There's something wrong with me

Chapter 225: Two Years Pass Quickly

The next day at noon, Qi City, Qi Province.

The top-floor private room of the largest hotel in the city center.

Boss had been waiting here for a long time since he heard Zhang Daouchang had entered the province this morning.

Then, the phone rang again, and Ge Ge said that the car had already entered the urban area.

Boss sprang up from his chair, opened the private room door, and went downstairs to the hotel entrance to greet him.

As he opened the door,

The doors of the two private rooms next door also opened simultaneously, and a group of security personnel Zhang Feng had seen before walked out.

Boss had still been using them as his guards during this period.

Even now, in the search for someone, they were the main force.

He didn't dismiss them or treat them differently because of the Netherworld incident.

Although they were unreliable and selfish,

Boss thought this was only human nature.

Most of the stories about security personnel fighting to the death for an organization, like in TV shows, were nonsense.

And these life-and-death struggles,

These security guards could actually do them.

The reason they had betrayed him in the Netherworld was that the situation was completely different and incomparable.

After all, fighting living people would likely lead to a raise and promotion.

Even if one was killed, it was just being killed.

But in the legendary Netherworld, fighting a group of unknown monsters sounded like there was no chance of survival.

And even if one died, it wasn't necessarily a peaceful death.

One had to know, that was the Netherworld.

"Come with me to pick up Taoist Priest Zhang."

Boss didn't say much to these people; now there was only an order.

But in the past, he would have talked a bit more with them.

The experience in the Netherworld had matured Boss quite a bit.

One had to know that he used to be an ancient relic researcher and had entered the core level of the organization.

His character was still very decisive; as long as someone betrayed him once, he would never trust them again from the bottom of his heart.

Even if these people had followed him for over a decade.

Meanwhile, about a mile away on the street outside the hotel.

Zhang Feng looked around while observing the area with his Spiritual Sense. When he saw that Boss clearly didn't trust these people but still used them,

He knew that Boss didn't have many people he could truly rely on.

Boss, who seemed so glorious, was full of vigilance inside.

Including why Zhang Feng had mutually benefited with him a few months ago, it was because he had seen through this person's thoughts early on.

Rich life experience made Zhang Feng very accurate in judging people.

And this life experience, combined with micro-expressions and behavioral analysis, was also a basic framework for 'deducing one's past in geomancy and fortune-telling.'

At least, in Zhang Feng's opinion,

As long as one could figure out the other party's character, then deduce why he formed this character, and then use Spiritual Sense to scan his physical functions to see if there was any residual information from the past,

Such as what injuries he suffered as a child, or other things.

Finally, using the individual variable formula of karma,

Through comprehensive calculation, one could vaguely see the person's 'past.'

This was dominated by the 'computational formula,' which could calculate the past with 100% accuracy, unlike the 'fitting into the right seat' in geomancy.

Because this computational formula was also like superimposing 'mathematics, physics, chemistry, and classical literature' knowledge to accurately deduce the history of civilization's evolution hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of millions of years ago on Earth.

It's just that people are variables, not fixed history, and they don't leave residuals at every time period, so it's hard to calculate.

But now Zhang Feng had an accurate formula, so he could treat a person's past as something that had already happened, thereby indirectly forming a 'constant' in the history of civilization.

As for the residuals of this time period, they were a person's character and physical traces.

It was also equivalent to scientists discovering dinosaur fossils and thus deducing that dinosaurs existed on Earth a very, very long time ago.

Especially since Zhang Feng was now also exposed to biological modification technology, his understanding of the human body had deepened further.

Zhang Feng had been continuously learning geomancy secret arts because it was related to the 'heavenly dao' and 'karma' formulas, and it was also a type of luck formula.

Thinking.

The last mile was covered.

After Zhang Feng got out of the car, he looked at Boss and the others who were greeting him.

"Taoist Priest Zhang!"

"Zhang Laoda..."

Everyone's address for Zhang Feng varied.

Boss addressed Zhang Feng as Taoist Priest.

The others mostly called him 'Zhang Laoda' or Zhang Ge.

Zhang Feng had no opinion on these addresses; as long as they could get things done, it was fine.

Of course, if the address was too outrageous or they took advantage of him in their words,

He wouldn't mind sending them on their way.

His current physique of over 200, plus the newly acquired strengthening talismans, allowed spiritual energy to protect his body.

This had already made Zhang Feng fearless.

Ordinary anti-materiel sniper rifles were no longer effective against him; he could perfectly block them.

But in the past, at least four or five hundred points of spiritual energy protection were needed to achieve such a small invincible effect in the city.

Zhang Feng's combat power was continuously increasing within the limited combat power at the beginning.

"Can you find anything related to this tomb raider?"

Zhang Feng was also very direct; since he wasn't afraid, he would just search directly.

The Spirit Seeking Talisman could find the other party's location based on their aura.

Of course, the premise was that he cultivated.

"We have already found his residence."

Seeing Taoist Priest Zhang's decisive action, Boss didn't mention eating anymore and quickly said:

"At the intersection of Lianyun Avenue and Fengshan Road."

Boss pointed to the southeast, "It'll take about twenty minutes by car."

"Let's go."

Zhang Feng nodded, took out more than a dozen talismans from his pocket, handed them to him, and got back in the car.

"These talismans can keep you safe, and carrying them can replenish the energy you've expended during this time."

"Thank you, Taoist Priest!"

Boss thanked him excitedly.

Then, he felt a little reluctant, but in the end, he distributed them to the expectant security personnel around him.

After Zhang Feng got in the car, he told Ge Ge to follow Boss's car later.

They wouldn't eat.

Including making a detour to see Boss and giving him talismans now, it was out of respect for him, seeing that he had helped him search for so long.

Otherwise, it would be improper to not eat and directly command people.

...

On the way to Lianyun Avenue.

Zhang Feng sat in the car, meditating and regulating his breath.

Whoosh—

In the passenger seat, Brother Zhou silently wiped his firearms.

Now facing people instead of an adventure, Brother Zhou was very straightforward and directly used a gun.

Including in the vehicles ahead and behind.

Except for the drivers, the other security personnel were also organizing their firearms.

Of course, the windows of several cars were 'invisible from the outside.'

Otherwise, before they even reached the target's house, they might have been reported by passersby on the street.

At the same time,

After Zhang Feng had fully regulated his breath, he looked at the gun in Brother Zhou's hand again.

Currently, for him, a gun was not as good as his own strength.

But a group of people carrying guns, and if the other party was indeed at home or their hiding place was found, it would be a great deterrent to them.

Similarly, Zhang Feng also considered that the other party's strength might be higher than his own.

After all, this world had high-quality 'Purple Cloud Qi,' and there were Gold Cores thousands of years ago.

So, it couldn't be ruled out that there were hidden masters in this world.

Especially since the other party was a strange tomb raider, they might have picked up some cultivation method and then diligently practiced, resulting in explosive combat power.

But no matter what, he still had a chance to revive. If the other party was very strong and killed him, he would just practice more or use other methods.

But if the other party was not strong, he could get the information as quickly as possible.

Zhang Feng thought very thoroughly; his goal was one word: fast.

Because Zhang Feng was afraid that the search for this Celestial Palace wouldn't be that simple, and after killing this Tomb Raider No. 1, information about Tomb Raiders 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 would be implicated.

If that were the case, it would be an overwhelming search.

Just like a quest chain.

This back-and-forth time for finding people also required time for error tolerance.

Thinking to himself,

Lianyun Avenue was reached.

Following Boss, the car drove into this old residential area.

Zhang Feng's Spiritual Sense covered the area, and he quickly found the tomb raider's house they mentioned.

It was on the first floor, left side, upon entering the courtyard, and the window faced the sun.

In a way, this was a geomantic treasure land, subtly conforming to the principles of the I Ching, with the Qian trigram, symbolizing a flying dragon in the sky.

But more importantly, in Zhang Feng's view, it was because it faced the sun, and there was a gap on the wall outside the house resembling a 'carp leaping over the dragon gate.'

It was square-shaped, but with a slight tilt to the left at the top, fitting the position of this house.

Additionally, the interior structure of the house, with items near the windows arranged in a converging manner,

Created a layout where water flow would gather into a stream, enter through the window, and then, when it dispersed and flowed back, it would inevitably be blocked by the items.

This allows for the principle of spiritual energy backflow to be realized at sunrise, using the dragon's mouth as a foundation, filling the entire sun-facing bedroom with purple mist energy.

It seems this person has some tricks up his sleeve.

Of course, if Zhang Feng couldn't see spiritual energy, then it would just be mysterious geomancy.

Because those who live here are nourished by purple mist year-round, their bodies naturally remain healthy and strong for a long time.

This includes the layout and some recent information I've gathered about him.

Zhang Feng suddenly had some enlightenment, as if he had seen through some aspects of geomancy.

At the same time, Zhang Feng also surveyed the overall layout of his house.

The items in his house also had some residual spiritual energy, assisting the array in drawing in the purple mist energy.

This person is definitely a cultivator!

But based on the degree of spiritual energy remaining on the items, that is his level of spellcasting.

His strength is not high.

He's at Ge Ge's current level, at most slightly stronger than him.

Seeing this, Zhang Feng felt relieved.

It's just that he's been away from here for too long.

Even if there was purple mist maintaining the spiritual energy of the items in his house,

There was no trace of spiritual energy fluctuations from him in the surrounding area or from the outside world.

This is also because of the constant flow of people in the residential area; there's too much 'human energy'.

Coupled with the long passage of time, even if there was any, it would have been dispersed by the human energy.

It seems this is also this person's arrangement.

It's to prevent anyone from 'seeking spiritual traces'.

Since he cultivates and understands these spiritual energy and geomancy arrangements and directions,

Then he definitely knows this basic术法.

Zhang Feng didn't find it strange, because in the Gold Core world, the yamen relied on these secret arts to investigate people and things.

However, if one doesn't know geomancy secret arts and only cultivates, then they might not necessarily know.

"Zhang Daouchang."

At this moment.

Brother Zhou, seeing Zhang Feng looking outside, asked probing, "Are we going to search his house?"

"No need."

Zhang Feng knew there was no more information, so he said very directly, "This person is indeed a cultivator."

"A cultivator?" Ge Ge asked with some concern, "Is he like you?"

"Kind of." Zhang Feng saw Boss, who was standing nearby, also get out of the car and immediately opened the car door with spiritual energy, allowing them to get in and listen.

After he got in and the car door closed,

Zhang Feng continued, "This person cultivates and is proficient in some secret arts.

Especially since he's been away for too long, the spiritual energy he left behind has been dispersed.

Similar to the unknown creatures we found in the Netherworld, both have no spiritual energy residue.

So, normal spiritual seeking methods are useless against him."

"Then what do we do now?" Boss asked, looking as if he would follow his lead.

Because the talismans Zhang Feng gave him had only been on for about twenty minutes of driving, he already felt very energetic, and his long-standing mental pressure had also relaxed a lot.

He definitely had to repay Zhang Feng for the benefits of the talismans.

After all, Zhang Feng's strength was evident.

He also didn't dare not to repay him.

"Help me rent a house in this residential area."

Seeing his question, Zhang Feng directly instructed, "The person can't be found, but he has nurtured this array and the indoor layout for a long time, so he shouldn't abandon it easily.

It's like how cultivators nurture magic artifacts; the more they nurture them, the more wondrous their uses become.

He has also nurtured this array for a long time.

Based on the spiritual energy, it should be about seventeen years."

'He can even calculate this?' Ge Ge listened with trepidation, always feeling that Zhang Daouchang seemed even more powerful than before.

The former Zhang Daouchang couldn't analyze various information from dozens of meters away just by standing in place.

"I'll go prepare the house..." Boss began to arrange for people to handle the matters Zhang Daouchang had assigned first.

But in his heart, he also mourned for the tomb raider.

'To be waited for by this inhuman Zhang Daouchang, if I were him and knew these things, I'd probably run as far as I could...'

Boss felt that as long as he came back, it would be over.

However, this waiting lasted for more than half a year.

Zhang Feng also practiced cultivation while waiting.

Moreover, this waiting wasn't just idle waiting.

Boss and Ge Ge were also constantly searching outside.

And even if the organization was busy, they didn't call Boss back, because the secret of the Celestial Palace was very important.

On the contrary, half a year ago, they even provided some economic and manpower support.

But, as they waited and waited,

Another year passed.

Zhang Feng had already thoroughly understood the tomb raider's geomancy array, but the person still hadn't appeared.

And now, he had been in this world for almost two years.

There was no other news either.

Zhang Feng even thought that when his strength increased a bit more, he would just go through official channels and directly force a search.

But in this anxiety,

Zhang Feng initially couldn't sit still, but as he endured, he got used to it and became calm.

His Nascent Soul progress increased by about 2%.

What was even more significant was that many impurities in his Spiritual Mind were removed.

This process of devouring and slowly digesting pressure is also preparation for future 'Soul Transformation'.

Especially this kind of anxious pressure is not the debt-driven production pressure in reality.

That kind of pressure and anxiety might seem significant, but it's not actually that great.

At worst, it'll just collapse, it's not the first time anyway.

But if he couldn't find it here, then he would truly miss an opportunity.

Unless he stayed past the main storyline time and continued searching.

But that would require making up for it with real-world time.

In reality, he was about to reach Nascent Soul, and he had extremely high global computational power.

If it came down to it, Zhang Feng didn't want to occupy real-world time.

...

This continued for another month.

Zhang Feng's physique was [397], and his Spiritual Sense covered a radius of three li.

This day, in the morning.

Zhang Feng, who lived on the floor above him, was about to absorb the purple mist energy from his house as usual.

Along with the rustling sound of a car,

A dilapidated minivan stopped in the residential area.

In this era, such cars were common and didn't look strange.

At the same time, a middle-aged man with a slightly sinister appearance also got out of the car.

He was alone in the car.

The moment Zhang Feng saw him, he confirmed that he was the tomb raider he had been looking for.

Although he never had a photo of him, his aura was the same as the aura of the items in the house.

'It's been a long time since I've been back.'

The tomb raider didn't know he was being watched; instead, he walked into the building entrance with a slightly relaxed demeanor.

'Dealing with Yin has been really stressful these past few years.

Now, I'm finally free from him.

And I even stole some information about the Celestial Palace from him; it wasn't in vain that I followed him for so many years.'

In recent years, the tomb raider had been following a big Boss.

Or rather, he was a subordinate of this Boss Yin.

It was this subordinate who hired him.

In these few years, a group of over thirty of them, based on a strange talisman stone, investigated and found information about the Celestial Palace.

And they obtained a map of the Celestial Palace's location.

Unfortunately, as soon as they got it, Boss Yin discarded them like a used tool.

Among these thirty-plus people, three masters were hidden, who directly ambushed and killed the rest.

He jumped into the sea and escaped, and also learned some information about the Celestial Palace.

For him, this was a great harvest, because he had known about the legend of the Celestial Palace for a long time.

He followed Boss Yin's subordinate for these very reasons.

Everyone had their own needs.

'Even if they didn't make a move, I would have had to find a way to claim the "treasure map" for myself.

Now I need to figure out how to kill that Yin fellow.'

He thought to himself, about to open the door.

But then, footsteps pattered from upstairs.

Zhang Feng smiled and walked out from around the corner, looking at the tomb raider who had paused his lock-picking action in front of the door.

"If I were you, I'd stand still right now and answer my questions truthfully."

Zhang Feng had waited for him for so long, and he was actually a bit annoyed.

Zhang Feng didn't deny this.

"You?" The tomb raider saw Zhang Feng looking loose and without any strength, and for a moment he found Zhang Feng's words amusing,

"Do you know who I am..."

He seemingly 'saw through' Zhang Feng, but in reality, while feigning indifference, he reached his hand into his bosom.

He thought Zhang Feng might be a subordinate sent by Boss Yin, to ensure he hadn't survived jumping into the sea.

Click—

But then, a crisp sound.

The tomb raider's action of pulling out his gun paused, hearing this sound as if it came from his own body.

His arm also felt light, followed by a sensation of numbness.

He instinctively looked down, only to see his arm broken in half, but his skin was completely undamaged.

"I don't want to negotiate any terms with you." Zhang Feng slowly walked down the stairs, "If you want to keep your other arm, you need to answer my questions now."