My Core is the Boss

The man in black turned to his colleague’s dog. "Little White, hurry and sniff around. See if there are any clues."

Then, he enthusiastically explained to Qi Yuan, "This is no ordinary dog. It’s a tracking one, captured by An Qiao. It's extremely rare and precious, somewhat similar to police dogs in the real world. It can smell things ordinary people cannot, and it's very helpful for our missions. But this dog's personality is a bit... well, you know. Ahem."

Qi Yuan also looked toward the tracking dog. It was black, just like Big Black Dog in Clearwater Village. Nevertheless, compared to the energetic village dog, this one seemed lifeless. Its eyes even carried the obvious stupidity of a college student.

An Qiao urged the black dog, "Little White, hurry and sniff!"

The dog sprawled lazily on the ground, completely unwilling to move.

The man laughed. "You want the dog to work, but you won't feed it properly."

The tracking dog wagged its tail slightly, seeming to agree.

An Qiao revealed a fox-like smile. "Fortunately, I came prepared. I personally cooked breakfast this morning."

A basket suddenly appeared in her hand, filled with steaming food.

Qi Yuan asked the man, "Storage space?"

He already considered the man a tutorial NPC, so he had no qualms about asking questions.

The man kindly played along. "No, it isn’t a storage space, but a martial technique. Once you become a blood martial artist, you'll also be able to exchange for cultivation methods and practice martial techniques. The principle behind this kind of technique is using qi and blood to construct a storage space."

Qi Yuan sighed in admiration. "Not bad. All paths lead to the same destination."

Although the Qi Blood realm was only equivalent to the Qi Refinement realm, the martial artists already possessed something akin to a cultivator’s storage ring. That was quite impressive. After all, one usually had to be at the Core Formation realm to refine a storage pouch or storage ring.

Finally, An Qiao took out the food and placed it before the tracking dog.

The moment Qi Yuan saw the “specially made” dish, he lost all his appetite. The tracking dog eagerly sniffed it, then showed utter disdain. The man laughed.

In the next moment, the dog turned to An Qiao and said, "You eat it first, shit it back out, then I’ll consider it."

This food was not fit for human consumption at all. The smell was so overpowering that even the dog would not eat it. It had gotten so desperate that it started speaking human language.

An Qiao went purple with rage. "Fat dog, I don’t care whether you eat it or not! Hurry up and sniff for clues!"

The tracking dog pouted. "You want the dog to work but won't let the dog eat its fill. You really are a dog."

Even so, if it still refused to work, she would truly get angry. Hence, the tracking dog lowered its head and sniffed left and right.

Qi Yuan and the others followed behind it while scanning the Luo family courtyard. The estate was empty, with some bloodstains on the ground. Strangely, there were no signs of fighting.

The man said suspiciously, "How strange. No signs of struggle or fire. Yet all the bodies were reduced to charred corpses, making it impossible to determine anything."

Last night, they had examined the bodies, only to find that every corpse had been reduced to ash. Despite enduring the unbearable stench, they found almost no useful clues.

An Qiao's expression turned grave. "You really are stupid. It's obvious they were burned after death. As for who burned them, it's obviously that county magistrate."

The man immediately became wary. "It was actually him... It seems this matter runs deep. But this mission includes a newcomer. Logically speaking, the difficulty should be very low. This county not only has three major demon factions, but even the magistrate is harboring ulterior motives. Something is very off."

Usually, even the hardest beginner missions would have a Qi Blood demon as the strongest enemy. Moreover, they were on an investigation mission, which was usually easy. However, the extermination of the Luo family suggested something else. Clearly, such a feat was beyond the capabilities of an ordinary demon.

When it came to investigating such a demon, veteran players like them still had some ability to protect themselves. As for a newcomer like Qi Yuan, it was almost certain death.

Qi Yuan smirked. "Perhaps they raised the difficulty for me because I’m too special."

The man sighed. "You're really lucky to have met us, you know that?"

The tracking dog said again, "Here, I smell two demon races. One is a weasel, the other is aquatic creatures. And there's another scent that feels very familiar. I’m sure I've smelled it somewhere before..."

An Qiao’s expression immediately worsened. "This incident involves two major demon factions?!"

To make matters worse, they were two of the three clans that Chen Fan had said should not be offended lightly. This single case had entangled both factions!

The round-faced woman frowned deeply. "The strongest combatant of the weasel clan is at Perfect Martial Blood. Among us four, apart from the captain, no one is his match. As for the aquatic clan, it's rumored they even have demons above the Qi Blood realm. This is a real hassle!"

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan asked the big black dog, "What is that familiar scent?"

He had been planning to seek out the weasel and aquatic clans anyway. They were basically mobile blood banks. What occupied his mind right now was uncovering the true reason behind the destruction of the Luo and Chen households.

The dog shook its head. "I don't know."

Qi Yuan was a little disappointed. Though his eyes had gleaned a bunch of information, none of it was particularly important. For example, he could confirm that Elder Huang and a demon from the aquatic clan had indeed come here.

At that moment, the tracking dog's nose twitched. It drew close to Qi Yuan and sniffed him hard. "Strange... Your scent is similar to that aquatic clan, but not quite the same."

An Qiao asked, "Did you encounter an aquatic demon?"

Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes, his thoughts unreadable. "Aquatic clan... probably not?"

From the moment he entered this world, he had been constantly scanning the surroundings, searching for useful information. He had not encountered any aquatic demons. As for the previous body owner? That was even more impossible. He had descended into this world in his true body. Qi Er was long gone.

The man frowned. "How strange."

Qi Yuan asked, "Do you have martial techniques and cultivation manuals here? Trade me some. I want to study them, especially that storage technique from earlier. I am quite interested."

He was shamelessly asking for handouts again. After all, they were NPCs. If they wanted to trade, then he would trade.

The man shook his head. "I am afraid that isn’t possible. You have to join the Demon Slaying Bureau before you can exchange for them."

Qi Yuan said casually, "Looks like I'll have to find some martial manuals here."

He was still lacking in strength. To improve himself, he had to learn some martial techniques and master martial cultivation methods.

An Qiao quickly warned, "You absolutely can’t learn the martial techniques here! They are old! If you learn old martial arts, it’ll be difficult to change paths later."

He asked, "Oh? The game setting sure is complicated. There's old martial arts and new martial arts? Which one is stronger?"

An Qiao explained, "Our bureau practices new martial arts. Don't be fooled. Old and new martial arts may be identical in appearance and power, but there is one obvious difference. Old martial arts are only usable in this world. If you enter a new world, practitioners of old martial arts will have their strength reduced by one major realm.

"However, practitioners of new martial arts do not have this problem. No matter what world they go to, they retain their strength. Unfortunately, many of our senior predecessors learned this too late, and chose old martial arts. What a pity."

She appeared regretful.

Qi Yuan was slightly stunned. "Other worlds? Are there many games?"

"Yes. Every mission we undertake is actually set in different parallel worlds. Only new martial arts are universally applicable across worlds."

Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Why does this game setting resemble the Major Principle realm of Yang Spirit?"

Now, it was An Qiao’s turn to be puzzled. "Yang Spirit? Major Principle realm? What is that?"