At this moment, in the basement of the traitor's hideout.
A man's piercing screams echo relentlessly, as if enduring inhuman torture, his voice hoarse from howling.
Bai Xiao is covered in wounds, his hands and feet bound and suspended against the wall.
Dried blood stains his body in dark red patches, his skin marked with cuts from sharp blades.
"His damn mouth is still pretty tough!"
Silver Coral points at Bai Xiao with a ferocious expression, gnashing her teeth as she spits out threats.
"Just you wait!"
Nearby, Blue Pine and Green Willow don't look too pleased either.
"Damn it, if we weren't inside the Divination Commission without proper interrogation tools, this guy's mouth wouldn't still be shut."
Green Willow tosses the short dagger in his hand to the ground and suddenly grabs at Blue Pine and Silver Coral's waists.
"What are you doing?"
"What kind of lousy clothes are you two wearing?"
Green Willow lifts his own hem and starts undoing his belt.
Perhaps due to his frantic movements, he accidentally rips off the pants button, and his trousers slide down with a whoosh.
"Damn!"
Green Willow hurriedly pulls up his pants, but the belt falls to the ground in the process.
Realizing the pants can't be fastened anymore, he clutches the waistband with his left hand, furiously picking up the belt and whipping Bai Xiao back and forth.
"Are you gonna talk? Talk! Talk! Talk! TALK!"
The belt swings wildly with his agitated emotions, and Green Willow's left hand slips, failing to hold the pants up.
The trousers fall again.
Especially when he sees Red Cherry walk in through the door, his entire face flushes red enough to steam.
Scrambling to stuff his red boxers back into his pants, Green Willow vents his frustration on Bai Xiao again, grabbing his collar and shaking him violently.
"You Xianzhou expletive, are you gonna talk?!"
Bai Xiao's face is ashen, his pain-numbed and dazed consciousness clearing slightly.
"Talk or not… talk or not…"
His voice shifts from weak and feeble to erupting with rage.
"I didn't say I wouldn't talk! Just ask me what to say! Ask me!"
"You've been beating me for ages, just asking if I'll talk…"
"What am I supposed to say? WHAT?! Ask me—argh!!"
Green Willow freezes, instinctively glancing at Silver Coral.
The meaning is clear.
"You didn't ask him?"
Silver Coral is stunned too, mimicking Green Willow by looking at Blue Pine.
Blue Pine shakes his head side to side, finding no one else to look at, and scratches his head.
"Uh… what are we supposed to ask?"
Uh…
Silver Coral turns back to Green Willow.
"Are you two idiots? Ask who sent him to impersonate Bai Xiao!" Green Willow's mouth twists in frustration.
"But you didn't say that at the start. You just called us over to interrogate this guy…"
"Yeah, you never said we needed to make him confess that." Blue Pine asks weakly.
Now it's Green Willow's turn to be dumbfounded.
It seems… that's actually what happened.
Earlier, they noticed this Bai Xiao didn't react to any hints. When they finally tested him with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus identity, they confirmed something was off.
It wasn't the expression of recognizing a signal or a fellow member.
It was shock, confusion, and hostility.
Thankfully, Green Willow reacted quickly, knocking Bai Xiao out with a single blow, preventing a disaster.
If word got out, even ten pairs of wings wouldn't be enough for these traitors to escape.
He immediately contacted the other three, assigning two to interrogate and one to keep watch, while he tried to reach Zigui.
But unexpectedly, he couldn't get through.
The longer there was no response, the more anxious he grew, his emotions spiraling, causing him to overlook that his colleagues didn't know the full story…
Red Cherry knew, but she wasn't in charge of the interrogation.
"Sigh… Disciples of Sanctus Medicus… sigh… what a shoddy operation, sigh, like poets from Mei Yi Pavilion…"
Leon shakes his head with a sigh, stepping out from behind Red Cherry.
Green Willow and the others finally notice him, instinctively on guard. "Who are you?!"
"Before I answer, did you all notice a faint fragrance?"
"…It does smell pretty nice." Silver Coral sniffs.
But the next second, he feels an explosive swelling pain in his brain, worse than being stabbed by a thousand needles.
He's not the only one with these symptoms.
Ear-piercing screams nearly rupture eardrums.
"I'm Bai Xiao, sent by Lady Zigui to sabotage the Matrix of Prescience Ultima." Leon says with a cheerful smile.
"You… what did you… do… to us…?"
Green Willow collapses to the floor, curling up like a shrimp, clutching his head and glaring at Leon.
"Poisoned you, of course. Taking you out to gain the Divination Commission's trust, so I could sabotage the Matrix of Prescience Ultima."
Leon glances at the jade omen still recording, answering nonchalantly.
He steps on Green Willow's face, wiping blood off his shoe sole.
"The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus don't need idiots and failures like you. Better to let me take the credit and contribute to the organization's grand cause!"
Behind Leon, Red Cherry struggles to lift her gaze, looking at his back.
She wants to say something, but her consciousness rapidly fades under the intense pain.
When all noise ceases, Leon turns off the jade omen's recording and pulls out the real corpse-dissolving liquid.
After searching the group and taking some items, a chilling dissolving sound soon follows.
The room now has a few puddles of liquid.
It won't be long before they naturally disappear.
After finishing, Leon walks slowly to the stunned Bai Xiao, flicking a wind blade to cut the chains binding him.
…
Meanwhile, at Exalting Sanctum's plaza.
Near a fortune-telling shop, several card tables are set up.
At one of them, four people are gathered, happily playing cards.
South Seat Player: "Hurry up, Qingque. We've been waiting for your move so long the flowers have wilted."
West Seat Player: "Heard the Divination Commission's pocket dimension got hit too? Qingque, how do you still have the mood to play Celestial Jade?"
"Oh, it's a small problem."
Qingque's expression is quite relaxed, pondering her next card.
"Even if the Divination Commission's sky falls, Master Diviner's got it covered. She may be short, but her skills are top-notch."
"Besides, I'm not here just to mess around. I'm following her orders, waiting for some distinguished guests."
"Time's precious, so this is working and slacking at the same time."
Not far off, Stelle and the others walk while checking their phones, soon approaching the card table.
March 7th looks around, her little face full of confusion.
"The photo says this is the place… a card parlor?! What kind of trouble could be here?"
"Ha? This card game isn't trouble? Ugh, what kind of junk hand is this…"
Right after speaking, Qingque immediately reacts, turning with an awkward smile.
"Ehehe, hello, you three. One look at your noble aura, and I knew you must be the Divination Commission's honored guests!"
Stelle pulls a grumpy cat face, silently pressing the phone's camera button.
① "Little miss, you wouldn't want Master Diviner Fu to know you're playing cards, would you?"
② "So the trouble is your bad luck at cards? I'll have to report you to Master Diviner Fu."