Ultimately, Mo Qingqing had to expend quite some effort to dismiss the overly curious witches and wizards one by one.
There were things she had to ask Su Yun alone.
After all… this matter had quite an impact on her.
Soon after, she led Su Yun, expressionless, to a relatively secluded spot behind a pile of shattered boulders further away from the edge of the battlefield.
Su Yun kept her small head lowered, her large pinkish-blue tail drooping as she stood restlessly in front of Mo Qingqing.
She guessed what was about to happen next.
She had experienced this kind of “interrogation” scenario, being pulled aside alone, many times in both her past and present lives.
Each time meant some kind of punishment or a deeper level of scrutiny.
It was like being pulled away from a family dinner to be lectured by parents next to the restroom for saying something wrong…
At this moment, she felt incredibly anxious.
She hesitated, wondering how she could explain things in a way that wouldn’t anger Mo Qingqing while still securing a sliver of hope for survival.
However, Mo Qingqing did not give her much time to think.
“I will only give you one chance. You should be clear that I don’t like it when people lie to me,” Mo Qingqing’s voice was cold and flat, devoid of any emotion, yet it pierced Su Yun’s heart like an icy needle.
She reached out, palm facing upward, and a phantom-like, ancient brass scale appeared out of thin air in her hand.
From a perspective only she could see, Su Yun’s petite and delicate figure stood remarkably on one side of the scale.
On the other side, a fresh, beating heart floated quietly, emitting a faint and mysterious glow.
The scale’s needle swayed slightly between the two, as if measuring something invisible.
“…” Su Yun opened her mouth, but her throat felt as if it were blocked by something, and she couldn’t utter a single word.
A vague intuition, like a plucked harp string, sent a shivering warning deep into her mind.
‘Don’t lie.’
‘Absolutely cannot lie!’
Whenever she tried to concoct a lie or a more reasonable-sounding backstory in her heart, she felt an unbearable itchy sensation that traveled from the depths of her soul to every inch of her skin. It made her whole body uncomfortable, making it nearly impossible to speak.
Mo Qingqing did not press her, simply watching Su Yun quietly. Within her deep red eyes, however, her aura became increasingly dangerous, like an ancient giant beast about to awaken in the deep sea.
She could, of course, read Su Yun’s memories directly or even probe the depths of her soul.
But she intended to give Su Yun a chance.
A chance to decide her own future destiny.
Whether she lived or died would depend on her own choice, granted only because Su Yun had made her feel quite comfortable over the last few days.
*Gulp…* Su Yun swallowed nervously, the sound exceptionally clear in the silent atmosphere.
‘I can’t lie… she definitely has a way to detect lies…’
‘Nothing else for it… if there really are gods… please bless me!!!’
“In, in truth… in my previous life… I wasn’t a person from this world,” Su Yun’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, yet every word was clear.
After saying this, she felt like a deflated ball. All her strength was drained, and her body swayed weakly. This single sentence seemed to have exhausted all her courage and energy.
“So that’s how it is,” Mo Qingqing murmured thoughtfully, stroking her smooth chin as a flash of realization crossed her eyes.
In her hand, the scale’s needle now tilted steadily toward Su Yun’s side, representing the truth of her words.
With this, all the strange things about Su Yun and her extraordinary performance became logical.
“But you still lied to me when you said you came from another continent.”
Mo Qingqing’s gaze turned toward Su Yun once more, carrying a trace of imperceptible inquiry.
She wasn’t actually too surprised by Su Yun’s status as a “visitor from another world.”
While such cases were extremely rare, they were not without precedent.
Mages who researched spatial magic would occasionally pull things from other worlds into this one by accident.
Unintentionally dragging in an otherworldly soul was by no means an impossible tale.
“I’m… I’m sorry…”
Immense fear, like a cold tide, instantly submerged Su Yun.
Her petite body began to tremble uncontrollably once again.
‘It’s over, it’s over, it’s over…’
‘Now that she knows I’m a transmigrator, she won’t dissect me, will she?’
‘She couldn’t, right…?’
‘Please don’t…’
“Hmm…” Mo Qingqing leaned against a boulder, her long fingers tapping against her arm as she fell into deep thought.
She wasn’t actually thinking about how to punish Su Yun.
Rather, she was thinking about how she could escape responsibility…
According to the explicit regulations of the New World Law: any living being that possesses knowledge, does not follow blindly, can communicate normally, and can accept new things is classified as a citizen.
Citizens are strictly protected and cannot be bought, sold, traded, enslaved, killed without cause, or violated.
Once violated, the offender’s mana and mental power would be sealed, and they would be sent to the mines for a period ranging from 3 to 50 years.
Clearly, she had already triggered two injunctions.
At the very least, she was looking at an 8-year sentence in the mining zone.
That would truly be the death of her…
Many people already knew that Su Yun was her “pet,” so silencing everyone wasn’t realistic.
What should she do…
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to hide it, but some things simply couldn’t be hidden.
Fortunately, as of now, others only knew that Su Yun belonged to her; they didn’t know Su Yun’s true identity. They were merely guessing about the relationship between her and Su Yun.
This was the only way…
“Listen well. From now on, when others are around, you will call me Master.
If anyone asks about your background, you will say you are a gifted disciple I picked up during the war.
When no one is around, you will continue as you were before. Do you understand?” Mo Qingqing’s voice became somewhat helpless, but the tone of command was indisputable.
“Yes…” Su Yun nodded blankly.
“As for the punishment… we will talk about it later.”
Mo Qingqing let out a soft sigh and removed the tattered slave collar from Su Yun’s neck. Then, she took off an exquisite bracelet made of pure gold and carved with complex runes from her own wrist.
‘First… I’ll pull the wool over their eyes and get through this…’
She opened her palm, and the gold bracelet quickly expanded under the manipulation of her mental power until it was roughly the size of the slave collar.
Mo Qingqing then took out a communication stone, skillfully fused it with the gold ring, and solemnly placed it around Su Yun’s neck.
That should do it… now, she had to go “explain” things to those gossipy fellows to prevent them from spreading wild rumors.
Su Yun still kept her small head lowered.
She wasn’t sure if she had escaped disaster.
Her previous calculations had vanished completely.
The world had once again proven to her what “fickleness” and “plans failing to keep up with changes” meant.
Mo Qingqing only said the punishment was delayed.
She didn’t say she wouldn’t take her apart —
After all, she was certainly different from everyone else in this world.
A soul from another world… no matter how one thought about it, it had to be a high-grade material, right?
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