Flandre floated forward across the cold concrete floor, stopping directly in front of the bound man.
The moment his eyes locked onto Flandre's fluttering, crystalline wings and her crimson gaze, the caravan supervisor's expression twisted into a mask of pure terror, and his muscles tensed as he desperately attempted to struggle against his heavy iron restraints.
The very next second, Hong Meiling's fist made an incredibly intimate, bone-shattering, and passionate contact directly with his abdomen.
BOOM!
The immense kinetic force rippled through the man's torso, causing him to instantly fall to his knees, his spine arching as he completely lost all physical ability to move or draw breath.
While Hong Meiling was indeed well-known for being one of the kindest, most easygoing personnel within the boundaries of Gensokyo, she was absolutely no bleeding heart when it came to systemic betrayal. Standing quietly nearby just now, her sharp senses had allowed her to easily overhear every single detail of the administrative briefing.
She had previously heard a thorough breakdown regarding the socio-political situation of this Reunion Movement from Sakuya Izayoi and the other residents back in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It was a fragile, newly formed regime of oppressed outcasts that had only just managed to gain a tiny structural foothold in the harsh wilderness with Flandre's direct combat assistance—a tiny ember surrounded by hostile empires on all sides, teetering precariously in the wind and torrential rain.
In such a fledgling, vulnerable power, every single citizen should have been thinking as one, pulling their weight in the exact same direction to ensure collective survival. But now, the greedy manager kneeling before her had already begun to engage in malicious internal corruption, resource theft, and financial embezzlement for personal gain.
Even an immortal entity with a famously placid, gentle temper like Hong Meiling found herself completely and utterly furious after hearing about such despicable actions. Naturally, she hadn't held back her immense spiritual strength at all when she delivered that strike.
Flandre nodded her head politely toward Hong Meiling in thanks, her colorful wings jingling softly. She then casually reached out with her small hand, grabbing a fistful of the supervisor's greasy hair and violently yanking his head backward, forcing his blown-out eyes to meet hers at the exact same horizontal level.
"LOOK INTO MY EYES."
In the very next instant, a blinding, malevolent crimson light flashed within the depths of Flandre's pupils.
"AGHH—AARRGGHH!"
The corrupt supervisor let out a sudden, blood-curdling scream of pure, agonizing torment that echoed off the reinforced steel walls. Within a matter of seconds, thick, dark blood began to rapidly seep and drip from—his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
Fundamentally, Flandre possessed two distinct, established methods of executing her soul-searching magic.
The simple, baseline technique was identical to the one she had previously utilized during the chaotic operations in Lungmen. That specific spell merely allowed her to barely perceive fragmented, relevant visual content within the topmost layers of the target's active memories. Afterward, the local authorities would still have to manually investigate the fine details themselves. That method was vastly superior for its tactical secrecy, but the raw information gained through it was ultimately minimal and incomplete.
The specific method she was unleashing right now, however, was a much more powerful, unbridled, and brutal variation—forcibly tearing through the psychic barriers to directly read and extract the entire raw contents of the target's deepest memories. If a master of library magic like Patchouli were to execute such a spell, the localized neural damage inflicted upon the subject wouldn't be too severe due to her precise control over mana. But Flandre's fundamental handling of active Magic was nowhere near that refined or delicate. By the exact time she successfully confirmed that she had seen every single hidden transaction, meeting, and Ledger that the man wanted to hide, the supervisor was already hovering directly at death's door.
The moment Flandre casually let go of her grip, the man's limp body collapsed heavily onto the floorboards like a dead dog, his consciousness completely shattered.
She felt absolutely no pity or remorse for his state, turning around on her heels to face a stunned Alina and Talulah to smoothly relay the precise chronological information she had just gathered from his mind.
There was indeed an incredibly powerful, aristocratic mastermind pulling the strings from behind the curtain: a high-ranking Count named Saxon originating from the Leithanien suzerainty.
According to the stolen memories, when this specific supervisor had led the Reunion Movement's trade caravan into Leithanien's border markets for the second time, he had been approached by and successfully colluded with the Count's agents. The foreign noble had explicitly stated that if the manager could covertly provide certain rare 'specialties' and industrial military resources plundered from Ursus territories through the Reunion Movement's operations, the Count's estate would gladly purchase them at prices vastly above the standard black-market rate.
After successfully completing two highly lucrative, illegal transactions, the supervisor's personal greed grew completely out of control. With the immense financial backing and political protection of Count Saxon, he had systematically bribed and incited several other mid-level logistical managers to defect to his internal network, eventually leading directly to the massive corruption crisis they were facing today.
After Flandre finished laying out every single hidden detail, name, and coordinate she had discovered within the man's brain, both Alina and Talulah fell into a profound, heavy silence.
Talulah let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing her temples. She had originally granted these specific caravan leaders the autonomous authority to be personally responsible for individual trade routes because merchants who were intimately familiar with the treacherous border paths could far better bring vital resources and economic benefits to the Reunion Movement. She had truly never expected such a deep, systemic rot to manifest so quickly within their commercial lifeblood.
"We need to implement a strict, mandatory rotation schedule for all merchant route supervisors," one of the senior Reunion security officers present suggested grimly. "We cannot allow a single supervisor to hold a monopoly over a foreign border market for more than a month."
However, Alina flatly and decisively rejected the proposal with a firm shake of her head.
"That is unfeasible. After all, mutual trust and established personal relationships are a very serious, rigid matter in the world of high-stakes business," Alina lectured gently but firmly. "Many foreign black-market suppliers and border officials will only agree to conduct illegal, dangerous trades with individuals they are personally familiar and comfortable with. If the Reunion Movement constantly rotates its caravan management staff every few weeks, we will become entirely unable to secure stable, long-term commercial channels. Our supply lines will collapse."
Therefore, that specific bureaucratic method was absolutely unfeasible for their survival.
However, relying solely on the moral conscience or personal loyalty of these caravan supervisors was proven to be even more impossible. The single remaining viable option was to immediately establish much stricter, independent auditing channels and financial monitoring squads.
Fortunately, with this comatose supervisor now serving as a horrific, 'shining example' of exactly what would happen to traitors, Talulah possessed every single ounce of political leverage and justification required to forcefully push these harsh new regulations through the ranks without internal resistance.
As for Flandre, once she had successfully helped 'interrogate' the true identity of the mastermind operating behind the scenes, her administrative part in this sordid matter was completely finished.
Regarding Count Saxon, the Reunion Movement naturally lacked the geopolitical power to go looking for physical trouble or launch a retaliatory strike against a high-ranking noble within his own nation, especially since their fledgling mobile city still desperately required the ability to trade for medicine within his border territories. Thus, they could only quietly swallow this financial loss for the time being.
However, Talulah remarked with deep sincerity that it was incredibly fortunate Flandre had discovered the leak so early in its development. Although the Reunion Movement had certainly suffered some notable resource losses, the systemic damage wasn't actually severe enough to cripple their winter reserves.
After receiving a massive heap of heartfelt thanks from the high command and a large handful of premium candies from Alina's personal desk, Flandre and Hong Meiling walked out of the administrative wing, returning to their designated residence within the Gensokyo sector together.
However, upon stepping through the threshold of the courtyard, Flandre realized that the entire living quarters were completely empty; not a single person was lounging in the lounge. After asking around with a passing Youkai guard, she learned that the entire delegation had suddenly departed a short while ago to congregate at the Rhodes Island Medical Department.
"Eh? Could Sister Yelena's condition have suddenly relapsed under the ice?!"
Flandre's eyes widened in deep worry, and she immediately took to the air, flying across the upper pathways toward the clinic as fast as her wings could carry her.
Yet, when she arrived at the isolation sector, she found to her confusion that there weren't actually many people crowding inside or outside the primary ward. Aside from a few core, heavily armed elite members of the Yeti Squad standing guard like grim statues at the door, there was only the Yuki-onna, Letty Whiterock, who had diligently remained inside the frozen room to continuously help stabilize and control the localized sub-zero chill radiating from the sculpture.
Inquiring further with the Yeti soldiers, Flandre learned that Remilia and the rest of the senior Gensokyo residents were currently gathering down the hall inside the main Rhodes Island administrative office.
The moment she navigated to the designated room and pushed the heavy door open, she found everyone sitting comfortably together in a wide circle, drinking tea and chatting in a highly relaxed, intellectual manner.
Ever since the conclusion of the grand Magic Exchange Meeting a few weeks prior, the scholarly factions of Gensokyo and the elite researchers of Rhodes Island had become quite close and collaborative. Both sides possessed a deep, driving desire to extract and learn more fascinating, applicable concepts from the other's system. Although their fundamental methods of manipulating mana and casting spells were entirely different in execution, the ultimate physical effects achieved the exact same scientific goals by completely different, parallel means.
As the large group was deeply engaged in a friendly debate over energy terminology, they suddenly saw Flandre's head cautiously poke in through the cracked doorway from the corridor outside.
"Flandre"
Remilia was the first to notice the younger girl's presence. A fond smile graced her features, and she beckoned elegantly with her hand. Flandre walked over cautiously across the carpet, sitting down obediently and quietly right by Remilia's side, resting her head against her shoulder.
"Why are you back so early, Flandre?" Remilia asked, tilting her head. She had fully expected that given Flandre's hyperactive, playful personality, she would have stayed over at Alina's quarters playing games for several consecutive days. How could she possibly be back after only half a day had passed?
Flandre leaned in close and, in a low, soft whisper, recounted the exact sequence of events that had transpired within the Reunion Movement's interrogation chamber.
Remilia listened intently, nodding her head with a look of quiet satisfaction once the story concluded. "You did exceptionally well, Flandre."
When the Eldest Miss said "You did well," she wasn't praise-testing Flandre's use of brutal, brain-melting soul-searching magic. Rather, she was explicitly praising the fact that the little girl had possessed the wisdom to immediately disengage and withdraw herself from the situation the exact moment her requested task was finished, choosing to come straight back to find her older sister instead of lingering.
After all, such instances of high-level financial corruption and internal betrayal were deeply embarrassing, sensitive internal affairs for any political regime, no matter where they occurred across the multiverse. Even if Talulah and Alina personally considered Flandre to be one of their own trusted companions and didn't mind her presence in the slightest, there would always be other lower-ranking officers and proud soldiers within the Reunion Movement who would be deeply ashamed an all-powerful outsider witnessing their internal disgrace.
Flandre's current, mature behavior—stopping the absolute second her specific interrogation task was successfully executed and refusing to meddle a single inch further into the political aftermath—left absolutely no room for any disgruntled native factions to find fault with the Scarlet Devil Mansion. After all, her direct physical involvement had been explicitly requested and approved by the highest sovereign authorities of the state, and she hadn't interfered with the subsequent penal actions, even though she had caused the original discovery entirely by an innocent coincidence. This perfectly and cleanly matched the exact level of diplomatic assistance their faction should have provided during this deployment.
At this point in the afternoon meeting, the elite Elite Operator Logos cleared his throat, formally expressing his willingness to represent the high command of Rhodes Island in launching a grand, structured invitation. He hoped to invite the top scholars of Gensokyo to formally participate in a long-term, joint research initiative regarding the precise cross-sections of magical theory and Originium crystallization kinetics.
To this highly advanced academic proposal, Eirin Yagokoro merely offered a calm, clinical smile, sipping her tea before stating that they should focus all available analytical resources on safely saving Lady Yelena's life first before discussing any further global scientific collaborations.
Logos deeply and immediately agreed with the doctor's prioritization. In truth, it wasn't just him; over a dozen top-tier medical researchers and specialized Casters within Rhodes Island were currently keeping an unblinking, twenty-four-hour watch over the telemetry streaming from Yelena's frozen ward via remote sensors.
Every single mind on the landship was consumed by intense, burning curiosity to witness whether Eirin Yagokoro's bizarre, fairy-based methodology could truly and permanently save a patient suffering from terminal, advanced Oripathy. If this radical process of elemental destruction and rebirth actually succeeded over the next three days, it would provide the entire medical field of Terra with a whole new, revolutionary way of thinking about the disease.
Once the lengthy intellectual exchange finally reached its natural conclusion and the Gensokyo delegation gathered their coats to head back to their residential sector, they looked down to find that Flandre had already fallen fast asleep, snoring softly and contentedly within the warm, protective embrace of Remilia's arms.