Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. Facing a fool like Meng Qinghuan, Lucifer felt he had no choice but to fight him.
"Should we break through the world first, or send them back?" Bai Cha pointed at the students, sounding impatient but still considering their safety. "Mo Ziye, come here with Michael."
Mo Ziye, who was being pestered by the miscellaneous people on his side and feeling annoyed, immediately felt as if he had been granted amnesty upon hearing Bai Cha's call and scurried over.
He was truly not good at dealing with people. The constant praise from those individuals made him extremely awkward.
To Mo Ziye's surprise, as soon as he was called away, someone was displeased. Before he could even reach Bai Cha, sour words drifted over.
And it wasn't just one person.
"The great young master of Light is called away by someone with just a word. How embarrassing."
"Oh my, the Shadow faction is truly impressive, bossing around our young master."
"Don't say that. Don't you know everyone who opposes Bai Cha has been killed? I'm scared, scared."
"..."
The people behind him were chattering incessantly. Mo Ziye immediately exploded and retorted, "What I do is none of your business! Why are you being so passive-aggressive?"
"Are we wrong? To show such a good face to the enemy, does your father know?" a man sneered. "Doesn't Bai Xiaojie kill people at the slightest disagreement? Are we still wrong to say that?"
"That's because you have a big mouth and have to rely on Bai to get out. What right do you have to speak?" Mo Ziye's anger surged, and he roared at those people, "If you have the guts, don't come when Bai takes us up later."
"Do you think we want to come? Who knows if she's reliable," a woman said, looking at Bai Cha with a sour tone. "I haven't seen her exert herself. Who knows if she's capable? It's probably by sleeping her way into becoming the boss of Meng Qinghuan and Xiang Nan."
"You!" Mo Ziye felt pain in his liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys. He turned to fight those who had spoken disrespectfully. Before he could act, his shoulder was lightly pressed.
"Bai?" Seeing it was Bai Cha, Mo Ziye's anger subsided significantly. He grabbed Bai Cha's collar with a childish desire to report them and pointed fiercely at the group, "Bai, they're saying bad things about you!"
Bai Cha felt a mixture of amusement and helplessness. Had she been upgraded from sister to mother?
Bai Cha didn't say much, but the temperature around them dropped. Meng Qinghuan and Xiang Nan's expressions changed, and their eyes held killing intent as they looked at the woman who had spoken disrespectfully.
They could tolerate gossip, but Bai Cha was not just their leader; she was almost an object of faith. To be slandered so maliciously, even Meng Qinghuan and Xiang Nan, who usually never lost their temper, felt killing intent.
"You might not know me well and don't know what I do," Bai Cha said, dusting off some wood shavings from her hands, her expression cold. "Do you think having a dragon and being recognized by the country will solve everything? Who gave you the nerve to provoke a powerful underworld organization?"
Saying "underworld" was actually meant to scare them. The Shadow faction, despite its name, was actually very legitimate and well-regarded. Everything they did was reported to their superiors in advance. More accurately, it was an underworld exclusively for the neutral faction, with its power merely a tool for convenience.
Even so, they were not people that ordinary individuals could afford to offend.
As expected, the moment the intimidating word "underworld" was uttered, everyone fell silent. Sometimes Bai Cha truly felt that some people were simply perverse, refusing to listen to reason and requiring violence.
Now, no one targeted Bai Cha. The indignation they had directed at the Shadow faction seemed to have vanished like the fart they had let out, with some even turning pale and looking at Bai Cha fearfully.
"Um, can I ask a question?" a boy, who looked barely adult, tentatively raised his hand.
He was a young boy from a neutral faction family. Despite his high status, he wasn't lacking in courage and had some contact with the Shadow faction. He didn't fear Bai Cha as much as others.
"Mm?" Bai Cha looked at the boy. She recognized him; he was two years older than her, having just turned nineteen a few days ago. He was the second son of the Zhou family, Zhou Sheng.
"How do we get out?" Zhou Sheng had merely asked on a whim. He didn't expect Bai Cha to not be angry. Seeing Bai Cha's calm, unchanging pupils, Zhou Sheng quickly understood her temperament and became bolder. "Anyway, don't bother with those people. At most, we won't take them with us later."
The Zhou family had considerable influence and was a prominent name among the neutral faction. With Zhou Sheng speaking up, people who hadn't participated in the earlier provocation immediately nodded in agreement.
"Miss Bai, please don't be angry. There's no need to pay attention to rude people."
"Exactly. Next time there's a war, let them fight with their mouths on the front lines and curse the enemy to death."
"..."
The voices of agreement grew louder. If these people hadn't stayed silent when they were condemning her earlier, Bai Cha might have believed them.
Even Zhou Sheng rolled his eyes. He felt the future of his country was in jeopardy and even felt a bit of sympathy for Bai Cha.
Bai Cha let out a soft hum, too lazy to argue. She waved to Mo Ziye. "Come here. Zhou Sheng, divide them into teams. Those who don't want to follow me, go to the left; those who want to follow me, go to the right."
Zhou Sheng: "Ah? Oh! Okay!"
Suddenly being called upon, Zhou Sheng was taken aback and immediately patted his butt and stood up.
He felt something was not quite right. Why was Bai Cha ordering him around so naturally? He scratched his head, thinking that he would still have to rely on Bai Cha to get out later, and then considering that he might even be Bai Cha's superior in the future, he felt a little happy. He eagerly began to organize people.
If Gong Yuechen were here, he would pat Zhou Sheng's shoulder and lament Zhou Sheng's naivete, and he would tell Zhou Sheng a piece of trivia: all of Bai Cha's nominal superiors, except for the big bosses, were her subordinates.
"Bai, what should I do?" Seeing the group silenced by Bai Cha, Mo Ziye felt extremely pleased, his tone even livelier.
Bai Cha was speechless. She felt Mo Ziye didn't seem to realize he was part of the Light faction. A normal person would probably feel that Bai Cha's actions had embarrassed him, especially since he was the young master of the Light faction.
Only Mo Ziye could be so carefree.
Bai Cha thought for a moment and said, "Just follow the arrangements later."
"Lirong, give me the qin," Bai Cha said.
Lirong glanced at the blood-stained jade flute in Su Qing's hand and immediately understood Bai Cha's intention. He stepped forward and respectfully handed his guqin to Bai Cha.
Bai Cha took the guqin and lightly sliced her palm. Blood seeped out and dripped onto the guqin. The blood spread and quickly condensed into a series of strange patterns that covered the entire guqin.
Bai Cha then placed her palm on the strings. The strings were immediately covered in a layer of red light. Feeling the energy of the guqin gradually stabilize, Bai Cha returned the guqin to Lirong.
It was just a shallow cut, and not much blood flowed. By the time Bai Cha withdrew her hand, no more blood was seeping out, and it even seemed to be scabbed over. Nevertheless, Bai Cha's hand was still held in Lucifer's palm, bandaged with medicine and gauze.
Seeing Lucifer frown with his well-defined brows, Bai Cha almost thought she had sustained a severe injury.
There was no need for this. If you were any slower, my wound would have healed.
Bai Cha felt amused but didn't refuse. Lucifer was already knowledgeable about various medical practices, clearly wanting to do this even knowing she was fine. Since that was the case, Bai Cha didn't want to dampen Lucifer's enthusiasm. She turned and looked in the distance.
Zhou Sheng had excellently completed his task.
The island wasn't large to begin with. The right side was packed full. Those people who had been so indignant were now silently crammed on the right side, even fearing that their position was too far to the left and might cause Bai Cha a misunderstanding. They squeezed tightly, leaving no space.
"Fair-weather friends," someone muttered, rolling his eyes. His voice was quite loud, and half the group's faces turned a mixture of green and white.
"You guys go this time," Bai Cha stepped back.
Everyone was stunned and didn't react immediately. When they looked back, they saw Bai Cha leaning against a nearby tree with Lucifer, a rare playful smile on her face. "Meng Qinghuan and Xiang Nan won't offer you any advice. Good luck."
For this mission, Bai Cha could have come alone. Her success rate would have been higher and it would have been more convenient. However, Bai Cha had still brought half of the Shadow faction with her.
These children had good talent and knew how to work hard, but Bai Cha couldn't always be the one in charge and wanted them to have opportunities to practice.
Shadow Faction Members: "Ah?!"
"Uh?" Meng Qinghuan, who was ready to work, was stunned. He glanced at Yun He beside him, hesitated, and then withdrew with Xiang Nan.
Xiang Nan's reaction was slightly more sensible. The difficulty of this mission was a bit beyond their usual. After thinking for a moment, he turned and handed the collected information to Gu Mingze.
"This is the world's framework. You should understand it since I've taught you," Xiang Nan showed Gu Mingze some of his sketches. "This is the most likely situation you'll encounter later, along with speculation about the surrounding environment. Just do your best."
Everyone looked at the stack of scribbled drawings in Gu Mingze's hand and fell silent. What were these drawings? Even earthworms crawled more beautifully than this!
Even more unexpectedly, Gu Mingze nodded seriously. "Alright, I hope I don't hold you back."
Everyone: "?"
Kid, are you serious? Do you even understand what these drawings represent?
"Ahem, letting Gu Mingze and Xiang Nan learn, this is a hell of a start," Meng Qinghuan touched his nose, feeling a bit emotional.
With Xiang Nan's illegible handwriting, even he, who had worked with Xiang Nan for many years, found it difficult to decipher Xiang Nan's writing.
"Um, Brother Lirong, Brother Yan Ziyu, this is the manuscript, you guys..." Gu Mingze took the manuscript and quickly identified the two smartest individuals.
He was used to slacking off and had intended to ask these two for solutions. However, he suddenly remembered Bai Cha's words about him being more confident. His heart skipped a beat. He turned around and indeed saw Bai Cha looking at him. The words that were about to come out twisted and changed their meaning: "You... um, could you discuss it with me?"
Seeing this, Xiang Nan let out a soft哼 and felt relieved.
Xiang Nan could tell that this was not only a test for the juniors but also an assessment for the two of them. If the children they taught performed too poorly, both he and Meng Qinghuan would be punished.
Bai Cha had always been meticulous in teaching, and she had even helped them guide their disciples. If their performance was still poor, Xiang Nan and Meng Qinghuan would be in serious trouble.
Not long after, Gu Mingze had already translated Xiang Nan's bug-ridden sketches into a lengthy discourse, analyzing the surrounding environment, situation, and methods of utilization. The people around were stunned.
"Um, what's wrong?" Gu Mingze scratched his head, feeling a bit awkward from the silence. He couldn't help but shrink his head. "Did I say something wrong?"