The fire in the underground factory on the outskirts was no small matter. Even if someone tried to suppress it quietly, on-site investigators had to sign off on the accident report.
As long as records of the underground factory fire can be found to confirm the participants, there's a high probability of discovering the Demonic Cultivator's mole within the police station, at which point, Lu Yan just needs to follow the clues and investigate thoroughly.
This approach is somewhat cumbersome but has the advantage of causing minimal impact.
If Lu Yan directly used vengeful spirits for intimidation and interrogation, it would leave too many traces, and once the world version updates, information mapping could lead to hidden dangers.
In the urban version, Lu Yan is the only Cultivator in the world, but in the Xianxia version, he's merely a small character who has just stepped into the threshold of cultivation. Any impact from information mapping could pose a mortal threat to him.
To prevent such incidents, it's necessary to act discreetly.
Upon locating the archive room, the vengeful spirit easily phased through the door and entered the room.
Looking around, the shelves were systematically organized with various archives, and in the top left corner of the room, a working surveillance camera was present.
The vengeful spirit waved a hand gently, gathering a large amount of yin energy which transformed into a hazy black mist, concealing the camera, and then began searching for the case records.
"Northern District Refrigerator Dismemberment Case, Missing Adult Male Case, Telecom Fraud Case, Luocheng Serial Murder Case... Is this Luocheng or Gotham?"
Leveraging the vengeful spirit to view the content of the archives, Lu Yan couldn't help but comment, then began searching through them chronologically.
Two months ago, Lu Yan finally found the file on the suburban fire.
This file appeared unremarkable, with the case closing record stating that the cause of the fire was an accidental ignition of discarded electric appliances.
It was an abandoned factory anyway, seemingly with no casualties, so it hadn't attracted much attention.
The name Li Zhaoheng was clearly written on the on-site investigator's signature.
Lu Yan's gaze narrowed slightly, controlling the vengeful spirit to search for officer records, finding Li Zhaoheng's name and home address among them.
The vengeful spirit reorganized the moved files, dispersed the black mist, phased through the walls, and left Luocheng Police Station without anyone noticing during the entire process.
In the hotel, Lu Yan retracted the vengeful spirit into the Soul Banner and turned to leave the hotel.
...
At night, Li Zhaoheng, reeking of alcohol, returned home.
Lying on the bed in his bedroom, he couldn't hide the joy on his face as he recalled the promises made over drinks that day.
"After enduring it for so many years, I've finally awaited the day to rise above!"
He was already forty-two this year and had been stagnating as a chief inspector for thirteen years.
Thirteen years ago, he solved a series of major cases and became the youngest chief inspector at Luocheng Police Station, earning the title of Luocheng Detective.
But just due to a mission where he refused an order from above to let a suspect go, he was forcibly held in the position of chief inspector for thirteen years.
Years later, he realized that the suspect was the illegitimate son of a big shot up top.
Thirteen years smoothed out the young inspector's sharp edges, making him gradually learn to bow his head, learn to go along with the flow.
Having lost hope of promotion, it was better to seek more benefits for himself and live a better life.
Two months ago, a fire occurred in the suburbs of Luocheng. It wasn't supposed to be Li Zhaoheng who inspected the scene, but he accidentally discovered that behind that abandoned factory where the fire started was a big shot with tremendous influence in Myanmar.
Hence, Li Zhaoheng volunteered to be responsible for investigating the fire and used this opportunity to contact the big shot, helping to conceal scene information.
On the surface, it was just an ordinary accidental fire, and determining the investigation result was merely a matter of a word from Li Zhaoheng.
It wasn't until Li Zhaoheng personally saw a group of people carry dozens of charred bodies from beneath the abandoned factory that he realized this matter was not so simple.
However, having chosen to get involved in this murky situation, Li Zhaoheng wouldn't hesitate.
Once the big shot handled the matter, they disappeared immediately without making any promises to Li Zhaoheng.
Only today did the big shot reappear in Luocheng, with their trusted subordinate organizing a gathering to entertain Li Zhaoheng.
During the banquet, Li Zhaoheng received a promise from the big shot that they would handle the internal affairs of the Luocheng Police Station and elevate his position.
But there was a precondition: he had to find a person named Lu Yan for the big shot.
After waiting for a breakthrough for thirteen years in the chief inspector position, Li Zhaoheng was ecstatic and readily agreed.
Full of drunkenness, Li Zhaoheng lay on the bed, recalling what the big shot's trusted subordinate instructed him, eager to return to the police station immediately to investigate information on Lu Yan.
Just then, the bedroom lights suddenly went out.
"Power outage?"
Li Zhaoheng instinctively looked at the extinguished light and was about to get up to check the circuit breaker.
At that moment, a pitch-black figure appeared by his bed, and the sinister aura began spreading throughout the room.
"Who's there?"
Li Zhaoheng instinctively questioned, but suddenly found he couldn't make any sound.
As his mouth opened and closed, only the sound of heavy breathing emerged, and the chilling cold along with the sight before him made him tremble uncontrollably.
"Why?"
The voice of inquiry came from the dark figure, the shrill sound seemingly striking directly at the soul, plunging consciousness into a chaotic void, even the brain became ensnared in confusion.
The next moment, a ghastly visage was revealed in the dim room.
The pale face seemed stitched together from multiple souls, exuding a bizarre sense of incongruity, and the twisted terror erupted at that moment.
"We died such an unjust death!"
"My insides hurt so much, my eyes hurt so much!"
Blood tears flowed from the dark eye sockets as the wails of the vengeful spirit continued.
"Why help them conceal?"
"Why not seek revenge for us?"
"I want to gouge out your eyes, cut out your insides, making you suffer the same pain as us!"
By now, Li Zhaoheng was scared out of his wits. He understood that the vengeful spirit before him was formed from the bodies in the abandoned factory, here to claim his life!
He tried hard to move his lips to make a sound. Finally, as the vengeful spirit's hand was about to touch him, his voice returned.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!"
"It was Gongyang Xuanming who harmed you, Gongyang Xuanming!"
"Gongyang Xuanming's subordinates instructed me to conceal the truth of the fire scene, it must be him who caused your deaths!"
The vengeful spirit continued in its shrill voice: "Who is Gongyang Xuanming?"
"He came to Luocheng suddenly a few years ago, said to be a descendant of a big shot with huge influence in Myanmar, doing some border trade dealings in Luocheng.
Rumors say that in recent years he's been selecting suitable organs for transplants for the upper echelons of Myanmar. Although the authorities have investigated him, no evidence was found.
He is currently staying at the Fenglan Hotel; you can definitely find him and his men there."
The vengeful spirit fell silent, seemingly pondering over information regarding Gongyang Xuanming.
Seeing this, Li Zhaoheng gritted his teeth and continued:
"After this incident, Gongyang Xuanming immediately went to Myanmar and only recently returned to Luocheng.
He even asked me to investigate someone today, who must also be related to this matter."
"His name is Lu Yan!"