A Desperate Gambit

The instant an overwhelming aura burst forth, before Chu Feng—a Tier 4 transcendent—could even register what was happening, the observation window before him was shattered by the bespectacled man who had been flung through it. The man’s body slammed directly into the wall behind, and even the two initial police officers were sent sprawling to the ground by the sheer force of the impact.

Meanwhile, inside the interrogation room, the dark-haired youth from before had been replaced by a petite, white-clad figure. The girl’s snow-white hair stirred as if by an unseen breeze, her blood-red pupils fixed intently on Chu Feng, as if she intended to devour him whole.

Snapping out of his momentary daze, Chu Feng naturally recognized the white-haired girl. She was none other than the transcendent from the surveillance footage who had kicked the private room door clean off its hinges!

More critically, they had only recently discovered that this girl possessed supernatural abilities but had yet to register them with the Blade Keepers Agency. This meant she had not only used her powers to harm others, but also illegally possessed them, and now, she was actively assaulting a police officer!

“Take her down!”

Chu Feng shouted at the two officers who were still sprawled on the ground, while simultaneously reaching out to press the alarm button beside the observation window.

Receiving the command, the two police officers quickly rose. They lunged swiftly at the white-haired girl from left and right, tackling her to the ground. The rough handling during the process jolted Bai Xia—who had been forcibly released from her hypnotic state—back to full consciousness.

“You! Let go of me!” Seeing her disguise vanish, Bai Xia, pinned to the ground, struggled violently. Her petite body writhed under the officers’ suppression, her snow-white hair splayed wildly across the floor, her eyes wide with panic. “I didn’t hurt anyone! They were the ones—they were the ones who drugged me first!”

Yet, no matter how Bai Xia pleaded, the officers pinning her down remained unmoved. The male officer restrained her, while the female officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs and, with a sharp click, secured them around her slender wrists.

“You’d best cooperate!” Chu Feng slowly entered the interrogation room, looking down at the struggling Bai Xia pinned to the floor, his gaze chillingly cold. “Unregistered transcendent abilities, illegal use of powers to harm others, and now assaulting an officer and resisting arrest… Do you know how many years these charges combined could land you in prison?”

At the man’s words, Bai Xia’s small face instantly paled, and her red pupils welled with tears. “They were the ones… the ones who drugged my drink first! I won’t accept this! Why me?!”

“Take her away.” Ignoring Bai Xia’s protests, Chu Feng waved his hand dismissively, his expression cold.

Although the girl before him possessed supernatural abilities, he himself was a transcendent who had just entered Tier 4. Dealing with a young girl of such negligible strength was more than enough for him; thus, he wasn’t concerned that the white-haired girl would resist, knowing she couldn’t possibly defeat him anyway.

For Bai Xia, however, if she didn’t escape now, once she was taken to the Blade Keepers Agency, any chance of escape would become utterly impossible.

She still had plenty of energy within her body. At this point, she could only gamble everything.

With that thought, the next instant, Bai Xia’s ruby-red eyes glowed with a sanguine light, and a powerful surge of energy abruptly erupted from her petite body. With a mere flex, her slender hands snapped the handcuffs with a crack, before she violently flung the two officers pinning her away.

Her true identity must absolutely not be exposed! She had to survive!

“Bang!”

The two officers crashed heavily against the wall before sliding to the floor. Bai Xia, meanwhile, instantly sprang to her feet and swung her small fist with full force toward Chu Feng’s abdomen!

If she could just force the man before her back, she would seize the chance to bolt out of the interrogation room!

However, her imagination proved far kinder than the reality, which dealt Bai Xia a cruel blow.

With a smack, her fist was firmly intercepted in mid-air by Chu Feng’s hand, held fast in his grip, unable to advance even an inch further.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Chu Feng sneered, and the power of a Tier 4 transcendent instantly erupted from him. With a reverse twist of his wrist—nearly twice the thickness of Bai Xia’s entire arm—her slender arm was twisted behind her back, forcing her to spin around with it.

“Ah! It hurts, it hurts!” Bai Xia cried out in pain. The height difference between them forced her to stand on her tiptoes with her back to Chu Feng, her back slightly arched, her snow-white hair tumbling loosely over her shoulders.

It was already unfortunate enough that her disguise had been forcibly broken, but even worse, her clothes didn’t adjust with her changing physique. The oversized men’s shirt she wore slipped slightly from her slender shoulders, revealing a wide expanse of pale, delicate skin and her exquisite collarbones.

Bai Xia desperately wanted to break free, but the searing pain in her arm forced her to cease her struggles, leaving her to glare with tear-filled eyes, futilely kicking her legs and twisting her body like a kitten seized by the scruff of its neck. “Let go of me… it hurts so much.”

Enduring both physical pain and psychological humiliation, Bai Xia’s eyes turned utterly crimson.

She was supposed to be the victim in this incident, yet her act of self-defense had resulted in her arrest by the Blade Keepers Agency. Now, subjected to such rough treatment, the injustice festered within her, finally spilling over as tears that traced paths down her cheeks.

Surely the ones who should be interrogated were the bar owner and the disgusting fat man who drugged her—not her.

“Let go of me… you bad people.” Bai Xia’s voice gradually acquired a choked, tearful quality, but Chu Feng remained entirely indifferent. The alarm he had pressed earlier now brought a steady stream of police officers rushing into the room, plunging Bai Xia into utter despair regarding any chance of escape.

Her only desperate hope now was that the Blade Keepers Agency wouldn’t discover her true identity, for if they found out she wasn’t human, her fate would be far worse than any criminal’s…

But this was the Blade Keepers Agency; if they truly investigated, how could her identity possibly remain hidden?

Bai Xia closed her eyes in despair, tears silently tracing paths down her cheeks. Her slender form seemed especially fragile amidst the encirclement of police officers, her snow-white hair clinging messily to her tear-streaked face—until someone suddenly called out, “Boss, Young Master Mo has arrived.”

“Young Master Mo? Which Young Master Mo?” Chu Feng paused, slightly startled, and turned his head in confusion.

The Imperial Capital was vast; there were countless people named Mo. How was he supposed to know which “Young Master” they meant?

“It’s… Mo Hongyi, the Sword-Wielder’s biological son, Young Master Mo Bai of the Imperial Capital’s Mo family, Boss,” a subordinate beside him prompted.

“What? Why didn’t you say something sooner about such an important matter?” The next moment, Chu Feng handed the still struggling Bai Xia over to the police officer beside him, warning her not to get any “wrong ideas,” before quickly striding out to greet the newcomer.

“Mo… Mo Bai…?” Bai Xia, held by two officers, couldn’t help but tremble when she heard the familiar name, and lifted her head to look towards the corridor outside the interrogation room.

Mo Bai… could it be Mo Bai, her deskmate?

Her deskmate’s background was actually this powerful?

A glimmer of hope sparked in Bai Xia’s blood-red eyes, but if it truly was Mo Bai, how was she supposed to face him? After all, she had been living as a boy at school all this time, and if he saw her like this… how would she explain her identity?

Her trembling heart was suddenly conflicted. Her will to survive made her hope this Mo Bai was indeed her deskmate, the one who could rescue her. Yet, shame made her dread the possibility that it was her deskmate, and he would see her in such a disheveled state, appearing as a girl.

And what if her identity were exposed?

Just then, a commotion arose at the end of the corridor. Chu Feng soon appeared, slowly approaching the interrogation room entrance with a handsome young man, all while listening to Chu Feng’s progress report.

“Rest assured, Young Master Mo, we apprehended the culprit in just half a day’s work this time.”

“Oh? So you’ve investigated everything thoroughly?”

Logically, resolving a transcendent crime should be cause for celebration, but in Mo Bai’s words, despite the culprit’s apprehension, there was no discernible joy or anger—only an unsettling calm.

Unaware of the underlying danger, Chu Feng assumed Mo Bai was simply angered that such an incident could occur in the Imperial Capital at all.

After all, in the dignified capital of the empire, it was understandable for a member of the Mo family to be upset by such events, especially since Mo Hongyi, Mo Bai’s father, was a Sword-Wielder—one of the top authorities overseeing the Blade Keepers Agency.

“Yes, everything has been thoroughly investigated. This white-haired girl not only illegally used her abilities to harm others, but also assaulted an officer and resisted arrest… Moreover, it seems she forged an identity and lived in Xicheng Village for many years under the name Bai Xia,” Chu Feng continued, seeking commendation, while also voicing his own speculation.

Based on previous investigations, when questioned, the landlord had stated that a boy lived there, yet the white-haired girl also frequently appeared in surveillance footage. Combining this with the recent disappearance of her disguise, it was easy to deduce that the former boy was merely the white-haired girl’s everyday disguise.

“Hmm…? Bai Xia?” Hearing those two words, Mo Bai paused, slightly stunned.

Bai Xia? Xicheng Village? Wasn’t that his deskmate’s name and address at school? And what was this about a forged identity?

The information conveyed in a few sentences seemed rather overwhelming.

He walked slowly to the front of the interrogation room and looked inside through the shattered observation window, immediately meeting Bai Xia’s eyes, who was currently being held by two police officers.