I Have Infinite Skill Points-Chapter 577: Investigation

"Should we contact James?" Xie Sisi suggested.

"Although the liaison said we can make contact, it’s best not to. After all, no one knows whether getting in touch with someone from the New Blue Government will affect our score," Jiang Xinyu asked hesitantly.

"What is the purpose of this assessment?" Wang Lan suddenly looked up and asked.

"To strike at criminal forces and allow the New Blue Government to take control of St. State?"

"Wang Lan, are you saying that as long as the goal is clear, all means are permissible?" Jiang Xinyu countered, having instantly realized something.

"I think so. My situation is somewhat different from yours. I’ve led the investigation of Demon Clan spies and the pursuit of the Paradise Bird. My philosophy and experience tell me that rules are secondary; the outcome is what’s important. If the goal can be achieved, all rules can be disregarded. As a global organization maintaining world peace, how could the International Security Council not understand this? I even suspect that the more they emphasize rules, the more nonsensical they actually are. Of course, we don’t need to take risks just to prove a hypothesis. But since the liaison clearly stated we could contact James, we can definitely make contact to get more clues and drag this person hiding in the shadows into the light."

"You’re our team leader; your decision is our will." Jiang Xinyu was instantly relieved. Since the goal was of utmost importance, they should stop at nothing to achieve it.

As the night deepened, St. State fell completely silent. Such quiet at night had not been experienced in St. State for nearly fifty years. For those who had lived there all their lives, they had only experienced a handful of nights without the sounds of disturbances and gunfire. When security in St. State was in chaos, the citizens always prayed for the day when superheroes from the White Eagle Country would descend upon St. State. They longed to go to bars for drinks, dance clubs to dance, walk under the starry night sky, and enjoy the beautiful scenery by the lake.

Now that superheroes had arrived, they still did not dare to go out at night, even though there were no longer any hoodlums on the streets. Fear had paralyzed them for too long, and they couldn’t adjust to the new reality so quickly.

James’s apartment was on Ice Ring Street, primarily a residential area for government officials, and was just around the corner from where Wang Lan lived. Wang Lan, dressed in a black cloak with red clouds and wearing a moon-white, unsettling mask, silently rose from the floor of James’s home.

"WOOF—"

The black shepherd on the bed instantly sprang up, barking a warning at Wang Lan. James immediately rolled out of bed, his gun aimed at Wang Lan.

"Who’s there?"

"Dawn," Wang Lan’s deep voice echoed in the room as if it carried its own reverberation. James’s eyes glinted, and he obediently put away his gun.

"You don’t take off your clothes when you sleep?" Wang Lan looked curiously at James, who was wearing not just a uniform but even his combat vest.

"Never mind not undressing; I even hold a gun in my dreams. Weapons are hidden in every corner of my room," James said after confirming Wang Lan’s identity. He put away his gun and stood up to pour two glasses of liquor.

"Care for a drink?"

"I don’t drink."

"What do you need from me? Clues to the big players behind the scenes? If that’s the case, don’t count on me. I’ve been in St. State for two years. A hundred people with different identities came with me. Now, only four of us are left in St. State. Half of the others were assassinated, and the other half requested transfers back to New Blue. We don’t dare make any rash moves; even a slight unusual movement could bring a gunshot warning. I know that only puppets are active in public, but I don’t know who’s behind the scenes. There’s no way to investigate, and I don’t dare to."

"I’m only responsible for the Black Brilliance Area. A year ago, nine girls went missing there. Do you know about this?"

"I know. But it wasn’t nine; it was thirty-six. No, thirty-six was just the number missing that particular time. Last year alone, more than five hundred girls went missing in St. State. It’s the same every year. Their criminal methods are very sophisticated. With seven million people in St. State, some girls are bound to be careless or fall in with the wrong crowd and invite disaster."

"Have you ever investigated?"

James pointed to his chest. "This gunshot wound here is from when I was shot investigating that case. Unfortunately, by the time I was rescued, all the evidence and leads were gone."

"Do you have any records?"

"Yes! Give me a moment." James left the bedroom for the adjacent room, while Wang Lan waited quietly without following. After a short while, James returned and handed a stack of documents to Wang Lan.

"I’ve recorded everything I could, but the clues are still very scarce. Although I know you have strong combat abilities, investigation isn’t your forte. We could cooperate more closely."

"That won’t be necessary. If I need anything, I’ll come find you. I’ll take my leave now."

As Wang Lan finished speaking, he vanished instantly. James stared at the spot where Wang Lan had disappeared; truly, not a trace was left behind.

「Back at the apartment」

Jiang Xinyu and the others had already turned off the lights to sleep. In St. State, after eight o’clock at night, the city’s lights were gradually extinguished. Night was the world of sin; to stay away from sin, one should go to bed early. So, even if Wang Lan and the others couldn’t sleep, they had to turn off the lights. Consistently staying up late could easily arouse suspicion.

The next day, as soon as it was light, the outside became bustling. Wang Lan and the others got up one after another.

"How did it go? Any clues?" Xu Xiangwen asked while brushing his teeth by the bathroom.

"I brought back the files, but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet," Wang Lan replied, wiping his mouth and heading to the living room. Xie Sisi was in the living room preparing breakfast. Having truly inherited her brother’s culinary skills, Xie Sisi’s cooking could definitely reach a professional standard. However, St. State’s cuisine was influenced by European and American diets, so the variety of ingredients was limited, not giving Xie Sisi much room to showcase her talent.

"The thirty-six missing people included both males and females; it was just by chance that the nine from the Black Brilliance Area were all girls. Their primary common characteristic was that they were all born elsewhere and came to live in St. State during their childhood. But James investigated, and most of the students at the schools these nine girls attended weren’t St. State locals either—there are over six hundred such students. Among them, one hundred and thirteen had the same circumstances as the nine girls, yet only these nine disappeared."

"Is there anything special about these nine?"

"Nothing. James investigated everything from family connections and social circles to their appearances and blood types. Indeed, there are no links. It’s as if, out of hundreds of students, they just happened to pick these nine."

"The files state that three days before their disappearance, they all went to pray at the Heavenly God Church. Could it be related to that?" Xie Sisi asked, browsing through the files.

"James looked into that too. Before undergoing the Soul Resonance Awakening ceremony in St. State, almost everyone goes to the Heavenly God Church to pray for blessings. It seems there’s a curse of sorts in St. State. Over the past thirty years, the number of people awakening Star Martial talents here has been very low. It’s now less than one percent of what it was thirty years ago. Can you imagine? Four cities with a population of seven million, yet the number of Star Martial Warriors awakened each year is in the single digits. Annually, about sixty thousand children are born here, and another twenty thousand arrive from elsewhere. The number of people participating in the Soul Resonance Awakening ranges from at least fifty thousand to at most eighty thousand, yet only twenty to thirty succeed in awakening each year. What a pitiful awakening ratio! As a result, there are no Star Martial Academies in St. State, and those who awaken as Star Martial Warriors must attend schools in cities controlled by the New Blue Country."

"Is this awakening ratio cursed or something?" Xu Xiangwen asked, shocked. "Even in African and Indian countries, where the awakening ratio is extremely low, they still have an awakening rate of more than six per thousand, right? St. State doesn’t even have two per thousand?"

"That’s why they say St. State is a city cursed by the God of Heaven. Living in the City of Sin is considered the original sin, so they need to pray before participating in the Soul Resonance ceremony."

It was just as James himself had said: the people behind this case were no ordinary individuals; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been nearly killed when he first investigated it. But the mastermind had already wiped all clues clean. Coupled with the fact that a year had passed, very little useful information remained. At this point, even if Wang Lan and his team wanted to advance the investigation, they were completely clueless for the time being.

"It seems we really shouldn’t have taken this case..."

"That’s not necessarily true. Right now, the problem is the lack of leads, preventing us from starting. But think about it from another perspective: if we can dismantle the group behind the scenes through this case, the score from this single case might exceed all our previous scores combined."

"It’s like those college entrance exams. The small questions at the beginning are very easy, but you only get one point for a correct answer. The big questions at the end are very difficult, but getting one right earns you six or even twelve points. For an academic underachiever like me, the most I can do with those big questions is write ’Solution:’ very neatly and hope for the best. Lanzi, it’s time to show your real skills," Xu Xiangwen said, slumping onto the sofa in a dejected pose, his gaze vacant.

"I’m looking..." Wang Lan said, quickly browsing the data Xiao Ai had gathered using big data. His eyes scanned rapidly; filtering the correct intelligence from the dense mass of big data using specific bytes was very difficult.

"Got it!" Wang Lan suddenly exclaimed.

WHOOSH—

Like a spring, Xu Xiangwen shot upright.

"That fast?"

"Look, there’s a homicide case on file here. The victim, Bill, male, a retired special forces operative, came to live in the City of Sin twelve years ago. He was shot dead on August first last year. And this Bill happens to be Karen’s father—one of the nine missing girls. Coincidentally, soon after Bill was killed, his wife, intending to leave St. State with their young son, died in a car accident on the spot shortly after departing. Bill was killed by a very skilled assassin who left no clues, so his case was archived. But the deaths of his wife and child were part of a subsequent string of murders. The driver who hit and killed Bill’s family was caught not long after for robbery and sentenced to twelve years in prison."

"So we can pry out who hired the killer from him, and then follow the trail?"

"Exactly. And I suspect the reason Bill’s family was killed isn’t so simple. Of the nine missing girls, only Karen’s entire family was murdered. Bill was a former special forces operative; given his profile, he wouldn’t have just entrusted his daughter’s disappearance to the police. He would have investigated it himself. Could his death be because he discovered something?"