Translator: Strivon

  With matters over the Bloodflame Order coming to an end, Luo Nan couldn’t help feeling vexed. Right now he was on a wild ride that was becoming increasingly impossible to get off.

  Luo Nan could see the exceedingly strong determination of the core members of the Bloodflame Order; they rushed to reconstruct their sacrificial vessel for the founding ceremony. From a freak combination of factors, the Wraith Sign replaced their original mold. This was an irreversible process.

  If Luo Nan were to retrieve the Wraith Sign at this time, the Bloodflame Order would become a giant enemy. Only death would be able to reconcile the animosity between them, but the situation would only stay stable for fixed period of time if he allowed things to continue on like this. He would have to retrieve the Wraith Sign sooner or later, and the longer he dragged it on, the bigger the headache.

  Or the Bloodflame Order could let the Wraith Sign go free, but how was that a possibility?

  Luo Nan threw these annoying problems to the back of his head for now, and he recalled that Lady Halder wanted to go back to the scene for re-investigation……Luo Nan wanted to go as well!

  Even if the Winghand Bloodbat had been blown to smithereens, the tiniest of clues could serve as a great aid for his reconnaissance work with Trigate Securities.

  Luo Nan strove to recall the video data, searching for the corresponding area. With the luck of having the Internet search function from the information age, as well as the support of the HexaEar’s consciousness search function, this mere impression of his memories soon returned results.

  Luo Nan felt the results weren’t enough. He utilized all his network privileges, using the real-time street view mode of the Psychic Wave Network. He mobilized public cameras for further confirmation.

  The social order of the recycling stratum was an utter disaster. Many of the cameras were destroyed there, but Luo Nan was able to stitch together images after spending a bit of time. He found the area where the incident most likely took place, and he discovered a harsh stain of blood over there.

  There was a person around there taking pictures at this time, acting very carefully.

  This was the place! According to what Mo Lun’s on words, Mo Lun had already arranged for people to handle the scene……yes, this old man was quite annoying. He did things meticulously.

  Luo Nan wanted to be the first the savor the meal, but his luck was terrible.

  He looked at the time. His first round of classes were ending soon. After class, he would find a quiet place to enter the out-of-body state and astral travel. It would only take him two minutes to get to the River Wu District……

  Luo Nan’s plan was an excellent one, and the preliminary work was in place as well. However, the biggest ’boss’ at the moment wasn’t being cooperative. Atop the stage, the scholarly instructor for the writing class said, "Let’s not end class yet. Let’s do an in-class exercise for the following time. Basic character analysis."……

  Teacher, just let me astral travel!

  When faced with the writing session class continuing, especially when it was for a pop-quiz, Luo Nan wanted to kneel in defeat. He couldn’t even ’sleep’ on his desk if he wanted to.

  What should he do?

  With how seriously shrewd Lady Halder was, there wouldn’t even be scraps left over when she was done with the scene.

  Luo Nan’s mind was a mess, but the teacher didn’t care at all. The teacher simply tossed out the requirements for the writing exercise. The goal of the exercise was character analysis. There was a series of requirements that the student had to follow with their own words. The very first requirement was quite simple.

  Describe someone who gave you a deep impression, and make sure you know enough about this person. Loved ones, friends, and students are all fine. Began by describing their appearance.

  Of course, this involved a series of details such as the facial structure, mouth, nose, eyes, eyebrows, and so on. All of these were required for this exercise.

  The amount of options Luo Nan would have had two months ago were far fewer than today. It was much easier for him today. He brought out someone who he interacted with the most and stuck fairly close to normal convention. Xue Lei was his writing subject.

  The writing teacher must have had a voyeuristic desire. Next he wanted a series of information that included the address, health status, family, education, love (marriage) history, religious orientation, actions, and mindsets.

  In the end, interactions and relationships with the subject had to be listed out as well. For instance, specific examples of moments of assistance or sabotage between the subject and the writer.

  The classroom protested with mutters. Wouldn’t some people find friendships ended because of this?

  Luo Nan wrote quite easily. This was like a sketch that was pieced together by words. This was his expertise. He just needed to pay particular attention to those details that exceeded normal logical thought.

  Perhaps it was due to the relaxed and smooth state that Luo Nan was in currently, but the floodgates of his mind burst open. He wrote and wrote, his thoughts flying away about Xue Lei.

  It was like just what the teacher had tried to formulate to the students. One person’s ability is limited in the gathering of people’s social relationships, while the help of friends and social collaboration was highly efficient. Why did he even think of the super inefficient method of ditching class?

  Luo Nan’s train of thought linked together. Though his pen hadn’t been one of divine inspiration, he knew what he had to do next.

  He cast out a strand of intent, and Ink answered several dozen kilometers away.

  Luo Nan didn’t have the time these last two days to pay much attention to the action progress of Trigate Security. He just separated a very basic strand of psychic intent. It was fine to just ensure that Ink was obedient.

  Actually, the search mission had official started on Sunday. The professionals could freely operate now. Peony and Long Seven had brought separate teams to gather clues. They convened daily for reporting and analysis, but they had yet to make any progress thus far.

  That is to say, luck played a very important role.

  Luo Nan activated the psychic intent he left with Ink, and his consciousness descended. Ink was already accustomed to this. It just flapped its wings twice, expressing a welcome.

  The instant Luo Nan’s consciousness arrived, he felt that something was a bit odd.

  Since Ink’s intelligence level was low compared to a human, there was no pressure when Luo Nan descended with his consciousness. There was nothing to be worried about. They had made contact in this manner many times in the past, so Luo Nan was very familiar with the associated sensations.

  Because of this, Luo Nan immediately felt that something was different when he shifted his consciousness this time. It was like listening to a familiar song with the same singer, but there were clear differences between the live version and the recorded version.

  It seemed like the effects of his closed door cultivations over the weekend were much larger than he anticipated……well, this was normal. Luo Nan had come from a basic Format Pyramid to a living starry sky viewed through clairvoyance. Outstanding changes had occurred with the state of his inner organs, nine orifices, six roots, and soul.

  These changes were comprehensive, affecting all aspects of Luo Nan’s body and soul structure and their internal/external relationship. However, because the aspects involved were so vast, there were many things that could only be experienced when they were put into practice.

  Like the case here with Ink. After the Format Pyramid had transformed into the star atlas, Luo Nan hadn’t seen any links to the relationship with his believers. In essence, they had turned clear in this moment.

  He now discovered the effects from entering the atrium cyclotron. His act of observing from the mental plane had naturally manifested a ’telescope’ mode. Through warped and entwined mental curtains nearby, he was able to obtain high-fidelity information from afar in a special form. This was the most crucial reason for his recent large increase in mental sensing ability.

  Before, Luo Nan had only considered the changes the telescope mode brought solely to himself. Right now he was able to see that Ink had become an important fulcrum and reference within this mode. It was like the Cepheid variable stars of the universe. Astronomers relied on the cycles of their varying luminosities to revise parameters and accurately measure interstellar distances.

  But this was Luo Nan’s perspective. Every detail that came through Ink seemed to exceed his requirements for precision. It was so much that he had a faint feeling —— a feeling that was impossible to accurately describe.

  What was the reasoning behind this?

  Ink grew excited from the presence of Luo Nan’s consciousness. However, his emotions wasn’t understood by others.

  Right now Peony’s group was on the rooftop of a high-rise in the Forestwall District. They used viewing binoculars to scan the district. Ink stood atop a binocular, its claws latched onto the outer shell. Things were fine as long as it didn’t move. On the other hand, a single movement made the lens wildly shake, making it hard to observe through the binoculars.

  Peony didn’t even raise her head. Though she viewed from afar with the binoculars, her fine fingers were able to accurately pick the target. She tapped Ink straight on its beak, "Mr. Ink. Do you have an opinion?"

  There was a bit of naivety to the question, but also a hint of teasing.

  Luo Nan unconsciously rubbed his chin back in the classroom. He finally snapped back to reality from the changes with the super precision developments. He made contact with Peony through the ’rubber-band’ on Ink’s leg. He really didn’t know how to deal with this woman, so he simply called out some coordinates.

  "Go here."

  "Oh?"

  Peony stopped adjusting where the telescope was point at. She stood up straight and stared at Ink with slightly raised eyebrows. There was the rarely seen expression of surprise on her face. She immediately communicated via soul strength. "You’ve discovered one? Are you sure? What’s your source of information?"

  How could Luo Nan tell her? He was unable to find an excuse, so he simply closed his mouth and didn’t answer. He wanted to say, "Just play it by ear", but he was scared that Peony would get angry, so he simply had Ink close his eyes and act confused.

  Luo Nan only realized it after he had done all this. Peony knew that there was someone behind Ink. Closing Ink’s eyes was pointless!

  Luo Nan was so embarrassed that he was inconsolable.

  However, Peony didn’t get angry. She snapped her fingers, faced the Trigate Security assistants around her, and said, "We need to change locations."

  Oh, oh, oh! This was an excellent result! Was this the legendary version of pretending to be awesome by playing by ear?

  Ink still maintained the appearance of dozing off, but it was actually taking in all the changes around it, and sending the information back to Luo Nan. Luo Nan saw how Peony, an elite character who was very difficult to handle, had to follow his thoughts and actions, and he felt super great inside!

  Then a thought suddenly came to mind. The Bloodflame Order still had people there, and soon, Lady Halder and Mo Lun would arrive as well. Luo Nan had the mind to warn Peony, but the cockiness he held earlier would immediately crumble if he did.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Luo Nan found himself an excuse. Perhaps he could pull some extra information if Trigate Security and the Bloodflame Order were to make contact.

  Oh, this was an excellent idea!

  Trigate Security’s work efficiency was quite high. After hearing Peony say there were clues, they simply had a low-altitude flying vehicle sent to them. It took only twenty minutes to complete the transfer.

  Peony and the group of support personnel arrived at the target location mentioned by Luo Nan. They were a step faster than Lady Halder’s group, who were further away.

  Lady Halder didn’t step forward when she saw Peony and the others arrive. She just had the on-site personnel of the Order negotiate with Trigate Security.

  As far as Luo Nan knew…… The Wraith Sign wasn’t a factor. That fellow had switched zookeepers. Right now it was being nursed at the Bloodflame Order’s headquarters.

  Luo Nan relied on none other than Ink.

  Ink flapped its wings, soaring into the air. It spiraled within the shadows of tall buildings. Many pairs of eyes pointed at the enormous bird, sheltered by the surrounding doors and windows. Some were excited. Some were frightened.

  Luo Nan didn’t know that this crow was actually a celebrity within the River Wu District of the recycling stratum.

  News of last month’s battle against Jack had spread through this place by the gang channels that were everywhere. The residents who lived here knew, more or less, that strong mysterious power had crushed Jack’s gang, the original owner of this territory.

  The main force of the strong mysterious power was a big burly man —— someone who lacked characteristics. Therefore, the people automatically chose a more exciting symbol.

  A large crow.

  Mysterious power had outputted to use the special ability of the crow. Calamity would fall when one heard the cry of the crow, causing the person to go insane and lose consciousness. As such, the well-armed sniper squad of Jack’s gang had been easily smashed through.

  In the end, the mysterious power didn’t take over. Jack’s domain was ultimately divided between powers of various sizes, but not taking over was considered a free and casual action by the mysterious power. This made it so that the residents, who had been tormented by the gangsters for a long while, possess some feelings of hope toward the mysterious power.

  Perhaps if the mysterious power were to take over the recycling stratum, a new and entirely different life would be brought about?

  Driven by such emotions, the re-emergence of the giant grow caused the hearts of quite a few of the residents to rise and fall like the tide. It also made the gang members, who had gathered in the area due to the unknown value of the scene of the unknown incident, to be scared witless.

  Luo Nan didn’t understand the cause and effects within, but he could feel the real mental influences upon the surrounding that had been brought upon by people witnessing Ink’s appearance.

  Their psychological state of the past could be described as the random scattering of magnetic sand. But Ink, who weaved between the shadows of the tall buildings, turned into a powerful magnet. No matter where the grains of magnetic sand fell, they all stood up straight, orienting to Ink’s position through opposite magnetic poles.

  From the perspective of the living starry sky, the hundreds of stars were subjected to the gravitational pull of Ink’s star. They possessed vectors that were incomparably uniform.

  At the same time, the stars that weren’t affected by the magnetic force became especially conspicuous.

  There was a considerable portion of them with vectors, but these vectors had no relationship with Luo Nan’s constructed system.

  The sources for some of these vectors could be seen with a single glance. For instance, the people of Trigate Security. They obeyed Peony’s commands, and they obeyed the plans of their superiors. Their system possessed two stars, and they revolved around them.

  There were some sources that could not be seen. For instance, the on-site handlers of the Bloodflame Order. Even they didn’t know where their big boss of the Order was. But in the end, they were members of the Bloodflame Order. They had experienced many of the Order’s activities throughout the years, causing their energy and Bloodflame Will to have a minute connection with their First Oblatum.

  The center of the living starry sky was orderly and clear. This was where Luo Nan’s Self-Format was the ruler. Here, these connections of the Bloodflame Order were like pedestrians that violated traffic rules, randomly entering traffic. They brought chaos, both big and small, that were clearly identifiable.

  The length of these connections exceeded the limits of Ink’s perception and crossed the scope of the living starry sky, but the jaywalkers all walked in the same direction. All these connections converged at fixed intervals, and Luo Nan was able to guess that……

  There was a ’dark star’ difficult to see with the naked eye, and it unleashed an invisible yet powerful gravitational pull.

  Ink spiraled for two circles before expanding its flying orbit without batting an eye. It slowly brought the possible position of the dark star within sensing range.

  The hard-to-see dark nebula emerged within the living starry sky a dozen seconds later.

  Using the crow, Luo Nan cast his gaze at the target through shared vision. He saw that there was an excellent viewing angle on the northwest side of a skyscraper. In the middle of the skyscraper, Lady Halder’s cold gaze pierced through the glass wall and cut into the scene of the incident.