Chapter 118 - 117: Trace Locked, Single Visit

A moment later, Li Jing and his team arrived at the natural wind entrance at the northwest corner of the Central Research Institute.

By this time, Captain Dai and his team had already gathered here.

Seeing Li Jing and Chen Yuran bring Scholar Zhao over, Captain Dai spoke.

"Scholar Zhao, if nothing goes wrong, Jiang Guanwen probably entered the Central Research Institute from this natural wind entrance, please confirm if there are any remnants of Yin Qi."

After saying that, he continued.

"Jiang Guanwen was only caught on camera at the entrance of the research room when he entered and left the Research Institute, he maintained his intangible status for most of the journey, avoiding the guards and surveillance in this way. This natural wind entrance is his starting point to the Central Research Institute and also his endpoint to the Research Institute from the outside. There might be Yin Qi remnants along the path he took, try and see if you can trace his path."

"Understood."

Scholar Zhao nodded, took out a high-precision detector as tall as half a person, and started operating it, saying.

"The outside is not like the inside of the Central Research Institute, the environmental factors are more complex, it might be difficult to trace his route through the possible remnants of Yin Qi. More than two hours have passed since the incident, even if Jiang Guanwen left any Yin Qi remnants, it may have faded to an undetectable level, the expectations are not high."

"Hm, I understand."

Captain Dai responded and stepped back.

Everyone including Li Jing retreated to a slightly distant position upon seeing this.

Everyone stood still, waiting quietly for the results of the detection.

In less than two minutes, the high-precision detector beeped, and Scholar Zhao turned his head back with joy.

"There are indeed remnants of Yin Qi at the natural wind entrance, and the amount is not small, much denser than the cold air outlet inside. It seems that Jiang Guanwen did not enter the Central Research Institute unscathed, he stayed at the natural wind entrance for a longer time when he came out."

Captain Dai raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Our Research Institute’s air conditioning system is independently developed, with several frost arrays engraved in the cooling machine, and it operates with special Spirit Crystals compressed from pure ice Spiritual Qi as refrigerants."

Scholar Zhao said, with a somewhat complacent expression.

"During its cooling process, undiluted low-temperature cold air can even directly cause fatal injuries to the Second Realm. Looking at the current situation, Jiang Guanwen probably didn’t have a smooth journey when he entered through the natural wind entrance, and he must have encountered bigger problems when he came out against the flow."

Saying this, he added.

"In my opinion, his ability to become an elusive ghost-like being is not perfect, he would inevitably get hurt when he should."

Listening to Scholar Zhao’s words, Captain Dai pondered in silence for a while, then suddenly looked at Li Jing and said.

"Li Jing, what’s your opinion?"

"Huh?"

Li Jing was taken aback.

At this time, he was simply standing by and waiting for the complete detection results.

Captain Dai suddenly asked him for his opinion, how could he respond?

At this time, Chen Yuran spoke up.

"There is a certain possibility in what Scholar Zhao said, but I feel that the low-temperature cold air alone shouldn’t affect Jiang Guanwen."

After saying this, she explained.

"Being intangible is a characteristic of Yin Species, there’s no such thing as perfection. It’s their natural advantage as well as their fatal weakness. They can indeed be immune to physical damage, but anything that can harm them can make them exceedingly vulnerable. Besides, Jiang Guanwen has already transformed into a similar existence, it’s unreasonable for him to risk his life if he’s not certain. Moreover, Yin Objects and Yin Qi are characterized by Yin coldness, both ice Spiritual Qi and frost arrays originate from the evolved water element powers, so the possibility of them affecting Jiang Guanwen is very low."

After slowly recounting all this, she squinted her eyes and said.

"Jiang Guanwen must have had another reason for staying at the natural wind entrance."

Feeling slightly insulted after getting somewhat opposed to, Scholar Zhao was immediately a little dissatisfied.

"Nothing can be absolute, the different elements naturally have their strengths and weaknesses. Even if they are both Yin attributes, the weaker one will still get hurt."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuran shook her head and said with indifference.

"The intensity of the Research Institute’s cooling system isn’t high, it can just cause fatal injuries to the Second Realm at the most, Jiang Guanwen’s realm possibly has reached the Four Realm now. Regarding whether the cold air that seeps out from the cooling system or his Yin Qi is stronger, undoubtedly the latter is stronger."

Once again opposed, Scholar Zhao frowned, turned his head, and was about to argue a good bit.

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Captain Dai hurriedly raised his hand.

"Scholar Zhao, there is some truth in what Yuran said, of course, your words also have their own reasons. Now is not the time for academic demonstration, our primary goal is to find the whereabouts of Jiang Guanwen."

Hearing Captain Dai say this, Scholar Zhao reluctantly suppressed his desire to debate, nodded, focused, and turned to operate the high-precision detector.

Li Jing looked on at the scene, smirked inwardly.

Chen Yuran was indeed a bit too straightforward.

Publicly arguing with a scholar from the Research Institute, would anyone be able to accept that?

However, you can’t deny the fact.

Both of them had their own points.

The strength of the elements can directly affect the result of their collision.

Yin entities fear Yang elements.

But even powerful Yin elements can still harm the Yang ones, not completely harmless to them.

The cool air from the Research Institute’s refrigeration system is unlikely to hurt Jiang Guanwen.

But to say it definitely doesn’t hurt him may not be entirely true.

The only thing that can be confirmed at the moment is that Jiang Guanwen had stopped at this natural wind entrance at the northwest corner of the research center, leaving a larger amount of Yin Qi residue.

Taking into account the influence of external environmental factors and the time that has passed, the residual Yin Qi he left behind should have scattered quite a lot, which implies not only did he stay, but he stayed for a considerable amount of time.

Was he hurt?

Or was it for some other purpose?

Li Jing pondered, resting his chin in his hand.

In his thoughts, he inadvertently looked in the northwest direction.

Within his sight were a number of apartment buildings scattered within the Research Institute.

With a slight frown, Li Jing stared past it.

These apartments were probably built by the Research Institute for their scholars to live in.

The cluster of apartment buildings was located exactly in the northwest direction.

This...

Seemed to be a bit coincidental?

Jiang Guanwen had been missing for so long without any news, could it be possible that he was actually hiding in the Research Institute?

Hiss!

It seemed not a small possibility?

As the saying goes.

The most dangerous place is also the safest place.

The Research Institute’s security is extremely strict on a daily basis, even the Patrol Bureau can’t come in without a proper reason.

If Jiang Guanwen was hiding in the Research Institute, it would be easy to avoid prying eyes, he just needed to keep a low profile and hide quietly.

Looking back, the Research Institute wouldn’t clear-search the Scholar’s apartments without reason.

One was because it was unnecessary, the other because the status of every Scholar at the Research Institute was highly regarded and it was easy to offend.

While deep in thought, Scholar Zhao who was operating the detector exclaimed in exhilaration once again.

The detector has locked onto the traces of the residual Yin Qi!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present, including Li Jing, became more alert.

"Direction."

Captain Dai stepped forward.

"There are two paths of Yin Qi residual traces, one is leading West and the other is leading North. The western path is very faint and nearly impossible to detect accurately, most likely it’s the path Jiang Guanwen took when he came."

Scholar Zhao turned his head and spoke, stepping aside from the front of the detector screen, letting everyone see the 3D pattern on the screen, and pointing to the trace leading north on the 3D pattern.

This path towards the North is much more distinct, it should be the path he took when he left."

Given such a result, Li Jing squinted.

Two traces of residual Yin Qi, one west and one north, just so happened to have the scholar’s apartment in the northwest sandwiched in between.

This felt a bit deliberate now.

Up to this day, Li Jing has accumulated quite a few genuine case handling experiences, he no longer solely relies on what he saw in movies and TV shows before his transmigration.

The criminals he encountered were always clever, careful in their planning, and adept at casting a veil of fog over their tracks.

Taking into account all these facts, he began to suspect.

He suspected that Jiang Guanwen, knowing that he could not leave without leaving any traces, intentionally chose to approach from the west and leave to the north, hoping to create confusion and mislead others.

If he was so confident about leaving no traces, he could simply stick to one direction.

As for his hiding spot, it was unlikely that he only had one.

But as long as his hiding spot remained undiscovered, there would be no need for him to change it.

This would explain why Jiang Guanwen stalled at the entrance of the natural wind when he departed.

He wasn’t injured; instead, he purposely lingered there to leave more traces of the icy Qi, creating the illusion that he moved northwards.

Just as Li Jing was pondering over these thoughts, Captain Dai, after carefully considering Scholar Zhao’s findings, looked towards the team from the Major Crime Unit and instructed them.

"Jiang Guanwen’s two directions of movement are now fairly clear. Li Qidao, you head west, while you four, including Mu Baichen, head north. Separate into two groups and coordinate with the East City police to assist with the door-to-door inspection around the Research Institute district."

"Understood."

Li Qidao and the others voiced their agreement, summoned their controlled swords, and flew off in their assigned directions.

Watching as the team departed, Captain Dai turned his gaze to Li Jing and Chen Yuran.

"The inside of the Research Institute is vast. We cannot rule out the possibility that Jiang Guanwen has not left the institute at all. Li Qidao and his group will take care of the outside search. Li Jing, you and Yuran concentrate on the western side of the institute. Scholar Zhao and I, with the high-precision detector, will check the northern side for any signs of him leaving the institute. I’ll communicate with the higher-ups of the institute later and allow you to enter any area."

"Understood."

Chen Yuran replied.

Li Jing, however, hesitated a moment before speaking up.

"Captain Dai, I have a theory."

?

Captain Dai frowned. "Speak."

Without any unnecessary preamble, Li Jing laid out all his conjectures.

After listening to him, Captain Dai glanced at the row of faculty apartments to the northwest. Li Jing’s conjecture was not completely unfounded.

The police currently only had a preliminary direction on Jiang Guanwen’s movements, and were far from coming to any definitive conclusions.

For any further discoveries, it was crucial to find Jiang Guanwen’s trail. They could not afford to miss even the slightest hint.

After considering for a moment, Dai Hong looked back and asked.

"Yuran, can you handle searching the west side on your own?"

"No problem."

Chen Yuran nodded and patted the head of the Stinky Tofu dog next to her.

"In a worst-case scenario, I still have this silly dog, Stinky Tofu. He’s useful when the time comes."

As she spoke, she shot a glance at Li Jing.

"Be careful when you’re alone. Don’t overdo it."

"Don’t worry."

Li Jing responded with a smile, then turned to Scholar Zhao.

"Scholar Zhao, could you please tell me where Jiang Guanwen lived before the incident? Which faculty apartment was it?"

"Building number nine, sixth floor."

Scholar Zhao replied, then added, "If Jiang Guanwen is really hiding in the faculty apartments as you predict, he is probably not in his original apartment. After his incident, his room was emptied out quite quickly."

"I know, but I’ll just go have a look to be on the safe side."

With that, Li Jing headed over to the faculty apartments located in the northwest direction.

Chen Yuran, seeing this, didn’t hesitate either but went west with Stinky Tofu.

Captain Dai and Scholar Zhao, with the high-precision detector in tow, headed towards the north where the heavy traces of the cold Qi were found.

...

Soon, Li Jing arrived at the entrance to the faculty apartment complex.

Thanks to Captain Dai’s prior communication with the institute’s high officials, the guard at the entrance didn’t stop him and even silently gave him access.

Upon entering the complex, Li Jing quickly found the apartment building where Jiang Guanwen had once lived and went directly to the sixth floor by elevator.

Once he got out of the lift, he looked around.

The faculty of the Research Institute enjoyed quite considerable benefits.

An entire floor of the faculty apartment complex was only split into two apartments.

The area of an individual apartment was almost equivalent to five three-bedroom apartments in a regular apartment complex.

On the sixth floor, one of the two apartments had a sign that read "Xi Yongchang" while the other had no sign, indicating that it used to belong to Jiang Guanwen.

After contemplating for a while, Li Jing pushed open the unmarked door.

The door wasn’t locked, so he entered with ease.

Just because Jiang Guanwen’s apartment had been emptied didn’t mean it had lost its value for investigation. Going in to take a look was still necessary.

If Jiang Guanwen was indeed hiding in the most dangerous and therefore the safest place, his own apartment undoubtedly matched his "style."

Stepping inside, Li Jing was about to examine the room when his pocket device, Xia Ai, suddenly vibrated.

Feeling the vibration, he paused, frowning.

The vibration of Xia Ai invariably meant some discovery it wanted to share with him.

Could it have detected the cold Qi?

But there was no one around. Why didn’t Xia Ai just speak directly?

Could it be that Jiang Guanwen was actually here, just as he had speculated?

Couldn’t be, right?

The door was open, and people had entered already.

If Jiang Guanwen was here, he would have attacked by now.

Standing just inside the apartment, Li Jing ran through these various thoughts in an instant.

Glancing cautiously around the interior of the apartment, he silently removed the boundary stone from his pocket, and retrieved Xia Ai.

After lighting up the screen, Xia Ai appeared on it and pointed to a bubble.

"Master, it’s the back room over there. The density of the cold Qi is rising sharply behind the door at the lower visual limit of the door!"

Seeing the content of the bubble, Li Jing’s expression changed dramatically.

The back room?

The adjacent apartment?!

Without any hesitation, Li Jing pivoted and swung out his hand with a forceful smack.

"Boom!"

The Palm Thunder whistled out.

At the same time, a large hand swung open the neighboring apartment door and directly hit his Palm Thunder, easily scattering it.

Dark Qi erupted, flooding the area.

A health bar that was 5874 long was immediately reflected in Li Jing’s field of vision.

Upon seeing the health bar, Li Jing urged the boundary stone in his hand without any hesitation.

An instant later, a subspace boundary was erected, isolating the area underneath the health bar where he himself was standing.

After the successful isolation, Li Jing narrowed his eyes.

On the opposite side was a scholar he had never seen before.

Upon realizing that he was trapped in a subspace, the man’s expression grew cold and he looked around, then his eyes found Li Jing and he chuckled.

"Ah, my young friend who aids the investigation, we meet again."