When he entered Building No. 3, not only did he disguise himself and alter his facial features, he also avoided meeting familiar faces like He Kao and Huang Si.
His purpose for sneaking in so close was twofold: firstly, to ascertain when He Kao would realize the item had been swapped, and secondly, to discover how He Kao would use the item—whether there was some special technique or ritual involved?
Although he had already acquired the Beast Claw and was certain it was a treasure with unique properties, he still hadn't figured out Hidden Moth's abilities; perhaps due to his limited contact or maybe there was something else involved.
If He Kao failed to notice the item had been swapped, he'd use it eventually, and Qian Guran was waiting in the shadows. Unexpectedly, it wasn't He Kao who "cast his techniques" that he awaited, but rather a peer.
It was on his third night after moving into 2114 when someone silently opened He Kao's door, as if unlocking it with just a touch...judging by the technique, the visitor was likely also a Tier Three Sorcerer.
Detecting this scene secretly, Qian Guran was shocked, retracting his divine sense to prevent the visitor from noticing. Once the person left, Qian discovered He Kao was still fast asleep, but the fake he meticulously crafted was swapped again, into a fake's fake.
Qian Guran felt a cold sweat of fear, although he had considered that other peers or sect members might also set their sights on He Kao, deep down he hoped he'd be the only one.
He was careful enough, believing he had done everything naturally without flaws, and had been keeping an eye on suspicious people around He Kao, yet he hadn't discovered much.
But truth proved he was mistaken; there were others eyeing He Kao, he just hadn't noticed. It seemed his Jianghu experience was still lacking, and he'd need to be more humble and cautious moving forward.
He recognized tonight's uninvited guest as a neighbor from Sesame Apartment, living in unit 911, who moved in after he rented 915, yet he hadn't noticed anything unusual about this person.
After the fright, Qian Guran felt a wave of relief, fortunately, he'd acted early on. That peer had effectively drunk his foot bathwater.
Then he burst into silent laughter, because he thought of another amusing matter. If more people were targeting He Kao, then tonight's peer would become the scapegoat—who would believe he swapped for a fake?
This way, even if someone else of high skill came to investigate, they likely wouldn't trace it back to him!
After his secret laughter, he couldn't help but complain internally; the person who acted was probably a Tier Three Sorcerer, possibly from another sect, but their technique lacked any finesse, simply sneaking in to swap the item while He Kao slept?
If he hadn't already swapped the item, rendering the fake's "Malicious Detection" ineffective, the person wouldn't have succeeded so smoothly, and might even have botched the operation.
While critiquing others from upstairs, he forgot that he himself had once harbored the same intention.
Qian Guran laughed heartily, while this comedy continued to unfold. Over the next few weeks, the same act was repeatedly performed, leaving the hidden viewer Qian Guran numb.
According to incomplete statistics, in one month and five days, that poor Beast Claw Pendant was swapped five times. The last person's technique was a bit lacking and worried they might awaken He Kao, so they simply cut the string and took the Beast Claw.
That person didn't forget to swap with a fake, but instead of putting it back on He Kao, they left it beside his pillow.
The next day, He Kao awoke, habitually touched his chest to find the Pendant missing, then looked around and saw it beside his pillow—he picked it up and wore it again without suspicion!
Why is it incomplete statistics? Because He Kao wasn't always within Qian Guran's sight, and a month later Qian Guran left 2114, pretending as if nothing had happened.
Why did he leave? Because he eventually got scared. With peers coming and going, he preferred to avoid confrontation to prevent exposure, so he distanced himself.
Qian Guran was rather humble; after observing for so long, he didn't dare think himself superior to all the later peers, surely there were those whose technique realm surpassed his own.
He simply gained the advantage by acting first, quickly reacting to relevant clues, promptly investigating and pinpointing He Kao, allowing him to act earliest—indeed fortunate!
The earliest clue that caught Qian Guran's attention wasn't the Zhou Du case from twenty years ago, he hadn't initially heard of this case; nor was it the bizarre event of apples turning into oranges at Gao Xue'e's home, which occurred after he had targeted He Kao.
The origin was a social news piece from three months prior. At that time, the police issued an announcement regarding an art swapping case.
The suspect was Dean Zhang Yanfei from Nanhua Academy of Fine Arts, who employed professional skills and exploited his position to swap out multiple precious paintings from the library's collection at Nanhua Academy of Fine Arts.
Coincidentally, Qian Guran had heard of Zhang Yanfei and knew him to be a Sorcerer from the Micro Realm Sect, likely a "Calligrapher" or "Appraiser." The Micro-Entry Skill Tier One was commonly known as "Imitator"; Tier Two called "Calligrapher"; Tier Three dubbed "Appraiser."
Dean Zhang's specific method was using his forgeries to replace the genuine artworks, over several years, stealing dozens of valuable ancient paintings and masterpieces, most have been auctioned overseas for illicit gains exceeding eighty million.
After the case was exposed, the police recovered several genuine paintings still in Dean Zhang's possession, though many pieces remain unrecovered.
The case spanned a long time, involved a large sum, and had complex circumstances, thus the police's investigation likely took quite a while, yet the final announcement was very brief, essentially covering the above content.