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“That full-moon killer has been hunted for five years and still hasn’t left even a single hair behind?” Lilith’s gaze swept across the prosperous, layered buildings not far away. Beneath their dazzling splendor, it seemed as though an abyss of darkness lay hidden. “So this city isn’t nearly as peaceful as I imagined.”

But what did any of that have to do with an ordinary, delicate young beauty like her? Unless that so-called Moon Demon foolishly provoked her first, Lilith had no intention of getting tangled up in such troublesome matters.

“Let’s go. There’s nothing worth watching here.”

“Oh.” Liana steered the tractor and spun it around on the spot, preparing to take a detour and leave.

“Third Lady, please wait a moment.” Suddenly, a woman wearing the same black uniform as the middle-aged man stepped forward and blocked their path. She looked sharp and heroic.

“Huh? You’re from the Inspection Bureau, right? What’s the matter?” Liana asked in confusion. “I haven’t done anything wrong recently.”

“We know. We only have a few questions we’d like to ask the Third Lady.”

The woman gave a helpless, wry smile. “The three great families of Maplefall Town are not easy to deal with. Our people were stopped at the gate and refused entry, so there are some things we can only ask you about. I hope you can accommodate us. It will only take a few minutes of your time.”

“Well… alright.” Liana agreed. “But make it quick. I still need to hurry home for lunch.”

“It’ll be very quick, just a few questions.” The woman pulled out a small notebook with a black cover and asked, “First question. Did Third Lady hear anything unusual last night? This area is quite close to the Ye family estate, so I imagine that if—”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t home last night.” Before the woman could finish, Liana cut her off directly. “So I can’t answer that question.”

“I see…” The woman’s face clearly showed disappointment. “Then may I ask what you were doing last night?”

“I went to Blackwater Forest to find medicine for my mother.”

“Looking… looking for medicine.” The woman’s expression suddenly turned strange. “You went looking for medicine again?”
“Mhm.”
“Third Lady is certainly persistent.”

“Of course! Until my mother is cured, I will never give up!” Liana clenched her fists and declared boldly. As she spoke, the impressive fullness of her chest rose and fell like rolling waves.

“And this time it’s different. This time I brought the Mountain Ghost back with me. She’ll help cure my mother!”

“Mountain Ghost? Isn’t that just something used to fool children—”

“With Mountain Ghost here, everything will be fine!”

The woman’s cheek twitched. Then, following the direction of Liana’s pointing finger, her gaze shifted toward Lilith, whose expression remained cold and indifferent. In reality, however, she already wanted to kill Liana a hundred times over in her heart.

Don’t introduce people in such an embarrassing way, you idiot!

“You… are Lord Mountain Ghost?” The woman looked Lilith up and down repeatedly, as if examining some strange curiosity.

“Mm.” Lilith forced her face to remain stiff and replied coldly, “Something like that.”

“You’re not from Maplefall Town, are you?”
“Mm.”
“Then would it be convenient to register your information?” The woman’s expression instantly turned cautious. “It’s a sensitive time. Please cooperate.”
“…Fine.” Lilith sighed. It seemed that if she didn’t deal with this police-like woman properly today, it would only cause trouble later.

“Name.”
“…Jasmine Qiao. Jasmine, like the flower.”
“Age.”
“Nine million… cough, cough… nineteen.”
“You’re nineteen?”

The woman’s voice suddenly rose an octave. Her eyes swept over Lilith from head to toe in disbelief, lingering especially on a certain completely flat region, her suspicion growing heavier.

“My family was poor when I was young… I didn’t develop well.” Lilith forced the words out through clenched teeth, at the same time resisting the urge to crush the well-developed figure standing before her.

So what if they’re big? Why does everyone act so arrogant about it, looking down on others like that?

“I see. How pitiful.” Apparently convinced, the woman methodically wrote in her little notebook.

“Occupation.”
“For now… you could say I’m a doctor.”
“A doctor…” The woman clearly paused for a moment, then said in surprise, “You’re really planning to cure the Third Lady’s mother?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”

“The Third Lady’s mother actually…”¹ The woman stopped halfway through her sentence. She glanced at Liana standing beside them and swallowed the rest of her words. “Forget it. You’ll find out eventually.”

Lilith frowned slightly, unable to quite understand the woman’s attitude.

Could it be that Liana’s mother’s illness was extremely difficult to treat?

Then again, that would make sense. The Ye family was, after all, a prominent and influential clan. An ordinary illness would never have dragged on long enough to become something that everyone seemed to know about.

“Since you’re someone personally invited by the Third Lady, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to pry any further.” Sensing she wouldn’t get any useful answers, the woman tore a sheet from her notebook and handed it to Lilith.

“I’m Lauren, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Inspection Bureau. If you run into any trouble, you can come to our bureau.”

“Thank you.” Lilith accepted the paper and noticed that an address was written on it. That must have been the location of the Inspection Bureau.

“Then I won’t keep you any longer. Third Lady, you should head home soon.” The woman named Lauren stepped aside and cleared the path.

Liana immediately started up her beloved tractor again and drove off with Lilith, taking a detour toward the Ye family estate, which stood not far away.

After the two of them left, the black-clad man who had earlier been entangled with the old lady from the Liu family appeared beside Lauren. “Did you learn anything?”

Lauren shook her head. “The Third Lady wasn’t home last night.”

“The truth?”

“Even if it was a lie, what difference would it make?” Lauren looked toward the direction where Liana had departed, a trace of pity showing on her face. “You know perfectly well what her situation is. Whether what she said was true or false wouldn’t make much difference, would it? I only came to ask out of a slim hope that we might learn something.”

“Tch, damn it.” The man in black darkened with frustration. “If those so-called great families would just cooperate, we wouldn’t end up in such a passive position every time. They’re always the ones crying the loudest afterward, yet when it matters most they refuse to listen. Do they even take the Inspection Bureau seriously?”

“And what can we do about it?” Lauren sighed helplessly. “This Maplefall Town stopped belonging to the Song family long ago, didn’t it? Even the city lord’s words barely carry any weight with them. Why would they care about a small organization like the Inspection Bureau?”

She let out another weary sigh. The Moon Demon had struck again, which meant peaceful sleep would likely be impossible for quite some time. “For all we know, that Moon Demon might even be a black glove raised by one of the great families.”

***

Halfway along the road, Liana suddenly leaned her head back from the driver’s seat and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Mountain Ghost, the name you gave earlier was fake, wasn’t it?”

“…You could say that.” Though the name hadn’t been entirely false.

“Hehe, I get it, I get it. Mountain Ghost must not want to attract trouble.” Liana grinned slyly. “I’ll keep it a secret for you.”

“If you know I don’t want trouble, then stop calling me something as ridiculous as ‘Mountain Ghost’!” From Lauren’s earlier reaction, Lilith could already tell that “Mountain Ghost” was definitely not meant as a flattering title.

“Oh, we’re here! We’re here!” Liana completely ignored Lilith’s complaint. With a sudden slam on the brakes that nearly gave Lilith a concussion, she grabbed Lilith by the hand and yanked her off the tractor, exclaiming excitedly, “We’re home!”