The unpleasant noise outside instantly put everyone inside on high alert. It was obvious that the trouble they were worried about had found its way to their door.

To prevent the tracing ability user from reaching the hotel during this time, Nan Muran had been using her mental powers to monitor the entire hotel inside and out.

So she could clearly see that the person knocking at the door was a middle-aged man with a face full of rage.

Judging by his attire, he should be someone responsible for security at the Lan City Base.

“Zhou Ling, go open the door for him and send him away,” Nan Muran instructed in her cool, calm voice.

The second-generation heir, who usually never showed anyone respect, obediently got up to open the door.

The middle-aged man at the door was visibly stunned when he saw Zhou Ling himself answer it. They had assumed only some Zhou family ability users were staying here, and it shouldn’t have been too difficult to handle.

They hadn’t expected him to open the door.

Realizing how rude he had been just now, the man quickly plastered on a fawning smile. “Young Master Zhou, it’s you!”

At Lan City’s safety base, the two most troublesome people were Chen Shuhan of the Chen family and this sole heir of the Zhou family.

But in comparison, this one was even harder to deal with. At least Chen Shuhan would sometimes give face for the greater good.

But this Young Master Zhou? He was an utterly unruly, reckless second-generation heir.

“Knocking like that — doesn’t your hand hurt?” Zhou Ling’s tone was arrogant, showing no mercy as he mocked the man.

The middle-aged man hurriedly kept smiling. “I didn’t know Young Master Zhou was here today. My apologies.”

Zhou Ling gave a cold snort. “This whole fifteenth floor is permanently reserved by the Zhou family. Don’t bring bad luck around here.

Get lost—”

Without even caring about the man’s reaction, Zhou Ling slammed the door shut with a bang.

Outside, the middle-aged man was so furious he could barely breathe, but in the end, he didn’t dare knock again.

The Zhou family’s status might not match the Chen family’s, but they had money — and resources. They were even harder to offend than the Chens.

“That’s it? It’s solved?” Eagle was a little surprised. This guy was way too spineless.

Nan Muran shook her head. “It won’t be that easy. Chen Shuhan is a meticulous man. He must have anticipated that Zhou family ability users were staying upstairs. We won’t get past this hurdle so easily.”

“The tracing ability user’s window is twenty-four hours.”

“We need to quickly deal with that tracing ability user named Lin Li.”

Dealing with him couldn’t be done at the hotel, or it would bring endless trouble. They had no choice but to head over to the villa district.

“I’ll take you to the villa district now,” Zhou Ling said, though he sounded a little uncertain.

“I’ll go with Zhou Ling and Wu Ge to find the target at the villa. The rest of you stay here and cooperate with Qijin to handle things on this end,” Nan Muran ordered.

“I’ll go with you,” Si Ye said, looking at Nan Muran.

Nan Muran pressed her lips together and sighed lightly. “Your face is too recognizable.”

The others in the room chuckled. It was true — Si Ye’s god-tier looks were the kind that left a lasting impression at just one glance. Definitely not ideal for missions where you needed to keep a low profile.

But looking at Nan Muran all wrapped up like this… somehow it felt not quite right either.

“Qijin, if anything unexpected happens, make sure to notify them immediately,” Nan Muran said, crouching to meet Qijin’s gaze at eye level.

This was when the value of bringing Qijin along truly showed.

Even without Nan Muran present, the others could rely on Qijin’s prediction abilities to preemptively eliminate upcoming dangers.

“Got it. I’ll remember,” Qijin nodded seriously.

“There are crystals and mutated fruits left in the room for you. If you feel tired, eat some,” Nan Muran reminded.

Under Nan Muran’s generous cultivation with high-quality resources, Qijin’s predictive ability had just reached the late stage of Level 2.

At this level, if his power was overused, it would easily get exhausted. Only by consuming large quantities of crystal cores and mutated fruits could he recharge.

“Okay.” Qijin was no longer embarrassed about accepting these precious items and had gotten used to it.

Nan Muran put on her jacket, looked at Wu Ge and Zhou Ling, and said, “Let’s go.”

She pulled the black down jacket’s hood up, zipped the collar all the way, leaving only a pair of round eyes visible.

Everyone looked at her wrapped up so tightly and thought: Alright then, Miss Nan is perfect for this.

Si Ye felt he could also go — but then glanced at his six-foot-three frame. Yeah… he’d stand out way too much in a crowd.

Nan Muran, Zhou Ling, and Wu Ge took the elevator downstairs.

Because the food deliveries for them were large in volume, Zhou Ling had driven over himself, which conveniently gave them a car to get to the villa district.

“How many roads connect the villa district to the base hotel?” Nan Muran asked casually, looking out the car window at Lan City Base.

“Two. But one is under construction now, so there’s only one route left.”

Nan Muran nodded. That meant Lin Li was most likely still at the villa, which saved them a lot of trouble.

The car smoothly entered the villa area.

Nan Muran immediately extended her mental power to scan the entire area, filtering through the chaotic information flooding into her brain.

“Pull over,” Nan Muran ordered coldly, all of a sudden.

Even though it wasn’t very appropriate to stop like that on this road, Zhou Ling obediently pulled over at once.

In Villa No. 5 on the east side of the road…

Chen Shuhan, dressed in a gray suit and rimless glasses, stood in the center of the living room, his face cold.

In front of him were about forty ability users, among them Lin Li.

“Secretary Lin, come with me to the base hotel.”

“I need to know everything that happened to Zhou Jing since last night.”

“Lao Qin, take three of the strongest offensive ability users to come along.”

Aside from Lin Li, one thirty-something fire ability user nodded.

With just one look, Nan Muran could tell that these ability users were genuinely loyal to Chen Shuhan.

Chen Shuhan, despite being an ordinary person without any abilities, had managed to win over these powerful individuals — a testament to his extraordinary capabilities.

Nan Muran lightly tapped her index finger on the car window, scanning through the forty ability users to see if there were any other special-types besides Lin Li.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, electricity, control, speed, blink, phasing, light, darkness, spatial, healing, plant — she wasn’t worried about these common abilities.

It was the special-types — like Lin Li’s tracing ability, or abilities like perfect X-ray vision, distance sensing, predictive powers like Qijin’s, or time manipulation like Si Ye’s — these special abilities either needed to be secured for their own side, or eliminated completely.

Otherwise, they would become major threats in the future.

Sure enough, after probing, aside from Lin Li, she found a young girl and a silent young man lurking in the corner — both were special-type ability users.

“Zhou Ling, find a safe place within five hundred meters and stop the car,” Nan Muran said, mentally preparing to deal with all three special-type ability users at once.

Zhou Ling glanced around. Perfect — they were close to his own house. He could just drive back into his own backyard without drawing suspicion. “Got it.”

Once they entered the yard, Zhou Ling obediently turned off the engine as instructed.

Inside the car, Nan Muran and Wu Ge said nothing, and Zhou Ling wisely stayed silent too.