Chapter 206 - 205: Mysterious Union, Bad Check

?

Li Jing slowly typed a question mark.

The Monster Beast Union, isn’t this the beast organization that raised Yue Lingling?

Is this organization sponsored by the Wang family?

Seeing someone’s astonished look, Jiu Li raised an eyebrow.

"Inspector Li, have you heard of the Monster Union?"

"I have heard of it."

Li Jing responded, thought about it, and said.

"As far as I know, the Monster Beast Union takes in and educates low-rank monsters, allowing them to understand human society’s rules before they transform. This prepares them better for integrating into human society once they reach the Three Realm and have the ability to transform."

"That aligns generally with what I’ve heard."

Jiu Li nodded, then smiled without smiling.

"I’ve only heard about such an organization, but never had contact with them. In my opinion, since it’s an organization, its purpose can’t be so simple. Both humans and monsters share the nature of chasing fame and fortune. If the Monster Beast Union is truly like the rumors say, selflessly training low-rank monsters to integrate into human society, then that’s excessively benevolent."

Li Jing was silent.

He had never really thought about this aspect.

But now that Jiu Li mentioned it, it made sense.

An organization must have a goal, right?

In this world, there’s never gratuitous kindness.

After pondering for a moment, Li Jing looked up.

"Brother Jiu, when did you hear that the Wang family were secretly funding the Monster Beast Union?"

"It was a long time ago, at least two or three years."

Jiu Li spoke, then said.

"It’s strange indeed, the Monster Beast Union has a decent reputation among Third and Fourth Realm set of monsters, but most high-rank monsters above the Fifth Realm have never heard of it. When I first heard about the existence of such an organization, I discussed it with many high-rank monster friends. Many hadn’t even heard of it, and those who had, only knew of it by name. Inspector Li, if you’re interested in the Monster Beast Union, you might want to delve deeper into Third and Fourth Realm monsters."

"Understood."

Li Jing responded, and stood up.

"Thank you for the information, Brother Jiu. I’ve troubled you with my sudden visit, but I’ll leave you be now."

"No problem."

Jiu Li smiled, also standing up.

On the surface, giving off the air of a politely saying goodbye, but his face had the look of, "Finally, you’re leaving."

Li Jing looked at him and didn’t know what to say.

This Late Six Realm monster was, honestly speaking, quite a character.

Still, he was a decent person, authentic and genuine.

Substituting him with another high-rank monster might not be so easy to get along with, and it wouldn’t be as simple to get useful information.

Realizing that acting alone had many inconveniences, if there was a Six Realm monster assisting him, it might bring a lot of conveniences. Li Jing took out his mobile phone.

"Brother Jiu, could you leave me an Immortal Message?"

Jiu Li’s twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Li Jing is clearly climbing the proverbial ladder, noticing that Jiu Li’s easygoing, so he’s set his sights on him!

"It’s inconvenient."

With a straight face, Jiu Li continued.

"I have to rush my draft recently, and don’t want to be..."

Halfway through, Li Jing interrupted.

"I noticed that your power is nearing the bottleneck of the Six Realm, and you’re just one step away from the Seventh Realm. You would probably be interested in the flesh of a Six Realm Monster, wouldn’t you?"

"..."

Jiu Li.

The flesh of a Six Realm Monster - how could he say he’s not interested?

But that’s something truly rare and can’t be forcibly obtained.

If he wanted to, he could encounter it every day.

Besides him, there are many other Six Realm Monsters in the national capital.

But he can’t kill someone just because he wants a bite of their meat, can he?

Not to mention, a lot of them are his friends, and Six Realm Monsters aren’t that easy to kill.

Even with his late stage Six Realm cultivation level nearing the Seventh realm, when facing a monster newly in the Six Realm, he still couldn’t assure a victory.

Cultivation level of monsters depends on Realm and talent.

Talents of Monster species are diverse, even the same species can have differing talents, moreover, the strength of individual talents vary person to person.

The talent of a monster is like the superior or inferior classification of the weapon a human carries.

Here’s a simple example.

A Late Six Realm possessor of a Second or Third Level Spirit Tool wouldn’t be able to kill a monster in the Early Six Realm with a Level Seven or Eight Spirit Tool, he might even be suppressed.

Furthermore, there’s a more important issue.

If Six Realm monsters fight, it would be earth-shattering.

Once it starts, the Seventh Realm Guardian God of the national capital will definitely be alarmed.

If they stop before causing any disaster, they might be able to save their lives, but afterwards, they would definitely not escape being expelled.

Something that troubled Jiu Li was:

Even though Li Jing being able to tell he’s a monster is understandable, why can he tell that he’s just one step away from the Seventh Realm?

Late stage realms, also divide into initial and peak stages.

He’s at Six Realm’s late stage peak right now.

Normally, this shouldn’t be noticeable.

Even if a Seventh Realm monster comes, they could only tell that he’s in the late Six Realm at most.

After a period of silence, Jiu Li spoke.

"If you’re hoping I can assist in killing the Six Realm monster from Wang Youwei’s case, I’m afraid I can’t say I’m interested. Even though that monster might not be as powerful as me, it is incredibly strong. At least from my point of view, even if Wang Youwei was completely defenseless in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to severely wound him."

With that, he added.

"For this case, if you manage to catch a lead, I suggest you don’t think about the benefits you could get from killing a high rank monster. Report it to the Investigation Bureau and let a Six Realm from the bureau handle it. It’s one thing to dare to fight, but you must make sure you have the ability, given that you still belong to the Four.."

Before Jiu Li could finish, Li Jing interjected.

"I’m in the Fifth Realm."

Hearing this, Jiu Li frowned.

With his insight, he could naturally tell that Li Jing wasn’t just a youthful appearance, but actually very young.

Being so young and already at the Fifth Realm, is this guy reaching for the heavens?

No wonder he dared to visit a high-rank monster alone...

Shaking his head, Jiu Li said.

"You have an exceptional gift, and you should cherish your life even more. The gap between major realms is hard to bridge. Facing a Sixth Realm, whether you are in the Fourth or Fifth Realm, it does not make much of a..."

Li Jing cut off the conversation halfway through.

"I know my own business. Brother Jiu, you’re a smart man, you should be able to tell why I want your Immortal Message number — because I need your assistance to kill the criminal Sixth Realm Monster. But don’t get me wrong, I can handle the Sixth Realm Monster myself. My request for your assistance is because this matter is likely to go beyond my control if reported to the headquarters."

"To tell you the truth, I’ve uncovered quite a few leads in this case. It involves not just one Sixth Realm Monster, but also several from the Fifth Boundary. Provided things go as planned, it won’t be long before I confirm the identities of some of them. It’s quite inconvenient for me, working alone, especially since they may not always be together, which is why I need your help, Brother Jiu."

"Leave your Immortal Message number with me. You are safe at your cultivation level, even if a criminal monster might be stronger than you. It shouldn’t be a problem for you to protect yourself. Once we find the perpetrator, I promise to give you one hundred jin of the monster’s flesh and blood. Is this deal acceptable to you?"

Through a long string of words, Li Jing finally managed to pull out an "IOU".

This IOU was undeniably attractive.

Seeing Li Jing so confident, Jiu Li had some difficulty gauging him.

It wasn’t hard to tell from Li Jing’s words.

He was conducting the investigation alone, intentionally avoiding the Patrol Headquarters.

Not only that.

His investigation was way ahead of Patrol Headquarters’, he had already got a firm grip on the case.

This young patrol officer from Jianghai seemed a bit wild.

He wasn’t familiar with the capital city, and yet he managed to outpace the Patrol Headquarters in his investigation—this was definitely not just due to using his brain power, he certainly had other undisclosed methods.

After examining Li Jing for a few moments, Jiu Li gave him his Immortal Message number.

"I don’t know where you get your confidence from, but if I don’t have to deal with the Sixth Realm Monster, I can agree to help you once. But this is the only time. Also, let me make it clear that I don’t kill monsters or people, at most I can help you out in some inconvenient situations."

Jiu Li’s words were somewhat weak.

However, Li Jing was quite pleased.

He was asking for assistance, not trouble.

For him, monsters are full of experience points!

If Jiu Li killed the monster, he could not handle himself, then that would be a loss.

Picking up his phone to add Jiu Li’s Immortal Message, Li Jing said.

"Brother Jiu, wait for my message. I’ll contact you when needed."

...

After bidding farewell to Jiu Li and stepping onto the streets, Li Jing takes out his phone to check the time.

It was around eleven in the morning.

Doing a quick calculation, thirteen hours had passed since he had given instructions to Xiao Ai last night.

While walking down the street, Li Jing began composing a message.

"How’s it going, Xiao Ai?"

The message was sent, and Xiao Ai replied quickly.

"Better than expected. There are a total of 147 names and addresses you provided. We’ve confirmed that 62 match up. The remaining 85 unknown identities have been expanded to 386 suspects after screening through a year’s worth of surveillance footage. "

Before he could even finish reading the message, Xiao Ai sent another one.

"Currently, I am scanning all the surveillance in the capital to confirm whether any of the confirmed or suspect individuals had contact with Wang Youwei. The amount of surveillance footage in the whole city is huge, but having a single target makes it easier. With my calculation ability, I estimate the results will be out in less than two hours."

Upon receiving the two messages, Li Jing replied.

"Good, inform me immediately when you have the results."

"Understood."

Xiao Ai answered back.

After contacting Xiao Ai, Li Jing dialed Yue Lingling’s Immortal Message number for a voice call.

There was no need to look for other Third or Fourth realm demons to learn about the Demon Beast Union.

A human wouldn’t necessarily know about the Demon Beast Union, and even if they did, they might not be willing to talk.

When Yue Lingling had previously mentioned the Demon Beast Union, her attitude had been one of absolute reluctance to speak more on the matter.

Including Jiu Li, the major demons he knew acknowledged their limited knowledge about the Demon Beast Union.

Demons from the Third and Fourth Realms seemed to know more.

This not only suggested that the Demon Beast Union held significant influence among demons of the Third and Fourth Realms, but also indicated their method of almost brainwashing those demons who had come into contact with the Union to keep quiet, thereby maintaining their own mystery and concealing the true purpose of their existence.

Under such circumstances,

Seeking information from demons whom he knew seemed to be more practical and would more likely provide useful intel.

The call connected after a few rings and was then picked up.

Following this, Yue Lingling’s puzzled voice rang out.

"Detective Li, you’re looking for me?"

"Hmm, I’m currently in the capital. I have a major case at hand that’s connected to the Demon Beast Union, and I wanted to discuss it with you."

Li Jing responded clearly, without any hesitation, and provided a brief overview of the Wang family’s blood case and explicitly stated the information he had gleaned from Jiu Li.

Prying information regarding the Demon Beast Union out of Yue Lingling’s mouth was not easy.

He needed to make her realize the seriousness of the situation, and that he would continue investigating even if she remained silent.

During the call, Yue Lingling remained quiet for a long time after hearing Li Jing’s explanation before finally responding.

"Detective Li, I think you must have made a mistake. The Demon Beast Union couldn’t possibly be cruel enough to exterminate a whole family. The education they provide demons like me, who have been adopted since young, is to abide by the laws and not harm humans. I can’t imagine that the Demon Beast Union would do such a thing."

"I didn’t say that the Demon Beast Union definitely did it, but since they are implicated, it falls within my duty to investigate."

Li Jing replied.

"Tell me what you know about the Demon Beast Union. At the moment, I’m the only one investigating this case. If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to report it to the detective agency headquarter, and ask them to assist with the investigation. Regardless of whether the Demon Beast Union is as good as you say, they won’t escape scrutiny once the agency takes notice."

After speaking, he added.

"As detectives, we could turn a blind eye to individual demons. However, organizations like the Demon Beast Union are not to be tolerated. Throughout history, no organization remained innocent in the long run. Even if they startout with pure intentions, power ultimately corrupts. The detective agency would never allow such organizations to develop unchecked."

Hearing Li Jing’s compelling response, Yue Lingling plunged into another long silence.

After a considerable pause, she replied in a soft voice.

"If it ultimately turns out that the Demon Beast Union isn’t responsible, Detective Li, can you promise not to report them?"

He chuckled at her words.

"If I was adamant about reporting the Union, why bother calling you? I could have just reported them directly."

"That’s true."

Yue Lingling conceded, then continued.

"My knowledge about the Demon Beast Union isn’t extensive. After all, I was only raised and educated by them, never really immersing myself deeply into their workings. Before leaving the Jianghai division of the Union, I was invited to join the Union’s inner circle as a lower-level officer, educating and training lower-ranked demons in other divisions. However, I had just transformed at that time and didn’t want to get involved in such matters. If I couldn’t even take care of myself, how could I teach others?"

She paused briefly before continuing.

"There indeed is a branch of the Union in the capital, but it’s not the headquarters. I heard from my Union instructor that the headquarters is located in a small foreign country. The Union does accept support from cultivators. When I reached the Third Realm and started my final education phase, I saw a few high-level cultivators who came to ’inspect’ us. The Union’s instructor referred to them as shareholders. I have no idea about their names or surnames, but they didn’t look like local Jianghai residents."

Li Jing listened to Yue Lingling’s account and hummed in response, before asking another question.

"Do you know where the Union’s organization in the capital is located?"

"Not clear."

Yue Lingling replied.

"Whenever a batch of humanoid demons ’graduate,’ the Union alters their nesting grounds. I’m no longer privy to the current location of the Jianghai division of the Union."

"Alright, I understand."

Li Jing acceded.

"If there are any developments, I’ll inform you separately. I need to hang up now."