Identifying the Killer

"I saw the killer's face!"

Zhang Yuanqing's dull eyes regained their spark, and he immediately turned his head to look at his two colleagues.

As he spoke, he felt a wave of intense fear; the shadow of death lingered in his heart, unable to dissipate for a long time.

The sensation of using Spirit Devour was both satisfying and deeply unsettling.

Li Dongze and Guan Ya felt a sense of relief, the former hurriedly asking:

"What did he look like? Well, were there any obvious features?"

Zhang Yuanqing recalled the memory as he spoke: "Male, aged 30-35, medium build, sturdy, a half-finger-long scar on his left cheek, sparse eyebrows, and a very vicious look in his eyes."

Li Dongze listened patiently, sketching the general outline of the killer in his mind.

The killer's facial features were distinct and highly recognizable.

Once Zhang Yuanqing finished, Guan Ya asked:

"Did he assault the female victim?"

Zhang Yuanqing recalled the scene just before the memory ended. "It seems so."

Guan Ya confirmed a suspicion she had held, immediately looking at Li Dongze with a frown:

"Squad Leader Li, I suspect the killer has mental health issues."

Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand, thinking to himself: Which guy capable of such cruelty has a normal mental state?

Li Dongze nodded, indignant: "That bastard deserves to go to hell."

Seeing Zhang Yuanqing's blank expression, Squad Leader Li stroked his mustache with two fingers and explained:

"Remember the penalty mechanism for Morality Points?"

Zhang Yuanqing nodded.

"The killer murdering Zhao Yingjun's mistress was to silence a witness, which counts as a normal act. But assaulting the female victim before killing her will cause him to lose an additional amount of Morality Points."

Li Dongze believed that with this Songhai University student's intelligence, it wouldn't be hard to understand the implication.

Uh, it really is possible he's mentally unstable, Zhang Yuanqing realized.

Spirit Realm Walkers lose a certain amount of Morality Points for committing crimes, so as long as someone has a functioning brain, they try their best not to trigger the penalty mechanism. Silencing a witness is a forced necessity, but to assault someone before killing them, incurring an extra deduction of Morality Points—

Only two situations could lead to such behavior: either the killer has so many Morality Points that he is fearless, or the killer's mental state has deteriorated to the point where he can no longer suppress his inner beast.

By comparison, the second possibility was much more likely.

The veteran Guan Ya was dead serious now, one hand supporting her chest and the other cupping her chin:

"Spirit Realm Walkers with unstable mental states, whether they belong to an Orderly Profession or an Evil Profession, must be eliminated. Such people lurking in a metropolis are like ticking time bombs."

Even if their Morality Points drop below 60 and the Spirit Realm reveals their location, inviting a hunt by local Spirit Realm Walkers, in the interim, a powerhouse with supernatural abilities could kill from one end of the street to the other.

The veteran looked at the only rookie present and warned:

"The Spirit Realm is full of crises, especially solo instances, where the mortality rate is extremely high. Many Spirit Realm Walkers, even if they successfully complete their missions, are left with indelible psychological trauma. Over time, mental issues become inevitable."

"Especially for you Night Wanderers. If you ever feel that your state of mind is off, you must notify us. The organization will provide you with psychological counseling."

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but think of everything he experienced in the Mountain God Temple, nodding with lingering fear: "I understand."

"By the way, did you find the killer's DNA at the crime scene?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.

Guan Ya shook her head.

The killer packed up his descendants and took them with him? Zhang Yuanqing felt a bit regretful. If he had the killer's thousands of descendants in his grasp, the Red Dancing Shoes could help him track the man down.

At this moment, Li Dongze finished his contemplation and asked:

"In Zhao Yingjun's memory, did you see anything else?"

"Yes," Zhang Yuanqing had been waiting for him to ask, and hurriedly said:

"The killer was pressuring Zhao Yingjun for the whereabouts of the 'Holy Grail' and the 'Roster'."

Holy Grail, Roster. Guan Ya and Li Dongze exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes.

Li Dongze said:

"What do the Holy Grail and the Roster represent?"

Zhang Yuanqing shook his head: "There was no information about them in the memory."

Li Dongze thought for a moment, his brow furrowing:

"This case is more complex than we imagined. Zhao Yingjun hid quite a lot from us."

He patted Zhang Yuanqing on the shoulder and praised:

"Well done. You've found us an important lead. Once we arrest or kill the perpetrator, I will put in a request for your commendation. Now, go with Guan Ya to create a facial composite and piece together the killer's appearance."

"Understood, Squad Leader."

Zhang Yuanqing immediately followed the long-legged beauty out.

"Oh, right," Li Dongze called out to Guan Ya, "Get him a custom suit. From now on, he's to wear formal attire at the unit."

Zhang Yuanqing had just wanted to say that he didn't come here often, when he heard Guan Ya beside him say, "Alright."

Leaving the morgue, Guan Ya chuckled softly, "You must wear formal attire when you're at the office from now on."

Zhang Yuanqing nodded slightly, "I know, big companies have strict requirements for clothing."

Guan Ya giggled, "No, this has nothing to do with the organization; it's the Squad Leader's requirement. He feels that wearing casual clothes isn't elegant enough."

What does this have to do with elegance? Zhang Yuanqing complained inwardly, but as his gaze swept over Guan Ya's black-stockinged long legs, short skirt, rounded hips, white shirt, and slender waist, he suddenly felt that the Squad Leader was right. One should pursue elegance while living in this world.

As he walked, he checked his attribute panel:

[Name: Yuanshi Tianzun]
[Race: Human]
[Profession: Night Wanderer]
[Level: 1]
[Skills: Night Travel, Spirit Devour, Lunar Spirit]
[Experience Points: 44%]
[Morality Points: 60 (Initial Value)]

His experience points had increased from 42% to 44%. After devouring the spirit body, he felt a warm current surge through his body, leaving him feeling refreshed, and his Lunar Power seemed to have grown.

"Sister Guan Ya, I gained two points of experience?" Zhang Yuanqing said happily.

Experience points symbolized strength. For two Night Wanderers at the same level 1, the gap in strength between 1% and 99% experience was incredibly vast.

Guan Ya was stunned for a moment, "Oh, yes, that is indeed the case. You Night Wanderers can increase your experience by absorbing spirit bodies. However, the Night Wanderers of the Taiyi Sect don't seem to like doing this. Every time they help with spirit questioning, they always have dark faces, are reluctant, and have a very poor attitude."

"Why?"

The mixed-race beauty rolled her eyes in a beautiful and charming way, "How would I know? I'm just a Scout with no strength to truss a chicken."

Bullshit. Even if a Scout isn't good at combat, their base attributes at level 2 should be able to crush me. Besides, after a Scout changes jobs at level 4, they possess terrifying individual combat capabilities, and their physical fitness at the Extraordinary stage must be very strong.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't believe it, "Really no strength to truss a chicken?"

Guan Ya looked at her new colleague, glanced downward, and said with a smile:

"Why don't you let big sister practice on you?"

Zhang Yuanqing refused with a straight face, "Don't be like that, I'm still a child."

He immediately took out his phone and said, "Are you free tonight? I'll book a hotel online right now. If you don't mind, you can also practice squats."

"Hahaha, you're so funny." Guan Ya laughed until she trembled, "Yuanshi, you really should come to the office more often. With you here, big sister won't be bored in the future."

The two left the glass building and entered the Public Security Bureau building. Guan Ya led him to the technical department with practiced ease.

After the technical staff carefully inquired about the murderer's facial features, it took them a full two hours to finally roughly restore the murderer's appearance.

After looking at it, Zhang Yuanqing stroked his chin and said:

"It looks a bit like him, but it also feels a bit off."

Old Zhang, the technician, was experienced. He pondered for a moment and said, "Is it the facial features or the temperament?"

"The temperament, I suppose. The murderer's temperament gives people a very fierce feeling."

"How fierce? Can you describe it specifically? I know this is hard to describe, it's best to have a reference."

"I saw Chang Wei beating Lai Fu as soon as I walked in."

"...Very good."

Finally, the new criminal investigation sketch was finished, and Zhang Yuanqing nodded with satisfaction:

"It's about this look, it's seventy or eighty percent similar."

Next, through a comparison with the population information database, they locked onto the target.

"Ou Xiangrong, from Wu City, Jiangnan Province, has been living in Songhai for a long time. He was sentenced to prison in 2012 for intentional injury, and there has been no news of him since his release."

Guan Ya, sitting in an office chair, revealed a smile:

"With this information, we can sniff him out by this morning at the latest."

"So fast?"

"Hehe, you have to believe in the capabilities of the authorities and the Scouts." Guan Ya stood up and walked out, saying, "Yuanshi, your work is done, you can go back to school. You don't need to worry about the follow-up. Although Night Wanderers have extremely high combat power, you don't yet possess the courage and psychological quality of a warrior."

"Alright." Zhang Yuanqing answered happily.

In the glass building office, after Li Dongze finished reading the information sent by Guan Ya, he opened the "Kangyang District Spirit Walker Management Group" and synchronized the murderer's information in the group.

Big Muscle Tyrant: "That new Night Wanderer of ours is quite efficient; he's already identified the murderer."

Water Strider: "@Li Dongze, how does it feel to have a Night Wanderer subordinate you can command at will?"

Li Dongze: "It feels quite good."

Tang Guoqiang sent a red packet.

White Dragon: "Alright, stop being smug and deploy quickly. Notify the Songhai Public Security Bureau to arrange personnel to strictly inspect vehicles entering and leaving Songhai. Notify the various district Spirit Walker teams to cooperate with our search and arrest at any time. Hopefully, Ou Xiangrong hasn't escaped Songhai yet."

The perpetrator committed the crime this morning; five or six hours have already passed. Even for a regular person with prior preparation, that is enough time to have fled Songhai, let alone a Spirit Realm Walker.

Regular people can be tracked via surveillance, but Spirit Realm Walkers are far more difficult to trace.

Green Vine: "Compared to an Evil Profession lurking to take revenge on the authorities, them fleeing Songhai would actually be a good thing."

The former implies that Spirit Realm Walkers from the official organization will be targeted for assassination.

Li Dongze: "He will not leave Songhai."

Big Muscle Tyrant: "So certain?"

Li Dongze: "If Ou Xiangrong only wanted to kill Zhao Yingjun, he would have acted long ago. Even with our Night Wanderer, by the time we locked onto his identity, he would have already fled Songhai. So why choose this specific moment?"

Big Muscle Tyrant: "Stop playing coy, just say it."

Green Vine: "So it is still about revenge against the authorities?"

Li Dongze: "No, the matter is likely more complex. My Night Wanderer saw some clues within Zhao Yingjun's memories. Ou Xiangrong interrogated Zhao Yingjun for the Holy Grail and the Roster."

The Holy Grail and the Roster? While the other captains were busy racking their brains over these two items, Big Muscle Tyrant fired off a question immediately:

"What are those?"

Li Dongze ignored him. After waiting a moment and seeing that his colleagues had no insights to offer regarding the Holy Grail and the Roster, he had no choice but to move past the topic and sent a message:

"Let us set the Holy Grail and the Roster aside for now; let us move out first."