Chapter 23 – Suspicious Group, Mysterious Existence

At this moment, Su Ming, who had already left the Academy, naturally had no idea that the Academy Beauties he had encountered earlier had met each other and their relationship had become somewhat tense.

Currently, Su Ming was strolling through the streets of Longyao City like an ordinary person, blending into the crowd while stroking his chin in thought.

“Since I’m already out, I might as well start working on the task Xu Qianqian entrusted to me.”

With this thought, Su Ming turned into a narrow alley, deliberately avoiding both pedestrians and street surveillance cameras as he entered a deserted area.

He repeatedly confirmed that there was no one else around besides himself before taking an item out of his backpack.

It was a device that resembled a honeycomb in appearance.

Su Ming opened the device like flipping open a phone case, revealing an input panel.

He then placed one of his fingers on the input panel.

The next second, the input panel lit up.

It appeared to be scanning his fingerprint, emitting faint glows of modern technology as it sampled his finger, while continuous beeping sounds came from inside the honeycomb.

While waiting for the scan to complete, Su Ming murmured softly.

“It’s been almost a week since that night. Though it might be a bit of a stretch, it should still be able to detect the Spirit Power from that evening, right?”

The honeycomb-shaped device in Su Ming’s hand was actually an alchemical tool he had obtained from a package.

It could detect residual Spirit Power on the person being touched and track the source of the Qi.

On the night they encountered the Suspicious Group, while in a concealed state, Su Ming had been scouted by two Sorcerers from the group using [Lifting Restraint Flow], with their Spirit Power waves sweeping over him multiple times.

Under such circumstances, it was highly likely that residual Spirit Power from those two Sorcerers remained on Su Ming’s body. Even if faint, there should still be traces to follow.

That’s why Su Ming was using this alchemical tool that resembled modern equipment – to detect any residual Spirit Power on himself and see if he could track down those two Sorcerers.

The results didn’t disappoint Su Ming.

Soon after, the honeycomb completed its scan. The input panel began to sink down, as if opening a small doorway, allowing numerous bees to fly out.

“Buzz buzz”

The bees hovered in the air with faint buzzing sounds for a few seconds before dispersing in all directions.

Watching the swarm scatter, Su Ming stood in place and muttered to himself.

“The residual Spirit Power has been detected, but whether we can track the source remains unknown.”

The bees would gradually spread out and search the surroundings. Once they detected Spirit Power fluctuations matching the scanned residual Spirit Power values, the honeycomb would react accordingly.

In other words, if the bee swarm failed to find matching Spirit Power fluctuations, this search would certainly fail.

“Well, I hope those two haven’t been cautious enough to constantly suppress their Spirit Power or erase the Spirit Power fluctuations they left behind in their activity range.”

This was what Su Ming hoped for.Although Su Ming possessed more than one type of tool for searching specific individuals, the other search artifacts were either consumables or had unstable effects. Only this Hive could be reused repeatedly while remaining sufficiently covert and reliable. If possible, Su Ming naturally hoped to achieve his goal using only the Hive.

“Speaking of which, Xu Qianqian did send over her previous investigation records, right?”

Su Ming recalled this matter and took out his phone.

Earlier this morning, Xu Qianqian had apparently already sent the encrypted file she promised last night to Su Ming’s phone.

Unfortunately, due to An Zijin’s surprise visit to the Male Dormitory, Su Ming had been awakened by Ye Bai’s harassment and hadn’t had time to check it.

Now, Su Ming finally had the mood and leisure to review these investigation records.

“Let me see what our Academy Beauty Xu has discovered after investigating that group for so long.”

Su Ming began examining the encrypted files.

The content of the files wasn’t as extensive as Su Ming had imagined.

They recorded Xu Qianqian’s daily activities since receiving the investigation mission, appearing quite methodical and giving the impression of a formal investigation report.

While Xu Qianqian had written many things in the report, after browsing through it, Su Ming found that there wasn’t actually much useful information.

“According to Xu Qianqian’s report, the Suspicious Group was first detected showing activity signs forty days ago, but she only received this mission ten days ago, so her investigation period hasn’t been long.”

Before the mission fell into Xu Qianqian’s hands, the Base City higher-ups had been sending people to investigate. However, due to the covert protection from the Suspicious Group’s backers, almost none of the investigators managed to make contact with the Suspicious Group.

Later, when Xu Qianqian received this mission, she maintained a normal routine of attending classes on the surface while secretly conducting investigations everywhere, thoroughly checking all locations where the Suspicious Group had previously caused disturbances.

But initially, Xu Qianqian similarly made little progress.

Therefore, based on the Suspicious Group’s activity range, Xu Qianqian continuously searched various areas and ultimately discovered that the Suspicious Group was pursuing something.

Having discovered this, Xu Qianqian stopped looking for the Suspicious Group and instead began searching for whatever it was that the group was chasing.

This time, Xu Qianqian actually managed to find some activity traces of this mysterious entity.

Thus, several days ago, Xu Qianqian followed the mysterious entity’s activity signs to conduct her investigation and set up surveillance, eventually succeeding in spotting the Suspicious Group that night.

Unfortunately, just as Xu Qianqian was preparing to investigate the Suspicious Group more deeply, someone targeted her and severely injured her through a surprise attack.

“Judging by Xu Qianqian’s account, the assailant doesn’t seem to have any real connection to this mission or the Suspicious Group.”

Su Ming pondered thoughtfully.

He speculated that the person who attacked Xu Qianqian might have been an assassin who had been monitoring the Young Miss all along, and seeing Xu Qianqian going out late at night to investigate the Suspicious Group, seized the opportunity to strike.

As for why someone would target Xu Qianqian, there were far too many possible reasons.

“It could be enemies of the Xu Family deliberately targeting their outstanding younger generation, or it could even be due to malicious internal competition within the Xu Family itself.”Only then would Xu Qianqian be forced to abandon her current mission, without explaining the reasons to Su Ming, and face the ambusher alone.

Between a suspicious group that posed no threat to her and an ambusher who endangered her life, property, and even her Family’s safety, Xu Qianqian clearly understood which was more critical.

Su Ming had never intended to involve himself in the conflicts between major Families. Once he realized this, he immediately stopped paying attention to the matter.

“What I should focus on is that suspicious group. Xu Qianqian’s own affairs should be left for her to worry about.”

That was what Su Ming thought.

“The problem is, this means Xu Qianqian herself doesn’t know much about it either.”

That night, Xu Qianqian had just begun her deeper investigation when she was ambushed.

As it turned out, the ambusher fled far away after failing their single strike. Severely wounded, Xu Qianqian suffered mental abnormalities due to her unique traits, leaving her confused and irrational. After driving off the ambusher, she inexplicably continued tracking the suspicious group.

Later, Xu Qianqian encountered Su Ming, who had been trying to avoid trouble, leading to a conflict between them.

Only after Xu Qianqian absorbed some of Su Ming’s blood did her injuries heal and her mental state recover. Without a word, the Young Miss then withdrew.

It wasn’t until yesterday that Xu Qianqian approached Su Ming and formally entrusted him with this matter.

This was the complete record of Xu Qianqian’s involvement in the incident.

“Not very useful to me.”

After reading the record, Su Ming reached this conclusion.

However, Xu Qianqian’s approach reminded him of something.

“Perhaps I should follow Xu Qianqian’s example and start with that mysterious being pursued by the suspicious group.”

Su Ming recalled the events of that night.

At that time, the suspicious group seemed to have discovered something, ultimately chasing down the mysterious being and engaging in a fierce battle.

“Judging by the commotion that night, the mysterious being must possess considerable power. It managed to hold its own against twenty or thirty Hunters and Sorcerers—its origins must be significant.”

The Hunters and Sorcerers in the suspicious group were all professionals, each far surpassing the students at the Academy in strength.

That the mysterious being could hold off such a group for so long, remaining uncaptured for over a month, spoke volumes about its capabilities.

“What exactly is that being?”

Su Ming pondered.

A minute later, he made a decision.

“Let’s go take a look at where they fought that night.”

Having settled on this plan, Su Ming turned and headed toward the suburbs.

……

Those suburbs lay in the uninhabited area behind the Demon Hunter Academy.

Su Ming cautiously passed by the Demon Hunter Academy, entered the suburbs, and dashed through the grass. After passing the spot where he had encountered Xu Qianqian and where they had made their deal yesterday, he continued upward.

His destination was the site of the explosion that had drawn the suspicious group there that night.

But when Su Ming arrived, he found the area had been cordoned off.

Base City law enforcement officers were scattered around, setting up yellow tape around the perimeter as if sealing off a crime scene.Some stood guard before the yellow tape, some took photographs as if collecting evidence, others conducted searches, while a few engaged in hushed conversations, lending the scene an air of solemnity.

“It seems the commotion caused by that Suspicious Group and the mysterious entity is no small matter.”

While thinking this, Su Ming did not retreat. Instead, he retrieved the honeycomb device once more.

“Let’s detect the residual Spirit Power here and see if we can uncover anything.”

Su Ming opened the honeycomb, but this time, instead of scanning himself, he directed it toward the scene.

As soon as the scan began, several bees immediately flew out from the honeycomb. After a brief buzzing, they headed in a specific direction.

“This is…”

Su Ming was momentarily taken aback. Once he regained his composure, he promptly pursued them.

(End of Chapter)