If Bai Ling wasn't mistaken, Songstress was probably pushing toward forty this year, while the girl in the photo seemed to have just reached adulthood.
Wow, this couldn't even be called an old cow eating tender grass—this was practically a nearly dead cow wanting to eat grass sprouts.
"Miss Songstress, this lady..." Bai Ling thought for a moment and decided to voice her concerns to Songstress, but she got stuck on the name halfway through.
She didn't know this girl's name, didn't even know her surname.
"Her surname is Xi."
"Mm, how old is Miss Xi?" Bai Ling continued her questioning.
"She just turned eighteen this year. Forest Love was her first work." Songstress introduced Miss Xi's specific situation.
Bai Ling and Leticia exchanged glances, seeing similar emotions in each other's eyes.
This Songstress seemed serious—she really liked that Miss Xi.
"But your age gap seems a tiny bit large." Leticia gestured with her finger to show this "tiny bit." "When you became an adult, Little Xi probably hadn't been born yet?"
"I'm a superpower user, so I age slowly—it doesn't matter."
No, we weren't discussing that.
Leticia pressed her temples and gave Songstress a detailed breakdown of the current situation: "You haven't expressed your feelings to her directly or indirectly, right?"
"No, I'm afraid she wouldn't like someone like me." Songstress nodded.
But behind the scenes, she'd actually done quite a lot for Little Xi. For instance, the female lead role in this movie was obtained through Songstress's personal connections.
Many people were guessing why this movie chose this unknown newcomer as the lead, but no one guessed the truth.
Who could guess that Songstress, who deliberately avoided meeting Little Xi, was the person behind it all?
Of course, Leticia didn't know any of this. "Actually, besides age, you and that Little Xi are quite compatible."
Both were rare beauties, and Songstress's personality seemed quite good too. At least in terms of hardware, these two belonged to the well-matched category.
As for family background and such, Songstress was a human hero who had killed so many demons at the human-demon border back then. She belonged to the category that could be others' backing.
The only problem was age.
To put it bluntly, Songstress was old enough to be Little Xi's mother without any problem.
"For this matter, you can only do your best and leave the rest to fate." Leticia indicated Songstress's path of love was long and arduous, though fortunately the difficulty wasn't at maximum.
Maximum difficulty—please refer to our Miss Bai, who despite having unparalleled beauty as a cheat, hadn't made any progress after over a month of powerful offensive. Truly lamentable.
Songstress sighed. She also knew her feelings for Little Xi were somewhat inappropriate, but when feelings came, it was a matter of not turning back until hitting the wall.
She had to try hitting it to see if the wall was harder than her skull.
"As for methods, I don't know many—most are quite ordinary approaches." Leticia pointed to her chest and said to Songstress, "The most crucial thing is to let the person you want to pursue know you're sincere. Whether she accepts is her business; whether you do it is yours."
"Don't you also know I'm sincere?" Bai Ling interjected sourly from the side.
Leticia immediately turned to glare at Bai Ling. "Yes, but I don't accept your sincerity."
Seeing the interaction between Leticia and Bai Ling, Songstress became quite confused about their relationship.
You'd say their relationship wasn't good, but their bickering proficiency was higher than some couples who'd been together for years. You'd say their relationship was good, but it didn't seem like it either.
It felt stuck in a wonderful spot—neither up nor down.
A bit up would be lovers, a bit down would be ordinary friends. These two girls were probably at the stage of ordinary friends who both had feelings for each other.
Little Bai had already actively expressed her feelings, but Little Qian's rejection was also very clear.
Very strange—such a clear rejection had formed their current relationship. Songstress couldn't understand at all.
She, this old woman, couldn't understand the relationships between girls nowadays.
Throughout the meal, Songstress became even more confused about these two girls' relationship. Occasionally, they would do things only couples would do, then they'd start bickering over trivial matters.
Of course, what surprised Songstress most was a certain Miss Bai's appetite.
"Get used to it. Her appetite is like a pig's—ah no, pigs don't have as big an appetite as her." Seeing the dumbfounded Songstress, Leticia giggled. "This meal was quite good. Thank you for Miss Songstress's generosity."
"Ah, the advice you gave me was also very good." Songstress indicated Leticia's suggestions were quite useful—many things she'd never even heard of before.
"It's all theory, not tested in actual combat..." Leticia was about to be modest when her phone suddenly rang.
At the same time, Songstress and Bai Ling's phones also rang.
They exchanged glances, all seeing incomprehension in each other's eyes.
Why would they ring simultaneously?
Could something have happened?
Leticia was first to take out her phone and answer: "Hello?"
Xue'er's voice came from the other end: "Your Majesty, the Elves have made their move."
Made their move? So quickly?
Leticia glanced at the other two girls still on their calls, finding their expressions quite different.
Bai Ling was similar to herself—confused and puzzled.
But Songstress was somewhat anxious, constantly asking things like "How is she? Are her injuries serious?"
"Where? Is anyone injured?" Leticia asked.
"The situation is still under investigation. We only know elven scouts detonated a magic bomb at the manor where Lin Qingyu is currently residing. Whether Lin Qingyu was injured, you can ask Miss Bai—she should know more than us."
"Okay."
Hanging up, Leticia looked at Bai Ling: "Lin Qingyu is fine, right?"
"She's very safe, but when the bomb exploded, there was another girl passing by. That girl was caught in the explosion and is now seriously injured." Bai Ling replied coolly.
A girl passing by?
Leticia and Bai Ling simultaneously looked at Songstress, whose face looked terrible. Could it be...
"I think we might need to go together." After Songstress hung up, Leticia spoke.
"Little Xi was injured. I need to go see." Songstress put away her phone. She'd also heard what Leticia and Bai Ling were discussing.
So she knew the three of them were likely going to the same place.
"Then let's not delay—let's set off immediately." Leticia said to the other two.
But Bai Ling shook her head, pressing down the eager Leticia to indicate she could go alone: "I'll have someone take you home. This is our business and has nothing to do with you."
The conflict between humans and Elves—this demon leader who temporarily had no combat ability shouldn't get involved.
This was Bai Ling's opinion.
"Your body hasn't fully recovered. Who knows if those Elves might make a return attack? I don't want you injured because of my carelessness." Bai Ling looked into Leticia's eyes and sincerely persuaded.
The initial enthusiasm gradually cooled. Leticia thought about it and felt she indeed had no need to wade into these muddy waters.
Fishing in muddy waters required fish for her to catch.
This Half-Elf had no use value. As for Flora, this goddess was indeed a reason that could make Leticia act.
But Leticia felt she didn't need to risk herself. Having Xue'er or Qila go would be more reasonable than going herself.
"Alright, then I'll have Xue'er go there to help you." Leticia nodded, accepting Bai Ling's suggestion.
Thus, the three girls split into two groups at the hotel entrance. Leticia took a car home while Bai Ling and Songstress leaped up, heading toward the incident site.
The journey was uneventful, with Xue'er constantly reporting the losses from this explosion via phone.
The place where Bai Ling had settled Lin Qingyu was quite remote—even more remote than their residential area, the type where you wouldn't see a living soul for ten days or half a month.
To protect Lin Qingyu, Bai Ling had borrowed several elite teams from Hero Association and the United Government, personally commanded by her old friend, One-Eyed Dragon.
This setup couldn't be called impregnable, but could be called foolproof.
For instance, the Elves' sneak attack this time had no effect on our Miss Lin Qingyu.
The protective force was quite reliable. The only problem was that some innocent passerby somehow suddenly appeared at the scene and was unfortunately caught by the magic bomb the elven attackers threw last.
Yes, this unlucky passerby was the main character of their recent conversation—the popular actress, female lead of Forest Love, Miss Xi.
This poor girl was purely an ordinary person who very simply fainted after taking this hit.
According to examination by the medical officer accompanying the guard force, she had broken several bones and had strange magical energy flowing through her body.
"It's poison. The Elves are masters of poison use. Miss Xi was hit by quite a potent type." After Xue'er arrived, she immediately saw how unlucky Miss Xi was.
This wasn't just physical suffering—if not handled properly, she might die.
This poison was used by Elves on battlefields against human superpower users. For ordinary people, the threat was extremely, extremely great.
"Three days at most. Even with Candice's help, we can only sustain her for three days." After communicating with Candice, Xue'er gave Leticia a timeframe. "After three days, it'll be hopeless."
"Have you told that Bai person and Songstress this news?" Leticia saw the increasingly clear residential complex entrance—she was almost home.
"Yes."
"Good. Doesn't Candice have an antidote?"
"Of course we do. We always prepare antidotes before fighting Elves." Answering Leticia's question was Candice, waiting downstairs to welcome the empress's return. She pushed her monocle and explained: "But those are for our use. I can't guarantee the results of using them on ordinary humans."
As she spoke, she reached out to help Leticia from the car.
Whether intentional or not, Leticia's arm very coincidentally sank into Candice's huge evil masses, making this pure empress blush.
Candice was too big and soft.
This kind of development clearly exceeded specifications, right?
Shaking her head vigorously to dispel those strange thoughts, Leticia continued asking: "Are there other ways to detoxify?"
"Yes, the Elves definitely have antidotes. Though poisons without antidotes exist, they're unlikely to appear in such places." Candice indicated antidotes existed, but they were in elven hands—normally impossible to obtain.
"So we need to find the elf who caused trouble?"
"Correct." Candice helped Leticia into the room.
Today Qila was home, but seeing this girl looking frazzled at her desk, Leticia felt it was better not to disturb her sister.
"What I can do now is suppress the toxicity, but suppression can only last three days. After three days, I can only give that girl our demon antidote—whether she lives or dies depends on her luck."
"Humans don't have antidotes?" Leticia asked curiously. She felt humans seemed helpless against elven poisons.
"I wouldn't know. They probably do, but how would I know whether they actually have them?" Candice indicated she was the demon royal physician—she really couldn't figure out human affairs.
Oh, I see. Leticia indicated she understood.
Then she planned to rest first.
What? That girl poisoned and near death?
Please, she was poisoned by elven poison and she was human. What did her life or death have to do with Leticia, this vacationing Demon King?
Leticia cared about Lin Qingyu because that was her purpose for coming, plus Flora's request in the dream.
But this Miss Xi—Leticia had only seen her on the big screen.
Although she was beautiful, Leticia wasn't the type of shallow girl who couldn't walk when seeing beauties.
Whether Miss Xi lived or died had absolutely nothing to do with Leticia. Having Candice suppress the poison for three days was already benevolent enough.
When Bai Ling returned, it was already late at night. Leticia had already washed up early and was sitting on her bed in pajamas reading.
Now when Bai Ling entered Leticia's bedroom, she was much more restrained—at least knocking and asking first.
Of course, the main reason was that there was one more person in Leticia's house now, and that person didn't think well of Bai Ling. Leticia was also very obedient to that person. Bai Ling felt if she continued being as unrestrained as before, she'd probably pay a heavy price later.
"Yo, how did it go?" Waiting for Bai Ling to move a chair to the bedside and sit down, Leticia closed her book and asked.
"Little Xi's condition isn't optimistic. Songstress is already looking everywhere for ways to detoxify Little Xi." Bai Ling shook her head.
"Ah, I'm asking about Lin Qingyu. That Miss Xi has nothing to do with us." Leticia indicated she had no feelings.
Innocent passerby—none of her business.
"If I hadn't placed Lin Qingyu there, she wouldn't have been injured. This is my fault."
"The place you arranged was already the best. Her passing by there was something no one could have predicted." Leticia had already heard from Xue'er how remote and unpopulated the place Bai Ling had found was.
Under normal circumstances, even if a fight broke out there, it wouldn't affect innocent people. But nothing was absolute—who could have thought that a popular little celebrity would appear in that place without any accompaniment?
Wrong time, wrong place, creating today's wrong drama.
Bai Ling's arrangements could basically be called foolproof. Look, didn't the Elves' sneak attack return empty-handed?
But that Miss Xi who suddenly appeared at the scene and got caught in the magical aftermath was truly headache-inducing. Of all places to go, why did she have to appear here? Now she'd basically staked her life on it.
"Are you making excuses for me?" Bai Ling looked up and asked quietly.
Leticia shook her head. "I'm just stating facts."
Making excuses for Bai Ling? She wasn't that bored.
Wrong was wrong, right was right. Leticia had a scale in her heart to judge right and wrong, and these judgments wouldn't care whether you were Bai Ling or not.
"Do you have a way to save her?" Bai Ling's eyes flashed with moved light, then she brought up another issue.
This question made Leticia knock Bai Ling on the head. "You want me, a demon, to cure elven poison for humans?"
Never mind why Leticia would help humans—just the detoxification itself, Leticia couldn't help much.
As Candice said, to cure elven poison, you still had to find the elf who administered it. Their demon antidotes were for demon use—humans drinking them had a significant chance of dying on the spot.
"I'm not Doraemon—I can't do everything. I'm just a shut-in who can't do anything except play games."
"Instead of wasting time looking for me, why don't you ask our poor Miss Lin Qingyu if she has any methods?"
Bai Ling's words made Bai Ling pause. Ask Lin Qingyu?
"She's a Half-Elf who grew up in elven territory, no matter what. She definitely knows more about elven matters than we do." Leticia glared at Bai Ling in annoyance. How could this wooden head not think straight?
"And you need to let her know how much effort you put into protecting her, how many people were poisoned with unknown fates. In short, you need to give her the feeling that you suffered heavy losses to protect her."
"As long as she's moved, she might reveal her secrets. Even if she doesn't know how to detoxify, trading one Miss Xi's life for the trust of an important Half-Elf with a significant identity—that's a profitable deal."
"But she's human. I can't use her as a bargaining chip to exchange for Lin Qingyu's trust." Bai Ling couldn't accept such cold reality.
"What do you mean bargaining chip? Miss Xi is poisoned, right?"
"Yes."
"She needs an antidote, but only Elves have the antidote, right?"
"Mm."
"Lin Qingyu is a Half-Elf, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't you try your luck? Maybe she really has a way to detoxify?" Leticia looked at Bai Ling, feeling this person's brain was seriously problematic.
There was clearly a better person to ask for help, yet she insisted on coming to find her, someone who definitely wouldn't give a good face and was unlikely to have solutions. Wasn't this asking for trouble?
Did Leticia have any connection with the Elves?
No.
Her biggest intersection with the Elves was probably visiting elven territory long ago, incidentally discussing some matters with the former elven empress, and finally parting on bad terms.
What about Lin Qingyu? Although she was a Half-Elf, although her days in elven territory weren't good, at least her race included the word "elf," right?
She had elven blood flowing through her. Going to find her made much more sense than coming to find Leticia, this demon.
"I just feel you should have a way." Bai Ling lowered her head, saying somewhat aggrievedly.
She didn't need to think much usually—generally others thought for her while she just cut people down.
Now she needed to think for herself, but she found her brain really wasn't sufficient.
Since Leticia's brain was very sufficient, Bai Ling naturally thought of finding Leticia for help first.
In terms of results, Bai Ling did get a method, though she received some mockery. At least she had a solution, right?
"If you could stop thinking about frivolous things all the time, I think your brain could at least figure out such clear matters." Leticia sighed and reached out to pinch Bai Ling's cheeks. "So, can you please not focus your energy on getting close to me, Miss Bai?"
"I refuse!" Bai Ling firmly indicated she would put conquering Leticia among her top priorities.
Protecting her sister, protecting humanity, then conquering Leticia.
She was doing well with the first two goals, so now Bai Ling's main energy was focused on conquering this girl who was currently roughly kneading her cheeks.
But Bai Ling felt conquering Leticia seemed more troublesome than the previous two tasks. After all, the previous matters could be solved with force, but Leticia absolutely couldn't be solved with force.
If Bai Ling really wanted to force herself on her, Leticia would probably give Bai Ling a "let's walk the road to the underworld together."
"Sister, Sister Bai, although this is a private matter between you two, could you please not have such intimate interactions in public like no one's watching?!" Qila, who had just finished bathing and was wearing pajamas, planning to sleep cuddled with her sister, walked into the room and saw the intimate interaction between Leticia and Bai Ling, feeling a bit numb.