I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 285 - 283: Dilemma
Li Xing: "Did we find any video footage from other angles in the commercial street on Ring Reef Island?"
Chu Yunyi shook his head with a somber expression: "Shortly after the incident, all surveillance videos from that street were cut and cleaned up very thoroughly. I originally thought Jiang Yishan might have had the Second Army’s Information Section do it, but Zhou Wu didn’t find any records in the mainframe, so obviously they weren’t involved."
Li Xing: "So there are others who don’t want me released, huh? Was it the Inspection Bureau’s doing, or did the Cult of the Immortal Slayer act directly?"
Chu Yunyi let out a mocking scoff: "There’s no Inspection Bureau anymore, the entire Federation is infiltrated by the Cult of the Immortal Slayer like a sieve, making them indistinguishable."
Li Xing laughed. What he said made sense. In the future, Qianyuan Continent will have only two factions: the Parasite Faction and the Non-Parasite Faction, and the former overwhelmingly outnumbers the latter.
"Don’t worry, Qingtian has already sent word. They found fifteen sightseeing flying devices that passed over the commercial street during the incident, there should be ground video recordings. I’ll personally go to Ring Reef Island to retrieve the recorders later."
Watching Chu Yunyi’s exhausted face, Li Xing shook his head: "There’s no need, let someone else handle it."
"No, no one else can be trusted except me."
Li Xing leaned back in the chair, arms crossed, and said softly: "Ever since you became the Second Army Commander, Mingzhen knew he couldn’t touch me. He’ll still use the insect eggs to surveil us, but continuing to destroy evidence is meaningless; he won’t do it anymore."
Lin Yin is already registered as military, according to Qianyuan law, the Second Army has greater accountability authority than Lin Yin’s family. Even without evidence proving Li Xing’s innocence, Chu Yunyi can use his position as commander to release her directly.
But doing so would mean that even if Li Xing is innocent, she will never shake off the world’s suspicion and criticism, so unless absolutely necessary, Chu Yunyi wouldn’t do that.
After listening to Li Xing’s analysis, Chu Yunyi finally realized, yes, how come he hadn’t thought of such an obvious point? Or did he just lose his composure when it came to things involving Li Xing? 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"Fine, I’ll have Zheng Qi go. Originally, the second investigation meeting was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, but I’ve already applied for a postponement so we can decide when to convene after obtaining the evidence."
Li Xing sighed, it really helps to have someone in high places; ever since Chu Yunyi became the commander, the winds shifted immediately.
Li Xing: "Brother Chu, there’s something I’d like to ask your help with."
"Speak."
Li Xing: "I want to meet Elder Chu Hui."
"Alright, I’ll arrange it for you. However, for Uncle Nine to leave the tower, an application needs to be submitted to the Elder Council, which takes time to get approved. If you’re in a hurry, I can write an external deployment order now and accompany you to the Heaven-Reaching Tower."
Li Xing quickly shook her head, it’s hardly good for Chu Yunyi to keep making exceptions for her right after taking office.
"I have something I want to confirm with Elder Chu, but it’s not urgent. Follow the regular procedure; I don’t want to attract attention."
"Okay." Seeing it was getting late, Chu Yunyi stood up to take his leave.
Over the next two days, Li Xing meditated and practiced during the day, while at night Chu Yunyi would return from work to share a supper with him and discuss the case progress. Her detention was almost like a vacation.
On the third day, Li Xing finally met Chu Hui, and they talked alone for more than two hours. No one knew the content of their conversation. However, when Chu Hui left, his face was grim and even his steps were faltering.
Li Xing sat alone in the room, feeling a mix of emotions. Though she had already guessed the outcome, facing it head-on still left her feeling lost and hesitant.
Mingzhen must die, or chaos will engulf the world!
Across the entire Qianyuan, only her cultivation system could potentially contend with Mingzhen. Even so, it would be a battle of vastly disparate powers; her cultivation level pales before a monster like Mingzhen.
It’s not that she doesn’t have ace tactics, but if she actually uses them, the cost may be more than she can bear.
In her bones, Li Xing is a standard cultivator—calm, rational, and ruthless, with self-preservation as her guiding principle.
Only someone with such a temperament can resist the myriad temptations and pitfalls of the mundane world to attain enlightenment and immortality.
But at this moment her character showed signs of collapsing, leaving Li Xing both terrified and bewildered.
She cultivates through killing; shouldn’t she be cold-blooded and selfish? Why did she feel such unwarranted compassion and reluctance when faced with worldly extinction?
Her tangled thoughts stirred her mind into chaos, leading Li Xing to slam the table in frustration, and curse:
"Li Xing, get a grip! Even if the world ends, you can still traverse the cosmic winds and continue cultivating in other planes. Why involve yourself? Their ruin or salvation is their karma and fate, and you aren’t of this world, their life or death has nothing to do with you!"
The moment the words left her mouth, Li Xing regretted them, as countless figures flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.
Li Yi, Anna, Ma Le, Tang Dou, Yang Dawei, Wendao, Yang Zhou, Ye Qingting, Cui Tianxiao, Qi Ming, Chu Yunyi...
Numerous vivid faces smiled at her, eyes filled with love, care, and friendship, making Li Xing too ashamed to meet their gaze.
The threads of karma, like fishing lines—some thick, some thin—extended from each person’s head to weave a dense net in the air, ultimately converging on her.
Li Xing smiled bitterly, since when did her karmic ties with this world become so deep and entangled, beyond unraveling?
Thinking of those soon to have their souls scattered and forever lost to reincarnation pained her heart as though grasped by an invisible hand, a thousand times more painful than having her Dantian shattered.
Beads of perspiration dotted Li Xing’s forehead, and only at the moon’s zenith did she resign herself with a sigh and slowly open her eyes.
In truth, at the moment Li Xing hesitated about whether or not to save them, her heart had made the choice for her.
To save them, she would face near-certain death. But if she didn’t, even if she eventually became immortal, she would be eternally plagued by guilt.
Rather than achieving great freedom along the immortal path, Li Xing would rather follow her heart and become a savior; why not!
With her decision finally made, hesitation vanished from Li Xing’s eyes, and she set about devising a foolproof plan to ensnare Mingzhen.
——————
Perhaps Chu Yunyi’s takeover completely disrupted Mingzhen’s plans, leaving him disinclined to further target Li Xing. The video recordings from the flying devices were smoothly delivered to the Second Army, and subsequently organized as critical evidence presented at the second investigation meeting.
From the aerial perspective, it was apparent that Lin Yin did have actions of intentionally holding Li Xing’s hand, and the angle of his neck fracture showed a mechanical correlation with the angle of his own hand.
With such crucial physical evidence, suspicion against Li Xing was immediately cleared, obviating the need for further procedures, granting her direct release.
Li Xing was vindicated, but negative sentiment lingered online. In order to avoid leaving Li Xing with traumatic scars, the Chu and Ye families sued every site defaming Li Xing, clearing the digital landscape.
In addition, the Ye Family commissioned the writing of the most detailed and accurate report about the actual situation of the case, ensuring all netizens learned that Li Xing was, in fact, the wronged party.
Li Xing could have left the Second Army long ago, but she delayed her departure until the online discourse returned to normal before visiting Chu Yunyi.
