68: Chapter 68 Discovering Clues

Chu Xuan's smile deepened. "Shall we go eat something else?"

The girl paused for a moment, then nodded with a slight blush. "Mhm."

"Eat more." Chu Xuan lightly tapped the table with his knuckles and led the girl away, leaving the young man behind to devour the soup dumplings.

"Boss, these are delicious! Give me two more baskets!"

Hearing the faint voice from behind, the quiet girl glanced back, then looked at Chu Xuan with a slightly suspicious expression, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.

Chu Xuan smiled softly and said, "I'll tell you a secret. My fingers can glow. Do you believe me?"

The quiet girl's brow smoothed over as she giggled. "I don't believe you!"

"Then let's find a place..."

Chu Xuan whispered something into the girl's ear, then headed to a themed hotel on the fifth floor of Mall Building B. He used the girl's money and ID card to book a waterbed room.

"I'll go take a shower first."

As if sensing what was about to happen, the girl went to the bathroom with a flushed face. Chu Xuan followed closely behind with his hands behind his back.

"Um... do you want to shower together?" The girl lowered her head, her blush reaching all the way to her ears.

"I only want you to die."

Chu Xuan drew his blade and pierced the girl's throat. Under her terrified and shocked gaze, he directly slit her neck and twisted off her head, staining the entire shower stall blood-red.

[You have slain Specter: Parasite. Your spirituality value +15.]

[Current spirituality value: 15]

After his sense for Specters became blurred, Chu Xuan's hunting efficiency slowed down significantly.

Following that, until evening, he only managed to kill three more, gaining 43 points of spirituality value. Combined with the previous 15, he had a total of 58 points.

During this time, the official manhunt for him resumed. The number of people involved was nearly double what it had been before, and such a commotion naturally caused some chaos.

The foot traffic in the Small Commodities Market began to gradually decrease, but this did not put much pressure on Chu Xuan.

The only thing that surprised him was that before long, all the law enforcement and armed personnel withdrew. Even the perimeter guards had left, leaving only some men in suits.

"They should be mostly worn down. I can leave after waiting a bit longer, but I still need a bit more spirituality value..."

Chu Xuan wasn't sure if his previous inability to enter the dream was due to insufficient spirituality value or because he could only activate his talent skill once a day.

However, he didn't intend to make useless attempts. He decided to wait until after midnight to sleep and enter the dream. This way, he could use the remaining time to earn more spirituality value, just in case.

Feeling the blurred guidance, Chu Xuan discovered that there were still a few Specters within the market. However, the sensation was too weak, and finding them would require some effort.

...

A business van drove into Entrance 1 of the Small Commodities Market. Tao Jiajia stepped out of the vehicle, her expression extremely grim.

She had just gone to a nearby hotel to rest for a while, thinking she would wake up to good news, but she hadn't expected there to be no progress at all.

"Hua Jun, how do you plan on explaining yourself now?"

"Captain Tao!"

Exhausted after half a day of struggle and drenched in sweat, Hua Jun said:

"It's really not for lack of effort. We had just started clearing the area when the higher-ups immediately called it off. They withdrew the law enforcement and armed personnel, and even the external Special Service Team was reassigned. They strictly demanded that we not disrupt public order, believing our Investigation Team was making too big of a scene and expressing considerable dissatisfaction..."

"Enough, say no more!"

Tao Jiajia's expression flickered with uncertainty and a flash of hesitation. After a long moment, she took a deep breath as if making a decision. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number, her frost-cold face quickly lighting up with a brilliant smile:

"Hello? Grandfather..."

"It's nothing, I just missed you a little..."

"Oh, I've just been busy with work. I'll come visit you in a couple of days..."

"You truly have great Divine Abilities, knowing everything that happens in the world without even leaving your home..."

"It's not really a setback, just a bit of minor trouble..."

"No! I don't want to go abroad. I want to achieve something here in Haicheng. I can't go losing face for you, right?"

"...Oh, Grandfather, don't you know my personality by now? I'm certain this time, I definitely won't disappoint you. This time, I'll make everyone see me in a new light..."

"Grandfather, I'm begging you, okay? This is nothing to you, just a small, willful use of power..."

"Good, good, good! Then I'll have to trouble you to coordinate things for me..."

"Hehe! No problem. On your birthday, I'll definitely give you a big surprise!"

The call ended, and the smile on Tao Jiajia's face vanished instantly, replaced once more by frost. She gave Hua Jun a cold look.

"Someone will contact you shortly. Whether it's requesting personnel for assistance or clearing the area, just state your requirements. They will give you full support."

At this point, Tao Jiajia's voice abruptly stopped. She raised a finger, a sharp, cold light flashing in her eyes. "I have only one requirement: you must catch Chu Xuan. Do not let my reputation be dragged down with yours!"

Cold sweat poured down Hua Jun's face as he hurriedly complied. Suddenly remembering something, he said, "Captain Tao, news just came in from Wang Yang..."

Tao Jiajia raised an eyebrow. "Did they catch Tang Zheng?"

"No, not that."

Hua Jun replied, "Tang Zheng's whereabouts were spotted near the Medical University just now. From his trajectory, it seems he's planning to return to the school. Wang Yang suspects... Tang Zheng might have overheard information about Qin Qing and the Night Watchers from your conversation at the hospital and is planning to go to the Medical University to seek help from the Night Watchers. Since it's been confirmed that his physical fitness is beyond normal, this possibility is very high..."

Tao Jiajia frowned. "The Night Watchers are still at the school? How is their progress?"

"The Scene Reconstruction has yielded initial results and is still ongoing. Relevant video materials will be sent over soon."

"Mhm."

Tao Jiajia nodded. "Arrange for more people to keep watch. We absolutely cannot let Tang Zheng come into contact with the Night Watchers. We must keep this person in our own hands; he has great scientific research value. By the way, don't his parents work in Haicheng? You can apply appropriate pressure on them. It's best if we can get Tang Zheng to come out on his own."

Hua Jun said, "I've already arranged it."

Tao Jiajia nodded in approval.

Just then, a capable-looking middle-aged woman walked over holding a tablet computer and said in a low voice, "Captain Tao, our people investigated and found that Chu Xuan's running around in this market isn't simply to evade our pursuit..."

"We carefully searched every location where he stayed for more than a minute. In those spots, we found a total of nine corpses of Strange Creaturess. Please take a look."

Tao Jiajia took it and looked. Her eyes suddenly constricted. She swiped through the images repeatedly and said in disbelief, "How can there be so many Strange Creaturess here? In such a small area, nine corpses were found... No... that's not right!"

Tao Jiajia suddenly clenched her fist. "Why are there so many corpses of Strange Creaturess in the places Chu Xuan passed through? Could it be... he did all this?"