Meeting a barrage of looks that questioned their grip on reality, Fu Qian simply smiled and said nothing.
"You've got to be joking, right?"
After nearly half a minute of silence, Nora couldn't help being the first to speak.
Ahem!
Tir, standing nearby, also cleared his throat and looked at Fu Qian with a solemn expression.
"This is a fairly formal gathering."
The implication was obvious: Get serious and stop messing around!
Aside from those two, the others hadn't said anything, but every one of them wore the same expression: Are you messing with us?
"I'm not joking."
At the center of everyone's attention, Fu Qian calmly waved a hand.
"Because I value this honor, I'm making my request in all seriousness."
"But shouldn't you be the one telling us about the Siren Group's exploration?"
Another lady, who hadn't spoken until now, couldn't help saying.
"I'm a man of my word. I promised the Siren Group I wouldn't reveal what I saw down there."
Fu Qian looked her over. Compared with Nora, Madam Number Two seemed about the same age, but looked much more stern, with sharper features.
"Then—"
"What I want to know now is how much you know."
Fu Qian smiled.
"Don't tell me you haven't been keeping tabs on it at all."
For a moment, everyone looked at one another. In the end, Nora pondered briefly before replying.
"We really don't know much."
"That's fine. How much you know is useful information in itself."
Uh!
Fu Qian's confident tone left Nora completely at a loss.
She considered the matter carefully, then gathered her thoughts.
"Because the Siren Group has kept this exploration so tightly under wraps, we still don't know exactly when they discovered the underground ruins."
"But as for the operation, they started recruiting people