Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Is the Night Watchman force in Shangjing overly abundant with talent?

Is it actually a Demigod who has come directly to question me?

The previous Captain Qin Feng seemed to be only at the Seventh Phase.

Could it be that he has discovered some issue with me and is preparing to destroy me humanely?

Then my actions would really be akin to walking into a trap.

In fact, according to the mission description, I am in a competitive relationship with the Night Watchmen.

...It is quite normal to take some risks when probing for information in the territory of a competitor.

Fu Qian suppressed his body’s reaction, not showing any abnormality.

However, he remained vigilant in his heart.

The effectiveness of the mask’s disguise was still uncertain.

If I couldn’t deceive this person, revealing a triple-layered identity, it would be extremely difficult to clarify.

Perhaps I might soon have intimate contact with a Demigod.

Unparalleled challenges awaited at the Night Watchmen Base.

“Mr. Fang.”

Fortunately, the charming and alluring Demigod was quite polite upon entering.

She greeted Fu Qian with a smile and addressed him with due respect.

However, her eyes observed Fu Qian’s reactions throughout, not missing any detail.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Please do.”

Of course, Fu Qian didn’t mind; he was there to gather intelligence.

“Thank you.”

“First, let me introduce myself.”

The female Demigod spoke gently, her demeanor calm.

“I am Yuan Shan, the person in charge of the Night Watchmen in the Shangjing area.”

The person in charge? So she’s the boss of the Night Watchmen in Shangjing!

Then her Demigod realm is understandable.

Turns out she is the second Demigod I have come in close contact with.

Compared to Yibu from the islands, she did not possess the same sharp momentum.

The fact that she came to question me directly meant that the missing Thorn Blood was not a trivial matter.

Fu Qian thought to himself while his face remained expressionless.

“I have long heard of you.”

Out of politeness, Fu Qian gave an insincere conventional response.

Yuan Shan smiled unconcernedly.

“One of my colleagues had an accident while carrying out an investigation task in your shop today…

Could you describe the situation in detail?”

“I have already gone over the situation with those two.”

Fu Qian frowned, as if recalling the events.

“I personally also didn’t really understand what happened.”

“That Captain Qin Feng came to me first, mentioning some of my violations.”

About the current identity, Fu Qian still knew very little and could only speak vaguely in many areas.

Fortunately, Yuan Shan did not seem to care about these details.

“I sincerely explained the situation, but unfortunately, Captain Qin did not seem to trust me much. As we spoke, he became somewhat emotional.”

“And then?”

“And then… his head just exploded.”

“It exploded just like that? Can you be more specific?”

“To be more specific.”

Fu Qian appeared to organize his thoughts.

“His tone became a bit fierce, and after yelling at me a couple of times, before I could even respond, his expression suddenly became very painful, and then his head swelled up three or four times bigger, and right after that, it exploded.”

“Are you sure his head swelled to three or four times its size?”

Yuan Shan asked earnestly.

“Absolutely sure.”

Yuan Shan did not speak, falling into a brief contemplation.

“But you were unharmed?”

After a few seconds of thought, Yuan Shan asked another question.

Indeed, you are colleagues, asking the same questions.

But Fu Qian keenly noticed that when Yuan Shan asked this question, her voice seemed to conceal a certain special rhythm.

Listening to it was like basking in the spring breeze, or as if someone was whispering in one’s ear, involuntarily plunging a person into its depths, compelling them to spill their deepest secrets.

The psychic assault commenced without a ripple, had the thug not reinforced his mental resistance, he might have carelessly fallen into her trap.

The key had not been used until now, but suddenly employing it was incredibly natural and caught one off guard.

This woman was quite a formidable character!

“Well, mainly because I don’t quite trust that Captain Qin…

I am rather cautious by nature, somewhat suspicious of his identity, so I have been keeping an eye on his movements. If anything seems off, I just…”

Fu Qian intentionally guided the reason he came to Shangjing to imply he had enemies in other places.

His nested identities were already a point of uncertainty, so evading enemies provided a more plausible explanation.

To enhance credibility, he remained thoughtful while speaking, following the other party’s intonations, with a somewhat distant look in his eyes.

…

Yuan Shan looked to be in a heavier mood after hearing Fu Qian’s response.

She was about to speak after a moment of silence when someone knocked on the door.

Yuan Shan gestured lightly with her hand, and the door opened at her command.

A man with a poker face stood outside, nodding at her.

It was no surprise that it was a stronghold of the Night Watchmen, teeming with masters.

This one was at least a Fourth Phase.

Fu Qian figured the middle-aged man outside must hold a not insignificant position at the Shangjing base.

Yuan Shan glanced back and noticed the latter had an unusual expression.

“I’ll step out for a moment.”

About half a minute later, Yuan Shan re-entered the room, her look at Fu Qian somewhat complex.

“I apologize for my people’s lack of manners earlier. The unexpected incidents today caught us off guard,” she said.

“No problem,” he replied.

Just now, she was clearly skeptic of him, but now…

Fu Qian keenly sensed a change in Yuan Shan’s tone.

What new information had the man with the poker face brought?

“Please take a look, did Qin Feng react like this before his death?”

Mr. Poker Face stepped forward and activated the device he was holding.

Fu Qian glanced at it, recognizing the footage from a surveillance camera, seemingly of average quality and somewhat blurry.

Still, it was possible to distinguish a figure sprinting at high speed, its head suddenly swelling to several times its size, then bursting into a violent explosion, leaving a headless corpse on the ground.

Indeed, there had been another incident.

“Yes, just like that,” Fu Qian affirmed, blinking.

Yuan Shan and Mr. Poker Face exchanged a look.

“Thank you for your assistance, you may go now.”

Without another word, Yuan Shan beckoned, and a spirited young girl entered.

“You escort Mr. Fang out.”

Yes!

The young girl crisply acknowledged, then gestured to Fu Qian to follow her.

“Mr. Fang, please come with me.”

Apart from confirming yet another casualty, there was no other valuable information for the time being!

Fu Qian rose slowly, walking out under the unwavering watch of the young girl.

It looked like the Night Watchmen were indeed reacting strongly to the theft and were casting a wide net in search of the culprit.

In the description of his task, he was told to acquire Thorn Blood before they did.

This meant he had to find the person first, or else the mission was likely to fail.

Although he had washed off suspicion, Yuan Shan and the others remained on guard and unwilling to reveal any information in front of him.

But not to worry.

The role of a seemingly average alias was now coming into play.

As Fu Qian maintained the motion of walking outwards, he opened all his senses to the fullest, sifting through the surrounding information.

Soon, the conversation between Yuan Shan and Mr. Poker Face reached his ears.

Just as expected.

At this distance, the two had not considered the possibility of an Eighth Phase Transcendent overhearing their talk.

Though not entirely clear, he heard a few place names; Yuan Shan seemed to be instructing Mr. Poker Face to closely monitor these areas.

The name that was whispered at the lowest volume was a place called Houhai Manor.

As a rule, the softer the speech, the more important the content generally is.

Houhai Manor, noted.