Chapter 262: Chapter 261 Serious Problems_1
Silence filled their journey.
Xiao Mingyue was clearly infuriated by Fu Qian, nearly flooring the gas pedal in a mad rush back to the base, eager to complain to Yuan Shan.
Fu Qian, however, showed no reaction, continuing to rest with his eyes closed.
This was the first time they had encountered an enemy of this caliber. The Native Council’s power was truly formidable.
In light of this, it became understandable how Deng Feizhou could make Chen Xing achieve the false state of a demigod before.
As for this Ariel, Wen Li’s assessment of her was something Fu Qian remembered very clearly.
And from the initial contact, he had also noticed a subtle sense of disharmony.
Ariel’s aura was indeed bright and dazzling, seemingly without a twist or shadow.
Theoretically, even a saint would be no more than this.
Yet, the stronger this semblance was, the stronger the sense of incongruity. This individual appeared to be in a special state unattainable by ordinary people.
However, they would have to be more cautious with their actions from now on.
After all, he was not on a mission this time but acting in a fully synchronized state; if he truly ended up in a desperate situation, there would be no chance for a restart.
Fortunately, after today’s mutual display of acting, Ariel probably still wasn’t certain about his own background.
Otherwise, it was highly likely that she wouldn’t have played along so genuinely until the end; she would at least have made more probes.
As for what to do next? In such a serious situation, of course, it was time for the professionals, the Night Watchmen, to take action.
…
“How come you’ve returned so soon?”
In the office, Yuan Shan was no longer in her original seat but had instead perched on the windowsill, leisurely sipping tea while gazing out the window.
Seeing the two come in, she asked curiously.
“I went with Mr. Fang to make contact with the target.”
Seeing that Fu Qian showed no intention of speaking, Xiao Mingyue gritted her teeth and stated bluntly.
Oh?
Yuan Shan sensed Xiao Mingyue’s mood was off and glanced at Fu Qian.
“I believe Mr. Fang’s methods were too crude and simple.”
Xiao Mingyue didn’t beat around the bush and just reported directly.
“Facing an ordinary person, he released an extremely intense deterrent shock without any regard for the possible severe aftereffects!”
“What are the results of the investigation?”
Yuan Shan had some expectation of Fu Qian’s style; hearing Xiao Mingyue’s description, she wasn’t particularly surprised.
“Mr. Fang said there was no problem.”
Xiao Mingyue glanced at Fu Qian, whose violent interrogation of an innocent person, in her view, was simply tarnishing the image of the Night Watchman.
It was a pity that the latter still seemed completely at ease, showing no hint of shame.
No problem…
Yuan Shan pondered for a moment, then looked up with a smile that was not really a smile, looking at Fu Qian.
“Would you care to explain?”
“Explain?”
Fu Qian huffed, stepped forward, and sat down on the chair opposite Yuan Shan.
“Near Shangjing, how many demigods does the Night Watchman have?”
Despite Xiao Mingyue’s murderous gaze, he didn’t offer an explanation; instead, he asked a strange question.
How many demigods?
Yuan Shan frowned slightly.
“Not many, what do you want with it?”
“It would be best to call them all here.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
Yuan Shan looked at him amusingly.
“Those people are all extremely lazy, unwilling to budge without significant reason.”
Just like you, aren’t they? Quite honest, aren’t you!
Fu Qian nodded towards the side.
“The reason Secretary Xiao will tell you.”
“Why would I…”
Xiao Mingyue reflexively objected, completely unaware of Fu Qian’s intention.
[SAN Points decreased by 1]
The next moment, Fu Qian snapped his fingers and activated the Decree Residue.
This Skill, which originally only had visual effects, had been enhanced with Fu Qian’s own ascension to a demigod, though considering everyone present was a Transcendent, Fu Qian still expended 1 SAN Point.
“What are you doing?”
Almost at the same time, Yuan Shan’s pupils suddenly contracted, streaks of black light flickered around her body, neutralizing the dazzling golden radiance.
As a demigod, she could naturally sense something unusual about Fu Qian and was extremely shocked by his actions.
Could it really be as she had speculated?
Yuan Shan could resist the effects of Decree Residue, but Xiao Mingyue, standing by her side, was far too weak in comparison.
And Xiao, who had been glaring at Fu Qian with dissatisfaction, undoubtedly fell victim in an instant; her consciousness enveloped by the brilliant light.
But, after all, she was a Transcendent, stronger than ordinary humans.
Even when caught off guard and hit by the initial flash, she instinctively resisted, her expression twisted in a fierce struggle.
“You’d better explain yourself!”
The smile on Yuan Shan’s face had vanished, and ribbons gathered in the palm of her hand, forming an extremely dense black sphere, as if she was ready to throw it at Fu Qian the moment they disagreed.
“Is there a problem with Ariel?”
But Fu Qian ignored her, instead asking Xiao Mingyue a question.
“There is no problem with Ariel.”
Xiao Mingyue answered subconsciously while in a dazed state.
“Why is there no problem?”
“He said he doesn’t have any problems.”
“When did he say that?”
“The first time I investigated him.”
In front of such opponents, the native inhabitants probably didn’t stand much chance.
However, given their style just now, it’s highly likely they wouldn’t give up on taking revenge.
Fu Qian sized up the girl from head to toe.
Compared to her compatriots, she was still quite clean.
Even the thick neckline of her bark clothes exhibited a silk lining.
Some of the furniture in the house, like the chair he was sitting on.
Although rough, it clearly had some thought put into it, beyond the capabilities of a mere savage.
This girl must have received fairly decent family education.
In her hands, she even held a half-finished garland, bright red and quite vibrant.
There weren’t any normal flowers in sight, by their shape, they seemed to be made from collected floral filaments.
“Speaking of which, is there any problem with my disguise?”
Fu Qian pointed at himself.
“That person at the door seemed quite unfriendly to me.”
“There’s no problem!”
The girl glanced at Fu Qian, then quickly lowered her head and whispered.
“Grandpa Ailei is our neighbor, after my parents died, he took care of me, protected me…”
“Later when he could no longer walk, he stayed there, and except for me, he doesn’t allow anyone else to enter…”
“At first, I often went to chat with him, but later his lucid moments grew shorter and shorter…”
“It sounds like you’ve been here for many years?”
“Yes.”
The girl nodded.
“According to my parents, it wasn’t as… frenzied at the beginning.”
This girl indeed seemed to have received a relatively normal upbringing, the furniture and such were likely crafted by her parents.
“If it’s frenzied, why not leave this place?”
“There are monsters outside, we can’t get out.”
The girl shook her head.
“Those people shouldn’t be afraid of monsters, right?”
Fu Qian gestured towards the outside.
He had witnessed the violent conduct of that group of Porcelain Dolls, with their help to clear the way, the dangers outside shouldn’t be a problem at all.
“Indeed they are not afraid… but they no longer wish to leave.”
“Grandpa Ailei said that initially, there were indeed people who organized expeditions, especially just after they had learned to extract White Spirit, but every expedition that went out never returned, without a trace.”
“The last attempt included my dad… and then my mom also passed away.”
So that was it.
Fu Qian thought again of Miyamoto and Mr. Luo’s group, the missing Exploration Team seemed inextricably linked to them.
“Condolences.”
“…Anyway, after several consecutive attempts, there weren’t many left who were determined to go out; instead, they focused on cultivating White Spirit, becoming more and more fervent about it.”
This was completely understandable.
“You referred to that thing as the Sacred Tree earlier?”
“Yes, the Sacred Tree shines at set times each day, bathing in its pilgrimage is something everyone must do, but only Transcenders are eligible to reproduce…”
Every day… she seemed to have surprisingly good physical health.
Fu Qian nodded his head.
“Can one go to that island?”
“No one has ever been there.”
The girl looked at him with surprise and fearfully shook her head.
“It’s said that the island eats people, no one is allowed to get close.”
Man-eating… Fu Qian’s interest grew even more.
Logically, he should quickly pursue the Frenzied Spirit, but what he had just witnessed had sparked intense curiosity.
The Sacred Tree, the Porcelain Dolls, the pilgrimage…
Talking to the girl, Fu Qian always had a strange feeling, as if he had overlooked something, but he couldn’t remember what it was at the moment.
“Thank you for your answer.”
Having made up his mind, he gave the girl a smile and earnestly thanked her.
“Do you have anything you want to ask me?”
His question seemed to take the girl by surprise, and after observing for a while, she finally confirmed that Fu Qian wasn’t joking.
“Are you… from the outside?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“I remember… you’re very clean.”
The girl pointed to her own face, her expression unchanged.
This sister wasn’t foolish.
“What’s it like outside?”
“Much better than here.”
Fu Qian spoke the truth, although he wasn’t sure about the current time frame, judging from the equipment of Delin’s people, the standard of living on the outside was incomparable to these primitives.
After Fu Qian finished answering, the girl lowered her head and fell silent.
Although he understood her feelings, he really didn’t have much to offer by way of comfort.
Fu Qian stood up, took his leave from the girl.
“By the way, there’s something I want to remind you of.”
“For safety reasons, it’s best not to run around lately. If you can find a place to hide, that would be even better.”
“Mm, thank you!”
The girl fumblingly played with her garland and awkwardly bowed to give thanks.
When she looked up again, Fu Qian’s figure had already disappeared.
…
Fu Qian stood next to Old Master Ailei, who was squinting one eye and keeping an eye on him.
It had to be said that the exchange with the girl yielded quite a bit of information.
From the current situation, the data on Miyamoto gathered by Delin was likely unreliable.
This guy was definitely more than just a small company executive; there might be much larger forces behind him.
And the Exploration Team that never returned likely fell into the hands of these forces, who then learnt the secrets of the Porcelain Dolls.
This was a rather reasonable speculation.
Of course, what Fu Qian was most concerned about was still the origin of the dolls.
He stood here and observed for a while, there were only a few guards around the island, each looking in a different direction, probably because most of their forces had gone out for revenge.
And these few guards were obviously from the pilgrimage group from earlier.
Although they were performing their duties, their spirits were generally a bit downcast.
Add to that, after their transformations into dolls, their physical condition also seemed ordinary, so they should not be too difficult to deal with.
However, from what the girl had mentioned, the island itself may pose potential dangers, so he should be more cautious after landing.
Fu Qian didn’t rush to take action but waited under the Ailei Tree for a while.
If the dolls’ ventilation time was fixed each day, it should be soon.
Sure enough, about half an hour later, Fu Qian saw palm-sized dolls climbing out from under the guards’ clothing, hopping and bouncing away quickly.
Now it was time.
Out of caution, he waited a few more minutes, then chose an angle where he was only in the field of view of one guard and walked straight forward.
The guard clearly noticed him but wasn’t very vigilant, and couldn’t be bothered to take a closer look.
Only when Fu Qian drew closer did he finally remember to challenge him.
“What are you doing?”
As soon as the guard finished speaking, he found the intruder who had just trespassed had disappeared.
Confused, he looked around, but couldn’t find any traces anywhere.
In the end, the guard rubbed his eyes and gave up searching, continuing his
“So according to you, Ariel is at least Second Phase? And to hide his identity, he implanted a psychological suggestion in Mingyue, who was investigating him?”
Yuan Shan neither confirmed nor denied Fu Qian’s explanation but continued along his line of thought.
“No.”
Fu Qian still shook his head.
“In my opinion, his aim might not even be to hide, but to sift through…
“Sift out those who truly suspect him.”