There were two murderers?

　　Gao Tian felt that he wasn’t far from the truth now.

　　To be honest, if Little Silver wasn’t here, the suspect might still be leading them around by the nose. But now that they knew the suspect’s MO, everything seemed to make a lot more sense, and it was time for the police to get busy.

　　The next thing they had to do was set a trap for the suspect.

　　Thanks to Little Silver, Gao Tian could deliver a report on the first stage of the investigation that very day after returning to the police station. The person who followed him back to the station was university student Shen Guangrong, who had narrowly escaped death.

　　Worried that Shen Guangrong would be targeted again, Gao Tian immediately decided to take him back to the police station and protect him as an important witness. For Shen Guangrong, however, this was bad luck; at such a critical point in his graduation project, who would have thought that something like this would happen.

　　“I will now report the current situation.”

　　In the conference hall, dozens of high-ranking police officers sat upright below the dais while Gao Tian as the commander of this operation stood at the very front. “With the help of Team Leader Little SIlver from the Office of Strategic Deception, we’ve found out that the murderer kills people through electronic screens.”

　　There was an uproar under the dais.

　　“Silence.”

　　Gao Tian cleared his throat. “This technique is very risky as well as difficult to use. Thus, we’re guessing that the suspect’s realm should be above the Soul Formation stage. We will request the higher-ups to dispatch high-ranking immortal police from the Immortal Patrol Division to work with us in the next arrest operation. At the same time, based on an investigation of the crime scenes, our initial suspicion is that there are two murderers, and they are likely accomplices.”

　　“Accomplices? Is there any proof?” someone raised a hand and asked under the dais.

　　“First of all, they chose the same kind of target: male and female shut-ins. Of course, the most important evidence is…” At this point, Gao Tian took out a report. Pressing on the police sword in his hand, the PPT on the screen immediately changed. “According to the bureau’s intelligence division, the three deceased victims – an alchemist, a female live streamer, a programmer – and Student Shen who was almost murdered, are all from the same university: Songhai Magic Treasure Development University.”

　　From the same university?

　　The high-ranking police officers started to murmur to each other as they discussed the matter.

　　It was obvious that they found the results of this investigation unexpected. They had thought at first that the suspect was a twisted homicidal maniac who was indiscriminate with his kills, but looking at the connection between the victims, this serial murder tragedy might be a meticulously planned revenge operation.

　　As for why students of Songhai Magic Treasure Development University were targeted, some of whom had even graduated years ago, Gao Tian was still looking into this. But one thing was certain – if the murderers struck again, they would still pick students from this university.

　　That was why Gao Tian brought Shen Guangrong back with him.

　　From his investigation, after the last three deaths, Shen Guangrong was the last student from his university in Divine Leisure Apartments.

　　Because the rent was low and it was very close to Songhai Magic Treasure Development University, it wasn’t strange for students of this university to live here. But there were in fact quite a lot of student apartments near Songhai Magic Treasure Development University, and Gao Tian suspected that there had to be a reason the murderers chose Divine Leisure Apartments.

　　“I will now talk about what our next step is.”

　　After thinking it over, Gao Tian gave new instructions. “Thoroughly investigate the relationship between the three victims and Student Shen as well as their learning and living conditions, and look for points in common. At the same time, notify the university that before we crack this murder case, the transmission of express deliveries through electronic screens must be shut down and an Internet firewall activated! That way, if unidentified objects are transmitted through the screen, the university can report it to the police station at once! In three days, before midnight on September 18th, no matter what happens, let us bring these murderers to justice together!”

　　Saying that, Gao Tian bowed deeply to the high-ranking police officers below the dais.

　　…

　　September 18th, seventeen days before the end of the summer break.

　　After figuring out the murderers’ MO with Little Silver’s help, Gao Tian started further investigation into Divine Leisure Apartments. At the same time, Little Silver and Loopy Toad were carrying out the task which Wang Ling had assigned them: to search for the remaining fragments of the Jade Scroll of School History as well as ferret out the black shadow army’s hidden base.

　　The “Fate Dao” which this bunch had mastered was quite extraordinary. As Divine Dao Star’s Star Lord had explained, Fate Dao was a power that could be shared. In other words, the black shadow soldiers currently had symbiotic relationships with each other. They were as annoying as weeds: Wildfires burn but do not exhaust; Spring winds blow and they live once more ¹ .

　　If they didn’t ferret out the mastermind behind the scenes, eradicating the black shadow soldiers would be hard, since they would be resurrected as soon as they died.

　　Little Silver and Loopy Toad wandered along the streets. Their priority was to collect the fragments of the Jade Scroll of School History, and there wasn’t much time left before the summer break ended. When the person and the dog passed a park, Dog Two smelled a fragment nearby. They rushed over and saw a senior high school student doing literary exercises. This wasn’t a kid who had come out to copy homework, but the son of a boss who ran a shop in the park. This student was watching the shop and doing his homework at the same time.

　　Glancing at the youngster’s uniform, Dog Two realized that he was from No. 59 High.

　　“Hello, student.” Little Silver went over. “Which question can’t you work out?”

　　“You are?” The youngster raised his head.

　　“Actually, I’m a remedial teacher.” Little Silver made up a random identity. Eyeing the exercise scroll in the youngster’s hands, he took out a burlap pouch from his pocket and produced an identical scroll.

　　Inside the burlap pouch were close to one thousand copies of the summer holiday homework which the two gremlins, Pen and Eraser, spent a whole night completing. They contained all kinds of exercises that high school students would come across during the summer break. As for their ultimate purpose, that was obvious: an exchange.

　　To exchange finished homework with the student’s incomplete one.

　　The condition was that the homework scroll had to contain a fragment of the Jade Scroll of School History which Little Silver and Loopy Toad were looking for.

　　“I have a completed one. Do you want to swap with me?” Little Silver took out the exercise scroll and handed it over.

　　The youngster opened it and took a look: the handwriting was neat and the answers were correct. His heart jumped, but at the same time, he was a little hesitant. “Is this alright…”

　　“Teachers don’t usually check the summer holiday homework; it’s fine as long as it’s completed. Also, regular script is used in the homework; as long as I write seriously, it’s easy to imitate.” Little Silver duped him. “Look, you took so long to solve one question.”

　　He then glanced at the paper that the youngster was doing: it was a matching question.

　　The question was: Match the following eight thought-provoking questions with the corresponding occupations.

　　The eight occupations were: key maker, canteen lady, fortune teller, courier little brother, trash sorter, express driver, hairdresser and neighborhood watch.

　　The thought-provoking questions were: Do you deserve it ¹ ? Do you want rice? What are you calculating? What manner of thing are you? What sort of trash are you? Do you actually know your position? Look at yourself in the mirror; who do you think you are? And: Who are you, where are you from, where are you headed?

　　Mm…

　　Actually, the youngster had already finished the matching.

　　But he was lost in thought after that as he pondered the meaning of life, right up until Little Silver and Dog Two showed up.