Chapter 122: Chu Anzhi’s Disappearance
Chu Feng and Illya had stayed in the other world for two days before returning to the modern world.
Chu Feng was becoming increasingly adept at using his ability, and his travels between the two realms were growing more frequent. After hanging up the phone, he said with some exasperation, “How could this happen?”
Trouble seemed endless—just as things had started to calm down for a few days, more problems came knocking.
Illya glanced at Chu Feng and asked, “What happened?”
Chu Feng looked at her and replied helplessly, “Chu Anzhi is missing. Did he go to Ghost Village again?”
Chu Feng shook his head. “No. After what happened last time, he wouldn’t forget the pain that quickly.”
“He and two ability-users from a nearby school, along with three others suspected to be ability-users, were all taken.”
Illya tilted her head, confused. “Why? He’s not even an ability-user.”
“The ones doing the capturing are likely ability-user themselves. They’re taking anyone they suspect.”
Illya puffed up his cheeks and said, “Where I’m from, there aren’t many who can detect abilities. And if an ability-user really wants to hide, they’re hard to detect.”
“Can you distinguish powers?” Chu Feng recalled how Illya had immediately identified Manning as an ability-user.
Illya frowned. “Roughly, but I need to be close. Lately my ability has improved, and so has my detection. In our world, there was once an ability-user who could identify the positions of others just by looking at a map.”
Chu Feng blinked. “So if someone controlled that person, they could track all the other ability-users?”
Illya nodded. “Exactly.”
Chu Feng asked curiously, “What happened to him?”
“He was killed.”
Illya tilted his head. “He was a human ability-user who could locate demons. The human leaders used his ability to ambush and kill several demon combatants, causing the demons heavy losses. Naturally, the Nightmare Clan couldn’t tolerate him.”
Top-tier ability-users are trump cards to every faction. Losing one is hard to recover from.
Chu Feng asked, “Who killed him? Wouldn’t he have noticed if another ability-user got close?”
Illya nodded. “Exactly. But apparently, the demons bribed an ordinary person close to him to poison him.”
Chu Feng: “…So that’s how it happened? Demons are quite cunning too.”
Illya shook his head. “When it comes to cunning, no one beats the humans. Still, demons have their own tricks. It’s said this method came from a human prisoner.”
Chu Feng gave a dry laugh. “I see…”
Illya looked at him. “Why would those people capture Chu Anzhi?”
Chu Feng shook his head. “No idea. Lately, a lot of cults have been springing up. Some preach about building a world ruled by ability-users. And some organizations are conducting research on ability-users.”
Chu Feng took a deep breath, thinking, Let’s hope Chu Anzhi didn’t fall into the hands of those twisted researchers.
Illya puffed his cheeks. “Are we heading to the Capital now?”
Chu Feng nodded. “Yes.”
He rubbed his forehead and muttered inwardly: If I’d known this guy was so prone to trouble, I would’ve convinced him to stay home and be a shut-in when he said he wanted to return to the academy. In this day and age, striving forward isn’t always a good thing. Sure, it might lead to success… but it might also lead to death from overwork.
Illya looked at him. “Shall we go now?”
Chu Feng nodded. “No time to waste.”
They had no idea which force had taken Chu Anzhi, and every second counted when saving someone. Even though they had no leads.
Chu Feng grabbed Illya and teleported to the Capital.
This time their teleportation landed them in a shopping mall in the Capital. They avoided the security cameras and exited.
Illya sat in the taxi and asked, “Where are we going now?”
Chu Feng took a deep breath. “The police station.”
He frowned, thinking, There may not be much info at the police station, but it’s better than blindly searching.
Illya nodded with a soft “Oh.”
When they arrived at the police station, a crowd of parents had already gathered.
These days, ability-users were in high demand. Many companies were recruiting them, and having an ability-user in the family was like producing a top scholar. Now that someone had gone missing, their families were naturally anxious.
The station itself was in chaos—an ability-user going missing had caused a stir online, and people were speculating wildly.
Several officers were trying to calm the families, but most were deeply worried. Some were even asking bluntly if their loved ones were being used as test subjects.
“Miss Shen.” Chu Feng spotted Shen Yutong and greeted her.
She looked at him, surprised. “Mr. Chu, why are you here? And thank you again for before.”
The elixirs Chu Feng had given earlier had saved several people from poisoning. Later, experts analyzed the leftover elixirs and found they countered various toxins—including black mamba venom. Such a elixir was nearly priceless. Ten million yuan was, in hindsight, a bargain.
Shen Yutong secretly suspected the elixirs had been made by a hidden ability-user.
“Are you here for Chu Anzhi?” she asked.
Chu Feng nodded. “Yes, my cousin really has the worst luck.”
Shen Yutong already knew a bit about Chu Anzhi’s situation. Last time, he’d been repeatedly bled to save others. Now he was caught up in more trouble because of that earlier misunderstanding.
Chu Feng took a deep breath. “Miss Shen, is there any lead on finding them? Even a rough direction would help.”
Shen Yutong furrowed her brows. She wanted to say this might be linked to the recently emerged ability-user organization—and that it would be hard to find anyone taken by them—but looking at Chu Feng, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Technically, this matter shouldn’t be disclosed,” Shen Yutong said, “but if Mr. Chu really wants to know, I can share a few suspicious locations with you.”
Chu Feng smiled and said, “Then thank you.”
“If we can narrow down the search area even a bit, the chances of finding someone will increase.” Shen Yutong pulled out a map of the capital and circled more than ten locations. Chu Feng started to doubt whether Shen Yutong was deliberately messing with him—she’d marked so many places. The capital was densely populated, and investigating each area would clearly take a lot of time and effort. For an ordinary person, checking all those places could take months. By the time they found any clues, the target would likely be long gone.
After leaving the police station, Chu Feng reunited with Illya, who was waiting outside.
Illya glanced at Chu Feng and asked, “Did you get any intel?”
Chu Feng nodded. “Sort of. But the capital is so big—even if we have a general direction, it’s still like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate,” he added.
Illya frowned. “We can’t just sit and do nothing!”
Chu Feng nodded. “Exactly.”
He began checking each location Shen Yutong had marked. Since time was of the essence, Chu Feng could only teleport from place to place and let Illya use his abilities to detect any abnormal energy in the area. This rough method made it easy to miss clues, but with time running short, they had no better option.
They teleported several times. Chu Feng, not yet adept at spatial manipulation, once accidentally landed in the middle of a road—with a car speeding straight at them. He had to teleport again instantly to avoid being hit.
After a dozen more transfers, Illya suddenly grabbed Chu Feng’s arm tightly.
Chu Feng looked at him. “What is it? Did you sense something?”
Illya nodded. “I felt the aura of a Witch Stone.”
Chu Feng was surprised. “Really? A Witch Stone?” The Witch Stone he had found in an ancient tomb was already down to a fifth of its original size. To sense another now was an unexpected stroke of luck.
“Let’s go there,” Chu Feng said.
Illya frowned. “Aren’t we looking for Chu Anzhi?”
“Exactly! But isn’t the Witch Stone a clue?” Chu Feng thought to himself: The Witch Stone is useless to ordinary people but incredibly attractive to ability-users. If there’s a Witch Stone here, there might be ability-users nearby—and Chu Anzhi and the others may have been taken by one.
Guided by Illya, Chu Feng approached the source of the Witch Stone’s energy—it turned out to be an abandoned building.
Chu Feng pulled out his phone and looked up the place. It was a well-known project—at the time, the developer had paid a high price for the prime location. But ever since construction began, accidents kept happening. Eventually, people even started falling to their deaths. The developer went bankrupt and ended up jumping off the building himself. Construction was halted, and the internet was full of rumors about bad feng shui and hauntings.
Illya looked at Chu Feng. “This place feels filled with dark energy. Are we really going in?”
Chu Feng nodded. “Let’s go.”
He and Illya ventured deep underground and found that several basement levels of the unfinished building had been turned into a large laboratory.
Two men in white lab coats walked past them.
One of them, a bespectacled man, glanced suspiciously in their direction. “Did someone sneak in?”
The other replied, “How could that be? If someone had broken in, the external sensors would’ve triggered the alarms.”
Rubbing his forehead, the man muttered, “Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”
After the two left, Chu Feng let out a breath of relief. Although they couldn’t be seen, Chu Feng could still see the two men—and being stared at like that made him quite uneasy. When they were close, he hadn’t dared to even breathe.
