Jiang Chongyan slew the elder and all his disciples, sustaining some injuries himself.
He looked at the woman from before; she was breathless, her nascent remnant soul guarding the newly deceased corpse, bewildered and lost.
This was the path all new souls had to tread.
It usually took seven days for them to truly grasp their death, their souls transforming from initial ignorance to clarity.
And these seven days were when they were most vulnerable to attack and consumption.
Despite being a new soul, her resentment was unusually potent. Dying unjustly, she naturally harbored unwillingness.
Jiang Chongyan collected her soul, surveying the blood-soaked, disheveled room with his usual cold expression.
He had long ceased to feel pity for the wicked.
Death was their only fitting end!
He returned to the corridor, recalling the person he had hidden earlier. When he went to find them, they were gone.
After a fruitless search, he had to give up.
He could save them once, but not every time. If they met misfortune again, it would be fate. He had helped this time, but might not be able to next.
With that thought, Jiang Chongyan left the club.
The disarray in the club was only discovered the next day.
That elder had clearly not acted this way for the first time. In the past, even if they had tortured someone to death, their wealth and power could suppress anything. If the families of the victims were sensible, some compensation would be offered, and they could take the bodies away.
If they were stubborn, they would simply kill a few more people.
Such a thoroughly wicked villain was one day found brutally murdered along with his pack of vicious dogs in a club room.
Each of them was disemboweled and torn to pieces. Blood splattered throughout the room, a horrifying sight. The leading elder’s internal organs were all scooped out, leaving only a shell filled with unwillingness and fear, sending shivers down one's spine.
The surveillance footage showed no one else entering the room besides their group. No clues about the killer were found within the room. After reviewing the leads, the police promptly handed the case over to the adjacent Special Affairs Office.
The killer from the academy had yet to be apprehended, and now another terrifying supernatural case had emerged. Zhou Qingbie, even with her protagonist halo, was starting to feel overwhelmed. After a cursory glance at the crime scene, she decisively handed it over to her subordinates and headed to the academy.
“Yan Ran hasn't been here for a while. There's been a rather big case recently, and many people went home. We didn't notice when she stopped coming.”
Zhu Ran had been living out for even longer. To ascertain when she stopped coming would require a significant amount of manpower and time just to check the surveillance footage, so Zhou Qingbie abandoned the idea.
The news of the Yan family's car accident had already made headlines. Zhou Qingbie followed the news to the hospital, where she finally met Zhu Ran.
Compared to the mischievous or fierce demeanor she had shown before, Zhu Ran now exuded a dangerous aura that was difficult to articulate.
She radiated an palpable sense of annoyance, a dangerousness that suggested she could explode at any moment if provoked.
“Miss Yan.”
Zhu Ran raised her eyes and glanced at her. “Yes?”
Zhou Qingbie swallowed and tried to maintain a steady tone. “May I ask where you were between ten last night and two this morning?”
“At home.”
“Is there anyone who can confirm that?”
“No.”
Zhou Qingbie’s expression soured.
“Last night, an elder from a collateral branch of the Qin family and his nine disciples were found dead in a club in the city. The manner of their deaths was gruesome, and the killer’s methods were extremely cruel. Based on the information I've recently gathered, you are suspected. If you cannot provide proof of your whereabouts, I have the authority to…”
“Kill me?” Zhu Ran let out a scoff. “If I tell you I killed them, can you kill me? Do you have the strength? Or does anyone in this world have the strength?”
As her words fell, Zhou Qingbie distinctly felt everything around them freeze.
Literally freeze. Apart from the two of them, everyone else seemed to have been paused, caught in a delicate temporal stasis.
As this state persisted for over half a minute, she began to wonder if the world had always been like this.
“I killed them. What can you do about it?”
Everything resumed its movement.
Cold sweat beaded on Zhou Qingbie’s forehead, and a chill ran down her spine. She had no doubt that what Zhu Ran said was true; no one in this world could do anything to her.
This also indirectly proved that she wasn't the killer.
She wouldn’t need to hide like this; she could act openly. In the face of absolute power, all wealth, power, and authority were illusions.
“What exactly *are* you?”
She recalled the strange creatures she had discovered before.
Those monsters, whose cause of mutation was unknown, could be a corpse, a small animal that died from torment, or even a living person who, influenced by some indescribable force, transformed into a powerful and bizarre monster overnight.
Was she also one of them?
“You are not qualified to know yet.”
The originally clear sky suddenly turned gloomy. Thunder rumbled, and a chilling wind swept through, the wind and thunder roaring as if to tear apart whatever had invaded.
“Get out!”
It would be awkward to be struck by lightning soon.
Zhou Qingbie tidied her thoughts and decided to leave.
Perhaps due to her resolute protagonist's nature, she turned back at the doorway. “Although you are very powerful, I still reserve my suspicion of you. And your boyfriend, he has an enmity with the Qin family. I will go find him too.”
“I also have an enmity with the Qin family. If you babble any further, I will kill them all.”
Zhou Qingbie: “…”
This was the first time she had encountered someone so arrogant.
But she dared not take the risk.
The door closed, and footsteps receded until they completely disappeared.
The thunder in the sky continued to roar but never struck.
Zhu Ran didn't know if the heavenly law was afraid or unwilling to harm the innocent.
The system hid in the space, trembling, afraid of being caught in the crossfire by accident.
“Host, what do we do now?”
Her host had once again offended the heavenly law, and now the heavenly law wanted to smite her with lightning.
Halting time, such a heaven-defying power!
Were even the gods this powerful?
“Whatever.”
Zhu Ran stood up and walked directly out.
“Host, don’t be rash! If you hide here, it won’t really strike!”
Zhu Ran did not accept its suggestion.
In fact, even if she walked out, the heavenly law could only roar in impotent fury from above. This was the So Dan Novel Network.
Whether it was due to her ability or her immense merit, she was feared.