Chapter 30 Spiritual Energy Jammer

Chi Shuai was driving while Gu Cheng sat in the passenger seat, making a phone call.

“Xiao Jiang, this is Gu Cheng. I need a favor.”

“Please look into the address I just sent you. I need detailed information on the resident, whether any cases have occurred in the vicinity recently, and ideally the neighbors’ information as well.”

Steering with one hand while resting the other on the window frame, Chi Shuai yawned and muttered, “That godson of yours sure is a handful.”

They had finally gotten a day off, yet here they were rushing out to Qianshui Bay. Who was paying for gas? The boss, out of his own pocket, of course.

Gu Cheng glanced at Chi Shuai. “Focus on driving, and speed it up.”

“Roger that!” He slammed the accelerator to the floor, only to catch another smack to the back of his head.

“Hey, that counts as interfering with the driver.”

When the car pulled up to Daliao Street, Chi Shuai looked at the endless concrete stairs in front of them, his shoulders slumping. “It’s our holiday. Do we really have to climb this?”

Gu Cheng had already bounded up the steps. “Hurry up. Treat it as field training.”

“You’re regular military; I’m not.” Chi Shuai felt his scrawny thigh muscles and sluggishly trudged after him.

By the time he finally dragged himself to the door, Gu Cheng was already searching the apartment.

Their phones chimed simultaneously.

“Sister Xiao Jiang sent over the files. The resident is named Qian Jingjing, twenty-four years old, graduated from college just last year. Both parents are deceased, and she lived with her grandmother until her grandmother passed away, after which she lived alone.”

“Simple social circle. She never found a regular job, just took on freelance gigs like drawing for people and such.”

Chi Shuai leaned against the doorframe, reading the files Sister Xiao Jiang had sent.

“What about recent cases?” Gu Cheng glanced at a milk carton sitting in the sink. The date on it was from over twenty days ago, but it had clearly just been taken out of the fridge, condensation still beading on the surface.

Daliao Street was practically a slum. Petty theft cases were countless, and there had even been a few major crimes.

Chi Shuai swiped on his screen. “Where do I even start? Tons of them. Over a dozen reports in the past five days alone.” Mostly thefts: stolen bikes, stolen groceries, stolen fish, and peeping Toms.

“Have Xiao Jiang look further back. Check the reports from the past month, and find out when Qian Jingjing was last seen in public.”

“A month?” Chi Shuai rolled his eyes dramatically. “After a whole month, wouldn’t the body already reek?” If someone killed her and dumped her into the sea, a month would be plenty of time for the fish to pick the corpse clean.

Grumbles aside, he quickly placed the call. Insolent as he was toward Gu Cheng, he was remarkably polite and respectful toward Xiao Jiang. “Sister Xiao Jiang, could you check the past month as well? Right, right, it’s for the boss.”

“Sorry to trouble you on your day off, Sister Xiao Jiang. I’ll treat you to afternoon tea next time.”

Gu Cheng gave him a look. Chi Shuai hung up and asked, “What?”

“Nothing,” Gu Cheng smiled faintly.

Chi Shuai shifted uncomfortably. “Sister Xiao Jiang knows everything. You have to show some respect to someone like that.”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a quest to find a cat? Is that chat group targeting cultivators? Were all the people who came here captured?”

Just as he finished rambling, the new information from Xiao Jiang came through.

“Qian Jingjing was last seen on surveillance footage twenty-six days ago near a bus stop. Because she lived alone and had virtually no other social ties, no one reported her missing.”

How could someone missing for nearly a month post a quest to find a cat?

After searching every corner of the apartment, Gu Cheng returned to the living room, moved the coffee table aside, and pulled back the rug, revealing the remnants of an array formation and spirit stone powder on the floorboards.

Pinching some of the powder between his fingers, he said, “It’s high purity, ground by hand.”

The ones sold on the market were often adulterated with mother-of-pearl powder. It had the same fine shimmer and also contained energy, which fooled a lot of people.

Chi Shuai chimed in, “So this person called F isn’t a total rookie after all. Did she draw the array formation too?”

“It’s possible,” Gu Cheng replied, not jumping to conclusions. “She kept a cat, and the cat went missing.”

“If the owner has been missing for nearly a month, of course the cat would run off without food.” If it had been locked inside for over twenty days without anything to eat, the smell when they walked in definitely wouldn’t have been pleasant.

Gu Cheng didn’t answer. The apartment showed continuous traces of someone living here: empty cat food cans, and fish bones in the trash bag picked completely clean.

Everything indicated that something was wrong with the posted quest.

“Are we still investigating?” Chi Shuai asked. Shouldn’t they just hand this over to the police?

“Investigate.”

Gu Cheng produced a small glass vial from his pocket, stepped back a few paces, and uncorked it.

Forming a tracking hand seal with one hand, he grabbed a pinch of spirit stone powder with the other.

Tossing it into the air, the powder automatically formed the shape of the earlier array formation midair.

Chi Shuai took a look. “It’s for finding people. Did you locate them?”

“Found them.” Just as he spoke, a white light rose from the array formation. “Let’s go. We’re following it.”

Ding Ling hailed a taxi. The cat insisted on coming along, leaving her no choice but to let it drape itself across her shoulders.

“Once we’re in the car, you’re not allowed to speak human words.”

The cat meowed, then remembered they hadn’t gotten into the car yet and human speech was still fine: “My owner doesn’t know I can talk either.” If her owner found out, she would be frightened out of her wits.

Ding Ling glanced at it. “You’re quite clever.”

“The stray cat said so too.” The cat raised its tail high.

The stray had originally been a house cat as well, but its owner had abandoned it out of fear after noticing how humanlike its behavior was. That was why the stray resented its search for its owner so much.

This was Ding Ling’s first time taking a taxi. Fortunately, she had read 《Babies and Vehicles》. Getting into the car, she told the driver, “I don’t know the destination’s name, but I know the way. Is that all right?”

The driver didn’t mind. “Sure, the meter’s running either way.”

Ding Ling guided him along the direction of the white light. Whenever the light took a sudden turn, the driver yanked the wheel hard. “Give me some warning, kid! You think we’re drifting here? My tires are about to smoke!”

“My apologies.”

The car drove further and further into remote territory, the surrounding roads growing increasingly desolate. Any further up, and they would be heading up the mountain.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror at Ding Ling every now and then. Black clothes, black cap, zipper pulled up over her nose, and the cap drawn low over her eyes. He swallowed hard.

“Young man, what brings you all the way out here? Visiting a grave? Or offering incense?”

When the driver mentioned visiting graves and offering incense, the cat arched its back, opening its mouth to bare its sharp little teeth.

“Looking for someone,” Ding Ling said, holding it down with a hand and stroking its fur.

The driver felt increasingly uneasy the further he drove, but in broad daylight, surely no one would try to rob him?

“Young man, nice car, isn’t it?”

“Mm.”

“Well, it’s not just nice, it’s connected on both ends. The regular police station and that cultivator police station are both linked right to it. With just the press of a button…”

“We’re here,” Ding Ling interrupted.

The location was extremely remote. Further ahead was only a mountain stone stairway, and the white light had grown faint, settling somewhere in the mountains.

“Ah, here. This is a villa development. They were planning a huge resort here back in the day, but nobody ended up living here. Even the houses that sold are sitting completely empty.”

Relieved, the driver even asked how Ding Ling planned to get back. “Young man, are you heading back down today? It’s pretty hard to hail a cab out here.”

Ding Ling said nothing, pressing the money into the driver’s hand. The cab ride alone had cost over three hundred Yuan.

Delighted, the cat rubbed back and forth against Ding Ling’s cheek affectionately, its tiny chest vibrating with soft, playful purrs.

Once the driver pulled away, Ding Ling gathered her breath and bounded up the mountain steps in several leaps.

Crouched on Ding Ling’s shoulder, the cat curled itself into a tight ball. “Cat will work at a cat cafe in the future and pay you back.”

Ding Ling moved at incredible speed, tree shadows rushing past on both sides of the mountain path. Chasing the white light, she asked, “A cat cafe?”

The cat had no idea what that was either.

The cat said, “Mom told me. Mom said my life was too good and wanted to send me to work at a cat cafe.” The cat was more than willing. Working meant money, and it could earn its own canned food.

They soon reached the cluster of villas halfway up the mountain. The white light rested right on the roof of a house in the distance.

Several cars were parked in front of that house. The mountain light was dim, but lights were on in nearly every room. There seemed to be quite a few people inside.

Ding Ling stopped in her tracks. Pulling out her phone to check the time, she first called Yao Beibei. “I told the dorm supervisor I’m staying over at your place.”

Beibei gasped. “You? You’re staying out for the night?”

“Mm.” Ding Ling hung up right after.

Only 8% battery remained. Secondhand phones drained power especially fast.

Refreshing her notifications revealed rows of friend requests, almost all sent from accounts with Taiyang’s avatar, interspersed with a few pig avatars.

Scrolling to the latest message, it read: 【I’ve already called the police.】

…

So that was how the battery had drained.

A thought suddenly struck Ding Ling. Turning her head, she asked the cat, “If I call the police and they find your owner, does that count as completing the mission?”

The cat froze.

Ding Ling was just about to make the call, but before she could dial, the phone screen went black.

The cat looked at her blankly. “Are we not looking for Mom anymore?”

“We are.”

She set the cat down on a large boulder and sat cross-legged. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a small glass vial, poured out an elixir pill, and swallowed it, temporarily boosting her spiritual energy and physical stamina to their peak.

After regulating her breath for a moment, she stood up and stretched.

Rank-D missions were not supposed to involve combat, but given the situation, she had no choice but to fight.

Ding Ling had taken on missing person cases like this before.

It had been an official government bounty. Young, beautiful women had been abducted by demon cultivators, and because most were from poor families, the reward was no more than a hundred spirit stones. Several cultivators had accepted the mission, but of those who went, none returned.

Once demon cultivators consumed human flesh, no matter how they cultivated, their aura carried a murky, coppery stench. That was why she was certain this cat posed no danger; it didn’t even dare steal a roasted chicken.

She scratched the cat under the chin. “Stay here.”

The cat spun in a circle on the boulder. “I’m coming too! I want to find Mom!”

“There are too many people inside.” At a rough count, six or seven rooms had lights on, there might be people in the main hall, and the crisscrossing tire tracks out front suggested some cars might have left and hadn’t returned yet.

That meant at least ten people. The kitten could only shapeshift for three minutes and had no combat ability whatsoever.

The cat watched longingly as Ding Ling bounded through several high leaps, quickly arriving behind the small building.

A room on the second floor had no lights on. Gathering spiritual energy in her feet, she leapt lightly to the window, her soles adhering to the wall as she reached out and pushed the window open.

To her surprise, someone was inside. The person stared at Ding Ling in terror, mouth opening, but unable to make a sound.

Ding Ling took a closer look. “Qian Jingjing?”

What should she say? That her cat had posted a mission to find its owner, so she had come looking?

The girl was stunned. Weeping softly with tears streaming down her face, she frantically gestured at Ding Ling.

Anger flared in Ding Ling. Had those people poisoned her mute?

The door lock clicked softly. Qian Jingjing reacted instantly, shoving Ding Ling behind the floor-length curtains.

The curtains had barely closed when the door was pushed open.

Seeing Qian Jingjing’s tearful face, the newcomer spoke impatiently. “Things have already reached this point, so why don’t you just join us? How about it? I’ll vouch for you.”

Through the gap in the curtains, Ding Ling saw her press her hands together in prayer, pleading with the man.

“You draw so well. If you’re willing to join, we won’t mistreat you.” Seeing Qian Jingjing still weeping silently, the man swallowed. “If you don’t…”

He stepped closer and closer to Qian Jingjing, a different meaning creeping into his smile.

Before the smile could fully spread, his body tilted, and he collapsed to the floor.

Ding Ling had knocked him unconscious with a single palm strike. Qian Jingjing hugged herself, trembling violently.

“Calm down and answer me. Can’t you speak? Were you poisoned?”

Qian Jingjing shook her head. Even though it was summer and there was no air conditioning on in the room, she was bundled up tightly. Only when facing Ding Ling did she unzip her collar, revealing her neck.

A silencing talisman was drawn across her throat.

Ding Ling moved to break the spell, but as she raised her hand, not a trace of spiritual energy gathered at her fingertips.

Qian Jingjing ran to the desk, grabbed a pen and paper, and wrote: “Spiritual energy jammer.”

She showed it to Ding Ling, pointed at the room, and traced a circle in the air.

“You’re saying the spiritual energy in the entire house has been jammed?”

Qian Jingjing nodded firmly!