Xianzhou Luofu · Beside a quiet street
Having just adjusted her disguise and checking the details in the shop window glass, Black Herta received a message from the System.
"Tsk, something went wrong over there too?"
Black Herta frowned slightly, a flash of helplessness appearing in her dark purple eyes.
It was truly a case of whack-a-mole.
She quickly browsed the live footage and brief analysis synchronized by the System.
(Emotions are extremely unstable... risk of Mara-Struck recurrence?)
(Baiheng is panicking, Cipher attempted to de-escalate but failed...)
Black Herta thought for about 0.5 seconds and made a decision.
She calmly replied to the reflection in the window: "You may let Jingliu know. Keep it under control."
[Yes, my lady.]
The System's reply came immediately.
Baiheng's Courtyard
Having received the instructions, the System's purple-red pupils stabilized.
It ignored the cold sword tip pointed at Cipher, calmly raising its eyes to look at Jingliu, who was tense and seemed ready to snap at any moment.
"Miss Jingliu."
The System's voice was steady and waveless, appearing exceptionally abrupt in the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere.
Jingliu's gaze finally shifted away from Baiheng for a moment, turning to this purple-haired woman who had always lacked presence but had a somewhat strange aura.
"What you want to know,"
The System continued, its tone devoid of any fluctuation, "I can answer for you."
Jingliu was silent for two seconds, the tip of the longsword in her hand lowering slightly by half an inch, though the chill did not diminish: "Is that so?"
Her voice betrayed no emotion, but the feeling of a suppressed storm grew heavier.
"Then can you explain,"
Jingliu asked clearly, enunciating every word, as the sword tip rose again, this time pointing at the System, "what is the deal with the 'Master' in Baiheng's mouth?"
The air seemed to be drained away once more.
Baiheng's face turned bright red in a flash, half from shame, half from extreme embarrassment and helplessness.
(Why ask that! Wouldn't it be better to just ask who I am or why I'm alive?!)
Cipher's expression also became extremely strange, her cat ears twitching incessantly, her blue eyes darting back and forth between the System, Baiheng, and Jingliu, looking frustrated as if she wanted to make a snarky comment but didn't dare, and wanted to laugh but felt the occasion was inappropriate.
She, of course, knew who the "Master" in Baiheng's mouth was—it was Mu Zi!
But looking at Ah Bai's reaction and Jingliu's attitude... this misunderstanding seemed a bit big?
The System's perpetually steady expression also paused for a rare moment.
Its preset direction for the answer was about Baiheng's identity and the reason for her resurrection, but it hadn't expected that the first core question Jingliu would grasp would actually be... a form of address?
(Logical analysis: This question involves the definition of the private subordinate relationship between Miss Baiheng and Madam Herta, which belongs to secondary information. However, according to the instruction 'You may let Jingliu know' and 'Keep it under control', answering this question does not violate core principles.)
The System quickly completed its judgment.
"Miss Baiheng's Master,"
The System said clearly, using its steady, waveless electronic voice, "is Madam Herta."
The moment the words fell—
Crack, crackle—!!!
With Jingliu as the center, terrifying cold air erupted like an out-of-control glacier!
The ground, the stone table, the branches of the Qionghua tree... were instantly covered in sharp ice shards!
The moisture in the air was frantically freezing!
In front of the sword tip that was originally pointed at the System, dozens of razor-sharp, bone-chilling ice cones condensed out of thin air, like fangs waiting to devour someone, their tips just centimeters away from the System's glabella, throat, heart, and other vital points!
"Meow!!!"
Cipher screamed in fright, her reaction speed reaching the extreme; she flashed, instantly using her terrifying speed to dart into the shadows of the courtyard wall, revealing only a pair of blue eyes.
Baiheng was completely terrified, watching the forest of ice cones that almost pierced the System, her heart skipping a beat.
(Jingliu! Don't!)
Jingliu's hand holding the sword was trembling slightly, her already pale face now devoid of all color, the features beneath her black blindfold tensed to the extreme.
The air around her was freezing, mixed with her nearly out-of-control Mara-Struck aura and monstrous rage!
"Who—is—Black Herta—?!"
She squeezed these four words out through gritted teeth, every syllable laden with a chill and killing intent capable of freezing the soul!
As her emotions fluctuated, the ice cones moved a fraction closer, their tips almost touching the System's skin.
Just at this critical moment, as if a bloody scene were about to erupt the next second—
"Me."
A cold, slightly lazy, and playful female voice came from the courtyard entrance.
Following that, there were unhurried footsteps.
Everyone's gaze was drawn over.
At the courtyard entrance, a woman who looked 70-80% similar to the System but with a completely different temperament, brownish hair, and wearing a dark purple witchs hat, was slowly stepping into the courtyard.
Her posture was elegant and composed, as if she were not walking into a perilous place where swords were drawn and ice had frozen three feet deep, but rather into her own back garden.
She raised her dark purple eyes, calmly meeting Jingliu's gaze, which was filled with killing intent that could be felt even through the black blindfold.
A faint, almost imperceptible curve even hung on the corner of her mouth.
"The 'Black Herta' you speak of..."
Her voice echoed clearly in the silent courtyard.
"...is me."
Perspective shift.
Qingque sat at her workstation, with an open star chart in front of her that she hadn't read a single word of, unconsciously rubbing the warm, greenish-white jade fish jade tiles in her hand.
She sat up straight, but only she knew that the little drums in her heart were beating wildly.
(Calm down, Qingque, calm down...)
(Maybe no one even noticed? It was so chaotic at the time, everyone was just busy running for their lives.)
(That big fish appeared quickly and disappeared quickly; once the water spray dispersed, nothing was left... except for those fragments on the ground.)
(Besides, how could I, an ordinary little diviner who loves slacking off, have the ability to move mountains and drain seas... ah no, to summon a giant fish to smash the Mara-Struck!)
(It doesn't make sense logically! Yes, it doesn't make sense!)
She tried hard to comfort herself with these thoughts, attempting to suppress the guilt and unease that had been lingering since the morning.
But the familiar, icy touch of the jade tiles against her fingertips constantly reminded her of that unbelievable scene this morning—the plaque turning into a fish, smashing the enemy in one hit, and then slipping away on its own.
(What if... what if someone with sharp eyes noted my face?)
(What if the Cloud Knights have special tracking methods?)
(What if... Lady Fu Xuan...)
At the thought of that shrewd and strict Grand Diviner who seemed to be able to see through everything, Qingque felt a chill down the back of her neck.
She even began to ponder if she were really asked, whether she should make up a bizarre story about "an immortal appearing in her dreams every night to pass on skills"—then immediately rejected it herself; if she said this reason, she would likely be laughed at by her colleagues for three years, plus be punished by Lady Fu Xuan to sweep the office for a lifetime.
Time crawled toward noon in this state of nervous torment.
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