Chapter 2: The Mysterious Beauty (Part 1)

  "It's really cold!" Zhang Fan rubbed his hands and took a deep breath. Although his body had undergone rigorous training, far more brutal than this environment, he still felt some deep hatred for the surroundings in front of him.

  He is now in the Alps, with a vast expanse of white snow before him. —— It's the perfect time for skiing, and if Zhang Fan were a ski enthusiast, he would surely be thrilled at the sight of this steep slope covered in pristine white snow, and might even take off down the mountain to show off his skills.

  Unfortunately, Zhang Fan didn't have this kind of hobby at all. He even felt like vomiting when he saw Bai Xue. - No matter who it was, if they were thrown into the snowy ground to practice their skills every winter morning for three years in a row, and the only warm clothing on their body was just one piece of close-fitting underwear, maybe their reaction would be more intense than Zhang Fan's.

  However, he had to come. Because in the intelligence provided by Li Lan, the last message from the trump card was transmitted from the snowy peaks of the Alps. Li Lan even gave him a detailed map, which carefully marked the location where the signal was sent. - According to what he said, it was a small wooden house that was rarely visited by people.

  "It's all white everywhere, it's almost the same, where can I find that little wooden house?" Zhang Fan muttered to himself, looking around left and right.

  It was the peak season for skiing in the Alps, and there were many people coming and going. However, Zhang Fan could be certain that no one noticed him. He had undergone meticulous makeup, transforming from a typical Asian appearance to an authentic European look: even his sparse body hair had been stimulated by a special medication to grow thicker, like that of Europeans. His black eyes were also hidden behind a pair of color-changing contact lenses.

  As for his voice, he had received a kind of training since childhood, which allowed him to change the state of his throat muscles at will, thus achieving the purpose of changing his voice.

  What Li Lan had told him earlier made him not dare to be careless at all. The ace of Guoan, apart from some special aspects that were not as good as himself, other places might not be much worse than himself. They had all disappeared, without even a shadow left!

  Moreover, among certain special individuals, I also have a bit of reputation, and these people are basically very astute. If they really encounter me, it's possible that I might be recognized in an instant.

  This is the experience he has accumulated over the years in life and death: when you reach a dangerous place, where it's completely unclear who is an enemy and who is a friend, then it's best not to let others know who you are.

  Actually, this ski resort is quite lively. Many beginners who are learning to ski sway their bodies back and forth, trying hard to balance themselves so they don't fall down, while making strange laughter and cries. The result of doing so often ends up with them falling onto the snowy ground along with a friend who was holding onto them for support.

  Zhang Fan thought again about the map and information Li Lan had given him, let out a resigned sigh, and walked into a nearby store that rented skiing equipment. He had come up by cable car, and there were shops like this near the cable car station.

  When he came out, he was fully armed.

  Zhang Fan lightly tapped his ski pole, and he slid down the snowy slope like a swallow skimming over water. The entire movement was quick and smooth, beautiful beyond compare. --- Not liking snow doesn't mean you can't ski. After more than ten years of training, Zhang Fan even wondered if there was anything he couldn't do besides giving birth.

  Several hundred meters slipped away almost instantly, then he shifted his snowboard a bit, turned around and slowly moved away from the crowded ski trail.

  There were fewer and fewer people on the road, and after he turned several dangerous corners, there was not a single person in sight. Those dangerous corners, almost every one of them could scare those freestyle skiing world champions to death, and even if they could pass through these corners safely, they would probably swear to give up this sport from then on, just to thank God for letting them survive.

  At these bends, there are huge signs written in various languages with warnings: Extremely dangerous here, no one can proceed under any circumstances. There is not even a phrase "at your own risk", probably after passing through these bends, few people have the ability to think about who is responsible for the consequences of this problem.

  So, the warning on the sign was not an empty threat, but a real and serious warning. However, even if it were the most severe warning, in Zhang Fan's eyes, it would probably be nothing more than an empty formality. - He wouldn't normally come to such a place, but since he did, he wouldn't back down from great danger either.

  Giving up halfway is not the behavior of a qualified private detective, and it's also a huge blow to the credibility of this profession.

  In fact, Zhang Fan is not a private detective in the classical sense. The cases that ordinary private detectives often take on, he rarely takes on - for example, catching adultery, finding lost items and so on. According to his own words, when taking on a case, the pay is naturally very important, but more importantly, it has to be interesting. Those cases, in his view, are simply less interesting than sitting in an office staring blankly.

  Originally, a private detective has no say in choosing clients - service industries do not have the freedom to choose customers, otherwise they would not be a qualified service provider. However, Zhang Fan doesn't care about that, and his selection of clients and entrustment not only did not lower his credit rating but also made his reputation even more impressive. This can be seen from the fact that in the three years since he started his business, his business has been getting better and better, and the amount of entrustment has also been increasing.

  Many of the tasks Zhang Fan undertook also went beyond the scope of a private investigator. For example, dealing with Lu Hei last time, and searching for the long-lost treasure in the perilous South American jungle. These tasks may not necessarily have high rewards, but they could very likely cost him his life.

  When some people raised objections to Zhang Fan's "crossing the border" behavior, Zhang Fan just smiled and replied: "I think these entrustments are very interesting."

  Probably in this world, there is only one private detective like Zhang Fan who can accept an extremely dangerous mission just because it's "interesting".

  But Zhang Fan certainly has the qualifications to do so. Not only because he has never had a record of losing his hand in three years, but more importantly, it is his other identity - an unknown, yet extremely important identity!

  He is a free psychic. A psychic refers to someone who has abilities that exceed the normal human cognition, and even beyond the existing scientific understanding. This excess does not necessarily mean that practical science cannot simulate it, but rather that practical science within its current scope cannot explain such abilities.

  For example, Zhang Fan can freely materialize air and use his mind to influence others' brain thinking. The so-called air materialization is that he can condense the air within a range of about 10 meters around him into a substance in a relatively short period. By using his mind, he can detect the other party's thought activities without defense, and even make the other party follow his will through a series of instructions similar to hypnotic suggestion.

  Of course, these abilities are limited. —— He can easily condense the air into a "wind blade" that can cut off someone's neck, but he cannot control the air in someone else's lungs, nor can he turn an area into a vacuum. Otherwise, he would only need to condense the air in someone's lungs or turn the area near their head into a vacuum to settle it once and for all, without having to go to any trouble.

  It also affects other people's thinking. If others are not on guard, he can easily probe into what the other person is thinking, but if the other person has already been alerted, it will be useless. He also cannot force others to do things that go against their own will, which is similar to hypnosis.

  Zhang Fan's superpower suddenly appeared when he was nineteen years old, without any signs before. When he first discovered his own superpower, he was frightened and almost thought he was a monster. Later, after gradually coming into contact with some information in this area, he opened up a private detective agency.

  He is an orphan and has never known who his parents were since he was a child. Therefore, it is also unknown whether his superpower came from the inheritance of his parents.

  Originally, people of this kind generally have to serve the country. However, Zhang Fan's first customer when he opened his business was a very powerful figure, and after helping him solve a very troublesome problem, he obtained an apolitical identity. Of course, things are far from that simple, commissions from above, as long as they don't involve politics, he can't shirk them.

  After turning a sharp bend, there was a sixty-degree long slope. Obviously, very few people came here. What entered Zhang Fan's eyes was a neat and dazzling silver white. Although Zhang Fan's skills were good, but in the last section, his speed had exceeded 200 kilometers per hour!

  In this case, if he could still control himself, then he really could go to the Winter Olympics. Although he maintained his balance with great difficulty, in the end he still tilted over and rolled down the steep slope.

  This is a very dangerous thing. Although the snow is quite soft, it's much better than rolling down on hard mountains, but as people roll down, the soft snow will stick to them layer by layer, forming a big snowball and wrapping people inside. And because of the low temperature, people may also faint on the spot and become a corpse. —— In this remote mountain foot, the most likely consequence of this situation is that from now on, no one will be found, becoming the new generation of ice and snow gods.

  So when Zhang Fan was rapidly rolling down, he kept twisting his body and swung the snow stick in his hand hard to prevent snow from piling up.

  After about ten minutes of support, the mountain became much flatter, and he immediately struggled to get up. He himself knew the danger of this place, if it wasn't for the extremely rigorous training since childhood, he was afraid that he would have fainted halfway through. The consequences of fainting in such a situation are self-evident.