Chapter 184: Zhang Yu Being Questioned

Chapter 184: Zhang Yu Under Questioning

Fuji reminded him from the side, "Remember, you never saw Song Xu."

"The apartment's surveillance was already broken, and you and Bai Zhenzhen both disguised your appearances, so there won't be any footage of your real faces in the nearby streets."

"Plus, those cultists fear ritual backlash and are very secretive; they'd never keep anything related to the evil god in their personal belongings."

"The patrol team probably hasn't found any intel about the evil god from them yet, so they won't know Song Xu was after us."

Zhang Yu, a cautious man, always prepared in advance—like when selling seeds, he'd have containers and tissues ready long before, unlike some hotheads who scramble at the last moment.

For the questioning this incident might bring, he had naturally discussed it with Fuji and Bai Zhenzhen, and this wasn't the first time he'd heard Fuji's reminder.

Now, hearing Yun Ni's question, Zhang Yu looked bewildered and said, "Song Xu? I know he's a top student at Bailong High, but I don't know him; we've never spoken."

Yun Ni nodded slightly at Zhang Yu's words, her mind conjuring some information about Song Xu.

Because the six cultists' deaths from ritual backlash were witnessed and even recorded by many citizens.

So the incident quickly drew the patrol team's attention, classified as a suspected evil god case.

During extensive data comparison, among the six dead... Song Xu was the first identified—after all, as a top student at Bailong High, his data was the most detailed and most held by the authorities.

And through investigating his phone, computer, and other personal items, the organization he secretly built was exposed to the patrol team.

"An organization of poor geniuses, aiming to break shackles and charge to the second layer..."

"Tch, is this scam still popular?"

But Yun Ni didn't care; in her experience, in Kunxu, the poorer you are, the easier you're tricked by the rich, because the information gap is too vast, and such fraud cases weren't her concern.

As patrol team captain, what Yun Ni cared about most was... the evil god.

But the mere phenomenon of six people self-immolating couldn't yet be evidence of an evil god incident, since there were many ways to cause such an effect.

And from the clues and items left by the dead, no evil god-related intel was found.

As for Li Quan and the other, originally living in the apartment and taken away by the company that day, they were now working for the company to pay off fines for pirated techniques.

From these two, the patrol team found no leads on the evil god.

The whole incident seemed like a simple murder case, preventing Yun Ni from escalating action permissions to use cruder, harsher, and more divine methods.

But from the ruined building, smashed scene, damaged surveillance, and other traces, Yun Ni sensed a whiff of the evil god.

And the reason Yun Ni questioned Zhang Yu was because, in some of Song Xu's left-behind materials, she found intel on Zhang Yu.

"This guy has been collecting intel on Zhang Yu recently?"

"Is Zhang Yu their target?"

"Does he think Zhang Yu is also poor, so Song Xu wanted to recruit him to scam money?"

"Maybe I can get some useful info from Zhang Yu?"

As they spoke, Yun Ni and Zhang Yu had entered an empty classroom, with other patrol team members guarding the door.

They each sat behind a desk, and Yun Ni said, "Has Mo Tianyi contacted you?"

Zhang Yu's heart paused slightly, but Fuji had already reminded him, "Don't deny this. First, you're not closely tied to the Poor Alliance, and the patrol team isn't in the same system as the local Songyang nobles."

"They don't care about organizations like the Poor Alliance; just tell the truth about your contact with Mo Tianyi."

"Lying about this would only raise suspicion."

So Zhang Yu truthfully recounted his few contacts with Mo Tianyi.

After hearing him, Yun Ni's eyes flickered with disappointment. "No useful intel."

"Just like those poor students with Mo Tianyi—none of them know if Song Xu had an evil god behind him?"

Just then, Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Did something happen to them?"

Seeing his puzzled look, Yun Ni wasn't surprised but didn't intend to reveal anything. She said casually, "Hmm... they're involved in a pirated technique case."

"If you remember anything else about them, feel free to call me."

At the same time, more details of the incident flashed through Yun Ni's mind.

"Troublesome—everything valuable at the scene was destroyed."

"Almost all the surveillance in the apartment is faulty..."

"No suspicious figures on the street surveillance either..."

"And the delivery guy who went to the scene... seems to have ordered using a stolen phone; the phone's owner isn't suspicious either..."

The more Yun Ni investigated, the fewer effective clues she found, and almost no elements related to the evil god.

But the more this happened, the stronger her feeling grew: "If those six really died from ritual backlash, then this was likely done by an experienced, clean-handed cultist... or a veteran evil god directing from behind."

"Then this is an internal struggle among evil gods."

"Could it be the evil god that appeared at Songyang High?" About a year ago, traces of an evil god appeared at Songyang High.

To track this evil god, the patrol team spent massive manpower and resources investigating the corporate groups and families behind Songyang High, maintaining long-term surveillance.

But that evil god was like a phantom, never showing any trace again, leading many patrol members to think it might have just passed through.

"These cockroaches in the gutter just keep getting better at hiding."

Thoughts flickered through her mind, and Yun Ni smiled at Zhang Yu. "Before Pianpian left, she asked me to look after you, but I'm broke, sis, so I can't lend you money."

"I just have some say in the patrol team... Speaking of which, are you interested in advancing in the patrol team?"

"Like becoming a full member? Then your salary goes up, full medical coverage, daily meal and transport subsidies, tax exemptions, more talismans, and even a chance to contact Pianpian."

Zhang Yu's eyes moved slightly. "Contact... Zhang Pianpian? Aren't the layers of Kunxu not easily connected?"

Yun Ni explained, "Ordinary people can't easily cross layers, but the Eight Ministries oversee the world, controlling all layers of Kunxu. If they couldn't connect up and down, how would they communicate? How would they exchange?"

"Once you become a formal employee under the Eight Ministries, you can use that to connect up and down."

Fuji reminded him from the side, "She's right. If you and your sister both become formal employees under the Divine Ministry, you'll have a chance to cross layers. Besides that, cross-layer corporate trade also allows relevant personnel to communicate."

"But becoming a formal employee under the Divine Ministry... that path has too many restrictions. With all your secrets, forget it."

Even without Fuji's reminder, Zhang Yu remembered Zhang Pianpian's warning and had no intention of becoming a formal employee, so he declined on the spot.

Yun Ni shrugged with a smile, telling him to come find her if he changed his mind.

Shortly after Zhang Yu left, the patrol members outside entered.

A young man said to Yun Ni, "Captain, I just had someone check Zhang Yu's data. This guy recently bought a batch of antiques worth over a hundred thousand."

"Antiques are a tough investment, like archaeology—too many people use them to find ancient cultivation secrets, collect info on lost sects and fallen evil gods. The competition is fierce, with countless individuals and companies trading daily."

"What does a high schooler know about this?"

"Also, I found that in the last six months, he and Bai Zhenzhen left Songyang City twice..."

Yun Ni glanced at him; she knew no less than he did about archaeology and antiques.

Especially since the Ten Great Sects and their companies constantly collect data and knowledge on sects lost to history—a vast market, but irrelevant to most city dwellers.

She also knew that beyond investment and archaeology, many antiques were used for worship.

Many strong practitioners on the divine path had personal shrines at home—like Yun Ni's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on—all with their own private worship shrines.

Of course, besides worshipping the righteous gods, one could also use it to worship the evil gods.

But Zhang Pianpian's brother worshipping an evil god?

Yun Ni shook her head.

"Someone like Zhang Pianpian, who is under the special attention of the righteous gods, with her entire family under scrutiny from above—how could she possibly be connected to an evil god?"

A chain of thoughts flashed through her mind like lightning, but Yun Ni had no intention of explaining. She only looked at the man and said coolly, "Who told you to investigate him?"

The man was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Captain, weren't you asking about Song Xu? Didn't that mean you suspected he might also have ties to the evil god's followers?"

Yun Ni said coldly, "When did I ever tell you I suspected him? I was just gathering some information from him. Don't act on your own initiative under my command."

Though she had reprimanded him, Yun Ni did not take further action, because she knew his family had been inspectors for seven generations.

In Yun Ni's eyes, the inspection team was like a beautifully decorated house. Though the house had many walls, only two or three were load-bearing; the rest only pretended to bear weight. But don't be fooled—if you wanted to tear them down and renovate, it would cost a lot of money and come at a great price.

Then Yun Ni asked again, "When were the two times he left Songyang City?"

Hearing the dates the man reported, Yun Ni raised an eyebrow slightly.

To others, these two days seemed utterly ordinary, but to her, a tenth-generation inspector, they were far from usual.

"Were those the days of the high school foundation-building exams?"

"Were they going to take the foundation-building exams?"

Realizing this, Yun Ni's first thought was that her judgment might be wrong.

But then, thinking of Zhang Pianpian, she immediately felt it wasn't impossible that she had guided her own brother to take the foundation-building exams.

"Enough." Yun Ni looked at the young man and said, "Zhang Yu is a colleague after all. Don't go poking around him for no reason in the future."

"Especially regarding his departures from Songyang. Anyone who doesn't want to keep their job can go ahead and investigate."

Yun Ni gave a solemn warning to the few subordinates before her. "If you really dig up something, I'm afraid no one in Songyang City can protect you."

Yun Ni thought to herself, "Given the confidentiality level of the foundation-building exams, if we keep investigating what Zhang Yu was doing outside... we might just stir up a hornet's nest and implicate who knows how many people."

Meanwhile, the inspection team members nearby were all taken aback by her words, wondering just how much backing Zhang Yu had, that even investigating him could cost them their jobs? That no one could protect them?

(End of chapter)