Chapter 421: Catching the Snake

When the lingering kiss ended, Jiang Qingli finally caught her breath and realized the curtains had been drawn tightly shut at some point.

Xie Youchen stroked her hair. "Don’t you want to sleep a little longer?"

"I’m not sleeping anymore." Jiang Qingli got up to change her clothes. "I’m going to look into Ye Linyuan’s movements and figure out how to catch him."

Xie Youchen rolled up his shirt sleeves. "What would you like to drink? I’ll go prepare it."

Jiang Qingli thought for a moment. "Orange juice. Freshly squeezed, please. Thank you."

Xie Youchen obliged. After squeezing the juice and placing it on the table, he openly watched her serious, focused profile.

Thinking of a moment ago, Xie Youchen’s lips curled into a slight smile.

Jiang Qingli had been so exhausted yesterday, so Xie Youchen had only intended to kiss and hug her, nothing more intimate.

’I drew the curtains just now mainly because I saw something unpleasant.’

’Ye Linyuan’s Superpower is bizarre. Even if you spot him, you can’t catch him. So I might as well take this chance to let him get the wrong idea.’

When he had entered Jiang Qingli’s room, Xie Youchen had sensed another male’s scent. It had to have been Ye Linyuan.

’With or without his memories, that thing is always trouble.’

Xie Youchen scoffed, pulling the curtains open and glancing in a specific direction outside.

Sure enough, Ye Linyuan was gone.

Suddenly, he heard a surprised "Huh?" from behind him.

Xie Youchen turned his head and saw Jiang Qingli staring at the map on the screen, muttering angrily, "This is outrageous..."

"What’s wrong?" Xie Youchen asked.

Jiang Qingli pointed at the screen, frustrated. "I planted a tracker on Ye Linyuan before, but now it’s gone. He most likely destroyed it..."

She sighed, then broke into a smile. "Thankfully, he only got rid of the one in his clothes. The ones I hid in his hair and under his scales are still active!"

As she spoke, she pulled up the other trackers and started studying Ye Linyuan’s movements.

Xie Youchen: "..."

Lü Xin had said that when Ye Linyuan escaped, he had discarded all hidden trackers except for the chip implanted at birth.

’A beast who’d been so vigilant since youth would only be sharper now.’

’In all likelihood, Ye Linyuan discovered Jiang Qingli’s trackers long ago and is deliberately letting her see his movements.’

’He saw her kissing me, so he destroyed one tracker. It was a move to make her anxious, to keep her from getting distracted by any other males. She’ll be forced to focus solely on finding him before he can get rid of the rest...’

As Xie Youchen watched Jiang Qingli pore over the map, calculating travel times, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

’This is all my fault.’

’I was gone too long. I didn’t take proper care of Ah Li, giving other males a chance to move in while I was away...’

The terminal on the bedside table lit up.

Xie Youchen glanced over and saw a message from a contact named [Yuan Shiyao]:

[Qingli, I’m in Eleven Cities right now. I should be able to meet up with you in Twelve Cities tomorrow afternoon [smiley face]]

[The courthouse isn’t far from the military district, and my internship isn’t very busy. Can I come visit you often?]

Xie Youchen stared down at the lock screen, neither opening the message nor replying. A chill crept into his eyes.

’I’d forgotten there were other... improper males out there.’

Perhaps because he hadn’t received a reply, the sender quickly added another message:

[It’s like this—before I left, my older brother told me to take good care of you, sister-in-law. Twelve Cities has been a bit unstable recently, and since we’re all friends, I want to do my best to protect you...]

Xie Youchen narrowed his eyes.

’Just a few short sentences, and he’s already contradicting himself. Completely illogical. It seems the quality of students admitted to the Royal Academy has really been declining these past few years.’

Hearing Xie Youchen’s soft scoff, Jiang Qingli looked up from her screen. "What is it? Did I get a message?"

Xie Youchen said, "It seems a classmate of yours is starting an internship at the courthouse next week."

"Oh, you mean Yuan Shiyao." Jiang Qingli recalled that was the plan. "But isn’t that next week? Why is he so early?"

"Probably because the courthouse in the Lower District is too busy," Xie Youchen said calmly.

Jiang Qingli nodded, not paying much mind to the interruption. Right now, she was racking her brain trying to analyze Ye Linyuan’s movements.

Ye Linyuan was probably using his Superpower; the red dot on the screen jumped around so much it made Jiang Qingli dizzy.

Based on the conversation with the other Beastmen before they parted ways, Jiang Qingli guessed that Ye Linyuan and the others were most likely up to something.

Her plan was to pinpoint Ye Linyuan’s destination, then have Baili Jing use their Space Ability to transport her there for a direct interception.

Otherwise, with a Superpower like Ye Linyuan’s...

He would flee, she would pursue, and they’d be lucky to even meet.

While Jiang Qingli was engrossed in her research, Xie Youchen took out his own terminal. He sent a message to the courthouse in Twelve Cities, asking them to give the intern from the Yuan Family "special attention."

’Since Yuan Shiyao came here to work, he might as well make a few more contributions to the laws of Twelve Cities.’

’It’ll keep him from spending all day coveting another man’s wife.’

-

The next day, Jiang Qingli held a meeting with the senior staff of the military district.

Qin Yu did not attend. She had been detained for secretly funding Lü Xin’s attempt to create more warriors in order to earn accolades.

Lü Xin had revealed that other influential figures in Twelve Cities were involved in the scheme, but she hadn’t named names.

The military expected to get the full list of names from her. Once the dust settled, they would ship Qin Yu and the others off to the First District.

The news hadn’t leaked yet, but it was easy to imagine the public uproar it would cause when it finally did.

Qin Yu’s seat at the head of the table was empty. Jiang Qingli was about to bypass it and take her usual seat beside it, but Xie Youchen placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her into the main chair.

All the high-ranking military officers were standing at their places. They waited for Jiang Qingli to be seated, saluted, and then sat down themselves.

Xie Youchen whispered in her ear, "Enjoy the honor that belongs to you. There will be many more moments like this in the future."

With that, he took the seat right beside Jiang Qingli.

Jiang Qingli quickly composed herself and calmly immersed herself in the meeting.

After the meeting, Xie Youchen had to hurry back to the East District.

Before he left, he placed a light kiss on her cheek. "Don’t feel pressured."

"Ah Li, no matter the outcome, I will always be proud of you."

-

Jiang Qingli originally thought the hardest part of the mission concerning Ye Linyuan would be healing him.

But she never expected that finding him would be even harder.

The next two days were filled with meetings of all sizes. To her frustration, the tracker’s signal was intermittent—sometimes it would appear in the wilderness, other times at the edge of the military district. Once, it even popped up inside Twelve Cities itself.

Jiang Qingli began to suspect that Ye Linyuan was just messing with her.

That is, until news arrived from Twelve Cities—

Several nobles had been killed. The subsequent investigation revealed that they had all invested in the laboratory; some had even been involved in kidnapping and murdering S Level Beastmen. They were the ones who had slipped through the cracks.

It was only then that Jiang Qingli belatedly realized what Ye Linyuan and the other males were planning: to eliminate the people behind the whole operation.

After all, most of these nobles had high Superpower Levels, and their families had made contributions to the Empire. As mere accomplices, the legal process to convict and interrogate them would have been long and arduous, full of loopholes to exploit. The final outcome might not have been what justice demanded.

Ye Linyuan’s method, on the other hand, was simple and efficient.

The military didn’t pursue the matter, turning a blind eye.

On the third day, Ye Linyuan had dealt with almost all of the people behind the scenes.

On the map, Ye Linyuan’s location had remained in the depths of the Roaring Forest for over an hour.

Jiang Qingli changed into her combat suit, planning to go catch the snake.

What Jiang Qingli didn’t expect, however, was to be kidnapped by Ye Linyuan the moment she landed.