C37 On the Surface and in the Dark

[Appraisal Success]

[Nightingale Lantern: Possessable to conceal one's aura, smell, and information. Infusing the Nether Fog can evolve into a Ghost Hand Lantern.]

In the bathroom, Zhang Ping used the appraisal on the lantern that was emitting a green light. When he saw the attributes, he also saw the method of making the secret lantern.

The lantern was made from the bones of the Nec Nogiyanound, and the flames inside came from a catabolic beast called 'Scavenger Nightingale'.

When the Scavenger Nightingale matured, its chest would form a special organ to contain the ghost fire. This kind of ghost fire required corpse oil as fuel, and it had the ability to avoid the detection of predators.

Under normal circumstances, the more corpses there were, the more Scavengers Nightingales there would be.

...

After looking at the process of making it, Zhang Ping's expression became a little better.

In fact, he was already mentally prepared to see some cruel scenes during the appraisal.

Fortunately, he saw the method of dealing with the catabolic beast this time. According to the steps in the picture, he felt that he could also make a Nightingale Lantern.

"Infusing the Nether Fog can evolve?"

Zhang Ping thought for a while, and then he injected the Nether Fog into the Nightingale Lantern.

He found that the Nether Fog and the ghost fire in the lantern had a strange chemical reaction. The Nether Fog became a new fuel, and the flames also quickly turned from green to gray.

The entire bathroom suddenly lost its color, just like a black and white movie.

This was an evolution?

Zhang Ping hurriedly used the appraisal on the lantern.

Appraisal Success!

[Ghost Hand Lantern]: The owner of the lantern can block out his presence within the range of the light. It can prevent most detection and appraisal abilities. It is effective against Kings and below.

Good stuff!

In other words, as long as he had the Ghost Hand Lantern, even Situ Shibai would not be able to appraise his attributes. Furthermore, blocking out his presence meant that he would be invisible. This was a higher level of invisibility than the Assassination Ring and Nether Fog Night Walker.

Furthermore, these three abilities did not conflict with each other. When they were combined, even Moon Prince might not be able to find him if he walked outside at night.

However, the fuel of the Ghost Hand Lantern had changed from corpse oil to Nether Fog. This also meant that his Nether Fog had an extra expense.

"If only I could open a haunted house."

Zhang Ping carefully felt the consumption of the Ghost Hand Lantern on the Nether Fog. In the end, he let out a long sigh.

In fact, the consumption of the Ghost Hand Lantern was not particularly large. The problem was that he had too little Nether Fog. Last night, the masked man had attracted lightning, and he had used up a portion of the Nether Fog in order to resist the impact. Although he had sucked it back from the red-haired man, he still felt that it was not enough.

After calculating the time it would take for the Nether Fog to burn, he put the Ghost Hand Lantern into the Gold Treasury and then took out the copper ring.

He first washed the bloodstains on the copper ring with water before activating the appraisal on the copper ring.

Appraisal failed!

Appraisal failed + 1

Appraisal failed + 10

Appraisal failed +100

Appraisal Success

Sin Crown: The wearer will be immune to pure and clean mental abilities.

In the next moment, Zhang Ping saw little girls being forced to drink the green liquid, and then die in pain. They were dismembered by an old man with a face full of scars.

Zhang Ping could not watch anymore. He gritted his teeth and wished he could rush into the screen and kill the old man on the spot, dismembering him into a thousand pieces.

However, the screen continued.

After the screen ended, Zhang Ping's eyes dimmed as he looked at the bronze ring for a long time.

In his previous life, he had always been saving people. Even when he died, he had never regretted his decision. In this life, the people he wanted to save were already irredeemable, but he still had a lot of things to do.

"Beast... Zhu family, Sky Fox..."

Zhang Ping muttered to himself, then placed the bronze ring into the Gold Treasury, and then took out a ring.

This ring came from the Male Nian.

Zhang Ping was mentally prepared and activated the appraisal once again.

Appraisal Success

Powerful Necklace: The wearer's mental strength will be enhanced. Elementary Awakened people will have a 50% increase, intermediate Awakened people will have a 35% increase, advanced Awakened people will have a 25% increase, and top-level Awakened people will have a 10% increase.

Then, the screen slowly unfolded.

On the large square, countless men in black were injecting their mental strength into a girl's body through props. The girl's entire body bulged with blue veins, and she screamed in pain.

However, no one cared about her pain. Instead, they continued to transmit their spiritual energy.

The girl's seven orifices were bleeding. Just as she was about to die, a long sword pierced through her forehead. The gem embedded on the long sword immediately emitted a precious light. The girl's unstable spiritual body was directly sucked into the gem.

"Is that a soul?"

Zhang Ping's expression didn't look too good after looking at it. What he was more concerned about was the spiritual body he saw in the end.

If there really was a soul in this world, then would all the people who died have already reincarnated?

"If there really is reincarnation... That would be great."

Zhang Ping looked at the gem on the ring with a complicated expression. There was a tragic soul sealed inside the gem, but he didn't know how to release her.

He put away the ring and thought to himself that he might be able to ask Situ Shibai about it when he saw him next time.

"Zhang Ping, are you pulling the diamond? Why is it so long?" Chiu Qiang's voice came from outside the bathroom.

Zhang Ping quickly replied, "Wait, it's good now."

As he spoke, he got up and opened the door.

...

In the meeting room of the Cleaning Team's headquarters.

Situ Shibai looked at the listless Jin Bo and said lightly, "Sisi will temporarily be the leader of the Battle Team. After you recover from your injuries, you will first be a combat member for a period of time. The annual salary this year will be halved, and all the benefits will be reduced by 50%. Do you have any objections?"

“No.” Jin Bo said with a pale face.

He was not the only one who was injured, but he was the one who had caused two of his teammates to die in battle.

In fact, this was the most painful thing for him.

“Captain, I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to be the leader of the Battle Team,” Liu Sishan, who was sitting on Jin Bo’s left, said.

Situ Shibai smiled and said, “Sisi, you have always been a steady person. Pearl City is full of strange things, so I can only be at ease if you are the leader of the Battle Team.”

“Alright, let us discuss the situation last night. Sisi, you are a participant, so you can tell us first.” He did not give Liu Sishan the chance to refuse as he changed the topic.

Knowing that Situ Shibai had already made up his mind, Liu Sishan did not refuse the position of the leader of the Battle Team. She calmed herself down and said, “At first, I received a call from Zhang Ping outside the city. He found that someone was sneaking around Chen Xueli’s house. I contacted Judy, but they didn’t have any surveillance cameras. So I realized that this matter was not simple.”

“It is indeed not simple. They clearly have tools that are meant to deal with us from the cleaning team. This means that the people from the cleaning team…” Chen Ming said.

Situ Shibai laughed and said, “It might not be an insider. The Illusionary Light Backdrop is not perfect.”

There was always a way to deal with any ability. There was no such thing as an invincible ability. No matter how powerful the Illusionary Light Backdrop was, there would always be a flaw.

Liu Sishan continued. Actually, she didn't have much information. When she mentioned that Judy had been sent to the black secret room, she stopped and said, "That's all I know."

Chen Ming frowned and asked, "That girl who was kidnapped is Chen Xueli? Who is she?"

Liu Sishan replied, “Judging from her age, she should be a granddaughter.”

“Her name is Huang An.”

Situ Shibai looked at the unremarkable man beside Chen Ming.

This man was neither fat nor thin. He had a square face, and his facial features were perfect. His presence was extremely low, and it was easy for others to ignore him.

Chen Ming then remembered Huang An. He looked at her and asked, “Huang An, is there a granddaughter of Chen Xueli?”

“There is a granddaughter, but her origin is a little strange. According to our investigation, Chen Xueli’s son, Chen Haowen, does not have a wife. Not only does he not want to inherit the Hanhai Academy, but he also has a special love for the profession of adventurer. About fourteen years ago, Chen Haowen brought back a baby from outside the city. He said it was his daughter, but two years later, he passed away. From then on, the baby was raised by Chen Xueli,” Huang An said slowly.

Chen Ming frowned and said, “In other words, there might be something wrong with the baby’s origin. It might not be the blood of the Chen family.”

“Why did those people kidnap her?” Judy asked, yawning.

Liu Sishan said calmly, “Zhang Ping should know more. I’ll go find him tonight.”

“No, Pearl City is very dangerous now. If you enter Pearl City recklessly, the Sky Fox will hunt you down. Besides the captain, no one can save you.” Chen Ming objected.

Situ Shibai smiled and said, “Although last night was not perfect, Zhang Ping’s contribution cannot be ignored. How about this, Sisi, you go to the Equipment Chamber and choose two pieces of equipment. One for yourself, and the other as a reward for Zhang Ping.”

“Understood.”

Liu Sishan immediately understood what Situ Shibai meant.

Obviously, Situ Shibai supported her to go find Zhang Ping tonight.

Chen Ming looked at Situ Shibai and was about to say something when he heard him laugh, “This time, I’ll cover Sisi.”

Alright.

Since it had come to this, Chen Ming had nothing else to say.

Although they all knew that Zhang Ping had a badge that could be used to contact him, no one mentioned the matter of using the badge to contact Zhang Ping. The main reason was that they didn’t know what Zhang Ping was like and whether it was convenient for them to contact him.

If Zhang Ping was not convenient to contact now, it might cause him to be in danger.

...

City Lord's Mansion.

Zhu Zeming came out of the study room and walked through the long corridor. He happened to see a Sky Fox eating a person not far away.

He walked up and patted it, smiling, “It’s eating.”

“Huang Zeming, what’s the matter?” The Sky Fox spat out a finger bone and asked in a hoarse voice.

Zhu Zeming smiled and said, "Actually, I have a very annoying person. Can you help me eat him?"

"It's very dangerous outside now. His Highness said that we are not allowed to go out." The Sky Fox said.

Zhu Zeming laughed and said, "Now His Highness is monitoring the entire city. How dangerous can you be doing things under his watch?"

"That's reasonable. It's not impossible for me to help you, but what benefits can I get?" The Sky Fox rolled its eyes and said.

Zhu Zeming took out a tooth and said, "Have you seen enough?"

"Yes, I'll do it tonight!"

The Sky Fox stretched out its hand and grabbed the tooth in Zhu Zeming's hand, agreeing to it.

This was a fang of a Moon Wolf. It was useless to humans, but it could increase the power of a catabolic beast.

The power of a catabolic beast was equivalent to the power of a human.

The power of a human could be raised by encouraging one's heart and strengthening one's beliefs, but the catabolic beasts were still animals. Once they sensed that their opponent was stronger than them, their aura would decline, and they would even lose their courage and run away.

Just like how ordinary Sky Foxes would subconsciously lower their heads and tail when facing Moon Prince, they would not even dare to look him in the eye.

Therefore, other than fighting and eating meat to increase their level, the catabolic beasts also needed to use various methods to increase their power.

This fang of a Moon Wolf was enough to make this Sky Fox take the risk.