“Miss Fang Yao, you know I’m not talking about Chen Ye.”
Even though they looked about the same age, Fang Yao felt the pressure from the young woman before her was even stronger than Captain Chen Ye’s.
“After Chen Ye left, there should have been an acting captain. So where is she now?”
“Investigator, it’s not that I’m deliberately hiding anything, but I really can’t get in touch with her.”
Fang Yao was also helpless—she had called Su Wanyue several times, but no one answered.
“Then tell me her address. I’ll go myself.”
“Wouldn’t it be a bit bad to reveal someone else’s private information…”
“Miss Fang Yao, you should know what authority I have.”
Fang Yao had no choice but to comply.
After all, she was just a rookie hunter.
‘Ah, little captain, you’re on your own.’
Serafica controlled Su Wanyue’s body and stepped outside, then suddenly stopped as if she sensed something.
“Idiot, it looks like that disciple of yours has come to find you.”
“Xiao Ai? Serafica, we agreed—don’t go out of your way to provoke her.”
“You don’t need to tell me. I know.”
But a new idea had already popped into Serafica’s mind.
The agreement was not to deliberately provoke her.
But what if she came knocking herself?
So Serafica deliberately slowed her pace and released a very faint wave of witch mana.
Now it was just a matter of waiting.
“Witch aura?”
Chitian Ai, on her way to Su Wanyue’s residence, suddenly sensed the mana fluctuation Serafica had released.
And it seemed intentional?
Looks like she was being underestimated.
But according to Sister Yun, this great witch had briefly manifested in the world through anchoring.
Now, at the acting captain’s residence, she could actually sense such a clear wave of witch mana.
Combined with what that girl from the Jianghai City Hunter Association said about not being able to reach the captain…
‘Could it be that this captain had been attacked by a witch?’ Thinking this, Chitian Ai couldn’t help but quicken her pace.
After walking a bit further, Chitian Ai spotted a petite figure curled up not far ahead.
She rushed forward immediately.
“Little girl, are you all right? Where is the witch?”
Even though Chitian Ai already guessed that the person before her was probably the Jianghai City acting captain, Su Wanyue’s figure was too deceptive—purely from appearance, she looked like an elementary school student.
So Chitian Ai instinctively treated her as an injured junior.
“Who are you…?”
“I’m Hunter Investigator Chitian Ai of Judgment, sent from the Capital City. Please tell me where that witch is.”
“The witch is right in front of you.”
“You?”
Just as Chitian Ai was stunned, the scenery around them abruptly twisted.
The surroundings instantly turned into a massive theater.
Chitian Ai realized the figure standing beside her had vanished without a trace.
“Fell into a trap? Is this a domain?”
“Welcome to the ‘Heavenly Book’ Witch’s Grand Theater!” Serafica’s voice echoed through the theater.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” With no one around, Chitian Ai could only shout her question toward the center of the stage.
“Don’t be impatient—the performance is about to begin!”
Immediately afterward, a majestic orchestral piece rang out through the theater.
The curtain rose.
On the stage was a medieval landscape.
In the distance, a miniature Gothic castle stood towering.
On the other side, a massive rock face was covered in deep claw marks.
Thread puppets danced and spiraled across the stage.
At the castle, Serafica sang loudly, telling a story through song.
“The Brave Versus the Evil Dragon”
A classic story.
The evil dragon invaded the kingdom, burning and looting across the land, shrouding the whole world in the black smoke of despair.
And against that backdrop, our protagonist was born.
At this moment, the thread puppet standing on the stage had changed its appearance.
“Teacher?”
Chitian Ai, watching from below, recognized at a glance who this puppet was meant to represent.
“That’s right! The ordinary young man Su Xiangyang!”
When the dragon raided a village in the kingdom, the young man shielded his little sister behind him and voluntarily contracted the Holy Sword.
“Voluntarily? How is that possible? How can a soul weapon be contracted willingly?”
Chitian Ai realized what this witch was trying to project.
Thus, the young man who became the brave shouldered the hopes of the entire kingdom and set out on an adventure to slay the dragon.
Serafica paid no heed to Chitian Ai and continued singing the story.
He made friends, faced life and death.
In the end, holding the Holy Sword, he confronted the dragon perched atop the Dragon’s Nest.
On the stage, the puppet representing Su Xiangyang gripped a gleaming white Tang Dao and walked step by step toward the Dragon’s Nest.
The Tang Dao slashed, and the dragon-shaped puppet on the nest was cut in two.
With courage and faith, the young man ignited hope, defeated the dragon, and saved the kingdom.
The story ended there.
Or did it?
Suddenly, the screen on the stage flashed rapidly.
The scene that had frozen on the young man defeating the evil dragon shattered in an instant.
He was supposed to become the kingdom’s great hero.
But how could the king tolerate a brave who could slay a dragon threatening his throne?
The young man returned to the old royal city.
Yet what awaited him was not flowers, not praise.
“Look, the dragon-slaying youth is about to become a new evil dragon.”
“See? He’s a commoner, yet he dares enter the royal city without bowing?”
“He already has the stench of the evil dragon. Have the king send him to the guillotine.”
In the palace, the throne sat high above.
“Brave one, I have confirmed that the true murderer of your mother is hidden deep within the Evil Dragon’s Lair.”
The king said carelessly.
“Brave one, rid the people of this great scourge once more.”
So the young man set out again, for himself and for the people, heading back to the Evil Dragon’s Lair.
But he never saw the murderer.
Instead, the knights sent by the king sealed off his retreat.
Trapped between a rock and a hard place, the young man was forced to sign a contract with the dying dragon.
The young man’s body was taken over by the dragon, but he did not become the dragon.
He still fought for justice.
“Taken over by the dragon?”
Chitian Ai watched Serafica singing in the castle, then thought back to all the suspicious circumstances before her teacher disappeared.
“But this time, he finally saw clearly. The true evil was never in the Wilderness Lair, but deep inside the gilded palace.”
As Serafica sang the last line, the stage curtain slowly closed.
A crisp laugh, tinged with mocking mischief, whispered softly right by Chitian Ai’s defenseless ear: “Your most beloved teacher ended up being saved by the witch you hate most, and even became a witch herself, despised by the whole world. How does that feel, my lovely disciple?”
Chitian Ai whipped around and drew Judgment, instantly channeling mana into the blade.
“Give me back my teacher.”
The next second, a sharp blade of light swept out!
“Boom——”