Zhu Shi was clearly still on high alert, wary that Lu Youxun might try to recruit me behind her back.

  In truth, if he really wanted to talk to me privately, there was no way she could stop him. This was probably more about her making her stance crystal clear.

  Lu Youxun let out a soft laugh and raised both hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I get it. You pulled off a major contribution this time—I’ll follow your lead.”

  “What about Z’s contribution?” Zhu Shi asked.

  “Of course. Not only will I approve Z’s status as an unorthodox Impermanent, but Mount Luo will also provide appropriate compensation afterward.” As he spoke, Lu Youxun slipped the ring from his right middle finger—the one that looked like it was woven from thin iron wire.

  That was the very ring he’d used earlier to phase his right hand through solid matter, seize the monster’s heart, and force it to answer truthfully. If Mount Luo was going to reward me, I secretly hoped they’d give me something like that—an item with genuine supernatural utility. Whether I ever needed it or not, just having it in my possession would make me grin like an idiot all day.

  After saying our goodbyes, I left the sports park first. True to his word, Lu Youxun didn’t follow me out. Seeing that, though, a new question bubbled up in my mind.

  At the beginning, he’d said one reason for involving me in this incident was to test me. Even though he seemed to have already “tested” my power level when he tried transmitting information directly into my mind, I doubted he’d let it end there. So how exactly did he plan to evaluate my performance in actual combat without joining us on the front line?

  Surveillance cameras in the sports park? Ever since I picked up Alice, I’d become unusually sensitive to monitoring systems and had checked out the ones there.

  Most people probably never think about it, but surveillance cameras need regular cleaning—otherwise the lenses get too dirty to function. That sports park was basically abandoned; no one maintained it. I didn’t know if the cameras were broken, but they definitely weren’t operational.

  Maybe he intended to use some kind of land-memory divination spell. That was how he’d obtained Alice’s photo in the first place. If he later read the memory of the ground and saw my fight, the fact that I could elementalize would definitely come to light.

  I felt a little guilty toward Zhu Shi for all her efforts, but honestly, I no longer cared whether my elementalization got exposed.

  In the past, I’d followed her advice and kept my abilities hidden to avoid drawing too much attention from Mount Luo—and, by extension, risking Alice’s exposure. But now I had no choice but to rely on Zhu Shi and Lu Youxun’s help to find her. The whole premise for concealment had already collapsed.

  So if Lu Youxun figured it out, let him.

  I found a spot out of sight from any passersby, then used flame teleportation. Out of a certain lingering hope, I’d set up “fireflies” at home—just in case Alice ever slipped back unnoticed, I’d know instantly. Now it also made it convenient to teleport home anytime I wanted.

  Once back, I shifted into elemental form again and directed the “fireflies” scattered across Saltwater City to search for any trace of Alice.

  The monster had mentioned that Alice had appeared in the New District, and he’d even given me the specific location: behind a rundown vegetable market. That area was now my primary focus.

  Unfortunately, Alice had passed through there last night. She wouldn’t have stayed put. Sure enough, after searching for a long time, I came up empty-handed. Still, just knowing she’d been there—that her footprints had touched that ground—made me feel one step closer to her. My heart felt steadier than it had in the past two days of total dead ends.

  I kept searching until the clock passed midnight. Only then did I release my elemental form, leave the house, and head out for a walk around the neighborhood. Walking helped loosen the knots in my rigid mind—a kind of mental massage. That was something I’d only recently figured out.

  I strolled along the grassy slope by the river. To my left, the water flowed slowly and quietly; to my right was the road, and across it stood rows of shops, most of them already closed for the night.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Even at this hour, a few places were still open—barbecue joints, mostly. Surprisingly, they had decent crowds. When the indoor seats filled up, people simply set up plastic tables and chairs outside. They ate skewers, chatted, laughed. For a moment, it was hard to say whether the street felt desolate or lively. Either way, it was an utterly ordinary scene.

  And yet, to me—fresh from a fantastical battle—it looked strangely alien, like a view from another world.

  What exactly does it mean to transcend reality?

  The question rose in my mind again, prompting me to examine my own heart once more.

  At that moment, someone approached from the opposite direction. He seemed to be taking a riverside stroll too. At first I assumed he was just another late-night walker. Only when he drew closer did I recognize him.

  He saw me and smiled. “Still not home yet, Z?”

  “Lu Youxun? Weren’t you supposed to be investigating that head?” I asked.

  “I spent a few hours on it—no decent results yet. My brain’s fried, so I’m taking a break.” He shrugged. “And you?”

  “Just clearing my head,” I said.

  “Fate brings people together. How about we grab some skewers?” He nodded toward the barbecue place across the street.

  I wasn’t sure whether this was genuine coincidence or if he’d come prepared.

  My guess was that he wanted to persuade me to join his faction. I had zero interest in those political games, but since I still needed his divination skills for the investigation, I figured I might as well humor him for a bit.

  We ordered some skewers and drinks inside, then carried them out to a quiet corner table made of plastic.

  The food and beverages arrived one after another.

  “First off—congratulations. You’re no longer just an ordinary freelance demon hunter. You’re now officially recognized by Mount Luo as an unorthodox Impermanent.” Lu Youxun smiled as he spoke. “The formal documents and credentials will come in a couple of days, along with the concrete rewards. For now, though, you can take this.”

  From his pocket, he produced the very ring I’d been eyeing earlier—the one that looked woven from fine iron wire—and placed it in front of me.

  I’d just been telling myself how uninterested I was in such things, but the moment the gift appeared, my eyes locked onto it like iron to a magnet. Still, I asked, “What’s this?”

  “The Black Rope Heart-Locking Ring. As long as you wear it on your finger, that hand can pass straight through someone’s flesh and grip their heart.” He explained its function calmly. “While it’s active, the target can’t lie and can’t stay silent. If they force a lie or refuse to speak, their heart stops beating. Of course, the wearer can also choose to crush the heart outright.

  “One caveat: if the target’s mana is overwhelmingly stronger, the ring’s effect is nullified. Even if they willingly cooperate, the ring will break after a single use. Keep that in mind.”

  “I meant—why are you giving this to me?” I asked. “This is your personal item, isn’t it? Are you offering it as Mount Luo’s reward on their behalf?”

  “This is my private thank-you gift. I’ve been chasing leads on the Humanity Division for a long time. Part of the reason I got involved in the monster investigation was because I suspected a connection.” He paused. “You kept staring at this ring earlier, didn’t you? Since you like it, it’s yours.”

  Hearing that, I stopped being polite and pocketed the Black Rope Heart-Locking Ring right away. Then I asked, “You said you joined the monster investigation to track the Humanity Division. So why did you advise Zhu Shi and me not to take any of them alive earlier? If you hate the Humanity Division that much, shouldn’t you have pushed us to capture at least one alive by any means necessary?”

  He gave a self-deprecating smile and sidestepped the question. “If I’d known from the start that you were a freak of nature who could even achieve elementalization, I wouldn’t have worried that monster could threaten you. I probably would’ve told you exactly what you just said—go all out to take one alive.”

  “So you did find out after all.” I wasn’t surprised my elementalization had been exposed. “Was it because you used some land-memory reading spell in the sports park?”

  “I couldn’t have even if I wanted to. You think Zhu Shi stayed behind just for fun?” He chuckled. “She predicted I might try to read the ground afterward and peek at your secrets, so she hung around and set up anti-divination barriers.

  “She was doing something that benefited you, yet she went out of her way to hide it. Probably thought it would seem like she was fishing for credit or something. What an awkward, socially clueless girl.”

  So that was why Zhu Shi stayed at the sports park… for my sake.

  All my life—except for Chang’an—I’d rarely felt this kind of careful, selfless concern from someone else. For a moment, I didn’t know how to describe the emotion welling up inside me.

  But if that was the case, then how had Lu Youxun still learned about my elementalization?

  “Wait—the head…” A thought struck me. “That monster saw me elementalize. Did you divine that information from his head?”

  “Not quite. Zhu Shi also infused the head with a bit of anti-divination power. It didn’t block everything, but it specifically interfered with any attempt to divine the details of your battle.” Lu Youxun shook his head.

  “When did she do that?” I asked, astonished.

  “When she was sealing the residual energy inside the head,” he said. “She may be clumsy in social situations, but she’s airtight when it comes to the important stuff. Beyond what I mentioned, she probably layered several more countermeasures against my techniques. If I’d tried to spy on you directly, I’d have tripped hard.

  “My earlier spirit-calling spell to temporarily revive the head might have caught her off guard—that’s probably why she kept staring at me the whole time. Didn’t you notice? If I’d asked anything about your fight, she would’ve stopped me cold. Scary girl.”

  “So what kind of sneaky technique did you use to slip through all those tight defenses?” I asked.

  Lu Youxun glanced at me, then reached behind himself and placed something dark on the table.

  Filled with intense curiosity, I leaned in to look.

  It was just an ordinary, unremarkable electronic telescope.