The ruins of the Windmill Mill still burned in the night wind, making a crackle sound, the firelight illuminating the messy wheat field as bright as day.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of blood and burnt odor.
Ailiya sat on the pile of hay, her legs elegantly crossed, her eyes under the black hood coldly watching everything before her.
Graves lay sprawled in the mud, his chest heaving violently. Aside from gasping for breath, there was nothing he could do now.
And that Night Owl informant, tied up with thick ropes, was now staring wide-eyed at the corpse of the black robe mage not far away.
She swallowed hard. The gloating in her eyes had vanished without a trace, replaced by a deep shock and… some kind of crazy calculation.
That pervert An Ya and Shuangdaotigu couldn’t even make it out of this small woods alive?!
Not only that, this black-clad woman who appeared like a ghost could actually instantly kill Yegui!
And the most bizarre thing was that Graves, who had always been selfish and cowardly, would actually risk his life to cover for her like a soulless puppet?!
‘This woman… just who is she?!’
Her mind raced, and a bold idea instantly took shape.
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fear inside.
“Um…”
Although her upper body was tightly bound, the informant could still move her legs with difficulty. She struggled to get up from the ground, then abnormally took small steps and slowly shuffled toward Ailiya.
Ailiya raised an eyebrow slightly. She didn’t get up. She casually rested her right hand on the dagger hilt at her side, looking coldly at this strange-acting woman.
“Not planning to take the chance to run, but instead walking toward me…”
Ailiya’s voice was cold without a trace of fluctuation, as if stating a fact.
“Do you think, with you tied up like a dumpling, you can launch any fatal sneak attack on me?”
If the other party dared to make a move, she guaranteed that the next second, the dagger would accurately pierce between her eyebrows.
“No, no, no! You misunderstand!”
Hearing Ailiya’s words, the informant not only didn’t stop, but sped up. From slow to fast, finally ignoring the imbalance from being tied up, she even started hobbling and jogging toward Ailiya!
“Looking for death.”
Ailiya’s eyes turned cold. Since the other party was asking for death, she would not be polite.
Her wrist moved slightly, and a deep blue magical power instantly attached to the dagger. She leaned forward slightly, ready to deliver a fatal blow.
However, just as the informant rushed to a distance less than three meters from Ailiya, a scene that made one’s jaw drop and even shattered one’s worldview occurred.
“My lord! Spare me!!!”
They heard the informant let out an extremely piercing and vigorous howl.
“I’m actually a good girl who loves a peaceful life!”
Swoosh—
Immediately, she bent her knees sharply, using the slippery mud in the wheat field, and slid forward a great distance extremely smoothly and without dignity! A perfect slide-kneel that was textbook-level standard!
The informant stopped steadily less than half a meter from Ailiya’s toes. Ignoring the mud on her face, she looked up, her originally enchanting face now piled with exaggerated flattery and worship.
“My lord is wise and mighty! That slash of yours just now was simply a work of art in the assassin world!”
“I’ve long been fed up with these three inhuman scumbags! Thank you, my lord, for carrying out justice on behalf of heaven and eliminating pests for the people! It’s so gratifying!”
The informant poured out all sorts of extremely flattering praises like pouring beans, speaking so fast she didn’t even pause for breath.
Ailiya’s hand holding the dagger froze in midair. In her always calm ice-blue eyes, for the first time, a flash of obvious astonishment appeared.
‘What the hell kind of twist is this?!’
She had imagined the other party would fight desperately, cry and beg for mercy, or even use some hidden poison weapon to ambush.
But she never imagined that an informant of the Night Owls organization would use such an incredibly shameless method… sliding and kneeling to flatter?!
Graves, lying nearby, heard these utterly unscrupulous words and was so angry he almost spat blood.
“Damn it! This bitch! Not only did she sell me out, but now she switches sides so smoothly!
“Does she have any professional ethics?!”
“Shut up.”
Ailiya took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to kick her away. She sat up straight again, looking down coldly at the informant kneeling at her feet, her tone serious and tinged with killing intent.
“Now, answer me.”
“I don’t care if you’re stalling for time or playing dumb. What is your real purpose?”
If the other party’s answer deviated in the slightest, her dagger would show no mercy.
The informant took a deep breath and put away her exaggerated expression.
Meeting Ailiya’s cold gaze that seemed to see through her soul, she answered loudly, extremely decisively and without any hesitation:
“There’s only one purpose!”
“To express my absolute loyalty to you!”
“From now on, I, Huanji, am your most loyal dog! I’ll bite whoever you tell me to bite!”
This answer was so crisp and neat that it was irrefutable. Huanji was well aware of her current situation and also saw Ailiya’s overwhelming power.
In an organization like the Night Owls, where people can betray each other at any time for profit, loyalty is worthless.
Since her original backing was dead and gone, decisively latching onto a thicker, more terrifying thigh was the wisest way to survive.
Ailiya’s lips curled into a faint, mocking arc.
“Loyalty?”
“An informant who can casually betray a colleague—your loyalty is worthless.”
“No, no, no! My lord, listen to my explanation!”
Huanji panicked, and hurriedly pointed her chin at Graves, who was lying nearby.
“I sold him out because that bastard was too useless. He couldn’t even do a simple infiltration mission at the estate. Keeping him in the organization would be a waste!”
“But it’s different with you! As long as you’re willing to take me in, I have a large intelligence network of the Night Owls in the Southern Region, and even black materials on several nobles in the royal capital! These things will definitely help you!”
Huanji was desperately showing her value.
Ailiya didn’t immediately respond to her oath of allegiance, but turned her gaze to Graves lying nearby.
“Graves.”
Ailiya’s voice rang out in the night wind, tinged with mockery.
“It seems your former colleague is much more sensible than you.”
“Since she’s so sincere, what do you think—should I keep her?”
Graves turned over with difficulty, lying face up, panting heavily.
“This woman is full of lies. If she can betray the organization today, she can betray you tomorrow. Just slit her throat—that’s the simplest!”
“Oh dear, Senior Graves, aren’t you being too petty?”
Not only was Huanji not afraid, she skillfully began to dig a pit for Graves. She turned her head and smiled defiantly at Graves, her tone carrying undisguised gloating.
“Senior, don’t say that.”
“You’re the one who personally blasted the mill and injured a colleague.”
“You can’t defend yourself now. Guess how the organization will deal with you, a traitor?”
“You bitch!”
Graves trembled with anger, but was helpless. The woman was right. That magic cannon shot was indeed fired by him.
He was stuck with this scapegoat. With everything that happened tonight, and these three dead, even with a hundred mouths, he couldn’t explain.
Huanji continued to finish him off slowly and methodically, smoothly dragging Graves into the water:
“So, Senior, we’re partners now. We’re in the same boat—none of us can escape.”
“Heh heh heh, even if you go back and explain to the organization that you fired because you couldn’t control your body, do you think those suspicious old farts will believe you?”
Huanji blinked with an extremely punchable expression.
“You don’t want to be purged by the Night Owls, do you?”
Just as the two were bickering and shifting blame, Ailiya’s extremely keen sense of smell caught a whiff of a deliberately concealed scent again. She suddenly opened her mouth, interrupting their argument.
“You’re Sid, aren’t you?”
Ailiya looked at Huanji, her tone flat.
“I remember Balke said you went to take a private job and couldn’t return to the team for now.”
“So, this is your private job?”
The air instantly froze. Huanji, who had been smugly trapping Graves, stiffened upon hearing the names “Sid” and “Balke”.
“Huh?”
On her mud-splattered face, her expression was as if she’d seen a ghost. All pretense and composure collapsed in an instant.
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