Chapter 1 The Beginning

Monday, sunny.

In a place like Songhai, rush hour is always a headache. Whether on the elevated roads or the ground, the traffic congestion makes one's blood pressure soar.

Ordinary office workers take the subway, avoiding the trouble of traffic jams, but they have to endure being squeezed from all sides.

In the morning sunlight, Zhang Yuanqing, with a backpack on his shoulders and a shared bicycle, sped through the bustling streets of Songhai, a jianbing guozi (pancake with egg and fillings) in his mouth.

He easily overtook one private car, business car, and bus after another, the vigor of youth flying with his bangs.

Songhai University is five or six kilometers away from his grandmother's house. It only takes 15 minutes by bicycle, so he usually doesn't live on campus.

Because of his advancement to Night Watcher, the bicycle, which was usually very tiring to pedal, was now something he sped to the university gate in one breath without stopping, taking out his mobile phone to see that it only took ten minutes.

If there weren't so many electric bikes on the bike path, he could have been even faster.

Songhai University was founded at the beginning of the last century, 120 years ago, and is a top university in the country.

In addition to high-quality teaching resources, Songhai University's two biggest features are: Famous flowers are good at finding good masters, and warriors dare to strike swords.

Grandma used to warn her youngest daughter (Xiao Yi) that girls should know how to protect themselves in school. Now that she is older, she warns her grandson that boys should protect themselves in school.

Grandma is very dissatisfied with this world.

Entering the school gate and passing the main axis where the founder's sculpture stands, he slowly rode along the road on the right side planted with sycamore trees towards the teaching building.

The environment inside the college is elegant and quiet. Students are either shooting short videos, chatting on benches by the roadside, or rushing to class with textbooks in their arms.

The wide and clean streets, green lawns, and old dormitory buildings look more like a quiet high-end residential area at a glance; the feeling of being in a school is not strong.

Zhang Yuanqing parked his bicycle outside the building, put on his backpack, and entered the complex building.

Arriving at the stepped classroom, Zhang Yuanqing glanced around; the students were scattered in twos and threes, and many students skipped class.

He randomly picked a seat, and as soon as he sat down, he heard two boys behind him talking in low voices:

"I just saw Xu Yingying at the school gate. She's waiting for her sugar daddy again."

"Nonsense, how could my goddess be kept?"

"Really, a man comes to pick her up every Monday, driving a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands. I saw it last Monday."

"Did you see clearly? Maybe it's a Didi."

"Would you kiss a Didi driver?"

"...Damn it, girls liked academic masters when they were in middle school, but when they got to college, girls liked rich people from outside. When will ordinary boys be able to stand up?"

Xu Yingying is a girl in the same class. She is very beautiful and is their class beauty.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but turn his head, smiling and teasing, "The waifus in your hard drive can help you stand up."

The two boys seemed not to expect Zhang Yuanqing to interject and were stunned for a moment.

Zhang Yuanqing looked at them and said, "What's wrong?"

A male classmate named Li Lesheng "ha"-ed: "Zhang Yuanqing, what good thing happened to you today? This doesn't seem like you."

Zhang Yuanqing was stunned: "Why do you say that?"

Li Lesheng was about to speak when the teacher with black-rimmed glasses walked in with a book in his arms, and the chattering classroom immediately quieted down.

..........

Kanyang District, Mai Le Hotel.

"Ding!"

On the 16th floor, the elevator door opened, and Li Dongze, dressed in a suit with a black vest and a white shirt, walked out of the car, leaning on a cane.

His thin face was full of solemnity, followed by Guan Ya.

The entire floor was cleared of guests. A cordon was set up at the entrance of the elevator leading to the corridor, and two security guards stood guard at the cordon.

Guan Ya stepped forward in high heels and showed her credentials.

The security guard immediately opened the way.

On the way down the corridor to the room, several uniformed security guards were busy, either taking pictures or collecting fingerprints, hair, and other items.

Li Dongze glanced at the crowd and entered the hotel room, immediately smelling a bloody smell.

His eyes swept over the hotel suite. Two bodies covered with white cloths were lying on the bed, and large areas of dark red blood stains were stained on the white sheets.

Li Dongze stretched out his cane and uncovered the white cloth. A man and a woman were lying on the bed, naked.

He was silent for a moment, and his voice was low: "It's indeed Zhao Yingjun."

Guan Ya carefully checked every corner of the room, and wisps of white mist overflowed from her pupils. After a while, she said:

"There are no traces of fighting in the room, and no traces of artificial handling... There are only two condoms in the trash can, but three condoms are missing from the box..."

After speaking, she looked at the female victim with some pity.

Li Dongze put the white cloth back on and said in a deep voice:

"Guan Ya, you stay here to assist the security guards in collecting fingerprints and hair, and retrieving surveillance videos. I need to contact Chief Fu and the captains. We may need to have a meeting."

Guan Ya nodded slightly: "I will synchronize the scene details and character information to your mobile phone later."

Zhao Yingjun is a consultant to the Xiangshui Road Security Department, a member of the White Tiger Soldiers, and a Level 2 Scout.

A Five Elements Alliance member was killed. This is a major event.

...........

Second floor of the villa, small conference room.

The conference room is decorated very exquisitely and luxuriously. The floor is covered with soft wool carpets, and a solid wood long conference table is placed in the middle.

The table is filled with exquisite fruit platters, crystal clear ham slices, expensive imported red wine, boxes of cigars, and exquisite desserts.

At the end of the conference table, a white projection screen hangs down, playing a hotel surveillance video.

In the video, a man wearing a baseball cap and mask walks from the direction of the elevator entrance, goes to the guest room door, takes out the room card to open the door, and enters the room.

Forty minutes later, the man walks out of the room, puts his hands in his pockets, lowers his head, and leaves.

The video ends, Li Dongze presses the pause button, looks at the captains at the table, and says:

"This morning, we received a police report from the hotel. When the waiter cleaned the room, she couldn't open the door, so she went into the room to check and found that the two had been killed. Zhao Yingjun was tortured before his death, with knife wounds all over his body, and his hands and feet were tied, but the fatal wound was being pierced through the heart by a sharp weapon.

"The female deceased is called Liu Xiao'e, and she was also stabbed through the heart by a sharp weapon, but she was not tortured. According to the missing condoms at the scene, we suspect that she was insulted by the murderer before her death.

"In addition, the Security Department checked the mobile phones of the two people and confirmed that Liu Xiao'e was Zhao Yingjun's mistress.

"We retrieved the surveillance footage from other entrances and exits of the hotel and did not find out how the murderer left. He should have special means to avoid surveillance. Preliminary speculation is that the murderer is a Spirit Realm Walker."

There are six people sitting at the table.

The chief is a young man in a white suit, with the arrogance and nobility of a noble son, tied with a handsome short ponytail, and his face is carved like a sculpture, so handsome that he cannot be looked at directly.

The first seat on the left is empty, which is Li Dongze's position.

On the right is a woman holding an orange cat, wearing a cheongsam with ink paintings. The plumpness and enchanting of a mature woman are fully revealed. Her well-maintained beautiful face is tight and fair, with light makeup and a quiet and elegant temperament.

Next to her is a middle-aged man wearing a miner's hat and work clothes, and his dark skin shows the wind and frost of a worker.

Opposite her is a gym trainer in a tight suit. His thick arms are comparable to a woman's slender waist. His eyebrows and eyes are sharp, and a sense of irritability rushes towards him.

The last one is a woman in her late twenties, wearing a white racing suit, tight leather pants, black wavy hair, and an oval face, looking both sassy and handsome.

These five are the captains of the Kanyang District Spirit Realm Walker team, and several others did not attend for various reasons.

The young master in the white suit looked around, his dark brown eyes were as calm as a lake, and he said lightly:

"Everyone, what are your opinions... Captain Qing Teng, you speak first."

The beautiful woman in the cheongsam frowned slightly: "Ordinary Spirit Realm Walkers would not dare to kill our official people. Could it be the work of Spirit Realm Walkers of evil professions?"

Li Dongze replied: "We are still investigating Zhao Yingjun's recent interpersonal relationships."

If it was done by a Spirit Realm Walker of an evil profession, the seriousness of the incident would be taken to the next level.

The Fire Master, a muscular man, raised his eyebrows, bursting with anger, "Evil professions? These stinky rats in the gutter dare to kill someone from my Five Elements Alliance. I will definitely make him pay the price."

The others looked solemn, and Bai Long, wearing a racing suit, pondered:

"How is Zhao Yingjun's combat power?"

Li Dongze looked at Fu Qingyang.

Fu Qingyang said: "He has a defensive item."

Hearing this, Bai Long's face became solemn, "Although Level 2 Scouts are not good at combat, it is not easy to kill him if he has a defensive item, not to mention without disturbing the guests in the next room. Based on this, we can initially determine the strength of the murderer."

Tang Guoqiang, the construction company boss wearing a miner's hat, said in a deep voice:

"Very powerful."

The muscular man snorted coldly, repeating what he had just said: "So what if he is very powerful? If he dares to kill someone from my Five Elements Alliance, he will die no matter how powerful he is."

Bai Long silently rubbed his forehead, thinking to himself, when discussing matters, can the idiot from the Red Fire Gang be kicked out first.

Li Dongze said: "After our investigation, Zhao Yingjun has many mistresses, and he especially likes to keep college girls. We are investigating his mistresses one by one."

The muscular man frowned and said, "Why?"

"Zhao Yingjun's rendezvous hotels with his mistresses are not fixed, but the murderer can find the hotel address and lock the room number, indicating that he has a certain understanding of Zhao Yingjun's movements, either someone he knows or someone who has been following him for a long time." Li Dongze said:

"The person who knows you best is always the woman next to your pillow. We may be able to get some clues from Zhao Yingjun's mistresses."

The captains nodded solemnly.

Li Dongze continued:

"Zhao Yingjun was interrogated and tortured before his death. Everyone, think about it, what did the murderer interrogate? What did he ask? Whether the murderer is seeking revenge or is of an evil profession, these are issues that we should treat with caution."

The faces of the captains present changed slightly.

Evil professions and law-abiding professions have always been incompatible, hunting each other and tracking each other.

What can interest evil professions is of course information about official Spirit Realm Walkers, and even their hiding places.

If the murderer is not of an evil profession, a powerful Spirit Realm Walker takes the risk of offending the official organization, sneaks into the hotel to interrogate and kill people. The truth behind it may be more complicated.

Qing Teng said in a deep voice: "We must find the murderer as soon as possible."

Hearing this, the muscular man looked around and said, "Why didn't Yuan Ting come? Let him devour Zhao Yingjun's spiritual body and obtain Zhao Yingjun's memory. Then we can know who the murderer is."

The importance of Night Watchers who can control spiritual bodies is instantly highlighted.

Fu Qingyang shook his head and said:

"Yesterday, the Taiyi Sect summoned all official Night Watchers to Beijing for a meeting. Yuan Ting is not in Songhai."

His expression was calm from beginning to end, as if he wouldn't panic even if the sky fell.

Meeting in Beijing? Several captains felt a sinking feeling in their hearts. If Yuan Ting is not here, the Night Watchers in other districts must not be here either.

Is this too coincidental? The murderer didn't act sooner or later, but chose to act when the Night Watchers collectively went to Beijing.

The muscular man roared, "What's wrong with the Taiyi Sect? Why did they choose this time to have a meeting? We should have cultivated our own Night Watchers long ago."

Li Dongze said helplessly:

"The cause and effect are reversed. The murderer chose this time... Forget it, that's not important. Don't worry, everyone. We have our own Night Watcher."