Lu Wenjiao, a member of the Witch’s Cult, Lu Yunzhi’s biological aunt, A-rank strength.

This woman had previously been developing in Maple Leaf City, holding a considerable position, and with her special identity, her primary targets upon returning this time were Lu Yunzhi and Bai Dongqing. To be safe, she had even specially applied from the Cult for Primordial Threads.

The Witch’s Cult and the Night Watchers of Maple Leaf City had always cooperated. In the Night Watchers’ plan, Lu Yunzhi was actually just one part of testing Wang Zhiyuan.

In the eyes of the Witch’s Cult, Lu Yunzhi and Bai Dongqing themselves already held great value, and it was only a matter of time before they took action.

—

“Qianyu, I’m back……”

Lu Yunzhi pushed open the back garden’s gate. As soon as she entered, she saw Lu Wenlin and Fang Tiandi, along with a few others, gathered around as if watching something lively. But strangely, the back garden was deathly quiet.

“Yunzhi, hurry, go beg for mercy, your aunt’s in trouble, Jiang is about to kill her!” Lu Wenlin hurried over upon seeing Lu Yunzhi return.

Only then did Lu Yunzhi notice her aunt being lifted high by the Fox Spirit’s tail. Her entire abdomen and chest cavity had been pierced through, her legs kicking weakly, expression twisted in agony.

Lu Yunzhi pulled back her raincoat hood, silently walking to Jiang Qianyu’s side.

Jiang Qianyu was sitting in the pavilion, while Bai Dongqing was inside the house under Aunt Chen’s care, though the whole area remained within Jiang Qianyu’s perception.

“Qianyu, what’s going on? What happened, my aunt, she……”

“Witch’s Cult.” Jiang Qianyu pushed off the bench with one hand, standing up with effort. “She came to capture you and Dongqing. I discovered her. I wanted to question her, but she refused to say much. One thing is certain—we’ve never been safe.”

“Witch’s Cult!?” Lu Yunzhi frowned, recalling the Moon God saying she was chosen by the witch.

“Let me go! You don’t know what kind of existence you’re going against!” Having her identity revealed, Lu Wenjiao no longer pretended. Her features twisted, and upon seeing Lu Yunzhi, she screamed: “Lu Yunzhi, you are the Witch’s chosen one! You should return to her embrace! That is your only destiny!”

“Come here, Yunzhi. Look, what’s inside your aunt’s body…… this is the Witch’s power.”

Splurt!

The Fox Spirit’s tail pierced through Lu Wenjiao’s neck, skewering her skull, bursting through her cranium with a spray of blood. Her eyes bulged wide as she struggled desperately for a few moments, then went still. Her corpse shriveled rapidly as the Fox Spirit absorbed it.

Killing Lu Yunzhi’s aunt before her very eyes, Jiang Qianyu slowly walked to the corpse, pulling a folding knife from her pocket. She sliced open her abdomen, and a mass of black substance rolled out.

On the surface, it looked like countless iron threadworms bundled into a sphere. Upon closer inspection, one could see those thin black threads wriggling, nauseating to behold.

“Artificial Primordial Threads. She really was a high-ranking figure of the Witch’s Cult.” Fang Tiandi walked forward, crouching beside the black mass, and gestured for his men to collect it.

“Yunzhi, I’m sorry.” Jiang Qianyu tossed aside the knife, wiped the blood droplets from her face. “But I’ll explain more once we return. Did you encounter something on your end?”

Even though she hadn’t orchestrated this event, Jiang Qianyu could tell from Lu Yunzhi’s expression that she had experienced something unusual.

“Qianyu, look at this!” Lu Yunzhi rolled up her sleeve, revealing black markings etched across her arm. “I don’t know what these mean. A being called the Moon God drew them on me. They knocked me out, brought me to an altar, and when I woke up, these were there.”

Even Lu Yunzhi herself didn’t know where to start. The whole thing was far too bizarre.

Jiang Qianyu furrowed her brow, feigning contemplation.

“I don’t know what it is either, but it’s fine so long as you come back unharmed.”

Her aunt’s exposed identity provided Jiang Qianyu with several insights.

The Witch’s lover had ties to Lu Wenlin—that much was clear. So the Witch and Lu Wenjiao must have had direct contact. Lu Wenjiao’s joining the Witch’s Cult was likely orchestrated by the Witch, meant to have her watch over Lu Yunzhi’s mother. Within this lay a possible contest between the Witch and the Night Watchers. Perhaps the Witch had already known Lu Yunzhi was part of the Watchers’ arrangement?

Next came Dongqing.

That Lu Yunzhi was targeted was within expectations. But Dongqing was different.

The only one who knew her secret was the Witch. The fact that she too was a target confirmed Jiang Qianyu’s earlier suspicion.

When she destroyed the Witch’s heart, the Witch’s consciousness must have persisted, and she knew what had happened there.

Jiang Qianyu’s own body might not matter much to the Witch’s Cult, but her Primordial Threads were a different matter entirely.

It was still uncertain whether the Witch had discovered the connection between Jiang Qianyu and her Puppet. Last time, when she was dragged into the dreamscape, it was Jiang Qianyu’s true consciousness that entered. The Witch had likely only sensed the Primordial Threads and mistook the Puppet for the main body.

Either way, the Witch’s Cult had to be eradicated.

—

“Captain Fang, are you sure this is the place? It feels deserted, and the instruments aren’t picking anything up. No response at all.” A hunter named Han Lei lowered his monocular and a compass-like device, grumbling.

“Honestly, Captain Fang, I doubted those zealots from the start. We came here to take down the Ninth Bureau and Heavenly Fire, yet now we’re sent to kill some so-called Director? Is a Corrupted really worth so much trouble?”

The detector showed only faint activity. That meant there were indeed Corrupted within the abandoned hospital ahead, but at most two or three A-rank.

Granted, that was already quite a signal. But compared to expectations, it was nothing. They had been told the place housed at least fifteen A-rank, with the Director nearly S-rank.

“Shut your mouth!” Fang Peng glared at him, lowering his voice while glancing at the Witch’s Cult members behind them.

“Your job is to obey orders!”