Dongfang Wantang interjected at the opportune moment: "Uncle and Aunt, don't worry, Han Feng's friends are my friends too."
Han Feng gave her a grateful look.
His phone suddenly vibrated. It was an email from Chen Feng, attached with over a dozen surveillance videos. Han Feng quickly browsed them, his gaze lingering on one in particular—seven days ago, late at night, Wang Hao walked out of the dormitory building alone, suddenly stopping at a corner, seemingly talking to someone. But due to a blind spot in the surveillance footage, all that could be seen was him suddenly straightening his back, then, as if drawn by something, actively walking into the darkness off-screen.
"Here." Han Feng handed the phone to Dongfang Wantang. "Can you improve the image quality?"
Dongfang Wantang took the phone and traced a starburst pattern on the screen with her fingertip. A faint light flashed, and the blurry surveillance footage gradually became clear—Wang Hao's pupils reflected eerie blue light spots in the darkness!
"This is..." Dongfang Wantang gasped, "Mind control?"
Han Feng shook his head and dragged the progress bar to the last few seconds. Just as Wang Hao was about to leave the surveillance range, his shadow suddenly twisted and deformed, vaguely forming a familiar symbol—exactly the same as the star trail pattern flashing on the star chart!
"There really is a connection." Han Feng's voice was low. He turned to his parents: "I need to go to school."
Han's father asked, "Is there any news?"
Han Feng nodded: "We have a lead, but I need to go to the scene to take a look."
Dongfang Wantang stood up as well: "I'll go too."
"You stay," Han Feng said firmly. "Continue trying to locate it. Notify me immediately if you find anything." He lowered his voice, "Also... protect my parents, Mengran, and Wanwan."
Dongfang Wantang hesitated for a moment, then nodded solemnly in the end.
Han Feng strode towards the door, then suddenly turned back in the entryway: "Mom, tell Wang Hao's parents that I will bring him back by this time tomorrow at the latest."
With the engine roaring, Han Feng's SUV shot through the morning rush hour traffic in Kyoto like an arrow. He gripped the steering wheel with one hand and dialed Chen Feng's number with the other.
"Something's wrong with Wang Hao in the video." Han Feng made a sharp turn and overtook him. "His pupils are glowing blue, his shadow is distorted...it's like he's being controlled by some high-level mind."
The sound of papers turning over came from the other end of the phone: "Foreign forces?"
"Okay." Han Feng glanced at the rearview mirror. "Call Yu Die, and we'll meet at the main gate of the university."
Hanging up the phone, Han Feng stepped on the gas. The city landscape outside the window blurred into patches of color, only the eerie surveillance footage kept replaying in his mind—Wang Hao's shadow twisted into a star trail pattern, exactly like the star chart warning.
Twenty minutes later, Han Feng's car skidded and came to a stop outside the west campus wall of the university. Chen Feng and Yu Die were already waiting at the agreed location, both dressed casually and looking like ordinary office workers.
"Has the school spoken to you?" Han Feng asked, locking his car.
Chen Feng shook his head: "As you requested, the entire process must be kept confidential. We'll come in under the guise of power maintenance."
Yu Die handed over two work badges: "Wear these; the monitoring room has already made arrangements."
The three walked briskly along the tree-lined path toward the scene of the incident. The campus was full of vitality in the early morning, and students were rushing to class with their textbooks, completely unaware that a secret investigation was taking place around them.
"This is it." Chen Feng stopped at the corner behind the dormitory building, pointing to the ground. "The surveillance footage shows he was last seen in this location."
Han Feng crouched down, his fingertips lightly touching the concrete ground. The power of the stars flowed silently, attempting to detect any residual abnormal energy. But apart from the faint electromagnetic field of the underground cables, he found nothing.
"Let's go through the route once," Han Feng said, standing up. "Yu Die, you go first, and try to recreate Wang Hao's movements as accurately as possible."
Yu Die nodded and walked to the starting position of the surveillance camera. She imitated Wang Hao's pace in the video, pausing and speeding up at times—and then suddenly stopped when she reached the corner.
"Here." She pointed to an inconspicuous brick seam in the corner. "The cut is too neat."
Han Feng leaned closer to examine it. Indeed, there was a fine, hair-like cut along the edge of the brick, unlike natural wear and tear, but rather as if it had been slashed by something extremely sharp.
"Energy detection," Han Feng gestured to Yu Die.
Yu Die took out a device the size of a cigarette box from her bag, which unfolded into a palm-sized scanning panel. She gently scanned the incision, and the device immediately emitted a rapid "beep beep" sound.
"There's residue!" Yu Die exclaimed in surprise, looking at the readings. "But the spectrum is so strange..."
Chen Feng leaned closer: "It's not extraterrestrial energy?"
"It's the Heaven-Burning Technique." Han Feng stared at the flickering red waveform on the screen, his voice suddenly turning cold. "The Nangong family's technique."
The three looked at each other in bewilderment. The Nangong family had been nearly wiped out after the Shangguan family incident.
"Could this be a frame-up?" Chen Feng questioned. "Nangong Wentian is dead, and the remaining clansmen are all under our control..."
Han Feng shook his head, his fingers tracing the cut: "The energy characteristics of the Burning Heaven Technique can't be faked. But this temperature..." He frowned, "It's at least two hundred degrees lower than normal Burning Heaven True Qi."
Yu Die suddenly gasped: "Look at this!"
She adjusted the instrument mode, and the waveform on the screen became a three-dimensional projection—the residual energy formed a miniature star trail pattern deep in the brick seam, which was exactly the same as the shape of Wang Hao's distorted shadow in the monitoring!
"The Nangong family..." Han Feng's pupils contracted slightly. "This is impossible..."
Just then, Yu Die's device suddenly emitted a piercing alarm. The three of them looked up at the same time and saw a figure flash across the roof of the teaching building in the distance—the person was wearing a hoodie, so their face was not visible, but when they turned around, a ghostly blue flame was dancing in their right palm!
"Chase!" Han Feng dashed out like an arrow.
Chen Feng pressed his earpiece: "Attention all units, a suspected target has been spotted in the West Campus teaching building. Seal off all exits!"
As Yu Die ran, she adjusted the instruments: "The energy reading is soaring! It's even more powerful than the Burning Heaven Technique."
As Han Feng sped along, he felt a slight warmth emanating from the Star Mirror within his body. This was no coincidence—the Nangong family's cultivation techniques, the star trail patterns, Wang Hao's disappearance... all these clues pointed to a terrifying truth he had yet to fully grasp.
The figure on the roof of the teaching building seemed to sense the pursuit and suddenly accelerated, leaping towards the adjacent building. That inhuman leap distance was beyond the capabilities of ordinary martial artists; even more bizarrely, while in mid-air, his shadow split into three!
"Damn it, his cultivation level is definitely at the late stage of the Innate Realm!" Chen Feng drew a Tang sword.
Han Feng's eyes blazed with starlight: "Don't shoot! Keep him alive!"
He exerted force with his legs, channeling the power of the stars into his meridians, and soared into the air like a cannonball. Just as he was about to grab the person, the other person suddenly turned around—under the hood, Mu Xiaoxiao's face was facing him with a strange smile!
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