Otherworldly Affairs Office-Chapter 853: Xila’s Visit (Part 1)

"Mr. Pei Yan, you must be very angry right now!" Xila didn't reach for the water cup, and faced with Pei Yan's seemingly warm but actually distant attitude, sighed helplessly.

"Miss Xila, anyone would feel resentment if they were publicly and ruthlessly abandoned in a competition broadcasted live across several realms!" Pei Yan said, leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed, mocking himself: "Look, Miss Xila, do I sound like a scorned woman left for an ex-girlfriend?"

"Mr. Pei Yan, we have our own difficulties..."

"Enough!" Pei Yan raised his hand to interrupt, his face showing impatience as he sneered: "Difficulties? Who doesn't have difficulties? Miss Xila, did you ever consider our difficulties? After firmly allying ourselves with you, you abandoned us by switching sides. If my companions hadn't risked their lives to win the battle, it would be my Investigation Hall that's the laughing stock of the four realms today! An Investigation Hall foolishly thinking it could compete against the Magic Realm! You talk to me about difficulties? Laughable! They're nothing but an excuse to play both sides and avoid suffering!"

Seeing Xila rendered speechless by his barrage of words, Pei Yan shook his head, instinctively pulling out a coin and tossing it, a habit he had developed after merging with Pei Jin. Although the lucky coin ability couldn't be used on himself outside the merger, both he and Pei Jin had, through special training, made the act of flipping a coin a natural part of their routine.

"Sigh!" Seeing her silence, Pei Yan spoke up with a trace of compassion: "Miss Xila, the Demon God Puppet you sent earlier, I've accepted it and merged with it. Although I can't yet utilize its full power, having accepted it, I will fulfill our agreement. That won't change just because of anything you've done during this time, rest assured."

"That's precisely what we worry about, Mr. Pei Yan. Do you truly believe you can secure victory in the upcoming battles in the individual competition?" Xila raised her head sharply to question him.

Pei Yan frowned slightly, rather displeased: "Miss Xila, I thought you were here to negotiate peace today, not provoke. After betraying us on the field, you come here to question our capabilities?"

"Mr. Pei Yan, you can take what I say next as my defense, but it's also genuinely from my heart," Xila said, lifting her head with a gaze that carried both defiance and grievance, staring at Pei Yan: "Before allying with the Investigation Hall, we had been allied with the Magic Realm for nearly ten thousand years. Ten thousand years! Mr. Pei Yan, do you know what that means? Two realm forces intricately connected, as you put it, 'interconnected to the bone.' Yes, the Magic Realm did severely harm the interests of the Hell Plane for its own gains, a blatant betrayal, which is why my father despises them so much."

At this point, Xila clenched her hands tightly in anguish: "But no matter how much we hate them, we cannot reveal everything to the public and utterly break with the Magic Realm, because the damage to the already unstable Hell Plane would be incalculable! Mr. Pei Yan, on the battlefield, I too wish, like you, to fight freely for myself and friends. But I can't—I'm responsible for the lives of thousands of demons, can you understand? Some things are beyond me or even my father's control."

"Are you saying the upper echelons of the Demon Race have not only been infiltrated by the Blood Slaughter but also the Magic Realm?" Pei Yan narrowed his eyes at Xila's words, quickly reacting and asked quietly.

"It's not infiltration, more like mutual infiltration, a balance technique used by both sides. The Magic Realm took advantage of the Disaster Legion's invasion, uprooting my father's pieces in the Magic Realm, with only a few deeply hidden ones surviving. Meanwhile, in exchange for the Magic Realm's support and to prevent internal division during this crucial moment, we had to swallow our pride and leave the Magic Realm's pieces within the Demon Race untouched." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Xila said, looking at Pei Yan meaningfully: "The Friedrich Clan, which opposed you back then, had the Magic Realm's influence behind it. It's not just new and old nobles fighting; at a deeper level, a faction within the Demon Race's hierarchy supports the Magic Realm. We learned the Magic Realm initially intended to let the Hell Plane's situation worsen before intervening for greater returns from my father and the entire Hell Plane, potentially making us subordinate to them. But it was disrupted by your arrival, shifting the Hell Plane's war towards a better outcome, also drawing the attention of the other two major realms, causing the Magic Realm to miss the best intervention opportunity, hence their intense hostility towards you."

After listening to Xila's lengthy explanation, Pei Yan took a long breath, feeling it's like squeezing toothpaste; every time he thought he knew the whole story, another secret emerged unexpectedly, revealing the incredibly complex relationships among the major realms—truly tangled and unclear!

Thinking of this, Pei Yan straightened up, placing the coin back in his pocket, looking at Xila with a soft smile: "There must still be things I'm unaware of, like what conditions did Flamel offer for your withdrawal? And what could have made your father so furious? It can't just be the Magic Realm removing your pieces and delaying aid, right?"

"Of course, it's not that simple, but I'm sorry, Mr. Pei Yan, please understand, I've already told you quite a lot today. Even revealing that we still have remaining pieces in the Magic Realm puts those infiltrators at risk, yet I have told you. I wanted you to know we can still be useful, especially regarding intelligence about the Magic Realm, where we are more informed than you," Xila said, finally taking a long sip from her cup, smiling bitterly: "And you needn't worry about us playing both sides anymore. I agreed to Flamel's terms to withdraw from the competition, but our relationship with the Magic Realm is already in conflict because of it, and you, Mr. Pei Yan, had a part in that."