Win Over

The building manager's office in the South District.

It had been temporarily requisitioned by the [Archaeologist] and used as a reception room to host Chen Miemie.

The original manager, Uncle Bie, had been "kicked out" to go for a stroll outside for a while.

"Please take a seat." Velar didn't take the main seat; both of them sat in the guest seats.

"Mr. Velar, who do you represent in coming to see me?"

Chen Miemie had never really sorted out his current relationship with Chen Miaomiao, so he always intentionally downplayed his connection with the witches.

On one hand, it was hard for him to call a stranger 'mother'—it was a bit awkward for a grown man.

On the other hand, facing a Great Witch, he could easily expose his anomalies. He also didn't know whether, to that Great Witch, he was the successor to her adopted son or the murderer who made her adopted son disappear completely.

"Hehe, let me formally introduce myself. I am the adjutant in Sixiang City for Lady Amber, the Seventh Seat of the Witches' Tea Party, and I am now also serving as your guardian, Mr. Chen."

Chen Miemie almost spat out his mouthful of tea.

"You? You're the one protecting me?"

"Yes."

"How come I didn't know that? Besides, you just said you work for the Seventh Seat. Chen Miaomiao is the Third Seat, right?"

Velar refilled Chen Miemie's tea.

"First, I apologize for any offense. I've collected some information about you recently and learned that you seem to have some memory loss.

Let me briefly introduce the structure of the witch clan to you.

The witch clan was born from the other six major races. Certain special women awaken to become witches under serendipitous circumstances.

Before the Seventh Era, witches were unable to control their passive abilities, which often caused [Mystery] to go berserk and resulted in heavy casualties. Thus, they were seen as heretics and were not accepted by the Hundred Cities civilization, until the Silver Sun bestowed its favor upon them.

The highest authority of this clan is the [Witches' Tea Party], which consists of seven seats.

The witch clan is somewhat contradictory. In the beginning, because of their shared experiences and mutual sympathy, they banded together for warmth and were very united.

After more than 3,000 years of development in the Seventh Era, the Great Witches have gone through several iterations, and differences gradually began to emerge.

After a long period of peace, Great Witches from different racial backgrounds naturally have some bias toward their original races."

Chen Miemie listened very carefully. Knowledge about witches couldn't be learned anywhere else; even Xi's notebook only mentioned it in passing.

Velar spoke at a steady, unhurried pace:

"Because witches, aside from their main city, are scattered and integrated into the Hundred Cities. Among the seven Great Witches, except for the First Seat who serves as the lord of the witches' main city, the other six seats are each nominally responsible for the witch affairs of over a dozen cities.

Sixiang City originally belonged under the name of the Third Seat, Great Witch Chen Miaomiao.

However, six years ago, which was the year you just entered school, the human-born witch from Sixiang City, Amber, successfully inherited the Seventh Seat.

According to witch tradition, the city where a Great Witch's hometown is located falls under her own jurisdiction.

Therefore, from then on, in the territorial division of the witch clan, Sixiang City was reassigned under the Seventh Seat.

What is somewhat surprising is that Her Excellency the Third Seat didn't take you to another city within her jurisdiction, but instead left you in Sixiang City."

Hearing this, Chen Miemie thought it sounded perfectly normal. "Chen Miaomiao must have a pretty good relationship with the Seventh Seat, right?"

The twist came immediately.

Velar paused for about two seconds before speaking. "Not at all. When Lady Amber inherited the seat, the Third Seat cast a vote against her."

"Wait, as far as I know, the succession of a Great Witch doesn't require votes from other witches. The previous generation just needs to designate them."

"Yes, but Great Witch Chen Miaomiao is no ordinary witch. When she causes a scene, she disregards all old rules. At the time, Lady Amber almost failed to inherit the seat."

Chen Miemie quickly fell silent. The fact that he had been able to live peacefully in Sixiang City for the past six years without anyone messing with him was truly thanks to Amber's broad-mindedness.

"And yet you say you're here to protect me? I don't trust you."

"Hehe, of course. You are human, and we naturally want to win you over. This is for our own benefit.

Among the current seven seats of the Tea Party, Lady Amber is the only human. She hasn't been in her position for long and is fighting a lone battle. Protecting you is almost equivalent to winning over the Third Seat."

Chen Miemie felt too embarrassed to ask. He couldn't exactly ask Velar what race his own mother was. Before this, he had always assumed Chen Miaomiao was human too.

Velar didn't talk about feelings, and his direct confession that it was for profit actually made him seem more sincere.

Since the conversation had reached this point, Chen Miemie didn't bother speaking in riddles anymore and asked directly:

"Those mysterious items from before, where the side effects were hidden... was that your doing?"

Velar didn't hide it either. "They went out from my hands, but it wasn't me. I don't have that kind of ability. That was Lady Amber's doing."

"Why let those things out to harm people?"

"Killing is killing, no matter the method. Those items were only allowed to fall into the hands of people we screened and deemed a threat to humanity."

"So you think the Jiang family has a problem."

The conversation finally arrived at today's main topic.

"We don't just think so; we already have some solid evidence.

Gui Yuan is the only non-human [Mystery] 5 legally residing in Sixiang City. Under her influence, her husband, the current head of the Jiang family, Jiang Li, has also started associating with foreign races.

Over the past few years, the Jiang family has established commercial channels with foreign races. Under the guise of antique trading, they have smuggled a lot of restricted materials and intelligence. They even tried to get their hands into the medical system previously, pushing their family doctor to take the position of clinic director."

Chen Miemie didn't like people involved in politics, and this was exactly why.

Different people could express completely different meanings about the exact same event, and still make the listener feel like it was the absolute truth.

Politicians were like magicians: they only showed you a part of the picture, hiding whatever they wanted to conceal.

"Mr. Chen, actually, we also hope you can go out and hide for a while. We have a car waiting outside. Of course, considering you might not trust me, you can also leave in your own sedan. Here is a map of five safe cities nearby, and here is a special travel pass for today. You can decide where you want to go.

If you really don't want to leave, please do not go out tomorrow."

Velar was surprisingly a bit of a chatterbox. Once he started talking, he was like a machine gun, gradually losing his aloof, gentlemanly facade.

The more Chen Miemie listened, the more something felt wrong. "Mr. Velar, you don't just sound like a guardian giving a warning. You sound more like..."

Chen Miemie didn't say everything on his mind. Velar sounded a bit like a nagging mother telling her child to wear more clothes.

Velar restrained himself slightly and gave a soft cough.

"I apologize. The previous blind date between Great Witch Amber and you carries a contractual effect within the witch clan. I think there might be a chance for us to become family in the future."

"Family?"

"Yes. Before Amber became a witch, I was her uncle."

Chen Miemie returned home.

Standing at his front door, he quickly figured things out.

Whether it was the Jiang family or Amber, he didn't care who was good and who was bad.

If he were just a piece of floating duckweed or a wild blade of grass caught between two major factions, he would naturally be terrified, afraid that one wrong step would shatter him to pieces.

But he wasn't.

He had a house full of companions behind him. He had the confidence to face anyone.