Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 198: Chapter 2: Hit It Off at First Sight and Had a Great Conversation

Jiang Xuan soon realized that Bai Wu was looking at him strangely.

Although in a very short time, Bai Wu returned to normal, just like a true captain of the Investigation Corps would behave when visited by the Garrison Corps, neither overly enthusiastic nor excessively resistant.

Only that flash of surprise, even though it vanished extremely fast, was still caught by Jiang Xuan’s attention.

But this was also a normal reaction. After all, it was not reasonable for someone of his age to come and learn.

The astonishment in Bai Wu’s heart had not disappeared; he simply managed to maintain a normal facade while looking at "Jiang Xuan".

He had anticipated many possible scenarios, maybe in the next area of the Traction Disc, or perhaps the moment the veil lifted on the sixth floor of the High Tower.

But he never thought that he would bump into this person on such an ordinary day.

In this world, there are many encounters, if one were to define the meeting between Bai Wu and Jiang Xuan, it would probably be—the meeting of the sage and The Deceiver.

"No wonder this person’s actions had so many inconsistencies, but even I did not expect such a development," he thought.

Bai Wu showed a smile:

"Jiang Xuan?"

"Yes, I didn’t expect the captain of the seventh group to be so young."

In the past few days, Jiang Xuan had done some uncharacteristic things, but the remainder of his time was spent getting to know this person’s life fairly well.

He was now the real Jiang Xuan, even his best friends, his closest people, would not see through that "Jiang Xuan" has changed souls.

This was one of Cain’s pleasures, obtaining a body and then subconsciously making oneself align with the original owner’s behavior.

A thousand faces for a thousand people, the art of deception needed practice.

But he couldn’t fool Bai Wu.

Although The Deceiver’s ranking was ahead of Prayle’s Eye in the sequence, they were like destined rivals, yet in front of Prayle’s Eye, The Deceiver could not hide any information.

[Life can sometimes be nonsensical, as the saying goes, searching through iron shoes leads to no avail, success comes only when it is handed to one. Are you Jiang Xuan? Am I Jiang Xuan? You can be, I can also be, but what if we take away that name? Without this name, you are a handsome fellow with ninety percent good looks, while I am Detective Yan, and him? Without the name Jiang Xuan, he is just a little swindler, but such a low-grade deception, in front of Detective Yan, is futile. If you want more information, please leave the tower with him.]

Without a doubt, the Jiang Xuan in front of him was Cain.

This was like a sunny afternoon abruptly interrupted by a meteorite falling from the sky. Bai Wu did not expect to suddenly encounter the person whom Dwarf longed to dismember with a thousand cuts.

Everything made sense now.

Coming to study posing as the Garrison Corps wouldn’t raise suspicion. Moreover, the disappearance of the art teacher and three students might well have been orchestrated by Cain himself.

Of course, he would not actively solve the case.

The key to the case lay with the art teacher’s corpse.

Bai Wu recalled that Cain had the Three Souls Transmigration; the first body died at Dwarf’s hands, the second was lost to suicide, in order to direct the blame towards the ruler. And the third body must have been depleted during the mock battle between the two legions.

At least at that time, the third body wasn’t Jiang Xuan.

In that instant, many thoughts flashed through Bai Wu’s mind, and finally, his smile began to slowly fade, transitioning very naturally:

"Before meeting you, I was somewhat surprised. After all, although the study quota does exist, no one from either legion has used it for many years. Seeing you now, my surprise is even greater. You are... more mature than I imagined."

Bai Wu was very polite with his words, and Jiang Xuan did not feel anything amiss, interpreting the earlier surprise without being forced.

The performance of both was on point, except one knew everything, the other only half.

Putting aside their capabilities, the difference in information determined their starting points.

However, Bai Wu was certain that the most foolish approach would be to stabilize Cain and then join forces with Dwarf to kill him.

For this person with the Three Souls Transmigration, death... was truly just the beginning of the next Chapter in their journey.

"Life is like a game, and the game is about making interesting choices. It would be comfortable to continue drifting aimlessly on the third floor, but that lacks a certain excitement. It’s a bit late for someone my age to seek thrills, but I suppose I can still catch up."

"A head of the security department joining the Vanguard Group of the Investigation Corps for excitement? That’s a poor lie."

"Not being clever just means I’m not lying. Sometimes the truth can seem more like a lie than a lie does."

"Really? Then you’re quite an honest person. Let’s go, let’s talk inside. I’m well acquainted with Captain Ming, and since he’s alerted me, naturally I’ll take good care of you."

Bai Wu quickly brought Jiang Xuan into the seventh squad’s branch.

The various squad branches of the Investigation Corps generally consisted of a rest area, training area, archives storage area, interrogation team office and associated areas, clerical team office and associated areas, as well as the Vanguard Group’s office and associated areas.

Bai Wu ditched Tian Xun and took Jiang Xuan to the office.

"Have a seat." Bai Wu sat in the place he usually worked. It was Wu Jiu’s former spot.

Jiang Xuan took the seat where he used to chat with Wu Jiu.

Throughout the conversation, he kept sizing up Bai Wu, while Bai Wu didn’t pay much attention to Jiang Xuan. He casually flipped through some documents as if he was handling work, but he was still talking to Jiang Xuan on and off.

Bai Wu didn’t intentionally focus on Cain, although he was cautious inwardly, because this person could very likely be the strongest monster in the current area. However, he’d guessed that Cain obviously wanted to get close to this place for a certain purpose, and before this mission was accomplished, he wouldn’t take any action.

He was just going to live well as Jiang Xuan.

"The interrogation team originally didn’t have any positions open, but I can arrange one for you if you wish to learn about solving cases. Actually, there’s no need; Tian Xun’s level isn’t as good as yours."

Jiang Xuan laughed:

"What if I say... I’ve known there were no positions in the interrogation team and that I actually wanted to join the Vanguard Group?"

"There are indeed positions available there. After all, not all young people relish living on the knife-edge; the Vanguard Group doesn’t recruit smoothly, with few new recruits each year. But you’d better think it through; in the Vanguard Group, you’ll have to carry out field missions, that is, investigations outside the Tower."

"I know, and that’s why I’ve chosen this way. Staying in the Tower all the time is pointless. I will take the learning spot first, and if going out of the Tower is less interesting than I imagine, maybe in three months, I’ll return to the third floor. But perhaps, in three months, I’ll have adopted another identity."

Normally, this statement could mean that three months later he would be active as a member of the Investigation Corps, but Cain was merely expressing his most genuine goal.

Another identity meant to become the current captain of the seventh squad, Bai Wu.

"Going out of the Tower is dangerous. What’s your Innate Force level?"

"Innate Force, fifth rank, first stage. I know the Investigation Corps is very powerful, the officers are no less than our Garrison Corps, and those below the officers are far above the Garrison Corps, but at least I won’t hold anyone back."

A fifth-rank Innate Force was among the elite in any squad, but in Squad Seven it was almost the lowest due to its uniqueness.

Naturally, Bai Wu didn’t believe Cain’s Innate Force was only fifth rank, he showed an appreciative expression:

"It seems you’ve been out of the Tower."

"Went out when I was younger, worked on a few cases for several years, and my temperament settled down. But later, after seeing many different kinds of dark truths, I felt somewhat weary at heart. Going out of the Tower seemed better. The more people you meet, sometimes I feel ghosts are more interesting, haha."

Well, an image of someone disillusioned with the dark side of crime and not willing to touch it ever again was set up.

If it weren’t for knowing Jiang Xuan’s true identity, it would’ve really been deceiving.

If it was Dwarf, perhaps he would have taken him in.

Of course, Bai Wu would also take him in.

He wanted Cain to go out of the Tower, to learn more about Cain’s information, and Cain also wanted to leave the Tower. Once outside, he had a better assurance to take over Bai Wu’s body.

"Indeed, before our interrogation team had accumulated quite a few cases, I helped to handle them as well. Sometimes, what’s more horrifying than the crime itself is the evil within the heart of the criminal."

Bai Wu shifted the topic, starting to talk about the cases:

"Who the hell kidnapped the high-up’s kid? Now the case is under our jurisdiction, which, ironically, is your doing. What do you think about this case?"

"I believe it was that teacher who kidnapped the student," Jiang Xuan said without batting an eye.

"Oh? Let’s hear it..."

The two of them began discussing the case again.

Without the hints from Prayle’s Eye, Bai Wu found that relying only on intuition might make things feel odd, but he would never associate the person before him with Cain.

Even some of the traits Cain displayed, or rather, the persona he adopted, were quite endearing.

It had been a long time since he had felt such a sense of encountering a worthy opponent.

On the other hand, Cain realized that Bai Wu’s maturity was completely at odds with his apparent twenty-something youth.

Gradually, he understood why Gu Qingyu had handed over the captaincy to this young man, and he craved his body even more.

The conversation between the two shifted from the case to various other topics. It soon became disjointed, as if they were two congenial people who spoke whatever came to mind upon meeting.

One was trying to grasp the behaviors and thought processes of the body he was after, while the other was attempting to elicit some revealing information.

However, Bai Wu indeed had a lot on his plate today, and after finally steering the conversation from solving the case to organizations, from organizations to inter-army relations, and from there to history—

Wu Jiu called. freēwēbnovel.com

"I need to take a call."

Cain nodded in agreement and started flipping through some books on the table.

"Captain, what’s up?" Bai Wu still habitually called Wu Jiu captain.

"Come over to the fourth level, to the headquarters of the Investigation Corps."

"What happened?"

"There’s a new unit, said to come from the fifth level... a bunch of troublesome fellows. It’s complicated and can’t be explained in a short call, but they’ve requested to see the captain of Team Seven, and several experts from the Garrison Corps have arrived too. After hanging up, get Wurou and the others, and hurry over."

"Okay."

Bai Wu hung up the phone.

Jiang Xuan said:

"It seems our pleasant exchange must end here."

Bai Wu nodded and replied:

"I’ll arrange for someone to take you through the procedures next, and then you can familiarize yourself with the different groups within the division. I have something else to attend to, and as much as I’d like to continue our conversation, duty calls at the most inconvenient of times."

"I understand."

Jiang Xuan and Bai Wu were like good friends.

The world of adults is full of pretense; one friend is plotting to take the other’s place while the other is constantly on guard.

Bai Wu quickly sent a message to Tian Xun, instructing him to "pack up" Lilith and move her to the Dwarf’s Wife’s place.

He swiftly arranged for someone to take Cain to handle the formalities.

Only after receiving a message from Tian Xun did Bai Wu relax. He then began gathering the members of the Vanguard Group to head to the fourth level.

...

...

High Tower, elevator.

Inside the giant elevator, there were only Lin Wurou, Yin Shuang, Wang Shi, Shang Xiaoyi, and Bai Wu, five in total.

Qin Lin and Bai Xiaoyu had not yet become regular members, so they weren’t counted as official members.

"So what exactly happened? Why were we suddenly called to the fourth level?" Lin Wurou looked to Bai Wu.

Bai Wu shook his head; he didn’t know what exactly had transpired.

From what the captain said, he seemed to gather that a new unit had been activated on the fifth level, which probably didn’t belong to either the Investigation Corps or the Garrison Corps.

But the fact that they summoned no other team than the one from Team Seven, which goes out of the Tower the most, meant that this unit... perhaps was a field unit from the rulers themselves?

Especially since the captain mentioned that these guys were troublesome.

It’s likely that one of the teams in this new unit included some formidable experts.

The group soon arrived at the fourth level.

The fourth level, studded with many black towers, looked like a behemoth with spines protruding from its back.

Visiting here, Bai Wu felt as though he could only see half of the densely packed spires.

This was a feeling he had not had before; it was only on this occasion.

In the office of the Investigation Corps headquarters, Bai Wu and the rest arrived to a bewildering sight.

"Is that all you’ve got? These are the top forces of your two armies? Are you kidding me again?"

A man even more burly than Liu Mu looked down scornfully at several people lying on the ground.

Lin Wurou and the others were astonished.

Because lying on the ground were the elite forces of both the Investigation Corps and the Garrison Corps.

The Investigation Corps Team One captain Meng Yuan, Team Five captain Long Xiao, and from the Garrison Corps, Team One captain Yuan Du, and Team Four captain Tang Zhen.

Right now, all these top fighters from both armies were lying on the ground, gritting their teeth and glaring at the massive man.

A place meant for discussing affairs had turned into a battlefield. Although no one had witnessed what happened, it was obvious at a glance that a fight had taken place here.

"Liu Hu, I said to go easy, only then did they agree to let you spar, but you’ve clearly used too much force. There’s no need for more insolence. This place should be genteel, enough is enough."

Liu Hu was this burly man, who remained unperturbed, looking down on what he considered to be the High Tower’s laughable top fighters.

On the other hand, Qin Zong’s face was ashen, and Wu Jiu’s eyes held a tinge of anger. Clearly, as higher-ups who rarely ventured out, the corps commander and the deputy did not fall under Liu Hu’s challenge.

Seeing Bai Wu and the others arrive, the person who had stopped Liu Hu turned to Bai Wu:

"Hello, I’m Yan Zizai. You must be the captain of Team Seven, right? I’ve heard that the Investigation Corps’ Team Seven is the strongest of all sixteen teams."

Yan Zizai’s smile seemed rather scholarly, and he bore some resemblance to Yan Jiu; for a man, his face was no less handsome than Lin Wurou’s.

But though he appeared well-mannered, Bai Wu could feel the arrogance in his eyes.

Having the surname Yan could be a coincidence, but resembling Yan Jiu was not. In Bai Wu’s view, this was definitely not a coincidence.

This man must come from the Yan Family on the fifth level of the High Tower, and the man before, very likely, represented another family from the fifth level, possibly the Liu Family.

Bai Wu ignored Yan Zizai completely and turned to Wu Jiu and Qin Zong:

"Commander, what’s happened here?"