29. Other Contractors (Wishing everyone a very happy New Year)

After Ning Xuan removed the snake venom, a little less than half a bottle of medicinal fluid remained from the extracted snake gall.

Although the black-clad assassin’s mental power was only at Grade A, his overall combat strength was certainly not low. Snakes are adept at concealment, stealth, and ambush; a spirit controller whose companion spirit is a snake is naturally well-suited to be an assassin.

Furthermore, the assassin’s companion spirit—that black snake—possessed a toxicity potent enough that, had Ning Xuan’s senses not been sharp enough and Chen Nan not arrived just in time, she would likely not have escaped death today.

Seeing Ning Xuan lost in thought, Chen Nan feared she might think he was merely making excuses for his family. He quickly explained, "Master, I also hope to find out who sent the assassin. Only by identifying the enemy can we better respond to the situation."

Ning Xuan gave a light hum. "According to you, how should we investigate?"

Chen Nan looked up at her. "Master, we should hand this assassin over to the Regulatory Investigation Bureau tomorrow. They are responsible for regional security. Since the assassin broke into a private residence, we can request that they scan his genetic information and cross-reference it with the federal database to find a family with a matching genetic profile. That way, we can uncover his basic background."

Ning Xuan looked at him and asked, "What if we can't find anything?" As far as she knew, not everyone underwent genetic testing or had their information recorded.

"Then he must have been trained by space pirates or a professional assassin organization," Chen Nan replied.

"Your father told you to come and eliminate me, and he also instructed you to leave no trace. Did you contact anyone from an assassin organization at that time?" Ning Xuan sat in her chair, looking down at him.

"No!" Chen Nan denied, then explained, "I never intended to harm you. Being transferred to the school was just to see what kind of person you were. My father’s intention back then was that hiring space pirates or assassins would be too costly. Since your mental power value was very low and your strength poor, there was no need for such measures; any desperate thug would have sufficed."

It was precisely because of this that Chen Nan concluded this professional assassin was not sent by his father. In his father’s eyes, Ning Xuan’s abilities were so weak that it would be a waste to spend a large sum on such a professional—after all, why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken?

Ning Xuan stood up, sealed the remaining half-bottle of snake gall medicinal fluid, and placed it on the glass shelf with the other reagents.

"By your logic, whoever wants me dead sent a professional assassin because they must know my strength has improved," Ning Xuan inferred, following Chen Nan’s line of reasoning.

"May I ask, Master, has the Mainframe matched you with any other contractors?" Chen Nan didn't answer her, instead posing a question of his own.

"Yes," Ning Xuan nodded.

"Master, when the Mainframe performed the genetic matching, your mental power was Grade D with a value of only 56. My mental power is Grade S with a value of 11,341. I am four grades higher than you, so I can use high-level spirit controller protection to hide my information. If your other contractors have also hidden their information, it should be the same situation. However, you increased your mental power value to 875 in less than a month. Although it is still Grade C, at this rate of growth, your mental power could break through to Grade B at any time. When that happens, the high-level spirit controller protection will automatically expire, and all previously hidden contractor information will be revealed!" Chen Nan looked up to see Ning Xuan’s reaction.

Ning Xuan raised an eyebrow. Such important news had never appeared on any of the StarNet forums she had browsed. When she had looked up information on mandatory bonding, she had only found that high-level spirit controllers could automatically dissolve a contract after ten years of hiding their identity.

"Come here and sit," Ning Xuan patted the chair beside her.

"I dare not. I failed to protect you, causing you to be injured and endangered; it was my dereliction of duty, and I deserve to be punished." Chen Nan knelt upright, looking ashamed.

"In the future, don't put that collar on yourself when there's no need. You're just in a heat cycle, not insane or having lost your mind."

"Though you were negligent, you arrived in time. Since the assassin wasn't sent by your family, we'll let today’s matter slide. Tomorrow, we will go to the Regulatory Investigation Bureau to get to the bottom of this." Ning Xuan knew that even at the Bureau, there was a high probability they wouldn't find specific information on the assassin, but it was worth a try.

"Master trusts me?" Chen Nan asked, somewhat moved.

"You are my contractor and we have already established a mental link; I can enter your mental sea at will. If I die, it brings you only harm. Why wouldn't I trust you?" Ning Xuan countered.

"I hear that a spirit controller whose psychic entity dies becomes like a crippled person and doesn't live long. Keep an eye on that assassin; don't let him die tonight." Ning Xuan yawned with fatigue and rose to return to her bedroom.

While she slept, Ning Xuan practiced the "Soul Nourishing True Scripture." Regardless of whether the assassin was sent by one of her other contractors, she had to reach Grade B as quickly as possible to flush out those lurking in the shadows. Why should they have access to her information while she could only see that theirs was hidden?

Ning Xuan secretly resolved to practice her mental power more diligently. At the same time, she continued to experiment, refining higher-purity reagents to sell in her StarNet shop and earn money.

The next morning, Ning Xuan and Chen Nan took the half-dead black-clad assassin to the Regulatory Investigation Bureau. As for the assassin’s psychic entity—the snake that had died when its gall was removed—Chen Nan brought that along as well.