Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 331 - 62: Search

With his back to the headless corpse, Chen Chuan slowly straightened. He flicked his wrist, bringing his Long Blade to a halt. Above, the violently swaying chandelier gradually settled, and the light in the room, which had been flickering erratically, grew soft and steady once more.

He walked across the creaking floorboards to retrieve his Sword Scabbard and slid the Long Blade inside. But just then, he heard a furious tearing sound from behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the headless body, which had been standing upright, suddenly burst open with wounds, skin and flesh peeling back. The sounds of chewing and low, gurgling hisses filled the air.

Yet, there was nothing to be seen, as if the perpetrator were an invisible entity.

In just a few moments, You Xing’s corpse was reduced to a bare skeleton. The surface flesh, along with the internal organs and all Mutated Organization, had vanished completely. Only the head, which had landed in front of the statue, was left untouched and was even nudged back and forth as if it were a toy.

Chen Chuan watched all of this calmly. After all movement ceased, he walked up to the Raccoon Cat Stone Carving, glanced at the head, and reached out. With a slight exertion of force, he cracked the skull and pulled the embedded Realm Token from the back of it.

He could see that a part of this Realm Token had been connected to the spinal column, a connection he had severed moments ago. Although it was slightly damaged, as long as it was mostly intact, the technicians should be able to extract information from it and discover why this man had targeted him.

He was now certain that this matter had absolutely nothing to do with Wei Wusheng.

If that man wanted to deal with him, he would have come to his door personally, not resorted to such indirect methods.

He then looked at the stone carving next to him. On the stone plate held by the Raccoon Cat, some black residue remained. A single glance told him what it was.

To someone like him, who was fairly familiar with such weird tales, this was a classic case of a paranormal entity bound long-term by a containment ritual. There must have been certain conditions for its activation, with the intended target being one of them. If the conditions weren’t met, the caster had to take the target’s place. And since he, the target, had successfully resisted the assault, the caster had been forced to bear the consequences. That must have been how he’d gotten those wounds.

He circled the stone carving twice. If he wasn’t mistaken, the carving served as both an anchor for the paranormal entity and a tool for its containment. If it were to break, the entity might escape to another location, or it might return to its place of origin.

He had to think carefully about how to handle this.

Only now did he have a moment to inspect the room. This floor was mostly filled with countless tangled vines, which seemed to contain something special. All these branches ultimately converged in one place.

A strange object stood there, about two meters in size. It looked as if it were woven from innumerable tendrils, but the stalks and branches seemed to have been artificially plaited, arranged in a very neat pattern.

In its center was an oval-shaped hollow, perfectly sized for a person to sit inside. A faint light flickered within, pulsing rhythmically like a breath.

He instinctively felt this object was related to biotechnology. He activated his Realm Token, contacted Wubei first, and asked, "Brother Wu, can you recognize what this is?"

Wubei took a look and suddenly exclaimed, "A Green Island Resonance Nest!"

Even through the Realm Token, Chen Chuan could feel his excitement. "What’s this thing used for?" he asked.

Wubei explained in a rapid-fire voice, "It’s a type of resonant life-form! You can use it to expand a Resonator’s Domain and enhance their resonance abilities.

The cheapest one on the market costs hundreds of thousands. And aside from major powers and organized groups, you can’t just buy one even if you have the money. Every single one requires official approval and has a serial number. Even when they get old and are destroyed, it must be done under the joint supervision of officials and corporate representatives to prevent the technology and the organism itself from getting out."

Chen Chuan understood. "Since only Resonators can use it, Brother Wu, can you use it?"

"Me? Of course, I can! I have a Second Level Domain Certificate..."

Sitting in his apartment, Wubei was both excited and frustrated. "The user needs to undergo an official review to get authorization, and you’re subject to some supervision while using it. But I’ve applied so many times and never gotten approved."

The supervision wasn’t really a problem; it was mainly to prevent the resonant organism from being transferred or sold privately. But the authorization was incredibly difficult to obtain. Even though he met all the requirements, his previous applications had all gone nowhere.

Without that authorization, he couldn’t buy a Resonance Nest. He wasn’t short on money, but this was something he simply couldn’t acquire.

Chen Chuan thought for a moment. "Since you can use it, I’ll see what I can do on the official side."

"Really?" Wubei nearly jumped out of his seat. "Thank you, thank you, Brother Chen!" he said, his voice filled with excitement.

Chen Chuan said, "Don’t celebrate just yet. I can only say I’ll try."

"Understood, understood."

"One more thing," Chen Chuan said, holding up the Realm Token. "I have this person’s Realm Token. I want to know what information is on it. Brother Wu, can you extract it?"

Wubei thought for a moment. "I can’t make any promises. I’d have to see it in person to know for sure. I might need to come to the scene. But... if this person was able to use the Resonance Nest, there might be some residual information left inside it, too."

Chen Chuan nodded. "Brother Wu, wait a moment." He immediately contacted Ni Qianqian. When the call connected, he said, "Sister Ni, I’ve resolved the situation here. There’s something else I’d like to ask for your help with."

Ni Qianqian said, "That was quick. What else do you need? Go ahead."

She just assumed Chen Chuan was dealing with a Resonator who had some power. The main difficulty with such people was locating them; once found, they were easy to take care of. So, she hadn’t thought it was a big deal.

Chen Chuan said, "I found a Resonance Nest here."

"Whoa, a Resonance Nest, too? Sounds like this person had some serious backing."

Hearing this, Ni Qianqian’s tone became more serious. She asked a few more questions and understood what Chen Chuan was getting at.

"You want to give it to that Resonator who supports you? Hmm, it’s not impossible. He just needs to be registered with the Processing Bureau. It would only be a temporary authorization, though. As long as you’re a trainee sponsored by the Bureau, there’s no problem. If you’re okay with that, I can take care of the paperwork for you."

Chen Chuan understood. If one day he was no longer sponsored by the Processing Bureau, or had no ties to them, the authorization would naturally be revoked. But even so, this was enough for now.

He said, "Thank you, Sister Ni."

"Don’t thank me yet. You two need to think about how to maintain this thing. This type of Resonance Nest is a living organism. It requires High-Energy Nutrient Supplements to function, which aren’t easy to come by and certainly aren’t cheap."

Chen Chuan wasn’t worried about that. Wubei wasn’t short on money. From the sound of it, he just lacked the channels to get his hands on the Nest itself—or rather, couldn’t acquire one within legal means. Obtaining High-Energy Nutrient Supplements was much simpler than getting a Resonance Nest, with far fewer restrictions.

After ending the call with Ni Qianqian, he immediately contacted Wubei again to inform him of the news. Wubei was ecstatic and stammered, "B-Brother Chen, I... can I come over right now? I’ll drive."

Chen Chuan thought for a moment. ’The Deep Unexplored District isn’t safe at night, and the roads in the Upper Hills are full of traps. I’d better go pick him up.’ He said, "You can. Be careful on the way. Let me know when you reach the park, and I’ll come get you."

"Okay, okay," Wubei hastily agreed, then quickly ended the call. It was clear he was in a hurry to come over.

’Chen Chuan completely understood the feeling. It was like a Fighter learning they were about to receive a top-quality Weapon, one they had coveted for a long time; they would be desperate to get their hands on it immediately.’

He glanced around. There wasn’t much on the first floor worth looking at, so he headed upstairs, starting with the second floor.

Despite the first floor’s messy and damp appearance, which made it look like a temporary outpost, the second floor was meticulously maintained. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he smelled fresh desiccant. The hallway walls were covered with moisture-proof sheeting and thick soundproof panels, the lighting was bright, and the floor was carpeted.

He even noticed several fist-sized spiders clinging to the walls, their backs covered in colorful patterns. From a distance, they looked like a string of ornaments.

He recognized them; they were often recommended in advertisements. Because Central City had extensive green spaces, these custom-designed Exotic Creatures served as both pets and pest control, eating small creatures in corners and crevices to prevent infestations.

There were four doors in the hallway, two on each side facing each other. He checked the rooms on his left first. Both were ordinary guest rooms, furnished with just some spare daily necessities. After a quick search revealed nothing of value, he came out and went to the first room on the opposite side.

He found what appeared to be the master bedroom. The study and sleeping area were combined into one large space, separated by a partition. On the bookshelf, he discovered a number of books, most of which were about Biological Domain Technology.

He flipped through a few; they were highly professional. Interestingly, there were no books on combat at all. ’Maybe he didn’t want to risk his techniques being discovered, or perhaps he felt he was beyond needing books. Or they were simply stored elsewhere.’

Placing the books back where he found them, he moved to the bedroom area and began to inspect it. In the nightstand drawer, he found a stash of cash. It was a thick stack of large-denomination bills, which he quickly counted to be around ten thousand.

Besides the cash, there were also two gold notes and some loose change. The drawer also held a key ring, miscellaneous trinkets, and a simple notebook with various IDs tucked inside.

He took them out to look. There were several identification cards, all with his picture and all looking authentic. It was impossible to tell which one was his real identity.

None of the documents included a Weapon Permit or an Armor Certificate. ’That rules out him being a Wuyi graduate. His Fighting Skill was most likely learned from a gang or one of the various Fighting Styles.’

There were also a few very peculiar IDs that had only a serial number and no name; he didn’t know what they were for. Finally, he discovered a Secret Snake Sect Pattern Card.

At this, his hand paused. ’The Secret Snake Sect?’

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