Pretending to be weak to deceive the strong is indeed a very interesting thing, but the prerequisite is that you have to play the part convincingly.
Ye Ning looked down helplessly at Hua Niao, who was squatting beside her with her hands obediently clasped behind her head, having “surrendered.”
It would be better if this girl didn’t look so utterly calm.
Suppressing the urge to complain in her heart, Ye Ning’s gaze swept inconspicuously over the several large sealed cargo boxes stacked against the wall behind them.
Her eyes instantly darkened slightly, and her fingertips tightened subtly at her sides.
The boxes weren’t completely sealed.
Through the gaps, faint, fragmented blue halos could be seen, and a familiar energy fluctuation washed over her—Magic Crystal Stones.
Ye Ning was all too familiar with this material.
Magic Crystal Stones were a new type of material that the government had secretly invested enormous manpower and resources into researching over the years.
A specialized research department extracted the mana essence of Magical Girls, and through complex purification and synthesis, developed this energy carrier similar to mana, yet usable by ordinary people.
And from the very beginning of its development, this material had only one intended use—making weapons.
Although the lethality of magic crystal weapons was far inferior to direct mana attacks from Magical Girls, compared to traditional firearms and ammunition, such weapons could at least inflict effective damage on low-level Disaster Beasts.
They were the only reliance ordinary people had against the beasts.
Yet now, these sensitive materials, which should have been under strict government control, were appearing in a stronghold of an Angel-worshipping cult.
What they intended to do with these materials was painfully obvious.
Ye Ning’s brow furrowed slightly.
The Chongtian Cult was just a local Angel-worshipping cult that had recently surfaced.
Logically, they should have had no way of accessing a controlled material like Magic Crystal Stones.
To obtain so much of it so quietly, there must be a big hand pulling strings behind the scenes.
She subconsciously raised her hand to push up glasses that didn’t exist on her nose, a flash of resolve in her eyes.
‘It seems, to uncover the truth behind this, I’ll have to enter the game myself.’
Thus, just minutes ago, the two of them, who had been scouting the stronghold from the outskirts of the abandoned factory, instantly switched roles.
Two beautiful young girls, who had originally planned to go home but on a whim decided to explore this super remote abandoned factory, accidentally stumbled upon the cult transporting goods.
They were caught red-handed by patrolling cultists, obediently had their hands restrained behind their backs, and were pressed to the ground, putting on a perfect act of panic and fear.
Good girl Ning Ning deliberately squeezed out a tearful expression, sniffled, instantly reddened her eyes, made her voice as soft and melting as possible, and deliberately pitched it in her usual fake tone, pleading with a thick sob, “Mister, please let us go! We were just curious, we came here after school to explore and play, we really didn’t know what you were doing… We’ll never do it again!”
The man standing before them twitched at the corners of his mouth upon hearing this, his face instantly darkening.
Though only in his twenties, because he never shaved, his chin was covered in messy stubble, making him look twice his age, like a middle-aged man in his forties.
This man called himself a Sijuo of the Chongtian Cult.
“Don’t call me ‘mister’!”
The man’s voice was coarse and raspy, filled with obvious impatience.
His sharp eyes swept over Ye Ning and Hua Niao, his tone sinister.
“And, do you think I’d believe your nonsense? This place is deserted, so remote even taxis won’t come. Two little girls like you, would you just wander here for no reason to ‘explore’?”
Facing the man’s questioning, Hua Niao remained as calm and indifferent as ever.
She looked up at him, her tone completely flat, as if merely stating a fact.
“You’re hoarding materials and gathering on a large scale. Aren’t you afraid of being discovered by the police or Magical Girls? That kind of crime is a death sentence if caught.”
“Magical Girls?”
Hearing those four words, the Sijuo’s face instantly contorted.
His already sinister eyes grew even more vicious, his tone filled with deep-seated hatred and fanaticism.
“Those foolish women! A bunch of puppets bound by Contracts! They’re the ones who have repeatedly obstructed the descent of our God, and who have wantonly slaughtered the messengers He sent, desecrating the sacred!”
He grew more and more agitated as he spoke, his chest heaving violently.
Finally, he abruptly raised a hand, placing it over his heart.
His face instantly took on an expression of extreme piety, his lips moving rapidly as he muttered obscure, difficult-to-understand prayers, as if confessing and pledging allegiance to the “Angel” he worshipped.
The several cultists standing beside him also followed suit, clasping their hands over their chests, bowing their heads, and piously reciting prayers.
The entire abandoned factory was filled with the sound of uniform, fanatical chanting.
Ye Ning timely put on an even more panicked and helpless expression, her body trembling slightly.
She fake-sobbed in her pitched voice, crying out, “Wah… don’t kill me… I don’t want to die… I’ll never do it again… please, let me go…”
While crying, she secretly observed her surroundings with the corner of her eye, noting the positions and movements of each cultist, quickly calculating her next steps.
Just then, Ye Ning’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
A crisp sound of footsteps reached her ears, accompanied by an enchantingly seductive female voice, soft and somewhat lazy, breaking through the factory’s prayer chanting.
“My, Sijuo, what are you all doing here? How did you catch two such adorable girls?”
Everyone looked toward the source of the voice.
A bewitching figure emerged from the shadows deep within the factory.
The woman wore an extremely revealing black lace dress.
The hem was so short it reached the top of her thighs, revealing two slender, pale legs.
The skirt was adorned with intricate silver patterns that shimmered with a strange luster as she moved.
The neckline of her top plunged extremely low, exposing delicate collarbones and ample curves.
Black ribbons were wrapped around her arms, with tiny silver bells dangling from the ends, emitting light tinkling sounds with each step.
Wine-red hair cascaded casually over her shoulders, the ends slightly curled, making her skin appear even paler.
Her face was adorned with heavy makeup, the corners of her eyes upturned, her lips painted a dark red.
A bewitching smile always lingered at the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were icy and empty, devoid of any warmth.
‘As expected, a Witch.’
Ye Ning’s heart sank.
In recent years, sightings of Witches had become increasingly common across various regions, and the frequency was rising.
The Magical Girl Association had once organized a special task force to investigate, ultimately reaching a startling conclusion:
The number of Witches who had truly fallen from being Magical Girls was actually extremely small.
However, those Witches were incredibly powerful, almost all of them at an A-rank level, and extremely difficult to deal with.
Most of the Witches appearing in the world now were generally transformed from ordinary people.
Through multiple tracking investigations, it was discovered that cultists seemed to possess some special method to accurately identify excellent candidates with the potential to become Witches.
Then, they used some kind of power to induce their fall, altering their cognition, transforming them into Witches, causing them to completely lose themselves, becoming fanatical believers of the Angel, engaging in wanton destruction and slaughter.
Hearing the woman’s voice, the Sijuo immediately stopped his prayers.
The fanaticism on his face receded somewhat, replaced by a respectful expression.
He bowed slightly.
“Bishop, these two girls trespassed into our stronghold and saw the goods. This subordinate was preparing to offer them to our God as sacrificial offerings.”
The Witch slowly walked up to Ye Ning and Hua Niao, looking down at them.
Her bewitching gaze swept over their faces, the smile at the corner of her mouth growing even more pronounced, though her tone remained icy.
“Offerings? They are indeed two promising seedlings…”
Her fingertip lightly traced her own cheek, a trace of strange excitement in her eyes.
“Perhaps, they could be of more use than mere offerings.”