"Someone searched Zhou Zong's corpse?"
Inside the tent, the wariness in Su Chen's eyes gradually faded. Looking at Hu Xiang before him, Su Chen had thought Hu Xiang had caught on to something and come to make a move against him.
Instead, Hu Xiang had sneaked over like a thief to tell him that someone had searched Zhou Zong's corpse.
"Yeah, something about this is very wrong." Hu Xiang looked grave.
Su Chen stared at him. "Two things. First, why did you come to me about this?"
"Second, didn't you say you were patrolling the surrounding area? How do you know so clearly what happened in the camp?"
"What does that have to do with the corpse?" Hu Xiang frowned, but seeing Su Chen's guarded posture, he understood.
This kid still didn't trust him. He could only explain, "I came to you because Zhou Zong's death was related to you to some extent..."
"Don't slander me." Su Chen remained expressionless.
Hu Xiang ignored him and continued, "I originally planned to patrol the surroundings, but I wasn't at ease leaving the camp unattended, so I kept an eye on both."
Su Chen reluctantly accepted the explanation. Something stirred in his mind, and he thought of a few things before saying, "Let's take a look at the corpse."
"I brought it over for you." Hu Xiang turned and carried the body bag in from outside the tent.
Su Chen was speechless.
"You go out first." Su Chen rubbed his chin, pulled open the zipper, and looked at Zhou Zong's corpse.
Hu Xiang hesitated, but Su Chen was staring at him so intently that he had no choice but to leave the tent.
"Go farther..." Su Chen called out.
Hu Xiang had no choice but to move farther away. Then he saw the tent's light go out, plunging the inside into darkness.
"Fuck, what a creep..." he cursed under his breath.
Meanwhile, Su Chen used his spiritual perception to search Zhou Zong's corpse as well.
Before long, his movements paused slightly. His eyes narrowed. "There really is something."
Taking out a small knife, Su Chen made a series of ripping sounds before tearing a sheet of something as thin as paper from the lining inside Zhou Zong's clothing over his left chest.
Su Chen's expression became rather colorful. This was precisely the item that recorded the [Space Storage User], and also the item stolen from Southwind Academy.
"He actually brought it out just like that?" A great many thoughts flashed through Su Chen's mind.
Yuan Chenyang's supervision had been very thorough. Under normal circumstances, this item should not have been able to leave.
But there had been the loophole of going outside the city for patrol. On the day they left the city, Yuan Chenyang had happened to be pursuing the thief, while the one who had seen them off was Zhou Zong's father.
"Zhou Zong probably didn't know, otherwise he wouldn't have hidden it until now. There are also their people within the City Patrol Guard..." Su Chen felt that the situation was tricky. This was clearly a vortex.
"But..." he murmured softly, "perhaps it's also an opportunity."
He was about to turn on the temporary light source when he looked at Zhou Zong again and muttered, "But with so many students, why did they have to put it on Zhou Zong...?"
As he spoke, he reached out with his evil hand again, this time searching even more carefully.
"There really is something else..."
Su Chen looked astonished as he stared at the two black metal cubes in his hand.
Zhou Zong had been turned into a pack mule.
These things had been hidden in the layered heel of Zhou Zong's shoes. They were only the size of fingernails, not something that could be casually concealed on Zhou Zong's body.
With a slight twist, the metal casing opened. A hazy glow seeped out through the crack. Su Chen wrapped it in his clothes and carefully opened it.
It was a small, irregular crystal sparkling with many colors.
The panel gave no prompt. It was not a finished item.
"This thing..." He frowned tightly, then looked at the thin sheet again and suddenly had a guess.
He immediately opened the panel, found the [Space Storage User] Profession, and expanded its advancement requirements.
Sure enough, one of the [Spatial Crystal] requirements had already been fulfilled.
He had merely felt that since this thing had been together with that metal sheet, it might possibly be related to the [Space Storage User].
"This is a Spatial Crystal?" Su Chen stared carefully at the crystal in his hand, unable to suppress the excitement in his heart.
So the most inexplicable requirement for this Profession had been completed just like that?
And there were two of them right away.
But after the brief excitement passed, Su Chen realized something else—getting them didn't seem to do him any good.
His father most likely knew about the items hidden on Zhou Zong. Now that his son was dead and the items were missing, everyone would probably be searched, especially Su Chen.
"Looks like I can only hand them over." Su Chen unconsciously rubbed the metal cube. "I can't exactly just throw them away."
He was very reluctant. Who knew when he would see something like this again?
[Detected that the host intends to discard the Spatial Crystals. The Space Storage User is willing to allow the host to undergo partial advancement at the cost of two Spatial Crystals. After completing the remaining advancement requirements, the host may gradually complete the advancement.]
Hm?
Looking at the panel that had popped up, Su Chen's movements paused. Partial advancement?
"Not bad, not bad. Look at how considerate this Profession is. If advancement is difficult, then let me partially advance first. Get on the bus before buying the ticket—it's perfectly reasonable..."
Su Chen grinned broadly and praised the air several times, but no new prompt appeared on the panel.
He curled his lips. Normal advancement only required one crystal, while partial advancement required two.
The two Spatial Crystals in his hands emitted a dazzling radiance and melted like ice. The space around them rippled slightly as they gradually fused together, then abruptly vanished.
[Space Storage User partial advancement successful. Profession ability acquired—Storage Space: a portable space hidden within an interlayer.] [Unlock other Profession abilities after completing the advancement requirements.]
Storage Space?
Su Chen swallowed and felt carefully. His spiritual power rippled, and sure enough, he vaguely sensed a small, empty space. It was only one cubic meter, not very large.
Su Chen casually picked up the empty metal cube and tried to draw it in with his mind. The metal cube silently disappeared from his hand and appeared in that small space.
"It consumes spiritual power too... No wonder the advancement requirements call for a top-tier second-order spiritual Profession." Su Chen sensed it carefully.
"Ha... not bad, not bad." He could not help grinning. Even Zhou Zong, lying on the ground with half his head missing, now looked rather pleasing to the eye.
After searching carefully again and confirming there was nothing else, Su Chen thoroughly ruined the shoes before turning on the flashlight and calling Hu Xiang inside.
Hu Xiang looked at the corpse on the ground. The zipper exposed only the middle of the body, and nothing seemed to have changed. He could not help asking, "Did you figure it out?"
"Maybe..." Su Chen answered vaguely.
Hu Xiang said with dissatisfaction, "What do you mean, maybe?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Su Chen countered.
Hu Xiang froze slightly and eyed him suspiciously. That question made his heart pound.
"Forget it." He decisively shook his head.
"You'd better keep a close eye on whoever searched his corpse," Su Chen emphasized again.
Hu Xiang nodded, then asked uneasily, "Is it serious?"
Su Chen gave him a meaningful look. "Hard to say."
Hu Xiang hesitated briefly before going to Tang Chen to strengthen his restraints. Su Chen, meanwhile, left the tent and found Bai Fengxi.
"Something wrong?" Bai Fengxi came out of her tent. Su Chen gestured toward the tent with his chin.
Bai Fengxi hesitated for a moment, but she still brought Su Chen into the tent. The two sat cross-legged close to each other.
"I want to ask you something..." Su Chen leaned closer and stared into Bai Fengxi's eyes. "What kind of person is Old Yuan?"
Bai Fengxi's bright eyes watched him suspiciously. "Is that really worth asking me so cautiously?"
"Yes." Su Chen looked solemn.
Bai Fengxi was speechless and began, "He..."
In the shadows, Hu Xiang had just carefully tied Tang Chen up, even eliminating the possibility of his suicide. When he turned around, he saw the young man and woman dart into a tent and sighed regretfully, "What a fine girl."
He had asked that group of students about it. Su Chen really had been brought into Southwind Academy by Jiang He. It was not merely a rumor.
He had heard a little about Jiang He's reputation as well.
An image of Su Chen had already formed in his mind: someone who would stop at nothing and use every possible means to climb higher.
That girl named Bai Fengxi had probably fallen for him too. He had heard that she was also Yuan Chenyang's student.
Truly impressive.
Still, he always felt there was more to this. Otherwise, with Su Chen's strength, he could not possibly have needed to go through Jiang He.
As he was speculating, his expression suddenly turned grave, and he abruptly looked up.
In the darkness, a City Patrol Guard on night watch hurried over.
Hu Xiang flashed forward and stopped him, repeatedly asking, "What happened? Another attack?"
"No, no..." The City Patrol Guard hurriedly shook his head and pointed into the darkness behind him.
A humming sound gradually drew near. Several bright, ghostly blue light sources pierced through the mist. A few crimson tracked war vehicles, five or six meters tall, emerged from the fog, their slightly rusted armor plates engraved with glowing blue patterns.
Hu Xiang's brow twitched. An oppressive pressure bore down on him.
At the front, several figures slowly approached. Hu Xiang's grave expression turned to shock. "City... City Lord!?"
The arrivals were the big shots from Southwind City, led by Zhang Hongbo, who had rushed over as quickly as possible.
"Inspector Yuan..." Hu Xiang instinctively swept his gaze over them, but his expression suddenly changed drastically. He said with difficulty, "Director Zhou... Y-you... why are you here?"
Zhou Xian remained composed. Hu Xiang was more shocked to see him than Zhang Hongbo. He had not even greeted the City Lord, instead asking why Zhou Xian had come. Wasn't that needlessly giving Zhang Hongbo something to think about?
Why was a City Patrol Guard showing him such respect?
Hu Xiang's thoughts raced. Zhou Zong's corpse was still in Su Chen's tent. It had already been difficult to deal with, and now Zhou Xian would definitely keep a close eye on Su Chen.
Trouble. Hu Xiang sighed inwardly. Why had all these big shots suddenly come?
Before you continue