Chapter 173 - 172: Major Case Burst Out, Great Demon

Devils?

Li Jing was stunned, his face increasingly strange.

He wasn’t that dull.

Looking at Liu Sisi who was nearly moved to tears in front of him, he instantly realized something was wrong.

His own...

Seemed to have overestimated Liu Sisi’s determination to become stronger.

After a gentle cough, Li Jing continued.

"Well, why don’t I keep these elixirs for the time being, and give them to you later?"

"Is there a difference?"

Liu Sisi voiced her grievance as she collected all four brocade boxes from the table, then gave him a sullen glance.

"Next time when you want to win my favor, try some necklaces or other pieces of jewelry. I’m kind of vulgar, liking these flashy things."

Li Jing laughed at her words.

This Liu Sisi was claiming she didn’t want the gifts, but her actions betrayed her.

If she didn’t want to continue her intense cultivation, why not just leave the elixirs alone?

By keeping them, isn’t she planning to use them anyways?

Just as he was about to respond, Liu Sisi heaved a gentle sigh while leaning back in her seat.

"Can you massage my shoulders? I haven’t slept for over a fortnight. Every day I’m either meditating or working in the office, feeling backaches and fatigue all the time."

"Okay, I’ll massage your shoulders for you."

Li Jing nodded and moved behind her.

Backache and fatigue, pure nonsense.

Not sleeping for half a month, there’s undoubtedly a problem.

But meditative cultivation should’ve resolved it, preventing these kinds of issues.

For cultivators, meditative cultivation serves as a better rest than sleep, though lazing around and sleeping may be more relaxed.

At this moment, Liu Sisi was clearly being melodramatic.

What should you do when your girlfriend acts like this?

Just indulge her!

As Li Jing massaged Liu Sisi’s shoulders, he spoke.

"You’ve been working hard. Hang in there and aim to elevate your cultivation level to the late Three Realm stage before spring arrives. When the warm weather comes, the benefits of your Cold Heart Physique might not be as effective. It would be a good time for you to take a break."

Liu Sisi, still leaning back with her eyes closed, enjoying the massage, murmured back.

"I understand the logic, I’ll try my best."

As she spoke, she shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position.

"So, do I get a reward if I reach the late Three Realm stage before spring?"

"Reward?"

Li Jing was a little dumbfounded.

Just as he was about to respond, his phone rang with a pleasant ringtone.

Without thinking, he took out his phone and saw that it was a call from Chen Yuran.

Without giving it much thought, he answered the call.

As soon as he picked up, he could hear Chen Yuran’s voice.

"The Major Crime Unit has a case; meet at the North City Inspection Institution."

"Inspection Institution?"

Li Jing was taken aback.

Before he had a chance to ask, Chen Yuran continued.

"We’ll talk when you get there. Hurry up, everyone else is already at the scene."

After she finished, she hung up.

Noticing how Chen Yuran rushed her words and hung up the call, Li Jing frowned, then turned to Liu Sisi, who was looking up at him.

"Yuran just called, there’s a case. I have to go to the North City Inspection Institution."

"Take care of your work. I’ll be getting back to work myself shortly."

Liu Sisi showed a sweet smile and then said, understandingly.

"Be careful."

"I will."

Li Jing nodded, took a few steps, then turned back to her.

Liu Sisi was about to get back to work.

Feeling surprised at him coming back, her facial expression showed her confusion.

Before she could ask, a kiss came out of nowhere.

!!!

Liu Sisi’s eyes widened.

Before she could react, she was already passionately kissed.

She stiffened in place.

"Reward delivered. Keep up the diligent cultivation."

The voice echoed as Li Jing stormed out of the office in a haste.

Sitting in her seat, Liu Sisi was stunned for a good while before she finally came back to her senses.

With or without a reward, that wasn’t the problem.

Li Jing’s sudden "enlightenment" seemed too proficient.

Launching into a kiss without a word, she wasn’t prepared at all, which scared her quite a bit.

Normally, he was never this proactive.

She bit her lip and looked at the now empty doorway, Liu Sisi started to realize a serious issue.

Li Jing was actually more "skilled" than she had imagined.

All he needed to do was to show it.

...

A few minutes later.

Li Jing, controlling the Spirit Sword, arrived near the North City Inspection Institution.

Before he reached the Institution, he could already see the smoke rising from the street.

Seeing the thick smoke, his brow furrowed.

The direction of the smoke was indeed coming from the Institution.

So, what just happened?

Could someone have dared to attack the Institution?

The Inspection Institution wasn’t an ordinary place; not only was it guarded by numerous patrolling and stationed guards, but it was also surrounded by a large protective array.

Usually, not even a minor disturbance could occur.

To launch a direct attack, one needed to have sufficient capability.

With a hint of doubt, Li Jing picked up his speed.

Shortly, he arrived at a location where he could see the Institution, and found that the incident took place on the nearby street, not the Institution.

From a distance, he could see a distorted bus had crashed into the front door of a coffee shop on the side of the street.

Surrounding the scene of the accident, the road was blocked off and a long police line was set up, with over ten patrolling officers standing within the cordoned-off area.

At a glance, all of them were from the Major Crime Unit.

Chen Yuran, Dai Hong, and Li Qidao had all arrived at the scene.

This was a serious situation.

Most importantly, they were all cultivators from the Fourth realm of the Major Crime Unit; none from the Three Realm was present.

Flying to the scene on his Spirit Sword, Li Jing landed to join the rest.

Seeing his arrival, Dai Hong nodded, and said.

"Now that everyone’s here, Yuran, you stay and explain the situation to Li Jing. You two wait here for the Forensics Department to arrive, everyone else disperse and search the streets."

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison and took to the skies.

Dai Hong didn’t stay either. He too took off, heading towards the nearby Inspection Institution.

Seeing this, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

If the Major Crime Unit was involved, it was without a doubt a major incident.

Seeing the serious expressions of Dai Hong and the other Fourth Realm cultivators from the Major Crime Unit highlighted the severity of the situation.

Turning towards Chen Yuran, Li Jing asked.

"What exactly happened here?"

"A human-shaped demon attacked a prison van."

Chen Yuran answered with a heavy expression.

"Preliminary judgment from the surveillance footage suggests it’s a Fifth Boundary Big Monster."

A Fifth Boundary Big Monster?

Li Jing was taken aback.

The Fifth Boundary human-shaped demon, also known as the Great Demon.

Such entities are extremely rare.

The speed of cultivation for demons is notoriously slow.

If humans struggle to reach the Fifth Boundary, how about demons?

Unexpectedly, how did a Fifth Boundary Great Demon appear in North City?

Not only did it appear, but it even brazenly challenged the Patrol Bureau, attacking the prison vehicle of the Examination Institute.

Is it tired of living?

In any other place, causing a commotion would be tolerable.

A Fifth Boundary Great Demon is much stronger than a human at the Fifth Boundary.

It could have been rampant anywhere else.

But who holds the ground in North City?

Chen Jing!

In front of the Six Realm, what does the Fifth Boundary count for?

As for the current situation, Li Jing is very surprised, and at the same time, extremely delighted.

After much anticipation, finally an incident has occurred.

And it involves a Fifth Boundary Great Demon!

Human-shaped demons are treasures all over.

The higher the Boundary, the greater its "value".

For the Fifth Boundary, the "value" starts at a minimum of 100 million!

Struggling to suppress his excited emotions, Li Jing gazes at Chen Yuran with glowing eyes.

"Let me see the surveillance."

Meeting someone’s hungry and impatient face, Chen Yuran’s expression became slightly strange, and he handed over the tablet after operating it a few times.

"Calm down, a Fifth Boundary Great Demon is no ordinary creature. If you want to encircle and kill it, you need at least three Fifth Boundary individuals cooperating, and before that, you need to make sure you can isolate it with a Boundary Stone, otherwise, more than half of the city will be destroyed. As for us, we are only responsible for the investigation, not participating."

"Don’t worry, I know the consequences."

Brushing it off, Li Jing said, taking over the tablet and lowering his eyes.

The surveillance video that Chen Yuran pulled up was only five seconds.

The still frame at the beginning of the video showed a prison bus heading towards the Examination Institute.

Clicking Play on the surveillance.

The next second in the video, a shadow completely covered by gray demonic Qi and unrecognizable face fell from the sky, landing on the road ahead of the bus and waving its palm.

Suddenly, the surveillance video interrupted.

The five-second surveillance video, actually, only showed just over two seconds of footage.

The remaining more than two seconds were interrupted images.

That shadow in the video appeared very suddenly.

Underneath the dense demonic Qi, you can’t even tell if it’s a man or a woman, let alone its appearance.

Handing the tablet back to Chen Yuran, Li Jing asked.

"Was there no clearer surveillance available?"

"The surrounding surveillance were all damaged by the demonic Qi, this is the clearest one."

Chen Yuran answered.

"When the demonic Qi is strong enough to completely cover the body, it can basically be confirmed as Fifth Boundary, something the Fourth realm demons can’t achieve."

After saying this, she whispered.

"This Fifth Boundary Great Demon deliberately attacked the prison van, it might be related to the Rebirth Society."

After half a month, Li Jing heard the words "Rebirth Society" from Chen Yuran again, and he asked puzzledly.

"The victims in this attacked prison car..."

"The human trafficking organization that the Major Crime Unit Six caught half a month ago were on the bus, today was the day of their formal trial."

Chen Yuran mentioned and then said solemnly.

"Besides the members of the human trafficking organization, there were also six second-level patrols, four guards from the Examination Institute, and a driver on the bus. It’s confirmed that there were no survivors."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing fell silent, turning his head to look at the twisted, deformed bus shell that remained.

There was no pity for the suspects of the human trafficking organization’s case.

The six second-level patrols, four guards and a driver from the Examination Institute were innocent.

Slowly retracting his gaze, Li Jing asked.

"How did the bureau chief respond?"

"The news was just sent over, there’s no response yet."

While speaking, Chen Yuran said,

"We’ve already arranged for compensation, and the families of the sacrificed patrol officers, guards, and drivers will be well taken care of. There isn’t much we can do for the deceased, except to bring the suspects to justice as quickly as possible."

As soon as the words were spoken, a few sword lights fell from the sky, landing nearby.

The lights faded away, revealing Yang Qiuci leading four members of the Forensics Department.

Upon seeing Li Jing, Yang Qiuci nodded and smiled.

"Long time no see."

Before Li Jing could respond, she put on her gloves and, along with her subordinates, headed to the bus.

Obviously, Yang Qiuci already knew the situation here and had her instructions. There was no time to waste in collecting evidence.

Li Jing hadn’t seen Yang Qiuci for a long time indeed.

The last time they met was nearly two months ago.

Seeing her now, busy with her team as soon as she arrived, he stood a little distance away, propped his cheek and lost in thought.

Whether or not the Fifth Boundary Big Monster that made an appearance has anything to do with Rebirth Society, its purpose of silencing witnesses was obvious.

The human trafficking ring being transported in the prison bus might have known something, and thus, attracted trouble.

However, something seemed suspicious.

Why did the Big Monster not act sooner or later, choosing to attack when the captives were being transported for trial, in broad daylight? It seemed unreasonable.

Leaving that aside.

The criminals had been caught for more than half a month already, and the Major Crime Unit had already interrogated them.

Everything that needed to be confessed was already out.

Transporting them to the Examination Institute was only for sentencing.

Even if the criminals had withheld information, they could never reveal it at the Examination Institute.

The Fifth Boundary Big Monster intentionally silencing them seemed unnecessary.

Li Jing, as he thought more about it, became more convinced that something was amiss and murmured,

"Yuran, I think this isn’t as simple as it appears on the surface, it might not necessarily be related to the Rebirth Society."

"What do you mean?"

Chen Yuran turned his head.

Li Jing, without mincing words, shared his thoughts.

After Chen Yuran had listened, he nodded thoughtfully, and said,

"Now that you mention it, there are indeed many suspicious points. But if it wasn’t the Rebirth Society that silenced them, where did this Fifth Boundary Big Monster come from?"

"It either acts for itself, or belongs to a certain organization."

Li Jing replied.

"The likelihood of it being under the command of the Rebirth Society is low. The Rebirth Society, though a large organization, primarily operates overseas and has yet to establish a strong foothold domestically. Our Hua Country is very sensitive to foreign forces, few of them could get away with committing crimes openly at home. As for a monster of the Fifth Boundary level, Hua Country will certainly not overlook it. The Rebirth Society must have lost their mind to send a Fifth Boundary monster to commit a crime within our borders. They would leave a trail of immigration records, we could easily trace it if suspected, and they would lose a Fifth Boundary."

Saying this, he continued.

"In my opinion, this Fifth Boundary Big Monster is most likely from Hua Country, possibly even local to Jianghai. Whatever organization it belongs to for now, I think its target this time is not the human traffickers on the prison bus."

At this, Chen Yuran frowned.

"You mean, this Big Monster attacked to kill the others on the bus?"

"Most likely."

Li Jing nodded and said,

"The surveillance can only provide information that the attacker was a monster. It’s not much of a clue. We can’t find anything more about the human traffickers on the bus as the Major Crime Unit has already dug up everything about them. If we want to investigate further, we should look into the eleven innocent victims on the bus."

"Alright, I’ll contact with Captain Dai and have him alert the Intelligence Department."

Chen Yuran agreed, then asked,

"Do you have Xia Ai with you?"

"No."

Li Jing shook his head and said,

"You can send a list to my Immortal Message. She will get it."

"Okay."

Chen Yuran took out his phone, put on the communication headset and walked away.

Li Jing stood still, watching over Yang Qiuci and her team. He raised his hand to form a hand seal, activated the Sky Eye Technique, and looked around.

Under the Sky Eye Technique, apart from the heavily distorted bus with traces of Demon Qi, there was nothing unusual in the surroundings.

After confirming that there were no remnants of the Demon Qi elsewhere, Li Jing dismissed the Sky Eye Technique, took out his phone, found Ji Qing’s number, and began composing a message.

"A Fifth Boundary Big Monster committed a crime in the North City. Can you help find out more?"