehow not quite."
Old Zhang, an experienced technician, considered it for a moment. "Is it the features or the overall impression?"
"The overall impression. The killer felt very vicious."
"What kind of vicious? Could you describe it more specifically? I know it's hard to put into words, so a point of reference would help."
"The moment I walked in, I saw Chang Wei beating Lai Fu."
"...Excellent."
At last, they finished a new forensic sketch. Zhang Yuanqing nodded with satisfaction.
"That's more or less what he looked like. It's about seventy or eighty percent accurate."
After that, they compared the sketch against the population database and identified their suspect.
"Ou Xiangrong, from Wu City in Jiangnan Province. He's lived in Songhai for a long time. He was sentenced to prison for intentional assault in 2012, but after his release, he vanished without a trace..."
Guan Ya smiled from her office chair.
"With this information, we'll find him by tomorrow morning at the latest."
"That fast?"
"Heh, you need to have faith in the authorities and the Scouts." Guan Ya stood and headed for the door. "Yuanshi, your work is done. You can go back to campus. You don't need to get involved in what happens next. Night Wanderers may have exceptional combat abilities, but you don't yet have the courage or mental fortitude of a soldier."
"All right," Zhang Yuanqing answered cheerfully.
In the glass building's office, Li Dongze finished reading the information Guan Ya had sent him. He opened the Kangyang District Spirit Walker Management Group and shared the killer's details in the chat.
Big Muscle Tyrant: "Our new Night Wanderer sure is efficient. He's already identified the killer."
Water Strider: "@Li Dongze, how does it feel to have a Night Wanderer subordinate you can order around?"
Li Dongze: "Pretty great."
Tang Guoqiang sent a red envelope.
White Dragon: "All right, enough gloating. Get moving. Contact Songhai Public Security Bureau headquarters and have them thoroughly check every vehicle entering or leaving Songhai. Notify the Spirit Realm teams across the districts and have them stand by to help with the manhunt. Hopefully, Ou Xiangrong hasn't escaped Songhai yet."
The killer had struck this morning. Five or six hours had already passed. Even an ordinary person who had prepared in advance could have left Songhai by now, let alone a Spirit Realm Walker.
Ordinary people could be tracked through surveillance footage, but tracking a Spirit Realm Walker was much harder.
Green Vine: "Compared to an Evil Profession plotting revenge against the authorities, him escaping Songhai would actually be a good thing."
The former meant that Spirit Realm Walkers working for the authorities could be assassinated.
Li Dongze: "He won't leave Songhai."
Big Muscle Tyrant: "You're that sure?"
Li Dongze: "If Ou Xiangrong only wanted to kill Zhao Yingjun, he would have done it long ago. Even with our Night Wanderer, by the time we identified him, he would already have left Songhai. So why choose now?"
Big Muscle Tyrant: "Quit keeping us in suspense. Just say it."
Green Vine: "So he's still after revenge on the authorities?"
Li Dongze: "No. I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. My Night Wanderer saw some clues in Zhao Yingjun's memories. Ou Xiangrong interrogated Zhao Yingjun because he wanted the Holy Grail and the Roster."
The Holy Grail and the Roster? While the other squad leaders were trying to think through what the two items might be, Big Muscle Tyrant immediately sent a question:
"What are those?"
Li Dongze ignored him. He waited a while, but when none of his colleagues offered any thoughts on the Holy Grail and the Roster, he had no choice but to drop the subject and send a message:
"Let's put the Holy Grail and the Roster aside for now. We should get moving."
Before you continue