Chapter 286: Chapter 286: The Most Suitable Dragon
Chen Xuan thought about it and realized she wasn’t wrong. Since both Lu Lixin and Zhang Zhiqui had come out of that group one after another, who knew how many other Awakened were hiding in that place.
Leaving it entirely to the police did carry no small amount of risk.
"So it’s on us to investigate?"
"What, you think I was born with a dog’s nose?" Lin Qing shot him a reproachful glare. "Just because I can smell something underground doesn’t mean I can smell it on the surface too. If a household chemicals factory was spewing weird odors every day, the environmental bureau would’ve fined them into bankruptcy already. I don’t have a strengthened olfactory implant; my sense of smell is about the same as yours."
"Why not get one?" Chen Xuan was a bit curious.
Her answer was perfectly straightforward. "You don’t want to be smelling other people’s farts all day either, right?"
Made a lot of sense.
Chen Xuan spread his hands. "That makes things tricky. We can’t exactly ask a dog to smell it in a dream and then track it down in reality, can we?"
That was asking a bit too much of a dog’s IQ.
And do dogs even dream?
"Mm... let me think." Lin Qing also fell into thought.
"If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll go ask a witch to lend me an ability." Chen Xuan scratched his head. "The Witch Gathering Hall did promise I could freely borrow abilities. They’ve got over a hundred members now—there’s got to be one or two abilities that’d be useful."
"Got it!" Lin Qing suddenly clapped her hands.
"You have someone in mind?"
"Not someone. A dragon."
"A dragon?" Chen Xuan froze. The only dragon he could think of at the moment was that Cyan Dragon Vortex that Liu Shuyue had killed.
"Not a demon, a dinosaur!" Lin Qing corrected him. "You still remember the Wanderer from Invasion Point 109?"
"Ah..." Chen Xuan thought for a moment. "You mean... Gua Gua?"
"Exactly!" Lin Qing nodded. "Look at its description. It doesn’t speak human language, but its intelligence is definitely not lower than a ten-year-old child’s. The Mechanism didn’t record its ability only because they couldn’t communicate smoothly with it—that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have one. And during testing, they noted it had extremely strong memory, color recognition, and sense of smell!"
Chen Xuan pulled up the file she’d sent him before and found that was indeed the case.
"But according to the records, Gua Gua was eventually kept in confinement by the Mechanism. We still have to first figure out where it’s being held."
"If it’s not an Ability User of great importance to the Mechanism, they usually send them back to the discovery site after ability assessment. So the branch in charge of keeping it is nine times out of ten the Jiang City division." Lin Qing knew her own organization inside out. "Didn’t we just contact Honglian a few days ago and even ask You Chi to deliver a phone to her? We can just ask her about it."
That phone had been specially modified by Lin Qing. Unlike when they hacked Jiang Siqi’s phone via software, this one’s encryption started at the hardware level. It was an electronic device that met future tech standards; as long as they didn’t physically hand it over to the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, they basically didn’t have to worry about eavesdropping.
"Okay, ask her." Chen Xuan agreed. "Hopefully this part of history hasn’t changed too much."
It took less than a second for the reply to come in.
"What did she say?"
"History’s changed." Lin Qing blinked. "Now Gua Gua is being kept at home by Wang Baihu."
...
"You’re investigating this too!?" That very night, Honglian practically dragged Wang Baihu to Beitian Academy. The moment she was shown into the reception room, she couldn’t wait to ask.
Besides Lin Qing, the room also held police representative Tian Zhenggang, plus academy disciples Yue Beifeng and You Chi. The four major forces of Jiang City were gathered here; this was pretty much Beitian Academy’s most glorious moment in recent years. As for Chen Xuan, he stayed in an upstairs room, watching the situation inside through the surveillance cameras.
"What, the Mechanism’s on the case too?" Lin Qing rested her hands on the back of the sofa, asking leisurely.
"Of course. This has to do with ability crimes—how could we possibly sit back and do nothing!" Honglian’s gaze swept around the room and finally settled on Lin Qing. "You’re... Lin Qing? The Masked Woman herself?"
"Mm-hmm. I should look pretty similar to how I did in the Consciousness Space, right?"
In fact, Lin Qing had deliberately altered her makeup and appearance to avoid having her facial features captured by cameras.
"...A little different, but I can tell it’s you." Honglian stared at her, her eyes a bit complicated. "You’ve got nerve, daring to meet with a Mechanical Officer while there’s a citywide warrant out for you. All I have to do is make a phone call, and within fifteen minutes the chief will have this place sealed so tight not even a fly could get out."
"It wouldn’t be that fast... Everyone’s off work by now..." Wang Baihu muttered under his breath.
"Miss Honglian, Beitian Academy will never allow the Dimensional Limit Mechanism to run wild on these grounds." You Chi coughed twice. "Miss Lin Qing came here in person—that is a show of sincerity, is it not?"
"If I dared to expose all the evil things the Mechanism has done to the world, why would I hide in the shadows out of fear of this little danger?" Lin Qing said carelessly. "Instead of questioning my courage, you should focus on the case itself. You said you’re investigating too—how’s that going?"
Honglian’s momentum instantly deflated. "Uh... we’ve hit a temporary stalemate. Lu Lixin’s birth mother mentioned she’d been in close contact with someone who seemed like a big boss, but I went through her entire social network and couldn’t find anyone fitting that description. Her funds were remitted from abroad. The intel group believes it was the work of the Evangelical Association."
"Sorry to interrupt, but what kind of organization is the Evangelical Association?" Tian Zhenggang asked curiously.
"An association of uncontrollable Ability Users, with a very strong antisocial tendency. Many of them have already committed actual crimes. The Mechanism has never stopped trying to arrest them." Honglian explained. "Since you’re investigating too, I strongly suggest cooperating with the Mechanism—of course, there’s no need for you to show your faces, we can just exchange intel. After all, this involves Ability User crimes; if ordinary people slip up even a little, there’ll be casualties."
Chen Xuan noticed the corners of Lin Qing’s mouth curl slightly—that was her habitual mocking expression. If the speaker hadn’t been the future leader of the resistance, she probably would’ve already let out a derisive laugh. "Sorry, Miss Honglian, but you know perfectly well what our attitude toward the Dimensional Limit Mechanism is. In fact, I even suspect this whole thing was orchestrated by the Mechanism. Aside from them, I really can’t think of any organization capable of developing a drug that awakens abilities."
"I’ve never heard of the Mechanism doing research in that area—"
"That’s because your clearance level isn’t high enough." Lin Qing cut her off. "As for the Evangelical Association, forget about them. They’re not going to extend their reach into Jiang City."
"You even know intel on the Evangelical Association?" Honglian was quite surprised.
"I told you, Shixin sees much farther than we imagine."
"If Shixin knows everything, then why doesn’t it just tell you who’s pulling the strings?"
"It’s a collective consciousness, not a chat bot. You think it answers whatever I ask?"
Tian Zhenggang couldn’t help glancing at You Chi. "Sorry, but do you understand what they’re arguing about?"
"Roughly... half of it." You Chi smiled calmly.
"Enough. I never wanted to get involved in this in the first place. It has nothing to do with the crisis of the world’s destruction. I’m only helping because Beitian Academy asked me to take part in the investigation." Lin Qing impatiently cut off the argument. "If you still want to drag the Dimensional Limit Mechanism into this, I’m leaving right now."
And she really did stand up as she said it.
"Wait—I won’t bring it up again." Honglian, in a complete reversal from her earlier stance, directly blocked Lin Qing’s path. "We can slowly verify whether the Mechanism is involved in this or not. The most important thing right now is solving the case. Jiang City cannot afford another tragedy like the one at the Five Rings Mechanical Garden."
"Now that’s more like it." Lin Qing sized her up for a moment, then slowly sat back down. "Since that’s the case, I’ll briefly lay out the clues I’ve obtained and the parts where I’ll need your help..."
Chen Xuan couldn’t help but laugh.
He could tell Lin Qing was deliberately raising her stance and using Honglian’s sense of responsibility to keep her in check. And Honglian really had been bluffed into it, choosing to put the bigger picture first and swallow this little "slander."
If this had been Lin Qing from six months ago, she probably wouldn’t have dared speak so rudely to her future boss.
Now she was more like a true Warrior.
