Nan Xian stood up, patted the hem of her clothes that had been ruffled during the chase, and reached out her hand to Huo Shaoying very seriously.

"Hello, let me formally introduce myself. I am Nan Xian, Nan as in the south and Xian as in elegance."

Huo Shaoying also stood up, paused, and reached out to hold her hand.

"I am... Huo Shaoying."

A warmth emanated from their clasped palms, and Nan Xian felt a tingling sensation in her upper body. Then, the three characters "Huo Shaoying" automatically appeared in her mind, their strokes graceful and elegant, a beautiful example of delicate calligraphy.

After she subconsciously finished reading it, the three words vanished like smoke.

What kind of move is this? Telepathy?

That's amazing, I want to learn...

Huo Shaoying seemed to remember something, frowned slightly, and said, "Nan, Xian? Your name... I feel like I've heard it somewhere before, it sounds familiar..."

The guard, disguised as a plant, promptly reminded us: "The show you watched last month."

Huo Shaoying suddenly realized, and when she looked at Nan Xian again, most of the defensiveness in her eyes disappeared. "I remember now, you are the celebrity Nan Xian. I have seen the TV series you acted in."

Nan Xian smiled but remained silent.

Huo Shaoying moved her fingertips that had just shaken hands with her, looking puzzled. "But—you don't have spiritual power, so how did you enter the Dark Zone?"

Huo Shaoying possesses a special ability known only to herself and the First Leader: she can quickly obtain information about a person through skin-to-skin contact. However, this information is not fixed; sometimes it is the person's real age, sometimes whether the person has any illnesses, and sometimes even the person's marital status.

On one occasion, she used this ability to accidentally discover that a general in the conservative faction, who was known for being afraid of his wife, was secretly keeping a young female demon as a mistress. She then followed the clues to find evidence and used it to blackmail him into stealing information for them.

Of course, after obtaining the intelligence, Huo Shaoying did not hesitate to give the evidence of the infidelity to the general's wife—it was said that the general's right cheek was swollen for half a month, and it was a shoe print-shaped swelling.

In the instant they shook hands, Huo Shaoying sensed that Nan Xian possessed absolutely no spiritual energy, and...

Her gaze unconsciously drifted to her lower abdomen.

There seems to be a remarkable little creature living in there.

Before Nan Xian arrived, Diao Yu had already prepared a reason for her. If anyone noticed that she had no spiritual power and questioned her about her origins, she should answer according to his instructions.

Upon hearing this, she replied quite naturally, "I know a friend who has some connections and can obtain magical artifacts that can disguise spiritual power."

This method was not allowed in the past, but as the boundaries between the four realms gradually weakened, more and more ordinary humans learned about the existence of the non-human world. They could not pass through the real barrier, but they were extremely curious about the novel world they had never encountered before, so they set their sights on the Dark Zone, the "lawless land" where the Heavenly Dao's control was the most lenient. Initially, a few cultivators tried to make magic artifacts themselves, introduced their spiritual power into the magic artifacts, and then had ordinary people carry them with them. Unexpectedly, this method could actually deceive the boundary, allowing ordinary people to enter the non-human world and broaden their horizons.

After this story spread, some people who were very good at seizing business opportunities quickly created a "smuggling" industry chain, specializing in selling such magical artifacts.

Initially, the twelve leaders of the Dark Zone opposed this "smuggling" activity, believing that letting ordinary people in would disrupt the energy of the Dark Zone. However, they soon discovered that these ordinary people who could afford magical artifacts were quite wealthy. As soon as they entered the Dark Zone and saw the strange things they had never seen in their entire lives, they were immediately dazzled by the dazzling array of goods. Regardless of age or gender, they all entered a frenzy of buying...

So, the twelve leaders unanimously turned a blind eye.

Never mind, anger doesn't matter, money is king!

Huo Shaoying was not surprised by Nan Xian's answer. She nodded and asked, "Then how did you know my guards were behind you?"

Nanxian felt that although her temperament was completely opposite to Ruizhu's, the two had the same trait of getting to the bottom of things.

She pointed at Huo Shaoying's eyes, "Your eyes, you were clearly talking to me just now, but suddenly you quickly glanced at the top of my head, and then moved to my neck. I knew there must be someone standing behind me. Those guards just now all had swords on their waists, so I just guessed, and I didn't expect to be right."

Huo Shaoying smiled, and this time the smile was very genuine.

“You have a very keen insight and intuition—Miss Nan, please have a seat.”

The two sat down again, but this time, the atmosphere was completely different from before.

Huo Shaoying personally poured Nan Xian a cup of tea, which the latter accepted politely.

"How did Miss Nan meet Mr. Pang? And how did she know about his relationship with Shixi Building?"

It should be noted that Pang Xiao had been secretly communicating with Linghu Sheng behind the back of the Special Administration Office, and they had only recently learned of this.

Nan Xian smiled and shook her head. "I don't know him. I just happened to pass by and overheard his conversation with someone. I know that he took a fancy to that jade screen and even made a reservation with that person in advance, so I guess he has a close relationship with the owner of this place."

The answer was both unexpected and reasonable. Huo Shaoying glanced at Nan Xian's waitress uniform and said "Oh" meaningfully, "That's really just right in every way—but I wonder why Miss Nan went to such lengths to come here to find Ruizhu?"

Nan Xian's eyes flashed. "I saw her work by chance and was attracted by the white elephant pattern she drew. After making inquiries, I found her. I wanted to hear her story, but before I could finish, this happened. I'm not one to meddle, but she's just a young girl, and she was kidnapped by two men in black in broad daylight. I can't just stand by and do nothing."

Upon hearing this, Huo Shaoying looked up and glanced at Nan Xian.

Before she could even ask, Nan Xian answered, "As for why I guessed their purpose? It's simple. Because I'm a public figure, I know very well how much rumors can affect people like us. Rumor-mongers can just Photoshop a picture and throw mud at us, and the public is most easily swayed by public opinion. 'It takes only a mouth to spread rumors, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute them.' I've experienced this feeling countless times. So the moment I saw your face, I understood what they were trying to do."

People in the dark district don't know Ruizhu, but they know Huo Shaoying. If they see someone who looks exactly like Huo Shaoying in a place where she shouldn't be, how can they prove Huo Shaoying's innocence?

Even if it could be proven, the rumors have already spread, and the seeds of doubt have taken root and sprouted in the soil. How many people would actually believe it?

What should least be overestimated is human nature.