Book 3, Chapter 62: Search

With his back turned to the headless corpse, Chen Chuan slowly straightened up. The chandelier in the house slowly steadied, and the swaying light turned gentle and stable.

As creaking sounds rose from the floorboards he stepped on, Chen Chuan went over to retrieve his sheath and put his saber inside it. Then, he heard violent ripping sounds from behind him.

The various parts of the headless corpse’s body had been torn apart, and there were chewing and swallowing sounds coming from it.

But Chen Chuan couldn’t see anything. It was as if there was an unseen thing eating the corpse.

In just a moment, Phantom Form’s body was reduced to bones. His skin, flesh, organs, and mutated tissue were gone. Only the head in front of the statue wasn’t eaten. Instead, it was pushed back and forth like a toy.

Chen Chuan watched it calmly. Once all the noises faded away, he went to the raccoon statue and cast a glance at the head before reaching out to it. With just a light wave of refined force, he shattered the skull and pulled out the implanted Realm Pass.

A part of the Realm Pass was connected to the spine, but he had severed it earlier. Even though some parts of it might be damaged, as long as most of the Realm Pass remained intact, the technicians should be able to find clues about Phantom Form, along with why he was trying to kill Chen Chuan.

Now, Chen Chuan was sure that this had nothing to do with Wei Wusheng.

If that man wanted to kill him, he would have approached him instead of doing things in such a roundabout way.

Then, he turned to the stone statue. There was black residue on the tray, and a single look was enough to tell what it was.

Since Chen Chuan was quite familiar with supernatural beings, he could recognize one being bound permanently with a binding ritual. There were always conditions that needed to be fulfilled to use them, like pointing the being to its target. If the conditions weren’t fulfilled, the caster would have to take the target’s place.

Due to Chen Chuan being able to successfully repel the attack, Phantom Form was forced to bear the supernatural being’s attacks. That had to be how he got those injuries.

Chen Chuan circled around the stone statue twice. If he was right, the supernatural being had attached itself to it, but the stone statue was also what bound it. Once Chen Chuan broke it, the supernatural being would run off, most likely to the place where it had manifested.

He had to think of a way to deal with this.

Before that, he decided to check out the house. The floor was covered by countless intertwining vines, which seemed to be quite unique. They all gathered in one place at the end.

There was a strange looking thing over there. It was about two meters long and seemed to be formed by lots of stems, which someone had woven together.

At the center of them was an oval-shaped hole, and judging by the size, it was just right for a person to sit inside. It was shining with a faint light right now, which was flickering, like it was breathing.

Instinctively, Chen Chuan knew that this had something to do with biotech. So, he turned on his Realm Pass and contacted Wu Bei. “Do you recognize what this is, Wu Bei?”

Wu Bei took a look before crying out, “That’s a Green Island-Type Resonator Nest!”

Chen Chuan could feel his excitement through the Realm Pass. “What does it do?”

“This is a resonating lifeform. A resonator can use it to expand their biofield and boost their skills. The cheapest resonating lifeform in the market costs hundreds of thousands of devs. Aside from large and powerful organizations, you wouldn’t be able to get one even if you paid good money, because the government needs to approve each resonating lifeform, so each has a model number. If one is destroyed because it’s too old, the government and company representatives oversee its destruction together to prevent the technology and its tissues from getting into other people’s hands.”

Chen Chuan understood what he was trying to say and asked, “Since only resonators can use this, could you?”

“O-Of course I could! I have a Class Two Domain license! But you can only obtain the right to use such a thing after sitting for a government test. You also have to be under constant surveillance while using the resonator nest. I’ve applied for it multiple times, but my applications were never approved,” Wu Bei said with a touch of resignation.

He was fine with the surveillance. After all, the government was just doing it to prevent the resonating lifeform from being shipped away and sold. But trying to get the right to use one was just too hard. Even if he fulfilled all the conditions, he did not get approved despite applying for it multiple times.

Without the authorization, he couldn’t buy a resonator nest. While he didn’t lack money, he just couldn’t get one.

After giving it some thought, Chen Chuan said, “Since you can use it, let me think of something to get the government to say yes.”

“Really?” Wu Bei almost shot out of his chair. “Thank you, Chen Chuan!”

“Don’t be too happy just yet. I can’t promise that they’ll approve it.” Chen Chuan said to calm his excitement.

“Sure. Got it.”

Chen Chuan then lifted the Realm Pass in his hands. “One more thing. I’ve retrieved the attacker’s Realm Pass and want to know what’s contained inside. Could you look through it for me?”

Wu Bei thought about it before saying, “I can’t promise anything. I’ll only know once I have the Realm Pass in my hands. I might need to go to where you are. But if that person can use a resonator nest, then there might be traces of information left in there.”

“One moment,” Chen Chuan said with a nod and contacted Ni Qianqian. Once it went through, he said, “I took care of my problem, Officer Ni, but I need your help with something.”

“That was quick. Anyway, what is it?” Ni Qianqian said.

She thought that Chen Chuan was just taking out a pretty skilled resonator. These people were hard to locate, but once they were found, they could be easily taken out, so she didn’t think much of it.

“I found a resonator nest here,” Chen Chuan replied.

“Oh? The man even had a resonator nest? He had quite the background, then.” Ni Qianqian became more serious and asked a few more questions before figuring out what Chen Chuan wanted.

“You want to hand the resonator nest to the resonator who has been supporting you? Hmm… It’s not as if it can’t be done. We just have to register him as part of the Resolution Department, but it’ll only be a temporary thing. As long as you’re a student we’re sponsoring, no problems will come from it. If you’re okay with it, I’ll get it done.”

Chen Chuan heard the underlying message: Should the day come that the Resolution Department stopped sponsoring him or he had nothing to do with the department anymore, Wu Bei would lose the right to use the resonator nest. That was good enough for the time being.

“Thank you, Officer Ni,” he said gratefully.

“You’re welcome, but you have to think about how to maintain that thing. Resonator nests are living beings. You need to supply them with calorie and nutrient-dense liquid, which aren’t readily available and quite expensive.”

Chen Chuan wasn’t worried about that. Wu Bei wasn’t short of money and he could get anything that was available legally. Calorie and nutrient-dense liquids were much easier to procure than resonator nests. There weren’t that many restrictions on them.

Once the call ended, Chen Chuan contacted Wu Bei and told him what was decided. Wu Bei started trembling in excitement. “C-Can I come over r-right now? I’ll drive.”

Chen Chuan thought about it. Deep End District wasn’t safe at night, and the road up the hill was full of traps. He would need to go and pick Wu Bei up. “Sure. But be careful on your way here. When you reach the park, call me. I’ll pick you up.”

“Sure!” Wu Bei agreed and hurriedly ended the call. He was dying to get here as soon as possible.

Chen Chuan could understand how he felt. That feeling was similar to how a martial artist would feel when learning that they could get a good weapon that they’ve been longing for. They wouldn’t be able to wait an extra minute to get their hands on it.

Chen Chuan looked around. There weren’t many things on the first floor, so there wasn’t anything else worth checking out. He went upstairs to the second floor.

While the first floor was messy and damp like a temporary base, the second floor was taken care of meticulously. It smelled of deodorizing desiccant. The walls of the corridor were covered in moisture-proof cloth and thick soundproof boards. The area was bright, and the floor was covered in carpets.

There were even a few fist-sized spiders on the wall. They had colorful patterns on their backs and appeared to be decorations.

Chen Chuan recognized them from the advertisements. Since Central City had loads of green spaces, these custom-made mutated lifeforms could serve as pets while also eating various small lifeforms hiding in corners and cracks, thus preventing the birth of pests.

There were four doors along the corridor, two on each side. Chen Chuan first checked the rooms on the left. Both were normal guest rooms that had some spare daily necessities. After giving them a brief check, he found nothing of value inside. After that, he went to the first room across from him.

It was the master bedroom, which was connected to a study. There was only a partition between the two. A bookshelf against one wall with countless books. Most of them were about biofield technology.

Chen Chuan flipped through them and found that they were really technical. Surprisingly, there weren’t any books about martial arts. He wondered whether it was because Phantom Form didn’t want to reveal his techniques, didn’t think he had anything new to learn, or just didn’t have any books about martial arts.

After putting the books back where they belonged, Chen Chuan turned to the bedroom. With just a brief check, he found a drawer full of cash at the bedside table. The bills were all of a high value, so they amounted to around ten thousand devs.

Aside from the bills, there were two gold certificates and some coins. There was also a silver key, some trinkets, and a simple notebook with various permits.

Chen Chuan checked it and found that there were a few IDs, but the photos were all of Phantom Form. All the IDs looked real, so there was no telling which one was the true one.

None of the permits were a weapons or armor permit, which meant that Chen Chuan could exclude the possibility that this person graduated from Martial Valor University. He should have learned his martial arts from a gang or a sect, then.

There were a few unique-looking permits. There were no names or numbers on them, so he couldn’t figure out what they were for. At the very bottom, he found a card of the Secret Python Cult.

Chen Chuan’s hand froze for a moment. “The Secret Python Cult?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep