How much time had passed, no one knew.
The storeroom on the second floor of Boss Cat Restaurant was rather dim. A few faint rays of light near the window barely pierced through the heavy veil of rain and thick curtains, casting sporadic patches of pale light onto the floor.
It hardly resembled a conventional storeroom; it looked more like a hidden secret chamber. The only illumination came from a few dim, yellowed hanging lamps, and each sturdy wooden plank seemed heavy and weathered by time.
In the middle of the room, a man was tied to an iron chair. His body leaned forward, head hanging slightly with eyes tightly shut, his cheeks pale. His hands and feet were bound fast with tough ropes. His dark attire bore clearly visible patches of grime under the dim light, as if he had been dragged along the ground to get here.
When the door clicked shut once more, the entire storeroom plunged into a deep silence, broken only by the faint patter of rain tapping incessantly against the window, like a ceaseless lullaby.
And so the storeroom remained in its frozen stillness.
"..."
Until at last, Phoenix's brow began to knit, and his eyelashes fluttered faintly—signs of returning consciousness.
The corners of his mouth contorted, and a low groan rose from his throat, as if wracked by some deep agony.
He tried to remember, but his mind held only hazy, fogged memories, leaving him thoroughly exhausted.
Then Phoenix's shut eyes slowly drifted open, revealing a cold, piercing gaze.
He felt the hard wooden backrest supporting his spine, his hands locked tightly to the armrests by cold handcuffs. He attempted to make sense of his predicament, but what surged through him far more was fury and indignation.
The curses upon him showed no signs of dissipating. They were plainly dreadful curses far exceeding his tier, leaving him so feeble that he seemed as critically weak as an invalid on death's door.
The lingering sting from the mental trauma that had knocked him out earlier still made his brain throb and tremble.
Straining to lift his head, he looked forward. A dark wooden table occupied the center of his vision, upon which lay several documents and two teacups.
On the far side of the table sat two figures all too familiar to him.
Lanqi leaned back in his chair with utter composure, steam curling up from the teacup in his hand. He blew gently across the surface, savoring the momentary quiet.
Hyperion sat beside him, pen poised over paper, ready to record every upcoming detail at a moment's notice.
Besides the two of them, someone else adjusted the angle of a bright lamp on the table. The beam struck Phoenix squarely in the face, forcing him to squint and flinch away instinctively, the muscles in his face tensing against the sudden glare.
"Know why you're in here?"
Setting down his teacup, Lanqi looked Phoenix up and down and asked calmly.
"Lanqi! You have no right to tie me up! I demand to see my academy's professors!"
Phoenix quickly regained his composure, speaking with righteous indignation.
Even if his attempt had failed,
these people had no way to confirm his identity, let alone convict him.
The civilians in the restaurant had all been controlled by [Grand Puppet Theater] at the time; they didn't even have a single witness to testify to his attempted assassination of the duke's daughter.
Seeing Phoenix's defiance, Lanqi said nothing.
"Phoenix. Male, nineteen years old, born May 11, Year 1778 of the Solar Calendar. Citizen of the Aloran Kingdom, unmarried, currently enrolled at Aloran Royal Academy. Clean criminal record, no outstanding loans, parents deceased, one younger sister."
Lanqi picked up the document from the table, reading aloud while glancing up at Phoenix.
Before coming here, he had asked Frey to investigate every student and teacher in the Aloran Kingdom's academic delegation—their personal profiles, social circles, family backgrounds, and so forth.
"Buried quite deep, haven't you, Resurrection Church cultist?"
Lanqi set down the file, looking at Phoenix with an appreciative sigh.
"This is slander, defamation, and an unlawful infringement on my personal freedom!"
Phoenix roared at Lanqi, putting on a show of outrage.
Phoenix was certain that so long as he clung stubbornly to his denial, Lanqi could do nothing to him. Lanqi had no proof whatsoever that he was a Resurrection Church cultist.
Here in Ikerite, the Hutton royal capital, there was no way they could hold him for long or dare subject him to extrajudicial torture!
Otherwise, once Ikerite Academy noticed a missing student from the Aloran Kingdom's delegation, they would launch a thorough investigation. When it traced back to Lanqi, Phoenix could easily turn the tables and bite back.
"Student Phoenix..."
Lanqi's voice was gentle yet full of authority, delivered unhurriedly with every word crisp and measured.
"You know, having spent all these years in this profession, I've seen all manner of misbehaved students. Some repented; others remained unrepentant to the bitter end. But in the end, every last one was corrected. How long do you think that process will take for you?"
Lanqi simply sat patiently behind the table, fingers interlaced under his chin, smiling as he gazed at Phoenix.
It sent an instant shiver through Phoenix.
He wanted to reason, but whatever he said, Lanqi didn't listen at all.
As the saying goes: the timid fear the tough, the tough fear the stubborn, the stubborn fear the reckless, and the reckless fear the lunatics.
Lanqi was clearly the last kind.
Phoenix lowered his head, gritting his teeth in thought.
Thinking back carefully, Phoenix still couldn't comprehend how his flawless plan had taken such a sudden, disastrous turn right in the middle of smooth sailing, landing him directly in Lanqi's clutches.
It was as though from the moment he set foot in the Hutton Kingdom, he had been the true prey all along.
Everything, absolutely everything, was completely wrong.
Clearly Lanqi was in the open while he was in the shadows!
Phoenix's heart was flooded with bizarre dread and regret.
Why on earth had he gone and provoked this guy? Back in Purgatory Corridor Academy, the very instant he laid eyes on this thing, his instincts had warned him that Lanqi was extraordinarily bad news.
Back then, Phoenix hadn't recognized that the Glow Demon headmaster was actually a challenger, nor had he even known someone named Lanqi existed. Only after returning to the real world had he received intel from the Resurrection Church—
That Glow Demon had been played by an Ikerite Academy student named Lanqi.
"Student Phoenix, whether you confess or whether we can force a confession out of you that you're a Resurrection Church cultist doesn't matter to me at all. Because it is simply a fact."
Lanqi picked up his teacup, took a sip, and turned to look at another figure standing beside him.
"Teacher Lanfu, would you please handle his ideological education?"
The Poet of Great Love, who had just aimed the lamp at Phoenix's eyes, nodded and let go of the lamp. She walked over to Phoenix's side and circled him, looking him up and down.
"Who on earth are you?!"
When Phoenix clearly saw the grey-haired female demon's figure again, he couldn't help trembling all over as he demanded, driven by what felt like pure primal terror.
He was certain that this very creature was the one who had treated him like an ant earlier.
Now she seemed to have shed her disguise and reverted to her truest self, no longer concealing her wickedness behind an icy demeanor.
Yet before she struck, no matter how one looked at her, she still seemed to be only Tier 1!
"Why, I'm the Poet of Great Love."
The Poet of Great Love wore a black jacket draped over her shoulders, the hem of her dress fluttering gently. Perched atop her head was a warden-style cap. Lately she had begun demanding that Lanqi buy her new clothes, though her taste was rather bizarre.
"What a pity the Holy Trio isn't here. Otherwise you wouldn't need to trouble me."
The Poet of Great Love let out a faint sigh.
Those three clergymen, so deeply nurtured under her and Lanqi's tutelage, would have pried Phoenix's mouth open in less than an hour.
"..."
Hyperion's eyelid twitched violently at those words. Naturally, she remembered what "Holy Trio" referred to.
She only hoped that by the time she and Lanqi visited the Northern Continent over break, the three of them wouldn't have become too infamous.
Chapter 194