Li Ren looked at the scythe in his hand, then his gaze shifted to Jiang Sui, his eye twitching several times.
“What did you do to me?”
“Nothing much, just thought your scythe looked pretty fun, so I borrowed it for a bit.”
Jiang Sui spun her newly acquired weapon in her hand, then turned her eyes to him. That faint smile made Li Ren’s nerves tense up.
First there was the Butler’s Black Mist, and now his own scythe—Li Ren couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. The maid before him seemed like an even more terrifying monster than Lu Yunze.
“No, wasn’t that old Butler defeated by Young Master Lu?”
Li Ren paused at this point.
“I remember now, you were there too. You’re the real one who killed the Butler.”
Who would’ve thought this guy’s brain wasn’t that slow after all? Jiang Sui pursed her lips slightly, but still maintained an innocent, harmless smile:
“What are you talking about? The one who defeated the Butler was indeed our Young Master. I’m just a weak girl with no strength to even truss a chicken—how could I possibly fight you Secret Arts Practitioners?”
“……”
“I just made a little use of my own advantages to turn things in my favor, that’s all.”
“You!”
Li Ren’s body trembled. Now he was absolutely certain that Jiang Sui was even more dangerous than Lu Yunze and Luo Yao—someone who needed to be watched far more closely.
He’d never received any intel on her before. Was it because she was just a maid, so everyone overlooked her? Or was it that she’d hidden herself so well, she slipped right past the intelligence network?
Li Ren took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
Maybe she was just putting on a front? The scythe in her hand only looked like his—it might not actually be that powerful in a real fight.
Yes, that must be it!
Li Ren, whose expression was always rather undisciplined, now looked even more reckless, making it impossible to tell whether he was laughing or afraid.
But since he’d raised his scythe at her, Jiang Sui knew this fight wasn’t over yet.
Perfect—time to test out her new weapon.
Li Ren let out a hoarse snarl, like a wild beast charging, swinging his scythe.
Jiang Sui still stood in place, bending her body slightly. She raised the scythe in the opposite direction and then swung it with force.
The blade tore through the rain, slicing through the air, and the two scythes clashed together.
The sharp explosion that burst out in that instant stung Jiang Sui’s eardrums. The two scythes locked together, grinding against each other.
If Li Ren were in peak condition, he could have quickly overwhelmed Jiang Sui and ended the fight. Unfortunately, after being heavily wounded by Lu Yunze, he’d lost that chance.
Sparks occasionally burst from the point where the two scythes met. Li Ren gritted his teeth and used all his strength, but still couldn’t break the stalemate.
“It looks a bit heavy, but actually feels pretty light to use.” Jiang Sui chuckled. “No wonder you like it so much—it really is a good weapon.”
As she spoke, she twisted her grip to flick Li Ren’s scythe aside, then, before he could raise a defense, she brought her blade down from above.
In an instant, blood splattered. Not only blood flew out, but also one of Li Ren’s arms.
“Ahhhhh!”
His heart-wrenching scream pierced the air, making Jiang Sui wrinkle her brow.
She hadn’t expected this thing to be even sharper than she thought. Originally, she just wanted to cripple his right hand, but ended up severing the entire arm.
“I’ll have to be more careful with my strength next time.”
The blood on the blade was quickly washed away by the rain. Jiang Sui looked at the half-dead Li Ren—he didn’t seem able to get up at all. After being gravely wounded by Lu Yunze, he’d still managed to save himself, but now he didn’t seem to have the strength.
As long as he wasn’t dead, it was fine. Jiang Sui still had many questions she wanted him to answer.
For example, what exactly was the organization behind the Lan City Missing Person Case, and why were they kidnapping people everywhere… These things were tied to the future plot development, and Jiang Sui had to figure them out soon if she wanted to set a trap for Lu Yunze.
Just as she stepped forward, the ground at her feet suddenly loosened, mud quickly climbing up her calves, pinning her in place.
Seeing her caught in the trap, Li Ren grinned savagely. Even with only one hand left, he could still swing his scythe.
“Die!”
This was the most desperate attack of his life—he could already picture Jiang Sui’s head being separated from her body.
But such fantasies never became reality.
Before the blade struck, Jiang Sui’s body dissolved into Black Mist, evading Li Ren’s desperate attack and slipping out of his trap, appearing behind him.
Before Li Ren could turn around, Jiang Sui’s scythe swung down again, severing his other arm.
Now, Li Ren had completely lost the ability to fight back. He fell to the ground, face up, his cloudy eyes staring at the gray sky.
“That’s the Butler’s Secret Art… No, wait, I remember the Butler’s Black Mist—it didn’t have this effect.”
Li Ren had dealt with the Butler before and knew his Black Mist only obscured vision and confused direction. Why, in Jiang Sui’s hands, could it also make her body turn to mist?
Jiang Sui just smiled and said nothing.
Although the Ancient Book’s requirements for acquiring someone else’s ability were pretty harsh, once she succeeded, all the ability’s functions would be displayed in writing on the book’s pages.
But those ancient, twisted characters could only be understood by Jiang Sui—not even the Black Cat, a veteran Secret Arts Practitioner, could decipher them.
It was written very clearly: Function one of the Black Mist—confuse vision, causing loss of direction.
Function two—allow the user to turn to mist.
If she combined it with one of the Black Cat’s marvelous tools, Jiang Sui could even store this ability in a tiny seed and lend it to Lu Yunze as a life-saving measure. Unfortunately, the effect could only be used once, and making it was quite troublesome.
Now that she’d acquired Li Ren’s scythe, aside from its original uses, it surely had new effects unlocked too. She could study it slowly once she got back.
“You’re about to die, so why not do me a little favor, hmm?”
Jiang Sui tilted her head with a smile, looking pure and innocent.
“Tell me everything you know. Otherwise, before you die, I’ll have to cut the flesh from your bones piece by piece until you can’t take it anymore. On the other hand, if you cooperate, maybe we can even work together, and you can keep living—serving me.”
She wasn’t joking.
Her face was smiling, but her eyes were cold as ice. She even pressed the scythe against Li Ren’s body—just a little force and it would slice open his skin.
“No, I’ll talk… I’ll talk!” Li Ren was truly honest now. This wasn’t fake begging—he was genuinely pleading.
At last…
Jiang Sui let out a breath and asked her first question:
“What organization are you with?”
“B-Black Star Cult.”
“What do you do?”
“We—we all worship the King in Black Robes. We believe He will descend upon the world again and end all suffering.”
A classic cult line. The King in Black Robes? Black Star Cult? It sounded familiar—seemed to come up often in online discussions. But Jiang Sui didn’t have the energy to think about that now; she continued her questioning.
“Why did you create the Lan City Missing Person Case? Where did all the missing people go?”
“This…”
Seeing his hesitation, Jiang Sui slowly pressed the scythe down, watching as the blade began to dent his skin and draw thin lines of blood.
“Wait, I really don’t know!” Li Ren screamed. “I’m just a squad leader in the operations team. We only follow orders—what the higher-ups are planning is just our guess!”
He didn’t seem to be lying. Jiang Sui lifted the scythe away.
She asked several more questions, but still couldn’t get the answers she wanted. This guy’s value had run its course.
Seeing Jiang Sui raise her scythe, Li Ren forced a smile:
“My Queen, I’m willing to be your most loyal servant. I’m quick and clean with my work.”
“Nice, I like hearing that.”
Jiang Sui’s lips curled up as she put one hand on her hip, the other resting the scythe on her shoulder.
“If I keep you around, I’ll get to hear lots of nice things, right?”
“Yes, yes, look, I don’t even have hands now, do I?”
“But…”
Jiang Sui’s expression turned murderous again.
“You almost destroyed my exclusive errand boy. So—goodbye.”
“Ah, wait…!”
The scythe swept through the air, dark blood splattering across Jiang Sui’s cheek.
It was finally over.
The first time she’d ever taken someone’s life with her own hands—her grip on the scythe wouldn’t loosen, but soon she pulled it out, dragging a mess of ruined innards with it.
It felt… more ordinary than she’d imagined.
The weapon in her hand turned into a ball of red light and merged into her chest. The exhausted maid returned to where Lu Yunze was and knelt beside him.
Her palm gently brushed aside Lu Yunze’s bangs, her movements so gentle even she was surprised.
“It’s time to go. People are coming.” The Black Cat padded through the puddles, stopping in front of her.
The sound of police sirens could already be heard.
Jiang Sui said nothing, just tilted her head back to gaze at the moonless night sky.
At some point, the rain had lessened.