purgatory artist

Chapter 164 Investigation
"I remember you once fought with Liu Ping?" the old man asked.

"That's right, we are comrades in arms." Hua Qingkong said.

"That's good, you guys must be very handy when you cooperate——Liu Ping, what else do you have to say?" the old man asked.

Liu Ping said: "Can I make a request?"

"What request?" the old man said.

"I want to participate in the investigation of No. 21 Fudeng Road." Liu Ping said.

"Huh? What does that matter have to do with you?" the old man asked vigilantly.

Liu Ping took out a silver emblem and put it on the desk.

- Emblem of the Loremaster.

"So that's how it is," the old man said with relief, "It's a good thing that you are willing to take the initiative. I'll give you this authority, just so you and Hua Qingkong can investigate together."

The old man took out a document and put it in front of Liu Ping.

Liu Ping picked up the document, and saw lines of small characters written on it:

"Top secret."

"Information about the Naturalist's Fifth Exploration Team."

"The team is tasked with going deep into the ruins of the Kingdom of Ceylon and investigating the cause of the kingdom's destruction."

"On March 22, the exploration team made significant progress and needed to return to the imperial city to further analyze a certain substance with the help of the sequence machine."

"On March 23, the exploration team returned to the imperial city."

"A fire broke out that night, and everyone in the team died, and no one survived."

"By restoring the attribute of the flame, we can know that the flame is the soul-killing fire on the cursed side."

"The soul-destroying fire destroys all traces of the soul, and it is impossible to find evidence through backtracking."

"Further investigation is ongoing."

"The above is the end of the report."

Liu Ping quickly read it, and pondered: "The Kingdom of Ceylon? I remember that this country appeared about 100 years ago."

"Yes, it existed for too short a time. Before it developed, it was destroyed by an existence in the eternal night and devoured all human souls." The old man continued.

"What about our empire?" Hua Qingkong suddenly asked.

"Our empire has existed for 300 years. When the royal family fell into the eternal night, it brought the war machine sequence, and relied on this sequence to open up the territory step by step." Liu Ping said.

"You really look like a polymath." The old man joked.

"For 300 years, without much knowledge, you can't really call it erudite." Liu Ping shook his head naturally.

The old man glanced at him and said: "This case has reached a bottleneck, lost all clues, and it is almost impossible to investigate further. What do you think?"

"Why can't we do anything?" Liu Ping asked in surprise.

"All evidence and clues have been destroyed, the police station and us are helpless, could it be..." the old man didn't continue.

The female secretary tactfully withdrew and closed the door.

Liu Pingdao: "Of course there is a way. We have to quietly send people to follow the track of the fifth exploration team and go through the ruins of the Kingdom of Ceylon again to see if we can find out what they found. Isn't this the most important thing? "

The old man was silent for a while, then suddenly took out a document and wrote something quickly on it.

"From now on, Hua Qingkong will be your leader, she will be responsible for your safety, and as a polymath, you are just right to investigate the ruins - the ruins have been explored many times, there shouldn't be much danger " said the old man.

"The two of us? Will it be too weak?" Liu Ping asked.

"You have to believe in Hua Qingkong's strength. She is the captain of the special forces—and you are only two. If you don't show off and act in concealment, it will be more efficient." The old man said.

"Yes! Commander-in-Chief!" Hua Qingkong saluted.

Liu Ping thought for a moment.

It is true that the ruins of that kingdom have indeed been explored many times, and Hua Qingkong is a spiritual summoner. After more than half a year of growth, his strength has long been unknown to what level he has reached.

——Why did that monster kill all the members of the expedition team?

The answer was waiting for him in the ruins.

As a polymath, I only need to investigate the affairs of the Fifth Expedition.

If there is something to gain, not only can he justifiably bring the problem to the emperor, but he can also get a lot of merit points.

Thinking of this, Liu Ping saluted with Hua Qingkong.

——This means that I agree.

The old man laughed, called the female secretary in, handed her the document and said:

"Top secret operation, to prepare for all dispatches."

"Yes, I'll do it right away." The female secretary picked up the file, turned and walked out of the office.

"Okay - let's go, I have to catch up on sleep." The old man waved to Hua Qingkong and Liu Ping.

The two exited the office, closed the door, and left.

The commander-in-chief's office fell silent.

The old man sat on a large armchair, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette for himself.

He took a few deep puffs, exhaled smoke rings and said, "Replay."

Suddenly, the light screen on the desk lit up.

Amidst the sound of passionate music, the fighting game screen reappeared, with powerful fighters flashing on it.

Soon, the cutscene ends.

All fighters stood together and looked out of the light screen.

"Old Zhou, how do you feel?" the old man asked.

The steel-explosive fighter he controlled before stood up, showing a thoughtful expression, and said, "That kid's fighting skills are not low... He can find out the punches and combos I use after watching it several times. The flaw in it."

The old man looked at the other fighter.

——That was a fighter chosen by Liu Ping.

"You all know that I'm more restrained against Lao Zhou," said the fighter, "I don't know whether he chose me to fight against Lao Zhou because he was reckless or because he was born with a fighting instinct. "

Among the onlookers, one person said: "In the last match, you used the magic skill twice and the secret technique three times, and you didn't miss each time."

"So we have a conclusion." Old Zhou said.

"He was born to fight - I understand what he said now."

"Which one?"

"Before the fight, he said: 'I usually don't lose in fights'."

"Tsk, don't you think too highly of him?"

"Listen to Bourbon."

The fighters looked at the old man one after another.

The old man slapped the table and said, "Sequence of war!"

The void opened, and metal tubes stretched out, floating in front of the old man.

A cold metallic voice sounded:
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief of the Empire, please state your to-do list."

"Use the special reserve to let that shameless boy improve his strength faster." The old man said.

"Excuse me, sir, who is 'that shameless boy'?" asked the cold metal voice.

"Liu Ping."

"Received, according to your authority, this matter has entered the preparation stage."

All the metal pipes retreated and disappeared into the void.

"All the special reserves are given? Is the specification too high?" a fighter asked in surprise.

The old man sighed, and said tiredly: "Although the profession of holy knight is very deceitful, it has a very firm stand. It is a good hand in the holy camp, and it is more trustworthy than those angels who often betray and blacken."

"Is he such a teenage boy? It's not possible." Another fighter said.

"I can't help it. I'm just taking a gamble. It's an extra bargaining chip. I don't care if it's useful or not," said the old man.

"What are you worried about?" Lao Zhou asked.

The old man pondered for a moment, and murmured: "I don't know why, I always have nightmares recently..."

The fighters stepped aside one after another and looked at a woman in a red robe holding a long snow-colored fan.

The woman spread her fan to cover her face and said, "Bourbon, what did you dream about?"

"I dreamed of the boundless seawater—the sea was constantly erupting with earthquakes, and there were some terrifying creatures that I had never seen before, emerging from the cracks in the depths of the ocean." The old man said.

"Okay, let me do a divination." The woman shook her fan slightly.

I saw two large black characters gradually appear on the fan:
"The country is destroyed."

……

"Liu Ping, you didn't sell the potion I gave you, did you?" Hua Qingkong asked while walking.

Liu Ping slapped his head, took out the bottle of soul nourishing potion, and drank it in front of Hua Qingkong.

The elevator opens.

The two walked in.

"I've been so busy recently that I haven't had time to drink this potion," Liu Ping said.

"I heard that this potion is very useful, why don't we see if you can upgrade this time." Hua Qingkong said with interest.

"Okay." Liu Ping said.

In the void, lines of burning small characters gradually emerged:
"You drank the soul nourishing potion."

"Your soul power has increased a little."

"Current soul power: 12/12."

Every point of soul power can release a basic skill.

Thanks to the ability of Heroic Spirit's protection, Liu Ping once extracted a mutant ability from Yana: Soul Absorption.

With that ability, his soul power suddenly soared to 11 points.

This is far beyond the average second-level professional.

Now, his soul power has reached 12 points.

——If you don’t advance at this time, when will you wait!
Liu Ping took out the advanced card and poured all his soul power into it.

"Twelve points of soul power are enough!"

Hua Qingkong looked at the scale on the advancement card and said happily.

"I need to find a quiet place to complete the advancement." Liu Ping said.

The elevator opens.

Hua Qingkong pulled Liu Ping and walked outside.

"Come with me to my office." She said while running.

The two quickly came to the end of the corridor and stood in front of a wall.

Liu Ping looked around, only to find that there was no one on the whole floor.

— not even any office.

This place seems to be a mezzanine between two floors, and it seems that it has already reached the ground, and it is impossible to judge where it is.

Hua Qingkong put her hands on the wall and said:

"Special combat readiness team, Hua Qingkong."

The wall suddenly opened.

(End of this chapter)