After Lin Jin thanked Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao, Ouyang Tong ardently invited Lin Jin in.
“Appraiser Lin must be tired from your travel. I’ve already instructed someone to prepare some chicken soup to nourish your soul.” As his name suggests,[1] Ouyang Tong was incredibly adept in social settings. He was very good at dealing with people. His life at headquarters was only miserable thanks to his bad luck.
When it came to flattering a potential support figure, Ouyang Tong had an array of tricks in his arsenal.
Realizing that Lin Jin came here in a hurry, the man must have been dealing with something urgent, so Ouyang Tong didn’t advise him to get some rest. He was right, as Lin Jin really wasn’t in the mood to rest.
Speaking of which, Lin Jin hadn’t had a bite to eat for quite some time now. His last meal was lunch and now, his belly was growling.
“I’ll be troubling you then, Appraiser Ouyang.” Lin Jin smiled. Ouyang Tong was delighted and immediately made the necessary arrangements.
Then, he led Lin Jin to their document archive.
Ouyang Tong had already summoned the keeper of the archive and had him retrieve all files regarding the Demonic Appraisal Association, which were conveniently placed on the table.
The pile was massive, with a mixture of new and old files. Lin Jin’s interest was instantly piqued. As the saying went, ‘know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.’ This much information will keep him busy for a while.
Without wasting even a second, Lin Jin sat down and began making his way through the records.
Ouyang Tong stayed as well, holding the lantern to give Lin Jin some light. For several times Lin Jin urged him to go back but Ouyang Tong insisted on staying. In the end, Lin Jin gave up and let the appraiser keep him company, which felt surprisingly nice.
Soon, the chicken soup and some snacks were delivered. Lin Jin finished them all in several gulps before returning to the files. The night came to pass just like that.
The information at headquarters was indeed comprehensive. In one night, Lin Jin came to understand the Demonic Appraisal Association in much greater detail.
The Demonic Appraisal Association was established very long ago, almost during the same time as the Beast Appraisal Association. At one point, they were even on par with the Beast Appraisal Association.
It was said that the Demonic Appraisal Association had produced quite a number of experts whose strength was superior to Rank 4 beast appraisers. They had only one branch in the Jade Dragon Kingdom. However, due to how discreet their operations were carried out, the location of their branch office remained a mystery. In fact, the association was commonly described with that word — mysterious.
In terms of conduct, the Demonic Appraisal Association only cared about achieving their goals, regardless of the steps needed to do so. They didn’t have any hard rules either. In the beginning, this fiendish organization would go against the Beast Appraisal Association in every aspect. Most of its members actually used to be righteous appraisers who ended up breaking rules. In other words, those without criminal records or weren’t fiends themselves wouldn’t be accepted into the Demonic Appraisal Association.
It was indeed a strange organization.
Among the files were many case examples. For instance, some years ago, the Demonic Appraisal Association engaged actively in murder and pet beast theft in a specific location. Then, one righteous appraiser was attacked during an outing. His body was later found somewhere else and the conclusion of the investigation tied the heinous act to the Demonic Appraisal Association.
There were many other similar cases but the one that caught Lin Jin’s interest was a case that happened in March last year. Evidence was found in the royal capital of these appraisers practicing a Human Cocoon spell to cultivate malicious beasts. They were later discovered by two Rank 3 beast appraisers, Yang Qingshi and Tan Xun. After two days of constant fighting, the main culprit was successfully detained and locked up in a dark cell somewhere underneath the city.
This case was quite recent, but there were no further investigations.
Lin Jin was quite curious about this case.
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Thus, he turned to ask Ouyang Tong if he knew anything about it.
Ouyang Tong wasn’t as energetic as Lin Jin was. He was already seconds away from dozing off but he forced himself to respond eagerly, “Why of course! It happened last year, and it caused a massive uproar here in the capital. Apparently, the young lady of a prominent family was struck with a high fever that wouldn’t recede, causing her to fall into a coma. The most peculiar thing was how the wealthy young lady’s pet beast mysteriously disappeared the moment she turned ill. After seeking help from multiple physicians, her family eventually came to our headquarters for help…”
As Ouyang Tong had an interest in rare and strange occurrences, he knew a lot about this specific case. More than your average beast appraiser at least, so he was able to tell quite a vivid tale.
“Back then, headquarters thought nothing of it and assigned a Rank 1 beast appraiser to handle the case. It wasn’t long before the appraiser was found floating on the river’s surface the next morning. It remains a mystery whether he killed himself, or was murdered by someone else. Appraiser Tan Xun and Appraiser Yang Qingshi went over personally and found some clues. From there, it was revealed that all this was the doing of demonic appraisers. Though, since the enemy couldn’t win against two Rank 3 beast appraisers, they were successfully apprehended.”
Ouyang Tong made it sound as complicated as he could. He tried his best to paint as gory of a picture of the scene as he could. He told Lin Jin that insect eggs were planted inside the young lady’s body and how perilous a condition she was in. If the Rank 3 beast appraisers hadn’t arrived in time, malicious beasts would have hatched from the eggs. They also found demonic items inside the body of the Rank 1 beast appraiser who was found dead in the river.
Lin Jin had been listening intently. After Ouyang Tong was done, Lin Jin asked, “There’s one thing that both the report and you failed to mention. Where is the missing pet beast of the young lady?”
Ouyang Tong was stunned. That, he didn’t know. Because it didn’t seem like the main point of the case. To him, the main subject here should have been the demonic appraisers’ terrifying attack and that disgusting Human Cocoon beast. Who cares about her pet beast?
However, Ouyang Tong didn’t dare run his mouth. One of his merits was how he could talk nonsense to those inferior to him, but when it came to superiors, he would only say what he knew and admit his own shortcomings without hesitation.
“You don’t know, huh? Makes sense. It’s not recorded in the case report either,” Lin Jin mumbled to himself. Then, he asked something else he was interested in. “What happened to the demonic beast appraiser that was caught?”
Finally, a question Ouyang Tong knew the answer to.
“He’s still being locked up in the dark cell.”
“Why hasn’t he been executed?”
“This, I don’t know,” Ouyang Tong revealed.
And Lin Jin knew that was all Ouyang Tong could tell him. By now, the Sun was up and they heard footsteps outside. The door was pushed opened to reveal an old man. Lin Jin immediately got up from his seat to welcome the man.
He was Appraiser Tan Xun.
As one of the few Rank 3 beast appraisers at headquarters, Tan Xun was a well-respected individual. The moment he arrived this morning, he heard about what happened last night so he came to seek Lin Jin.
“Appraiser Lin, I heard you had rushed over last night to investigate files on the Demonic Appraisal Association. Did something important happen?” Tan Xun knew Lin Jin well. For the latter to rush over so late at night must mean something exceptional was happening.
As close acquaintances, Lin Jin told Tan Xun about what happened at Reed City. Because the person listening was Tan Xun, Lin Jin didn’t conceal the fact that he had wiped out the Demonic Appraisal Association branch as well.
At this, Tan Xun was stunned for a good moment before exclaiming, “Appraiser Lin, you’re saying that you eliminated the Demonic Appraisal Association branch here in the Jade Dragon Kingdom?”
Lin Jin nodded.
There was no reason to conceal the truth.
“That’s why I came here, hoping to understand more about the Demonic Appraisal Association,” Lin Jin said.
[1] The rough translation of “Tong” in English is “transparent, clear or slick”