I Cultivate in a Government Office

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Lifespan-Seizing Array

At the edge of a seawall, a Spiritual Light appeared in Yan Kuan’s hand. He pointed forward, and a white glow flashed across a patch of the sea’s surface.

”The wooden box was originally right under that light.”

Yan Kuan said, looking at Yang Wenqing.

Yang Wenqing thanked him, then extended his left hand and tapped the air three times. Three Dharma Seals instantly took shape. These were the seals for the Water Avoidance Spell. As they formed, two of them landed on Ding Lang and Wu Yan, while the last one entered Yang Wenqing’s own body.

As the Water Avoidance Spell took effect, an invisible barrier of Spiritual Light enveloped the three men. Wu Yan took the lead, diving cleanly into the water like a fish, with Yang Wenqing and Ding Lang right behind him.

The seawater wasn’t very clear, with visibility only around ten meters. Sunlight pierced the surface, casting swaying flecks of light. The deeper they went, the darker it became, the water temperature dropped noticeably, and their surroundings grew quiet and oppressive.

After diving about five or six meters, the seabed came into faint view. Guided by the white light Yan Kuan had marked, they quickly found the target area.

There, on a relatively flat patch of sandy seabed, was a circular Array etched into the ground, about three meters in diameter!

The Array’s lines were drawn with a dark red material that still emitted an ominous, faint glow despite being submerged in seawater. At the center of the Array’s structure was a symbol formed from countless intertwined tendrils, and in the very middle of the Array was a shallow indentation.

Ding Lang swam closer to the Array. He took out a crystal magnifying glass and several sheets of special rune paper from his waterproof toolkit and carefully began to collect material samples from the Array’s lines, attempting to make a rubbing of the complete runic structure.

Meanwhile, Wu Yan circled the perimeter of the Array, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings for any other suspicious tracks, footprints, or forgotten items.

Yang Wenqing hovered above the Array. It did indeed match the characteristics of the Water Spirit Array, one component of the Five Elements Life-taking Array documented in the case files.

He cast the Tracking Technique again. The light from the Dharma Seal flickered faintly within the water-avoiding barrier. This time, he tried to capture the aura of any living creature that had been active in the area for a long time, but he found nothing.

’Someone most likely set up an interference spell in advance!’

”That’s right, it’s a Life-taking Array, a rather standard version,” Ding Lang said, swimming back to Yang Wenqing after collecting his samples. He spoke through the internal communication provided by the Water Avoidance Spell. ”The caster is an expert, and it’s likely this wasn’t their first time performing such a ritual.”

Wu Yan also swam back and shook his head at Yang Wenqing, indicating he hadn’t found any other significant clues on the perimeter.

Yang Wenqing nodded, then pointed upward. The three began to ascend. When they were back on shore, Yang Wenqing said to Yan Kuan, who came to meet them, ”We need to identify the deceased as soon as possible, and we also need to find potential witnesses.”

With that, he looked at Ding Lang. ”Forensic Doctor Ding, I’ll leave the analysis of the Array samples and the autopsy report to you. Notify me as soon as you have any results.”

”Understood!”

Ding Lang nodded and walked over to the other forensic doctors who had come with him.

Yan Kuan, however, gave his assurance. ”Rest assured, my friend. I’ve already recorded his bloodline aura. As long as the deceased is in the Port District, I’ll be able to find his identity.”

Hearing this, Yang Wenqing smiled. ”Then I’ll have to trouble Captain Yan.”

”It’s my duty, no trouble at all. I’ll contact you immediately if I find anything.”

Yan Kuan’s smile was equally polite. With his rank, his badge’s communication could be patched through to the Major Case Team.

Each precinct had the authority to investigate cases. They would typically solve ordinary murder cases themselves and wouldn’t report them to the main bureau. However, special cases like this one had to be reported, or they would be held responsible if any problems arose.

After giving his assurance, Yan Kuan walked over to his team members.

Yang Wenqing then instructed Wu Yan, ”Contact Xiaoxian and have her enter this case file into the City Defense System as soon as possible.”

Wu Yan nodded and used his badge to contact Liu Qin in the office.

Yang Wenqing walked to one side to contact Vice Director Gao. He needed to give a brief report on the current findings of the case, which was standard procedure.

After hearing the report, Vice Director Gao didn’t show much of an emotional reaction, only instructing, ”Be patient with the investigation. Solving the case quickly is a good thing, of course, but you can’t botch it just for the sake of speed.”

Yang Wenqing could only nod and say, ”Yes, sir.” After ending the call with his superior, he saw that Wu Yan had also handled the matter with the case file. He glanced at Wu Yan, then walked toward the wooden box. The clues here were of little use. The forensic team was retrieving the body and the box, using a large metal container engraved with a special isolation Array for the task.

”Let’s go check the Port’s visual records.”

Yang Wenqing said to Wu Yan, and they headed for the port’s administrative building.

The port’s administrative building was a five-story stone structure in the center of the dock area. After Yang Wenqing and Wu Yan showed their identification, a staff member led them to the third-floor surveillance room. An officer from the Port District precinct was already there, reviewing the footage.

The core of the visual recording Array was a massive crystal panel embedded in the wall, connected to a complex network of runic circuits that extended to the ceiling, linking to sub-Arrays covering key nodes throughout the port.

A staff member explained that this Array system could record ten days of visual information within a designated area. However, it couldn’t record sound or Spiritual Qi fluctuations, and its image resolution was limited, becoming especially blurry at night and in bad weather.

Yang Wenqing walked over to the precinct officer, took over the crystal panel’s controls, and said, ”Let me.” He had learned how to use these at the Police Academy.

He immediately set the recording playback to its fastest speed. Then, he secretly channeled the power of his Golden Core World to enhance his own consciousness, multiplying his thought speed several times over. This allowed him to rapidly process the images flashing by in the recordings.

Wu Yan and the precinct officer watched quietly from the side. Noticing Yang Wenqing’s intense focus and the occasional flicker of images reflected in his pupils, their hearts stirred, and they subconsciously made their movements smaller to avoid disturbing him.

Half an hour passed quickly.

Yang Wenqing let out a soft breath and rubbed his throbbing temples. Only after patting Wu Yan on the shoulder and exiting the administrative building did he speak: ”In the footage, no person or boat has approached that area in the last ten days.”

Wu Yan immediately replied, ”The box might have been placed there more than ten days ago, or someone could have dived over from a distance. We’ll have to wait for the forensic team’s findings.”

Yang Wenqing looked up at the sky and said to Wu Yan, ”It’s still early. Let’s take a look along the coastline.”

Wu Yan nodded in agreement, though he thought it was unlikely they’d find any clues. There were just too many ways to erase one’s tracks.

The two of them got back into their Flying Shuttle and patrolled the small paths along both sides of the port’s coastline twice. Yang Wenqing kept using his Tracking Technique to search, but found no clues.

Just as Yang Wenqing was about to start a third search, Wu Yan reminded him, ”Judging by the victim’s clothes, he was probably a fisherman from a nearby village. Maybe we should check out the fishing villages.”

As Yang Wenqing was about to speak, Wu Yan added, ”But I’m guessing the Port District precinct officers are already investigating the fishing villages. It might not be good for us to interfere. We’ll probably need to trouble Captain Yan and his team a lot more for this case later on.”

After some thought, Yang Wenqing decided they would return to the bureau. The forensic team had already concluded that the deceased was a forty-two-year-old fisherman from a village near the port. There were traces of a Water Avoidance Spell’s Dharma Seal on his body, meaning he was most likely still alive when placed in the Array. The exact time of death was still being determined.