Then let the witch offer her loyalty

[Blood Tide: Psionicists can use psionic energy to generate additional blood essence to replace their own blood essence for consumption.]

Chen Moxin had formed a spiritual contract with Zhou Yan during the battle on the Wings of Freedom, but she did not withdraw it after the healing process was over, unlike last time.

Although it has not yet been approved, both the bureau and Zhou Yan himself have already tacitly accepted this relationship, and all that remains is to go through the formal procedures.

Zhou Yan's series of blood control abilities originally had a major limitation, namely, the quality of his own blood.

Blood essence is a psionic product that requires the consumption of one's own blood for transformation.

Whether it's the rapid regeneration effect of the initial psionic power "Blood Healing" or the ability to condense blood outside the body to create weapons using "Blood Law," both require the consumption of blood essence.

Excessive blood loss can lead to a state similar to anemia.

At that time, even if the degree of erosion by the rampant madness in the body is not high, the lack of blood essence will greatly reduce the power of spiritual energy, or even make it unusable.

The third-tier awakening ability "Blood Tide" completely makes up for this deficiency.

The blood tide not only greatly enhances "endurance," but the extra blood essence generated by psionic energy also has a reverse effect on psionic energy itself.

For example, when Zhou Yan used to condense blood into weapons, it usually turned into a blood crystal blade.

It wasn't that she didn't want to transform into a more powerful blood crystal weapon, but rather that the amount of blood essence she could mobilize in her body at one time was limited, and she simply couldn't squeeze out any more.

But now, with the extra blood essence generated by psionic energy, this transforming power has also increased dramatically, and she can try to transform into more and larger blood crystal weapons.

After reviewing the abilities, Chen Moxin continued to look at the final stage of the task.

[Exclusive Mission Update]

[Through previous efforts, the young witch has developed a sense of belonging to the Management Bureau and to you.]

But from a worldly perspective, she was still bound by that so-called family bond.

And it is you who will break the shackles that have bound her since birth.

[Final Stage Mission: Help the Bureau obtain custody of Zhou Yan]

Chapter 188 Killing Zhou Yan

Upon seeing this final task, Chen Moxin rested her chin on her hand and fell into deep thought.

As Yang Jie had mentioned before, he had negotiated with Zhou Haiwei more than once, asking this bastard father to give up custody of Zhou Yan and hand her over to the Administration Bureau for upbringing.

Zhou Haiwei verbally expressed his disagreement, but he also hinted at conditions—he would give up custody, but he had to pay money.

Neither Yang Jie personally nor the higher-ups of the Administration Bureau could agree to this.

This isn't about having a lot of money or a little money.

Negotiating a transfer of custody is one thing; it's legal and compliant, and there's nothing more to say about it.

But once money is given, even just one dollar, the nature of the transaction changes, and it becomes human trafficking.

This is a complete violation of constitutional principles. If anyone in the Administration Bureau dares to do such a thing, the court will definitely come knocking on their door.

And so, with one side demanding money while the other couldn't provide any, there was no room for negotiation, and the matter was left unresolved.

There's no way around it; no matter how much of a scumbag Zhou Haiwei is, from a legal perspective, he is Zhou Yan's legal guardian.

Unless he voluntarily relinquishes this identity, the Administration has no way to intervene.

As for suing Zhou Haiwei in court on the grounds of domestic violence and child abuse, and depriving him of his custody rights... theoretically, this is certainly feasible.

The problem is that this falls under the civil category and is not under the jurisdiction of the Witch Administration Bureau; the procedure requires going through the Public Security Bureau.

The border environment, and the relationship between the Public Security Bureau and the Administration Bureau—those who know, know.

The Public Security Bureau is already being generous by not making things difficult for us; how could they possibly help the Administration Bureau?

As a result, the transfer of custody was put on hold indefinitely.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Mo opened the internal database on his computer and began searching for other witch containment cases.

According to the internal reference material I read before, "The Causes of Witch Awakening," awakening is often related to a witch's inner emotions, regardless of age.

Therefore, there are quite a few "underage witches" and Zhou Yan is not the only one.

Most of these underage witches taken in by the Administration come from normal families and have relatively harmonious relationships with their parents.

A small number of underage witches come from terrible families, grow up in chaotic environments, and have conflicts with their parents, some of which are irreconcilable.

Chen Moxin specifically researched these witches from problematic family backgrounds, and the custody of some of them is currently under the jurisdiction of the Administration Bureau.

Based on the records, it appears that the other party's parents voluntarily relinquished their custody rights for various reasons.

As she looked through the files, Chen Moxin suddenly narrowed her eyes and noticed a very special file.

[Containment subject SWAB-031, age 17, current containment level "Free Containment"]

【长夜54年7月28日，年仅11岁的SWAB-031觉醒灵能，成为魔女】

On January 4th, 56th year of the Long Night, custody of SWAB-031 was taken over by the Twin Cities Witches' Bureau.

[Reason: The person's parents died in a car accident, and there were no other relatives. The person was also young at the time of the accident, therefore the state will assume the responsibility of supporting the person until adulthood.]

...

The air was thick with the smell of smoke and sweat, and a light bulb covered in fly droppings hung from the ceiling, emitting a yellow glow that illuminated the forty-square-meter basement.

This is an underground gambling den, with rows of peeling paint folding tables crowded with people, the sounds of shouting and rolling dice mingling together.

"Big! Big! Big... Damn it, it's small again!"

"This has happened so many times already, could the bookmaker be cheating?!"

"I refuse to believe it! I'll keep betting big, let's go again!"

Zhou Haiwei was also gathered around a gambling table. His eyes were bloodshot, and his expression looked extremely ferocious. He had a cigarette with the filter burning down between his right index and middle fingers, and his sleeve was covered in ash.

Previously, Zhou Haiwei "sold" Zhou Yan for a good price, converting the gold bars worth 50 yuan into cash.

That money was originally enough to pay off Chu Fan's debts, and there was still some left to improve their lives.

But then Zhou Haiwei thought again, 20 yuan left, 30 yuan left, it's not a lot of money, it'll be gone if I buy a car.

In contrast, those cronies I used to hang out with in the underworld are now all doing quite well.

Even more extravagantly, some have become incredibly wealthy, buying luxury homes in the new city, driving fancy cars, being surrounded by beautiful women, posting countless travel photos on their social media, and spending tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan on a single drink at a bar.

Damn it, why?!

In the past, everyone was a street urchin, working as a lackey for some big shot. All they did all day was eat, drink, gamble, and be beaten up.

Why is it that after ten or twenty years, they have become successful and become big shots, while I am still the same thug and hooligan I was back then?

After much thought, Zhou Haiwei concluded that it must be society's fault.

Society didn't give him a chance.

Now, an opportunity has presented itself to him.

Having a large sum of money at hand, I can take this opportunity to gamble.

Gambling dens make money very quickly. In the past, when Zhou Yan handed over money to gamble, the winnings could be ten or twenty times the initial investment.

With the money we have now, if we multiply it ten or twenty times, that would be hundreds of millions!

Then, you'll be rejuvenated overnight, achieve financial freedom for the rest of your life, and kick away all the frustrations of the past few years!

It's okay even if we lose.

Zhou Haiwei had already made up his mind that no matter how much he lost, he would hold onto the 20 yuan bottom line and make sure he had enough money to pay off Chu Fan's debt in the end.

With this in mind, Zhou Haiwei returned to the gambling den he had visited countless times before.

I had a really good run of luck at the beginning.

I bet on "small" in the first round and won.

In the second game, I pressed my backhand and won again.

The God of Wealth was completely on his side today. After more than ten rounds, he won more than he lost, and ended up with an extra 37,000 yuan.

Thirty-seven thousand!

Normally, this would take a year to tighten screws in a factory, but now it only takes a few minutes to earn that much with a flick of the finger.

A surge of adrenaline welled up within him, and with the day going his way, Zhou Haiwei gradually increased his bets, hoping to win even more in one fell swoop.

But later on, things took a sharp turn for the worse; he won fewer games and kept losing money.

After losing, he refused to believe in bad luck and kept betting, only to lose again.

"Let's take one more gamble, and if we win it back, we'll leave immediately!"

He kept repeating this sentence in his heart.

However, betting chips one after another is like throwing stones into an abyss.

The more you lose, the more you want to win it all back in one go, so you bet bigger and bigger chips, and the more you lose.

In the end, not only did they lose all the chips they had won back, but they also lost half of their principal.

If Zhou Haiwei had stopped there, he would have had at least 200,000 yuan left, enough to pay off his debts and cover his daily expenses.

But Zhou Haiwei was clearly blinded by greed and completely disregarded his original bottom line, betting all the money he had set aside to pay off his debts, resulting in even more losses.

At this moment, Zhou Haiwei was chewing on a cigarette butt with a rotten filter, the veins on his forehead were throbbing, and sweat was streaming down his neck, soaking his collar.

He stared intently at the few hundred thousand chips he had left in his hand, his eyes bloodshot.

This money is no longer enough to repay Chu Fan, and it's no use stopping now.

I'm going to win back the money I owe to pay off my debts, right?!

He gritted his teeth and pushed all his chips in: "Damn it... all in! All in on small!!!"

"Hey, my brother Zhou is generous, he's going to make a fortune!" The dealer grinned, revealing his teeth yellowed from smoking. "Place your bets now, place your bets now."

He then began shaking the dice.

"Shuashuashua——"

The dice tumbled and rolled in the dice cup, accompanied by the gamblers' shouts and curses, which sounded particularly jarring.

Zhou Haiwei stared intently at the dice cup, his chest heaving violently, as if he could make all the dice inside appear as a 1 with his eyes.

The dice roll only takes a few seconds, but it feels like years.

"open--"

The dealer flipped over the dice cup, revealing three dice inside.

"456—Big!"

Zhou Haiwei froze for several seconds, then suddenly swung a stool and slammed it onto the gambling table with a "bang," sending plastic pieces flying everywhere and startling several gamblers nearby who retreated in fear.

"You surnamed Zhou, are you tired of living?!"

The thugs guarding the place nearby pulled out steel pipes, ready to come over and teach Zhou Haiwei a lesson.

But he found that he had already started slapping himself hard with both hands.

The crisp "slap slap slap" sounded like firecrackers as Zhou Haiwei slapped himself hard, frantically hitting his own face until his lips twitched and blood trickled down his chin.

"Go to hell! Go to hell!! Aa ...

As he smoked, he let out a mad dog-like roar. His cheeks quickly swelled up like steamed buns, blood dripped from his nose onto his front, and his eyes were so bloodshot they looked like they were about to burst.

The dealer gestured for his henchman to stand still and not make a move. He then stepped forward, grabbed Zhou Haiwei's arm, and said with feigned concern, "Old Zhou, the gambling table is like a battlefield. Winning and losing are common occurrences in war. If you lose this time, you can win it back next time. There's no need to humiliate yourself."

Zhou Haiwei suddenly knelt on the ground, snot and tears streaming down his face, and clung to the farmer's leg, pleading, "Brother, please lend me some money! Brother, I'm doing pretty well today!"

"I've already won everything! I'm sure I can turn things around! Seriously, bro, please help me out, even just a few tens of thousands of dollars will do! A few thousand is fine too!"

The dealer lit a cigarette, his face expressionless, his eyes looking at the beggar on the street: "Old Zhou, things are different now than they used to be. These days, even we lenders are very corrupt. The boss forces us to study finance, and we have to do risk assessments before lending money to others."

"You said you rent your house, don't own a car, and have no real estate whatsoever. You also have debts owed to several gambling dens, and your credit is completely ruined. How are we supposed to lend you money?"

Zhou Haiwei's eyes were red, and his face was pale and ashen. He gritted his teeth, slammed his hand on the table, and almost roared, "Use my hand as collateral! If I can't pay it back, you can cut my hand off!"

The dealer paused for a moment, as if he had heard a joke, and patted him on the shoulder: "Look at what you're saying, have you been watching too many weird movies? What would we need your hands for?"

“Since this thing can’t be sold for money and can’t be eaten, and people are already betting on it… Someone, take Old Zhou out and clear his head.”

Two thugs with tattooed arms came over, grabbed Zhou Haiwei, and dragged him outside.