Chapter 40: I have traveled back and forth between the future and the past countless times.

Shen Lingxue couldn't help but change her opinion of Fang Xiu. Could he be the legendary person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside?

Does his iceberg-like appearance hide a heart that shines and burns for humanity?

After a moment of silence, Shen Lingxue asked a few more questions, and Fang Xiu answered honestly.

Then Shen Lingxue was completely stunned.

Was this an angel who had fallen to earth, moved by the suffering of humanity? If the spiritual lie detector was accurate, Fang Xiu was truly a little angel among humans.

There wasn't a single person in the entire Spirit Tamer team as upright and kind as him.

"Last question: can you really predict the future?"

Fang Xiu calmly gazed at Shen Lingxue and said softly, "I have traversed between the future and the past countless times, witnessed death and rebirth, and experienced infinite possibilities. To me, the future is nothing more than a doll that can be observed and altered at will."

Shen Lingxue glanced at the unresponsive spiritual lie detector and, deep down, already believed Fang Xiu's words.

But she couldn't help but complain, "When I asked if you can predict the future, why didn't you just say no? Why did you have to pretend?"

After venting her frustration, Shen Lingxue put away the lie detector, stood up, and her attitude seemed to have changed.

If her previous attitude was indifferent, now it was distant.

It seemed as though she didn't want to stand next to Fang Xiu.

Humans are like that. When you discover someone who is more selfless and kind than you, you think they are hypocritical and pretending.

But when you realize they aren't pretending, you subconsciously distance yourself from such a radiant person, as their light exposes the darkness hidden within yourself.

Shen Lingxue felt this way now. At first, she was dissatisfied with Fang Xiu's self-righteous indifference, but after the test, she discovered that he was such an upright and kind person.

If she disliked such a good person, wouldn't that make her seem like a bad person herself?

Her pride prevented her from being hypocritical, so she instinctively rejected him and wanted to distance herself.

"You passed the test. Come with me to see Director Wang." Shen Lingxue dropped that line and turned to leave.

Soon, the two arrived at Wang Dehai's office.

Shen Lingxue placed the test report in front of Wang Dehai.

"He passed the test."

Wang Dehai took the report, glanced at Fang Xiu, and then smiled, "Fang Xiu, right? Let me introduce myself. I'm Wang Dehai, currently the director of the Green Vine City Investigation Bureau. Please sit down."

After speaking, he picked up the report, flipping through it while engaging in casual conversation.

However, as soon as Wang Dehai uttered the first word, he seemed to stumble.

"You....."

His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the report in his hands.

He even took out his glasses and looked at it again, but he still couldn't believe it.

The report was too perfect. It was so perfect that not only would a spirit master be unable to answer it, but even a normal person with an untainted mind would be unable to answer it.

He instinctively looked at Shen Lingxue, as if asking her something with his eyes.

Shen Lingxue nodded expressionlessly.

Wang Dehai suppressed his shock, took a deep breath, and said, "Mr. Fang, based on this report alone, even if your ability isn't predicting the future, I'd still like to invite you to join the Investigation Bureau."

"No rush, let's talk after the results are announced," Fang Xiu said calmly.

He wouldn't join the Investigation Bureau now; that would be meaningless. What he wanted was to join as someone with precognitive abilities, so he could demand a suitable price later.

At that moment, Shen Lingxue suddenly said, "Director Wang, I just used the spiritual lie detector to ask Fang Xiu if his ability was precognition."

Wang Dehai immediately focused his attention: "What was the result?"

"He passed the test."

Hearing the affirmative answer, Wang Dehai's pupils contracted slightly, but he didn't immediately believe it, because he knew that the spiritual lie detector wasn't infallible.

It could indeed detect lies, as long as what one thought and what one said did not match, the spiritual lie detector would sound an alarm. However, if someone was hypnotized and genuinely believed they could predict the future from within, the spiritual lie detector would deem it a truthful statement.

This was precisely where Wang Dehai harbored doubts.

The two then began to chat casually. Though the report was flawless, as the director of the Investigation Bureau, Wang Dehai naturally had his own methods for assessing people.

Fang Xiu found such small talk irritating; in his view, it was a waste of time. He only wanted to grow stronger and make the world's anomalies suffer.

Fortunately, before long, as the two were chatting, the office door burst open with a loud bang.

A young man in a work uniform rushed in urgently.

Wang Dehai furrowed his brows immediately: "I've told you so many times, don't be so impatient when doing things. You're like this..."

Before he could finish, the young man interrupted him: "Director Wang, it's bad news! The deputy captain... he's dead!"

"What?!" Wang Dehai jumped up from his office chair, his face filled with shock.

"How could he be dead? Bai Qi isn't just our bureau's top investigator; he's also the number one spirit summoner in all of Green Vine City. It's impossible! Quick, tell me what happened!"

Upon hearing the news of Deputy Captain Bai Qi's death, Wang Dehai was completely thrown into a panic. Bai Qi was his ace in the hole, and if that ace fell, Green Vine City would be thrown into complete chaos.

"Earlier, Captain Yang and Deputy Captain Bai were both searching for the Headless Demon. However, they were acting separately. Ultimately, it was Deputy Captain Bai who first located the Headless Demon in the abandoned building on the outskirts of Qingbei Town.

After Deputy Captain Bai found the Headless Ghost, he did not inform Captain Yang but instead faced it alone. Given Deputy Captain Bai's abilities, dealing with the Headless Ghost should have been no problem. However, no one expected that besides the Headless Ghost, another mysterious entity was hiding in the abandoned building on the outskirts of Qingbei Town. That entity launched a surprise attack, so Deputy Captain Bai... ..." At this point, the young man's face turned pale.

"What! Another ghost!?" Wang Dehai erupted in anger, grabbing the file folder on his desk and throwing it across the room.

"What are your intelligence operations for? There's another ghost hiding in Qingbei Town, and you didn't know about it beforehand!"

The young man was so scared he was about to cry: "Wang... Wang Bureau Chief, the intelligence department did conduct a city-wide sweep earlier, and they really did check Qingbei Town. At the time, they truly didn't discover that strange creature. It was as if it had appeared out of thin air later on!"

Wang Dehai took a deep breath, forcing down his anger, and asked, "What about Yang Ming?"

As the director of the Investigation Bureau, he knew that he must not let his anger cloud his judgment at this critical moment. Though the two anomalies had launched a surprise attack, their ability to kill Bai Qi indicated they were far from ordinary. If left unchecked, they could wipe out the entire Qingbei Town—and even the downtown area of Lvtong City might be caught in the crossfire.

"Captain Yang has been informed and is currently en route to Qingbei Town."

"Prepare the vehicles! Hurry up and prepare the vehicles. All investigators not currently on missions are to head to Qingbei Town immediately. Additionally, contact the leaders of all major civilian spirit summoner organizations and instruct them to dispatch personnel to Qingbei Town. The Investigation Bureau is willing to offer three thousand spirit coins and ten spirit incense sticks as compensation for resolving this mysterious incident!" Wang Dehai shouted almost in a rage.