Chapter 39: The True Objective

Chu Zhu was not surprised; even without mentioning Li Kang, Lu Muxue’s father alone carried enough weight to make the final decision at such a meeting.

"So, has the killer been caught?" Chu Zhu asked.

"No." At the mention of this, Li Kang’s expression darkened. "I even locked down those few streets entirely and went door-to-door to investigate. In the end, we didn't find a single extra person."

"Currently, there are two possibilities. One is that the killer’s household registration is already on those streets, so once they unmasked themselves, they simply blended into the neighborhood. The other possibility is that we have been looking in the wrong direction from the very beginning."

Chu Zhu pondered for a moment and asked again, "Is there any kind of test that can identify if someone is a transcendent? Doesn't the police station have a screening mechanism for this? When I went in, I just..."

"The police station has one, but it can't be used arbitrarily," Li Kang shook his head. "Of course, even so, it’s not impossible to conduct a screening; we could just have all suspicious individuals come into the station one by one, but..."

"There’s no real point in doing that," Ning Linglong interjected. "Those two streets have over three thousand registered residents, not counting the floating population. Checking them one by one would be a huge hassle."

"Hassle?" Chu Zhu found this hard to understand; wasn't that just a matter of spending a few extra days?

"The subtext of 'hassle' is that it’s impossible!" Seeing that Chu Zhu wasn't well-versed in the jargon of the Captaincy, Li Kang decided to speak plainly. "You have to understand one thing: our Captaincy cannot exercise authority beyond that of ordinary police unless it involves transcendent matters."

"We can conduct a screening now, sure, but forcing them all to come in for testing to see if they are transcendents would clearly be overstepping our bounds!"

"But isn't this already involving the transcendent..."

"Where is the evidence?" Li Kang countered. "Just because you say it is, doesn't make it so. Otherwise, we could use this as an excuse to interfere in everything, do whatever we want, and arrest whoever we please, all with a single phrase: 'I suspect this matter is related to transcendent crime!'"

"The simplest way to intervene is to wait for the killer to reveal a flaw, for someone to discover their identity as a transcendent, and for that ordinary person to realize the existence of transcendent power. Once that happens, it will be flagged by the underground base, and we can take action. Even something like forcing three thousand people to undergo testing would then be officially justifiable."

"But right now? Where is the evidence? Or are you suggesting we use the footage of you manipulating... as evidence? Do you dare show that to anyone else?"

Chu Zhu was momentarily speechless. "Fine!"

"Furthermore, even if the killer is in the crowd, after we screen them once, they will likely sense something is wrong and might have already run away!" Ning Linglong shrugged.

"...With your capabilities!" Chu Zhu was truly at a loss. Since you are all aware of this, what exactly was the point of your previous actions? Was it just going through the motions?

Then, it dawned on Chu Zhu that the current world and the "real" world were not the same thing. The quality of administrative and police personnel, as well as their actual capabilities, were completely different!

He should have realized this earlier—given the chaotic state of the shantytowns, which were clearly outside official control, he shouldn't have expected much from them.

"Alright, let's stop talking about this!" Chu Zhu patted his cheeks. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Li Kang asked abruptly, "Then, can you give me a few explanations?"

Chu Zhu raised an eyebrow. He wasn't annoyed by the interruption and nodded.

"Regarding you and the Deity..." Li Kang opened his mouth but didn't know where to start or how to phrase it. Finally, he said bitterly, "Can this matter be contained? If it leaks, the consequences! And what exactly is going on with you?"

As soon as these words were out, even Guan Fei, who had been emotionally unstable, pricked up his ears. Clearly, he was extremely curious about the relationship between Chu Zhu and Nuwa No. 17.

Only Ning Linglong remained at the table with a blank expression, glancing back and forth between them. Why was she the only one out of the loop? What had they been whispering about behind her back!

"Don't worry, it'll be fine! Trust me," Chu Zhu said calmly. "When have I ever made such an absurd mistake?"

"Well, you haven't before..." Li Kang muttered, but he couldn't deny that this time, with the union incident, Chu Zhu had pulled off something huge—something he couldn't comprehend at all!

"Actually, looking at it now, if the killer's goal was indeed to incite turmoil in the shantytowns, it seems they have already achieved their objective," Chu Zhu narrowed his eyes and said suddenly, "Tonight, I intend to go back to my old home to sleep. Why don't you come over and see if the killer comes to attack me?"

The reason Chu Zhu hadn't interfered with the union was that he wanted to see whether the mastermind was merely targeting the union or targeting Chu Zhu—these were two different concepts.

If they were targeting the union, now that the union riots had broken out and had been suppressed, they shouldn't come to ambush him tonight. But if an ambush still occurred, that would be truly interesting!

"Wait! Let me process this." Li Kang’s expression shifted. After thinking for a while, he grasped some of what Chu Zhu meant. His face flickered several times before he nodded and cautiously spat out one word: "Fine!"

"Then it's settled." Chu Zhu quickly finished the rest of his noodles and pulled a small piece of silver coin from his pocket. This was the current currency of the Daqian Empire.

The one in Chu Zhu's hand had a face value of ten and was known as a "Small Qian Coin." Those with a value of one hundred were primarily silver with inlaid gold threads, known as "Large Qian Coins."

The value of the Qian currency was actually quite stable. Generally, two hundred was enough for a family of six in the shantytowns to eat and drink their fill for a month—as for why a bowl of noodles cost ten, that was naturally because this noodle shop was located near the wealthy district!

"Wait, about that..." Ning Linglong hesitated for a long time. It wasn't until Chu Zhu was about to leave that she gritted her teeth and caught up. "My dad is inviting you to dinner tonight. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"

The two figures gradually drifted away...

Left at the scene were Li Kang and the others.

"It's too strange..." Li Kang scanned the surroundings vigilantly and spoke slowly. He knew that Guan Fei and Bi Xuan had both seen the feat Chu Zhu performed at the underground temple base, so he didn't mince words. "Today, the way Ah Zhu felt to me was like..."

"Like he had been possessed?" Guan Fei took over, his expression despondent. "But when he chats, it feels like nothing has changed!"

"Is there a possibility that the Deity did something to Uncle Zhu..." Bi Xuan began, but before he could finish, Li Kang reflexively covered his mouth. "Silence!"