"Your Majesty, do you plan to just stay here forever, waiting for the enemy to bring their heads to you?" The next morning, Xue'er looked at Leticia, who was sprawled on the sofa watching TV, and asked quite helplessly.
Clearly, last night she had been strategizing and commanding with great vigor in front of several girls, but today, when everyone else had gone out to work, Leticia was lying on the sofa slacking off.
"Xue'er, I'm the Demon King. Where's the logic in a Demon King having to personally do manual labor? These intelligence matters and such should be left to those people." Leticia waved her hand, indicating her slacking had good reason.
Look at Bai Ling—that person was actually pretty much the same as Leticia, just slacking off in a different place.
Would that surnamed Bai go do manual work?
Let me tell you, impossible. Leticia dared guarantee that Bai Ling was definitely either staring blankly at Lin Qingyu right now, or staring blankly at the elf.
High-level combat forces like them didn't need to personally handle these small matters. It was better to leave such things to subordinates.
If they had to do every little thing themselves, wouldn't they be exhausted to death?
"I wasn't asking Your Majesty to do anything. I meant that at least when meeting with the Heavenly Kings, don't appear so dispirited." Xue'er covered her face as she spoke.
Ah yes, Leticia's home now had two additional people.
The first and second ranked among the demon race's Four Heavenly Kings were currently standing straight at the side, waiting for Leticia to give orders.
"Ah, why are you two still here?" Leticia glanced at these two suckers.
"That, Your Majesty, we're also Heavenly Kings, right?" The black-haired mature woman said quietly.
Due to certain reasons, the two Heavenly Kings Qila had called over this time were both female. For example, this mature woman was the one with the best figure and strongest combat ability among Leticia's Four Heavenly Kings.
"Right, right, we're also Heavenly Kings." The short-haired girl on the other side quickly nodded in agreement.
This Heavenly King looked a size larger than Leticia, but her strength wasn't much weaker than the mature woman who had just spoken.
However, due to certain reasons, this one's brain wasn't working quite right and was easily used as a pawn. Generally, neither Qila nor Leticia would let her undertake solo missions.
After all, this person's first mission after becoming a Heavenly King made Leticia thoroughly understand just how poorly this person's brain functioned.
On a simple suppression mission, this person could level the entire mountain occupied by a group of rebels. It was truly using anti-aircraft guns to swat mosquitoes.
Moreover, she had righteously defended herself saying: "Your Majesty said to eliminate the rebels, and didn't I accomplish that?"
The problem was, this girl had found the wrong place. She had eliminated a different group of bandits.
Who knows how, when told to eliminate bandits in the east, she managed to make a 180-degree turn and run off to eliminate a group of rebels in the west.
"So what if you're Heavenly Kings? You two have the lowest rank here, right?" Leticia asked, tilting her head.
She herself was the Demon King, Qila working in the study was the Princess, and Xue'er's rank was hard to determine, but she was the Demon King's personal attendant.
If we're really being serious, among the five people in this house, the Heavenly Kings truly had the lowest rank.
"No, I don't mean that." The mature woman quickly shook her head, afraid Leticia would misunderstand her meaning. "I mean, we also don't need to personally handle these matters."
Their combat power as Heavenly Kings was very strong, but for some specialized tasks, they still needed to rely on the professionals under their command.
"We've already had our subordinates begin searching. As soon as there's news, we'll report to Your Majesty immediately."
"But what does that have to do with you two staying here? I won't be preparing lunch for you." Leticia asked.
"Protecting Your Majesty's safety!" the mature woman said loudly.
"Iyeft didn't leave, so I think it's better not to leave either."
"Oh, then Aina, you go first." Leticia waved her hand.
"Yes." The Heavenly King named Aina immediately nodded and left the living room without any hesitation.
It's just that there was a small problem with the direction she left in.
"Eh, Your Majesty, where's the front door here?" A few seconds later, Aina walked back with a face full of confusion.
This person's sense of direction was probably among the world's best—counting from the bottom.
Getting lost in such a small house left even Leticia helpless.
"Iyeft, take Aina back with you. It's quite safe here." Leticia said to the other Heavenly King. "I'm afraid this person will get lost if she goes alone."
Iyeft's expression was also somewhat speechless. As an old colleague, she naturally knew about Aina's problem.
"But Your Majesty's precious body, with only Miss Xue'er for close protection, really makes me somewhat uneasy."
"Isn't Qila still here?"
"The Princess is also someone who needs protection." Iyeft replied. "Moreover, we have nothing to do after returning, so why not let us stay here to protect Your Majesty?"
At least make the combat power look impressive.
Leticia rested her chin on her hand and looked these two up and down. "No, you two are too distinctive. Other people often come here, and you'll be recognized."
Unlike the Demon King, the Heavenly Kings' appearances were basically known by everyone. These few appeared in the news no less frequently than certain major stars.
Whenever something happened in the human world that couldn't be explained by science, various media would definitely first pick a scapegoat from the demon race.
And for various reasons, the relatively easy-on-the-eyes Iyeft and Aina had consistently high appearance rates.
After all, these two had photos, held the rank of Heavenly King, and were perfect for taking the blame.
So while Iyeft and Aina couldn't be said to be known by everyone in the human world, they could be described as being like rats crossing the street.
If Bai Ling saw these two here, Miss Sword Saint would probably feel uneasy too.
These were Heavenly Kings, and two of them at that. Leticia had called two Heavenly Kings from the demon race, and adding Xue'er and Qila who were already here, anyone would feel uneasy about such a luxurious lineup.
To avoid the trouble of fooling Bai Ling, Leticia felt these two should stay far away.
"If absolutely necessary, you two can crouch in the flower bed outside and serve as my first line of defense." Leticia pointed outside the window.
Iyeft frowned, while Aina happily prepared to jump out the window.
"Just follow sister's arrangements. If you want to protect sister's safety, serve as the first line of defense over there. The space here is too small to fit five people." Qila also emerged from the study and gave her orders to the Heavenly Kings.
...
"Outside in the flower bed, there's a magical aura. Are those your people?" In the evening, Bai Ling, who had been busy outside all day, asked Leticia.
This person seemed to get itchy if she didn't come to Leticia's house for a day, always finding some excuse to spend time with Leticia.
"Yeah, since we're about to stir up trouble, I might get targeted by those people." Leticia nodded naturally. "Previously no one paid attention to me, but now that I'm getting involved in this matter, it's hard to say."
The number of people watching her would definitely increase greatly. Wasn't it normal for her to call some people over to protect herself at this time?
Bai Ling couldn't really say anything about it.
"But why crouch in the flower bed?"
"You don't expect me to let them stay in my room, do you?" Leticia asked back.
Bai Ling immediately shook her head. It was better not to let other people enter Leticia's room, especially those demons of unknown gender.
"That's settled then. That flower bed below is great—fresh air, beautiful environment. Crouching there, they can observe in all directions and listen to everything around." Leticia spoke seriously while spouting nonsense.
In fact, she had just randomly found a place for those two suckers to crouch.
"Forget it, forget it. These things are useless for you to ask about. Was there anything special today?" Leticia interrupted the topic about those two in the flower bed and asked about Bai Ling's situation.
"Mm, I talked with Senior Songstress. She said that after Xi Mengyao feels a bit better, she'll take her back." Bai Ling told Leticia about today's events.
Actually, Bai Ling wanted Xi Mengyao to stay in the manor until the incident was over. After all, this girl had already been attacked once—who knew if those people would come for a second time?
Maybe they had latched onto poor Miss Xi and would make the girl who had just barely saved her life continue chatting with death.
But Songstress indicated that Bai Ling had already cared for Xi Mengyao for so long, which made her very grateful. Troubling Bai Ling further would make her feel bad.
"Why don't you just have her come work for you for a while?" Leticia looked at Bai Ling like she was looking at an idiot. Wasn't this excellent free labor being delivered to her door?
Although Songstress had been retired for a long time, her strength hadn't declined even a bit. If she joined Bai Ling's camp, wouldn't Bai Ling's side directly gain an additional fighting force?
And Bai Ling could still agree to let her take Xi Mengyao away so they'd be even?
"She also mentioned wanting to help me, but I felt this was my own matter. Troubling the already-retired Senior Songstress wouldn't be appropriate, so I didn't agree." Bai Ling indicated she wasn't stupid; she just thought having Songstress return to the battlefield for such matters wasn't good.
Yes, battlefield.
Bai Ling already considered what was about to happen would be a four-way chaotic battle.
Ah, it should be three-way. Although there were still some disagreements with Leticia, Bai Ling felt she and Leticia should be on the same side.
"You really are noble." Leticia was somewhat speechless. Only someone like Bai Ling would refuse a high-level powerhouse who wanted to actively help.
You should know that Songstress was a former hero with extremely rich combat experience. Her joining would definitely make Bai Ling's side's strength... uh, but due to a certain person's terrifying power, the strength increase Songstress could bring didn't seem very noticeable.
This white-haired bastard was just a cheat device.
"By the way, let me tell you some good news." Leticia smiled as she spread her hand, and a small flame sprouted from her palm.
Bai Ling blinked. "Your magic power has recovered?"
"Just recovered a tiny bit, but at least I have some ability to protect myself now." Leticia smiled and nodded. The revival of magic power in her body greatly boosted her confidence.
Leticia with magic power and Leticia without magic power were beings of two different levels. Without magic power, she was just a mascot, but as long as she had even a little magic power, Leticia's combat ability could immediately return to its original level.
Of course, it wouldn't last very long.
But it didn't need to last long either. Sometimes, just that one instant could determine the direction of an event, and this newly revived magic power gave Leticia the ability to create that instant.
"Very good. Should I tell the others?"
"No need. Just you, Qila, and Xue'er knowing is enough." Leticia shook her head. "Sometimes, a trump card in the shadows can secure our victory."
"Our?"
"'Our' doesn't include you." Leticia snorted. "Don't flatter yourself."
"Mm mm, I understand." But Bai Ling already considered this Leticia's tsundere behavior, so she nodded indulgently like coaxing a child.
"Your tone really annoys me!"
...
"Tch."
"Tch."
Again those two black-clothed figures, again a deep night, again a dark alley.
"Your plan failed?" the short black-clothed figure asked after expressing her dissatisfaction.
The tall black-clothed figure snorted coldly. "What do you think?"
Did she look like someone whose plan had succeeded?
The plan that should have been foolproof—why had it become like this?
This black-clothed figure really couldn't understand. She had practically delivered the food to Bai Ling's mouth, so how had that white-haired girl managed to resist taking a bite?
"Oh ho, you acted so confident before, but failed in the end." the short black-clothed figure immediately began mocking. "I think you should just honestly return to your spotlight and be your idol."
"Heh, how are you any better than me?" the tall black-clothed figure was somewhat annoyed.
"At least better than you, a resource-waster. My two bombs took considerable effort to make, originally intended for... forget it, why am I telling you this." The short black-clothed figure stopped mid-sentence. "The Divine Envoy has already issued new orders. This time our target is that Su Qianqian."
"Why her? Didn't I say she was dangerous?"
"The Divine Envoy investigated. That Su Qianqian is just an ordinary person. Ah, no, she seems to have relatively low-level superpowers, but in front of us, she's no different from an ordinary person." the short black-clothed figure explained. "Taking action against her couldn't be better."
"But..."
The tall black-clothed figure still wanted to argue, but the same blinding light as yesterday once again interrupted their conversation.
The same familiar voice, the same familiar gray-haired girl: "Found you!"
The only difference was that this time, several heroes of considerable strength stood behind her.
"Shit."
"Run!"
...
Facts proved that with the help of cheat-like prophetic abilities, Guild Leader could indeed cause considerable trouble for enemies. For example, today she had led people in chasing that short black-clothed figure for a full two hours.
If not for the real gap in agility, that person wouldn't have been able to escape from her grasp at all.
However, her purpose this time had been to interrupt the conspiracy between these two people. Whether she could catch up wasn't actually very important.
Best if she caught them, no problem if she didn't.
And the next day, learning of Guild Leader's impressive performance yesterday, Leticia was quite satisfied with her decision. Look, this is what you call having a keen eye for talent.
"Guild Leader said she seemed to vaguely hear those two people discussing you. You should be more careful these next few days." Bai Ling said to Leticia.
Although the current Demon King already had some ability to protect herself, just like how your mom doesn't care how many clothes you're wearing but only cares how cold the weather is, Bai Ling still worried about Leticia's safety.
"Don't worry about things on my end—stable as an old dog." Leticia swung her feet with a relaxed expression. After her magic power's revival, she had become much more confident. "Have you found out why Xi Mengyao appeared there?"
Speaking of this matter, Bai Ling sighed. "Senior Songstress said that agent claimed he never made that phone call, and the call records also prove the agent wasn't lying."
Strangely, not only did the agent's call records prove this point, but Xi Mengyao's phone also had no record of that call.
Someone was definitely lying, and now it seemed Xi Mengyao was more likely to be the one lying.
"So Xi Mengyao is lying?"
"I don't know either, but I don't quite believe she would lie." Bai Ling shook her head with some distress. Now all evidence proved Xi Mengyao had lied, but she felt Xi Mengyao didn't seem like she was lying.
Leticia rested her chin and thought for a while, then looked up at Bai Ling. "Can I meet her?"
"Where?"
"If you dare bring her here, I wouldn't mind meeting her here." Leticia rolled her eyes. Of course it would be at the manor where Lin Qingyu lived.
"Mm, that's fine." Bai Ling naturally wouldn't refuse this request.
So, after bringing Xue'er along, Leticia once again came to the manor whose defenses had been strengthened yet again.
The current manor could truly be called a fortress with absolutely no weaknesses. Just the security personnel Leticia could see numbered in the three digits, and she even saw trenches and machine gun positions.
It was quite ridiculous.
Leticia felt Miss Bai might really have firepower insufficiency phobia. With this level of defensive strength now, even if she wanted to send people to forcibly snatch Lin Qingyu, she'd have to carefully weigh the strength in her hands.
"This is really quite ridiculous."
"Just to be safe. Central City hasn't had any important matters recently, so I could mobilize quite a lot of resources." Bai Ling's gaze was somewhat evasive. She also felt she had made this place a bit too safe. She even wanted to have her sister Bai Ya come live here too.
After all, this place could basically be called the safest place in Central City now. This is what you call impregnable.
Moreover, the Guild Leader was also staying here now. If anyone wanted to launch an attack, Bai Ling felt the Guild Leader should be able to foresee it, adding another layer of insurance to this place.
Layer upon layer, both Bai Ling and Leticia believed this place was absolutely safe and impossible to break through from the front.
Coming to the room where Xi Mengyao lived, Leticia saw the elven physician who had previously detoxified Xi Mengyao, as well as the haggard-looking Miss Songstress.
The physician was here at Bai Ling's request. She felt that if you're going to help someone, help them completely—send Buddha all the way to the west. Since the detoxification was complete, having the physician stay here a few days to check for any aftereffects was quite normal.
Room and board provided, plus a large sum of money. The elf thought about it and 'reluctantly' agreed.
Anyway, she wasn't the type who did fieldwork. Crouching anywhere was crouching, so why not come here where the food was good, sleep was comfortable, and safety was guaranteed?
"Good morning, you three." Leticia greeted the three girls in the room. "I'd like to chat alone with Little Xi for a moment. Is that alright?"
The elven physician naturally had no objections. Xi Mengyao was recovering well, and she was just here to pretend she was working hard and not freeloading.
So she immediately indicated she had no opinion and very consciously left the room.
Songstress had some concerns. Her gaze wandered between Leticia and Xi Mengyao multiple times, seemingly unsure what to say.
Fortunately, Xi Mengyao made the choice for her. "Sister Qin doesn't need to worry about me. I feel Miss Su isn't a bad person and won't do anything to me."
Hearing Xi Mengyao's words, Songstress finally nodded and left the room with Bai Ling.
After Bai Ling closed the door, only Leticia and Xi Mengyao, who was lying in bed seemingly without much ability to resist, remained in the large room.
A lone woman in a room with another lone woman could always inspire some strange Associations, but neither of these two had such thoughts, and their conversation topic was quite normal.
"How do you feel about Songstress?" Leticia winked at Xi Mengyao and asked with a gossipy expression.
"Ah?" Xi Mengyao was stunned. "Shouldn't you be asking me why I appeared here?"
Obviously, Leticia's question caught Xi Mengyao completely off guard.
Regarding this, Leticia explained: "This matter could be anyone's problem, but I feel it's unlikely to be your problem."
"Should I thank you for your trust?"
"I just don't believe there would be an idiot who would put their own life in someone else's hands." Leticia snorted. She could be certain of one thing: Xi Mengyao was playing the role of an innocent victim in this matter.
An ordinary person, poisoned with a toxin that only elven physicians could cure, who would only live a few days if it couldn't be cured.
Could this be Xi Mengyao's scheme?
Impossible.
"So I trust you, and your memory has some slight errors. What I need to do now is find those errors and correct them."
Leticia could basically confirm that someone had tampered with Xi Mengyao's memory. She came this time to verify her speculation, and if she could find the person who did the tampering, that would be even better.