Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 1096: Chapter 962: Tracking

Qu Jianlei and the others did not expect that the Soul Body would be so troublesome.

But to be fair, a few of them were a bit greedy; such an almost unheard-of existence piqued their great interest.

They themselves didn’t even realize that they instinctively wanted to capture the opponent.

If they really wanted to kill the opponent with all their might, they could unleash their full thunderous methods.

Of course, even then, they might not necessarily be able to kill the opponent, but it would be a bit more reliable than it is now.

Just then, Qu Jianlei’s spiritual power pierced that soul, but immediately afterward, the other party still slipped into the wall.

"Damn!" the Paranoid muttered dejectedly, "That guy still got away!"

Granny Jia, being weaker in terms of spiritual power, frowned upon hearing this, "Really got away?"

If so, wouldn’t this mean that our side is at risk of exposure?

Qinghu’s spiritual power wasn’t as strong as these two, but her focus was different, "Boss, is this..."

Qu Jianlei, with his eyes closed and pale-faced, stopped for three or four seconds before vigorously shaking his head.

"I’m fine, but that guy devoured a bit of my spiritual power..."

"Damn," the Paranoid’s face changed upon hearing this, "Your spiritual power got devoured? Good thing I didn’t use a spiritual attack."

He considered his cultivation level to be no worse than the boss’s, but his spiritual power was slightly lacking in comparison.

It’s not that his spiritual power was insufficient, it’s just that... the boss’s spiritual power was too abnormal.

Almost simultaneously, at the top of the stairs outside the room, a minute fluctuation appeared in the air.

However, no one really noticed it.

Granny Jia’s face also changed, "It can actually devour spiritual power... won’t it be worse than Mu Yu?"

The Paranoid rolled his eyes upon hearing this, thinking, of all things to mention...

At this moment, Qu Jianlei hummed softly again, slowly opened his eyes, and his expression was a bit strange.

"Boss, should we leave now?" Qinghu proactively asked.

They hadn’t yet killed Adol, but that was no longer important; timely withdrawal was now the priority.

"Wait a moment..." Qu Jianlei replied feebly and rubbed his forehead.

"Then let’s wait," the Paranoid readily agreed, then kindly explained to the others.

"A sudden loss of spiritual power really affects a person a lot. Mu Yu experienced it, and I experienced it too..."

"As for being devoured, that’s even scarier, being forcibly taken away."

The group nodded upon hearing this. This kind of information was out of reach for ordinary people, but it wasn’t surprising for them.

At this moment, Qu Jianlei hummed again and spoke with a strange expression, "But the good news is, it seems like it can’t digest it!"

As long as it’s good news, the group was about to nod when Granny Jia spoke up, "The consequence of not being able to digest is... can it be located?"

"That’s right," Qu Jianlei’s face showed an indescribable expression, "It’s really quite marvelous."

The group looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

If possible, everyone, of course, wanted to give chase, but even if they caught up, what would they do then?

And another point—since the boss’s spiritual power hasn’t been digested yet, wouldn’t catching up have negative effects on him?

Hearing them all fall silent, Qu Jianlei instinctively spoke up, "Let’s leave first and clean up the traces."

For them, leaving was too simple.

Soon enough, they rendezvoused with the two people they were to meet, and the seven of them moved fifty kilometers away.

By this time, Qu Jianlei was in much better condition, but he still quietly popped a capsule into his mouth.

After another seven or eight minutes, he opened his eyes and spoke slowly, "I’ve already located that guy, so what do you all think?"

"We definitely have to take him down!" the Paranoid stated without hesitation, "If we can capture and Soul Search, that would be best."

"This might not be possible," Granny Jia shook her head repeatedly, "Adol is purely a soul body, how would you search?"

Wouldn’t it just shatter on the spot?

However, Qu Jianlei then shared a shocking piece of news, "He isn’t Adol."

The scene instantly fell silent, and after a while, the Paranoid tentatively spoke, "So... it’s still a possession?"

When it comes to possession, no one understands it better than him.

"I don’t think it’s possession," Qu Jianlei shook his head, "That spiritual power isn’t very pure, it’s troublesome, but it can’t possess."

He felt that the opponent’s method was more like raising a corpse, or perhaps... crafting a puppet?

But these concepts, he really didn’t know how to explain to his teammates.

Yet, his teammates were relentless.

Qinghu directly asked, "So, you mean Adol is already dead, and someone’s controlling his body right now?"

The scene fell silent again, and Claire couldn’t help but shiver.

She swore she wasn’t scared, but... why did it sound so creepy?

Qu Jianlei smiled bitterly at the words, "I wish I could say no, but undoubtedly, what you said is very likely."

The Paranoid’s eyes lit up immediately, "So, does this mean we have a chance to catch this person?"

What he couldn’t forget was to form a "Soul Body Squad" of their own.

"What I hope for is to kill," Qu Jianlei openly stated his position.

This is not only influenced by the ideas of Blue Star, but more importantly, "If we show mercy to him, we might suffer the consequences ourselves."

Granny Jia nodded, "I support your view. Honestly, I find such methods very... evil!"

The Paranoid shook his head indifferently at this, where in the world are there any evil methods? Only evil hearts!

But since the boss had made the decision, he was too lazy to say more.

He didn’t voice any objection, so the others were even less likely to oppose it. Flower Scorpion and the other two non-Supreme basically had no chance of dissenting.

"Take a break," Qu Jianlei said in a deep voice, "I’m a bit headache, let’s aim to set off in half an hour."

In fact, it wasn’t even half an hour before his expression changed again, "This really... is quite interesting."

The speed at which that spiritual power fled was remarkably quick, in just over ten minutes, it had reached over 3,000 kilometers away.

Almost no Supreme could run that fast, but this was spiritual power, essentially a form of wave, so such speed was not surprising.

What Qu Jianlei found amusing was that the final place where the soul body stopped was near the "Human Potential Research Institute."

This institute is officially structured, and its level is very high, directly under the Star Domain Government, and Xueye’s Planet Government has no authority to interfere.

The nature of the institute is to develop human potential, including but not limited to superpower research.

The achievements of this institute... remain a mystery, as no public information shows that they have made any accomplishments.

But the level of secrecy here is also extremely high, and restricted areas are established around it, prohibiting ordinary entry.

Qu Jianlei and others had passed by this place and even tried to sneak in for a look, finding that the research institute was actually a misnomer.

The restricted area was overgrown with weeds, not to mention, lacking in surveillance and alert equipment, presenting a very rundown appearance.

These could all be illusions, but Little Lake easily infiltrated the control center of the institute, and that’s unlikely to be a disguise.

In the institute’s database, Little Lake easily found the financial details.

Anyone can lie, but data doesn’t deceive.

Financial data shows that it receives a substantial amount of Imperial special funding each year, and the expenses are also very large.

The cost of purchasing a Vortex Terminal was over 30 million, equivalent to half of a small attack ship, who would believe this?

An ordinary ergonomic desk chair costs five to seven hundred on the market, but the purchase price here was two thousand...

Which really equaled Bellini’s month’s salary.

But as for related research results, there really weren’t any.

It’s not that the institute wants to conceal it; looking at their internal documents shows that they have the spirit of "fighting defeat after defeat."

Qu Jianlei immediately tagged this place as a "funding fraud."

However, this kind of thing is quite common on Blue Star, and in the vast Imperial territory, some oversights are even more normal.

No need to say more, Qu Jianlei really didn’t expect that this research institute was more than just a regular messy place.

Besides funding fraud, there were even people secretly cultivating the ghost cultivator’s practices.

Yet upon further consideration, it’s not surprising, because there aren’t many places in the Empire where souls can be collected openly.

Even though Qu Jianlei is always fighting and killing, the people of the Empire are also brave and combative, looking at life and death very indifferently, it seems like one can die anywhere.

But in fact, there aren’t many fixed places in the Empire where one can reasonably kill.

Due to interstellar great voyages, the rapidly expanding Empire needs a large population.

Besides encouraging childbirth, the verification of death sentences is very strict—if death can be avoided, it will be.

This preferential treatment isn’t limited to the Awakened; ordinary people can also enjoy it.

The Empire’s cautious execution of death sentences and the Empire’s citizens’ indifference to life and death actually aren’t contradictory, they can even be said to be two sides of the same coin.

The former is due to the urgent population need of the great voyages, and the latter is the fearless courage required in the era of great voyages.

The approval of death sentences is very cautious, and although accidental deaths are relatively high, there aren’t many places in the Empire where people frequently die.

Of course, when speaking of this, hospitals must be excluded, as every hospital has a lot of advanced equipment, making soul collection dangerous.

And such "Human Potential Research Institutes" are institutions where death row inmates can be openly experimented on.

Therefore, choosing such a place for soul collection is also very suitable and discreet.

What made Qu Jianlei find it laughable was that he thought at the time, the surroundings of this research institute should be relatively safe.

Not only is it an officially authorized restricted area, but it also involves funding fraud, so naturally, it would be very vigilant against outsiders; wouldn’t that be safe enough?

So he installed a Teleportation Array Plate in the nearby mountains.

Of course, there are also some corresponding confidentiality measures.

For instance, it can only open doors from the inside out, and entering from outside requires a password check, with one wrong attempt leading to self-destruction.

Now that this soul body actually fled there, he was really feeling both amused and annoyed.

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