The ability user who had previously “fallen ill” and died in the hospital hadn’t attracted any attention, because he held no significant position and wasn’t part of any proper organization.
He died, and no one cared.
Even the people from [Underground Gang] didn’t bother to look into it, assuming the kid was just doing time in prison.
But when a guild-certified A-rank ability user died violently, it finally caused a stir within the circle, and the news spread like wildfire.
Kim Geun-hyun’s initial ability was B-rank.
With the guild’s help, he broke through to A-rank, which brought him into the spotlight.
Even factions who had no dealings with him knew of his existence—he was a person of some standing.
Cases of A-rank ability users dying usually happened when dealing with supernatural crises, and were rarely seen in private disputes.
At this level, everyone had a general understanding of each other’s strength.
If you ran into someone you couldn’t beat, you simply didn’t provoke them.
And the kind of people Kim Geun-hyun dared to provoke, it was hard to imagine them turning him into this—so how did he die?
Inside the underground parking lot, members from the Ability User Guild, the Police Department, and various ability user organizations all gathered here to confirm Kim Geun-hyun’s cause of death.
A few high-ranking figures had also shown up.
As they encountered each other, everyone else fell silent, not daring to make a commotion.
“There’s no sign of a second ability user’s presence at the scene, not even any trace of the other party being injured. The surveillance was destroyed almost simultaneously. We can’t find a suspect—how did this happen!”
The speaker was Park Chang-suang, an S-rank ability user from the guild, and also Kim Geun-hyun’s Team Captain. Having lost his own subordinate for no apparent reason, he couldn’t accept it.
There were many Teams within the guild, and there was competition between them. The death of an A-rank member had a huge impact on his Team!
“Looks like suicide!”
Police Chief Mu Mu spoke seriously, his police uniform stretched tight by his belly, a sign of his considerable girth. He looked like a greasy middle-aged man, but he was also an S-rank ability user.
Park Chang-suang shot him a cold look and retorted, “You mean Kim Geun-hyun smashed his own kneecap with a key, pulled out his leg bone, and finally bashed his own head into his chest cavity to commit suicide?”
“I can’t rule out the possibility.”
Police Chief Mu Mu snickered to himself, but his face remained serious, displaying the utmost professionalism.
Relations between the Police Department and the Guild weren’t great, mainly because a few years back, when the guild had just risen to power, it covered up and protected its own ability users who broke the law.
Whenever the police tried to pursue charges, the guild’s higher-ups would step in and say the deceased had committed suicide, which disgusted the police but left them powerless. The guild, with its exclusive technology for enabling ability users to Breakthrough, had recruited a huge number of ability users, leaving the police unable to do anything.
It was only in recent years, as the various factions caught up and developed their own Breakthrough methods, that the police no longer had to bow to the guild at every turn.
Still, the argument didn’t continue; they shifted their focus back to the scene.
Kim Geun-hyun’s death was simply too bizarre—who knew if something similar would happen to themselves one day?
“The injuries on Kim Geun-hyun don’t match any known high-level ability user’s powers. Does anyone have any leads?” Police Chief Mu Mu asked.
The representatives of all factions shook their heads.
To reduce Kim Geun-hyun to this state and leave no trace could only be the work of an S-rank or above ability user. But the fighting style of such people was well known—no one had ever seen this sort of method before.
The key point was that there wasn’t even a trace of ability energy at the scene. That was the hardest thing to comprehend.
The only explanation was that a new S-rank ability user had emerged within some faction—one with exceptionally powerful abilities, whose existence had been deliberately concealed.
Secretary-General Pei hurried over, glanced at Kim Geun-hyun’s corpse, and spoke with a complicated expression:
“I know about something Kim Geun-hyun and his girlfriend Wang Yi got tangled up in recently. Maybe they provoked someone from the [Underground Gang]…”
She relayed, word for word, what she had heard from Kim Geun-hyun that morning about the framing incident, and brought up the footage from her in-car camera.
This was probably the only remaining video evidence, recording Kim Geun-hyun’s final moments alive.
“…I ignored his attempts to win me over. Judging by the timeline, he died not long after I left.”
At this point, Police Chief Mu Mu remembered a report from his subordinates and realized,
“So the case at the hospital last night—it was this guy who hired the killer! The guild really needs to manage its internal discipline. Fortunately, the ability user last night was too stupid and failed to kill, ending up committing suicide instead. Otherwise, a lot of bystanders could have gotten hurt!”
Secretary-General Pei was startled and quickly asked, “Attempted murder? No bystanders were injured?”
Police Chief Mu Mu concealed the matter of the scalpel and replied,
“That’s right. Must have been a newly awakened ability user—not skilled yet, desperate for money, ended up accidentally stabbing himself to death. No bystanders were harmed.”
Soon, the police assigned a Team to bring Wang Yi in for questioning on site, right in front of all present.
Everyone hoped Wang Yi could provide some useful information, such as the identity of the mysterious ability user, or how he managed to conceal his presence.
When Wang Yi learned that her boyfriend had sold out the truth about hiring a killer to Secretary-General Pei, she broke down completely. She shrieked like a madwoman:
“Pei Eun-mei and Kim Geun-hyun are having an affair! The two of them are framing me together! Captain Park, you have to stand up for me!”
But no one paid any attention to Wang Yi’s hysteria—they only cared whether she had any intel on the mysterious ability user.
The guild’s representatives had no interest in protecting Wang Yi and left with their people, leaving the police to arrest her.
With Kim Geun-hyun dead, all charges relating to hiring a killer and causing chaos at the hospital fell squarely on Wang Yi.
Chu Yin returned with breakfast, having spent quite a bit of time—mainly on the road. Fortunately, Wen Chunhan and Yan Lingqi were still asleep, so he didn’t need to come up with an excuse.
Mother and daughter slept in until eight before getting up. After changing, they went to see the expert old lady to check the sleep report.
“You must have been frightened last night—took a bit longer to fall asleep, but your sleep quality was good. I suppose it’s because Ms. Wen has been worrying about her child a lot recently, thinking of her day and night.”
“That’s probably it. These past few days, since Chu Yin’s been getting ready to come home, I’ve slept quite well~ Looks like I really can’t let my child run around!” Wen Chunhan said happily, her mood so good that even a cloudy day seemed like bright sunshine.
Chu Yin’s fever had subsided, and after a good sleep last night, they’d soon be able to go home together. It was almost like one happy event after another!
Just before leaving, Chu Yin turned to the old expert to ask about something that had been puzzling him:
“According to the current accepted theory, abilities awaken naturally, like a kind of talent. I wanted to know—is it possible to acquire abilities through learning?”
His current powers came from training in his dreams; he could even memorize ancient books from reality and then practice them in his dreams.
The old expert didn’t outright deny it—there was still much unknown about abilities. She replied,
“The mainstream view for now is no, but that could change in the future. Back in the day, people said you couldn’t improve your abilities after awakening, but then methods for Breakthrough were gradually discovered. Now, everyone’s researching ways to achieve a Second Breakthrough.”
“Second Breakthrough…” Chu Yin muttered to himself.
Could it be that the guild’s acquisition of T Company was because there was still some secret about the Second Breakthrough hidden in that abandoned building?
The old expert sighed, “If abilities were gained through diligent study and practice, rather than spontaneous awakening, there would probably be far fewer incidents of ability users going on rampages. Some people just treat their powers like toys!”
“Maybe so.”
Chu Yin thought of Luoshui City. In that world, many people had powers—even the outer disciples whom Zhang Wei looked down on could thrash most of the ability users here—yet the dream world’s public order was pretty good.
Maybe that was because the power there came from hard practice, so people were much more cautious in using it.
But of course, stability is always relative. When he and his master’s wife had their wedding banquet, didn’t it end up as a scene of carnage with dead and wounded everywhere?
Wen Chunhan and Yan Lingqi went back to their ward first to pack up.
While waiting for her mother, the young girl sat idly nearby, flipping through an e-book on her phone—a collection of ancient metaphysics texts Chu Yin had downloaded from the library.
Wen Chunhan came over, took a look, and smiled curiously:
“Lingqi, since when are you interested in these books? You downloaded so many at once~ Can you understand them?”
“Gege wanted to read them. His phone was full, so he asked me to help download them. I don’t know if I can delete them, so I’ll go ask him.”
“Wait, Lingqi—are you saying all these books are for your brother?”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.