Chapter 304: Chapter 304 Return_1
This task summary revealed no simple content.
It first confirmed Fu Qian’s own speculation.
The communication achieved through special gestures was a form of ritual known as a “vow.”
Such a ritual could directly transform a person into a special form, eliminating the bottleneck in their promotion.
In some ways, this method could be considered cheating, as it was far simpler than the painstaking explorations of the Demigod Path.
Of course, the corresponding price was the permanent loss of hope for divinity.
...
As for why this was the case, Fu Qian had a guess.
The essence of the ritual was that Transcendents and “Divine Beings” formed a special unity concept through a vow.
In this process, the Transcendent’s benefit was obtaining an easily scalable growth model but at the cost of losing their integrity.
Just like William and the Goddess of Sin and Punishment.
William could grow in strength by collecting sins and not suffer from the negative effects that come with it.
That’s because he was merely the Goddess of Sin and Punishment’s tool.
Just as a knife in the hands of a murderer, no matter how many it kills, the sin of murder never falls upon the weapon itself.
But for the sake of efficiency, a murderer could sharpen it to a finer edge.
Yet no matter how sharp it becomes, once one chooses to become a tool, their potential as a person is lost.
No wonder this thing needs to be controlled—if it becomes rampant, the consequences would probably be quite exaggerated!
Fu Qian let out a deep sigh.
Besides, there was another important piece of information in the summary, that is, the last sentence—there are many such pitfalls alongside the path to godhood.
From this sentence, it was almost certain that this was not the only path of vow.
In Fu Qian’s earliest conception, the Transcendents’ path to promotion was supposed to be a series of divergent roads.
At each node, one would choose a branch through a special ritual and continue deeper.
So, keep going like this until you stand shoulder to shoulder with Divine Beings.
Now it seems that in addition to the hard-to-find divergent roads, there are quite a number of pitfalls on this path, the kind that one can’t climb out of once they fall in.
Utmost caution would be needed going forward.
After summarizing the gains of this trip, Fu Qian activated the mark on his wrist with satisfaction.
Time to clock out and go home.
As the scenery shifted, Fu Qian was already in his own living room.
It was noon outside, and everything inside was just as he had left it.
Has it really run out of charge?
As a qualified young person, Fu Qian reached for his phone first thing, only to find it completely unresponsive.
Not surprisingly, considering he had been away for several days.
Fortunately, due to good living habits, Fu Qian never left leftovers out.
So even after several days, there was no odd smell in the air.
With skilled movements, he plugged in his phone and turned it on, and soon a barrage of notifications began to sound.
Is it really that exaggerated?
Fu Qian frowned, checking the messages and missed calls from different people.
The earliest one was from Young Master Qin, who had called him on Sunday.
From the following records, although no one answered at the time, he didn’t find it too strange.
Two days later, the missed calls from him became dense, almost one every few hours, and he even left voicemails asking for a callback.
A day later, the phone clearly turned off, and there were more numerous notification texts.
In addition to this, there were various phone calls attempting to come through.
Wu Qingyu, Tan Ying, and this one… Pei Yanqing?
Fu Qian flipped through the records, matching them with his memory.
Seems like I’ve made quite a stir!
He had occasionally disappeared for a few days before, but wasn’t Young Master Qin’s reaction a bit too intense this time?
Fu Qian took a breath and did not rush to return the calls but turned to look towards the door instead.
Click!
A slight mechanical sound arose as someone was trying to turn the lock cylinder.
“Where did you learn this skill?”
The next moment, Wu Qingyu’s sneaky voice followed.
“It’s funny when you think about it, it was Little Qian who taught me this, and I never thought I’d use it to pick his lock today.”
Young Master Qin answered in a muted voice, while his fiddling with the lock persisted.
“Okay… but are you sure you want to do this?”
Wu Qingyu was speechless for a while.
“I have no choice, the guy has been missing without a word for several days, and his phone is off. I can’t rest easy without checking!”
“What if he turned off his phone to get cozy with a girl? It’d be pretty awkward if we walked in on that.”
Wu Qingyu still sounded hesitant.
“Three days… are you sure? Is she made of titanium alloy or something?”
“…Get on with it!”
Upon Wu Qingyu’s command, Qin Mingze’s pace of manipulating the lock core began to speed up.
However, it was clear that his skills were lacking, as it took a full five minutes for the sound of the lock being picked to finally echo.
Click!
At the same time, Fu Qian laid his hand on the doorknob, pulling open the door in one swift, synchronized motion.
“Got it!”
Young Master Qin, completely oblivious to the anomaly, let out an excited cheer, then caught sight of Fu Qian the next moment.
With six eyes meeting, the scene became incredibly awkward.
Even as a man always quick with words, Young Master Qin found himself at a loss when faced with the homeowner after picking the lock.
“You need me for something?”
After a few seconds, it was Fu Qian who first broke the silence.
“Have you been home these past few days?”
Qin Mingze finally recovered, exchanged a look with Wu Qingyu, and asked incredulously.
“Then why didn’t you answer your phone, and I even knocked on your door before?”
“If it weren’t for knowing you don’t like dealing with the police, I would have called them already!”
“Come in and talk.”
Facing Young Master Qin’s impending interrogation, Fu Qian gestured for him and Wu Qingyu to come inside.
“Go in? Is it convenient for you?”
Both Qin and Wu simultaneously peeked inside.
“You’re overthinking it.”
…
“I went out for a few days and just got back a while ago.”
As he sat beside them, Fu Qian shook his phone, explaining the situation.
“Left this at home, so I couldn’t reply to any messages.”
What kind of emergency could make a young person nowadays not carry their phone with them for several days?
Instead of appearing more relaxed, Qin and Wu looked even more puzzled.
“I appreciate your concern and am truly embarrassed for causing everyone such trouble,” Fu Qian said sincerely.
“But, that being said.”
He changed his tone, looking at Qin Mingze.
“Picking a lock and you even dragged an accomplice into it? Aware of your own insufficient skills and the time needed, were you expecting him to keep a lookout for you?”
Uh…
Facing Fu Qian’s question, Qin Mingze’s expression turned visibly awkward as if unsure how to respond.
“Keeping watch was secondary; Brother Qin said he needed to use my professional knowledge,” Wu Qingyu sighed, answering for him.
Professional knowledge?
Fu Qian pondered for a moment with a furrowed brow.
“Asking for your help in investigating crime scene traces?”
“…That’s right!”