Seeing Sharon's avatar flashing on their internal communication channel – the forum – Luo Shu immediately knew the alluring nun was contacting him.
"Contacting me this early in the morning... seems she's been busy since leaving last night..."
Luo Shu didn't believe Sharon would reach out to him, whom she regarded as a deity, without good reason. Her contact inevitably meant she had something to report.
"Though this forum notification feature is quite handy. Like having a constant QQ alert. Might get troublesome with more people later, but at least now it prevents missed messages."
With that thought, Luo Shu mentally clicked on Sharon's flashing avatar.
The flickering icon instantly expanded, magnified, then transformed into an image visible only in Luo Shu's left eye's perspective.
The scene showed...
A forest bathed in morning sunlight.
Amidst lush greenery, Sharon knelt on both knees atop fallen leaves, hands clasped together, eyes gently closed in prayer.
From distant Tokyo, Luo Shu observed this nun through the forum's perspective.
As during their first meeting, Sharon still wore that deep blue nun's habit.
Yet the white stockings faintly visible through the habit's high slit, combined with the voluptuous curves accentuated by her kneeling posture, made Luo Shu's mouth go dry.
"...Seductress," Luo Shu muttered, forcing his gaze away from Sharon to focus on the figure lying beside her on the leaves.
It was a middle-aged man with a prominent belly, dressed in a torn blue sleepwear. His eyes and mouth were bandaged, while his wrists and ankles were cuffed to iron rods deeply embedded in the ground.
After scanning this corporate slave briefly, noticing his bloodied, nail-less, cuffed hands, Luo Shu realised the man had already endured Sharon's interrogation.
"While the idea of a nun wielding a whip for interrogation sounds amusing, I doubt this poor fellow would agree..."
After this quiet remark, Luo Shu mentally activated the communication channel and spoke:
"What is it?"
His neutral tone transformed into a deep, authoritative voice when transmitted through their internal link.
The divine voice seemingly descending from the heavens made Sharon tremble, her bowed head lowering further:
"Your Eminence, I've captured a subordinate of the Yakushiji family involved with demons. However, due to a spell implanted in his mind, I couldn't extract precise intelligence."
Sharon's face showed visible tension as she continued in a slightly strained voice:
"Please forgive this subordinate's incompetence."
'Incompetence? You're being excessively competent...'
Even Luo Shu hadn't anticipated that in less than one night, Sharon could accurately locate a key member of the Yakushiji family.
The fact that this captive had a so-called spell preventing information leaks clearly marked him as either a family member or a crucial operative trusted by the Yakushiji clan.
It was clear that the captured individual had a high probability of knowing the secrets of the Yakushiji family—he might even be a key figure.
As for the issue Sharon mentioned about the target having a spell implanted in his mind, making it impossible to extract accurate information through interrogation, Luo Shu had some thoughts of his own.
In his view, Sharon's profession as a Holy Maiden was ultimately combat-oriented, so it was only natural that she wasn't skilled in interrogation or discerning the veracity of intel.
After all, Sharon wasn't a professional in this field, so her lack of confidence was understandable.
Among the people Luo Shu knew, there was indeed one suitable for extracting information.
'I choose you, Utaha-chan!' Luo Shu silently recited the teasing nickname he'd given her in his mind.
The image of her plump legs, accentuated by the black stockings, had left a deep impression on him—so much so that merely thinking of her brought her curvaceous figure to mind.
Come to think of it, what interrogation method could be more domineering than the ability of Mind Reading?
Coincidentally, Luo Shu happened to possess a material that could enhance Utaha Kasumigaoka's Mind Reading ability. This was the perfect opportunity to gift it—both to strengthen her capabilities and to enlist her services.
If the intel was successfully extracted, it would be a double victory!
Even if it failed, Luo Shu stood to lose nothing.
After all, it was Sharon Holygrail who did the kidnapping—what did that have to do with Luo Shu, an agent of the SDS?
Having settled on this plan, Luo Shu issued his order in a calm tone:
"In that case, offer him as a sacrifice to me."
At the word "sacrifice," Sharon remained unfazed, but the man bound in bandages over his mouth and eyes shuddered violently, his entire body trembling.
Clearly, he sensed the extreme danger implied by that term.
His mouth worked frantically beneath the bandages, soon creating enough slack to force out words:
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Ask me anything—I'll answer! Please, believe me! Believe me!!"
Evidently, this poor gentleman's mouth wasn't as resilient as the spell in his mind.
Sharon stood up expressionlessly, gripping the bracelet on her right wrist as she prepared to package her "spoils of war" and send them off to the alternate dimension where the Astronomy Club resided.
For her, extracting information from this unfortunate individual wasn't difficult—the challenge lay in verifying its accuracy.
Since this was her first assignment for Luo Shu, Sharon didn't dare take any chances by submitting unverified information, which explained her earlier tension.
After kidnapping someone connected to the Yakushiji family, unless they were fools, they would surely render any critical intel this poor soul knew obsolete as quickly as possible. Thus, Sharon's priority was obtaining the most accurate information in the shortest time possible.
But now, it seemed this task wouldn't require her preparation after all.
Activating the bracelet's teleportation function, a dim glow enveloped the area as Sharon dispatched the wailing, despairing "spoils of war" into the alternate dimension.
Once the man vanished, Sharon immediately declared:
"Praise be to you, Great Lord."
As she spoke, she instinctively began tracing the Church's prayer gesture in the air before her—only to freeze mid-motion when she remembered Luo Shu wasn't one of the Church's deities, leaving her hand awkwardly suspended.
However, Luo Shu didn't pay much attention to this. He merely glanced at the 5 points consumed by the sacrificial teleportation, took a look at the unlucky fellow frozen in place like an insect in amber within the Astronomy Club's space, then pushed open the door and headed towards the elevator.
His destination was naturally Utaha Kasumigaoka's location.