Light Barrier

Because of the Blazing Fire, Zhou Yexin was already in a semi-hypnotic state.

Tang Qingquan changed his sitting posture and listened intently while glancing at Gu Shen from the corner of his eye. Hypnosis was one of the most basic techniques of the mental-type.

The Adjudication Bureau had many transcendents capable of psychological suggestions, but this hypnosis technique was ineffective during the initial investigation of cases.

But… why did Gu Shen’s psychological suggestion work?

This kid’s abilities were indeed beyond ordinary people.

“It was… a very long afternoon.” Zhou Yexin fell into her memories and murmured softly, “I went out with Dora, but an accident happened… I lost her.”

At this point, she glanced at the photo, and her eyes flickered slightly.

This time, the Blazing Fire was very gentle.

Gu Shen didn’t apply a strong hypnosis.

He only applied a light push. If Zhou Yexin was unwilling to speak, he didn’t want to force her because of the pocket watch and because he had experienced the pain of that dream personally.

Evidently, the old photo on the table touched the painful memories buried deep in her mind.

“My dad said he’d buy me another one.” Zhou Yexin paused for a moment. She stroked the man’s face in the photo and said in a voice thick with emotion, “But I was young and didn’t understand. I cried and refused. I had to get Dora back…

“We posted notices all over the streets, but after half a month, there was still no sign of Dora or any news. At the time, I actually knew that Dora probably wouldn’t be able to come back.”

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

Reality was indeed different from dreams.

In that dream, the time span was roughly an afternoon. The man took the girl through several streets, and it was then that the colors of the dream began to change.

The colors of the dream represented the emotions of the person involved.

From hope, it turned into despair.

“Later, I was seriously ill… I was so sick and muddle-headed that I couldn’t tell when I was asleep or awake, what was real and what was imaginary. In that painful illusion, I saw Dora dead, lying in a pool of blood and cut open.

“My dad held my hand, and we ran a long, long way to find Dora. I cried so much, so my dad told me to close my eyes and that Dora would come back safely.

“I closed my eyes in the dream… When I woke up, the dream was over. Dora really came back. She was lying beside me as if she had never left.”

Zhou Yexin’s voice choked up. “But my dad… was gone forever. I’ve always felt that… my willfulness… killed my dad. If I hadn’t insisted on finding Dora, an accident wouldn’t have happened to him…”

Her voice trailed off.

“Ridiculous… isn’t it? This was my dream and also a tragedy in reality… Who would believe it if I said my dream came true?”

She looked at the two men and only received silence. Grand Magistrate Tang Qingquan sat silently on the couch and took small sips of his tea.

Gu Shen was the same. He was looking down without speaking.

… No. It’s not like that! At least… I believe you! he thought, but he couldn’t say it out loud.

There was a long silence.

Gu Shen comforted her gently. “Sister Xin, it was just a dream. My condolences. Don’t blame yourself…”

…

“What do you think about that dream?”

After leaving Zhou Yexin’s residence, Grand Magistrate Tang got straight to the point.

He had brought Gu Shen to Zhou Yexin’s home to see if this S-grade rookie of the Adjudication Bureau could uncover anything new from this dusty old case.

At the same time, he could verify his evaluation of Gu Shen.

From the looks of it, his decision was quite correct. At least from this trip, he had to reconsider his previous opinion of Gu Shen.

“Zhou Yexin is most likely a direct witness of the explosion,” Gu Shen said seriously. “I suspect that her memories have been altered.”

“Altered memories?” Tang Qingquan raised an eyebrow. Altering memories wasn’t difficult. Any mental-type transcendent could do it, but the difficulty was doing it without leaving a trace.

Invading someone’s mental sea was like climbing a vast snowy mountain. Any intruder would inevitably leave traces.

Subsequent intruders would see those footprints.

It was not easy to hide the truth from high-level transcendents of the Adjudication Bureau.

“And precisely because of her description of the dream… I’m even more convinced that Zhou Yu’s case isn’t that simple.”

Gu Shen said in a deep voice, “Do you still remember? The lunatics of the Eternal Foundation each have mental triggers planted in their minds to activate a mental explosion! The big shots who truly control those believers must be transcendents highly skilled in mental abilities and have extremely high ranks!”

“Yeah.” The grand magistrate lit a cigarette and gestured for Gu Shen to continue. “Go on.”

“Since they’re mental-type experts, it’s not impossible for them to do this. The reason I think Zhou Yexin’s memories were altered… is because she was the only witness in that dream. By erasing her memories, the last clue will be eliminated.” Gu Shen explained his thoughts to the grand magistrate.

He didn’t say… the biggest reason for this suspicion was that his transcendental Blazing Fire had sensed the Blood Fire of the compass owner in Zhou Yexin’s dream. The Blazing Fire represented the elimination of transcendental and disorderly mental power, and the fact that the Blood Fire could produce such a tremendous attraction to it meant… there was a high chance that it was also a mental-type ability.

“A plausible explanation,” the grand magistrate commented. “More like intuition.”

“But isn’t a transcendent’s intuition often accurate?” Gu Shen smiled.

Tang Qingquan shrugged noncommittally.

“Actually, what I don’t understand the most… is Dora’s return. According to the description in the dream, Dora was dead and disemboweled. What kind of immortal is Zhou Yu? Could he bring the dead back to life?” Gu Shen smiled bitterly. “You were in the same batch as Zhou Yu. Do you know his transcendental ability?”

The grand magistrate shook his head. “Zhou Yu was extremely powerful, and like you, he was a loner who liked to carry out missions alone. As a quasi-S-grade adjudicator, his files are strictly protected.”

Gu Shen’s eyes flickered.

In fact, he had not told Tang Qingquan some details. For example, Sister Xin’s pocket watch was a relic left behind by Zhou Yu, and she had taken it out of Dora’s stomach in the dream.

Gu Shen didn’t tell it to the grand magistrate.

Under the encouragement of the Blazing Fire, Zhou Yexin had revealed most of her dream, but she still hid some ‘secrets’.

Everyone had secrets.

That pocket watch should be the key to Dora’s resurrection. Gu Shen speculated that Zhou Yu’s ability was likely related to time.

“I can’t prove that the Blood Fire Master is involved in this case. Just as you said, the case files are as clean as snow, without any flaws,” Gu Shen said. “But at the same time, no one can prove that the mysterious compass owner didn’t intervene… because the case files are too clean.”

Being too perfect was a flaw in its own way.

Grand Magistrate Tang nodded silently.

In fact, he had long believed in the existence of the mysterious compass owner mentioned by Gu Shen.

The dream recounted by Zhou Yexin today was the evidence.

Back then, so many mental-type transcendents had not uncovered this dream, causing the Zhou Yu case to conclude hastily and end up being buried in dust.