I Have Infinite Skill Points-Chapter 552: Finding the Mastermind Behind the Scenes
"Electric Grid—"
ZZZT—
Instantaneous screams erupted from within the car, and three women huddled together in fright. The vehicle screeched to a halt, stopping abruptly by the roadside.
The electric grid Wang Lan released enveloped the dark substance. It thrashed about as if alive, trying to break free from his grid. However, this was no ordinary grid; it was cast with the strength of a Titled Strongman and not so easily escaped.
A flash of light sparked in Wang Lan’s eyes, and in an instant, a streak of cyan spiritual power shot out like an arrow towards Huo Sijian’s eyes. At the same moment, the black liquid suddenly contracted and entered Huo Sijian’s body.
"AH—"
Huo Sijian let out a painful scream as his body turned charred and black, before disintegrating into ashes and disappearing.
From Wang Lan’s intervention to Huo Sijian turning to ash, the whole incident took less than three seconds. The rapid turn of events was so swift that even Hu Qing struggled to keep up.
Wang Lan calmly sat back down in his seat and slowly opened his eyes. Only then did Hu Qing come back to his senses and look at the ashes on the seat that used to be Huo Sijian.
"Was Huo Sijian also a follower of the Evil spirit? Was the tragedy of the Zhu Meng family orchestrated by him?"
"Let’s go to Tianqing Mountain Villa," Wang Lan suddenly said.
"You could at least say something! I’ve been dying of anxiety here. Now that Huo Sijian is dead, does that mean the lead is lost?"
"Didn’t Xiaoling call you just now? Wasn’t Huo Sijian the pile of dismembered corpse they fished out of the reservoir before?" Wang Lan asked, looking up.
"UH... then who did we catch?"
"He is Huang Shan."
"Huang Shan? The guy with the lymphatic virus mutation?"
"That’s right, it’s him. He was originally an employee of Huo Sijian. After worshipping the Evil spirit, he killed his family and gained power. His ability is that as long as he consumes a piece of the target’s flesh, he can transform into them. Not only does the appearance become identical, but the DNA is also a perfect match.
This ability was perfect for him to assume a new identity, and his boss Huo Sijian naturally became his target. Yet, while one may replace another’s appearance, their essence cannot be replaced.
So, Huo Sijian’s wife soon realized her husband had changed into a different person, but she had no proof. Initially, Huang Shan lusted after his boss’s wife, but he soon realized he might not be able to keep deceiving Zhu Meng. That’s why he conspired with Cha Shengming to commit the slaughter of Zhu Meng’s family.
With Huang Shan’s small-time civilian mentality, with enough money, what woman couldn’t he have? Look at those three; all are employees from Huo Sijian’s company."
"Did you succeed in Spirit Engraving?"
"I only managed to engrave a little bit," Wang Lan sighed and said. "The Evil spirit is too fast at silencing. Just as I found some useful information, he was silenced."
As they spoke, the car soon arrived at Tianqing Mountain Villa. Known as a prestigious estate for the affluent in Suzhou City, Wang Lan showed his credentials, and both he and Hu Qing smoothly entered.
Then, under Wang Lan’s guidance, they came to a property under Huo Sijian’s name. The villa, bought secretly by Huo Sijian originally for his romantic affairs, conveniently served as a place for Huang Shan to hide his secrets.
Entering the villa’s bedroom, Wang Lan immediately switched on the computer.
"This sect hasn’t been around for long, probably just half a month. Consequently, it doesn’t have many members—only about ten. Cha Shengming was the last member, and Huang Shan was the third. Above him is a Sect Hierarch, an ardent disciple of the Evil spirit, though none of them know the Sect Hierarch’s identity. But from Huang Shan’s memory, I saw the Sect Hierarch. Despite wearing a mask, he looked very much like the black-robed person we’ve been chasing.
For security in their communication, they used brand-new chat software created by Cha Shengming himself, undetected by network surveillance." As he spoke, Wang Lan had Xiao Ai infiltrate the computer.
Cha Shengming’s hacking skills were impressive, but compared to Xiao Ai, they were child’s play. Soon, the identities of all eleven members were confirmed, including the location of the Sect Hierarch.
Wang Lan immediately took out his phone and called Lige, providing the exact locations of the ten targets for the Tianjian Bureau to apprehend. The Evil spirit had just silenced Huang Shan, so the adversary must have been alerted.
Sure enough, at that exact moment, the Sect Hierarch notified all members to hide immediately; they had been exposed.
Lige was prompt in his actions. Upon receiving Wang Lan’s call, he immediately initiated a Tianjian Bureau enforcement operation. This was the closest they had ever come to dismantling the Demon Cult. If they allowed the Demon Cult to escape this time, catching them later would be much more difficult.
Wang Lan, too, flashed into the sky, his target being the Sect Hierarch’s apartment.
"Report to Chief Lige, Hu Yao was just spotted leaving in a car."
"Stop him and arrest him immediately," Lige said into his earpiece.
"Report to Chief Lige, the target has taken refuge inside a school building."
"Conduct the arrest in teams. And ensure the safety of the school," Lige ordered as he hastened on his way, giving commands through his earpiece.
Among the ten people, Han Cheng and Huang Shan were already dead. Jiang Wannian and Cha Shengming were on the wanted list. The remaining six, retaining their previous identities, were easier to track down.
When the Tianjian Bureau ordered the arrests, the Skynet System was already activated.
Within ten minutes, reports of success started coming to the Tianjian Bureau’s capture teams, but these were accompanied by bad news. The six who had real identities hadn’t managed to escape, but neither were they captured alive. They all turned to ash, their powers reclaimed by the Evil spirit, when they realized there was no hope of escape.
The so-called Undying Body was nothing more than a power granted by the Evil spirit, who could reclaim abilities as easily as eating and drinking.
Wang Lan descended from the sky. Just then, the Tianjian Bureau team responsible for pursuing the black-robed person arrived. It was led by a familiar face to Wang Lan: Zeng Xiaomo.
"Zeng, it’s you."
"Wang Lan! It’s your handiwork again, as expected of you."
"Unfortunately, we’re too late. The man in the black robe has already escaped, hasn’t he?" Wang Lan sensed that inside the targeted room, there were no signs of life anymore.
"Captain, I’m sensing a stream of Star Power moving rapidly underground," a female special agent from the Tianjian Bureau suddenly spoke up.
"In what direction?"
"Due north, five kilometers away, leaving rapidly at a speed of one hundred kilometers per hour."
Wang Lan looked at the masked agent in surprise. To think someone could sense things five kilometers away! Our Suzhou City Tianjian Bureau really is full of hidden talents.
"She is a talent with perception-related superpowers, one of our Suzhou City Tianjian Bureau’s trump cards. Let’s go, we’ll chase him!" Zeng Xiaomo said.
Wang Lan scooped up the special agent. "I’ll fly, you direct me."
With a WHOOSH, he took off into the air with the agent.
As he carried the female agent, he sensed she was a bit nervous. However, given the urgency of the situation, Wang Lan couldn’t dwell on such things. Naturally, flying through the air was much faster than running underground, and in less than five minutes, they caught up with the target.
"He’s below us, thirty meters underground!"
Wang Lan instantly waved his hand. "Pole-inserting Method!"
Numerous wooden poles shot out from Wang Lan’s hands, piercing the ground and rapidly growing roots, immobilizing the land within a one-kilometer radius.
This move was Yu Ruoyun’s specialty and very effective against Earth Attribute Star Martial Warriors. Aiming to be prepared for anything, Wang Lan had also managed to learn it from her.
Suddenly, the Sect Hierarch, moving rapidly underground, entered the investigative range of the Pole-inserting Method’s roots. The sensing Star Martial Warrior Wang Lan carried had only detected one person, but through the Pole-inserting Method, Wang Lan sensed three.
In an instant, the roots in the soil, like poised snakes, struck toward the three targets. Two figures were instantly entangled by the roots and subdued by Wang Lan before they could even understand what was happening.
BOOM—
A huge explosion sounded. The ground below burst open as a black figure surged into the sky. The figure was cloaked in a black cape and wore a Ghost Face mask. Wang Lan recognized it at a glance as the black-robed man he had briefly clashed with before.
Instantly, Wang Lan transformed into a streak of light and rushed toward the black-robed man. He fired off the Infinite Fire Skill, channeling a stream of Red Lotus Karma Fire into the Sunlight Sword Skill.
The black-robed man had just sensed someone approaching from behind when he abruptly turned to see Wang Lan.
"It’s you!"
He only had time for an exclamation of surprise before Wang Lan’s attack was upon him.
With a loud bang, flames surged. Fierce fire suddenly consumed the black-robed man’s surroundings. The bizarre, poison-like black liquid that emanated from him danced in the flames and detached from his body.
Finally free, the black-robed man glanced with some hesitation at the venom struggling in the flames beside him. But his desire to survive overcame his thirst for power, and he rocketed into the sky once more.
Wang Lan was slightly puzzled. This black-robed man’s strength clearly didn’t compare to what it was before. But he was indeed the same black-robed man he had encountered previously. Was there some trick to it?
"AH—"
A scream came from the distance. The fleeing black-robed man had collided head-on with Zeng Xiaomo and her team, who had pursued and smacked him back. The black liquid, scorching from the Red Lotus Karma Fire, had now stopped struggling and lay still like dead water, allowing the fire to consume it.
"Wang Lan, how is it?"
"It’s a bit strange. Don’t approach for now," Wang Lan replied. The black-robed man’s strength shouldn’t be this meager. Was he concealing some nefarious trick? He activated Life Light to cover himself, just in case.
The diamond-level Life Light could withstand a blow from Drulu, so it should be enough to protect his life in a critical moment.
Wang Lan cautiously approached the pitch-black liquid. Suddenly, the liquid that had appeared dead sprang out, spurting a column of smoke towards him. The Holy Light trembled slightly but successfully resisted the smoke. Wang Lan then hurled another jet of Red Lotus Karma Fire. This time, the black liquid struggled even more violently until it was completely annihilated within the flames. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
At that moment, the black-robed man, knowing escape was hopeless, struggled to his feet and let out a chilling laugh. The sound was grating and unpleasant, as if sawing wood.
"The Ancestor will avenge me... You all will die, all of you will die! The Ancestor’s Mana is boundless, and he will soon rule the entire world... GAHAHA..."
"Are you the one who killed Yan Tong during the Star Martial Championship?"
"That’s right, it was me! The ingrate deserved to die."
"You’re also the one who stole the Demon-restricting Buddha Statue and killed people at the Suzhou Museum?"
"HAHAHA... The Ancestor’s Primordial Spirit has returned! Even the Five Emperors are no match for him! Be afraid! Tremble..."
Wang Lan slapped the top of the black-robed man’s head, and instantly, cyan spiritual power burst from him.
Instead of questioning him, it was more straightforward to use Spirit Engraving.
