141 Relentless Investigation

Once the emotions settled, the three of them pried open the remaining wounds on the savage's body one after another.

The result was identical.

Every single wound contained a deep cyan-green leaf. Some had severed major arteries directly; some rolled and churned beneath the skin; others still carried a lingering concussive force that had shattered the surrounding internal organs, bones, and muscles into tiny fragments.

In short, across all nine wounds, the internal energies differed in nature. On the surface, none of them had hit a vital spot, but in reality, if an ordinary person had taken even one of those leaves, it would have been instant death!

"Terrifying, truly terrifying," Guts couldn't help exclaiming. He then turned to Qin Yijian, asking, "Blade Wolf, are you sure not a single fresh recruit is missing from your base?"

Qin Yijian nodded. "Judging from the roll call, that is correct. However—"

"However what?" Dried Radish chimed in.

"However, according to another wounded sentry recovering in the old guardhouse, he indeed saw the savage abduct a female student into the barracks."

Dried Radish asked with astonishment, "A female student? What would she go to the old barracks for?"

Qin Yijian shook his head. "I didn't ask for the specifics; I'm not clear on that."

"Then you should ask properly and investigate thoroughly. But do it quietly—we need to be on guard against someone!"

Qin Yijian asked in surprise, "Guard against whom?"

Hearing this, Guts couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Blade Wolf, oh Blade Wolf, to think your codename has the word 'Wolf' in it, and you can't even figure this out? If that female student really was carried off by the savage, yet now she has safely blended back in among the female students undergoing military training, do you think she could have walked back out of the deep forests surrounding the base all by herself? Of course we have to guard against that fellow!" As he spoke, he twirled a leaf and dangled it in front of Qin Yijian's eyes.

Qin Yijian understood instantly, but grew a bit apprehensive. "That person is a supreme master, coming and going without a trace. I'm afraid they're impossible to guard against!"

Dried Radish glanced at his watch and said, "It's fine. My squad leader will arrive in half an hour. He should have a way to handle the current situation."

Half an hour later, just as Qin Yijian's side was making some headway in their investigation, the squad leader mentioned by Dried Radish arrived. He was a cool guy, one hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall, with temples frosted white and a gaze sharp as lightning, resembling an unsheathed peerless sword. Yet at this moment, as he stood before the savage's corpse—which had been hacked apart piece by piece—his heavy brows were furrowed in a deeply solemn expression.

"Squad Leader Leng, what is it?" Dried Radish probed cautiously.

The cool guy glanced sideways at Dried Radish and said coldly, "Where's Guts? Tell him to get the coffins ready so we can get out of here immediately."

"Huh?" Dried Radish froze for a second. "No, Squad Leader, you might not understand the latest situation—"

The cool guy sneered. "I don't understand the situation? Heh, you two idiots—" Pointing at the corpse of the one called Xiao Zuo, he said, "He died from instantaneous massive blood loss. This proves only one thing: the savage captured by the Fourth Squad is the real deal. Nicknamed the Bloodthirsty Butcher, for some unfathomable reason he specifically targeted youths who had yet to experience the world, using the hot blood within their bodies to transform primordial energy and increase his strength."

Dried Radish suddenly understood. "No wonder old Zou had his neck snapped."

"That's not the point!" The cool guy glared at Dried Radish. "The coordinates of where the base found the savage's body were sent to me. Before coming here, I went to check the spot where the savage fell. The person who killed him plucked leaves and flew flowers, and the place where those leaves were plucked was a full two hundred and sixty meters away from where the corpse lay!"

"Ah!?"

"Ah my ass! I consider myself not much stronger than this Bloodthirsty Butcher. If I ran into the expert who killed him, I would have virtually no power to resist. So notify Guts and pull out immediately!"

Hearing this, Dried Radish felt a jolt. "B-B-But Squad Leader, Guts has already gone out with Blade Wolf to trace the female student rescued by the flower-plucking expert. They probably already have a lead by now—"

The cool guy paused, then let out a dry, mirthless laugh. "Heh, the two of you truly have no idea how high the sky is or how thick the earth is! My master once said that anyone capable of using flying leaves and plucked blossoms is either a supreme master or possesses extraordinary internal arts. But if someone can inflict lethal damage with flying leaves from thirty *zhang* away, without exception, they are absolute supreme masters. Little Radish, you tell me, how many *zhang* is two hundred and sixty meters?"

"A-About eighty-six *zhang*!"

"Hmph, seems your math is pretty good!" The cool guy first offered a casual word of praise, then glared fiercely at Dried Radish. "Then what are you still standing around for? Why aren't you going to notify Guts, get three coffins, pack up the corpse, and get out of here!"

"Then what about the base?"

"What *can* we do? Since that expert safely returned the female student, I assume he won't make things difficult for these ignorant students. As long as we aren't buzzing around here making a nuisance of ourselves, he probably couldn't care less about us."

"But Squad Leader, the bureau is in desperate need of people right now—"

"I know. I'll report this matter to the director and let the old man handle it at his discretion."

Watching the cool guy, Dried Radish, and Guts drive away from the base in a military truck, Qin Yijian felt tens of thousands of metaphorical wild animals stampeding across his mind.

*Pui! If you're cowardly just say so, and you even want me to stop investigating that flower-plucking expert? Well, I'm going to investigate him anyway, what are you going to do about it?* Qin Yijian saluted the tailpipe emissions of the truck while venting wildly in his heart.

Once the military truck completely vanished from sight, Qin Yijian returned to the barracks feeling somewhat a headache coming on. After all, the three of them had patted their butts and left, but the base still had a sentry lying dead right there! How was he supposed to explain this to the base commander? After all, while the matter wasn't his fault, he was the one who led the team to retrieve the savage's corpse. Now that the Security Bureau had hauled the body away, he owed the military training base some kind of explanation.

By the time Qin Yijian finished explaining everything clearly to the base commander, Colonel Gao Ming, it was already close to midnight. After pondering for a moment, Qin Yijian crept over to the instructors' barracks and woke up Major Xue, the chief commander in charge of training.

"Ah, Brother Yijian, it's so late, what is it?"

"Brother Xue, let's call an emergency assembly!"

"Right now?"

"Right now." Qin Yijian nodded firmly.

"Fine, fine, fine. Cui, little Cui!"

"Coming, coming!" Someone answered from within the barracks, and before long, a person wearing a second lieutenant's uniform trotted out and saluted Major Xue.

Major Xue returned the salute and waved a hand. "Cut the nonsense. Cui, for this batch of new recruits' night training, you'll follow Second Lieutenant Qin's arrangements entirely!"

"Yes!"

And so, at half-past twelve that night, once; at two in the morning, twice; and at five at dawn, a third time—three emergency assemblies in the latter half of the night left all the new recruits practically on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

When the time came to wake up at six in the morning, many recruits refused to get up no matter what, and even a small fraction of the instructors almost failed to adapt to the intensity of these emergency assemblies.

The only one who remained full of energy was the instigator, Qin Yijian, who was currently pondering how to find an opening to have a good chat with the female students he had targeted as suspects.

***

Waking up, morning exercises, tidying up living quarters, washing up, and finishing breakfast—with just a few minutes left until eight o'clock, everyone had to assemble on the playground once again for the morning training.

As for his dorm mates isolating him, Yang Tang didn't care in the least. All morning, aside from training, his only pastime was locking eyes with Liu Tong from time to time.

Of course, this wasn't because Yang Tang held an excessive grudge, but rather because Liu Tong's method of buying off the others in the dorm was utterly venomous and despicable. If it had been someone else, they probably would have been successfully framed by Liu Tong and would right now be crying while clutching a school demerit!

Therefore, Yang Tang had made up his mind: even if not for himself, for the sake of the folks from Peking University, he had to eliminate this pest, Liu Tong.

Liu Tong should consider himself fortunate that, due to military control, the base had blocked wireless networks, and the wired network was restricted solely to the local area network. Otherwise, with Yang Tang's hacking skills at this moment, he would have dug up three generations of the Liu family's background down to the bare roots!

However, without internet, there was still the telephone. During the fixed ten o'clock morning break, Yang Tang ran to the camp store and made a call to Wan Hailiu, asking him to help look into the background of the Liu family.

Meanwhile, Tao Youfei, who hadn't rested well all day and whose face looked somewhat haggard, was called into the company office.

Watching Qin Yijian casually close the door, leaving only the two of them inside, Tao Youfei felt a nameless sense of unease.

"Student Tao, relax. I just want to ask you about some circumstances, no need to be nervous."

Hearing this, Tao Youfei settled down slightly, though she still hadn't let down her guard. "Go ahead and ask, Instructor. As long as I know, I will tell you the truth!"

"Very good. I just want to ask, why did you go over to the old barracks yesterday?"

Tao Youfei's breathing skipped a beat at those words.

Qin Yijian keenly noticed this, feeling a little self-satisfied inside while maintaining a completely expressionless face on the outside. "Student Tao, please don't have any reservations, just confess the truth. This isn't anything shameful!"

"I wanted to fetch some water to wash some things at the time, but the faucets over by the women's dormitory were all occupied. I asked a cleaning auntie and learned that although the old barracks were temporarily vacant, they still had running water, so I—"

Seeing Tao Youfei unconsciously stop, Qin Yijian prompted her at the right moment. "And then?"

"And then—" A panicked look began to surface in Tao Youfei's bright eyes. "I heard a scream from inside a window of the old barracks, so I crept over to peek. As a result, I saw a savage sinking his teeth into someone else's neck. That scene was simply—"

"Anything else? What about you afterward?"

"Afterward—afterward, I was discovered by the savage after he finished drinking the blood. I wanted to escape, but my legs wouldn't listen to me no matter what!" Terror flashed across Tao Youfei's face. "The moment the savage grabbed me, my mind went completely blank, and then I passed out..."

Qin Yijian paused in surprise. "And after that? Don't take offense, but how is it that you came out of it safe and sound?"

"I-I can't explain it clearly either. When I woke up, I was in the boiler room. It wasn't the time for fetching water, and there was nobody else in the room. I stumbled back to my dorm in a daze. As for what happened during that time—" Tao Youfei shook her delicate head. "I have no memory of it at all!"

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