Chu Bamboo’s eye twitched.

However, after his experience with Li Kang... he realized that Ning Linglong probably didn’t understand what he was saying either. ’Does she think I’m casting a spell? Wait, why did I suddenly say that? Isn’t that a famous saying from the Taoist School...?’

In the next moment, Ning Linglong’s tone quickened as she switched back to Dream Language. "Earth, fire, wind, water—water, come! Form of the vortex!"

Terrifying waves swelled from thin air, forming into water blades that spun relentlessly, crashing into the black shadow like a small maelstrom.

The black shadow struggled and roared. The shrill sound made the already cracked glass tremble violently before suddenly shattering.

"??? What’s happening now?"

"Ah! My ears..."

"What the hell was that?"

The angry shouts of neighbors echoed from all around, mixed with the faint, anxious sounds of people wondering if there had been an explosion somewhere.

"...Good!" Ning Linglong let out a breath she’d been holding. Then, her pupils suddenly contracted.

The water blades had formed a vortex, trapping the black shadow and preventing it from escaping.

But the infant ghost extended its sharp claws. From its small hands, its fingernails grew continuously, ultimately reaching a length that surpassed its entire arm.

Pierced! Shredded!

And then...

The infant ghost spun in mid-air and shot directly toward Li Kang. Its claws were already aimed at his abdomen from afar!

Li Kang remained calm. With a swift motion, he lifted the safe next to him and slammed it down over the infant ghost!

CLANG—

Inside the safe, the infant ghost slammed against the walls relentlessly. Li Kang held the safe tightly shut, the veins on his arms bulging.

Chu Bamboo: "...?"

’Seriously, how much strength are you using?’

Chu Bamboo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He’d just been thinking that trapping it didn’t seem all that hard. But he never imagined the infant ghost wouldn’t just go quiet and powerless once inside. ’It can still cause such a commotion in there?!’

Chu Bamboo knew very well that Li Kang was much stronger than him. If even he was struggling this much... if it had been Chu Bamboo...

Chu Bamboo shuddered. He’d probably have ended up as its male mother!

Finally, the infant ghost quieted down.

"...It’s over!" Li Kang took a couple of gasps for air. At that moment, he looked utterly exhausted, and faint black patterns had appeared in the whites of his eyes.

"The enemy... is dead?" Chu Bamboo glanced at Li Kang but didn’t dwell on it, getting straight to the point. After a slight pause, Chu Bamboo looked at Ning Linglong. "And you..."

"Dealt with? I wouldn’t say that!" Ning Linglong said. She stared intently at the air, where the black shadow was now dissipating like snowflakes. "That wasn’t a Cultivator at all!"

"Then what was it!" Chu Bamboo’s expression turned grim.

"It was a Divine Technique! To be precise, a derivative of a Cultivator’s Divine Technique!" Li Kang said softly, his expression grave. "The enemy hasn’t been dealt with! They’re nearby... Ning Linglong!"

"I know. I’m trying to sense them." Ning Linglong’s eyes were half-closed, her tone rushed. A crystalline Divine Light flickered on her forehead.

A moment later, Ning Linglong gave a bitter smile and retracted the Divine Light. "I can’t sense them... After all, my Divine Technique doesn’t specialize in Spiritual Perception! If it were Wall Announcements... well, even though his is perception-based, he hasn’t developed it enough yet. He might not be much better than me..."

"So, the capture failed?" Chu Bamboo’s expression was unreadable.

"It failed!" Li Kang slapped his cheeks. "Next, I need to deal with the neighbors!"

Li Kang took off his jacket, revealing the Patrol Uniform underneath, and prepared to go out and calm the awakened neighbors one by one. After a moment’s hesitation, to prevent the killer from doubling back for a surprise attack, Li Kang pushed the safe containing the infant ghost toward Chu Bamboo.

"And you, don’t think you can just slack off..." Ning Linglong sighed, took two steps, and nudged Guan Fei with her foot.

However, Guan Fei didn’t move at all.

Ning Linglong raised her eyebrows, kicked him again, and still got no response. "?"

Chu Bamboo’s eyelid twitched. He quickly knelt by Guan Fei’s side, first feeling for a pulse in his neck, then pinching the philtrum below his nose. "...Let me ask a question. For a Body Refiner, if there’s no pulse and no breathing, are they dead or in some other state?"

Li Kang: "..."

Ning Linglong: "?!"

Both of them were stunned, their minds going completely blank.

"Wait... it was that attack, but, but, but, this..." Ning Linglong stammered, her voice filled with disbelief, her eyes vacant.

"Looks like this wasn’t a rogue Transcendent!" A flicker of emotion crossed Li Kang’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He muttered, "A rogue Transcendent assassin of this strength might exist, but a poison that can instantly kill a Quasi-Level 2 Body Refiner! That’s definitely not something an ordinary rogue Transcendent could possess."

Although that sword strike injured Guan Fei, with his physique, it should have been far from fatal. Considering the enemy’s Divine Technique was shadow-based, not poison-based, the only possibility is that the blade was coated with poison!

’So cautious!’

Li Kang paced back and forth. It wasn’t that he wasn’t angry, but he had long grown accustomed to it... He had seen far too many of his subordinates, his colleagues, his seniors, die for one reason or another.

Chu Bamboo lowered his gaze. After a brief silence, he suddenly asked, "How much do you understand about the enemy’s methods? Do you have any theories about their origin? What kind of poison was it? If you could go back one hour and redeploy, is there a way to catch the enemy in the shortest amount of time? If so, how?"

"...What’s the point of saying all this now? Besides, with your level of strength..."

"Answer me," Chu Bamboo cut Ning Linglong off.

Ning Linglong’s breath hitched. She gave Chu Bamboo a deep look and said quietly, "The enemy should still be within a one-kilometer radius right now! But they’ve probably already fled? Maybe?"

"As for their methods, it should be a Divine Technique of the Demonic Path. While there are rogue Demonic Cultivators, a rogue probably couldn’t get their hands on a strictly controlled poison like this. It has to be one of the Demon Dao Sects, right?"

"...The Five Poison Society, the Joyful Union Association, or maybe the All-Powerful Association?" Li Kang thought for a moment, then looked at Chu Bamboo. "These are all major Churches of the Demonic Path! The kind that are on the Official most-wanted lists... As it stands, the All-Powerful Association is the most likely suspect! Because the All-Powerful Association is primarily rooted here in Jinghai. However, considering poison was involved this time... the Five Poison Society is also a suspect!"

Chu Bamboo: "..."

On the surface, Chu Bamboo was calm, but his mind was reeling. He looked at Li Kang again, his tone inscrutable. "Are you sure... the All-Powerful Association is the most likely suspect?"

"...What do you mean by that?" Li Kang was baffled.

Chu Bamboo didn’t answer... because he knew all three of those organizations! You could even say he was very familiar with them.

Due to the policy of Extraordinary isolation, Chu Bamboo had previously been largely unaware of matters involving Transcendents.

But... aside from the world of the Extraordinary, Chu Bamboo knew practically everything about the city beneath his feet—

The significance of this fact was, frankly, ridiculously high!

It was just that recently, ever since he’d started interacting with the people from the Captain’s Office, all they’d handled were matters involving the Extraordinary, so he hadn’t had a chance to show it...