117: Chapter 117 Preparing to Rank Up

Zhang Qiang nodded slightly. "Xiaotian, you'll be in charge of this."

Luo Xiaotian responded and led Chu Xuan to a small two-story building next to the Jialan Hall. These were the monks' quarters, which were now completely empty.

"It's cleaner here. Let's do it here."

Tang Zheng wanted to follow them inside, but Zhang Qiang pushed him out. He looked around before saying:

"Even though there shouldn't be any more danger here, it's better to leave someone behind just in case. You're an intern Inspector now, so I'll leave this arduous task to you."

"Alright," Tang Zheng said, feeling somewhat helpless.

Chu Xuan's heart stirred as he asked, "Will it take long?"

Luo Xiaotian said, "Everyone's situation is different. It can take as little as five minutes or as long as half an hour."

"Wait a moment then, I have a few words for Tang Zheng."

Seeing that Zhang Qiang was only focused on smoking and had no objections, Chu Xuan pulled Tang Zheng aside and spoke in a low voice:

"Do you remember where you were around three in the morning? I called and messaged you back then, but no one answered."

"I was near the school then."

Tang Zheng frowned slightly, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes. "Tao Jiajia's Investigation Team was searching for me at the time. I threw my phone away for fear of being found. But I didn't expect her to not only issue a warrant for both of us but even send people to threaten my parents at their workplace. Even if you hadn't killed her, I would have settled the score myself!"

As the saying goes, 'with a weapon in hand, the intent to kill arises.' After the Night Demon Incident in the dormitory, Tang Zheng was no longer the naive youth he once was.

Tao Jiajia's actions had undoubtedly crossed Tang Zheng's line, causing him to grit his teeth in hatred as he spoke.

"Back at the hospital, I heard Tao Jiajia and the others mention the Night Watchers several times and learned they were at the school. So, I tried to go there to ask for help. But I didn't expect her to have people blocking the perimeter, preventing me from getting close. It wasn't until around three in the morning that I found an acquaintance at a net cafe near our school and asked him to help me get close to the Night Watchers."

Hearing this, Chu Xuan immediately asked, "Which acquaintance did you find?"

"It's our friend from the Combat Club, Qin Shaowu!"

"Qin Shaowu?"

Chu Xuan's heart stirred as a figure immediately came to mind. During university, this person had been on very good terms with them, often going out for drinks and karaoke after training, though they lived in different dormitories.

Chu Xuan opened his contacts, scrolled through, and quickly found Qin Shaowu's name.

Tang Zheng gave a slightly awkward laugh. "Without him, I would have just activated my talent skill and charged through. But since I was afraid the Night Watchers might have ill intentions toward us just like Tao Jiajia, I kept a trump card for self-preservation. Looking back, I guess I overthought it."

Chu Xuan thought for a few seconds and asked again, "Your talent skill has a one-minute daily limit. If you don't use it all at once, can you use the rest later?"

Tang Zheng mused, "I can continue using it within the same day, but it doesn't carry over to the next."

Chu Xuan slowly closed his eyes, quickly considering if there was anything he had missed.

"What's up? Why are you suddenly asking all this?" Tang Zheng asked, puzzled.

"Nothing. I'm getting ready to carry you to a higher rank."

Chu Xuan slowly opened his eyes, a slight smirk playing on his lips. Ignoring Tang Zheng's bewildered expression, he walked alone to a pillar. After obscuring Zhang Qiang's view, he took out his phone.

Looking at his own reflection on the black screen of his phone, a silver light flashed in his eyes.

"My talent is [Heavenly Secret]... Through this talent, I learned that Chen Qing is a monster... Following vague guidance, I discovered the way to escape and that Room 1104 is the dormitory node, and I looked for Qin Qing inside the dorm..."

"[Precognitive Dream] and communicating with [Future Tang Zheng] are merely delusions of my subconscious; they do not exist. I should forget them until this test is over, at which point I will return to normal..."

Chu Xuan spoke silently to himself. He knew this series of actions might attract Zhang Qiang's attention, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to try and see if he could pass this test.

In an instant, a flicker of daze and confusion passed through Chu Xuan's eyes; his self-perception had been altered.

Returning to the room and closing the door, Zhang Qiang stood to the side smoking silently, while Luo Xiaotian gave a gentle smile. "Don't be nervous. We're just going through the motions. Usually, there aren't any issues. Let's officially begin."

As he spoke, Luo Xiaotian turned on the body camera on his shoulder and walked over holding a compass-like object. Besides a long and a short needle, it had a small light bulb glowing with white light.

"This is the ghost-hunting compass recently developed by the Research Department. Once fully charged, the sensing range can be adjusted up to a maximum diameter of 500 meters."

"Within the sensing range, if a Specter manifests its eerie form, this white bulb will turn red. The short needle will point toward the nearest Specter, while the long needle will point to a value between 1 and 100, representing the detected Specter's strength."

"Values from 1 to 10 represent a D-rank Specter, 11 to 40 is a C-rank Ghost, 41 to 70 is a B-rank Ghost, and 71 to 100 is an A-Rank Specter. Of course, this is only a preliminary identification based on the detected Specter's aura. There might be some errors, and it doesn't account for the strength of their skills. Generally speaking, a low value doesn't necessarily mean it's weak, but a high value definitely means it's strong!"

Chu Xuan stared at the compass for a moment, then suddenly looked up and asked, "What if it's an S-rank Specter?"

"Then this ghost-hunting compass might just explode."

Luo Xiaotian shrugged. "Come on, place your hand on it. If it's a human parasitized by a Specter, physical contact will reveal them even if they haven't manifested their eerie form or released their unique aura."

Chu Xuan's expression remained unchanged. He noticed that although Luo Xiaotian appeared relaxed, there was a slight hint of tension and unnaturalness in his emotions when he said this.

Although this emotional fluctuation was fleeting—and perhaps because the other's Mental Energy was stronger than his, making the feeling vague—Chu Xuan didn't think his intuition was wrong.

Because this was an ability brought about by [Heart Bewitchment].

With a slight thought, Chu Xuan didn't delay any further and directly placed his hand on it.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...

A full five seconds passed, and still, nothing happened. Luo Xiaotian's lips curled into a smile. "Not parasitized. You've passed the preliminary test. Please sit. Next, I'll conduct some routine questions and answers, which will serve as the scoring criteria."

Luo Xiaotian gestured for Chu Xuan to sit, then took out a glowing sphere about the size of a volleyball.

"Everyone has their own secrets they'd rather not share, and these might flash through one's mind inadvertently. That's why we never support manual Mind Reading during the newcomer testing phase. So, we had the Research Department develop this lie detector."

"Unlike ordinary lie detectors on the market, this one was developed with the assistance of a Transcendent who possesses a Mind Reading skill. When your answer doesn't match what you're thinking, it will immediately trigger an alert."

"And that Transcendent who assisted in the development is our very own Old Zhang—a Transcendent who has mastered a Level 4 Mind Reading skill!"

"Call me Uncle Qiang," Zhang Qiang said flatly, blowing a column of smoke three meters long that enveloped Luo Xiaotian's face.