Chapter 620: Searching Without a Trace

Not long after Li Lin contacted the Special Services Bureau, several black sedans pulled up to the nearby intersection, evidently having driven straight over via the nearest "shortcut."

When the doors opened, the first person to appear was Song Cheng, captain of the Second Squad. The figure that emerged from the second car surprised Yu Sheng: a white skirt suit, a white ponytail, cold and aloof, barely keeping her expression together despite being dead tired—it was Bai Liqing.

She had come in person.

Seeing the Bureau Chief arrive in person, Li Lin instantly became so nervous he could barely function. The person beside him, Zheng Zhi, on the other hand, seemed quite calm—with the clear, naive look of someone whose probation period hadn't even ended before being dispatched on extended field duty, utterly unfamiliar with the top brass. He actually grinned stupidly as Bai Liqing approached, only belatedly tensing up several seconds later.

But the Chief obviously didn't pay attention to the two rookies' nerves. She merely nodded at Li Lin and Zheng Zhi, her gaze lingering on the latter for two or three seconds before turning to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng spoke first: "You actually came yourself."

"…With an abnormal Artificial Saint active in the city, I can hardly stay in my office," Bai Liqing said flatly. A cold wind from the alley brushed through her hair tips, and the corners of her eyes seemed to twitch slightly. "So, what exactly happened?"

Yu Sheng immediately explained the current situation to her, including Zheng Zhi's encounter as well as the "memory illusion" he had seen in the Dark Alley.

"Our preliminary guess is that the Artificial Saint broke free from the Hidden Monastery's control, but it's hard to say exactly how she went out of control—it could be a malfunction, or a third party's intervention, or even a trap," Yu Sheng said seriously. "The main problem is that even Luna hasn't seen anything like this, so it's tough."

Bai Liqing frowned slightly, and the next second, Yu Sheng saw a pair of ethereal eyes materialize in the air behind her—Bai Li Xue's eyes rose rapidly to a high altitude, an invisible gaze sweeping across the entire urban area, apparently tracking clues.

"Hu Li and Luna already searched with their own methods before you came, but neither divine sense nor radar found any traces," Yu Sheng quickly added. "The Artificial Saint has spatial teleportation abilities and is fast. She might have already run out of the city by now."

Bai Liqing said nothing, merely letting her gaze fall on Zheng Zhi again.

"She gave you something before she left?"

"Oh, right, yeah—she gave me a handful of these," Zheng Zhi suddenly remembered, nodding as he pulled out the stack of arcade tokens. "She seemed to use them as money…"

Bai Liqing silently took one of the tokens from Zheng Zhi's hand and examined it closely in the sunlight.

A faint glimmer that others could barely detect appeared in her eyes. The next second, Yu Sheng noticed the coin's surface grow somewhat illusory, as if it were being "decomposed" by some force…

Bai Liqing stood still, using her power to trace the "information" associated with this coin. Meanwhile, Erin, nestled in Hu Li's arms, couldn't help leaning over to whisper to Yu Sheng: "Hey, hey, Yu Sheng, don't you think she's got some metal fatigue today?"

Even Yu Sheng sometimes couldn't keep up with that little thing's train of thought. This time he didn't even understand: "What metal fatigue?"

Erin looked serious: "Isn't she the iron-faced stoic? Today she's so tired her eyelids are drooping—that's metal fatigue, right?"

Yu Sheng was utterly astonished by the little one's logic—he felt that all his years of writing had been wasted.

But the next second, he heard Bai Liqing, still actively using her ability, squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth: "I'm not an iron-faced stoic…"

Erin was startled: "Whoa—"

Bai Liqing exhaled, the glow fading from her eyes. She first turned her head and gave the little doll a flat look, then handed the coin to Song Cheng, who was standing beside her.

"This thing came from the mall next to Sun City Square that's closed for renovation. The target made a brief stop there, but it's hard to trace the exact details… Too few valid information links. Send someone to check that place first."

"Yes, Chief!"

"Also, deploy more personnel to focus on checking the old alleys and vacant houses along the line from the Old City to the East City… I suspect the target's movements have some kind of 'preference'—the probability of her stopping at similar locations is high. Also, notify the Information Security Department to watch all online sighting reports that might be related to the 'Artificial Saint.' If the target's cognition is disordered, she might interact with ordinary people without caution, and similar reports will inevitably appear sooner or later."

Song Cheng immediately accepted the orders and set about arranging what the Chief had instructed. Meanwhile, Bai Li Xue's ethereal eyes gradually descended from the sky and stopped behind Bai Liqing.

These eyes, visible only to Yu Sheng and Bai Liqing, blinked vigorously a few times and muttered in a muffled voice: "The wind up there is so strong…"

"Any findings?" Bai Liqing asked softly.

"Only a few fading shadowy 'trails,' but they can't be followed anymore," Bai Li Xue replied. "But overall, she still seems to be avoiding people… Maybe she's already realized she's different from 'normal people'? I'm guessing—since I don't know what it feels like to be affected by a 'cognitive veil.' Ah, those bastards from the Hidden Monastery…"

Yu Sheng looked up and saw Luna standing quietly to the side, completely wrapped up with only her eyes exposed to the wind. When she noticed his gaze, she tilted her head slightly, her voice soft behind the mask: "She might be very scared—waking up is the biggest nightmare."

"…Don't worry, the Special Services Bureau has stepped in. They'll definitely find her."

"Mm, okay."

…

Throughout the entire day, the Special Services Bureau searched the city for the possibly out-of-control Artificial Saint, yet the operation yielded almost no results.

The target seemed to have vanished from the vast city. Aside from finding some traces of damage in an old shopping mall that was closed for business, the operatives discovered nothing.

However, considering that the target was a special unit capable of spatial teleportation, leaving no biological traces or aura, and moving in high-speed stealth, this outcome seemed expected.

Unless the target reappeared on her own, finding her in this enormous Boundary City through simple searching seemed impossible.

Night grew deeper.

Faint gusts of wind could be heard howling outside the window. The weather forecast predicted another significant temperature drop within twenty-four hours.

Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, idly combing the fluff on Hu Li's tail. Erin sat cross-legged on the coffee table, clicking the remote control. Luna stood in a standby state at the staircase. As for Hu Li—she sat cross-legged on the floor, her upper body sprawled on the sofa, emitting gentle, steady purrs.

After a while, Erin suddenly tossed the remote onto the coffee table—and at almost the same moment, Yu Sheng threw the comb onto the sofa. They said in unison: "Let's go out and look too!"

The dozing fox was instantly startled awake (or maybe it was because the hair on her tail got pulled, causing pain), immediately jumping onto the sofa with a "whimper" and warily scanning her surroundings.

The other Erin crawled out from under the nearby table and glanced at Hu Li: "…Did you have a hunger dream?"

Hu Li was still dazed: "No, I suddenly heard a loud 'smack' beside me…"

"Oh, that was me throwing the remote," said the Erin on the coffee table as she stood up. "Yu Sheng and I both think we should go out and search—we can't rely entirely on the Special Services Bureau. Waiting for their news might take forever."

"Search…? Oh, oh, I get it—you mean the Artificial Saint," Hu Li finally fully woke up. But after frowning in thought for a moment, she tilted her head in confusion. "But where do we start? There's no clue at all."

Yu Sheng sucked on his teeth as he listened: "That's true. We can't just wander the streets aimlessly like headless flies—even if we only count the Old City and East City, that's still a terrifyingly large area. We need at least a scope first."

One Erin climbed onto the back of the sofa and sat cross-legged there. The Malignant Omen Star circled above her head, round after round. After a moment, the Star suddenly stopped in midair, and the little doll's eyes lit up: "Hey, let's take Big Nephew out…"

Yu Sheng had thought the little one had come up with a good idea with that sudden inspiration, but never expected that after pondering for so long, that was all she had. His expression turned somewhat subtle: "…That counts as a plan?"

The little doll said with utter justification: "Why not? Big Nephew's spiritual sight is wasted if you don't use it to open the map. In a game, he'd be a top-tier account with doubled hidden drop rates. Besides, the Artificial Saint appeared in front of him the last two times—I suspect they're fated…"

Anyway, although Yu Sheng initially mocked Erin's idea, he actually thought she had a point, and he was immediately persuaded.

Putting aside everything else, taking Big Nephew out really did make it easy to run into nasty things. Even if they couldn't find the Artificial Saint, running into something else would count as a successful hunt—no loss either way.

Thinking this, Yu Sheng pulled out his phone from his pocket. But just as he was about to dial, he hesitated: "It's so late. Maybe he's already asleep."

Erin's eyes went wide: "…When you called that iron-faced stoic, you weren't this polite! Even when she was experiencing metal fatigue, you still sent her messages at midnight!"

Yu Sheng thought about it and decided she was right. He dialed Zheng Zhi's number.

The phone rang only once before the other party picked up promptly.

It seemed a young human's sleep schedule was different from a hibernating dragon's.

Yu Sheng raised the phone and, without waiting for the other side to speak, said directly: "We've decided to go out and search—"

But before he could finish, he heard Zheng Zhi's crisp reply: "Good, I'll change clothes right away."

Yu Sheng hung up and looked up at Hu Li and the little doll.

Erin crossed her arms and nodded: "Gotta say, that map-unlocking tool is quite proactive…"