"Then let's hurry. Breaking her mother is not a problem," Asura chuckled. I didn't waste any more time thinking, I had to urgently confirm my thoughts, for which I called Lin Yun Er, hoping that in these almost four months she hadn't changed her phone number.
"Hello, Jiaxing Yun, is that you?" her gentle and tender voice sounded on the phone.
"Yes, it's me. I've just arrived in Xi'an, so I'd like to meet," I said in a rather joyful voice.
"I see, and I was wondering where you disappeared to. You haven't been heard from for four months again," she said sternly, but then added, "Let's meet, I need to talk to you."
"Okay, I'll come to your house, can you tell me the address?" I asked impatiently. If she's home, that's great, I'll find a way to stay alone with her mother. If not, that's also good, I'll have time to talk about important issues before she arrives.
"I'm not home right now, but Mom is home, I don't think that's a good option," she said with doubt, so it's the second option.
"It doesn't matter, I'll talk to her about our relationship," I stated confidently.
"We-ell..." she drawled uncertainly. "Okay, I think it will be even better..." she said, dictating the address to me.
However, something in her voice and words made me uneasy, but I boldly ignored it. The thrill of the impending unraveling of a great conspiracy stirred my blood! As soon as I heard the address, Lin Yun Er said that she would be home soon, and also asked me not to mess anything up accidentally, and said goodbye. I also didn't pay much attention to these words and, calling a taxi, quickly got to her house.
The apartment where Lin Yu Er lived was on the third floor. Quickly climbing up, I rang the doorbell. A woman about fifty years old, with short gray hair and dressed in a housecoat, opened the door. I remembered that during our previous meeting, she looked younger. However, even despite the changes in her appearance, I easily recognized Lin Yu Er's mother.
"You..." she drawled, looking me up and down. "You're Jiaxing Yun?"
"Yes, may I come in? I came to visit Lin Yu Er," I said calmly, smiling slightly, anticipating the upcoming conversation.
"She's not home, and I wouldn't want you to communicate with her," she said strictly, her eyes flashing.
"Is it because the guardians want to kill me? Don't worry, we'll still find out who kills whom," I asked, as if in passing. My words changed her face; incomprehension and shock appeared on it. This was exactly the reaction I expected. "Then I can come in, I suppose?" I asked, and without waiting for an answer, I entered the room.
Quickly finding the living room, I sat on the sofa as if I were at home. The room was small, but quite cozy. There were two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen in the apartment. Honestly, I'm surprised how they managed to get such a good apartment. Probably the death of her father influenced it, but I'm not sure. Almost immediately after me, Lin Yu Er's mother came in, sat opposite me, and began to stare intently at me.
"And you still dare to come to me so brazenly?" she asked in a stern voice, regaining her composure. "One call, and you're dead!"
"Really? Weren't you informed that the team of mages close to the peak of the middle level failed their mission?" I asked, smiling.
"What?" Her face again took on an expression of shock. As expected, she is not privy to all the secret plans. "How could this happen?"
"It's none of your business, mother," I said smugly. "And are you interested in what happened to them?"
"What then," she asked in a trembling voice, staring at me as if I were a monster.
"They are all dead. Do you think your organization can provide someone stronger?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. "Based on previous actions, that's not the case."
"And what do you want?" she asked menacingly. "Did you come to mock me? Or to take Lin Yu Er by force?"
"Hahaha. None of that. Take Lin Yu Er? Is that a joke?" I laughed. "No, of course, I love her very much, but I won't force her against her will for that very reason. I came here to talk with her and with you," I said calmly, watching her reaction.
"Talk?" she said doubtfully, faltering for a few seconds.
"Yes. Ask a few questions," I spread my hands. "I'm not going to force you, but I hope you'll answer everything voluntarily and truthfully."
"You must understand that if they find out I told you something, they will kill me along with my daughters?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I already suffered last time when I delayed reporting about you." Saying this, she showed cuts on her arm; it was clear she had been tortured quite a bit.
"Yes, I understand, and I am grateful to you for it. It was only thanks to you that I was able to kill the first group. If they had attacked a little earlier, I would have been done for," I said, leaning forward. "But don't worry, I have a plan to keep you and your daughters safe."
"And what is it?" she asked doubtfully. In response, I took out the cursed seal that I had previously used on Zhang Rou. Of course, the charge in it had dropped, but it could erase a couple of hours from life, while the damage to the soul would be less. "You... You seriously use such terrible things?" she said in a trembling voice, herself in complete horror.
"I have a rough idea of how this seal works, so I can adjust it to erase the last two hours for you, but the damage to the soul will be quite significant," I said, twirling the seal in my hands. "However, it will manifest gradually, over a very long time. You could say that you will gradually lose your mind, but the guardians, when they review your memory, will think that I simply decided to hide the fact that I came to you. And they won't know that you told me. You can even call them specifically and tell them where I am, if you want."
"You've thought of everything, but why should I agree to this? If I lose my mind, will my daughter forgive you?" she asked with contempt.
"No, of course not. The question is, will she find out?" I chuckled, placing the seal on the table between us. "Why don't you tell me everything. You must guess that I deliberately saved your daughter twice. I suspected that the rat would attack that evening when the librarian died, which is why I came for my sister Jiaxing Xia. But it turned out that I saved your daughter too. In the days before the tragedy of Bo City, it was I who gave her money, thus helping her go to Xi'an and not be in danger. It was also I who repeatedly saved your second daughter during the tragedy. I am Aquilon and Austr, about whom, as I know, she talks a lot and whom she is looking for."
"But according to her, they are strong mages of the middle level of wind, and you are not even nineteen yet! How can you be them?" she asked, with even more contempt in her voice.
"But then how did the team that was almost at the peak of the middle level die?" I asked, smiling, releasing a little lightning energy, so that a couple of flashes appeared on my hand with a characteristic crackle.
"You... You are really that strong?" she stammered in horror, sinking back into her chair. "And even so, why should I tell you everything?"
"And you have no choice anymore. Either way, I will erase your memory of my presence here, go downstairs, wait for Lin Yun Er, and we will go up here together again. The only question is whether I will leave with information or without it," I said in a calm, slightly indifferent voice, which sent shivers down her spine. "You will lose your mind one way or another. The only question is whether you will help me or not. Will you help the one who saved your daughters' lives at least three times. One debt, I must admit, you have repaid, but the other two?"
"But I don't have to say this, right?" she smirked. "If I'm going crazy anyway, what difference does it make? I don't want you to defeat the guardians and take my daughter. You are too immoral a guy, I can't let you win!" she stated confidently, but seeing my unchanging smile, her voice gradually became quieter and more uncertain.
"However, you are overlooking the fact that you will not be able to protect your daughter from me while being crazy. So you have a choice, to give your daughter to the one who defeated your masters, or to the one whom your masters want to kill and will most likely kill, along with your daughter," I stated calmly, although for the most part it was a bluff. I won't let anyone kill me, and even without the knowledge I can get from her, I'm sure I can handle it.
"You'll drag my daughter to her grave with you? Yes, you're crazy!" she shouted, pointing a finger at me. "You love her, how can you let her die!?"
"Exactly, I love her and came to you to get information that will lead not me, but my enemies to the grave," I grinned. "The more you resist, the deeper you hammer nails into the lid of our common coffin!"
"A..." she drawled, falling into a stupor. "Then fine. But remember, as long as I'm myself, I won't let you be together!"
"We'll see," I smiled. "So, the first question, which clan of guardians do you belong to?"
"The Vladivostok clan is a clan with an ancient history, which moved to a new city in the east after business failures. After that, the clan took the name of the city where it settled," she answered dryly, although she revealed a little more than necessary.
"What relics does your clan have?" I asked. Of course, I was sure she belonged to the same clan as Peter, but I decided to clarify.
"As far as I know, they are the Pendant of Perun and the Talisman of Stribog," she answered, slightly faltering, confirming my guesses. "Well, and your tooth, actually."
"What are the relations between your clan and the Khabarovsk and Ufa clans?" I quickly asked the next question.
"As far as I know, they are very strained. After your parents fled with the relic, our clan suffered greatly, so they were able to encroach on our possessions," she answered calmly, also confirming my conclusions. "Do you know what happened to your parents?" she added with concern.
"Yes, they were killed because of the theft of the relic, and I somehow managed to escape," I waved my hand, pretending to be completely indifferent, although it was so, they are not my parents, but the parents of the body. My parents remained in the world where I died. She shivered at my words. "Next question, what do you know about the hunt for me?"
"Very little, as you understand, they don't tell me everything I ask for. Only that the initial plan failed and it was decided to simply observe you, since September," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "At least, that's what the one who passed on the orders told me. Don't blame me, but I faithfully passed on all your conversations with Lin Yun Er upstairs."
"Don't worry. I realized long ago that you were leaking information, so it was impossible to find me through them." I waved my hand again, processing all the information received. "If the Vladivostok guardians have really been watching me since September, then the New Year's incident with Jiaxing Yun is not their doing, and possibly the incident in Yueyang either. So my assumption that more than one type of guardian is following me is correct, and that's pretty good. This can be used to gain an advantage."
"You knew? Then what was the point of my work?" she asked in surprise. "But how did you figure it out? I lived in Bo City for seven years with my husband and clearly didn't arouse any suspicion?"