Leave Request

Though Commander Sun was cursing under his breath, he wore a kindly smile when speaking to her.

“We heard Chen Miaomiao was back, so an old friend came by to pay you a visit and see if you needed any help.”

Sitting beside him was Director Jia, the head of the city hall’s intelligence department.

He said nothing, merely keeping up a constant smile.

“That won’t be necessary. I came back to see Chen Miemie. I’ll be leaving soon.”

Commander Sun’s face filled with reluctance. “How can you leave so soon? You’ve finally come back, so you should stay a while. This is Chen Miemie’s home—and yours too.”

Chen Miaomiao blinked, delighted by her friend’s invitation. “Really? Then I’ll stay for a few more days.”

The smile on Commander Sun’s face froze. He wanted nothing more than to slap himself.

Director Jia’s mouth also stiffened. He cried out inwardly: Commander Sun, why on earth were you being polite to her? Does this Great Witch even understand polite refusals? A few more days? She’ll probably bring down at least several buildings!

The two men didn’t stay long. After getting a grasp of the situation, they quickly left.

Once they were gone, Chen Miemie said, “Oh, right. This is for you.”

She handed over a small yellow stone ornament. It was about the size of a palm and carved in the shape of Chen Miaomiao. The little stone statue held a four-leaf clover in its hand and looked full of spirit.

“Wow, that’s impressive! You can carve stone now?” Chen Miaomiao took it and immediately began fiddling with it, clearly unable to put it down.

They had already been woken up, so neither of them went back to sleep.

Chen Miaomiao was going to visit some of her friends today.

Chen Miemie, meanwhile, went to the Silvermoon Court and sought out its president, Fina.

Fina had been enjoying life lately.

First, the society had produced the chairman of the Society Alliance. Now, it had also produced a representative of a new race. The Silvermoon Court had always been able to swagger around among its peers, but now those peers looked at them with more than fear—they also showed a hint of envy.

Fina was secretly delighted.

“Chen Miemie, what brings you here?”

“I came to ask for leave. I’ve been working too hard lately, so I want to travel to another city and relax.”

Fina thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out what work Chen Miemie had, or how she could possibly be tired from it. Still, she generally didn’t interfere with the travel plans of society members.

“How long do you want to take off?”

“Not sure. Let’s start with half a year.”

Chen Miemie casually named a length of leave that no ordinary office worker could possibly imagine.

Fina misunderstood her. “Are you planning to make a move on a third city?”

“No! Impossible! Don’t make things up. I’m just going out to look around and broaden my horizons.” Chen Miemie hurriedly denied it.

Fina had only asked on a whim, and she didn’t really care whether Chen Miemie was telling the truth.

“I have no problem with it. When are you planning to leave?”

“In two days. First, I want to find somewhere to learn how to swim and scuba dive.”

“Hmm? Is there a lot of water where you’re going?”

“Yes. Wavefoam Harbor.”

Fina’s brows drew together slightly. “Are you sure you want to go to Wavefoam Harbor right now?”

“What do you mean, ‘right now’?”

“Chen Miemie, do you know that Wavefoam Harbor is the city on the very edge of human territory?”

“I know. It borders the underwater demon city of Clam Ruins, right?”

“Then you should also know that humans and demons are enemy races. Tensions between Wavefoam Harbor and Clam Ruins are extremely high, and war could break out at any moment.”

Chen Miemie shook her head. “I didn’t know that part. I can understand why you’d say tensions are high, but how did you arrive at the conclusion that war could break out at any time? Is that reliable?”

“I’m already being sufficiently cautious with my wording. In reality, the two cities have been engaged in constant minor skirmishes. This time, Wavefoam Harbor has issued a Call to Arms.”

Chen Miemie had encountered another unfamiliar term.

The moment Fina saw her expression, she knew what Chen Miemie wanted to ask and explained directly, “A Call to Arms is a distress signal sent by a human city to all other human cities when it encounters a major crisis.

“When our Six-Elephant City was repairing the seal, we also issued a Call to Arms. That was why powerful figures from other human cities came rushing over to establish a defensive line outside the city and help intercept the mysterious beings of other races. It was also why so few of those beings actually managed to enter Six-Elephant City.”

“Oh, so it’s basically calling in reinforcements. There must be restrictions on the Call to Arms, right?”

“There are. It can only be used once every sixty years. Once it’s issued, all twenty-one human cities are required to send aid. Dawn came to me yesterday to discuss privately who would represent Six-Elephant City. We need to decide within three days, then depart immediately.”

“So the situation there is already pretty serious.”

“That’s right. It’s certainly not peaceful. Do you still want to go?”

“Of course. If there’s this much excitement, I want to go even more. But I’m only going as a tourist, not as part of the reinforcements.”

Fina wasn’t surprised in the slightest. This was a war between humans and demons. As Chen Miemie represented a new race, she indeed shouldn’t casually declare her allegiance.

While Chen Miemie was asking Fina for leave, Chen Miaomiao was in the eastern district of Six-Elephant City.

The Candle Shadow Society.

Chen Miaomiao had put away her usual playful smile. At this moment, dangerous light shone in her red eyes.

Under the pressure of her materialized aura, the witches staggered and swayed.

Chen Miaomiao’s aura was more than mere intimidation. In addition to the authority she had accumulated over three thousand years, it contained her unique Mystery—a terrifying dread like a volcano on the verge of eruption, like a bomb whose fuse had already been lit.

Everyone felt as though an invisible hand were pressing down on them, forcing them toward the ground.

The one under the greatest pressure was Amber.

No one knew Chen Miaomiao’s exact strength. However, at the beginning of the Seventh Era, she had already been known as a Great Sage. After accumulating power for an entire era, who could say how strong she had become?

Among the witches present, the strongest were Amber and Steamstill. Both stood at the peak of Mystery Level 5.

At this moment, Steamstill had already admitted defeat. Once she was pressed to the ground and stopped struggling, the pressure on her body vanished.

The only one still holding out was Amber.

Amber’s willpower was remarkably strong. She seemed willing to be crushed to death rather than give up. Unfortunately, willpower was not omnipotent. Faced with an overwhelming difference in strength, the tiles beneath her feet cracked, and in the end she too was forced to the ground.

Chen Miaomiao’s voice was cold. “Amber, after all these years, you’re still stuck at Mystery Level 5. What has made you so content with the status quo?”

Amber sat up from the floor. “I wasn’t confident before. Recently, I’ve already begun making preparations.”

She truly had begun preparing.

Previously, the Mian family had relied primarily on her, and the entire family had been filled with anxiety and uncertainty. But now that Mian Ruyan had somehow entered the inner circle of the new race, she had become a source of protection for the family as well. Amber could finally free herself to begin her assault on Mystery Level 6.

“What kind of help do you need?”

“None. The materials you sent earlier are sufficient, and I’ve prepared everything else. Aside from the unpredictable Blessing, there are no problems with the remaining steps.”

Chen Miaomiao walked toward the exit of the society.

“Then good luck.”

No one noticed that, on the back of Amber’s shoulder—the spot where Chen Miaomiao had just forced her down from a distance—a four-leaf clover mark had been left behind without a sound.