Chapter 22: The Flying Fairy Group Seeks Help

A cutting-edge device to detect the Demon Miasma?

Li Jing and Yi Xiuzhu both turned their heads.

This came out of Lu Yangcheng’s mouth.

Popping up suddenly, it was quite intriguing.

After all, it was urgently ordered by the Inspection Bureau.

With the true cause of monster transformation incidents still unclear, it’s easy for imaginations to run wild.

Contemplating that the news was reliably reported from Lu Yangcheng’s father, Li Jing frowned.

"Inhaling the Demon Miasma could potentially transform ordinary creatures into monsters. But as far as I know, the conditions for the Demon Miasma to appear are extremely harsh, and it takes a long accumulation over time to form."

He muttered.

"If there were Demon Miasma in the North City region, the Inspection Bureau would have responded early to extinguish it at its source rather than letting it develop to the point where it affects living creatures."

Before he finished speaking, Yi Xiuzhu agreed.

"Compared to its impact on beasts, the Demon Miasma has a more evident effect on humans. Even not fully formed miasma, if inhaled excessively, can affect the mind and even irreversibly damage the body."

After saying that, he went on.

"Humans would be affected before monsters. If the consecutive transformations yesterday were caused by the miasma, the major hospitals in North City would have been filled with patients. Such a significant event wouldn’t have escaped the Inspection Bureau’s notice."

Scratching his head, Lu Yangcheng responded to their conversation.

"Indeed, it is strange. The chance of the miasma forming in the city is extremely low. Yet yesterday’s continuous transformations almost covered the entire North City region. How large must the Demon Miasma be?"

Taking a sip of Coke from his can, Lu Yangcheng rambled on.

"But in my opinion, the Bureau’s urgent order for cutting-edge miasma detection equipment mustn’t be hasty. Such devices aren’t cheap, specifically those used to detect miasma are rarely used."

"My family runs a decent business, but what we sell are only some common detection devices. Such a large urgent order worth tens of millions, my father had to contact many out-of-town colleagues and suppliers to just barely meet it, it’s uncertain whether the goods will arrive tomorrow morning."

"The Bureau itself has relevant device reserves, they surely have a few devices at the very least. There must be some reason behind such a large order. I guess they must have discovered some clues."

After listening to Lu Yangcheng, Li Jing frowned deeply.

What Lu Yangcheng said made sense.

An order worth tens of millions means nothing to the Inspection Bureau.

But they wouldn’t be without reason.

Ordering these devices specifies they would use them.

But considering the entire North City being covered by the Demon Miasma, the chances are nearly zero.

As Yi Xiuzhu explained earlier.

Before the miasma influences the creatures, humans will get affected first.

North City has a population of nearly 20 million.

If it is covered by the miasma, chaos would have ensued already.

The Bureau also has relevant equipment, a quick test by the roadside would have discovered such a serious situation, right?

...

Li Jing and the other two discussed a lot about the Demon Miasma.

Even did some "homework" on the spot, searching for a variety of information about the miasma on the internet with their mobile phones.

But that’s it.

They had just started their jobs in the Inspection Bureau, far from being professionals.

They could discuss about it.

Deepening the research, though, was beyond their reach.

Upon resting on the top of a tall building for a while, they began the first round of patroling.

The uniform of the auxiliary inspectors is not just a set of clothes.

The uniform itself has a certain level of defense.

Moreover, the uniform has a locator sewn into it directly connected to the auxiliary inspector’s intranet.

As long as they were wearing the uniform, their locations would be monitored by the auxiliary inspection intranet.

This function mainly exists for safety reasons.

However, it’s also precisely accurate in detecting if someone is slacking off during work hours.

...

The Eastern Coast area, nearing midnight, was bustling with activity.

Everyone in this world prided themselves on being cultivators; thus by night-time, their spirits were especially high and their nightlife was quite rich.

Li Jing and his two companions conducted an air patrol of the area assigned to the Heavenly King Group, finding no notable situations.

Just as they were thinking about finding a place to rest, their communicators sounded in their ears.

"Heavenly King Group, reply if you can hear this."

The sudden static from the communicator caught Li Jing and his companions off guard.

The voice belonged to Kong Wu.

Hovering in mid-air, Li Jing poured spiritual power into the communicator to establish a connection with Kong Wu.

"Heavenly King Group received."

At the same time, Yi Xiuzhu and Lu Yangcheng also connected their communicators to Kong Wu.

Immediately after the connection was made, Kong Wu’s voice echoed again.

"Traces of a likely monster have been found along the coastline in Flying Immortal Group’s jurisdiction. It might be that a beast from the sea came ashore. We haven’t seen where the monster is yet and are unsure if it has just transformed. For now, their three members are attempting to search the area. You guys go over and provide backup."

Upon hearing Kong Wu’s words over the communicator, Li Jing and the other two exchanged a glance.

Then Li Jing spoke.

"Understood, the Heavenly King Group will move out to provide support immediately."

"Stay safe and report immediately after finding anything."

Kong Wu advised before disconnecting.

Seeing that Kong Wu was no longer on the line, Lu Yangcheng let out an incredulous sound.

"Hasn’t Flying Immortal Group gotten too lucky? They’ve just started their shift today and within two hours, they’ve already found traces of a monster? That’s quite sensational."

"They just have suspicions. Let’s head over and see."

While Li Jing was responding, he started heading towards Flying Immortal Group’s jurisdiction, switching his communicator to connect with the group leader, Zhao Junfeng.

"This is Heavenly King Group. We’ve received Commander Kong’s order to assist. We’ll be over the Eastern Coast in ten minutes."

"Received by Flying Immortal Group."

Zhao Junfeng replied promptly.

"The traces of the monster were found on the coast beach. If you follow the road you will see it, it’s quite prominent. We of the Flying Immortal group are conducting a search towards the south of the road. We kindly request the three of you from Heavenly King Group to search in the north. Furthermore, I’ve contacted the support staff for additional help enclosing the residential areas within the coastline."

...

About fifteen minutes later.

Li Jing and the others arrived at the coastal road mentioned by Zhao Junfeng.

After travelling not far, the three found a long serpentine trail on the beach; it stretched from the sea, across the beach, and up to the road.

As Zhao Junfeng had described, the trace was incredibly conspicuous.

Just by looking.

The S-shaped trace was over a meter wide.

Looking at the robust imprint on the beach, Lu Yangcheng was astounded.

"So, the Flying Immortal Group really did encounter a monster. This thick imprint is clearly not something an ordinary sea creature could leave."

While speaking, he took out a remote control-like device from a storage space and placed some sand from the imprint into a device slot.

Seeing this, Li Jing frowned.

"That device in your hand..."

"A universal detector."

Lu Yangcheng replied.

"My family does business in detection devices. I always carry one with me. It will come in handy right now. Just wait for the results; they’ll be out shortly."

In the middle of his speech, a "beep" echoed from his detection device.

After hearing the beep, Lu Yangcheng looked down and confidently affirmed.

"It’s indeed a monster. Moreover, it’s not a newly transformed one. The detector has picked up traces of Demonic Qi. It’s estimated that its strength is at least at the late stages of One Realm."

As soon as he finished speaking, the universal detector beeped urgently.