Chapter 80: Battle of Wits 4

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Battle of Wits 4

"Does no one have any thoughts?"

Andre swirled the test tube in his hand. With the motion of his wrist, more black mist began to spread.

"No, not at all!" Jesse shouted, watching Andre’s movements anxiously.

"Good. You’re lucky you came from the sky. If you had come from the nearby jungle, a poison even more potent than the Thousand Extremes Potion would have been waiting for you."

At this point, Andre didn’t bother hiding it, openly revealing the measures he had set up nearby.

When Andre finished speaking, Jesse, Selena, and the other two gasped.

A poison even more potent than the Thousand Extremes Potion!

"Why would you do that?"

Rite looked at Andre and asked a very foolish question. Andre rolled his eyes but decided to explain anyway.

"If you saw me excavating an Earth Element Crystal Vein, wouldn’t you be tempted?"

Andre gestured toward the Earth Element Crystal being gnawed on by Potato. Rite realized what he meant and nodded.

"So, were you guarding against us?"

Ferguson took a deep breath to calm himself and asked Andre.

Andre shook his head, denying Ferguson’s question.

"I didn’t know you would come looking for me. I was guarding against others."

Andre said, pointing at Selena.

"Me?" Selena asked, pointing at herself in confusion as Andre pointed in her direction.

"You told me before that after we finished exploring Secret Realm No. 1, quite a few Wizards from the academy came here. I was guarding against them. As for you all, you’re a complete surprise."

"But how did you find me? You must have entered the Secret Realm right after I did, correct? Isn’t the timing a little too close for comfort?"

Andre, playing dumb, immediately turned the tables with his own question.

At this moment, the show he had prepared for Selena, Rite, and the others had finally reached its climax.

Shifting suspicion, questioning the truth of the matter... If they couldn’t answer, it would prove that Selena, Jesse, and the other two had something to hide.

’I’d like to see how you all explain this—how you planned to take the Divine Blood from me to unlock your ancestral treasures.’

Andre thought, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

His main reason for entering Secret Realm No. 1 this time—besides searching for the Honeycomb and Potato’s nest—was to find out why the people from the Four Great Clans wanted to obtain his Divine Blood.

Quint’s ancestor was one of the Wizards who had besieged his own ancestor back then. The ancestors of the other Four Great Clans were likely the same.

In that case, the ancestors of the Four Great Clans should have collected his ancestor’s Divine Blood during that siege.

They shouldn’t be short on Divine Blood, so why would they come to the Secret Realm specifically to find the drop of Divine Blood his ancestor left behind before death?

He had his own theories, of course. For instance, that the Four Great Clans had found his ancestor’s treasure and therefore needed the Divine Blood to open it.

But some things were better heard directly from their own mouths.

This was what he wanted to know most right now.

To play this part well and get the answers he wanted, he had even performed an act of blatant self-deception: digging up Potato’s nest.

If he hadn’t done this, they would have never been able to track him down unless he chose to activate his Token and leave the Secret Realm.

Selena, Jesse, and the other two would have only ever been able to track his previous location, never his current one.

But the moment he made some noise in the Secret Realm, the four of them would immediately rush to his side, and that would become their biggest weakness.

"Um, that was a complete accident. We heard a loud explosion nearby, so we came to check it out."

Jesse immediately began to explain after hearing Andre’s question, but his explanation sounded exceptionally weak.

The Secret Realm wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t small either. Such a thing was possible, but they had all entered the Secret Realm before.

The first time, the six of them had been scattered to different locations.

So on this second trip, they just happened to all gather together?

One or two people, maybe, but all five of them ending up in the same place? Wasn’t that a little too obvious?

"I was looking for a material!"

Seeing that Jesse had misspoken, Ferguson hurriedly tried to defend himself.

But under Andre’s suspicious gaze, Ferguson’s voice began to tremble by the end of his sentence.

For these pampered young masters and misses, lying was a bit of a challenge.

To be able to lie without batting an eye required long-term practice.

"And you?" Andre turned to Rite. Seeing Andre’s question directed at him, Rite started to grow flustered.

He hadn’t expected Andre to seize the initiative and question them instead.

Faced with Andre’s sudden interrogation, he was momentarily at a loss for what to say.

At this point, any discerning person could see they were tracking Andre. Under these circumstances, telling a lie that could fool Andre was simply impossible.

Not to mention, Andre was a monstrous genius who majored in Demon Pattern Study, Magic Botany, and Pharmacy.

His logic was terrifyingly sharp. The slightest slip-up in their words would be seized upon by Andre for further questioning.

"I’m here to help Quint. You know he was seriously injured. Quint and I are good friends; we grew up together."

"Seeing the pain he’s in, I wanted to find a way to solve his problem, so I came to the Secret Realm."

"I swear, I just happened to hear the explosion by chance and came over."

Facing Andre’s stare, Rite racked his brain and finally came up with a suitable excuse.

"Is that so? Then I suppose the three of you are also here to help Quint?"

Andre’s tone was playful as he looked at Selena and the others.

’Now that Rite has used up the best excuse, what kind of excuse can the three of you come up with?’

"Damn it, has he already guessed?"

Jesse placed his hands behind his back and continuously traced Witchcraft Curse Seals. Soon, the Light of the Mind connected the four of them.

Once their consciousnesses were linked, Jesse looked at Selena and asked.

Over the past few days of tracking Andre, Selena had spent the most time with him.

"Think of something, quick. I’ve already gotten his blood. We need to come up with a way to brush this off."

In response to Jesse’s question, Selena had no choice but to reveal that she had obtained Andre’s blood.

"What? You already got it? Then he must have guessed by now."

The color drained from Ferguson’s face.

"No, I got the blood he coughed up. He injured himself while mining just now. However, he’s probably guessed that we need something from him, but he shouldn’t have figured out what it is yet."

Selena continued, but after she said this, Rite’s brows furrowed so deeply you could have crushed a fly between them.

’Damn it, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have tailed him so closely! We should have split up to get Andre’s blood. Now that all four of us are gathered here, it’s really hard to make up excuses!’

Jesse complained helplessly in his mind, occasionally glancing over at Andre.

Andre stood quietly opposite them, watching the four communicate using the Witchcraft, Light of the Mind.

Jesse and the others had a good plan, thinking they could hide their conversation from him using Witchcraft.

But he had more or less mastered all Level 0 Witchcraft. No matter what kind of Level 0 Witchcraft they used, he could identify it from the fluctuations.

He could even eavesdrop on their conversation without them noticing.

Therefore, what seemed to be a silent dialogue was like real-time subtitles in Andre’s eyes. With every word they spoke, the corresponding information appeared before him.