One person: Starting with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his grandmaster uncle emerges from seclusion.

Watching Zhang Chulan patting his chest and boasting to Zhao Fangxu about how he "took on five opponents at once" on the island.

Zhang Tianyi tilted his head slightly, looking at the bright moon in the night sky.

Chapter 450 The Disappearance of Spirits One After Another, Gao Lian's Doubts

Autumn is getting stronger.

At this time, the Northeast was already covered with a layer of early winter frost.

Shenyang, the headquarters of the Northeast Region of the All-in-One Network.

Gao Lian was wearing a turtleneck sweater with a well-fitting jacket over it.

He was holding a thermos and gently blowing on the goji berries floating on the water, his glasses fogged up by the steam.

The office was quiet, with only the hum of the dehumidifier running.

"drop--"

The computer on the table lit up briefly.

A pink smiley face popped up, accompanied by a line of playful text:

[Dad, did you sleep well last night? It's getting colder today, remember to drink plenty of hot water. (*^▽^*)]

Looking at the words on the screen.

A gentle smile appeared on Gao Lian's usually serious, even somewhat unsmiling face.

He put down his thermos and typed a few words on the keyboard to reply:

[Dad knows. Erzhuang, don't overwork yourself with your data monitoring; make sure to relax and rest.]

Just after I sent the message, there was a knock on the office door.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Enter."

Gao Lian suppressed his smile, put his glasses back on, and regained the composure befitting a regional leader.

The door was pushed open.

Deng Youfu, wearing a sharp black overcoat and glasses, walked in.

His nose was slightly red from the cold wind outside, and he was holding a folder in his hand.

"Mr. Gao, I'm sorry to bother you."

Deng Youfu closed the door tightly, walked to the desk, and spoke respectfully, but with an undisguised seriousness in his voice.

"You're lucky, have a seat."

Gao Lian pointed to the chair opposite him, keenly sensing the change in the other person's emotions:

"You don't look well this early in the morning. What's wrong?"

Deng Youfu did not sit down immediately, but handed over the folder in his hand.

"Mr. Gao, this message came from the shamanic practitioners. I feel something is amiss and I must report to you immediately."

Gao Lian took the folder and opened the first page.

My gaze swept over several photos of the on-site investigation and a brief written report.

"Have the spirits and monsters of famous mountains and rivers disappeared?"

Gao Lian frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on one of the photos.

The photo was taken in a remote mountain forest.

There was a noticeable pit in the ground, but the surrounding vegetation was not significantly damaged.

"Yes."

Deng Youfu pulled out a chair and sat down:

"Last night, two powerful spirits lost contact in succession on the outskirts of Changbai Mountain and the southern foothills of the Greater Khingan Mountains."

"One is a black bear spirit that has been guarding the Savage Valley for three hundred years, and the other is a green fox that has been entrenched on the banks of the Blackwater River."

Deng Youfu pushed up his glasses, his eyes filled with confusion:

"These two, though not as influential as the great masters and great ladies of the Hu, Huang, Bai, and Liu clans in our Northeast region, are still considered local bigwigs who are well-known and protect the area."

“They rarely leave their territory, but last night, the elders in the temple who were in charge of worshipping them discovered that their incense offerings had completely stopped.”

After hearing this, Gao Lian did not immediately express his opinion.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

"The incense's connection has been broken; there are only two possibilities."

Gao Lian's voice was very steady:

"Either they suffered a sudden misfortune and were beaten to a pulp."

"Either, they were forcibly severed from this land by some clever means, or even taken away entirely."

"Are there any signs of a struggle at the scene?" Gao Lian asked Deng Youfu.

"That's also the part that I find most strange."

Deng Youfu shook his head, his expression serious:

“I personally led a team to investigate the site. There were no large-scale scorch marks, no bloodstains, and even very few signs of broken trees.”

"Those two spirits seemed to have vanished into thin air."

Upon hearing this, Gao Lian's eyes became deep and thoughtful.

The spirits and monsters of the Northeast are different from the strange people of the South.

Nourished by the earth's energy, they possess extremely keen senses.

To take away two ancient demons with centuries of cultivation without provoking any fierce resistance is something that ordinary experts cannot accomplish.

"What did Grandma Guan say?" Gao Lian asked.

"Grandma Guan recently helped the Old Celestial Master and True Man Tian Shu resolve the hidden dangers at the bottom of Tianchi Lake, and she is currently helping the Ancestor stabilize his realm in the hall."

Deng Youfu told the truth: "I haven't dared to report this matter to my superiors yet, for fear of disturbing the peaceful life of our ancestors. So I came to you for advice first."

Gao Lian picked up his thermos, took a sip of warm water, and quickly sorted out the current situation in his mind.

The incident caused by the Japanese Onmyoji in Changbai Mountain some time ago has been completely quelled by Zhang Tianyi with swift and decisive measures.

Those outsiders were either dead or crippled.

In theory, Northeast China should be an impenetrable wall now, and no one dares to provoke it.

"Since it wasn't caused by a major invasion from foreign enemies, then someone must be secretly 'stocking up' on the goods."

Gao Lian pinpointed the problem incisively.

He looked at Deng Youfu, his tone calm and rational:

"You're lucky. Your family worships Master Liu, so he should be very familiar with these methods."

What conditions are needed to silently take away a black bear that has become a spirit?

Deng Youfu pondered for a moment, searching through the scriptures of the shamanic lineage in his mind.

"Mr. Gao, this is very difficult."

"Unless the other party possesses a spatial storage device capable of containing living beings, or has a highly skilled individual who combines it with some extremely profound spirit-binding technique..."

When Deng Youfu mentioned "binding the spirit," he suddenly stopped talking.

His eyes met Gao Lian's briefly in mid-air.

Both of them were insightful individuals, and a name almost simultaneously came to mind.

They captured the spirits and dispatched the generals.

The Ten Elders, the Wang family.

A brief silence fell over the office.

"It can't be the Wang family."

Gao Lian broke the silence first, shaking his head and directly denying the guess.

"Chairman Zhao recently issued an internal notice."

The Wang family has been under intense pressure from Feng Zhenghao of the Tianxia Society lately, and coupled with the loss of face they suffered in the capital, Wang Ai is currently overwhelmed with dealing with their family's messy accounts.

Gao Lian explained in detail:

"The Wang family is currently preoccupied with their own problems and has absolutely no time or courage to come to the Northeast and steal things right under our noses at this critical juncture."

"Besides, the Wang family's methods are essentially designed for spirits, and they're not very effective against monsters."

"Mr. Gao is right, I didn't think it through."

Deng Youfu nodded, agreeing with this assessment.

"But if it's not a method from the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, then who would be interested in these spirits and monsters?"

Gao Lian took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses with a piece of soft cloth.

"The world is vast, and there are countless talented and extraordinary people. There are too many unknown methods."

He put his glasses back on, and his gaze became sharp and decisive.

"Good fortune. This matter must not be publicized, lest it cause panic among the various shamanic families."

Gao Lian issued the order:

"Pick a few brothers who are tight-lipped and reliable. Take the company's newly issued detectors and conduct another thorough search of the areas surrounding those two crime scenes."

The focus should be on checking for any unusual formations or unfamiliar footprints.

"Also, let's have a word with Grandma Guan. Ask her to secretly inform each of the various shrines to be more vigilant about the spirits that are currently scattered around, and to try to move closer to the heart of the mountains so they don't end up alone."

Deng Youfu stood up and straightened the collar of his coat: