Chapter 52: All the Secrets Will Be Exposed
Yun Sheng wanted to leave, but her feet felt nailed to the floor. Under Bai Ye’s sharp, almost tangible gaze, even moving felt incredibly difficult.
"Aunt Su, my apologies for the intrusion," Bai Ye’s calm voice rang out, carrying a weight that couldn’t be ignored. "I’m here for Yun Sheng. There’s something I need to ask her in private."
Su Wan froze, her gaze darting between Bai Ye and Yun Sheng, her heart filled with surprise and uncertainty.
’Why would Bai Ye suddenly want to see Shengsheng alone, especially now?’
She thought about the terrifying battle that had just happened outside, and Bai Ye’s current, slightly... less-than-perfect state...
"This is..."
Su Wan instinctively took a step forward, trying to shield Yun Sheng behind her. Her tone was hesitant and worried.
"Ah Ye, Shengsheng had a scare at the Tower today, and with all the chaos just now... she needs to rest. How about another day...?"
"Aunt Su," Bai Ye interrupted, his tone firm. "This is rather urgent and needs to be confirmed now. It won’t take much of her time."
His gaze never left Yun Sheng, as if silently applying pressure.
Yun Sheng knew she couldn’t escape.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the panic in her heart, and tried to make her voice sound calm.
"Ma’am, it’s all right." She gave Su Wan a reassuring glance, then looked at Bai Ye and asked as naturally as possible, "General Bai, shall we talk in the study?"
Bai Ye gave a slight nod in agreement.
Without another look at him, Yun Sheng turned and led the way toward the study off the living room.
Each step was steady, her back held ramrod straight, as if her earlier panic had been a mere illusion.
Only she knew how the stare boring into her back made her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles, stretching every nerve to its absolute limit.
Bai Ye followed, giving Su Wan another slight nod as he passed her.
The study door closed softly behind them, shutting out the rest of the world.
Su Wan stood frozen, her brows tightly furrowed as she stared at the closed door.
「Inside the study.」
Sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting alternating stripes of light and shadow on the hardwood floor.
Yun Sheng walked to the large desk, stopped, and turned to face Bai Ye as he entered.
She didn’t sit, nor did she gesture for him to sit. Her posture conveyed a clear sense of distance and an unconscious wariness.
"What did you want to talk about, General Bai?"
Bai Ye stopped a few paces away from her, making no move to get closer.
He studied Yun Sheng with a heavy gaze, his dark eyes swirling with complex emotions.
Scrutiny, inquiry, doubt, and even a trace of... an almost icy rage.
He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he began to speak slowly, each word landing like a shard of ice.
"Just now, outside, you once again influenced my and Si Jin’s spiritual bodies."
It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.
Yun Sheng pressed her lips together. Her long lashes trembled slightly with nervousness, but she stubbornly refused to look away.
She knew that any feeble excuse or denial would only seem ridiculous in front of Bai Ye, making her look even more guilty.
She remained silent, lowering her eyes and waiting for what he would say next.
Bai Ye stepped forward, the oppressive feeling he exuded intensifying in an instant.
"Yun Sheng, you have some kind of... extraordinary attraction to them," he stated again, his tone frigid. "Even if you don’t admit it, this is an undeniable fact."
He leaned in slightly, his handsome yet severe face looming larger in her vision, bringing with it an even stronger sense of pressure.
"So tell me, Si Jin... his appearance at Xinglan Garden, near your home... was he here for you?"
Immense pressure and quick thinking collided violently in Yun Sheng’s mind.
For a brief moment, her face grew visibly paler, but in the next second, she forced herself to lift her chin and meet Bai Ye’s gaze, which was sharp enough to pierce a person’s heart.
She didn’t answer yes or no. Instead, she retorted with a question of her own, her tone a mixture of indignation, confusion, and the fury of someone pushed into a corner.
"General Bai, what are you implying? Are you suggesting... that I’m colluding with that wanted criminal?
I’m just a cripple who returned from a Low-level Star Domain without even a spiritual body! What could someone like Si Jin possibly want from me? At the Tower today, I was nearly killed by my own sister’s ’mistake’ causing a spiritual power backlash, and just now, the commotion from your battle scared me half to death... What have I done wrong?"
She grew more agitated as she spoke, her voice choking with what sounded like sheer terror.
"If... if Si Jin really is here because of me, doesn’t that put me in even more danger? General Bai, shouldn’t you be hunting him down and protecting ordinary citizens like us? Why are you here questioning me... someone who might just be an innocent victim caught in the crossfire?"
Bai Ye remained unmoved by her aggrieved performance. His gaze was as sharp as ever, but the icy rage seemed to have settled, transforming into a deeper scrutiny.
"Yun Sheng, a man like Si Jin doesn’t just show up near an insignificant person for no reason. I need to know the truth. This isn’t just about your safety; it’s also about... many other things.
If you truly are just an innocent bystander, then tell me everything you know, including anything Si Jin might have said or done to you. It’s the best way to protect yourself."
He wasn’t forcing her, but offering a seemingly reasonable choice.
Confess and receive protection.
But Yun Sheng knew this so-called "protection" would likely mean stricter surveillance, a deeper investigation, and the risk of having all her secrets exposed to the Star Alliance.
"I’ve never met Si Jin!"
Yun Sheng snapped her head up, her voice rising slightly with agitation and deliberate defiance.
"I don’t know why he was in the area. Shouldn’t these be matters for you, the Star Alliance War God, to investigate?"
She deliberately threw the question back at Bai Ye, absolving herself of all responsibility.
"I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t want to get involved in your affairs. I just want to live a quiet life. Is that too much to ask?"
"A quiet life?" Bai Ye’s thin lips parted, spitting out cold words. "Once you’re caught in the center of the vortex, you don’t get a say."
The moment the words left his mouth, the restrained aura around him changed abruptly.
Yun Sheng didn’t even see him move. All she felt was a tightening around her wrist as a searing, powerful force clamped down on it!
"You..." Yun Sheng gasped in shock, instinctively trying to pull away.
However, the instant Bai Ye’s palm made contact with the skin of her wrist...
Something unexpected happened!
In the deepest part of Yun Sheng’s spiritual landscape, the river of pure, immense silver spiritual power that belonged to Bai Ye began to churn without warning, as if it had been summoned.
Following the point of contact between their skin, that power stirred restlessly, on the verge of leaking out uncontrollably.
Yun Sheng’s heart seized, and her pupils constricted.
’This is bad!’
’It’s the power I stole from Bai Ye in the dream!’
’It usually lies dormant in the depths of my spiritual landscape, painstakingly suppressed. But now, because of direct contact with Bai Ye himself and the possible stimulation of his spiritual power, it’s reacting this violently.’
’If even the tiniest bit of it leaks out and Bai Ye senses it... I’m completely done for.’
’All my secrets will be exposed!’