Suspicion

While Su Mian sat with a tiny, racing heart eating lunch with Qi Chuan, on the other side of the city, Jiang Xun and his team had just emerged from a specialized facility.

“Man… finally out!”

Reaching the surface via several layers of elevators, Old He let out a satisfied sigh as he basked in the sun again. Beside him, Jiang Xun squinted his eyes slightly, feeling his tense body relax just a fraction.

Even An Ye, the bespectacled youth behind them who usually didn’t talk much, couldn’t help but nod in agreement: “A full set of examinations is indeed quite the torture.”

“It’s for the sake of safety, after all,” Jiang Xun interrupted their grumbling.

For special existences like them, the dangers they encountered were often not just on the surface. Especially after coming into contact with certain demons, there were many times you might not even know where the danger was hidden. In some cases, you might not even know if you were truly still yourself.

Therefore, whether for the safety of the executors or the safety of their friends and colleagues, the Bureau accompanied every mission completion with a series of inspections. If a demon was involved, it was even more exaggerated—they practically wanted to peel you open from the inside out to see if you were still the same as before.

Because the three of them had accidentally come into contact with a suspected Upper-rank demon last night, and the Eye Hunter had similarly used demonic power, they had been taken to a special testing room immediately upon their return for a series of physical exams. They had been tossed around all night and were only released at noon today after it was confirmed there were no major issues.

Jiang Xun actually found it somewhat difficult to endure as well, as the entire list of inspection items was simply too excessive. But he knew well that these severe checks didn’t appear out of nowhere; it was because the Bureau had learned massive lessons in the past that they cared so much about the physical and mental state of their executors.

Ultimately, there was no other way. This world was far more dangerous than it appeared on the surface. Beneath the facade of peace were never-ending, surging dark undercurrents. Often, everyone was walking a tightrope; one slip of the foot, and below was an eternal abyss.

At this thought, that flawless face involuntarily surfaced in Jiang Xun’s mind again. Even after a whole night, every detail was still firmly etched in his memory. He even had a vague sensation that she was right beside him—that if he turned around, he would see her standing there quietly again.

Yet, if he were to actually turn around and not see her, his heart would unconsciously become irritable, affecting his entire state and making food taste like ash. His thoughts would be consumed by that figure until his mind could hold nothing else.

This was the allure of a Succubus.

However, Jiang Xun was not a newcomer who had just debuted. Sensing that his state was slightly off again, he immediately cleared his heart and stilled his spirit, casually unwrapping a candy-like object and tossing it into his mouth.

A cloyingly sweet taste spread across his tongue. As the sugar coating dissolved, an intense bitterness from the core quickly took over his entire mouth. The taste was bitter enough to make one’s face contort; the young man couldn’t help but shudder, and he instantly snapped back to full alertness.

“Captain, you okay?”

The concerned voices of his two teammates came from beside him. Although they had also had contact with the demon last night, they hadn’t been nearly as close as Jiang Xun, so the influence they suffered wasn’t as deep.

Seeing them looking at him with worry, Jiang Xun waved his hand dismissively. “I’m fine. Just a lingering bit of demonic influence, minor issue.”

He didn’t wait for them to ask more. “Alright, we haven’t eaten since the checks required fasting. Let’s hurry and find a place to eat. There’s plenty of work to do after we finish.”

Seeing that he didn’t want to elaborate on the matter, Old He and An Ye hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded. The three of them quickly drove to a nearby restaurant, filled their stomachs, and then immediately headed toward Yujing University.

Inevitably, the conversation on the road turned to the events of last night.

“Speaking of which, I didn’t get a chance to ask in detail yesterday.” The bald man, while driving, took a moment to look at Jiang Xun in the passenger seat, sounding puzzled. “I remember you saying the Eye Hunter died in the Yuansheng Building. Thinking about it now, what was he doing running into a place like that?”

“And into the Chairman’s office, no less,” An Ye chimed in from the back seat, clearly very interested.

Jiang Xun just closed his eyes and shook his head. “Who knows what he was thinking? According to Yuansheng’s statement, the Eye Hunter suddenly broke into the building and quickly kidnapped the Chairman’s assistant, who happened to be leaving work, forcing them to use the private elevator to enter the Chairman’s office. However, after entering the office, the Eye Hunter ran right into the security guards. Suspecting he was carrying dangerous items and after failed attempts to persuade him to stand down, they eventually shot him dead.”

The young man opened his eyes. “The story is as simple as that.”

“Ugh.” Old He made a strange face, then said with utter disbelief: “That is way too far-fetched. Setting aside the motive, are we saying a full-fledged Demon Tamer was taken down just like that by a few ordinary security guards?”

“The Eye Hunter was already heavily injured and near death at that point.”

“But it’s still too weird!” Old He clearly didn’t believe it. In fact, it wasn’t just him; Jiang Xun also felt the explanation was filled with perfunctory lies. But there was no helping it. He shook his head: “That’s what they said. They couldn’t even provide surveillance footage because the Yuansheng Building happens to be undergoing a comprehensive hardware overhaul and replacement; the cameras have been down for the past few days.”

“Crap, doesn’t that make it even more suspicious? And during the interrogation, the Eye Hunter said he was doing it for the money. Now he runs into the Yuansheng Building and dies there, and Yuansheng handles it this strangely—doesn’t that scream that something is fishy?”

“But we have no evidence.” Jiang Xun’s expression didn’t change. He knew something was wrong, but for a titan like the Yuansheng Group, the difficulty of a thorough investigation was immense. Often, the resistance didn’t even come from Yuansheng, but potentially from the higher-ups. It was a helpless situation.

“However, it wasn’t for nothing. While we can’t be absolutely certain that Yuansheng is the mastermind behind the kidnappings, there is definitely a connection between them. Combine that with the fact that the necklace was also linked to the Yuansheng Group…” The young man leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes again, murmuring, “The lost necklace and the serial disappearances… the two matters have actually linked up. Tch. This Yuansheng Group is not simple!”

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something else. He turned to An Ye in the back seat. “By the way, what about the Eye Hunter’s nest? Any news?”

Last night, although the Eye Hunter had seemingly discovered something and didn’t lead Jiang Xun to his nest—oddly entering the Yuansheng Building instead—he had previously been fleeing in a very specific direction. According to Jiang Xun’s estimation, the Eye Hunter didn’t have much stamina left at the time, so the nest definitely wouldn’t be too far.

In that case, as long as they centered their search on the point where he suddenly chose to deviate and searched all suspicious locations nearby, there was a high probability of finding his Yujing nest. With the Bureau’s resources, logically, there should have been a result by now.

Or so Jiang Xun thought. However…

“No news yet.” An Ye opened his device and flipped through the information, blinking. “It seems the Yujing branch is currently short-staffed, so this matter has been temporarily put on hold.”

“Ugh.” Hearing this, Old He reached up and scratched his bald head, his face full of astonishment. “What the hell is the Yujing branch doing? Are they really that busy? It’s not like there are Devilmen or demons popping up everywhere, right?”

“…”

Jiang Xun didn’t answer, only lightly pinching the bridge of his nose, lost in thought. Since he didn’t speak, the car soon fell into silence.

Finally, it was An Ye who spoke up. The bespectacled youth looked at the two in the front: “So, later, should we go look for it ourselves?”

“Let’s deliver the Kinship Finder first.” The Eye Hunter’s base was definitely important; it might hide other Relics and large quantities of magic potions, and clues about the disappearance cases might also be found there. But without help from the local Bureau, relying only on the three of them to search every suspicious location in that vicinity would be too time-consuming.

By contrast…

“Necklace… disappearances… cancer…” Jiang Xun leaned against the seat, deep in thought.

His subconscious muttering was overheard by Old He, and the bald man looked over with a puzzled expression: “Captain, what are you mumbling about?”

“I just suddenly thought—could all these things be related to a demon?”

“A demon?” Both Old He and An Ye looked over simultaneously.

The young man nodded slightly. “Right. Let’s assume for a moment that the necklace and the disappearances were indeed the work of Yuansheng. The question is: why did they do it?”

Before they could ask, Jiang Xun continued on his own: “That necklace is meaningless to an ordinary person, but it is the best material for summoning a demon. As for the serial disappearances, could kidnapping so many people also be related to a ritual? After all, the most common material for demonic rituals is living humans.”

“But… these are all just guesses.” As Jiang Xun had said before, they had no decisive evidence pointing to the Yuansheng Group for either the necklace or the disappearances. Based on suspicion alone, even they couldn’t directly move against a well-known local enterprise in Yujing.

The two teammates frowned deeply. To this, Jiang Xun suddenly revealed a smile.

“It is indeed just a guess. But did you forget? I remember the files I read clearly mentioned that the head of the Yuansheng Group, Yu Fu, suffered from a terminal illness over ten years ago, but then miraculously recovered.”

“Captain, you mean…” Old He and An Ye were quite sharp; they reacted immediately. An Ye spoke first: “Yu Fu’s recovery was related to a demon, and this time is likely a repeat offense?”

“Whether it’s a repeat offense or not, as long as there were also a large number of disappearances during the time Yu Fu was diagnosed with cancer, we can raise his suspicion level. Then, we can use the Bureau to launch an investigation into him and the Yuansheng Group!”

The Bureau was a special organization with its own set of rules. Normally, they needed to act according to the law, but if I suspect you are involved in summoning a demon… then I’m sorry, evidence or no evidence, special situations require special handling. Even the Yujing authorities have neither the power nor the courage to stop them.

To put it plainly, relying on shadows and rumors was useless, but if there was a reasonable suspicion, the situation would naturally be different.

Having thought this through, Jiang Xun told Old He to pull the car over immediately. He turned to An Ye: “Old He and I will go to the school to deliver the Kinship Finder. You head back to the police station first to pull the relevant archives and see if a serial disappearance case really happened back then.”

“Understood!”