Chapter 10 Cen Ning

Tap, tap, tap.

In the dark hallway, Qi Fangyan held her mobile phone in one hand and anxiously knocked on the door in front of her.

Soon the door opened, and Lin Lei, wearing pajamas, walked out while yawning.

"Sister Yan, what's wrong?"

Qi Fangyan widened her eyes. "Just now, I heard a scream in your room... and some really loud noise..."

Lin Lei scratched his head. "Why didn't I hear anything... Sister, you must be hallucinating!"

Qi Fangyan glanced slightly behind Lin Lei. The dark living room was dead quiet, with only a dim yellow light coming from the direction of the bathroom, seemingly showing no abnormalities at all.

Qi Fangyan patted her head. "Maybe I've been a bit too stressed lately and misheard... Sorry about that, Leilei..."

Lin Lei smiled and shook his head. "It's nothing, Sister. Get some good rest."

Seeing Qi Fangyan turn around and return to her apartment, Lin Lei finally closed the door. His expression instantly turned cold as he walked straight to the study and switched on the light.

A woman, bound all over, lay limply and weakly on the floor. Her body was pierced with numerous bone thorns engraved with [Sealing] patterns, completely neutralizing her abilities.

Just now, Lin Lei had been very close to crushing her to death on the spot.

Although during this period his erosion level had dropped significantly, he had not yet fully recovered.

That was why he had specifically redeemed the sacrificial offering, the [Anti-Erosion Potion].

His mental state might look gentle on the surface, but in reality, he was most vulnerable to provocation.

Even the slightest bit of leaked murderous intent could trigger his extreme emotions.

Lin Lei closed the study door and squatted down in front of the woman, who had a towel stuffed in her mouth. "If you don't want to die, don't make any loud noises. If you understand, nod."

The woman's eyes filled with tears as she nodded heavily.

Lin Lei smiled and pulled the towel out of the woman's mouth.

He took off a pendant hanging around his neck, while his hand toyed with one of the black-nail-like bone thorns, and said with a smile, "This is a Source Artifact I own. It can help me detect whether someone is telling the truth or a lie. If you tell me a single lie, I'll stab you once!"

This pendant was merely Lin Lei's ordinary accessory; it possessed no lie-detecting abilities whatsoever. He was completely talking nonsense.

However, his senses were extremely sharp, enabling him to observe many subtle details.

When people lied, no matter how good their psychological composure was, their bodies would generally react. Lin Lei believed that not even the tiniest physical change in this woman could escape his senses.

Doing this was simply to make it easier to extract information from the woman's mouth.

Upon hearing this, the woman turned pale as a sheet and could only nod mutely.

Lin Lei smiled and asked:

"Your name?"

The woman sniffed and answered honestly, "My name is Cen Ning..."

"Which transcendental organization do you belong to?"

Cen Ning replied with a normal expression, "I don't belong to any transcendental organization..."

Lin Lei sneered and drove a black nail straight into the woman's thigh.

Swish!

The sharp bone thorn easily pierced through the woman's thigh, and blood gushed out.

Lin Lei looked straight at her:

"I'll ask you again, which transcendental organization... do you belong to?"

When answering this question, the woman showed no abnormal expressions on the surface, but her heartbeat had accelerated significantly.

At such close range, her heartbeat could not possibly elude Lin Lei's ears!

Cen Ning muffled a sob, her tear-filled eyes casting a glance at the jade pendant in Lin Lei's hand. "I, I, I'm from the Investigation Bureau..."

As these words left her mouth, Lin Lei could not help but freeze, his expression turning exceptionally subtle.

This time, Cen Ning was likely telling the truth.

"Heh. Someone from the Investigation Bureau, not sleeping in the middle of the night, barging into my home with weapons. Tell me, who sent you, and what are you here for?"

Cen Ning sniffed again. "It's Boss Lao. He said you're a weak Source Energy user putting on a strong facade... He said you have a [Blood Potion], and told me to steal it..."

Boss Lao?

Hearing this name, Lin Lei narrowed his eyes.

No one knew Boss Lao's real name; everyone just called him that.

Lin Lei sneered and picked up another black thorn. "Steal? Coming to steal a potion with guns and weapons? Ha?"

Cen Ning pouted and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong, don't stab me... I was ordered by Boss Lao to come and seize your [Blood Potion]..."

Lin Lei narrowed his eyes slightly, a sharp flash crossing his gaze: "How did you pinpoint my location?"

He had long since thrown away the suitcase Boss Lao had used to hold the [Enlightenment Potion], keeping only the glass bottle and the potion. He didn't know whether there was a tracking mark on his own body or if there was an issue with the glass bottle itself.

"It's the glass bottle," Cen Ning said. "Boss Lao's glass bottles are made of a special material..."

Lin Lei grunted in acknowledgment and nodded. "Next question. How many times have you done this?"

Cen Ning hesitated for a moment and glanced again at the black thorn in Lin Lei's hand. "This is my fifth time cooperating with him. As for whether he has cooperated with others, I don't know..."

Lin Lei let out a "heh" and asked again, "Do you know Boss Lao's specific strength and abilities?"

Cen Ning replied, "Boss Lao himself is at the Third Realm. His ability belongs to the support category. He reached the Third Realm by relying on piles of various potions and transcendental materials... His own combat power is not strong..."

Lin Lei's eyes flashed. "Are you sure?"

Cen Ning nodded. "I'm certain. I've seen him make a move before; even a slightly formidable Second Realm user is not his match. However, this Boss Lao has a very powerful shadow bodyguard with him, who should be a Third Realm [Physical Body Lineage] practitioner..."

"Which faction does Boss Lao belong to?" Lin Lei asked, frowning.

Although Boss Lao himself was in the Third Realm, his ability was merely supportive, and his combat power fell short of the Second Realm. How could he possibly command such a formidable bodyguard?

Recalling the information from the Purple Dragon Gang indicating that Boss Lao had backers behind the scenes, Lin Lei naturally could not help but speculate.

Cen Ning hesitated for a moment before answering, "He himself does not belong to any faction. But his uncle is a prominent figure in the provincial capital's Investigation Bureau, rumored to be a First-Class Investigator..."

Lin Lei let out a "heh." "No wonder he's so arrogant..."

A First-Class Investigator represented a powerhouse of at least the Fifth Realm level, and possibly even higher!

Over at the Biyang Investigation Bureau, although there were multiple Fifth Realm individuals, the only First-Class Investigator seemed to be the Bureau Chief himself.

Fortunately, that First-Class Investigator was not Boss Lao's direct blood relative, and that person was not in Biyang. Thus, Lin Lei was not particularly afraid.

He shook his head. "There is still one thing I don't understand. Given that Boss Lao didn't know my strength, how on earth did he dare send people to give me trouble?"

Cen Ning offered a bitter smile. "He said you were in the Second Realm, and also that you traded two bottles of [Blood Potion] for one bottle of [Enlightenment Potion]. Although the [Enlightenment Potion] is extremely precious—certainly more precious than a single bottle of [Blood Potion]—compared to two bottles, it falls far short. Only novices unfamiliar with the transcendental realm fail to understand the difference in value between the two..."

Lin Lei sighed deeply inside, realizing he had given himself away in this regard.

There was no helping it.

How many days had it been since he became a Source Energy Awakened?

Moreover, as a lowest-tier Fourth-Class Investigator, his clearance within the Investigation Bureau was very low, and his understanding of certain transcendental knowledge was still insufficient.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Cen Ning once more:

"There's still one question... How did the man surnamed Lao manage to determine that I am in the Second Realm?"