After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

Han Yun said from the side.

"Mr. Dongfang, please don't disturb my student. Let the child concentrate on the search on his own."

Dongfang Li sadly shut his mouth.

Zhou Yan lowered his head and followed the footprints to the end of Hezhong Street, then turned into another street, Dahua Street.

This Dahua Street didn't seem like a place for good kids. When Zhou Yan walked in, there were several scantily clad women standing on the side of the street, and some of the houses even smelled of marijuana, a scent familiar to Han Yun and Dongfang Li.

The men squatting against the outer walls of some hotels were smoking and watching Zhou Yan and the others. Their eyes didn't seem to be looking at people, but rather at livestock.

In the Eastern Xia United States, the upper and lower classes are separated. The wealthy at the top live in upscale communities with strong police and security forces, where they are surrounded by learned scholars and have no dealings with the common people.

The impoverished people live in crime streets rife with drugs, shootings, robberies, and beatings, to the point that gun syndicates in the Eastern United States advertise that "within twenty minutes of the police's arrival, the only thing that can protect you is the gun in your hand."

Dongfang Shuo's footprints led all the way to a love hotel.

Zhou Yan stared blankly as a pair of footprints stretched from the front of the love hotel into the interior.

Han Yun and Dongfang Li arrived in front of the Love Hotel. The two middle-aged men looked up at the Love Hotel's logo with the question mark on it, then looked down at Zhou Yan's back.

Zhou Yan slowly turned his head, his expression subtle.

"Um, your nephew..."

Dongfang Li interrupted.

“My nephew is quite innocent, but he's not the kind of person who can't resist a woman. How could he not contact her for three days?”

That makes sense. Dongfang Shuo is clearly not short of women, so why would he disappear for three days for a woman?

In other words, if someone really disappeared for three days for a woman, just how beautiful, stunning, and intoxicating must that woman be?

Zhou Yan entered the love hotel.

Inside the hotel entrance, there was a reception desk staffed by two curvy young women. One of them was dressed in a pink nurse's uniform, and the other was dressed in a succubus outfit with a heart-shaped tail.

The two young ladies asked Zhou Yan as soon as they saw him.

"Guest, would you like a water room, a cosplay room, or..."

Dongfang Li and Han Yun followed Zhou Yan in. The two young ladies' expressions changed, not with surprise, but with ambiguity.

I've seen all sorts of couples who can open a shop here, but it's rare to see middle-aged handsome men like Dongfang Li and Han Yun, and even rarer to see one with a little puppy by their side.

The young woman in the nurse's uniform gave Zhou Yan a meaningful look.

"Little sister, let's go to the water room. It's easier there, and it's less tiring to play 1v2."

Zhou Yan: "..."

Why am I being labeled as a bottom?

And what's wrong with my sister?

Zhou Yan walked to the front desk, took out his phone, opened Dongfang Shuo's photo, and asked the receptionist.

Have you seen this guy before?

The two receptionists remained silent.

Zhou Yan took out a stack of RMB worth at least ten thousand and slapped it on the front desk.

"I told you, this is yours."

The two receptionists' eyes lit up.

The succubus-themed receptionist busied herself asking questions.

"We haven't seen this gentleman before."

The nurses at the front desk also responded.

"Yes, we haven't seen it."

Zhou Yan asked again.

Were you working as receptionists here three days ago?

"There are only two of us at the hotel reception."

“We’ve been working here for a year.”

Zhou Yan looked at the elevator that the footprints led to and asked.

Do you have security cameras here?

Both receptionists looked like they were forcing a smile.

The nurse at the front desk responded.

"I have the video footage, but it's been broken for a long time."

Zhou Yan then took out another 10,000 RMB.

The succubus receptionist's eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed.

"Our boss is like a reincarnation of Wang Laoju, he'll squeeze every last drop of oil out of his bones, how could he possibly be willing to repair a broken camera?"

There's nothing we can do about that.

Zhou Yan entered the emergency staircase and began searching each floor from the second floor.

On the fifth floor, Zhou Yan finally found a fragment of Dongfang Shuo's footprints, which led from the elevator entrance to a cosplay room.

Damn it, no wonder she's Wang Laoju's cleaner. Zhou Yan clearly noticed that the footprints in this love hotel were much clearer than those in the Zhongzhou City Gymnasium. Obviously, the cleaner Wang Laoju hired was very perfunctory. Three days have passed, and there are still quite a few footprints left.

Zhou Yan walked to the cosplay room where Dongfang Shuo's footprints had disappeared.

The young man knocked on the door first.

"Dongfang Shuo, are you there?"

After waiting a few seconds with no response, Zhou Yan closed his eyes and sensed the danger. However, to avoid any accidents, Zhou Yan still used his Extreme Vision. In the simulation of Extreme Vision, Zhou Yan kicked open the door and rushed into the COS room.

A second later, Zhou Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

"what happened?"

Zhou Yan looked terrible after opening his eyes, and Han Yun couldn't help but ask.

Zhou Yan's lips moved.

"Dongfang Shuo is dead."

"Impossible! You're talking nonsense!"

Dongfang Li was furious. Dongfang Shuo was the most outstanding young man in their family, the only demigod in this generation, and the next generation of the family depended on him. How could he be dead?

Zhou Yan is definitely talking nonsense!

Dongfang Li pushed past Zhou Yan, kicked open the door to the cosplay room, and rushed inside.

Han Yun looked at Zhou Yan, and Zhou Yan nodded.

"Go in, there's no danger inside."

Han Yun followed him inside.

The layout of this COS room is the same as a normal hotel suite, with a corridor inside the door and a bathroom next to the corridor. The only difference is that the bedroom at the end of the corridor has a wardrobe full of various COS costumes, all of which have price tags, and there is an extra charge for using different costumes.

Of course, Zhou Yan and the other two didn't come here to see what cosplay outfits were in the closet. Dongfang Li rushed into the bedroom as fast as she could, and then a heart-wrenching scream stunned Han Yun who walked in.

Having seen the world, Han Yun was stunned for only a second before continuing on his way.

Even after entering the bedroom, Han Yun couldn't help but let out a scream.

Zhou Yan walked in behind Han Yun. Because he had already seen it with his eyes, Zhou Yan remained calm when he saw Dongfang Shuo, who had become a dried corpse, on the bed in the bedroom.

Zhou Yan walked to the bedside where Dongfang Shuo was lying.

Zhou Yan scanned Dongfang Shuo's mummified corpse with his omniscient ability. He was too lazy to look at the attributes and bloodline, so he just looked at Dongfang Shuo's status bar.

Status: Medicinal dregs (the essence and blood of the medicine have been devoured by heretical and evil practices, and the essence has been completely lost, hence the name "medicinal dregs").

Zhou Yan examined every part of Dongfang Shuo's mummified corpse, starting from the head and working his way down. After a few seconds, he shook his head and said...

"It must be a ghost..."

Still in shock, Dongfang Li and Han Yun turned to look at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan smiled lightly.

"Dongfang Shuo died after his vital essence was drained. There are many ways to drain vital essence, but this method must have been used to drain it by absorbing yang energy to replenish yin."

Han Yun looked at a certain part of Dongfang Shuo's mummified corpse and frowned.

"But what does that have to do with ghosts?"

Zhou Yan thought for a moment and then responded.

"There is a rather cold yin energy here. I can faintly hear that this yin energy contains resentment. If I'm not mistaken, the person who did this should be practicing ghost-related magic, or even be a beautiful ghost themselves."

That's nonsense. Zhou Yan had already seen Dongfang Shuo's footprints at the Zhongzhou City Gymnasium. He hadn't seen any other footprints of the person who abducted Dongfang Shuo. There are three possibilities: one is that the cleaner wiped away all the murderer's footprints while cleaning the floor; another is that the murderer doesn't have feet; and the third is that the murderer called Dongfang Shuo and asked him to come to the Love Hotel, which is why there were Dongfang Shuo and a pair of unfamiliar footprints before the Love Hotel.

Of the three possibilities, Zhou Yan leans towards the second one.

That is, the murderer had no feet.

At this point, Zhou Yan glanced at Dongfang Li, who was still dumbfounded.

"Yes, Mr. Dongfang, this should be your nephew's body. Please confirm it yourself. I'll go to the front desk to find out more."

Zhou Yan gave Han Yun a look, and Han Yun silently followed Zhou Yan out of the cosplay room. As soon as they were outside, Han Yun whispered to Zhou Yan.

"This is a huge problem. Dongfang Li is one of the most outstanding young people in Yindi Prefecture. If he dies here, it will be difficult for Lord Xuanwu to explain to the families in Yindi Prefecture."

Zhou Yan nodded silently.

Although Zhou Yan had beaten Dongfang Shuo, he really didn't want the man to die. What he feared most came to pass, and now that the man was dead, all he could do was think about how to deal with him after his death.

First of all, the murderer must be caught.

Zhou Yan and Han Yun went down to the front desk on the first floor.

Zhou Yan asked the nurses at the front desk.

Do you know who booked room 522?

The nurse at the front desk was about to say she didn't know, but the succubus at the front desk covered her mouth with one hand and said...

"I know 522. It's run by a super cute little girl. She gave me her ID card. Let me wipe it..."

A moment later, a photocopy of an ID card was handed to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan looked at it and saw that the ID card belonged to Zhang Ye.

Chapter Four: Captured

Half an hour later, more than ten luxury cars and three police cars surrounded the Love Hotel.

Zhou Yan sat in front of the computer at the front desk, typing on the keyboard to look at the ID information of room 522.

To be honest, this street is a typical street where the lower class lives. It's the kind of street where if you, as a prisoner, go to buy a gun, the shopkeeper will ask you to fill out a gun purchase form, you throw out a wad of RMB, and the shopkeeper will say, "I'll fill out this form for you."

The same goes for this love hotel. Two lovers can walk in and check in without registering their identities as long as you pay more money. But when Dongfang Shuo came in, the cute girl who accompanied him threw out an ID card and asked the front desk to register.

Because the person who lost their ID card was a woman, but the ID card itself listed a man's gender, the succubus receptionist remembered it very clearly and suspected that the ID card had been stolen from somewhere.

Of course, as a love hotel on a street with a terrible security situation, a place where you can check in without even needing your ID card, the succubus lady was too lazy to ask about these things.

A policeman walked up to Zhou Yan and tapped on the table.

Zhou Yan stood up and stepped aside, and the police began to search through the hotel booking information on the computer.

Su Changqing, the vice leader of the Mi Luo Sect and Su Bijun's great-uncle, walked towards Zhou Yan and asked with a stern face.

"The guy who ruined Dongfang Li used Zhang Ye's ID to book the hotel room?"

Zhou Yan shrugged.

"I think this is a frame-up."

Dressed in a teacher's robe, Su Changqing, who looked rather ethereal and otherworldly, stroked his chest-length beard and nodded.

"I think so too, but this matter must be thoroughly investigated."