Interrogation

Pingjiang City.

Jiangbei Forest Park.

Coo, coo, coo, coo...

The rising sun shone brightly, and birdsong rang without pause.

By the lake, beneath the shade of a tree, a figure had suddenly appeared.

"Did I really come back?" Jiang Ran took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes and gripped the pale violet jade pendant. A chaotic expanse reappeared before him.

That gateway... had become illusory once more.

Seven days. He still needed seven days before he could return to the Great Ruins.

"Great!"

Jiang Ran opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

If all he had brought back was a Qi-Nourishing Cultivation Method and a set of Vajra Fist techniques, it would not solve any major problems.

But if he could freely travel between the two worlds... the possibilities would be enormous!

Not to mention anything else, simply reselling resources from both worlds for the price difference could make him a fortune.

More importantly, some things unique to each world might even directly change his fate.

"Never mind that. I'll go home first."

A towering skyscraper rose from level ground. He had only just taken the first step onto the Immortal Ascension Steps.

He had been missing for more than ten days. He wondered whether anyone had noticed.

"Probably not." Jiang Ran shook his head with a self-mocking smile. His parents had died early in this life too. Who would care about him?

There should not be much trouble at school. At worst, he would be marked absent for over ten days.

His only concern was the police. There had been so many corpses in the park that day. If it really was a major case, he could very well get dragged into it.

Jiang Ran was completely innocent and had nothing whatsoever to do with those evil cultivators.

But there was simply no way to explain where he had gone during the days he was missing. He could not exactly say that he had crossed into another world, could he?

Reborn and traveling back and forth between worlds... the Immortal Police Bureau would probably haul him in and dissect him...

Sure enough, trouble came just as he feared it. Not long after leaving Jiangbei Forest Park, several officers in blue-black uniforms set their sights on him.

"Student, please wait!"

What happened next...

"Name."

"Jiang Ran."

"Age."

"Sixteen."

"Gender."

"Officer, I'm a real man..."

Inside the interrogation room of the Third Branch of the Pingjiang City Immortal Police Bureau, Deputy Director Yang Ping was personally interrogating Jiang Ran.

It was too strange. Far too bizarre.

Half a month ago, a major case had occurred in Pingjiang City. Several demonic cultivators had infiltrated the city, robbed multiple spiritual-item shops, and caused many people to go missing.

Such a serious case had directly alarmed the Pingjiang Immortal Police General Bureau, and the director had personally arrived at the scene.

Even so, they had ultimately failed to recover all the stolen goods, and those involved were still being hunted.

Pingjiang City was one of the thirteen model cities of civilization in Heavenly Lu Kingdom. No crime this heinous had occurred here in decades. Before the matter was thoroughly investigated, the news absolutely could not be released, or it would easily cause panic.

The matter should have ended there. The Immortal Police Bureau had worked with every high school to account for the missing students, compensating those who needed compensation and comforting those who needed comfort.

Yet Jiang Ran had appeared.

Yang Ping, deputy director of the Third Branch, frowned tightly as his gaze fixed on the seemingly harmless high school student before him.

To his left lay a form listing fifty-two missing high school students. Jiang Ran's name was prominently among them.

Yang Ping repeatedly flipped through Jiang Ran's file, trying to find some clue.

Both parents deceased, living in government-subsidized housing... ranked 8,731st in the Pingjiang First High School monthly exam.

Everything was perfectly normal. Jiang Ran was undoubtedly one of the most law-abiding citizens imaginable.

The only abnormal thing was why he had "come back to life," and why he had appeared in the forest park.

On that day, the Immortal Police General Bureau had dispatched more than a dozen Golden Core experts.

Director Yang Qingling's divine sense had already searched Jiangbei Forest Park inside and out. There was no way he could have missed any target.

Several rounds of questioning ended with no progress.

"Officer, can I leave now? I'm starving..." Jiang Ran wore a miserable expression.

He stuck to his story from beginning to end: he had lost consciousness while walking home after school, then suddenly arrived today, knowing nothing else.

In fact, setting aside his trip to the Grand Ruins Realm, everything else was true. He was not making things up out of thin air.

The interrogation room remained silent for a long while.

A female officer quietly approached from the side. Tall and fair-skinned, she handed Jiang Ran a piece of bread and a cup of water, giving him a meaningful look.

"Student Jiang, have something to eat first and fill your stomach."

"Wow..." Jiang Ran's eyes lit up.

He was truly starving. He grabbed the bread and began wolfing it down.

The cultivation methods of the Grand Ruins Realm were extraordinarily profound, but their cost was equally obvious. Whether the Qi-Nourishing Cultivation Method or the Vajra Fist Technique, both consumed enormous physical strength. Without sufficient supplies, cultivation was impossible.

On top of that, the food in Xiang Family Village had been extremely simple and could hardly be called delicious.

Bread still smelled the best—big and round...

"Thank you, big sister!"

The female officer could not help smiling at his appearance.

"Have some water. Eat slowly."

She turned and handed a document to Deputy Director Yang Ping, seated at the head of the room.

"The results are out?"

"They're all out." The female officer nodded. "He wasn't lying."

Yang Ping's brow gradually relaxed. He raised his hand and sent a streak of pale blue spiritual light flying out of the interrogation room.

"Alright, turn off the interrogation artifact. We're done for today."

Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow, his heart stirring slightly.

Although he could not hear exactly what the officers had been discussing, it was not hard to infer from the situation that the police had used some kind of method during the interrogation.

This was an era where cultivation flourished. The authorities controlled absolute power, and every police department possessed the most professional interrogation artifacts. Lie detection was merely child's play.

Just now, he had vaguely sensed the Heavenly Unity Jade Pendant appearing from time to time within the illusory space, as though it were protecting him.

Perhaps the police's methods had not truly uncovered his secrets.

"Alright, you can go home now."

The moment he stepped out of the interrogation room, Jiang Ran let out a heavy sigh of relief.

He had passed! He was free!

As long as he got through the police's scrutiny, he would regain his status as a law-abiding citizen. From now on...

"Cultivation... here I come." Jiang Ran was eager to get started.

But as soon as he walked out of the police station, reality suddenly hit him.

Pingjiang City's streets were incomparably broad and smooth, with all kinds of transportation artifacts constantly passing through them.

"How am I supposed to get home? I don't seem to have any money!"

The Third Branch was in the eastern part of the city, dozens of kilometers from Jiang Ran's home. A taxi would cost at least two hundred yuan.

Even two hundred yuan could stump a hero. His grand cultivation endeavor seemed to have run into trouble from the very beginning.

"I can't even afford a taxi..." Jiang Ran rubbed his brow.

It seemed that making money was still the top priority. Without money, he could not take a single step. It was the same in any world.

"Student Jiang."

A voice suddenly came from behind him, and a hand lightly patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder.

"Come on. I'll take you home."

The female officer's smiling face looked especially radiant beneath the sunlight.