"H-how come…" The man who had checked Yun Qingqing earlier finally spoke, his voice trembling as his face turned pale like chalk. He stumbled back a little, unable to understand what he was seeing.
Madam Liu shot him a cold glance so sharp it could kill. The man instantly clamped his mouth shut.
She stepped forward again, turning her attention back to Bai Lingling who was no longer laughing like before. Instead, she stared at Madam Liu with a smile that did not reach her eyes at all.
"You wretched girl, how come you are still alive?" Madam Liu asked tightly, her voice shaking for the first time. She took another small step toward Bai Lingling, but she slowed down, almost hesitant. "You shouldn't even be breathing."
"If I die," Bai Lingling replied softly, her voice almost playful, "what makes you think you'll be safe from my ghost?"
Madam Liu frowned, her thin lips tightening. "The girl dares mock us even now," she muttered before raising her voice for everyone in the room to hear.
"I do not care if you crawled back from the underworld. I only know one thing. I must take the Phoenix Vein Fragment from you today. No one in this world will stop me."
Bai Lingling let out a small breath, smiling weakly like she was hearing a joke. "You want to kill me?" She tilted her head slightly even though her body was still shaking from weakness. "Over my dead body."
The way she said it instantly made Madam Liu's face twist as if she had been slapped.
"You insolent thing!" The older woman snapped. She pointed at the men standing by the side, the ones who did not look like assassins but definitely didn't look noble either. Their clothes were plain, dull, and worn out, and their expressions were the type of men who did dirty work for money.
"Why are you all standing there? Forcefully take it out of her!"
The men exchanged glances. Their hands twitched, but none of them moved.
They all knew what the drilling method felt like. The moment they activated that formation, the backlash wouldn't only crush the girl, it would tear their own bodies apart. Sweat began rolling down their foreheads as the room grew even colder.
Madam Liu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you dare hesitate again, I'll have your heads. All of them."
In Bai Lingling's mind, she couldn't help but scoff quietly. You like taking people's heads, right? Then I'll take yours.
That thought alone made her lips curve slightly.
The men gulped before finally stepping forward. They raised long, black staffs covered in faint carvings and pointed them straight at Bai Lingling's chest. A low humming sound started echoing through the room as the staffs lit up with a harsh red glow.
But right at the moment the red light shot forward, Bai Lingling twisted her body.
Her wrists slipped free from the rope, the fibers snapping apart like they were made of paper, and she dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, completely missing the blast aimed at her.
The attack slammed into the wall behind her, burning a deep hole into the wooden boards.
Everyone froze.
Their faces turned stiff. Their eyes widened like they were staring at something impossible.
Bai Lingling slowly looked up laughing, "Heaven cheated me, and you think you can cheat me too? Dream on!" The moment Bai Lingling finished speaking her eyes turned cold.
The woman froze completely, her breath catching in her throat.
Because the girl before her…
the one she had slapped, beaten, tied up, mocked, starved…
the one she kidnapped so easily…
She wasn't behaving like Yun Qingqing at all.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't begging.
She wasn't trembling.
She was smiling.
Smiling at her like a predator.
Madam Liu's hand trembled slightly. "You… you are not the same girl I brought here."
Bai Lingling lifted her chin slowly, her dark eyes glinting like something ancient had just awakened.
"What gave it away?" she whispered.