The Magician of Clow

Chapter 1504 The Real Business After the Liquidation: Another Liquidation! (Part 1)
Some things in this world are actually quite cruel.

In most cases, things that don't belong to you, even if you go to great lengths to acquire them, won't have the same effect as those who already possess them.

Your repeated attempts to force things are merely trying to unlock a lock that doesn't belong to you; you will ultimately be unable to overcome the high wall called talent.

Just like in fantasy stories, the villain who pays a huge price can never master the divine skills and magical treasures of the chosen one; the female supporting character who imitates the destined woman can never win back a single glance from the man she loves.

Fang Ran also deeply understood this point at this moment.

No matter how much trouble he gets into, as soon as that F-233 makes that cute little call, he can't help but forgive it.
But when faced with Ling's piercingly questioning gaze, he used the same tactic, yet for some reason it was completely ineffective.
It even had the opposite effect.
So much so that at this very moment, in the mechanical micro-city beneath the Night Bureau,

A 'human-shaped meteor hammer' was being swung with its spherical shape fully extended, leaving afterimages.

At the same time, a far more intense and agonizing scream rang out, interspersed with a sharp, cold, and furious voice.

"I clearly, I clearly said that so seriously, but you still forgot all about it, didn't you!"

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"And not only the deadline, you actually provoked the ultimate rule! So, if you only encountered a sea disaster at the beginning, should I praise you!?"

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

"Do you know that you're still alive not because you're incredibly lucky, but because they don't want you dead yet!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

Below the magnificent and beautiful 'Night Tour', watching the tall, adult figure of the young man bound by mechanical ropes and spinning at high speed, his anger erupted completely as he spoke.
Moreover, with each sentence she spoke, the spinning speed suddenly increased.
"And you still dare to say that I sent you to North America?"

In the end, Ling's delicate face twitched as if she were trembling slightly with anger, and she increased the speed to the maximum, gritting her teeth and shouting:

"Did I send you to North America just to go and court death like this?!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

The 'Meteor Hammer' remained silent, only letting out screams of agony.

Thus, after yet another instance of running around causing trouble while no one was watching, they finally faced an unprecedented and brutal reckoning.
This time, Fang Ran was spun around for a full thirty minutes before being let go.

This was an extremely cruel method; frankly, even the participants found it hard to bear. Even his screams, which were originally full of energy, became weak and feeble.
When it finally stopped, Fang Ran felt like she was no longer transforming into a magical girl.

He felt as if he were seeing his great-grandmother, whom he had never met before.
"Ugh... Meow meow... Life is as fragile as a thread."

Seeing Fang Ran's eyes still glazed over and his head spinning, completely out of his mind, she finally calmed down a bit, remembering her initial plan to spin him for at least an hour.

Ling Qianjin gave a slightly cold snort and decided to let him go for the time being.

"Alright, stop spinning around! First, tell me clearly what you actually saw at that lakeside factory?"

While listening to Fang Ran's honest confession, I suppressed my anger and waited for him to finish speaking, without even bothering to ask him for specific details about certain things.

Only after the reckoning with him was over could Ling finally ask him some serious questions.

"Hakimi, Hakimi. Huh?"

Meanwhile, Fang Ran's mind was racing with various memes, and he only paused for a moment before slowly coming to his senses when he heard the three powerful women in front of him asking him the same question.

"Oh, Ling, you asked about that?"

Hearing that Ling had finally let him off the hook and was asking about serious matters, Fang Ran quickly agreed and began to recall the details of his experience at the lakeside factory.
But then, he subconsciously glanced at Ling's figure in front of him.
The adult Queen is tall and elegant, with a cool and beautiful demeanor. Her powerful and dignified aura, coupled with her exquisitely beautiful mixed-race features, makes her breathtakingly gorgeous.

"Before we get to that, Your Majesty, are you going to stay like this forever?"

At this moment, Fang Ran couldn't help but ask tentatively, and then immediately covered up his embarrassment with a serious expression after speaking:

"Ahem, of course, I didn't mean anything by it. Your Majesty, you look absolutely stunning right now! A beauty that could topple kingdoms! I just feel a little bit dazzling."

That's definitely not how it is; it's putting too much pressure on me.

The visuals are also too SM-like.
"Ok?"

Hearing Fang Ran mention this, her eyes flickered. Seeing his guilty look as he was tied up like a caterpillar and hung there, the tall, elegant woman in a gown leaned closer, exuding a sense of pressure.
A mature and provocative allure suddenly appeared on Ling's cool and aloof face:

"Really? I think I look just right for you."

I never imagined that the adult Queen would have such a radiant side.
Fang, who had a thing for mature women, was caught red-handed, and his expression froze.

Seeing him freeze in shock, still looking so pathetic, Ling gave a soft snort with a slight upturn of her lips, and then her figure gradually became transparent in a burst of intense light.

The next second, after all the light dissipated,

The exquisite black and white Gothic skirt and long sleeves billowed out, the platinum gown was gone, the tall figure appeared shorter, and her delicate, almost unreal face was revealed beneath shoulder-length light blonde hair.

A similar girl, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old and had the same queen-like aura, appeared.

The once aloof beauty transformed back into an ethereal young girl. Upon seeing Ling in this state, she couldn't help but pause, feeling a pang of sadness at being alone with her again after so long.
Fang Ran felt that she had finally completely rediscovered that familiar feeling from her memories.

Also, the scene changed from a mature, queenly woman disciplining her gigolo to a young, teenage queen disciplining her lackeys.
Let him feel much better
"Alright, enough nonsense, just explain yourself clearly."

Now that she has fully recovered, it wouldn't really matter if she remained in her adult form, but for some reason, she reverted to her usual girlish appearance. Ling then looked up at him and spoke.
Upon hearing the familiar words of the Queen, Fang Ran immediately adopted a look of utmost loyalty:

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

He then recounted in detail his experience at the lakeside factory that night, including witnessing human experiments in the underground facility, the Faceless Men warehouse, the final A-7, and the appearance of 'Sharon'.

Fang Ran told him everything he could remember, even the shape of the incubation chamber.

As he reminisced, he flipped through the Faceless Man information he had downloaded back then, but he didn't seem to care much about this superficial information.
After hearing Fang Ran's answer, he remained silent for a long time,

Ling frowned slightly and looked at him very seriously:

"Are you sure the description you saw on the system interface is A-7—Lust?"

"Yes, I couldn't believe it either." While Ling was lost in thought, 'Mao Mao Ran' nodded, recalling the vivid description of the bright red blood. Seeing the serious expression on the girl's face, he felt slightly embarrassed.
"Um, this situation seems pretty serious."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ling gave him a look as if he were hopeless.

“A-7, humanoid number, appearance in reality, and a realm untouched by humans—any one of these elements alone represents the most serious situation.”

(;Forehead.
I feel like Ling thinks I'm a hopeless idiot.
However, this cannot be blamed on Fang Ran. After all, he was extremely busy in North America, so busy that he had a mountain of work to do as soon as he opened his eyes every day. In addition, the tragedy at the hospital that day and Helen's incident had a huge impact on him.

He simply didn't have the energy to care about such advanced side quests that were unrelated to the main plot and clearly involved deeper, darker themes.
Come to think of it, he forgot to ask Clotilde how he was doing in New York, but given the head maid's incredible connections, the fact that she still had time to contact him meant she must be alright.
Unlike Fang Ran, who was a fraud, this person was a genuine A-level high-ranking official who knew many secrets.
Ling, with her delicate features, calmly pondered the deeper meaning behind this matter.

"The rule that Class A designations are too powerful to enter reality is an ironclad law, and even humanoid designations should be no exception, even with the help of the two world wars in the past,"

"In the end, A-8 was unable to break through the narrow passage and enter reality."

Recalling the greatest crisis in the past Night Battle world, her light gold eyes narrowed, lost in thought, as she spoke calmly:
"Logically, A-7 should be the same, unless the top seven humans in the uncharted territories possess some special ability,"

"But from your description, it is clear that it used the Faceless Man's vessel, rather than its own body descending."

At this point, Ling glanced at the document that revealed many clues, and lowered her voice as if connecting a series of events.

"Human experimentation, cloning technology, and alchemy involving life—it seems the Society recruited Holmonx specifically to complete that Faceless Man experiment,"

"Let it serve as the vessel for humanoid numbers to enter reality, and since A-7 has helped Holmonx hold off the arcane magic,"

"This means that the society has somehow come into contact with the unknown realm of humanity."

Hovering obediently beside her like a caterpillar, I listened to Ling's dark thoughts about the events surrounding the recovery of funds that night.

Completely unaware of these deeper implications, Fang Ran couldn't help but tremble with embarrassment.
“So that’s how it is?”

Although he has gained great power in a short period of time, he is still a 'newcomer' in terms of experience and vision. It's not expected that he can see through anything deeper, such as the power dynamics, the night battle situation, or various influences.

Ling didn't delve any deeper at this point, but simply and concisely explained the key points to him:

"The real question is still: what is the Society's purpose in doing this? What is the relationship between the Humanoid Numbers and them? Are there any other separate objectives?"

"Or is this also part of the Divine Descent Plan?"

Could it really be one of those links in the chain?

Upon hearing Ling's words, Fang Ran was momentarily stunned as he swayed.

"However, regardless of the circumstances, since arcane magic has appeared there, this is most likely another operation by the Palace of the Night against the Society."

Knowing that Clotilde was involved, the Palace of the Night must have some control over the situation. Thinking he would gather some information there later, he decided to make a note of this matter for the time being.

Having confirmed the situation, Ling then turned her attention to other aspects and asked:
"By the way, what does the A-7 look like?"

Because of her past experience at the Nightless Palace, Ling had seen the existence of A-8, but she had never appeared in the uncharted territory of humans. Even her database did not contain any information about A-7.

"External appearance?"

When Ling suddenly asked what the A-7 looked like, Fang Ran was taken aback for a moment.
Because the situation had unfolded so strangely and abruptly, he hadn't really paid much attention to A-7's appearance; his mind was completely drawn to the bright red description on the system interface.
So he had no choice but to give his general impression of it.

"A woman who seems cold and indifferent?"

The anthropomorphic designations often embody symbolic concepts in their appearance. This answer felt slightly off, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

Ling, with her light gold eyes, continued to press on rationally and calmly:

"What about the ability form?"

"Forehead"

When asked about this, he felt a sudden wave of embarrassment recalling the explosive urge he felt at the time. Faced with Ling's exquisite and flawless young face, he simply couldn't bring himself to say that he was burning with desire.
Fang Ran's gaze suddenly shifted, looking left and right but never landing on Ling's blurry face as he said:
"It's like the system description; it's a symbol of lust. It can unconditionally trigger the... well... biological instincts of nearby creatures, something like mind control."

"We all just collapsed right then and there; I couldn't even get 'Infinity' to work."

Looking at his strange expression, I initially thought he was trying to bluff his way out of something, but after hearing his answer, I realized it was the true nature of lust.
In an instant, I understood what he meant by that vague "biological instinct."
A fleeting blush crossed Ling's delicate, youthful face.

But she immediately realized what was going on.

"and many more,"

In that instant, Ling's pale golden eyes transformed from shame and anger into a cold and dangerous aura:
"You mean you were directly knocked down by A-7's ability, and 'Infinity' couldn't be activated, and you only survived because Arcane Magic arrived just in time?"

"You have absolutely no ability to resist and can only sit and wait to die?"

Fang Ran: "."

Hey, is that what I meant?

"You idiot!"

Upon learning that he had once again narrowly escaped death, Ling couldn't help but grit her teeth, her fingers clenching unconsciously. The anger that had been extinguished in her heart reignited.

At this moment, I felt the danger again. After being swung around for thirty minutes, I finally managed to get down. I really didn't want to be hit by a meteor hammer again.

Hanging like a caterpillar, Fang Ran suddenly began to writhe and sway wildly like a fish.

In his attempt to save himself, he blurted out the first reason that came to mind:

"Wait! Hold on! Ling! This can't be blamed on me alone, Sharon went too! She was there too, so it's not just my fault!"

"Cut the nonsense!"

"Why?! Why?! Why?!"

Ugh, I'm totally stuck! I finally finished writing this. I've been thinking for days about how to proceed. I think I originally planned to say something here, but I've been stuck for so long that I'm completely stuck now. Ugh, weird, what was I planning to say? (getting dementia)