"Take us to those witches—and the wizard."
Hao Ren ignored the Ash Rat's desperate attempts to look frightened and pleading, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument.
"I... I... no, no, my lord, I'll do anything you ask, but please don't make me do this." The fear on the Ash Rat's face was genuine this time. "Madam Mary will kill me! She'll definitely realize that I betrayed them..."
"Madam Mary? So she's the witch who 'hired' you." Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. "Listen, if you take us to her, you'll die after you see her. If you don't, you'll die right now. Life is precious, so you should make the most of every second."
He had not suddenly developed a taste for threatening people. He simply knew that other methods were useless against these cunning pawns who moved between the Human world and supernatural forces. The only languages they understood were money and violence, and when something was dangerous, the latter was the more effective one.
The threat worked exactly as intended. The Ash Rat's face went deathly pale. He realized that this seemingly genial man was not as harmless as he looked. He, too, was a predator of the dark world—and a particularly cold-blooded one at that. Begging and stalling were useless against someone like him.
"My lord, please, have mercy." The Ash Rat's face crumpled completely. "I'm just a rat from the gutter. The witches only had me watch for Witch Hunters and other dark-world residents passing through here. They gave me some Owl Potion and a few ointments... but they didn't let me know a single secret! I don't even know where they hold their coven meetings. The ones who contact me are merely puppets created with witchcraft tricks. I report what I see to the