Life-Draining Formation

On a stretch of embankment, spiritual light surfaced in Yan Kuan's hand. He pointed ahead, and a streak of white light immediately flashed across the sea.

"The wooden crate was originally beneath that patch of light."

Yan Kuan looked at Yang Wenqing as he spoke.

Yang Wenqing thanked him, then raised his left hand and lightly tapped the air three times. Three spell seals immediately gathered into shape—the seals of the Water-Repelling Charm. As they formed, two landed on Ding Lang and Wu Yan, while the last sank into Yang Wenqing's own body.

As the Water-Repelling Charm took effect, an invisible barrier of spiritual light enveloped the three of them. Wu Yan took the lead, diving neatly into the water like a fish, with Yang Wenqing and Ding Lang following close behind.

The seawater was not especially clear, with visibility of only around ten meters. Sunlight filtered through the surface, casting swaying patches of light below. The deeper they went, the dimmer the light became and the more sharply the temperature dropped. The surroundings grew quiet and oppressive.

After descending five or six meters, the outline of the seafloor came faintly into view. Guided by the patch of white light Yan Kuan had marked, they quickly found the target area.

On a relatively flat patch of sand at the bottom of the sea, a circular formation roughly three meters in diameter had been carved into the ground!

The formation's lines had been drawn with some dark-red material. Even soaked in seawater, they still gave off an ominous, faint glow. At the center of its structure was a symbol made from countless entwined tentacles, and at the very center lay a shallow groove.

Ding Lang swam closer to the formation and took a crystal magnifying glass and several specially made talismans from his waterproof tool bag. With the utmost care, he began collecting samples of the material along the formation's lines and attempted to make an imprint of the complete rune structure.

Wu Yan, meanwhile, swam around the outer edge of the formation. His sharp gaze swept the surroundings as he checked for any other suspicious traces, footprints, or discarded items.

Yang Wenqing hovered above the formation. It indeed matched the characteristics of the Water-Spirit Formation, one component of the Five Elements Life-Draining Formation recorded in the case files.

He cast the Tracking Technique again. The spell seal's light flickered faintly within the water-repelling barrier. This time, he tried to capture the aura of living beings that had been active here for an extended period, but found nothing.

Next, he inscribed the Retrospection Art before him. It was a spell that consumed a considerable amount of spiritual energy and could rapidly replay the images recorded in this place over the past few days—the exact number depending on the caster's cultivation. Yet the spell was scattered the moment it formed.

Someone had set up a spell-disrupting measure in advance!

"That's right. It's a Life-Draining Formation, a fairly standard version." Having finished collecting the samples, Ding Lang swam back to Yang Wenqing's side and communicated through the internal transmission created by the Water-Repelling Charm. "The one who set it up was an old hand, and they most likely carried out this sort of sacrifice more than once."

Wu Yan also swam back and shook his head at Yang Wenqing, indicating that he had found no other obvious clues around the perimeter.

Yang Wenqing nodded, then pointed upward. The three began ascending. Once they returned to shore, Yang Wenqing said to the approaching Yan Kuan, "We need to confirm the victim's identity as soon as possible. We also need to find any potential witnesses."

With that, he looked at Ding Lang. "Forensic Doctor Ding, I'll leave the analysis of the formation samples and the autopsy report to you. Notify me immediately once you have results."

"Understood!"

Ding Lang nodded as he walked toward the other forensic examiners who had come with him.

Yan Kuan assured him, "Don't worry, little brother. I've already recorded his bloodline aura. As long as the victim is in the Port District, I'll be able to identify him."

Yang Wenqing gave a perfectly measured smile. "Then I'll have to trouble Captain Yan."

"It's part of my duty, nothing to trouble over. I'll contact you immediately if I find anything."

Yan Kuan's smile was equally courteous. With his rank, his badge communications could be transferred directly to the Major Crimes Unit.

The various Public Security Offices also had the authority to investigate cases. They usually solved ordinary homicide cases on their own and would not report them to the branch bureau at all. But a special case like this had to be reported, or they would be held accountable if anything went wrong.

After giving his assurance, Yan Kuan headed toward his team.

Yang Wenqing instructed Wu Yan, "Contact Xiao Qin. Have her enter this case file into the City Defense System as soon as possible."

Wu Yan nodded and used his badge to contact Liu Qin at the office.

Yang Wenqing went to the other side and contacted Deputy Director Gao. He needed to give a brief report on the case's current findings; it was a basic part of the investigative procedure.

After hearing the report, Deputy Director Gao showed little emotional reaction. He merely said, "Investigations require patience. Solving the case quickly would naturally be a good thing, but don't ruin the case just for the sake of speed."

Yang Wenqing could only nod and say, "Yes." After ending the exchange with his superior, Wu Yan had also settled the matter of the case file. Yang Wenqing glanced at Wu Yan, then walked toward the wooden crate. The clues here were of little use. The forensic examiners were recovering the body and the crate using an iron box engraved on the outside with a special Isolation Formation.

"Let's go check the port's recordings."

Yang Wenqing called to Wu Yan, then headed toward the port's administrative building.

The port's administrative building stood at the center of the dock area, a five-story stone structure. After Yang Wenqing and Wu Yan showed their identification, a staff member led them to the monitoring room on the third floor. A security officer from the Port Security Office was already there reviewing the footage.

The core of the Image-Recording Formation was a massive crystal panel embedded in the wall. Complex rune circuits connected around it and extended all the way to the roof, where they linked with subsidiary formations covering key points throughout the port.

The staff member explained that this formation could record light-and-shadow information from designated areas for ten days, but it could not record sound or spiritual-energy fluctuations. Its image quality was also limited, becoming especially blurry at night and in bad weather.

Yang Wenqing walked over to the Port Security Office security officer, took control of the formation on the crystal panel, and said, "I'll do it." He had learned how to operate this thing at the Security Academy.

He immediately set the recording speed to its maximum, then secretly drew upon the power of the Golden Core World to bolster his consciousness. His thinking speed increased severalfold, allowing him to rapidly process the images flashing past in the recordings.

Wu Yan and the Port Security Office security officer watched quietly from the side. Noticing Yang Wenqing's focused gaze and the occasional images flickering in his pupils, their hearts stirred. They instinctively made their movements smaller, afraid of disturbing him.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Yang Wenqing let out a soft breath and rubbed his slightly throbbing temples. Only after patting Wu Yan on the shoulder and leaving the administrative building did he say, "There wasn't a single person or vessel in the footage that approached that area during the past ten days."

Wu Yan immediately replied, "The crate may have been placed there more than ten days ago. Or someone could have dived over from farther away. We'll have to wait for the forensic findings."

Yang Wenqing looked up at the sky and said to Wu Yan, "It's still early. Let's take a look along the coastline."

Wu Yan nodded in agreement, though he believed it was unlikely they would find any clues, since there were simply too many ways to erase traces.

The two boarded the Flying Shuttle again and patrolled the paths along both sides of the port's coastline twice. Yang Wenqing kept searching with the Tracking Technique, but found no clues at all.

Just as Yang Wenqing was about to search for a third time, Wu Yan reminded him, "Judging by what the victim was wearing, he should have been a fisherman from a nearby fishing village. We might be able to check the nearby villages."

Yang Wenqing was about to speak when Wu Yan added, "But I imagine the Port Security Office people are already investigating the fishing villages. It wouldn't be appropriate for us to interfere again. We'll probably need to trouble Captain Yan and his people many more times with this case."

After some thought, Yang Wenqing and Wu Yan returned to the branch bureau. The forensic team had already concluded that the victim was a fisherman from near the port, forty-two years old. There were traces of Water-Repelling Charm seals on his body, so he had most likely still been alive when he was placed within the formation. The exact time of death was still being determined.