Chapter Sixty-Six: The Flaw Is Too Obvious

Yudong County Public Security Bureau, Zixiao Office.

With respectful expressions, Liu Bin and Jiang Rui ushered a middle-aged man clad in a white Zhongshan suit into the office. Behind him followed a young man and woman, both dressed in black Zhongshan suits.

Zixiao’s uniforms distinguished the divisions: the Heavenly Team wore white Zhongshan suits, the Earth Team wore black. The Xuan Team, responsible for research into cultivation techniques, donned Han-style robes, while the logistics team, tasked with gathering cultivation resources, wore specially made workwear. The Yellow Team’s uniform was black leather—by far the most stylish and modern of them all.

After seating the three guests, Liu Bin poured tea for the middle-aged man in white and smiled. “Uncle He, couldn’t we just send someone skilled in criminal investigation for this matter? Why have you come in person?”

The Qingcheng Sect was not merely a martial arts sect; it was also a cultivation sect, possessing both martial and cultivation lineages. Yet, in an era of spiritual depletion, the paths of cultivation were severed—neither martial arts nor spiritual cultivation could be passed on. Qingcheng disciples resorted to studying qigong and martial arts for health, alongside various wellness practices.

With the resurgence of spiritual energy, the path to cultivation reopened. Generations of martial training made it easier for Qingcheng members to pursue martial cultivation, so most chose that route. Only a few, gifted with great wisdom and resolve, resumed the path of true cultivation.

He Ming was one such individual. His father, He Zhi Dao, was the junior brother of Liu Suibin, the Qingcheng Sect leader. Thus, Liu Bin respectfully addressed him as uncle. Since Qingcheng was located in a strategic southwestern region, most Zixiao leaders in the area hailed from Qingcheng.

He Ming possessed a gentle, carefree disposition, carrying an air of detachment as if nothing weighed upon his heart—an embodiment of Daoist non-action. Perhaps it was this quality that made him most suited to cultivation; once he began, his progress was swift. With abundant resources provided, he had reached the late Yin Spirit stage in just two years, only a step from forming a Golden Core.

He Ming sipped his tea, set down the cup, and smiled. “The headquarters attaches great importance to this mysterious expert. They sent me specifically to oversee the matter.”

He gestured to the two young people beside him. “These two are colleagues from the Shuzhou National Security Bureau—Wang Lin and Cheng Jing, both experts in criminal investigation.”

Liu Bin shook hands with them, exchanging brief greetings.

Wang Lin was tall and well-proportioned, his features handsome and bright, with a sunny, casual haircut that gave him a refined, scholarly air—he looked under thirty. Cheng Jing, about twenty-five or twenty-six, wore her long hair in a neat ponytail, her light makeup lending her a clean and capable appearance. She carried a computer bag, and after a brief exchange, she spoke briskly: “Team Leader Liu, the video you submitted is less than a minute long, and only from two angles.”

“Headquarters can confirm the mysterious figure in armor is indeed a master, with combat ability above Green level, but the information is still too limited.”

“We need all surveillance footage from the incident timeframe, and we’ll need to borrow the projection equipment in the county bureau’s meeting room.”

“No problem. I’ve already copied all the videos, and the meeting room is prepared.” Liu Bin took a USB drive from his cabinet and handed it to Cheng Jing, then led the group toward the meeting room.

...

County Bureau Meeting Room.

The projection screen displayed dozens of surveillance feeds. Cheng Jing sat at the conference table, operating her laptop and, at Wang Lin’s direction, began closing camera views one by one.

Liu Bin, Jiang Rui, and He Ming sat quietly to the side, leaving the professionals to their work—a principle they all understood.

Soon, following Wang Lin’s requests, only five feeds remained on the screen: the third-floor left fire escape of Xiuyuan Tower, the eighth-floor left and right fire escapes, and two cameras covering the eighth-floor lobby.

“Ha...” Wang Lin suddenly chuckled, shaking his head. He exchanged a glance with Cheng Jing, and both saw the helpless amusement in each other’s eyes.

He Ming, curious, asked, “Wang, what’s so funny?”

Wang Lin managed a smile. “I’m amused by how simple this case is—this mysterious figure left such glaring mistakes.”

Liu Bin’s expression shifted, surprised: “So you already know who the mysterious expert is?”

Cheng Jing’s fingers danced rapidly over the keyboard, and soon one feed zoomed in, revealing a close-up of Li Yunfei’s handsome face on the projection screen.

Liu Bin stared in disbelief, exclaiming, “No way! It’s him? Damn, it’s really him... Wait, how did you reach that conclusion?”

Cheng Jing and Wang Lin worked seamlessly together, manipulating the surveillance as Wang Lin narrated, zooming in and out:

“Look, this person enters the third-floor fire escape at 19:43—note that he uses the left side. Four minutes and sixteen seconds later, the mysterious expert bursts out of the eighth-floor left fire escape, takes down the assailant in seconds, then you come in through the window, and he leaves via the right fire escape.”

“Watch closely—thirty-four seconds after you follow him into the right escape, he comes out of the right side.”

Wang Lin looked at Liu Bin with a peculiar expression. “He enters on the third-floor left fire escape and should come out the eighth-floor left, but instead emerges from the right. Didn’t that strike you as odd?”

“Also, from entering the third-floor fire escape to leaving the eighth-floor, nearly five minutes pass. For just five floors, even a child walking wouldn’t take two minutes. Isn’t that a glaring flaw?”

A slap sounded.

Liu Bin smacked his own face—how embarrassing!

Cheng Jing and the others smiled, their lips curving in amusement. Cheng Jing, not one to let it rest, added, “To be absolutely sure, I’ll run a gait analysis with the Sky Eye system.”

The results appeared quickly: Li Yunfei and the mysterious expert’s gait data matched with 99.999% similarity.

That settled it—Liu Bin had no further doubts. Li Yunfei was the mysterious expert.

He Ming shook his head with a laugh. “Bin, you... never mind, you never studied criminal investigation, so it’s not your fault. From your tone, you know this man?”

Liu Bin glared at Li Yunfei on screen, gritting his teeth. “I know him, all too well. That bastard ran circles around me, made Yingzi so disappointed for his sake—next time I see him I’ll...”

“Honestly, there’s nothing I can do to him.”

With a frustrated sigh, he continued, “But when I chased him into the right fire escape, I was down to the fifth floor in seconds. He was running up, not wearing armor at the time—how did he remove and hide the armor in just a few seconds? Where did he stash it?”

Wang Lin and Cheng Jing exchanged a glance and shook their heads. “We can’t answer that.”

“With the resurgence of spiritual energy, aside from orthodox cultivators, there are all sorts of awakened individuals. Perhaps that’s his ability.”

He Ming, more experienced, explained, “There are three possibilities: he’s awakened a spatial ability and has a portable space, he possesses a storage artifact, or he’s a high-level cultivator and the scale armor is a spiritual artifact, refined into his body—man and artifact as one.”

“Any one of these, combined with his formidable combat power, makes him a rare talent. We must find a way to bring him into Zixiao.”

The others nodded in agreement.

He Ming said to Liu Bin, “You know him, can you reach him?”

Liu Bin shook his head. “I don’t have his contact, but I know who does.”

“Good. Get in touch as soon as possible. Whether he joins Zixiao or not, we need at least to register him, assess his combat level, and understand his abilities.”

“Yes, I’ll make contact immediately.”