Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Homicide Department’s Newbie

This palm-sized animal bone was shaped like a hook. Its red body gave off a strange glow.

Looking closely, there were some naturally-formed patterns on the surface.

These patterns seemed to some profundities of the Dao and automatically absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy, which surrounded Zhang San’s palm like wisps of wind.

“A flying fish’s fish immortal bone? This thing can be integrated with a magic boat’s array formation and greatly increase the boat’s speed. Zhang San, you’re quite generous today.” The Team Six captain munched on the pear in his hand with a smile and squatted down to bump shoulders with Zhang San.

“Obviously I have to show some consideration since it’s Junior Brother Xu Qing’s first time coming here.” Zhang San said with an honest expression.

Xu Qing didn’t immediately accept the gift, instead glancing at the captain. He felt that the reason Zhang San was giving such a gift wasn’t because of Xu Qing himself but probably due to the captain.

Sensing Xu Qing’s gaze, the captain smiled.

“Take it. He’s giving it to you to tell you to go elsewhere when you’re catching criminals.”

Xu Qing glanced over at Zhang San upon hearing this, and Zhang San looked back at him with an honest smile.

Nodding, Xu Qing took the fish bone and looked at it curiously before putting it in his pocket.

After thinking it over, he followed the captain’s example and squatted down next to the other two, although he kept a certain distance.

Seeing Xu Qing like this, Zhang San’s smile widened.

“Zhang San, has anything unusual happened around here recently?” The captain finished eating the pear and took out a peach to bite into.

Xu Qing immediately became alert and looked at Zhang San.

Zhang San took out a pipe, putting it in his mouth and taking a puff before knocking the ash out on the ground. After the ash fell on the ground, it formed a human face pattern as well as a line of writing.

“There are a lot of new faces at the south pier recently.”

The Team Six captain pondered deeply for a while before patting Zhang San on the shoulder and smiling at Xu Qing.

“Junior Brother, you should head back first. I’m on duty today. Don’t forget to come on time tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing knew that the captain and Zhang San had something to say to each other, so he nodded and cupped his fists at them before turning to leave.

At that moment, the sun was already setting. The orange light of the sunset scattered over his body, reflecting off his gray Daoist robe to create a dazzling new color. As he left into the distance, the pair squatting behind him sent him off with their eyes.

When Xu Qing left, the captain smiled before speaking.

“What do you think of our newbie? You were so generous today.”

“Newbie? Where the heck did you find a newbie like that? When he saw me, his first reaction was to look at my neck. How could I dare to not be generous!”

The captain laughed when he heard Zhang San’s words.

“You’re still laughing? What kind of life did he live to develop an instinct of looking at people’s necks?”

Zhang San smiled wryly and touched his neck. He still felt a little uncomfortable, so he took a deep puff of the pipe.

“Of course it’s a life where he’s used to cutting necks.” The Team Six captain smiled happily. After finishing the peach in his hand, he took out another peach and took a big bite.

“That kid is good-looking, but his baleful aura is too strong. Although he tried his best to hide it, I could still sense it. Especially his eyes.” Zhang San’s expression turned a little serious.

“Did you notice? Those are the eyes of someone who seeks revenge for the slightest grievance. It’s as if he can kill anything as long as it lines up with his own principles…”

“For this kind of person, if you use them well, everything’s fine. But if you don’t use him well, be careful of him biting back. I can vaguely sense that he’s killed a huge amount of people, and he also gives me a threatening feeling.”

“If I met him out at sea, I definitely wouldn’t provoke him easily. I don’t want to die yet.” Zhang San looked at the Team Six captain with a serious expression.

“An interesting little Junior Brother.” The captain smiled and looked at Xu Qing’s back in the distance. It seemed like the more Zhang San said, the happier he was.

At the side, Zhang San sighed helplessly, secretly thinking that he’d forgotten that there was another abnormal freak here.

While the captain and Zhang San were talking about Xu Qing, the person in question was already walking around the streets in the port. Now that it was almost dusk, the crowds were gradually thinning out, and most of the pharmacies were closed, so Xu Qing returned to his berth.

After returning, he didn’t immediately bring out his magic boat, instead checking the surroundings carefully.

Yesterday, someone had come here with murderous intentions, so when Xu Qing returned today, he checked thoroughly. He even sprinkled some poison powder into the sea to make sure everything was alright before bringing out the magic boat and stepping onboard.

After activating the magic boat’s barrier, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged in the cabin and felt a little more at ease.

He didn’t start cultivating immediately but instead pondered over everything that had happened that day.

Xu Qing couldn’t see through the captain, but he kept the other party’s words in his heart, intuitively concluding that the captain’s words should be true.

Regarding Zhang San, Xu Qing sensed that the other party seemed to be hiding a certain feeling, as if he was a little afraid of Xu Qing.

There was also that disciple whose contribution points had been reset to zero. He was unable to leave on his own and could only look at the sky in despair before being wiped out and turned to ashes.

Everything he’d seen and heard today made Xu Qing realize that none of the disciples who could survive in the brutal Seven Blood Pupils main city were simple. He couldn’t judge them just by the surface.

For example, if the captain or Zhang San were thrown into the scavenger camp, they would be able to play with all the scavengers in the palm of their hands, holding absolute power over their life and death.

By now, Xu Qing saw the entire Seven Blood Pupils as another kind of forbidden area. He knew that he needed to work harder in his cultivation.

In particular, he thought of the young man in the light purple Daoist robe that he’d seen during the day. Although the other party was only in Qi Condensation, his prestigious standing and the way everyone around him lowered their heads made Xu Qing feel a familiar difference in status.

He had been familiar with such status differences ever since he was a child and knew how to handle it.

Also, because of his vigilance, Xu Qing didn’t ask the captain about the person who’d given him the token.

If the mysterious person wanted to appear, they would naturally come forward. IF they didn’t want to appear, Xu Qing owuldn’t force it.

“It probably isn’t because of Grandmaster Bai.” Taking a deep breath, Xu Qing closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

Two hours later, the sky outside was completely dark. In the silence of night, Xu Qing opened his eyes with a hint of hesitation.

He felt that his cultivation speed was much slower than yesterday, and he knew the reason why.

If the human body was likened to a container, then his container was mostly empty yesterday, and so he was able to absorb a lot of spiritual energy with little effort. But today, the container was full, so he had to increase its capacity while cultivating for him to absorb the spiritual energy from the outside world.

“It’d be a different story if spiritual energy could flow in without me even trying to absorb it. However, that would require the external spiritual energy to be extremely dense.” Xu Qing lowered his head. After thinking it over, he formed a seal with his right hand and pointed at one side of the boat’s deck.

Immediately, a ray of light appeared at the spot where he pointed, and it quickly expanded to fill the entire magic boat like an array formation.

The array formation had clearly been activated, causing the external spiritual energy to pour in to the magic boat. Although it wasn’t fast, it was a continuous infusion, so the speed of cultivating inside the magic boat would far surpass the speed of cultivating outside.

This array formation was called the Spirit Gathering Array.

“I have to upgrade my power supply.” Xu Qing fell into deep thought. In the magic boat’s jade slip, it was recorded that besides improvements from biological materials, there was another key point in upgrading the boat.

That was the power supply.

The power supply was the core of a boat that decided its power. It could be upgraded infinitely, and it was the most expensive part to replace.

In every magic boat, the power supply started out as a simple Spirit Gathering Array. It could slowly absorb the surroundings’ spiritual energy and store it as a substitute energy source.

If a disciple wasn’t satisfied after activation the array, they could also place a spirit stone in the array to increase its power and draw in more spiritual energy.

The heart of a powerful mutated beast was considered the best material for the power supply, and the stronger the power supply, the stronger the pull of the Spirit Gathering Array. At the same time, it could also maximize the usage of the boat’s speed and protection.

If the power supply’s level wasn’t high enough, even if the boat’s other specs were good, they couldn’t reach their true potential.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing gritted his teeth before taking out one of his remaining ten spirit stones and setting it onto the array formation. In the next moment, the spirit stone disappeared and Xu Qing’s magic boat vibrated loudly.

The array formation lit up brightly, and the entire magic boat seemed to have transformed into a vortex. Powerful spiritual energy was rapidly sucked into the boat from all directions.

Xu Qing immediately resumed cultivating. This time, his cultivation speed had become significantly faster.

When dawn arrived, Xu Qing’s eyes flew open, shining with purple light.

“The sixth level of the Sea Transforming Scripture!” Xu Qing took a deep breath and sensed the sixty-meter wide spiritual sea within his body. Although it seemed to only be ten meters wider than before, it had expanded ten meters in all directions, including depth.

In terms of volume, it was much larger than before. More importantly, there were more transformations available, and the transformations were also stronger than before.

“If this goes on, in a few days, my Sea Transforming Scripture will reach the same level as the Sea and Mountain Art.” Xu Qing was very satisfied with this speed, but he also lamented how expensive cultivation was.

One night’s cultivation cost him an entire spirit stone.

Morning had already come. Xu Qing tidied himself up and stepped out of the magic boat before heading to the Homicide Department to start his work for the day.

Working at the Homicide Department wasn’t just a responsibility, but also a salaried job. According to the information in his identity token, he would get a monthly salary of 3,000 contribution points working there.

Thus, Xu Qing was serious and diligent. Not long after the sun rose, he arrived at the Homicide Department and walked all the way to the Black Division, where he saw the captain and the other members of Team Six.

Team Six consisted of about twenty people, and there was a mix of men and women. Their appearances were extremely varied, but all of them gave off powerful spiritual energy fluctuations. They noticed Xu Qing’s arrival, but most of them remained indifferent and wary of each other.

Xu Qing’s personality was also inherently antisocial, so he remained silent and stood to the side, keeping a certain distance away from everyone else. Soon, the Team Six captain lazily strode out of a room while eating an apple.

"Today's mission is to go out and search for the remnants of Night Dove."

“Thus, you all should stop always hunting for those wanted criminals. Although you can get rewards from that, hunting down Night Dove is our priority for the foreseeable future. Remember that if you find any clues, don’t alert the enemy; come back here and inform the department so it can arrange for others to verify your information.”

“Now, let’s get to work!”

After the captain finished speaking, all the members of Team Six split up. This time, the captain didn’t bring Xu Qing along, instead giving him a jade slip that recorded wanted criminals and sending him to act alone. Xu Qing didn’t object to this arrangement and quickly left the Homicide Department, inspecting the jade slip while patrolling the city.

He didn’t know where to patrol, so he just walked around in the port area like the captain did yesterday, maintaining his vigilance the entire time. He even took off the Homicide Department badge. Most of the time, he would move around in dark and inconspicuous locations.

In the shadows, he watched the crowds hurrying along on the streets and looked at the various shops as he passed by. This gave Xu Qing a deeper understanding of this main city’s prosperity.

At one point, he saw a hawker selling candied haws on the road. Xu Qing remembered enjoying them when he was a child, so he walked over to buy a bunch. After ensuring there was nothing wrong with the haws, he ate them as he moved along in the shadows.

He had read through the wanted criminal jade slip and finally understood why the captain had reminded the team members not to deliberately hunt them. The mentioned rewards were extremely generous, from ten spirit stones at the least to several hundred spirit stones at the highest.

It was already late in the morning, and soon, noon arrived. Xu Qing ate very slowly and hadn’t finished all his candied haws yet when he suddenly stopped and looked over to a crowd in the distance.

He saw a plainly dressed woman whose clothes could barely conceal her graceful figure. She skillfully snatched two bags from people passing by in the crowd.

This woman seemed to be very confident in her skills. After she walked out of the crowd, the corners of her mouth quirked up as she looked down at the leather bags in her hands, revealing a smug smile.

However, her smile froze slightly when she noticed Xu Qing’s expressionless face in a corner not far away.

But soon, she revealed a shy expression and blushed before lowering her head. She began to walk away, but she noticed from the corner of her eye that Xu Qing was also walking towards her.

This scene made her extremely vigilant, but she still hadn’t recognized Xu Qing. However, she instinctively felt a sense of crisis that made her quicken her pace. She was about to dive into the crowd to avoid him.

She didn’t recognize Xu Qing, but Xu Qing recognized her.

This woman was the one who had escaped danger by framing him a few nights ago.

Because of her, he had to kill people on the first day here.

Xu Qing finished off the candied haws in his hand and flicked the bamboo skewer outwards. Like a flash of lightning, it pierced through the air and whistled straight towards the woman.

The woman’s expression changed drastically. The skewer was so fast that she had no time to dodge. Before she could disappear into the crowd, the bamboo skewer penetrated her right foot, nailing her delicate body to the ground with a bang.

Instantly, the pale-faced woman screamed pitifully and cried for help, as if she was a weak woman being bullied by a villain. The surrounding crowd instantly dispersed in shock.

At the same time, Xu Qing’s icy voice arrived at the trembling woman’s ears as he walked over.

“If you make another noise, I will rip your mouth apart.”

Xu Qing had a good memory, and he was also good at learning and imitating.

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