Gao Wu: Oh no! Young Master Zhen is a cultivator!

If one's skill level is high enough, a fire-type martial artist should be able to see through the illusion the moment they come into contact with water.

Unfortunately, he was only at the Transcendent Realm, while the Lord of Xuan Chen was a cultivator at the Mahayana Realm.

According to the calculation that the Transcendent Realm is equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Lord of Xuan Chen is seven major realms higher than him.

Even if the Lord of Xuan Chen was too weak to leave the Mirage Pearl, a mere illusion he released was beyond the comprehension of even a martial artist at the Transcendent Realm.

At this moment, the fire-type martial artist felt a severe disconnect between his consciousness and senses.

Then, as if he had just realized something, he suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahaha... I know!"

"You're not a power-type awakener at all, and you can't manipulate multiple elements. From the very beginning, you've been using illusion magic; you're a mental-type awakener!"

He felt he had seen through the truth and understood Lin Ran's methods, and continued to shout into the void, "Come out! I've seen through you!"

Lin Ran's voice rang out beside him: "Really? Then can you see me?"

"Die!" The fire-type warrior swung his sword in the direction the voice came from, but it was all in vain.

Illusions affect not only the visual sense, but also the auditory sense.

Lin Ran was clearly on his left, but the voice came from his right. How could he possibly touch Lin Ran?

"Don't waste your energy!" Lin Ran spoke again, "Tell me, who sent you?"

The fire-elemental martial artist scoffed, "Either I die or not, I would never betray my employer."

"Why bother? Do you really want to suffer?" As he spoke, Lin Ran was about to make his move.

"You'll be buried with us sooner or later." The fire-elemental warrior's hand flashed with fire as he slapped his forehead.

Flames pierced through his skull from his palm, and he slumped softly into the seawater.

The waves crashed over him, turning him over so that wisps of smoke were still rising from his charred forehead.

Lin Ran frowned: "I was originally thinking of leaving one alive so you could spread false information... What a pity..."

If a fire-type martial artist could hear his rant, they would be so angry they'd come back to life and fight him to the death.

He dragged the four corpses together, activated his fire control technique, and burned them all to ashes.

He then used a water manipulation technique to flush the ashes into the sea, leaving nothing behind.

Not entirely. Lin Ran had collected the two daggers and three longswords from the four men, keeping them for future use.

Even a small fly is still meat; a high-grade alloy longsword can cost hundreds of thousands.

After doing all this, he used a dust-repelling spell on himself to clean off the dust, and then turned and headed towards the Lin family's location.

It's already past midnight, so tonight's practice time will be shortened.

The next morning, Lin Ran pushed open the door and went downstairs.

He consumed seventy-two third-tier crystal cores last night, but his cultivation progress was not very noticeable.

Based on this ratio, the spiritual energy required from the early to mid-stages of Foundation Establishment is at least ten times that required for the entire Qi Refining stage.

Condensing Qi into true essence indeed consumes a huge amount of energy.

When I got downstairs, Lin Haozhe was already sitting at the dining table.

He was holding a glass of milk, and his pupils contracted slightly the moment he saw Lin Ran walk down the stairs.

The cup, which was brought to his lips, stopped in mid-air, leaving a white mark on the rim as his lips pressed against it.

Although he managed to cover it up in an instant, Lin Ran still managed to catch his surprised look.

"What, are you surprised to see that I'm unharmed?" Lin Ran sat down opposite him, picked up a slice of toast and took a bite.

"Brother Ran, you're joking." Lin Haozhe pretended to be calm, put down his milk glass, and took a tissue to wipe his mouth. "I just think Brother Ran got up quite early today."

Lin Ran revealed a mocking expression: "Really? I thought you thought I should have died out there yesterday."

"How could that be? Brother Ran, don't joke around." Lin Haozhe's face was stiff, but he forced a smile.

Lin Ran put the half-eaten toast back on the plate and looked directly at Lin Haozhe: "I'm not kidding you."

It's not hard to tell from Lin Haozhe's expression that the four extraordinary assassins from yesterday were likely arranged by the person behind him.

With four extraordinary elements—fire, ice, strength, and speed—the team composition is far more professional than the rough-and-tumble Jianghu style of the Sun family.

This person must be in a high position, possessing considerable charisma.

With such a grand and magnanimous demeanor, one should at least be a city lord or the president of a martial arts association.

Of course, it could also be a high-ranking official in another city, or even a big shot in Kyoto.

In short, the four assassins yesterday were definitely not the style of the Sun family; otherwise, there would have been more than just one Innate Realm martial artist who intercepted Lin Ran in the first place.

The person behind the scenes meticulously orchestrated a switcheroo, sending Lin Haozhe into the Lin family to be raised for eighteen years.

Just as Lin Haozhe was turning eighteen and it was time to harvest the fruits of his labor, his own son suddenly returned.

Anyone would explode if they were in that situation.

The fact that they waited until now to take action shows they have been extremely patient.

Unfortunately, Lin Haozhe was useless; he only knew how to use underhanded tricks and repeatedly failed, so he had no way to get rid of Lin Ran.

Otherwise, the person behind the scenes may continue to lie low until Lin Haozhe completely takes control of the Lin family.

At that time, he only needs to control Lin Haozhe to control the entire gene drug market.

Lin Ran repeatedly warned Lin Haozhe in order to alert the enemy and force the person hiding in the shadows to come out on their own.

Having entered the Foundation Establishment stage, he no longer had the mood to play such a boring game with Lin Haozhe.

"I'll remind you one more time, my patience is running out." Lin Ran said solemnly, "You'd better hurry up and do what you want to do."

Lin Haozhe was cornered, caught between a rock and a hard place, and could only force himself to say, "Brother Ran, you still don't trust me?"

"No, no, no! In a sense, I trust you completely!" Lin Ran's eyes flashed with a dangerous light. "So, you absolutely mustn't let me down!"

The day passed uneventfully, consisting of theory classes, the canteen, and the training hall.

Sun Jinghuan is still recovering in the hospital; his severe injuries and near-death experience cannot be cured in just a day or two.

This made Lin Ran's already boring student life even less fun.

Fortunately, Zhao Meng is still a chatterbox, and Chu Xining is still clingy.

Time flies when you bicker with the two of them occasionally.

When I got home from school in the evening, there were several unfamiliar faces in the living room.

Lin Zhixia sat on the sofa to the side, and to her right was a man in a Special Affairs Bureau uniform.

The epaulettes have two silver bars and a star, indicating he is likely a captain in the Special Affairs Bureau.

The man was probably around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with high brow bones, a strong jawline, and facial features that made Lin Ran feel somewhat familiar.

He sat on the sofa, flipping through a document, his expression calm.

Two Secret Service investigators stood behind him, their faces solemn.

Hearing footsteps, the man looked up, his gaze falling on Lin Ran, and he looked her up and down.

"Lin Ran, classmate."

"Looking for me?" Lin Ran, the name consultant.

He changed into slippers, walked up to the man, and shook hands with him.

"I am Bai Xingzhou, the captain of the First Brigade of the New Sea Special Intelligence Bureau. I apologize for bothering you today, but I have a few questions I would like to confirm with you." Bai Xingzhou's expression was solemn.

No wonder he looked familiar. He's from the Bai family, and his face is somewhat similar to Bai Ruolin's. He must be a close relative of Bai Ruolin.

Lin Ran sat down on the sofa and casually replied, "I wonder what Captain Bai wants to ask?"

"It's about a case, here..." Bai Xingzhou glanced around, his implication obvious.

Lin Zhixia quickly said, "Let's talk in the study."

"Is it convenient?" Bai Xingzhou asked Lin Zhixia.

Normally, the study of such a large family is likely to contain some family secrets.

Especially for a business family like the Lin family, there might be some trade secrets they keep.

As investigators from the Special Affairs Bureau, their identities were sensitive, and it was indeed somewhat inappropriate for them to directly enter the Lin family's study.

Lin Zhixia waved her hand and said, "It's alright, the Lin family never works from home."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xingzhou nodded: "Alright."

He then turned to Lin Ran, his expression solemn: "Please."

The two men entered the study, while two investigators stood at the door.

Seeing this, a hint of smugness flashed in Lin Haozhe's eyes.

No matter the reason, Lin Ran always felt good whenever he encountered trouble.