Yu Ning explained to him.

“Your job earns you a lot of good karma, like saving up money. What you’re accumulating is good fortune.

Of course, this good fortune might not necessarily manifest in your current life, and it might not be used by you alone.

Perhaps your children will achieve great things, or in your next life, you’ll be born into a good family. Maybe you’ll pass away peacefully in this life without illness.

In any case, it’s a good thing.”

Xia An nodded, understanding.

Isn’t this just like the saying that good deeds will be rewarded?

“If you give me your merit to offset this situation, all your accumulated good karma will be gone, and these rewards will disappear. Even if your intention was to uphold justice, what’s meant to be deducted will still be deducted. Are you willing?”

Before Xia An could react, the black cat was already shocked.

It turned out the girl had sacrificed so much for the Lin family’s matter!

She had used her own merit to exploit a loophole in the system and settle the score!

Such a huge matter, and she didn’t say a word. This girl was too righteous.

Lin Zheng had no idea that Yu Ning was fighting so hard, partly due to her master’s orders and partly because she wanted to break through the Qi Condensation stage at all costs.

In his eyes, this was pure righteousness.

The Lin family owed her a massive favor—how could they ever repay this debt by just acknowledging her as a sister in the future?

“And one more thing—I won’t help you for free. I will charge you one percent of your existing merit as my fee. Think it over before giving me your answer,” Yu Ning said.

There was a rule in her sect: no free services. Discounts could be given, but fees were mandatory.

Since Xia An was a good policeman, she offered the lowest discount, just enough merit to balance the ledger, without entangling herself in Xia An’s karmic consequences.

“I’m willing,” Xia An answered resolutely.

“Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?”

“No need. I didn’t become a policeman for the sake of accumulating merit. Merit is something intangible to me, too distant. I can’t grasp what’s far away, but I remember my initial resolve and mission—to protect the people and never let any bad guy slip away.”

Xia An’s gaze was firm, and his words were decisive.

Yu Ning looked at him with approval. A good cop like him deserved the lowest discount.

“Alright, I’ll restore my energy and help you solve this matter tomorrow. For now, let’s continue filtering.”

The second batch of surveillance footage had finished filtering out the pedestrians.

Several times, Yu Ning paused but, having learned from last time when she accidentally let something slip, she stayed quiet and just watched.

“Did you find the culprit again?” Xia An asked, testing the waters.

Yu Ning shrugged. Some things are better left unspoken. After all, they were both “poor” now and couldn’t afford any more spending.

She spotted a few suspicious figures, but none escalated to murder. Petty thefts and minor offenses—she pretended not to see them. Her merit wasn’t enough to cover it, and Xia An’s merit was reserved for the murderer.

They could only focus on the big fish. Meddling in trivial matters could bring divine retribution.

“Stop.”

When the second tape was nearly over, Yu Ning signaled to pause and zoom in.

The surveillance cameras, being high-definition, revealed the zoomed image clearly.

It was a limited-edition Rolls-Royce Phantom, priced at 12 million yuan.

In a second-tier city, a car of this price naturally commanded attention on the road. Other cars would steer clear of it to avoid an expensive accident.

The driver was a young man, wearing sunglasses and dressed in a white casual outfit. His face was delicate and scholarly—a typical rich boy.

“Meow!!!” The black cat leaped out of Yu Ning’s pocket, fur bristling in alarm.

That face!

It better not be this guy!

The black cat circled Yu Ning’s arm restlessly, filled with anxiety.

“Are you hungry? Wait until I finish watching this… Oh wow, what a guy,” Yu Ning said as she picked up the cat, her eyes glued to the screen, shocked by the man’s appearance.

“Rich and having everything, yet lacking in morals and common sense. With such good fortune, what’s driving him to act this way? He’s an only child, and all the merit accumulated by his ancestors for generations is being squandered by this kid.”

Yu Ning shook her head in disappointment.

“Isn’t that the young master of Tianshui Real Estate? What’s up with him?” Xia An recognized the man.

Tianshui Group was one of the few major companies in their city, originally a real estate firm. In recent years, with the real estate market slowing down, Tianshui Group had transitioned into tech investment banking, making a fortune.

Although they weren’t ranked as highly as the Lin family on the rich list, they were still a significant force.

“Young master Zhao Tianci of Tianshui Group is quite a figure in our city. It’s said the Zhao family and the Lin family have old ties. This Zhao Tianci is one of the few well-behaved rich kids—an only child, with strict parents who don’t allow him to smoke, drink, or gamble.”

“Yeah, he just kills people.”

“What?! You mean he’s the…?!”

Yu Ning zoomed in on the image, focusing on his wrist gripping the steering wheel.

Part of his sleeve covered it, but enough was visible to show a black butterfly tattoo.

“Oh my god! He really has an insect tattoo?” Xia An was flustered. “He’s not short of money, and his social status is so high, why would he kill people?”

He had a promising future as the young boss of a publicly listed company!

“That’s for you to ask during interrogation. I can only read faces; I can’t guess people’s thoughts.”

Xia An hesitated.

After all, this was Young Master Zhao!

If they went to arrest him without solid evidence, his influential father wouldn’t take it lightly.

“You’ve already collected blood from the victim’s wounds. Just compare it with his. Won’t that tell you if it’s him?” Yu Ning paused, understanding Xia An’s concern.

“A family that can raise such an unfilial son who wastes all their merit must not be a good one. I bet the Zhao family is different from the Lin family, right? The Lin family is reasonable, but the Zhao family… not so much, I’d guess?”

“Exactly. Mr. Zhao is notorious for being difficult. But that’s beyond my rank to discuss,” Xia An gave her a knowing look, and Yu Ning nodded in understanding—people who wield power tend to act arrogantly.

The black cat meowed incessantly. Old Zhao wasn’t just arrogant, he was a lawless tyrant! He knew far more about the Zhao family than the two humans before him. He didn’t want Yu Ning to get dragged into this mess.

If he were awake, he could protect her. But he was still asleep, and the third brother wasn’t close enough to her to fight the Zhao family head-on.

Damn it! Why couldn’t he wake up faster? The black cat rubbed against Yu Ning’s arm, agitated.

“Relax, we’ll be done soon, and then I’ll feed you,” Yu Ning thought the cat was acting up because it was hungry, and stroked its head to soothe it.

The black cat grew even more frantic. Language barriers, ugh!

“What’s ‘Disappearing Merit’?” Xia An asked.

“The Zhao family built their vast fortune on the accumulation of merit from several generations. This kid has more than one life on his hands. With such grave offenses, all the merit his ancestors painstakingly accumulated is wiped out in one go—hence, the ‘disappearing merit’ game.”

“Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake? Is it really Young Master Zhao?” Xia An asked, still incredulous.

“I swear on my master’s name, it’s him,” Yu Ning affirmed confidently.

This part of the story explains the novel’s worldview: fortune-telling can reveal a lot, from exam answers to identifying murderers, even lottery numbers. However, just knowing doesn’t mean you can benefit from it. Two conditions must be met: first, it cannot violate heaven’s will, which is the rules Yu Ning mentioned. For example, if Zhao Tianci is meant to be caught by Xia An, exploiting a loophole to catch him a bit earlier is fine. But if someone else tries to arrest him, it would violate the natural order, and that’s not allowed.

Second, you need enough merit to claim those rewards. For example, Niuniu Mi is poor and wants Yu Ning to predict the lottery numbers so she can win a fortune. Yu Ning can see the winning numbers, but Niuniu Mi lacks the merit to claim such a huge prize. Even if she won, she might die on the spot, and Yu Ning would also face retribution for revealing heaven’s secrets. However, if readers cast more monthly votes and praise Niuniu Mi enough to increase her merit by 10,000 points, she might just win the prize after all—alright, I’m just shamelessly begging for monthly votes now. Got any? Care to throw some my way?