Chapter 12

Xie Yixin heard the voice and looked over, seeing Xie Jiquan, dressed in a suit, descending the stairs. She immediately protested, "Dad, why are you like this? I really have something important to talk about!"

"Huh!?" Xie Jiquan, who was nearly fifty with a broad face and large ears, saw that his daughter was not joking and felt somewhat surprised. He quickly walked over, took her hand, and sat down, asking, "Is it about work?"

"Yes!" Xie Yixin nodded.

"Then let's go to my study and talk!" Xie Jiquan said.

Song Lizhen glanced at her watch and reminded him, "Aquan, don't you have an emergency meeting at headquarters later?"

Xie Jiquan waved his hand and said, "It's fine. The meeting starts in an hour, so we have plenty of time." With that, he led Xie Yixin upstairs.

As soon as they entered the study and before the door was closed, Aunt Liu came over with a tray and said at the door, "Miss, the lady asked me to bring you the lotus seed and silver ear soup."

Xie Yixin, who had grown tired of drinking the silver ear soup her mother made every time she came home, often complained about not wanting to drink it. However, today she acted differently, quickly took the bowl of soup, and waved Aunt Liu away.

Xie Jiquan, seeing this, felt very curious and was about to ask, but Xie Yixin placed the silver ear soup in front of him and said, "Dad, this is for you."

Since it was a gesture of filial piety from his daughter, Xie Jiquan did not refuse. He picked up the spoon and tasted a few spoonfuls before saying, "Alright, what does my darling daughter want from Dad?"

Xie Yixin did not directly state her request but said, "Dad, based on my performance in the promotion test, I should be promoted to senior inspector by the end of the year. I heard that Chief Inspector Wan Guohui of the Major Crime Unit will take a long leave in the second half of the year and will be promoted to superintendent afterward, right?"

"Your promotion will be considered by the higher-ups, but where did you hear the rumor about Wan Guohui?" Xie Jiquan answered his daughter's question while carefully observing her.

Actually, from the moment they met downstairs, the perceptive Xie Jiquan felt that something was off with his daughter, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Feeling her father's gaze, Xie Yixin felt a bit uneasy and quickly changed the subject, "Dad, why are you like this? I just want to confirm it so that I can make a work transfer more convenient!"

"Work transfer? You don't want to go to the Major Crime Unit, do you?" Xie Jiquan asked.

"Exactly, I want to go to the front lines and show my skills!" Xie Yixin said excitedly.

"No way!" Xie Jiquan rejected it without hesitation.

"Why?" Xie Yixin's face fell, instantly guessing her father's thoughts, "Is it because the front lines are dangerous, and you, a veteran police officer for over twenty years, are disregarding the code of conduct and trying to suppress your daughter, not letting me take the lead?"

Xie Jiquan was speechless at this accusation; he indeed had such thoughts.

Seeing her father's silence, Xie Yixin became even more agitated, "No matter what, I will apply to transfer to the Major Crime Unit. If you reject it, I will definitely file a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission!" With that, she was about to storm out.

Xie Jiquan suddenly shouted, "Hold on, what's wrong with your neck?"

Xie Yixin quickly touched her high collar, her eyes darting around, "My neck? Nothing's wrong!"

"Hmph, you always pride yourself on being youthful and rarely wear high-collar clothes. Why the change in taste today?" Xie Jiquan said with a cold smile, "Pull down your collar and let me see. There must be something wrong!"

These words hit a nerve, and Xie Yixin erupted, "I told you there's nothing wrong. I will definitely transfer to the Major Crime Unit." She quickly walked to the door, trying to leave.

Unexpectedly, Xie Jiquan calmly said, "You've been working at the police academy recently. If something happened, someone would know."

Hearing this, Xie Yixin froze as if hit by a spell, turned around, and smiled awkwardly, "Dad—my neck is really fine. Don't dig into it, okay?"

Xie Jiquan's right eyebrow twitched involuntarily, "So, there is something wrong with your neck?"

"No, nothing!" Xie Yixin waved her hands, her eyes darting around.

"Are you really going to make me ask around at the police academy?" Xie Jiquan used his ultimate move.

Xie Yixin was at a loss and decisively pulled down her collar, revealing the handprint that had not yet faded, and said angrily, "See, see, see, let you see enough!"

Xie Jiquan looked closely and was shocked, "What happened? Who did this?"

Xie Yixin pulled up her collar and said calmly, "No one did it. I did it to myself, no one to blame!" With that, she decisively left the study.

Seeing the handprint on his daughter's neck, Xie Jiquan was not about to let it go. He quickly chased out of the room and grabbed Xie Yixin's hand in the hallway, "Tell me, who did this?"

"I pinched myself, okay!" Xie Yixin started to make up stories.

Xie Jiquan was furious and scolded, "Nonsense! The handprint is so thick, does it match your hand?" He paused, then said, "Wait, such a thick handprint must be a man's, right? Could it be one of the police academy cadets?" Xie Jiquan's imagination was indeed rich, and he guessed the truth right away.

Hearing this, Xie Yixin turned her head to the side and said coyly, "Dad, it's not as bad as you think, don't imagine things!"

"Am I imagining things?" Xie Jiquan said with a half-smile, "But you're right, it's not as bad as I thought!"

"Dad—" Xie Yixin protested, "You're imagining things again."

Xie Jiquan smiled but said nothing, just kept looking at Xie Yixin.

"Dad, there's really nothing between us. He hates me," Xie Yixin inadvertently revealed the truth.

"Is that so?" Xie Jiquan asked with a nasal tone, "Going to the Major Crime Unit is also for that... him?"

At this point, Xie Yixin stopped being coy and said straightforwardly, "Yes, and no. In short, if you agree to my transfer to the Major Crime Unit, you must approve my free selection of team members!"

Xie Jiquan immediately gave Xie Yixin a "I understand" look, and the usually tough and cool girl blushed and fled.

That afternoon, Xie Jiquan learned from Ren Gaofeng about the "him" his daughter mentioned. Hearing that his daughter had been defeated by Fei Lun, he found it hard to believe, but he trusted his nephew Ren Gaofeng.

As the head of the Personnel and Training Department, Fei Lun's application materials soon appeared on Xie Jiquan's desk. When he saw that the boy who had bullied his daughter was a Harvard graduate, a smile appeared on his face, as if he had found a suitable son-in-law.

At the same time, Fei Lun, who was practicing in his police academy dormitory, shivered, almost causing him to lose control.

Fei Lun quickly stopped his practice, got out of bed, and muttered to himself, "Damn, is the main god watching me all the time?" After waiting for a while and seeing nothing happen, he sat down again and continued his practice.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed. Apart from the month of firearms training, Fei Lun had occasionally seen Xie Yixin, but not since then. He only occasionally heard from Old Ren that Xie Yixin was about to be promoted and had some things to do.

Fei Lun was not particularly concerned. Besides completing the required training tasks and stage tests, he practiced the Xuanjin Gong every day, hoping for a breakthrough.

One day, while practicing, Fei Lun accidentally entered a state of internal vision and discovered that the reason the second level of Xuanjin Gong did not reach the "protective" stage was that his internal energy was sufficiently abundant, but some of his meridians were blocked. In simple terms, the body of the assassin "Fei Lun" had been overtrained.

This led to a problem. Although the internal energy would flow through certain meridians and acupoints during practice, at the second level of Xuanjin Gong, the flow was only a general direction. According to the incomplete text, as long as the flow followed the principles of yin and yang, there would be no risk of losing control.

Fei Lun had seen countless internal energy techniques in the cycle space. The situation with Xuanjin Gong was unique. If it were any other internal energy technique, it would definitely lead to losing control, but he had already tested it in the United States and found that as long as the flow followed the principles of yin and yang, the internal energy would not go out of control.

After all, Xuanjin Gong was essentially a Golden Bell Cover technique, just a special one. The internal energy of the Golden Bell Cover technique was known for its completeness, filling the bones, meridians, organs, and muscles to increase the body's resistance. Therefore, it was impossible for the Xuanjin internal energy to follow a specific meridian path, let alone emit a sword from the hand like the One Yang Finger.

Thus, the problem arose. The Xuanjin internal energy could travel from point A to point B through meridian C or D, or even seep through. There were no strict rules about which path to take. Therefore, Fei Lun could not detect the blockages in his meridians during practice, similar to how a clogged pipe can still allow water to flow through other openings.

Now, what Fei Lun needed to do was to find a way to unblock these meridians and make his entire body's meridians fully open, achieving the "protective" stage. However, this was not a task that could be accomplished quickly, as his control over the Xuanjin internal energy was still directional, far from the micro-level control needed to clear the blockages.

Understanding his body's condition, Fei Lun sighed and stopped his practice. After all, unblocking the meridians was not a task that could be completed quickly. Without fully open meridians, the "protective" stage could not be achieved.

However, Fei Lun was not too anxious. After all, he only had two levels of Xuanjin Gong, and he was already in the first half of the second level. What was there to be anxious about? His next step was to refine his mental energy, hoping to achieve micro-level control over the Xuanjin internal energy.

Unfortunately, before Fei Lun made any progress in refining his mental energy, his police training was already over. Regrettably, due to his strategy of hiding his abilities, the Best Trainee Inspector award was won by a train