Constellation Door

"Take me there." Liu Long's words were irrefutable. He turned to the group behind him. "Seal off the entire street and search each and every house, every corner. Ask around and find out if anyone has seen a stranger in this area. Don't let anyone leave or enter. If anyone resists, tell them they would be doing so at the risk of being shot."

"Yes, sir!" The group dispersed to follow the orders. They were fast and efficient.

...

Li Hao couldn't care less about their noisy bustle. He led Liu Long towards the outside walls of the Zhang family residence.

Li Hao didn't need to say anything. Liu Long carefully observed the shallow footprint. He squatted down to have a closer look.

"Hm." Liu Long's eyes were sharp and cold. There were a few law enforcement team elites beside him. They waited for the captain's orders.

"Wu Chao, come and take a look!"

The man strode forward. He had white gloves on. He squatted down and checked the footprint.

All Li Hao saw were a few blurry prints in the ground. But the man who went by the name of Wu Chao could gather so much information from just a few footprints!

"The suspect is a male! The height is about 180 cm, the weight is unknown, and the footprints are shallow. The deepest footprints should have been left about two hours ago, and the shallowest ones should have been left more than half a year ago. He is not weak. He seems to be no lower than a Class 2. It is possible he might be a lot stronger than that."

Li Hao thought that was strange but he knew better than to interrupt. Liu Long was considerate of the fact that Li Hao, as a Level 3 Patrol Officer might not know what it meant. So, he explained, "The law enforcement team ranks the dangerous elements by class. Not just weapons or skill but any dangerous element or entity. We group them in three classes."

"Class 1 is the strongest, Class 3 the weakest," continued Captain Liu. "To be able to kill a member of the Confidential Information Room, a Class 3 is enough."

"We have a total of twenty-eight people in the Confidential Information Room," informed Li Hao. "There are several old Patrol Officers…" Li Hao was embarrassed.

Liu Long sneered. "The head of your Inspection Office, Chief Wang Jie, isn't as weak as he seems. He had some skills otherwise he wouldn't have been able to lead your office at all. But after being transferred to the Confidential Information Room in your Inspection Office, he has been out of practice. I bet even the lowest ranker from the law enforcement team could tackle him easily now."

"Not all bandits are as dangerous as to be classified in this manner," continued Liu Long. "Only the very dangerous ones are classified into the 3 categories."

"Three years ago, there was a massacre in Silver City. The bastard who killed 32 people of the Hu family with his bare hands in one night was a Class 3 Bandit. In all these years, there have been very few bandits in Silver City who have been ranked in classes."

A Class 3 Bandit, although considered the weakest, was actually so terrifying going by the law enforcement team's standard.

Li Hao's expression turned grave as he thought about the Class 2 or even possibly Class 1 Bandit that Wu Chao had mentioned. Li Hao was surprisingly not shocked. That person used a mysterious power to control the red shadow, after all.

Li Hao was only surprised that a Class 3 bandit could be so powerful. If that was so, the mysterious person that he had witnessed might be even stronger beyond his imagination.

What stunned him the most was how they were able to gather so much information from a few footprints alone. That was amazing!

Wu Chao, a middle-aged man, turned to look at Li Hao. "Officer Li, do you not believe me?"

"No! I mean, there is no doubt about your abilities, of course. I am just very surprised," said Li Hao hurriedly.

Wu Chao smiled. "Are all students of Silver City Ancient Academy this humble," he said. "They all seem so stuck up and pretentious. But you… you are strange. I heard you dropped out of the academy to join the Inspection Office."

Wu Chao jumped in the air and landed on the ground leaving a pair of footprints. He smiled. "People with different skills and weight will have different reactions when they land on the ground. The depth of the footprints they leave will be different every time. Even the front and back parts of an entire footprint can be restored. Depending on where the person landed first, their posture can also be determined."

"From the way a person lands, I can deduce information about pretty much everything regarding them. The footprints you showed us are of different depths. He must have landed from a few meters high, but the footprints aren't very deep. This means that whoever it was could easily control their muscles …"

As Wu Chao explained, Li Hao listened. The explanation wasn't really needed. But Li Hao, even if he had dropped out, was still a student willing to learn.

Liu Lon had been listening silently and didn't interrupt. After Wu Chao was done explaining, he said, "Alright! He is not part of our team so there is no need for him to know so much."

Li Hao just smiled gratefully at them but didn't say anything.

Liu Long looked at the old house of the Zhang family. "They are quite bold. They kill someone and monitor the victim's house for days, months even!"

Wu Chao smiled. "Captain, isn't it usual for the enemy to be this bold? The law enforcement team might not be able to do anything to them."