Chapter 57: The Illusion of Qingqiu

"I'll talk." Resigned, Bai Nian hung her head in defeat. "It's Yang An."

"Yang An is Zhao Boshan's assistant," Zhao Jiong explained for clarity.

"Of course, it's related to him," Bai Luan snorted, eyeing the evasive Bai Nian suspiciously. "Do you know why he asked you to do this?"

"I don't know," Bai Nian quickly denied.

Bai Luan's suspicion deepened. "Is that so?"

She exchanged a glance with Xing Miao, who understood immediately. "Miss, you'd better think carefully before you answer."

Xing Miao's expression was innocent and considerate, but her words made Bai Nian shiver. She was about to remain stubbornly silent when she felt a gaze at her. Looking up, she met Ling Ji's deep, penetrating eyes.

"I... I remember now," Bai Nian clutched her chest, avoiding eye contact as she spoke rapidly. "They were looking for people born at specific times. I checked the dates out of curiosity and found they were either purely yin or yang, and some had unique five-element attributes."

"What else?" Ling Ji could tell she was holding back.

Bai Nian felt like a prey under the gaze of a predator. "Later, I met a woman at a hospital whose birth date was pure yin. She was a cleaner like me. I reported her name and secretly planted a micro camera in her bag."

Through the camera, she saw the woman being taken by a figure in a black robe and thrown into a cave with a pool of blood. The robed figure did something to her, and within minutes, she turned into a dried corpse, discarded into the blood pool.

Bai Nian shuddered violently, recalling the scene and the skeletal remains grinning at her from the pool. "I didn't do it on purpose. I was forced," she cried, tears and snot mingling on her pale face. "Really, I didn't want this."

"Heh," Bai Luan scoffed, tearing apart her pretense. "You said the same thing ten years ago."

Bai Nian's sobbing intensified, "I know we wronged you back then, but my mother paid the price!"

"She's still in prison," Bai Luan cut her off. "And you didn't know I was dating Wei Jin. If you had known—"

"You'd have enjoyed stealing him away, making him obsessed with you, ignoring me, while playing the innocent daughter in front of Dad," Bai Luan interrupted her disgustingly insincere words. "Look at yourself now, Bai Nian. You're no longer the pretty, pitiful white lotus you were ten years ago. Now you just look ugly and pathetic."

Bai Nian fell silent, unable to cry anymore.

"What else do you know?" Zhao Jiong asked, shielding Bai Luan from Bai Nian's bitter gaze. "If this is all, it won't lessen your crimes."

Bai Nian, stung by Bai Luan's harsh words, seemed to regain her wits. "Officer, you talk as if you really intended to reduce my sentence."

Zhao Jiong, unfazed by her accusation, feigned innocence. "I'd like to help, but your information isn't valuable enough."

The implication was clear: she needed to offer something worthwhile.

Bai Nian's eyes flickered.

"I didn't kill them."

"But they died because of you," Zhao Jiong retorted.

Bai Luan felt a warmth in her heart seeing Zhao Jiong's protective stance. "No need to waste words on her. If she knew more, she'd have bargained with it by now. Send her to the police."

"No, you can't send me back! I know something you don't," Bai Nian panicked. "Yang An isn't the only one. There's a man named He Guang, a trafficker."

Bai Nian covered her mouth, shocked at her own revelation. "What did you do to me?"

From the back, a voice replied, "It's not magic, it's divine art."

Huli revealed her striking face. "It's an illusion technique from the Qingqiu clan, created by the first nine-tailed white fox with divine blood."

Bai Nian, disbelieving, bit her lip and averted her eyes. The room fell silent, the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat echoing. Her vision blurred.

In the next moment, a scarred man with a sinister expression appeared, glaring at her. "You betrayed me?"

"No, I didn't," Bai Nian shook her head desperately. "I didn't tell them you went to T City."

"Really?" He Guang's eyes narrowed, leaking murderous intent.

Bai Nian nodded frantically. "Yes, I swear. They don't know about the special children."

"Special children?" The illusion shattered, revealing the room and its occupants.

"You followed me?" Bai Nian blurted, then realized they hadn't moved. "What did you do to me?"

Huli smiled, "Nothing much. Just created an illusion to make you speak the truth."

Bai Nian clenched her fists, her face contorting with fear, regret, and hatred. "Why won't you leave me alone?" She lunged at Bai Luan, nails aimed at her face.

Before she could reach her, Zhulong flicked his hand, sending her crashing into a partition.

A vase shattered, and Huli commented, "Isn't that a Ming Qinghua?"

Bai Luan nodded, "My father's. Worth over ten million."

"Human trafficking and property damage. That's enough for a long sentence," Zhao Jiong calculated. "I'll call it in."

Bai Nian, half-conscious on the floor, spat blood. "You, you bully me too much."

"No, you brought this on yourself," Bai Luan stood over her. "You should have known this day would come when you conspired with them."

Bai Nian, red-faced with anger, spat, "But I didn't break that vase on purpose!"

"We were defending ourselves," a gentle voice said from afar. "If you can pay ten million, we won't press charges."

Bai Nian fainted. If she had ten million, she wouldn't be involved with people like He Guang.

"Boss, I need to report back to the Special Management Bureau," Zhao Jiong said, seeing her unconscious. "The matter of the special children is serious."

With the thinning of spiritual energy, awakened beings were rare, and those with partial awakenings often turned into "special children."

These "special children" had abilities but were not fully awakened. The invisibility user they encountered earlier was one such case.

Judging by how easily Ling Ji defeated him, the gap between them was obvious.

"I have a hunch they're trying to use these special children for something sinister," Zhao Jiong said.

In the Special Management Bureau's research lab, Director Lin saw a black mist in a glass jar, placing seals on it. The mist writhed then stilled.

"I'll figure you out," he said, sealing the jar and heading to Ming Qi's courtyard.

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