After confirming that the cold, sinister power would not affect him, Li Feng paid it no further attention.
He tore another patch of skin from his left arm, then resumed his visualization practice.
Within his Mind Space, a phantom image of the neighboring room began flickering into view.
At noon and again that evening, Li Feng tore off another patch of skin.
Early the next morning, Li Feng tore off another patch of skin. Once it had healed, he picked up his Compass and headed out.
The moment Li Feng entered the Investigation Department, he saw Captain Yuan Chengfang.
He paused briefly, then looked thoughtful.
Could there be a Paranormal Entity case?
Sure enough, things turned out just as Li Feng had suspected.
"Li Feng, you're here.
Stay here for now. You'll be coming with me to investigate a case shortly..."
"Yes, Captain!"
While they were talking, Wu Cheng and Zhao Fei arrived one after the other.
Seeing that they were here too, Yuan Chengfang decided to take both of them along.
A short while later, a staff member brought over a stack of documents.
Yuan Chengfang casually took them and leafed through them before handing them out to the three men.
Li Feng and the others took the documents and read through them.
Several horrific dismemberment murders had occurred at Fengle Residential Complex near Crossroads Street.
The documents in their hands contained information on the victims.
There were men and women, old and young, some found outside their apartments and others inside. There was no discernible pattern; the killer seemed to have chosen victims at random.
The crime scene photographs revealed the killer's extreme brutality. The victims had been cut into countless palm-sized pieces, with clean cuts through bone and muscle, suggesting an exceptionally sharp weapon wielded at tremendous speed.
Furthermore, every victim's heart had vanished.
That was why the case had been transferred to the Investigation Department.
Seeing such bloody images for the first time, Li Feng felt deeply unsettled.
Seemingly noticing Li Feng's discomfort, Wu Cheng patted his shoulder and offered quiet reassurance.
"It's all right. You'll get used to it eventually..."
The corner of Li Feng's mouth twitched.
That might be true, but he really did not want to get used to it.
Unfortunately, in this world, he had no choice.
They said nothing on the way and soon arrived by car at Fengle Residential Complex on Crossroads Street.
The complex had been sealed off, with no one allowed in or out.
After showing their identification, they drove straight inside.
The fourth floor of entrance five, Building Ten. According to the preliminary investigation, this was where the first murder had occurred.
Since the scene had to await investigation by the Investigation Department, it had been left untouched.
The moment Li Feng stepped through the door, the sight hit him hard.
Chunks of flesh lay scattered across the floor, and a bloody stench assaulted his nose. Right beside his foot, half an eyeball stared straight up at him.
Gulp!
Li Feng swallowed. Had he not summoned his power to forcibly suppress his nausea, he would have vomited on the spot.
Noticing his condition, Yuan Chengfang glanced at him with a smile.
"This is one of the better ones. You'll have plenty of chances to see things far more horrifying and disgusting...
Especially when a Skin-Peeling Ghost is involved. Those scenes...
Tsk, tsk!"
"Gulp! C-Captain, could you please stop? Just let me get used to this slowly..."
As Yuan Chengfang spoke, Li Feng's face alternated between pale and ashen. He barely managed to keep his churning stomach under control.
After teasing Li Feng a little, Yuan Chengfang turned serious and produced her Tracking Compass with a flip of her hand.
Li Feng and the other two followed her lead, taking out their own Tracking Compasses.
The compass needles trembled slightly but did not turn.
"Tsk. Looks like a demon was probably responsible! What a nuisance!"
Yuan Chengfang shook her head and sighed.
"Oh?"
All three looked at Yuan Chengfang.
"Well, since the Tracking Compass's needle reacted, there must be supernatural power nearby.
Most supernatural entities and vengeful ghosts have little intelligence. They don't know how to suppress their power or conceal its traces.
So if one of them committed the murders, the Tracking Compass would react immediately and point toward the place where it last disappeared.
But now, although the Tracking Compass has reacted, the needle hasn't turned noticeably or settled on a direction.
That means this was indeed the work of a supernatural being, but it suppressed its power and erased its traces before leaving. Clearly, it has a fair amount of intelligence.
The only beings that fit are demons, which are relatively more intelligent.
And naturally, intelligent demons won't just sit around stupidly waiting for us to deal with them like those supernatural entities and vengeful ghosts.
They hide, evade us, run away, and even make threats.
Of course, they might surrender too...
But that rarely happens.
These demons consider their bloodlines noble and see humans as nothing more than food. Most refuse to submit to humans."
"Oh!"
The three nodded in unison.
"What if it's a supernatural entity or a vengeful ghost with intelligence?"
Li Feng asked curiously.
As Yuan Chengfang drew on the power within her and slowly fed it into the Tracking Compass to strengthen it, she answered without looking up:
"Those Paranormal Entity Vengeful Ghosts would be at least Horror Level. If they wanted to suppress their power and erase its traces, they'd do it thoroughly. The Tracking Compass wouldn't react at all.
Only another Horror Level being could detect even a trace of them.
And if they didn't want to conceal their presence... heh!"
Although Yuan Chengfang did not finish, the three understood what she meant.
If those Paranormal Entity Vengeful Ghosts had not concealed their power, how could the Tracking Compass have shown such a faint reaction?
A clear, luminous glow blossomed, and the Tracking Compass in Yuan Chengfang's hand finally responded.
Its needle spun violently before pointing straight toward the apartment door.
However, rather than immediately following the Compass out of the apartment, Yuan Chengfang began moving briskly through the rooms.
Wherever she went, the Tracking Compass captured faint, barely perceptible traces of power.
For one thing, she wanted to remove the demon's lingering presence to prevent any abnormal changes.
For another, she was naturally strengthening the Tracking Compass's ability to detect that Demon.
By the end, even though the Demon's residual presence in the apartment was extremely faint, a clearly visible wisp of blue-black mist still curled above the Tracking Compass in Yuan Chengfang's hand.
"A Demon, just as I thought..."
Looking at the blue-black mist above the Tracking Compass, Yuan Chengfang spoke with another smile. She was also somewhat relieved that this Demon could not erase every trace of its power.
Demons' power was generally blue-black; vengeful ghosts' was mostly black or gray; supernatural entities' was usually an ethereal black, as though viewed through a layer of space and time...
And if they had slaughtered many lives, their power would also give off a blood-red glow.
Of course, these were merely the usual colors of their power signatures.
Not every supernatural entity, demon, or ghost followed that rule.
The Wedding-Dress Bride from before, for instance, had only killed one person, yet her power had been blood-red.
After collecting the traces of power in the apartment, Yuan Chengfang led the three men outside.
Over the following stretch of time, Li Feng, Yuan Chengfang, and the others visited each crime scene in turn.
Meanwhile, the blue-black power above Yuan Chengfang's Compass had grown to the size of a marble.
"Heh. A Demon through and through. It couldn't restrain its desires."
Looking at the marble-sized ball of blue-black mist, Yuan Chengfang let out a cold laugh.
Had the Demon fled far away and concealed its tracks immediately after killing one person, things would have been different.
With only that first wisp of power to guide her, Yuan Chengfang truly could not have guaranteed that she would find it.
But now...
Yuan Chengfang abruptly formed a hand seal, drawing out wisps of Ghost Eye power and feeding them into the Compass.
"Let this trace guide me; reveal the trail..."
In an instant, the clear spiritual radiance above the Tracking Compass blazed brighter.
At its center, however, lay a dark mass, like a pitch-black eye.
Then that pitch-black eye projected a dim beam that instantly enveloped the blue-black ball of mist above it.
Bang!
The instant it was enveloped, the blue-black mist burst apart. It twisted and shifted within the Compass's clear radiance, eventually forming a map with the clear light as its background, darkness as its scenery, and blue-black energy tracing its routes.
The Compass needle spun and pointed toward one side of the map.
There, a blue-black dot of light flickered continuously.
"Wow. That's amazing!"
Looking at the map, which resembled an enlarged phone map as well as the Marauder's Map from a novel in his previous life, Li Feng could not help voicing his admiration.
"Heh. Once your cultivation is a little higher and you can control the Ghost Eye's power at will, I'll teach you this technique."
Yuan Chengfang glanced at Li Feng and spoke with a soft chuckle.
This was a method that allowed them to use certain Ghost Eye abilities while stimulating the Ghost Eye as little as possible, making backlash highly unlikely.
However, it demanded a fairly high level of cultivation from the host, as well as considerable control over the Ghost Eye.
At the very least, Wu Cheng and Zhao Fei were both still a little short of meeting those requirements.
Naturally, although Yuan Chengfang knew Li Feng had exceptional talent for cultivation, she still did not believe he could meet those conditions yet.
But that was merely an assumption based on ordinary reasoning.
And clearly, ordinary reasoning could not be applied to Li Feng.
His cultivation level was another matter, but when it came to controlling the Ghost Eye's power, Li Feng had thoroughly corroded and transformed it. Even Investigation Department Chief Wang Jianfeng probably did not have much of an advantage over him.
Still, Li Feng opened his mouth, then ultimately just nodded without explaining. Instead, he went along with Yuan Chengfang's words:
"Hehe, then I'll work hard at my cultivation and try to meet the requirements as soon as possible..."
"All right, let's go take a look here. If the Demon really is there, we can notify the Response Department..."
"Mm!"
"Yes!"
The three nodded together and looked at the map above the compass in Yuan Chengfang's hand.
According to the Tracking Compass, the Demon was not currently in Fengle Residential Complex. It was in Lihua Residential Complex, with another complex between the two.
They exchanged glances. After instructing some of the complex's Public Security Officers to stay behind and clean up the crime scenes, they took the remaining officers with them and quickly left Fengle Residential Complex, heading straight for Lihua Residential Complex.
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