Chapter 469: Spoils of War

Mei Wei Si stood before the iron gate of the abandoned factory, the hem of her deep purple long dress dusted with a speck of gray; she lowered her head to glance at it, then pressed down the brim of her sun hat.

This building had been abandoned for many years; she reached out and pushed the door, hearing the hinge emit a sharp groan that startled several crows perched on the roof.

Her high heels clicked on broken glass and gravel as Mei Wei Si's gaze swept the workshop, finally landing on a small patch of dark red stain in the corner.

She walked over, rubbed the stain with a handkerchief, then held it to her nose to smell.

Bloodstain, but not human blood—it belonged to an Aberrant Species, and though it had been there a while, it was definitely no more than a day old.

She casually tossed the soiled handkerchief aside; evidently, aside from knowing that they had clashed with an Aberrant Species here, she had no other information.

According to the intelligence, the two people sent by the Field Operations Department to protect Xie Jingyan were last seen near this area.

When she received the intelligence, she froze for a moment, obviously not expecting to see a familiar name on the personnel list issued by the Field Operations Department.

Sha Xu Feng—back when he was in the Undercurrent, Mei Wei Si had heard his name; he was a mad dog of the Undercurrent, bad-tempered and foul-mouthed, keeping his footing only through loyalty.

But now, it is actually the object of his loyalty who has actively abandoned him.

The Butterfly Speaker is also a veteran of the Undercurrent, an illusionist unskilled in close combat, but the mechanical swallowtail butterfly in his hand combined with his Aberrant Arts makes him troublesome.

Neither of these two are the type to die easily; otherwise they wouldn't have endured humiliation and chosen to serve the Dome.

She was about to go deeper when she heard a fluttering of wings from above.

Unlike the noisy crows just before, the sound came from a hole in the factory roof; a strange wind suddenly swept in, lifting the dust off the ground into a dancing swirl.

Mei Wei Si lifted her head, and through the large hole in the roof saw a person descending from the sky.

A golden lace parasol, its canopy embroidered with a spreading hwamei, the handle carved with delicate floral patterns, held in a hand wearing a white glove.

That person had specially dressed up just to see her, the corners of their eyes slightly lifted, still arrogant, looking down on Mei Wei Si below from a superior position.

Her hair was dark brown, coiled at the nape, revealing a slender neck and a pair of large pearl studs on her earlobes.

What a foolish move.

Mei Wei Si's expression remained unchanged; she simply raised her hand to press down the brim of her sun hat, preventing it from being blown away by the strange wind.

Even while flying, she actually held up that little parasol—purely for show, sacrificing practicality, a mistake even Lu Mu wouldn't make.

The hwamei held the parasol aloft, gazing down at Mei Wei Si below, raising an eyebrow; she remained haughty, her look at Mei Wei Si now tinged with even more contempt from a superior.

"Long time no see—seeing your master, have you forgotten how to greet?"

After Mei Wei Si got a clear look at that person's face, she also froze, then let out a light laugh.

"This is really something—eating the melon and ending up with it on myself."

"Still as arrogant as ever."

"Indeed, it's been a long time, Miss Mei Wei Si."

The Bee Queen lifted her skirt hem; although they were in a derelict old factory, her curtsy made the hwamei almost think she had entered some banquet hall.

She was like a true noblewoman; even if the strictest governess came, she could find nothing wrong with her etiquette.

Mei Wei Si had thought the new colleague would be a poor soul with an experience like Bai Mu Yun's, but it turned out to be an old acquaintance.

In other words, the person she wants to take revenge on is herself?

The hwamei revealed her full face from under the parasol, the curve of her mouth huge, almost splitting to her ears, bearing a touch of madness—as if she wanted to swallow Mei Wei Si whole, skin and bones.

She sized up Mei Wei Si from head to toe, pausing especially on her steady sun hat.

Mei Wei Si's attitude toward her was practically contempt; although the hwamei disliked unnecessary formalities, she was, after all, a true young lady cultivated from childhood by the Windsor family, so she still knew a thing or two about etiquette.

"Seeing your master, have you forgotten how to greet?"

She lifted her hand from the umbrella handle, traced a line in the air, and a few dark brown feathers flew from her fingertips.

The hwamei wasn't out to take Mei Wei Si's life; she simply wanted to scare her.

The little bird that had been away from home too long still thought she was that casual plaything from back then.

Mei Wei Si lightly stepped back a few paces; the feathers almost brushed her skirt hem, but her deep purple long dress, like a blooming flower, remained gorgeously open, unharmed.

"It's been so many years," Mei Wei Si said, lightly flicking dust from the edge of her skirt, "your temper is still as hasty."

The hwamei gripped the umbrella; the wind blew her skirt, the dark green fabric fluttering behind her.

Obviously, Mei Wei Si's composed demeanor only further enraged her; in the hwamei's plan, Mei Wei Si should have been frightened by her Aberrant Species identity and, under her newly gained power, miserably beg for mercy.

"Do you think you can still fool everyone with that mouth, just like before?"

The hwamei looked down at Mei Wei Si below—how beautiful, how graceful, exactly the sort of young lady the Windsor family needs.

"You're merely a lowly servant; you surely don't think that by taking my title you've become the Windsor family's young lady, do you?"

Mei Wei Si tilted her head, the golden diamond earring at her earlobe swaying slightly.

"What exactly do you want to say? Are you just trying to take the Windsor family back?"

Frankly, Mei Wei Si holds this identity in utter contempt; she merely has no name, nothing at all.

The lofty Miss Mei Wei Si, on an outing, discovered a child from a poor noble household; she was no different from a worker bee, simply doing the assigned tasks diligently.

Coincidentally, the young lady needed a maid, and she was fortunate enough to be chosen.

Alas, the noble household was declining day by day; the old masters and mistresses could do nothing with this inept young lady.

Fortunately, at least Mei Wei Si could still put on an elegant, proper front before other nobles, so they also chose to conceal her private atrocities.

It seemed that only that maid bore all of Mei Wei Si's malice.

But alas, Mei Wei Si died at the hands of that maid.

The maid counter‑killed the young lady who had tried to take her life; from then on, the Windsor family, Mei Wei Si, and all these became her spoils of war.