The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 207 Investigation and Speculation
He added, "Yuan Xi, in terms of intelligence alone, may not be top-tier, but he is extremely cunning, like a slippery eel. His 'Transformation Journey' program seems to have been cleverly used by some force as 'bait' or 'filter' to lock onto targets, with surprisingly good results, which is why he has been able to stay in that position unscathed. I suspect that either he has gradually infiltrated the inner circle and become 'one of them,' or he holds some fatal leverage over certain key figures. In any case, he is still active in the spotlight of the entertainment industry, but as a behind-the-scenes director, he acts much more discreetly than the stars."

Su Ninglong took the file and began to carefully review it on the spot. The information listed in the file, such as the list of programs he had produced and the filming locations, was mostly publicly available and there was not much to hide.

Su Ninglong's gaze quickly swept over the basic information, her focus concentrated on Yuan Xi's personal whereabouts, including records of places he had visited, vacationed, or stayed for extended periods. However, upon closer inspection, these locations seemed quite ordinary, with no apparent connection to any sensitive areas or special events.

Next, she looked at his social circle.

The records show that he did have dealings with politicians from several local planets, but without exception, these people belonged to local government systems and their influence was limited to their respective planets.

There is an almost insurmountable chasm between them and the central government that controls the entire interstellar alliance.

Su Ninglong's gaze lingered on the "Family Relationships" section of the file, where she noticed an intriguing detail: Yuan Xi was using her mother's surname.

This usually means that the maternal clan is more powerful.

The information includes details about Yuanxi's parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents, but there are no branches, meaning there are no closer relatives.

Yuanxi's grandparents died quite early, so Yuanxi's father was essentially an orphan.

She quickly memorized her maternal grandparents' names: Yuan Kou and Caroline.

A thought flashed through her mind, and she looked up at Xue Wancheng with a hint of inquiry: "Director Xue, does your police... have any records of the names of Yuan Xi's maternal grandfather and Yuan Kou's parents?"

Xue Wancheng glanced at her irritably and said, "You'll have to figure that out yourself."

To investigate whether a director has committed any illegal acts, one has to trace back to his maternal grandfather's father's generation.

This timeline is far too long! The investigation spans several generations, and the clues have long been lost to time. Moreover, he reminded him, "Did they start planning this more than a hundred years ago? What were they after? Even if there was something, the statute of limitations has long since expired."

He reached out and forcefully snatched the file about Yuan Xi from in front of Su Ninglong, closing it: "If you're really that interested in his ancestors for eighteen generations, then go and investigate it yourself."

The subtext is that police resources are not meant for this kind of seemingly endless family archaeology.

"Oh..." Su Ninglong responded, but didn't insist too much. She also understood that the relationship was too distant, and it would be very difficult to dig deep, after all, it involved tracing back to people and events from so many years ago.

More importantly, she is indeed a bit "poor" lately.

We just spent a lot of money to buy land to "atone" for that sinkhole, so we should save as much as we can. This kind of investigation, which has a clearly unbalanced input-output ratio, can be done a little slower.

"Thank you!" Her face instantly relaxed, as if her previous probing was just a casual question, and she readily handed the three photos of the Star Police mole to Xue Wancheng.

Xue Wancheng took the photo but did not look at it immediately.

He silently knocked a cigarette out of the pack, lit it, and white smoke rose in wisps.

He let the cigarette dangle between his fingers, the embers flickering in the dim light, but his gaze remained calm and sharp as he focused on the photograph in his hand, as if trying to etch those faces and the sins behind them into his mind.

Time flowed by in silence and smoke until the cigarette burned to the end, the hot ash about to scald his fingers. Only then did he seem to be startled awake, his fingers trembling slightly as he stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray beside him.

Finally, he couldn't help but say, "When I get back, I'll look up his maternal grandparents' parents. I can only provide basic information; the system doesn't have more details. So you'll have to find out the rest yourself."

"Huh?" Su Ninglong thought he was impatient with her wildly imaginative deductions.

Xue Wancheng wasn't impatient with her; he was impatient with his position as bureau chief, which prevented him from being as free as Su Ninglong.

Even after he finished doing all this, the seriousness on his face did not disappear.

He picked up the three photos without hesitation and went straight to a metal document destruction bin in the corner. A faint blue flame glowed inside the bin, and he brought a corner of the photos close to the flame.

The paper quickly curled and charred under the high temperature, eventually turning into wisps of smoke and fine ash, disappearing completely in the flames.

……

With the handover of clues about the mole and the initial settlement of land matters, this matter has temporarily come to an end.

Soon after, Feng Ying officially joined Suninglong's team.

Thanks to Xingyuan's efforts, he secured an assistant position for Feng Ying.

Considering that Feng Ying was originally good at technical and analytical work, and there was no perfect vacancy in the team at the moment, Xing Yuan made a clever arrangement. He transferred all the complicated tasks of coordinating hunter missions, logistical support, and team coordination that Su Ninglong had done during her time at school to Feng Ying.

“This job will allow you to quickly familiarize yourself with the overall operation and internal affairs of the Star Alliance Hunter Academy,” Xingyuan explained. “It’s a good starting point for integrating into the school.”

Feng Ying's arrival was like a long-awaited rain for Xingyuan.

He was finally able to escape from the situation where he had to handle every little thing Su Ninglong had to do, and had some precious free time.

During this time, he devoted himself to his girlfriend without hesitation, making up for the regret of being in a long-distance relationship.

Seeing Su Ninglong mature day by day, her strength and aura are now completely different from before, Xingyuan felt much more at ease.

He made a decisive decision to give up his original room in the Hunter's House for Lei Qingya and Feng Ying to live in (Lei Qingya's original apartment was vacated). Lei Qingya then naturally moved into Su Ninglong's house.

After this change of residence, Xingyuan moved into the apartment vacated by Lei Qingya and began his life living alone.

Meanwhile, the three girls, Su Ninglong, Lei Qingya, and Feng Ying, lived together under one roof.

In fact, such changes in life did not bring about earth-shattering changes to daily life.

Su Ninglong still habitually went to Xingyuan's place for a free meal; this was her unwavering "traditional activity".

As for the cleaning work inside the house, it was entirely left to the diligent Feng Ying and the efficient cleaning robot.

In addition, Feng Ying's life trajectory also ushered in a major turning point.

Under Su Ninglong's guidance, she officially embarked on the arduous yet hopeful path of cultivation.

The first step is to continue the ancient and classic "foundation-laying" process: soaking in a medicinal bath.

Thus, a stark contrast emerged: while a group of friends were having a barbecue and feast in the yard, the aroma of meat filling the air and laughter filling the air, Feng Ying could only suffer in a huge wooden tub, enduring the "torture" of scalding hot medicinal liquid and being "boiled" by various rare medicinal herbs.

The enticing aroma of roasted meat wafted over, making Feng Ying, who was sitting in the bucket, feel so hungry that she felt like she was about to faint from hunger.

No one had any objections to the fact that the small group "Buried Wealth on All Sides" accepted Feng Ying as a new member.

But everyone tacitly "ignored" the person inside the bucket.

This "ignoring" does not stem from estrangement or unfamiliarity, but rather from a mixture of envy and reluctance.

After all, she was undergoing a crucial transformation from an ordinary person to an extraordinary one, and what was being boiled in that pot of medicine was a ticket to another world.

Seeing her suffer, everyone had no choice but to temporarily turn a blind eye and let her focus on being "cooked".

Taking advantage of being the youngest, little Lei Tinghua unceremoniously squeezed next to Su Ninglong and occupied the best spot.

He happily grabbed a handful of sizzling, fragrant skewers of meat, devouring them with gusto. His little mouth was glistening with oil, and his face radiated pure happiness, as if he were about to be overwhelmed by the delicious aroma.

Even the air smelled exceptionally good next to Sister Su. Her refreshing scent, carrying a faint hint of herbal fragrance, seemed even more comforting than before.

Having grown taller, Su Ninglong has an upright posture and an increasingly refined temperament. Under the glow of the campfire, she is indeed hard to look away from.

Sally, holding her camera equipment, was increasingly captivated by the photos. She couldn't help but lean closer and ask with a hint of coquettishness and anticipation, "Ninglong, you're getting more and more beautiful! Can you do me a small favor? Wear this new straw hat from my shop and let me take some photos, okay? I want to put them on my online store to promote it."

Sally runs her own StarNet account and small shop, and business is pretty good. She has also successfully registered a brand, but her brand awareness is always stuck in an awkward position. She needs to make a breakthrough, otherwise her family members with their linear thinking will become passive and unhelpful again.

Upon hearing this, Su Ninglong casually took the intricately woven straw hat, put it on her head, adjusted the angle, and gave the camera a relaxed and natural smile, jokingly saying, "Aren't you afraid that my reputation will bring bad luck to your shop? Don't blame me if sales decline."

"Oh, what are you afraid of!" Sally snapped photos rapidly from different angles, her praise flowing like a rainbow switch had been turned on. "With your face and your current fame, being infamous is still fame, being famous for your looks is even more famous. The key is that you look good in it, you're beautiful enough, so gorgeous! Yes, yes, let's try a different pose, two more shots!"

She excitedly directed the operation, praising the newly taken photos with admiration, practically extolling Su Ninglong as an unparalleled fairy.

"Look at this skin, this aura, no need for any post-production retouching, naturally beautiful!" Sally was very satisfied and happily added her shop's watermark to the selected photo.

She is a sensible person and knows that Su Ninglong has a special identity and her own career, so she cannot easily be tied to commercial endorsements.

So she explained, "Don't worry, I wouldn't dare make you a brand ambassador directly. I'll just put these beautiful photos in the product review section as a buyer's show."

After saying that, she uploaded the photos, put down the camera, and sat down intimately next to Su Ninglong. She then began to complain about the heavy internship assignments that Teacher Lena had recently given her: "Ugh, I've been assigned to various hospitals for rotations lately, it's exhausting. Some people in certain departments even think I'm trying to steal their jobs, with their open and subtle sarcastic remarks, it's so annoying..."

While Sally was complaining to Su Ninglong, Lian Xinyi had already secretly opened Sally's online store page and accurately found the beautiful photos of Su Ninglong that she had just uploaded.

He quickly took a few screenshots and sent them to the "Ten Sides Buried in Wealth" group chat.

"Ding-dong!" Sally's personal computer immediately popped up a message notification. She clicked on it and saw that it was a screenshot sent by Lian Xinyi. She was both annoyed and amused, and shouted at Lian Xinyi, "Lian Qiuqiu, you guys just said you wanted the photos! I'll send you the watermark-free, high-resolution original images, isn't that enough? Why did you have to sneak around taking screenshots?"

With a face as thick as a city wall, Lian Xinyi completely ignored Sally's "accusations," held the screen, stared at the photo, and exclaimed with a look of intoxication: "Hehe, my sister Su is so beautiful, she's beautiful from every angle! No way, I have to print this out, frame it, hang it on the wall and admire it every day. Maybe with this divine face, my sister Su can become the new generation's interstellar goddess."

Listening to his increasingly outrageous praise, Su Ninglong shook her head helplessly, feeling that this guy was just daydreaming again, spouting nonsense.

"We've finally made some progress on that underground structure." Song Liu shoved Lei Tinghua, who had been joining in the fun, aside and reported the information he had gathered to Su Ninglong. Perhaps he was intentionally revealing it, but Song Liu had gotten firsthand information anyway.

“Although it was almost completely destroyed by the lightning tribulation, didn’t Doug manage to salvage some of the remains? Among the things that were teleported out, the investigators found, besides that strange plant, a set of instruments called ‘Pulse Life Support,’ model L7K. Its function,” Song Liu paused, then emphasized, “is specifically used to sustain the life of a spirit.”

"The principle is to construct a highly precise bio-energy field around the spiritual practitioner. This field can simulate the spiritual practitioner's own most stable life energy frequency, which is equivalent to creating an 'energy prosthesis'. For those spiritual practitioners who are depleted of energy and infected, it can forcibly stabilize their vital signs."

"In addition, the Star Police also discovered a 'symbiotic neural interface' at the scene," Song Liu continued. "At the core of this thing is a biomechanical interface that is deeply embedded with the ganglia of that tree monster."

“That tree monster is a parasite that combines multiple genes, but at the same time, it also possesses some of the abilities of a secret spirit.” Song Liu’s tone was somewhat solemn. “Regarding its remaining abilities, we haven’t fully investigated them yet. We only know one key piece of information: it has the ability to erode human superpowers. Cough, this information was dug up from Teacher Yun Fei, so it’s guaranteed to be true.”