Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 481 The Most Recent

"Xiao Lu, immediately search the area between News Avenue and Sunshine Street. I've sent you the target's appearance, but be aware that the person may have changed their appearance and hidden themselves."

Lu Chongming had just finished dealing with a hallucination case nearby when he received a call from Zhang Xue.

The fact that Zhang Xue was able to contact him specifically was clearly related to Wang Shizhong.

He immediately set off and drove to the location Zhang Xue had indicated, while simultaneously dialing Zheng Fan's mobile phone to inform him of Wang Shizhong's whereabouts.

However, not long after he finished speaking with the lazy Zheng Fan, a building nearby suddenly collapsed.

"Huh?!" Lu Chongming slammed on the brakes.

This is the intersection of Yangguang Street and the new commercial pedestrian street of Jiangwen Subdistrict. How could such an accident suddenly occur?
"Wang Shizhong!"

There's no need to overthink it; this coincidental accident at this critical juncture is clearly related to Wang Shizhong! In fact, it's possible that the accident was triggered precisely because he was so close to Wang Shizhong!
He got out of the car and rushed toward the collapsed building, shouting to the stunned bystanders to stay away from the accident scene.

Just then, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of a figure wearing the same undershirt as the one Zhang Xue had sent him in the surveillance photo.

Although she had taken off her trench coat, she hadn't changed her clothes underneath, and there were many tears in them, suggesting she had just been in a battle. Even the difference in her face was enough to tell the story.

but!

Boom!

Further collapse was still occurring, and Lu Chongming looked back. There were still people downstairs. Faced with an unexpected crisis, some people react very calmly, some panic and run away haphazardly, and some even freeze in place, their minds blank.

Without training, it is difficult to reprimand the victim, regardless of one's reaction.

If he rushes over now, how many people can he protect?

But Wang Shizhong was only about 100 meters behind him, and this was the closest he had ever been to the culprit!
This is not an option.

This time it's just a building collapse, but the nuclear explosion is coming up at the end of the month! If we don't intercept him here, how many more innocent victims will there be? Besides, he didn't come here to be a hero. He came to Jiangwen Street to save his mother, and he wanted to kill Wang Shizhong because of Zuixing... no, just because he wanted to vent his anger.

For Lu Chongming, this was not even a trolley problem.

It is necessary to...

Wang Shizhong stared indifferently ahead of the road. Just then, he was drawn to the sound of the collapse behind him and glanced back, only to find himself staring at Lu Chongming.

The two saw each other from hundreds of meters apart.

Then, Wang Shizhong revealed a cold smile and let out a disdainful snort.

"Grab that person!" Lu Chongming's eyes widened as he pointed at Wang Shizhong. The nearby police officers and members of the handling bureau were immediately drawn to Lu Chongming and then looked in the direction he was pointing.

Wang Shizhong immediately turned and ran away, but Lu Chongming swung out his conductive sword, which, under the powerful stimulation of electricity, instantly accelerated and stabbed Wang Shizhong in the lower back.

Then, Lu Chongming took a step forward and rushed towards the collapsed floor.

……

Lu Chongming sat on the ground flower bed at the entrance of Yangguang Street, looking disheveled and lost in thought as he stared at the passing traffic.

“We’ve lost track of our men.” Zhang Xue walked over carrying Lu Chongming’s sword and handed it to him.

Lu Chongming didn't react. Zhang Xue sighed as she looked at him and placed the sword beside him: "That building hasn't been inspected yet, and there's no one inside. You really saved the passersby downstairs and even used your own body to shield several children from the falling rocks. There were no deaths, only injuries. All of this is thanks to you."

Just then, another sparse sound of footsteps approached, and Zheng Fan arrived at the scene with Xiao Zhao and the others.

"I was just saying that, given their characteristics, if they were to be exposed by accident at this time, they would definitely react like a stressed cat, turning into a round-headed, airplane-eared creature and panting heavily." Zheng Fan looked at the scene, seemingly making sarcastic remarks.

“Huan… Brother Fei, Brother Zhao…” Lu Chongming said weakly.

If he could maintain a normal attitude towards Zhang Xue, considering it a working relationship and a cooperative relationship with Wang Shizhong, then Zheng Fan and Xiao Zhao were people Lu Chongming had actively sought help from. But he had messed things up again, and was somewhat ashamed to face them.

"You are..." Zhang Xue frowned slightly as she looked at the group of people who had approached, especially when she saw Zheng Fan. She felt a chill run down her spine, as if she had been beaten by him before...

"They're just friends. Since even you, as the chief investigator, can't muster a reliable investigation team, we're the ones assisting Lu Chongming in tracking down Wang Shizhong's affairs," Zheng Fan said bluntly.

Zhang Xue didn't care. On one hand, Zheng Fan was right; she was utterly incompetent as the chief except for her combat skills. On the other hand, she had been criticized so much in the past that she was thick-skinned and didn't care.

She glanced at Xiao Zhao and his group: "No wonder, the establishment time of the Black Sparrow Agency coincides with the time when Lu Chongming came to the bureau."

However, the key point is still this "Cheng Fei". Or to put it more deeply, it's the illusion beneath the body of "Cheng Fei".

This is what Lu Chongming relies on.

"What's wrong?" Zheng Fan ignored Zhang Xue and asked Lu Chongming instead.

“I let him get away.” Lu Chongming briefly described the situation at the time. “I immediately realized that I had to chase after him. But for some reason, when I saw him mocking me, I had a feeling that… if I did that, I would lose, and then my body went against my mind…”

Zheng Fan looked at the collapsed building: "Do you regret it?"

"I regret it." Lu Chongming said without hesitation. Zhang Xue couldn't hold back for a moment. She thought she would hear a more righteous answer, because Lu Chongming was indeed doing something righteous.

This made her feelings even more complicated.

"Feel sorry……"

"What are you apologizing for? We never expected anything from you. Even if you did catch up, so what? Could you beat him? Could you stop him? Are you sure you won't get killed on the way and then get away? You can't even beat one of his avatars, yet you expect to stand your ground and buy us time when facing him in person?"

Zheng Fan walked over and reached out to pick up the conductive sword next to Lu Chongming.

Zhang Xue wanted to say that Zheng Fan had gone too far, but given the relationship, it seemed she shouldn't say too much.

"You're right."

"So from this perspective, you've done the best you could. You saved the person you wanted to save and left us with enough useful clues to track him down."

Lu Chongming looked up in surprise, and Zhang Xue also looked at Zheng Fan, who was groping for the sword, with a strange expression.

Zheng Fan said, "The sword did stab him, didn't it? Although he was very careful, and when he pulled out the sword and dropped it during his escape, he didn't forget to wipe away any bloodstains or anything like that that might be left behind, the fact that he was stabbed doesn't change. That's enough."

"Are you a master of rituals?" Zhang Xue, with her keen mind, immediately asked.

Zhang Xue couldn't think of anyone other than a master of rituals who could track someone down based solely on the fact that they had been "stabbed" without relying on actual traces.

It was because she knew someone that she was able to realize it immediately.

Even within the Bureau of Ceremonies, ritual personnel are scarce and are generally not sent to the front lines. Most accomplished ritual personnel prefer to learn the craft rather than come to the Bureau of Ceremonies to do dirty and tiring work.

Even if the processing bureau can offer excellent treatment to special talents, the workload is simply not on the same level.

In Zhang Xue's own words, given the choice, if one didn't have any sentimental attachments, the person who would voluntarily come to handle the situation would be somewhat delusional and masochistic.

"I suppose so," Zheng Fan said.

Binary Girl's ability to perform the ritual is equivalent to his ability to perform it, but since the ritual is somewhat inspired, he cannot perfectly replicate Lin Yilin's ritual procedures.

Moreover, this kind of rather mysterious tracking ritual, with the target being a fortune teller, might seem feasible to Zheng Fan, but its actual implementation could be quite complicated.

It's up to the binary girl to decide.

“Stand up. Go back and take a shower and rest. This is definitely the closest you’ve ever been to him,” Zheng said to Lu Chongming.

(End of this chapter)