The night sky is beautiful, and so is this world. That's why I want to do my best to keep you all, and guarding this land is my responsibility. Therefore, protecting you is also my responsibility.
I protect the world, and you are a part of it.
"You are truly cunning," Lucifer sighed, unsure if it was a sigh of relief or helplessness. In this way, he could never truly be angry with the person in his arms.
"Considering a demon who spies on you as family is a foolish decision, my master," Lucifer chuckled lowly, a smile curving his lips, his mood instantly lifted. "I spy on your soul."
"Oh, I don't mind," Bai Cha smiled, looking down at the land below. Beijing was already within sight. "We all take what we need, so as compensation, you can have my soul."
Compensation… perhaps?
Lucifer's smile remained unchanged, his eyes filled with myriad thoughts. Whether it was Bai Cha's nonchalance that annoyed him or her acting out, Lucifer decided to change the subject.
"Master, what is your ability?" Lucifer asked.
"Ah, that's a product of experimental modification," Bai Cha explained. "You know, everyone from the Shadow faction underwent gene super-mutation surgery, implanting various rare genes and stimulating and overdrawing human brain potential. But everyone's physical and mental tolerance is different, so the results of the modifications vary."
"However, I'm different from them because they all had moderate development, but those scientists, you know, they're never satisfied." Bai Cha recalled, "So they carried out a series of comprehensive developments on me, but then they stopped."
"There must have been many sacrifices, right?" Lucifer recalled the righteous words of the Light faction. Although those people were hypocritical, their words still held a sliver of truth.
After all, such powerful abilities couldn't be obtained without any cost. It was likely that many experimental subjects met unfortunate ends for the sake of the experiments.
As Lucifer thought this, Bai Cha directly refuted him.
"No," Bai Cha looked at Lucifer, somewhat bewildered. "The experiment was terminated before it was successful."
"But there should still be failures, right?" Lucifer asked, confused.
"Yes," Bai Cha answered as a matter of course. "I am the failure."
At these words, Lucifer fell into a brief surprise. Hearing Bai Cha say that, it seemed the experiment only involved Bai Cha from beginning to end, right up to the failure. Was this woman crazy? How could she dare to try this?
"Anyway, if I didn't let them experiment, they would definitely be dissatisfied, and delaying it would inevitably lead to trouble. So, I might as well let them experiment on me," Bai Cha said. "Besides, they were quite careful, so I agreed."
Lucifer: "..." Utterly absurd. Did she know what she was doing?
Lucifer almost laughed in frustration. He truly felt that Bai Cha's thought process was beyond that of an ordinary person. He could only say helplessly, "Then won't your ability go out of control? I can see that this ability has an effect on your body."
"Probably."
Lucifer: "What!?"
Lucifer was truly grinding his teeth in anger. He had asked casually, never expecting his words to come true.
At this point, shouldn't the development be a solemn promise that she would never lose control? Or a firm declaration, "Don't worry, I will absolutely not lose control," followed by demonstrating the power of human emotion and willpower? Shouldn't it be like this?
Why was this so different from what he imagined?
"I mean in special circumstances," Seeing the calm Lucifer on the verge of an outburst, Bai Cha finally couldn't help but laugh. "If you can't control it, you'll never be able to. For someone like me, who can already control it, accidents rarely happen."
Lucifer felt a blockage in his chest for a long time. He looked at Bai Cha's smiling face with a hint of teeth-grinding annoyance.
Half an hour later.
In Beijing, the conference long table was already filled with people. Except for the leader at the head of the table, who was looking up with a serious expression, everyone else was hanging their heads, like students who hadn't finished their homework and were being criticized by a teacher.
A curvaceous woman slammed a stack of documents onto the table. She was beautiful, with eyes as dark as spilled ink, yet no one dared to meet her gaze.
"You don't know? None of you know? Have you all become useless? We're about to be attacked, and you tell me you know nothing?" Bai Cha's chest heaved, clearly very angry. She stood there and slapped the table, causing a crack to appear. "Are you people mistaken? The missions I undertake are based on the information you provide. You are my superiors! Now your information is even more outdated than mine?"
Just over half an hour ago, Bai Cha had chatted with Lucifer all the way, and her anger had essentially dissipated. But now, as the meeting progressed, Bai Cha's anger began to surge.
In this country, Bai Cha's temper was definitely not considered good. However, when it came to the skill of "holding back anger and handling situations calmly," Bai Cha was second to none. This was the first time Bai Cha had raised her voice in a high-level collective meeting, scaring everyone into silence.
"Speak up! Who is responsible for the intelligence network? Do you know that one of your second-tier cities was almost turned into ruins last night? Don't tell me you don't know what I've been busy with. At this time, you're playing this game with me?!" Bai Cha's voice was so cold it could freeze into frost. She was truly suffering from a headache caused by surges of anger.
"Ten people from [Balance Beam] entered, and sixteen A-level dragons appeared in the sky over a second-tier city? I say there's no mole, do you believe it yourselves? Ask yourselves if you believe it!" Seeing everyone lowering their heads and remaining silent, Bai Cha's anger flared up. "And now you're telling me none of you knew this information? Are you insane!?"
Speaking of Balance Beam, Bai Cha's anger surged again.
The organization Balance Beam was somewhat unique. It was filled with powerful individuals, almost all of whom were bounty hunters and freelance mercenaries, a grey organization not belonging to any single country.
The most famous were the Twelve Zodiacs plus two gods. The world's strongest, Libra, who was the leader of Balance Beam, and Freya, the Goddess of Love, who was Balance Beam's second-in-command.
Because of the abundance of powerful individuals, all countries turned a blind eye. When Bai Cha's parents, Ye Feng and Bai Qingyuan, were still alive, the Bai family had a close relationship with Balance Beam. Even Libra had a close relationship with Bai Cha, although now it could only be described as a relationship of deep animosity.
"I can handle the people from Balance Beam, but who let the A-level dragons in?" Bai Cha pulled out a stack of reports and threw them directly at a few people's faces. "Intelligence Bureau, Customs, Security Department, are you all useless?"
Bai Cha panted and sat down in her chair. Her mood was truly terrible. She hadn't expected these people to act anyway, given their positions. But to think they genuinely knew nothing about it!?
The cake was already being gnawed down to the core, with a large hole missing, and they were still surprised, asking me how the cake was gnawed? I'm just a fly swatter, shouldn't you be asking yourselves why it was gnawed?
"I'm very capable, but you can't expect me to have information, abilities, and connections for everything, Arthur?" Seeing the silent conference room, Bai Cha could only sigh helplessly. "Fortunately, the few people from Balance Beam had no ill intentions. If they had also decided on a whim to steal classified information, who among you could stop them? I was already busy enough with the Winter Olympics, why don't you just split me in two?
You're not expecting me to hurry up and have a few children, are you? What if I suddenly die a few days from now? Wouldn't that be a joke..."
"Don't say such unlucky things, Miss Bai. You are the pillar of country Z," someone weakly interjected.
"Mm, a pillar at seventeen. Can I ask you to hold up a little too?" Bai Cha rolled her eyes. "Oh right, I'm almost eighteen. Hmph."
The crowd fell silent again, everyone shrinking their heads, not daring to make a sound.
"Do you have any good ideas?" The leader pondered for a long time before finally speaking, seeking Bai Cha's opinion first. "Or, have you noticed anything."
"I undertake missions based on the information you provide. I'm the worker, you are the brains," Bai Cha said, rubbing her temples with a headache. "I've been busy with the defense deployment and intelligence distribution for the Winter Olympics lately. You've been guarding the mole and customs there, haven't you?"
"It's impossible for me to find the mole immediately. No matter how capable I am, I can't read minds," Bai Cha continued. "And you'd better be careful, they've probably colluded with outsiders."
"Miss Bai, are you sure? This would be treason! This is a capital offense that warrants confiscation of property!" someone exclaimed, their eyes wide with shock. The others also looked incredulous.
"Why else?" Seeing their expressions, Bai Cha finally realized that these people were truly so slow that they knew nothing. Her anger flared up again. "The external personnel of Balance Beam have likely been in contact with them for a long time. I suspect that at the Winter Olympics, there might be their eyes and ears waiting to cause trouble among the people at the resorts and venues."
Not only him, but the entire conference room exchanged glances and whispered, disbelieving.
Colluding with outsiders to bring in such a severe disaster, almost causing serious and adverse consequences, this was already bordering on treason. No matter how much they coveted wealth and status, or how greedy they were, they shouldn't have done such a thing. If discovered, it would be an unforgivable crime.
"What exactly happened?" Gong Yuechen looked at Bai Cha and immediately sensed something was wrong. He flipped through the report Bai Cha had submitted again.
It was indeed a bit strange, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. Although each event was isolated, there seemed to be some subtle connections.
"It was intentional, wasn't it? To secretly release evil dragons to lure me out, and then attack the athletes who arrived early," Bai Cha shrugged. "Whether it was the evil dragons causing destruction or the athletes getting hurt, I would be the one to take the blame. As for them, a simple 'miscalculation' would cover it up."
"They knew that if it were me, I would definitely save the affected athletes, so they placed evil dragons on the other side that were enough for me to use my full strength, and attempted to amplify public opinion," Bai Cha frowned. "Anyway, in my position, no matter what accident happens, I'm the one to blame. Their intelligence has improved quite a bit."
However, it ultimately failed. It was estimated that those people didn't expect Bai Cha to perfectly resolve about twenty A-level dragons without causing any economic losses, and not only did she rescue the athletes, but she also rounded up those instigating external personnel.
The most unsuccessful part was that their supposed backers, Mo Ziye and Mo Yuntian, didn't help Bai Cha, but instead were warned and had to suffer in silence.
"Uh, wait, wait a minute, Bai Cha, this doesn't make sense, this is too ridiculous. Why would they do this?" Gong Yuechen also stood up, his hands spread in disbelief. "If that's the case, the responsibility shouldn't fall on you. The people from Balance Beam mixed in were handled by Mr. Liao, who was responsible for customs, and you wouldn't be punished if you didn't receive notification, right? It should be the problem of the city's security chief, and even tracing it up the chain, it should be Mr. Qian's problem."