Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 44 - 23: Tracking
July 27, 2014, 2:47 PM. Fuhe River North Road.
Munching on three french hot dogs (1020 Calories) as he walked, Su Zhou disguised himself as a gluttonous student, inching his way closer to the crime scene nearest his home.
The crime scene was near the Hongzhou Museum and Hongcheng Library, so even after such a vicious crime, there was still a decent crowd. Su Zhou blended in perfectly. His age and demeanor raised no suspicion; no one could see through his disguise as a student leisurely strolling and snacking.
"I can sense the Evil Demon’s aura."
Peeking out from beside Su Zhou’s ear, Yara’s straightforward declaration let him know that this case was not the work of some deviant serial killer, but truly the handiwork of an Evil Demon.
He nodded slightly. "Okay, got it. Can you tell what type of Evil Demon it is?"
"The scent is too faint. I can only confirm it’s one of the old acquaintances." The Snake Spirit narrowed its eyes, seemingly trying to get a more detailed sense of it, but ultimately came up with nothing.
It didn’t seem to mind, however, and prompted Su Zhou, "Try to feel it. This is the aura of an Evil Demon. You might have to identify it on your own in the future."
"Mm."
Taking a bite of his hot dog, he savored the sweet and sour taste of the ketchup. Su Zhou chewed while closing his eyes to sense the ’Evil Demon’ aura Yara had mentioned. When he opened them again, he had already activated his Spiritual Vision.
He could see several police cars around the crime scene, which was cordoned off with yellow tape. The body had long since been removed, but police were still on-site, surveying and analyzing.
Beyond that, a very faint, brown trail of Spiritual Qi was visible at the scene, standing out clearly.
"I see it. I’m getting a feel for it now. There’s a faint, cloying smell... like insects? But strangely, there’s also a plant-like sense of tranquility."
Su Zhou wasn’t joking. He could really sense a ’sweet, cloying’ scent mixed in with the ’smell of people’. This scent carried a strange sense of vast, distant grandeur. Smelling it was like finding oneself meditating, rooted amidst the cosmos and the starry sky... or even in a vaster expanse of space and time.
"That is the scent of a Soul and Divinity."
The Snake Spirit guided Su Zhou to continue sensing it, teaching him patiently in a gentle tone. "Every Soul has a different scent, as does every race. Compared to ordinary people, the scent of a Transcendent is much stronger."
"And the scent of Divinity can induce synesthesia in ordinary people—seeing it allows them to smell it, smelling it feels like touching it, and touching it lets them taste it. It can even make one feel as if they are in a Divine Realm."
This immediately made Su Zhou thoughtful. "That makes sense. The Resentful Spirit’s Spiritual Energy Fragments had a spicy scent. I guess that must be the smell of a soul filled with resentment."
He wondered what the Evil Demon Core with Divinity that Yara mentioned would taste like.
Recalling the scent of the Resentful Spirit and imagining the taste of Divinity, Su Zhou felt his mouth water. He took another bite of his hot dog, then turned to leave. "Looks like this Evil Demon is at least several dozen times stronger than the Resentful Spirit. Yep, I’ve memorized this scent. I’ll come back later for a closer look."
"Did you memorize the taste of the hot dog or the scent of the Evil Demon?"
"It’s fine, they’re both the same."
July 28, 2014, 12:17 AM.
The custom-made Night Travel Clothes and mask from Shao Qiming were ready. A special delivery person had brought them to his door that afternoon, ostensibly delivering a box of books, magazines, and various movie and TV merchandise, with the gear hidden inside.
It had to be said, Shao Qiming was far more thorough than Su Zhou. The set of gear included not only the navy blue Night Travel Clothes, a face mask, and a hood, but also night-vision goggles, a tactical belt with numerous clips, thin anti-slip and anti-fingerprint gloves... and on top of that, soft, silent stealth shoes, compressible hardened plastic bags for carrying items, a universal set of lockpicks, grappling hooks for climbing, and more. Su Zhou even had the fleeting thought, ’I could be a phantom thief!’
"Hold on, I’m supposed to be upholding justice by slaying demons and exorcising evil. Why am I geared up like a special agent?"
"This gear is just too weird!"
Despite his complaints, Su Zhou quickly changed into the full outfit.
"This is awesome!"
It was probably because Aunt Wen had bought him clothes before and left his measurements on file; Su Zhou found the Night Travel Clothes fit him perfectly. Equipped with the full set, he looked truly professional, which would certainly save him a lot of trouble.
Following a familiar route through the blind spots of security cameras, he jumped from his building and took off. With the staff slung across his back, Su Zhou sped down a wooded path—while wandering around during the day, he had already found a sufficiently hidden route that led straight to the crime scene.
Su Zhou couldn’t guarantee that his movements were completely undetected, but he was sure that any surveillance camera would at most only capture a blurry black shadow flashing by like a phantom.
Along the way, Su Zhou moved like a gale. He darted through the shadows of trees, used tree trunks as pivots to launch himself, scrambled up the sides of buildings, and sprinted and leaped across the rooftops of low-rise structures.
Su Zhou even climbed to the top of a tall building, then took a running leap towards a shorter building not far away. Aided by the power of ’Wind Aid,’ he carved a long arc through the air, landing lightly on the rooftop.
Parkour? No, parkour couldn’t even compare.
This feeling of running without obstruction, of moving wherever he pleased—for a human, it was a freedom second only to flight.
’This is the kind of life I’ve longed for...’
The simple sentiment flashed through his mind and was gone. Soon, Su Zhou had snuck into the vicinity of Fuhe River North Road.
Following the sound of the wind, he hid in the shadows of a tree. He could see the yellow caution tape was still up, but there weren’t many people left at the scene. The necessary surveying had been completed, leaving only two Patrol officers, presumably on stakeout, monitoring from a nearby car.
But this was just a superficial illusion.
Su Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly. Without using his Spiritual Vision, he could ’smell’ at least three other hidden Patrol officers in the vicinity.
’Looks like the authorities know something’s wrong. This is some heavy surveillance.’
Of course, Su Zhou wasn’t here to pick a fight with the Patrol—he closed his eyes, then opened them again, activating his Spiritual Vision.
And just like that, the brown trail of Spiritual Qi appeared before his eyes.
The trail, which had been hard to see clearly during the day because of the crowd, had now grown even fainter. It looked like it would disappear completely in a few more days. For now, however, it was enough for Su Zhou to trace its origin. He could see the trail spiraling before plunging directly into the adjacent river, where it continued to swirl and extend.
’Just as I thought, a water Demon—or at least, one that can swim.’
Su Zhou focused his gaze and could still faintly make out traces of the Spiritual Qi in the water. If the water weren’t obscuring the light, and if the brown Spiritual Light weren’t so inconspicuous, he felt he probably could have seen exactly where the trail led. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
But it didn’t matter much right now. After getting a rough idea of the direction, Su Zhou slipped away, preparing to circle around from a less-populated side to track the Evil Demon’s trail.
While on the move, a thought occurred to him, and he asked with some concern, "Yara, if I can see other people’s Spiritual Qi trails, does that mean they can see mine too?"
As he said this, he glanced back over his shoulder—and saw nothing.
"Is the Perfection body a joke? Unless you’re grievously injured—I’m talking missing-an-arm-or-a-leg kind of maimed—your Spiritual Qi fluctuations are basically locked inside your body."
Yara’s tone was practically one long sigh in response to Su Zhou’s question. "Let’s not even get into how Spiritual Vision is a common skill in the Era of Spiritual Qi Revival. Right now, aside from a naturally born Awakener like you, everyone else needs auxiliary tools like Talismans to use it, so it’s considered a high-level technique. Still, you should at least be mindful of your own tracks before you go tracking others."
"That’s something you should have thought of long ago. I thought you had already realized it, but apparently not..."
"Oh." Su Zhou was rather unfazed. He knew he was still young and lacked life experience, so it was perfectly normal for there to be gaps in his thinking.
If it were about something else, he might have argued, but there was no need on this point. Besides, just as Yara said, there were Wisdom Fruits in his future.
And just as the young man began to directly follow the Spiritual Qi trail, searching for the Evil Demon’s lair...
At another crime scene, a different group of people was also conducting a careful analysis.
