Yuan Chenyang jerked his hand back as if shocked, and Su Chen watched him thoughtfully.
"Sun Tai, take the others outside first. Don't go too far." His face was taut as he said in a low voice, "And don't contact the outside world. Warn everyone in the building not to leave or expose their identities."
"Yes!"
Fatty Sun could not help glancing at the Shadow-Hiding Garment, unease churning in his heart as he left with Zhao Xiong and the others.
"...How did you kill him?" Yuan Chenyang carefully lifted the Shadow-Hiding Garment. Once the metal box was fully revealed before him, his expression grew even more solemn.
"Starved him first, then poisoned him." Su Chen was succinct. This had changed from settling a personal grudge to eliminating a menace for the people, so he was naturally justified.
"You noticed something wrong with him long ago?" Knowing how sly this kid was, Yuan Chenyang added, "I want the truth."
"No evidence." Su Chen answered honestly. If he had evidence, Qi Chuan would have been tortured by the Inspection Department long ago.
Yuan Chenyang shook his head. "You wouldn't have informed me if you hadn't found this thing, would you?"
"On the surface, there wouldn't have been any problem. Jiang He had already divorced him," Su Chen said after some thought.
If he had not found this thing, he naturally would not have told Yuan Chenyang. But even if someone suspected him of having something to do with Qi Chuan's death, so what?
After pondering for a moment, Yuan Chenyang asked again, "Whose man do you suspect he was?"
Without hesitation, Su Chen said, "Zhou Xian's."
Yuan Chenyang was not surprised either. He carefully lifted the Shadow-Hiding Garment, and a streak of golden sharpness appeared out of thin air, exploding against the metal box as he swiftly retreated.
Even Su Chen felt a chill run down his spine, yet the metal box remained completely undamaged.
"Hm?" Yuan Chenyang seemed to notice something was wrong. He cautiously stepped forward, carefully reached out, and picked it up.
Then his face abruptly darkened. "The Strange God's Power parasitizing inside is gone!"
Su Chen's eyes flickered. "What Strange God's Power? What is this thing?"
"This is a Strange Artifact, forged from meteoric iron. Strange Gods can place a portion of their power within it." Yuan Chenyang turned it over repeatedly as his expression grew uglier. "Large-scale Strange God sacrifices, summons, and blessings all require this as a vessel."
"By my estimation, it should have contained Black Pagoda's power, but it's actually empty. What exactly did they do in Southwind City?!" Veins bulged on Yuan Chenyang's forehead. "We were still one step too late. Southwind City is about to be destroyed. We should have investigated everything from the very beginning!"
"Uh..." Su Chen hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
"And fortunately..." As he spoke, Yuan Chenyang showed a trace of relief. "It's an empty shell. Otherwise, I could only have put righteousness before family."
"What do you mean?" Su Chen was curious, so he asked.
"I told you before that your mental talent makes you exceptionally likely to attract the favor of these Strange Gods. If Black Pagoda's power had still been inside, it would definitely have corrupted you."
Yuan Chenyang further explained, "Your career path would have been cut off. You would become a puppet of a Strange God and lose your mind."
"That's disgusting." Su Chen looked relieved. What had happened to him would be difficult to explain.
"Exactly..." Seizing the chance, Yuan Chenyang lectured him. "Strange Gods are no good. Perhaps they can fulfill all kinds of your wishes, but they will certainly do so through another method that causes you immense suffering."
"So stay far away from this kind of thing."
"Rest assured." Su Chen nodded solemnly.
"You should head back first. I'll deal with things here." Yuan Chenyang waved him off, then suddenly asked, "Jiang He came looking for you yesterday. Was it to make Qi Chuan sign the papers?"
"Mm." Su Chen did not know why Old Yuan was suddenly asking this.
After going downstairs and greeting Fatty Sun, Su Chen walked a little farther away with him and asked quietly, "Brother Sun, is there any convenient way to identify Strange God followers?"
Fatty Sun hesitated, then shook his head. "As far as I know, there really isn't. Some people are only low-level followers and have very strong self-control. You can't tell anything from their everyday behavior."
"Some do not even believe in Strange Gods at all. They're merely driven by profit, which makes them even harder to investigate. At least in Southwind, there aren't many methods available."
Su Chen fell into thought, remembering Zhang Hongbo's method. That was an auxiliary measure to be used only when there was irrefutable evidence. If they suspected the wrong person, the mental damage would be irreversible.
After waving goodbye to the others, Su Chen left.
"Imprisonment, poisoning, stalking, murder... and none of that's a problem?" Han Da looked envious.
"Shut up." Fatty Sun snapped, his expression gloomy. "If any of you dare let tonight's events slip, don't blame me for being ruthless."
In the room, Yuan Chenyang glanced at Qi Chuan's corpse, walked to the window, activated his wristband, and called a certain contact.
"Old Yuan?" An aged voice came from the wristband. "Why did you suddenly think to contact me?"
"Old Jiang, Qi Chuan is dead," Yuan Chenyang said blandly.
The wristband fell silent, save for faint crackling.
"How serious is it?"
"Strange Gods." Yuan Chenyang uttered two words.
Jiang Rong's tone became more hurried. "You should know it definitely has nothing to do with me."
Yuan Chenyang said directly, "I'll have someone suppress this matter. Make a clean break as soon as possible."
A long silence followed.
"Thank you," Jiang Rong said slowly.
"Fine." Yuan Chenyang ended the call, then could not help looking again at Qi Chuan's corpse. He murmured, "What a rare opening."
"What a Yuan Chenyang." Jiang Rong's expression shifted constantly.
"Strange Gods?" Jiang He, seated opposite him, had already risen in furious rage. "Is Qi Chuan brain-dead? He actually dared collude with Strange Gods?"
"Perhaps it wasn't what he wanted. People targeted by Strange Gods... sigh..." Jiang Rong sighed and pointed at Jiang He. "I told you long ago not to provoke someone with no way out. If you truly married him, then you should have settled down!"
"They have no attachments, but we still do!"
Jiang He's momentum faltered. She turned her face away and sat back down.
Jiang Rong secretly shook his head, then said, "I didn't expect Yuan Chenyang to notify me in advance. We should thank Su Chen as well."
"Thank Su Chen?" Jiang He did not understand.
"Su Chen must have told Yuan Chenyang everything that happened that night," Jiang Rong said leisurely.
"At that time, the academy had not yet been robbed, and Black Pagoda had not yet surfaced. Qi Chuan genuinely wanted to kill you, which instead excluded us from suspicion."
Jiang He snorted and unconsciously touched her cheek.
"Things are about to become tense." Jiang Rong murmured, "Zhang Hongbo is absent, Feng Chang is absent, Zhou Xian has to avoid suspicion and win me over as well. Yuan Chenyang is making quite a move."
"I wonder what this [Low-Tier Strange God's Power] actually does."
Su Chen opened the panel and stared at the blood-red text, which looked deeply ominous.
His current unassigned careers were [Storm Hunter] and [Arcane Scholar].
"Although it can also be used on Tier 3, leaving it sitting around won't make it multiply. Who knows what kind of mutation it might cause?" Su Chen weighed the pros and cons. "I'll choose [Storm Hunter]. If something really goes wrong, I still have the Tier 2 Strongman career as an alternative."
Mental-type careers were difficult to obtain, while physical-type ones were easier.
Having made up his mind, Su Chen did not hesitate. He used [Low-Tier Strange God's Power] on [Storm Hunter].
On the panel, the blood-red Strange God's Power transformed into strands of intertwined bloody threads that wrapped around Storm Hunter.
[Storm Hunter has been tainted by Strange God's Power and is gradually becoming frenzied. Path of Slaughter activated: kill three Tier 2 Professionals to evolve the career tier to peak Tier 2.]
"Path of Slaughter? Evolve?"
Su Chen's expression became rather colorful, and he could not help feeling delighted. Good... very good.
He had personally experienced the strength of a peak career.
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