Chapter 43: Heitu Gu'eryuan

"Come out, all of you. Stop hiding."

As Yang Hao spoke, a hidden door in the corner of the office opened, and one after another, Yang family members with sullen expressions walked out from within—men, women, old, and young, all of them—every single one radiating the aura of a Martial Artist.

The strongest was at Linghai Chuji, the weakest at least at Mortal Realm Ninth Stage.

Shen Ling drew the longsword at her waist, her face darkening: "The Yang family really did make some kind of deal with the God Sect! How dare you—aren't you afraid of being wanted by the nation?"

"Haha…"

Hearing this, Yang Hao threw his head back and laughed, a hint of madness in his voice.

"Wanted? As long as I can gain strength, so what if I make an enemy of the nation!"

"People like you, born with talent, will never understand the suffering of us useless ones! So what if I sit on billions in assets? Those Martial Artists still don't take me seriously. In the end, this world is ruled by strength!"

Jiang Qin's expression remained flat: "So under the guise of charity, you offered those ordinary people to the God Sect in exchange for strength."

The God Sect does indeed have a method to forcibly raise one's strength—condensing the vital essence within a human body and forcefully injecting it to elevate one's martial realm. But just raising someone to the Spirit Sea Realm alone requires the vital essence of over a thousand lives.

One could only imagine how many ordinary people the Yang family had harmed for this.

Yang Hao's eyes went wide with madness: "So what if I did? Those people were doomed anyway! Even if I hadn't handed them to the God Sect, they wouldn't have lived much longer! If there's anyone to blame, it's that they were weaker than me. Being sacrificed to fulfill me is their honor!"

"And you will become sacrifices too!"

The Yang family members all wore expressions of madness—this wasn't mere arrogance, but a side effect of forcibly raising one's realm.

No power comes without a price.

Even knowing full well it would cloud their minds, countless people still craved this power.

"Survival of the fittest, huh…" Jiang Qin murmured softly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "People are born without the right to choose how they live—only the right to choose death. And yet you stripped them of even that."

"How… unpleasant."

A fierce Slash burst from his fingertips. Before the Yang family members could even strike, they were sliced into chunks of meat by the dense barrage of slashes, lumps of flesh dropping to the floor—no organ left intact.

Su Lingwei had grown used to it, so she didn't look particularly surprised.

But to the members of the Zhenling Bureau watching, these people had only just prepared to move when they suddenly became chunks, blood spraying in all directions, staining the snow-white walls a vivid red, blood pooling across the floor.

Seeing such a scene, Shen Ling held back the urge to vomit.

She finally understood why Zhenling Academy had sent these two.

Even though they were both at the Spirit Sea Realm,

Even though they faced enemies several times their number,

For Investigator Jiang, it meant nothing. Because he possessed absolutely overwhelming strength, he didn't need to consider any consequences. He alone was enough to intimidate an entire city.

"Ah—!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the office.

It was Yang Hao's cry. At this moment, all four of his limbs were broken, his face full of terror, and he had returned to normal from that mad state.

Jiang Qin deliberately spared his life, stood up, and looked down at him like one would an ant, his gaze indifferent: "Tell me where the cultists are, and I'll give you a quick end."

Fengyue Group was only secondary—the God Sect was his main target for this trip.

Yang Hao opened his mouth, as if about to say something.

At that moment, on the rooftop of a building a hundred meters away, a man shrouded in darkness aimed a sniper rifle at Yang Hao's head and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Bang—"

A custom-made armor-piercing round shot from the barrel at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Just as it was about to hit its target.

A hand blocked the bullet's path.

The armor-piercing round pierced through Jiang Qin's palm, but the trajectory was deflected, striking the floor and embedding deep within it.

Thin trails of blood dripped from his palm.

This was the first time Su Lingwei had seen him injured, and she hurriedly asked with concern: "Your hand…"

"I'm fine. Just a small wound."

As Jiang Qin's words fell, 【Mystic Snake Recall】 activated.

The bullet hole in his palm healed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye it was as good as new, as if he'd never been hurt.

"You all keep interrogating this guy. I'm going after that rat hiding in the shadows."

With that.

His figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, soaring through the air, flying toward the direction the bullet had come from.

Seeing that Jiang Qin could actually fly, the God Sect member hiding on the distant rooftop was scared out of his wits. He didn't even bother to grab his gun and ran toward the stairs at top speed.

But a hundred meters was nothing more than an instant to Jiang Qin.

The next second, before the man could even make it down, his neck was gripped tightly by a hand.

"Speak. Where are the rest of the rats hiding?"

"I will never betray my God!"

Hearing this, Jiang Qin expressionlessly picked up a chunk of rubble from the ground and smashed it hard into his groin.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out, its voice full of penetrating power.

Tough talk?

Today I'm going to see whether your mouth is harder or your balls are harder!

Seeing that Jiang Qin was about to do it again, he hurriedly changed his tune:

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"The rest of them are all in the basement of Heitu Gu'eryuan on the outskirts of the city. Really, I'm not lying to you!"

Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, Jiang Qin mercifully twisted his neck.

Then, at extreme speed, he rushed toward the outskirts of the city.

It was called the outskirts, but it wasn't really far—only ten kilometers from the city center.

Heitu Cheng was called Heitu Cheng because the land here was unsuitable for human habitation, which kept the city's area very small—less than half of Modu.

Heitu Gu'eryuan was the largest orphanage in Heitu Cheng, taking in over five thousand orphans, ranging in age from infants to eighteen.

Seen from afar, the entire orphanage looked no different from a school.

A wall three meters high encircled the whole orphanage; aside from the main gate, there was no other exit. When Jiang Qin arrived above the orphanage, he could still see large groups of children running and playing on the playground in the back.

Everything looked so peaceful—it didn't look like a hiding place for the Gods' Sect at all.

Could that guy have tricked him?

…

Inside one of the buildings of Heitu Gu'eryuan.

A female teacher in charge of education had just finished using the restroom and was washing her hands. She raised her head to look at the mirror, her pupils contracting sharply. Just as she was about to scream, a hand covered her mouth.

Jiang Qin pulled out his credentials. "I'm an Investigator from the Zhenling Bureau. Can you keep quiet?"

The female teacher glanced at the credentials, hesitated, then nodded.

The hand let go, and she didn't shout—only looked nervous.

Jiang Qin began to ask, "How long have you been working at this orphanage?"

"Th-three years."

"Mm, during that time have you noticed anything strange? For example, children disappearing at regular intervals, or any shady people lurking around."

The female teacher thought for a moment, then actually nodded.

She spoke of a doubt buried deep in her heart for three years…