Carlos, seeing his men, who had rushed in and frozen in shock altogether, coughed lightly, then roared:

  "What are you all standing there for? Get over here and stand still!"

  Carlos shouted, and the men woke from their daze. They formed a line right off in the open space, heads down, not daring to look up.

  Stirling, who had followed in, immediately sensed something was wrong. When he saw the woman standing next to Carlos, a chill ran down his spine.

  This woman was none other than the sorceress from Yearning Palace! The one who had killed a night watchman in the street that day! Stirling lowered his head at once, mimicking his colleagues, thinking to himself:

  "What's going on? Wasn't this vixen at Night Watch in the inner city? Why is she here at the outer city branch?"

  Just then, Carlos, seeing everyone had arrived, said to Lilith beside him:

  "My lady, everyone's here."

  Lilith widened her eyes at the Night Watchmen in the open space, then chuckled.

  "Why aren't they looking at me? Am I that scary?"

  "My lady, it's because they know the rules and they are humble."

  Carlos quickly explained.

  "Alright, Captain Carlos, I'm here today to investigate an incident. I need to borrow a man from you; is that okay?" Lilith twirled her long hair with her fingers and spoke again.

  "No problem, my lady! My fellows are all very capable. But lately, the Pathos malice issue has been in the news. We also need to work with the Night Watch on their investigation in the inner city. So, we might be short on manpower…" Carlos said cautiously.

  "So, you're still not cooperating after all this talk."

  Lilith turned to look at Carlos, a weird smile playing on her lips.

  "Of course not, please choose whomever you like, my lady!"

  Carlos gestured with one hand, thinking to himself:

  "I've done my best to help you guys; the rest is up to luck."

  Lilith nodded, pleased with this. She then walked to the group in the open space, hands behind her back.

  She first circled the group, observing something, then asked Carlos:

  "Captain Carlos, I heard your team has a new member. Who is it?"

  "Huh?" Carlos was stunned, utterly surprised. A recruit joined the team yesterday, a fact he only learned of last night. He hadn't expected this woman to know as well. Did this mean their every move was under her control?

  Carlos's palms immediately sweated. He thought, "What is this bloody Yearning Palace doing here? They should be on the Tanggula Mountain. What are those people at the Inner City headquarters up to?"

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Despite his dissatisfaction, Carlos still said with a smile filling his face. "My lady is in the loop, Luis Chilavert!"

  When Stirling heard "Luis Chilavert," his heart was full of resistance.

  What the hell happened to him? Why does trouble always find him?

  Stirling didn't think anyone knew he had killed Romeo. He was in a quandary about what had drawn this witch to him. Anyway, he bit the bullet and responded.

  Right away, everyone's attention shifted to Stirling.

  A fragrant breeze swept by, and Stirling abruptly felt a petite figure beside him. He composed himself with great haste, not daring to show the slightest displeasure.

  No kidding! The image of the enchantress taking out the Night Watchman in one hit stayed firm in his mind. Stirling didn't want to meet the same end.

  Lilith looked at the handsome young man before her, quite interested.

  "You're Luis Chilavert?" Lilith blinked and grinned.

  "Yes, my lady," Stirling replied.

  "Good, you're the one I am looking for. Take me to your house." Lilith said.

  "Ah?!" Stirling felt astonished. Rumors about Yearning Palace raced through his mind, and his crotch tensed.

  The colleagues next to him glanced at Stirling, all with bizarre expressions. They were wondering what this lady of Yearning Palace saw in Luis. He was handsome, but something felt off. This trip was likely to be fraught with danger!

  "Luis Chilavert, what are you waiting for?!" Carlos roared at Stirling, who was standing there dumbfounded.

  "Yes, my lady, come with me." Stirling had no way out but to reply. Then he lowered his head and left the courtyard first.

  At this moment, Stirling once again felt the taste of having his fate controlled by someone else. And this person was a girl who looked not 18 years old yet—it was an insult to him.

  Lilith followed behind Stirling, skipping and hopping as she tossed out a sentence, "Captain Carlos, you lot continue."

  As soon as they left the outpost courtyard, people rushed towards Carlos.

  "Boss, what's going on?!"

  "Damn, this kid is very lucky!"

  "Lucky? He will be a dried-up corpse tomorrow!"

  The crowd's chatter only made Carlos more irritated.

  "Get the hell out there! Damn it!" Carlos roared.

  "Haha, the boss wishes he could do it himself." The men seemed completely unafraid of Carlos, cachinnating and running off.

  Carlos looked at his laughing subordinates and sighed. Right now, perhaps only he knew how depressing and humiliating it was to live beneath the enormous shadow of Yearning Palace.

  Meanwhile, Stirling had just stepped out of the building when he heard Lilith say behind him, "Wait."

  Stirling was puzzled, then turned around to see Lilith pointing towards a side alley.

  "My lady, what are you doing?" Stirling was perplexed.

  "Change clothes." Lilith said with a secret smile.

  "Huh? I didn't bring any clothes." Stirling was nervous.

  "I meant me." Moments later, Stirling stared at Lilith coming back, wonder full of his face. Lilith's appearance had changed downright. Her neat green dress was gone, replaced by rough linen clothes. Her long hair, once reaching her waist, was now in a bun. A thin layer of yellow wax applied to her fair face, making her look exactly like a poor maid.

  "My lady, what is this?" Stirling asked, surprised.

  "A change of identity, huh? Can you tell?" Lilith turned around, quite pleased with her transformation.

  "If my lady is trying to disguise yourself as a maid, then you are missing something." Stirling said after a moment's deliberation.

  "What's missing?" Lilith asked with curiosity.

  "My lady smells of perfume, something a maid should not have." Stirling said.

  "Now that you mention it, I forgot. No wonder Lady Alena said to watch and learn more." Lilith clapped her hands. She wasn't angry at Stirling's words; instead; she seemed quite excited. She swayed a bit, letting out a rich scent, but it faded straightaway with a passing breeze.

  "That's good," Lilith said. She raised her sleeve to her nose and sniffed carefully, then beamed.

  Stirling watched, wondering what this enchantress was up to. Beyond doubt, her actions were on the orders of the Yearning Palace envoy. This puzzled Stirling; he had nothing special about him, so why was he being targeted?

  Wait a minute… if anything was special, Stirling suddenly thought of Romeo. He seemed to understand.

  Stirling thought, sighing. Even though Romeo was dead, he was still a big trouble.