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Chapter 286 The Most Suitable Dragon

Chen Xuan thought about it again and realized that she was right. Since Lu Lixin and Zhang Zhiqi had emerged from this group, who knew how many more awakened people were hiding in the place?

Handing it over to the police alone does carry considerable risk.

"Then we'll have to investigate ourselves?"

"What, do you think I have a dog's nose?" Lin Qing glared at him reproachfully. "Just because you can smell something underground doesn't mean you can smell it above ground. If a chemical factory emitted foul odors every day, it would have been fined to death by the environmental protection department long ago. I don't have any olfactory enhancement prosthetics, so my ability to smell is about the same as yours."

"Why not pretend?" Chen Xuan asked, somewhat curious.

Her reason was quite straightforward: "You wouldn't want to smell other people's farts every day, would you?"

That makes sense.

Chen Xuan spread his hands. "This makes things difficult. We can't just send a dog to sniff in our dreams and then have it search for things in reality, can we?"

This is far too high a requirement for a dog's intelligence.

And do dogs really dream?
"Hmm... let me think." Lin Qing also fell into deep thought.

"If all else fails, I'll go to the witch and ask her for an ability." Chen Xuan scratched his head and said, "The witches' council has promised that I can use any ability I want. They have hundreds of members now, so there must be one or two abilities that I can use."

"I've got it!" Lin Qing suddenly clapped her hands and exclaimed.

"Has someone been chosen?"

"It's not human, it's a dragon."

"Dragon?" Chen Xuan was stunned. The only dragon he could think of was the Azure Dragon Whirlwind that Liu Shuyue had killed.

"Not monsters, dinosaurs!" Lin Qing corrected. "Do you remember the Wanderers from Intrusion Point 109?"

"Ah..." Chen Xuan thought for a moment, "You mean... quack?"

“That’s right!” Lin Qing nodded. “Look at its description. Although it can’t speak, its intelligence is definitely no less than that of a ten-year-old child. The reason the mechanism couldn’t record its abilities is because it can’t communicate smoothly, not because it lacks abilities. Furthermore, during the testing, the mechanism mentioned that it possesses extremely strong memory, color recognition, and sense of smell!”

Chen Xuan dug out the files she had sent him before and found that it was indeed true.

"But according to the records, Guagua was eventually kept in a confinement by the authorities, so we need to find out where it was kept first."

“If they’re not ability users who are of great importance to the organization, they’re usually sent back to where they were found after their ability is verified. So this organization responsible for keeping them in captivity is most likely the Jiangcheng branch.” Lin Qing knew her organization inside and out. “Didn’t we just contact Honglian a few days ago and even asked You Chi to give her a phone number? Let’s ask her about the situation.”

That phone had been specially modified by Lin Qing. Unlike the phone that was hacked into Jiang Siqi's phone using software, its encryption started at the hardware level. It was an electronic device that met future technology standards. As long as the physical device was not handed over to the security agency, there was basically no need to worry about it being eavesdropped on.

“Okay, go ahead and ask,” Chen Xuan agreed. “Hopefully, this part of history hasn’t changed too much.”

The other party replied in less than a second.

"How to say?"

"History has changed." Lin Qing blinked. "Now Guagua is being raised at home by Wang Baihu."

……

"You're investigating this too!?" That very evening, Honglian grabbed Wang Baihu and rushed into the Beitian Courtyard. As soon as they were invited into the reception room, she couldn't wait to ask.

Besides Lin Qing, the room also contained police representative Tian Zhenggang, as well as disciples Yue Beifeng and You Chi from the academy. The gathering of four powerful factions from Jiangcheng was arguably the most glorious moment for the Beitian Academy in recent years. As for Chen Xuan, he remained in his room upstairs, observing the situation through security cameras.

"What, is the authorities investigating too?" Lin Qing asked leisurely, her hands resting on the back of the sofa. "Of course, this is related to crimes involving superpowers, how could we sit idly by!" Hong Lian's gaze swept around before settling on Lin Qing. "You are... Lin Qing? The masked woman herself?"

"Hmm, it should be pretty similar to the consciousness space, right?"

In fact, Lin Qing had deliberately modified her makeup and appearance to avoid having her facial features captured by the camera.

“…It’s a little different, but I can recognize it.” Honglian stared at her, her gaze somewhat complicated. “You’re really bold, daring to meet with government officials despite the city-wide wanted notice. Now, if I make a phone call, the chief commander can surround this place with his men in less than fifteen minutes, not even a fly can get out.”

"It can't be that fast... After all, everyone's off work..." Wang Baihu muttered to himself.

“Miss Honglian, the Northern Heavenly Court will never allow the Limitation Agency to act recklessly here.” You Chi coughed twice. “Miss Lin Qing’s personal visit is surely a testament to our sincerity, isn’t it?”

"Since I dared to expose the evil deeds of the authorities, why would I hide behind the scenes for fear of such danger?" Lin Qing said dismissively. "Instead of questioning my courage, let's focus on the case itself. You said you're also investigating, so what's the progress?"

Honglian's momentum immediately deflated. "Uh... we're temporarily at a stalemate. Lu Lixin's biological mother revealed that she had close contact with someone who was suspected to be a big boss, but unfortunately, after checking her entire network of contacts, I couldn't find any targets that matched the criteria. Her funds were transferred from abroad, and the intelligence team suspects it was the work of the Gospel Society."

"Excuse me for interrupting, but what kind of organization is the Gospel Society?" Tian Zhenggang asked curiously.

“An uncontrolled society of ability users, whose members have extremely high antisocial tendencies, and many of them have already committed substantial crimes, and the authorities have never given up on arresting them,” Honglian explained. “Since you are also investigating, I strongly suggest cooperating with the authorities—of course, you don’t need to show yourselves, just exchange information. After all, this matter involves crimes committed by ability users, and ordinary people could easily be injured or killed if they are not careful.”

Chen Xuan noticed that Lin Qing's lips curled up slightly, a sarcastic expression she habitually wore. If the speaker hadn't been the future leader of the resistance, she probably would have sneered out loud. "Excuse me, Miss Honglian, you should know our attitude towards the Limitation Agency. In fact, I even suspect that this was done by the agency. I really can't think of any other organization that could develop a drug to awaken abilities."

"I've never heard of any government agency conducting research in this area—"

“That’s because your rank isn’t high enough,” Lin Qing interrupted. “As for the Gospel Society, forget about it. It’s impossible for it to extend its influence into Jiangcheng.”

"You even know about the Gospel Church?" Honglian was quite surprised.

"As I have said, the world's mind sees much further than we imagine."

"Since Shixin knows everything, why doesn't it just tell you who the mastermind is?"

"It's a collection of consciousnesses, not a chatbot. Do you think it will answer every question I ask?"

Tian Zhenggang couldn't help but look at You Chi, "Excuse me, can you understand what they're arguing about?"

"About... half," Yuchi said calmly with a smile.

"Enough. I didn't want to get involved in this matter, since it has nothing to do with the crisis of world destruction. It was only because the Beitian Academy asked me to participate in the investigation that I reluctantly helped out." Lin Qing interrupted the argument impatiently. "If you still want to involve the Weixian Agency, I'm leaving now."

After she finished speaking, she actually stood up.

“Wait—I won’t bring it up again.” Honglian, contrary to her previous questioning attitude, directly stopped Lin Qing. “Whether the agency is involved in this matter or not, we can investigate slowly. The most important thing right now is to solve the case. Jiangcheng cannot afford to have another tragedy like the Wuhuan Machinery Park.”

“That makes more sense.” Lin Qing sized her up for a while, then slowly sat back down. “In that case, let me briefly explain the clues I’ve obtained and where I need your assistance…”

Chen Xuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He could tell that Lin Qing was deliberately putting on airs and using Honglian's sense of responsibility to manipulate her. As a result, Honglian was actually fooled and decided to prioritize the overall situation and tolerate this small "slander."

If it were Lin Qing six months ago, she probably wouldn't have spoken so rudely to her future boss.

She's more like a real warrior now.

(End of this chapter)