Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

"Tick-tock, tick-tock"

A crisp series of footsteps rang out in the darkness, followed by a door opening, allowing light to seep into the black corridor from the crack.

"This is the cell where the illegal driver is held."

An adult female voice introduced, followed by faint hums and responses.

"Because of the special nature of his case, you only have thirty minutes to talk, and I will come when the time is up." Then the footsteps receded, and the hallway returned to silence.

From beyond that light-filled doorway, a somewhat delicate figure crossed through, stepping into this quiet and dark world.

The door closed, and one side of the corridor opened up like a louvered window, the black walls rotating to allow the outside cold white light to stream in, illuminating the long passageway, dividing the girl's profile with stark black and white striped shadows.

In the end, she stopped walking, and on the other side of her hand was a heavy sealed door.

Accompanied by the beep of the identity-check device next to her, a blue indicator light came on, and then the closely fitted gears on the door unlocked, slowly pulling apart to each side, revealing a small room inside, separated by bars and metal glass, through which the girl could see the man sitting on the bed, head lowered.

Soon after, a simple chair rose up, allowing the girl to sit outside the cell and look inside.

"Can you hear me in there, Mr. Qiao Long?"

Upon hearing the voice in his consciousness, the man inside finally raised his head, seeing the girl sitting in the light and shadows not far away.

The cold white light from behind outlined the contours of the chair and the girl's figure, while her face and expression remained in the shadows, only her blue eyes, still familiar and clear.

"It's you," he responded in a flat tone.

Even someone on the fringes like him had heard of Hexia Tilan's great name. Although they had met before, Qiao Long was not so naive as to think that such encounters would prompt the girl before him to help him. He might even be considered a blemish in her life, one she sought to quickly remove.

Despite not holding much hope, facing this young girl was much more bearable than those cold and harsh inspectors, even for someone as worldly as him, who, after being interrogated by the Court of Judgment for several days, was feeling physically and mentally exhausted, unsure how many more days he could hold out.

"I want to ask Mr. Qiao Long some questions," the girl continued.

"Go ahead and ask, I'll answer as best as I can." Since being stubborn wasn't doing any good, and he didn't have any secrets that needed to be kept.

"Could you tell me about the Underworld of Payin City before and the current situation of your organization?" He had been asked these questions by the Court of Judgment officials a few days ago but had given perfunctory responses.

"I can, but it might take a while." Leaning against the wall, Qiao Long propped his upper body on the bedding and slowly began to recall.

"I joined the gang when I was very young, it came about through an opportunity brought by a friend from my childhood."

"Compared to me, he actually had better living conditions and a mother to care for him..." Qiao Long reminisced about meeting Holmes when they were kids, playing, skipping school, fighting, and the like.

"Because Holmes liked to cause trouble, I also had to fight a lot back then, and gradually, this caught the attention of some local ruffians, and under their influence, I started to encounter and understand gang affairs."

"Later, because of Blu, I officially joined the gang and gradually rose to a mid-level position." Tilan had heard him talk about these things before, but not as thoroughly as this time.

"You know what happened later; there was a big upheaval in the Underworld of Payin City, and I had to flee from there."

"How did you manage to escape from there?" the girl asked with slight curiosity.

"Through the drift of the underground river," Qiao Long replied briefly.

"I submerged myself in the water, letting the current carry me; I floated for over a week before finding a suitable spot to climb out. I almost died on the way; the Underworld is dark and quiet, which can easily induce claustrophobia."

"After re-emerging into human-occupied areas, it took me a long time to decide where to go next."

"The prosperous and scrutinized southern districts were definitely out of the question, so it had to be the sparsely populated north, where the federal presence was weaker."

"However, being a gang organization so reliant on familiar territory, even arriving in the North Fourth District on my own was difficult." Difficulties were an understatement—he had almost exposed himself to the eyes of the Federal Officials, if not for the cop that night who took a bribe to delete some compromising records.

Listening patiently to how Qiao Long joined the rebel organization, and his exposition on the organization's goals and beliefs, Tilan finally asked.

"Are there many such people in the north?"

"Many? That's hard to describe since the population in the northern districts is sparse to begin with, and the percentage of those truly radical and extreme is quite low," Qiao Long recalled from his experiences over the years.

"But the organization's slogans and objectives indeed resonated with many of the northern natives."

Knowing the answer, Tilan didn't continue to probe but allowed Qiao Long to carry on, from the previous year's Mecha heist to this year's emergency piloting in battles with mercenaries.

Time passed quickly; the half-hour was over in a blink, and it was time to leave.

The closed door at the end of the corridor opened again, and Aimeranda came to Tilan's side, glanced at the man inside who had returned to silence, and then led Tilan away from this place of confinement.