Many people withdrawing after Bai Cha's disruption of the balance beam was understandable.
Astrea's underhanded tactics against Ye Feng had already drawn criticism. After all, they had been as close as family, and for them to turn on each other so quickly made no one certain they wouldn't be next.
And it wasn't enough that they had fallen out with their closest friends; they hadn't even bothered to show up promptly when headquarters was in such disarray. It was clear they didn't consider the people at the balance beam as their own, prioritizing their own interests over protecting the balance beam.
With their home base invaded, they were still busy fighting bosses? Wouldn't any teammate feel disheartened by that?
"What about the Guangming Faction?" Cang Liu interjected.
The Guangming Faction?
Bai Cha glanced at Meng Qinghuan, who immediately turned his head away awkwardly, pretending nothing had happened and looking up at the moon.
"At the time, your master was being held captive by them, essentially kidnapped," Bai Cha said, shaking her head helplessly as she looked at the embarrassed Meng Qinghuan, who was staring at the moon. "I had promised Mo Yun Tian to let the Guangming Faction off the hook, so I only destroyed their businesses and most of their laboratories, killing the ringleaders. The rest were released."
Yun He and Cang Liu: "..."
The two of them turned their heads in unison to look at the awkward Meng Qinghuan, their eyes filled with surprise.
"Master, you... were taken captive?" Yun He asked, incredulously. With his master's prescient nature, being captured? It didn't seem plausible.
"Cough, cough! Doesn't everyone make mistakes sometimes! Your master was not even an adult back then!" Meng Qinghuan was so angry he was grinding his teeth. If his head wasn't so smooth that even a mosquito landing on it would cause it to split, he would probably have exploded with rage by now. "Little Bai! You can't expose my embarrassing moments in front of your disciples!"
Bai Cha chuckled softly, not responding.
"Humans are like this. If they don't have a common enemy, then humanity's greatest enemy is humanity itself."
"Lucifer, let's go, cough, cough..." Bai Cha coughed a few times. Lucifer, hearing that Bai Cha wanted to leave, was more than happy. He turned and, without looking back, carried Bai Cha away.
Hearing Meng Qinghuan behind him frantically trying to explain his oversight to salvage his remaining dignity, Bai Cha could only imagine the complex emotions of Yun He and Cang Liu. As she thought about it, Bai Cha chuckled.
"Master?" Lucifer sounded surprised. Even he rarely saw Bai Cha so relaxed; she seemed to be in a very good mood.
"Lucifer, do you know, Meng Qinghuan even cried to me back then," Bai Cha leaned her head on Lucifer's shoulder. His body was warm, giving her a sense of peace, a feeling of being able to rest temporarily.
"They scared Meng Qinghuan then, saying that the Bai family had wiped me out, and it did take me some time," Bai Cha closed her eyes, a smile on her lips. "When he saw me, the seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man hugged me and cried. I was quite short back then, and he held me like his mother for a long time, not letting go. I only managed to get him home to see his second uncle before he finally stopped."
"Everyone was too young then," Lucifer replied softly. "I will be by your side from now on."
"That would be best," Bai Cha said easily. "It saves a lot of trouble."
Lucifer smiled. He could tell that Bai Cha didn't seem to take his words seriously, but it didn't matter. He had plenty of time to take it slow.
Returning to the lounge, he gently placed Bai Cha on the bed and handed her a cup of hot milk.
He had put it on the stove to warm before he left, and it was just the right temperature now.
Bai Cha leaned against the bed. The hot milk was just right, chasing away the cold and making her feel a little drowsy.
"You're right, they were all young back then," Bai Cha said, swinging the glass bottle in her hand, her mood good.
Lucifer was helpless. He really wanted to say that she wasn't much older now, but seeing the tiredness in Bai Cha's eyes, he didn't say it.
His master possessed a maturity beyond her years. His master was beautiful and delicate, a maiden in bloom, yet she had already calmly led a group of people older than her.
No one could fathom her emotions; her eyes were as placid as a still pond, and she hid her fatigue and weariness very well.
Bai Cha leaned quietly on the bed, a little listless.
The bed was soft, the quilt dry, and the surroundings were quiet, enclosed, and safe. The fireplace crackled with burning fruitwood, the room was warm, and she even had a cup of hot milk in her hand.
She could smell the faint scent of milk, and her butler stood beside her.
It felt like a dream.
Sometimes, in her daze, she truly couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality.
Recently, she had rarely had nightmares. She had long grown accustomed to the nightly replay of nightmares like a carousel. Suddenly sleeping soundly made her feel lost the next day, unsure if she truly existed.
"That person just now probably didn't know that a sudden death was a good ending for a Shadow," Bai Cha said with a wry smile.
The warmth and happiness of the present were like soap bubbles, colorful and illusory, fragile and unreal. But if they could shatter like bubbles, losing their beauty as they broke, that would also be a kind of beauty.
"Master, please don't say such foolish things," Lucifer took the empty cup from Bai Cha's hand and placed it aside. He knelt on one knee and gently held Bai Cha's hand. "I will be by your side from now on, promising eternal companionship and loyalty. I am always warm."
"So, it's time for you to rest now, my Master." Lucifer waited for Bai Cha to lie down and then gently tucked her in. The bedding on the bed had been specially measured by him, and its hygiene and quality were absolutely up to par.
Watching Bai Cha close her eyes and fall asleep, Lucifer finally turned off the light.
However, what should he do now?
Dragons didn't need much rest; a few days of rest were enough for them to be energetic and active. As he was thinking, Lucifer looked at the sleeping Bai Cha again.
Well, then, his task for tonight would be to guard his master while she rested.
Outside the window, amidst the bushes.
Three people crouched for a long time, like thieves.
To be precise, Meng Qinghuan had dragged Yun He and Cang Liu to crouch for a long time.
Cang Liu's expression was blank throughout. His face was tense, and his aura was as cold as his demeanor. His body temperature was already low, and seeing Lucifer's series of actions, the low-pressure aura around him intensified, chilling Yun He, who rubbed his arms several times.
"Lucifer and Miss Freya have the highest probability," Yun He said seriously to Meng Qinghuan.
Meng Qinghuan was taken aback. He had just wanted to drag people along to gossip, so if they were discovered, the punishment would be shared, and at most, all three would be disciplined by Bai Cha.
He had only casually discussed gossip with Yun He at the time, not expecting Yun He to be so serious about it.
"Ah? Why?" Meng Qinghuan rubbed his chin, looking surprised. "Little Mo seems quite enthusiastic."
"Didn't Master say that proximity breeds affection?" Yun He thought seriously. "Mo Ziye... gives me a strange feeling. Although he's our friend, I always feel like we're not on the same path."
"Then, what about Little Cang?" Meng Qinghuan patted Cang Liu's shoulder, completely unfazed by Cang Liu's icy demeanor, and said with a hint of sympathy, "Even Little He doesn't think Little Cang has a chance?"
Cang Liu: "?"
What were they discussing?
"Alright, alright, enough joking. Little Bai won't be with anyone," Meng Qinghuan couldn't help but laugh and fall to the ground seeing Cang Liu's utterly bewildered expression. "It's all because you guys think Bai Cha is a steel-straight girl with a hero complex. How can she possibly fall in love when the world is not yet at peace?"
It wasn't until the next day that Lucifer realized how wise his decision had been.
It was only now that Lucifer understood how noisy the people of the Guangming Faction were, and how they had escalated their antics by colluding with outsiders.
In the interrogation room where prisoners were being held, several representatives from the Guangming Faction were crying injustice along with representatives from other countries. They probably thought that by making a scene, they could get their way, each one more unreasonable than the last. Forget Bai Cha; even Lucifer found it somewhat headache-inducing.
Fortunately, Bai Cha had gotten enough rest yesterday. Otherwise, Lucifer suspected Bai Cha might have lost her temper and dealt with these people herself.
Not to mention Bai Cha, even Lucifer wanted to teach these people a lesson.
"Are they ever going to stop?" Bai Cha looked at Gong Yuechen beside her, her brows showing unconcealed annoyance. "Are you guys serious? You're leaving all the messes for us to clean up. Are you just going to stand in the middle and watch the fun as neutrals?"
"Hey, hey, Ancestor, speak softly!" Gong Yuechen quickly tugged at Bai Cha's sleeve and whispered, "They recently developed a method to increase energy utilization efficiency by thirty percent, which has caused a global sensation. We can't just abandon them after they've served their purpose."
Hearing this, Bai Cha almost choked. She crushed the glass cup in her hand with a "crack."
You guys spent years, even decades, to achieve something, and you desperately protect it. Is our Shadow faction not important? If all the things we've dealt with secretly were revealed, they could make Z country's news headlines for seven days straight, do you believe that?
Actually, Bai Cha wasn't blaming the country for not giving them recognition, nor did she care about such superficial honors. It was enough that everything came to her, but couldn't they at least say a few words? The Guangming Faction was blocking the way and causing trouble, and it even involved Z country's honor, yet you were still trying to smooth things over. Was that appropriate?
"You're not going to deal with it?" Bai Cha looked at Gong Yuechen, her patience truly gone.
Gong Yuechen: "Uh... what can we do?"
"You can't handle it, right? Fine."
Bai Cha nodded, pursed her lips, slapped the table, and stood up. She grabbed the stool she had been sitting on and smashed the surveillance cameras in the interrogation room with a few "bang bang" sounds.
"Hey, hey, hey? Bai Cha, you..." Gong Yuechen tried to stop her but was glared back by Bai Cha.
"Sit down."
Bai Cha's voice turned cold, and Gong Yuechen immediately cowered like a chick, sitting back down and lowering his head.
Bai Cha didn't waste any words and resorted to fists. Lucifer, on the other hand, thoughtfully closed the main door for Bai Cha and waited outside with Gong Yuechen, smiling.
A series of piercing screams, and a few minutes later, the interrogation room fell silent. A group of people, along with a few defeated dragons, lay on the ground trembling. Even though some of them had defiant looks in their eyes, they dared not utter a sound.
It was no joke; a group of people and a few dragons, none of whom were in the top hundred globally, were no match for Bai Cha fighting dozens of them. How could she not subdue these short-sighted fools?
Having vented her frustration, Bai Cha returned to another side of the interrogation room. She picked up the microphone through the glass and spoke to those inside: "Say whatever you want. You've seen the ultra-clear photo evidence, so why are you still quibbling? Either stay here forever or confess clearly."
"You, you're using torture," one person glared at Bai Cha fiercely through the glass. He wasn't a foreigner but a Chinese national from the Guangming Faction. "Aren't you afraid of your reputation being ruined?"
"That's right," a foreigner chimed in, nodding repeatedly. "They say Z country persuades people with reason. You can't do this."
"Don't try to fool me," Bai Cha shook the glass cup in her hand and crushed it in front of all the detainees. "Every country has its shadows, just different names. We're all sensible people, so don't pretend to be foolish."
After speaking, Bai Cha threw down the microphone and lazily kicked Meng Qinghuan. "Ask."
"If you try any more tricks, I'll let you experience Z country's torture. You should have heard that nothing cannot be extracted from me. I don't think you want to know why."