Jiuming Sea.
Lo Zining returned from the northwest, looking utterly exhausted, and went straight to report to her aunt.
“Zining, how is it? Did something happen in the northwest?”
Ji Yue opened the door for her and led her to the living room to sit down.
But she saw Lo Zining just standing there, showing no intention of sitting.
“You’re not sitting?”
“Uh.”
Lo Zining awkwardly rubbed her butt, a little embarrassed.
“No need, just stretching my legs.”
“I see.”
After that, Lo Zining told Ji Yue what had happened in the northwest, though she kept the matter of searching for Elera’s daughter to herself.
Not only did she want to keep it secret, but the Broken-Winged Butterfly had also explicitly ordered that no one be told about it.
“So all this has happened…”
Ji Yue’s attention was caught by the appearance of a Raider-level dimensional beast in the Border Sea, and she didn’t notice Lo Zining’s strange expression.
Troubled times indeed…
Ji Yue sighed.
The emergence of a presence comparable to the Black Candle Giant Spirit, combined with traitors cooperating with external enemies, was surely a bad omen.
And at a time like this, Xingyue had gone silent again.
Even she no longer held much hope that the situation would improve.
“But I never expected Elera to cause such a commotion there, and she’s been very active these past few days. I wonder if she’s acting on someone’s orders.”
“Eh? What did Elera do?”
Lo Zining asked.
“Oh, none of this has been reported, so it’s normal that you don’t know. Look at this.”
Ji Yue tossed her an integrated report from the magic department.
Three days ago, Elera appeared at a Border Sea checkpoint in the south, funded by a paranormal organization, and did something major.
She leveled an entire mountain peak that was too hard geologically to develop.
The debris from the mountain was dumped into an abandoned position submerged by the Border Sea’s water.
That Border Sea checkpoint suddenly gained two new positions overnight, capable of holding massive amounts of equipment and facilities.
At the same time, they built a new sea defense embankment, turning a huge profit.
Such actions were practically the stuff of myths—moving mountains and filling seas.
Then, two days ago, Elera killed the leader of an organization hostile to the paranormal group, sparking a huge uproar.
Finally, yesterday, a dragon-level dimensional beast appeared at a Border Sea checkpoint.
Local magical girls were conducting a hunt when Elera suddenly arrived and, in a crushing display of power, killed the beast, then casually took it away and dropped it off at a nearby branch of the paranormal organization.
All these signs pointed to Elera and the paranormal group growing closer again.
“She—she’s done so much?”
“Yes, it’s definitely something to be wary of.” Ji Yue frowned.
Ever since Elera attended the Sea Gatherers’ banquet, her behavior had completely changed.
She must have encountered something there.
No exaggeration—once that lustful firebrand shifts her actions, it affects the entire situation.
Ji Yue even planned to visit Huahai City personally to see what that firebrand was up to, but she was reluctant to leave Jiuming Sea easily, so she had delayed.
Now that Lo Zining had returned, she could finally free herself.
“Zining, I need to observe somewhere else for a day or two. Help me watch over Jiuming Sea, alright?”
“Mm!”
Lo Zining’s hesitation slowly turned into determination.
If she wanted to become one of the Ten Seats, she couldn’t be afraid of trouble; she had to be brave and step forward.
But—
“Aunt, I probably can’t today. I have to urgently go back home.”
“Hm?” Ji Yue raised an eyebrow. “Urgent? Is something wrong at home?”
“Uh, it’s not a big deal, but I just have to go back today.”
She left it at that, and Ji Yue agreed without much thought.
“Alright, then hurry back now.”
“Mm!”
Before setting off, Lo Zining added, “Aunt, if you have time later… I want to discuss something with you.”
“Okay.”
“I’m off then!”
Lo Zining used teleportation magic and returned to the Huahai City branch.
On her way down the stairs, she ran into her friend at the branch, Mu Shui.
“Eh? Isn’t this Little Red Riding Hood! You’re finally back!”
“Yeah, just came back for a bit of business.”
Though Lo Zining was in a rush, she couldn’t help chatting with her friend for a moment—and accidentally caught sight of something on Mu Shui’s phone.
“Whoa! I didn’t expect you to be like this, Mu Shui! You actually look at stuff like this!”
On the phone screen, two little devils were in a close, intimate pose. One wore black stockings, the other white, their proximity and posture full of suggestive warmth—but their faces were not shown.
“N-no! I just happened to see it! I didn’t mean to click on it!”
“Tsk tsk… who’s going to believe that?”
“Really! I just saw it said it was about a mother and daughter and got curious, that’s all! Look for yourself.”
Mu Shui thrust the phone at Lo Zining.
The title read, “Today’s Mother-Daughter ‘Unleashing’ Session,” followed by several JK-style photos that looked quite erotic.
“A mother and daughter? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lo Zining tilted her head in confusion.
“Exactly. That’s why I was so drawn to it.” Mu Shui said seriously. “Those two girls look no older than my little sister!”
Mu Shui was eighteen, a magical girl.
Lo Zining wasn’t particularly bothered.
You can’t judge by appearances alone!
That old Deng in her family looked like a middle schooler, yet he was already a father.
Still, the two girls in the photos really stood out—no faces, but the legs wrapped in stockings were spectacular.
The white ones, especially, were top-tier!
Lo Zining memorized the account name, returned the phone, and said, “I have urgent matters to deal with, let’s chat next time!”
“Oh, okay…”
Then, as she exited the elevator, Lo Zining opened her own phone and searched for that account.
“A well-known fitness blogger… huh!”
Lo Zining chuckled, “Another one who claims to know fitness? What a coincidence.”
She looked relaxed on the surface but felt increasingly uneasy inside.
Too many coincidences had made her nerves jumpy.
No, no, no, no matter how vain that old Deng was, there was no way he would post stuff like this online…
Scrolling down the homepage, there was barely any actual fitness content.
“Hah! I knew it!”
Lo Zining felt relieved; it was just a bait-and-switch account, the name only a gimmick.
But in the next second, she was horrified to find hundreds of photos had been added to her album—all downloaded from that account.
“Well, maybe it’s harmless to follow it?”
Lo Zining thought.
Then she hurried home.
“Old Deng!”
When Lo Zining returned, she found Old Deng cooking, and the living room was filled with the scent of honey citrus tea.
“Oh? You’re back and didn’t even say a word.”
Lo You asked in surprise.
“Nothing, just wanted to surprise you.”
“Really? You’re not here to catch me in some affair again, are you?”
Lo You grumbled but was busy frying vegetables and couldn’t leave the stove.
Lo Zining talked while scanning the house.
No scent of another woman.
No signs the bathroom had been recently used.
Seems like nothing was going on.
Having finished the secondary check, Lo Zining moved on to the primary target.
She pulled out a cube-shaped device from her pocket.
Brand new—Divine Particle Compatibility Detector.
She was about to use it to put Old Deng through a thorough test!