Walking into the Trap

Jiang Qian was both surprised and relieved by the efficiency of the official response.

That little girl was dangerous, and she knew his home address. She posed a tremendous threat to him and his family. That was why he had sought official help the moment he was exposed.

Of course, even now, the danger had not been eliminated.

"Will you leave enough people behind to protect my family?"

Facing the group of "superpowered" agents gathering around him, Jiang Qian brazenly made his demand.

The round uncle froze for a moment, then grinned. "Don't worry. We'll leave an entire team here. I guarantee, in my capacity as captain of the Special Public Security Operations Team, that your family will remain safe and sound."

The catlike young man beside him studied Jiang Qian curiously and exclaimed, "Huh? Seeing how calm you are, don't tell me you're one of us?"

Jiang Qian naturally understood that by "one of us," he meant a License Holder.

But he gave no unnecessary answer.

"Do you need to go inside and explain things to your family? We can wait." The uncle, beer belly protruding, reminded him pleasantly, "The incident you reported has special circumstances, so it may not be resolved anytime soon."

Jiang Qian fell silent for a moment.

Then he nodded. "Please wait."

He unlocked the combination lock and slipped quietly into the house. Without disturbing his family members, each occupied with their own tasks, he returned directly to his room and summoned the Little Devil Set.

He activated the [House Ward] function.

A line of text appeared before his eyes:

[House Ward function activated. The corrupted Demon Kings will remain close and protect the residence's owner(s) from misfortune.]

At the same time, the runes on the box began to flow at a steady pace, giving off an eerie gleam.

One after another, phantoms that had confronted him in the instance dungeon eagerly crawled out of the box.

The Joy Demon, whose wingbeats flickered like leaping musical notes; the Rage Demon, transformed into an enormous crimson mask; the Sorrow Demon, like a mutated giant squid wrapped in tentacles; the Fear Demon, with hollow eyes and stiff limbs like a dried corpse; the Love Demon, like a thousand-year-old tree demon ripped from the ground roots and all; the Demon, with broken wings on its back, hunched and gaunt; the Desire Demon, naked with a fish tail...

They left Jiang Qian's bedroom and drifted through every room of the house... making the already spacious home suddenly seem a little crowded.

Of course, only Jiang Qian could see them.

Everyone else would probably only feel that it was crowded...

"This house is locked down tight now..."

If there was still anything Jiang Qian was worried about, it was probably this: would the women of the household under their protection be frightened by the things protecting them?

But Jiang Qian immediately dismissed the concern.

"It's fine."

The Old Buddha was an educated woman who believed in science, while his aunt was someone who did not believe in supernatural nonsense.

As for his sister, there was no harm in making that rich woman a little more reverent.

Jiang Qian calmly hid the rune-covered box in a drawer.

He also put the phone he had been carrying into the drawer. He swapped it with the relatively "clean" phone in the drawer and slipped that one back into his pocket.

Before locking the drawer, he took out a small black porcelain figurine and carried it on him.

His family had six demon avatars protecting them, while he carried one with him as a substitute in case of emergency.

Just right...

After making the arrangements, Jiang Qian returned outside.

He shut and locked the door again, making sure his family had not noticed him coming and going, before calmly saying, "I'm ready. Let's go."

The official License Holders exchanged looks, all seized by the same illusion: with nerves this strong, he was probably a repeat offender.

As he passed the round uncle with the general's belly, the man reached out and pressed a hand on Jiang Qian's shoulder.

His gaze shifted down to Jiang Qian's right hand.

"You're injured? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Jiang Qian glanced back at his front door. "It's not serious. Let's not block the entrance while we talk."

The group quickly moved into a vehicle downstairs.

When Jiang Qian rolled up his sleeve to receive treatment, the extent of his injury still startled the official License Holders.

Jiang Qian's complexion was usually rather fair, but now the skin on his forearm was a mass of dark bruises, swollen high. Along with the swelling, several patches of skin had split open and bled.

The female medic handling his injuries in the vehicle turned pale at the sight, tense throughout the examination. Fortunately, she found no signs of poisoning.

In the morgue.

The corpse wrapped in spider silk had completely reverted to its appearance in life. The deceased's identity had been confirmed: Lan Junxian's informant, code-named Drunkard, a Three-State Fusion License Holder.

After being poisoned, he had been entangled in spider silk and suffocated to death.

At that moment, a savage spider pattern had been carved into Drunkard's back with a sharp object—the Peacock Spider's customary calling card.

The girl in the beret had taken on the role of forensic examiner. Fully equipped with a mask and white gloves, she stitched up the corpse while reporting the autopsy details to her superior.

Lan Junxian drew his conclusion from the side. "That witch is truly hateful—and far too cunning... She is exceptionally adaptable, using an incidental self-media entertainment incident to muddy the waters. Later, she likely used charm magic or puppet magic to take control of how my informant and I communicated, causing our operation to fail."

"The fact that she did not set a deadly trap is what surprises me. It seems the officials were never her main concern this time."

Lan Junxian looked again at the dead informant, his expression regretful, as if he had lost an excellent chess piece.

Although the informant's crimes were enough to have him executed several times over, considering his current usefulness, Lan Junxian still felt a pang of regret at seeing him eliminated by the Peacock Spider.

In short, the lead had been completely cut off...

They had come for nothing.

At that moment, the morgue door was pushed open.

The visitor was one of the task force members from that morning's meeting. "Director Lan, there's a new lead on the Peacock Spider!"

"Teacher" was the standard form of respectful address for superiors within the Special Affairs Center. These License Holders differed from regular public security officers; their rank titles were determined according to positions within Wanzhong Group.

For instance, Lan Junxian was one of East Sea City's rare holders of Authority cards. He was the number two figure in the East Sea City Public Security Department's Special Affairs Center Action Department, and his title was: Director.

Lan Junxian narrowed his eyes. "What new lead?"

After the arrest operation had ended in complete failure, he found it hard to believe they could uncover any useful clue so quickly.

The young colleague's face lit up with excitement. "Not long ago, the Information and Intelligence Department received a special report. Our people found the cast-off remains of an insect-type License Holder at the scene, as well as a dying girl. Based on your briefing about the Peacock Spider case, we suspect this incident may be related to the Peacock Spider, so we immediately came to inform you."

"Something like that... Where is the girl now?" Lan Junxian's expression turned serious.

"She's still being resuscitated!"

"Did she report the case herself? We must spare no effort in saving her. This girl may be a new breakthrough."

The task force member hesitated. "Actually, someone else made the report, and he has already been brought in..."

"Brought in?"

"Yes. He's currently being housed in No. 7 Safe House. Team Bear is talking with him! Would you like to see him now?"

"Yes!" Lan Junxian answered without hesitation.

"Please follow me!"

The two set off for the safe house.

"Also, the identity of the person who cleared 'Whispers of the Inner Demon,' which you previously asked us to investigate, has been preliminarily confirmed."

Lan Junxian abruptly stopped walking.

He had learned from materials provided by the headquarters' Information and Intelligence Department that someone had cleared "Whispers of the Inner Demon."

Originally, he had only wanted to gather more clues on the Peacock Spider, since her "authority" was related to it. But to his immense surprise, Jinping City had happened to produce a highly gifted new License Holder at this very moment!

Of course, in the eyes of some radicals, this "highly gifted rookie" was more like a "ticking time bomb."

Disappointment and regret mingled on Lan Junxian's face. "How could it be so fast... Who got to him first? Ashes, or the Black Alliance?"

It was an instinctive reaction.

Generally speaking, searching for one newly awakened License Holder across a thousand square kilometers would never yield results so quickly.

Unless the person had already been abducted by a rival, and their relatives had voluntarily reported the disappearance and sought help. Only then could the authorities conduct a point-to-point investigation into missing persons, trace the person backward, and determine from the clues who might have taken them.

Though the official Action Department's operational efficiency was extraordinarily high, compared to certain unprincipled freelance organizations, it always lagged slightly behind when competing for special talents.

Especially talents capable of clearing "Whispers of the Inner Demon"—they were rare even once every few years.

Whenever someone like that was seduced and recruited by a freelance organization, embarking upon the path of heresy from then on, every official colleague would lament it bitterly.

"Uh, neither..." The task force member blushed slightly and apologized for his incoherence. "Sorry, Director Lan, I didn't explain myself clearly!"

Under Lan Junxian's impatient gaze, the young License Holder quickly added, "The new License Holder who cleared 'Whispers of the Inner Demon' is the same person who reported the lead on the Peacock Spider case! He's at the safe house now. He wasn't snatched away by some crooked faction..."

The moment those words left his mouth, Lan Junxian nearly lost control of his expression!

"You're saying that the person who provided the new lead on the Peacock Spider is the hero who cleared 'Whispers of the Inner Demon'? He, he... walked right into our trap?!"