A Person in the League, But It's the Taiwan Server System

"I have committed a fatal error. Please punish me."

Hearing this, Chen Ce instantly understood the reason for her visit—this "error" naturally referred to the faulty intelligence from before.

Samira had previously stated in a letter that the Noxian warband landing in the south of Wuju would be carrying a large quantity of alchemical weapons, but in the end, there was nothing—it was merely a smokescreen, a diversion.

The goal was to force Irelia to divert a portion of her forces toward Wuju, allowing another legion, "led" by Sion, to land brazenly on the eastern side of Fae'lor Island and then drive straight into the heart of the Placidium.

I must admit, they nearly succeeded.

"This error you speak of... was it intentional, or accidental?"

"An unintentional act." Samira kept her head bowed, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Beads of cold sweat seeped from her forehead, and while her tone sounded calm, it was laced with tension.

She knew full well what kind of standing she held in Chen Ce's heart right now.

Executing her would be considered a light punishment.

"An unintentional act, you say..." Chen Ce watched her closely, feigning a look of contemplation.

In this brief yet seemingly endless half-minute, he thought of many things.

From Samira's origins to her past deeds, from the Black Rose's usurpation of power to the defense of the Placidium, he had considered almost everything.

In the end, he simply smiled gently: "I believe you, Miss Samira. Everyone makes mistakes; just be more careful next time."

"Hm...?" Having received such trust, Samira was caught off guard.

She had considered the possibility that he might choose to trust her, but she never imagined it would be this easy...

Given his ruthless and cold-blooded style, shouldn't he at least... hang her up and subject her to a brutal interrogation?

Could this trust be nothing more than a lie before the torture? A seasoning to satisfy his twisted sense of drama...?

At this thought, Samira couldn't help but shudder, her eyes filled with unease and suspicion.

"If you wish to punish me, or even execute me... please do it quickly... that is why I came here... I only ask that you do not lay a hand on Captain Indali..."

After a slight pause, she added through trembling teeth: "Even if you wish to use some insane or perverted method to torture me, that is fine... whether you are deceiving me or intend to act directly... I only beg you to spare Indali..."

Hearing this, Chen Ce smiled meaningfully. "Who said I was going to do anything of the sort? Didn't I tell you I believe you?"

"..." Samira remained skeptical—she felt certain he was lying to her, waiting for her to lower her guard and express gratitude before committing some perverted act to achieve the ultimate punitive effect.

Noxian interrogations of prisoners often involved such tactics.

Of course, it was also possible he was simply satisfying his own twisted psyche...

The more Samira thought about it, the more convinced she became.

Under immense psychological pressure, she took off her coat to demonstrate her sincerity.

Beneath it, she wore only a thin set of undergarments, which failed to fully conceal her full breasts. Her perfect abdominal muscles and much more were exposed, leaving large swaths of skin on full display.

Naturally, there were also the scars accumulated from years of constant battle—yet these did not diminish her beauty; rather, they added a strange, exotic allure.

I must admit, the famous Desert Rose was quite beautiful—both in features and in figure.

"I can offer you anything... my body has not been touched by anyone else... you need not worry that it is unclean..."

As she spoke, she even placed her hands on her remaining undergarments, a look of hesitation crossing her face—as if she were struggling with whether to remove the final barrier to let him confirm her purity.

"..." Watching this scene, Chen Ce's heart urged him to stop her—he truly had no such intentions!

But... to ensure Samira held him in awe, he had to continue sitting in his seat, feigning composure and projecting an air of indifference, even disdain, toward everything. If Samira lost her sense of awe toward him, then never mind giving her all for him—it was questionable whether she would even be willing to work for him at all.

She might even try to take Indali and run.

If it truly came to that, unnecessary trouble would only multiply...

"I have no interest in your body." Chen Ce rested his head on his hand, his eyes filled with contempt, his tone dripping with disdain. "I am not lying to you; I truly intend to give you another chance."

"Really...?" Samira was still somewhat doubtful. "You trust me so easily...?"

"I trust myself." Chen Ce stepped forward and gently hooked her chin, his eyes still filled with scorn.

He looked over her body without restraint, his wicked expression truly like that of a heinous madman, a pervert, a demon.

"I am confident that you dare not deceive me—no matter where you and Indali hide, I can find you, and then kill Indali right before your eyes—using the most cruel methods imaginable."

"..." Hearing this, Samira finally lost control of her taut nerves and muscles, her entire body trembling with terror.

If she had ever harbored thoughts of assassinating him, those thoughts had been thoroughly extinguished after today's battle.

She knew of Chen Ce's feats in southern Wuju and his battle against Sion today... she had heard it all...

That kind of power was absolutely not something she could contend with...

He truly had the means to find her and Indali—even if they hid at the ends of the earth...

Watching Samira tremble in fear, Chen Ce remained outwardly calm, but inwardly, he let out a sigh of relief.

The situation was finally stabilized... thank goodness.

Of course, his trust in Samira did not stem from so-called "self-confidence," but from the fact that he knew something about Indali that even Samira did not.

The faulty intelligence was likely not a deliberate attempt by Samira to set him up, but rather a trap set for Samira by Indali.

Indali... was actually a member of the Black Rose.

This unexpected turn of events was likely because Samira had explained everything regarding her threats to Indali, who then turned around and reported it all to the Black Rose.

Following that, it was a scheme by the Black Rose to deliberately let Samira discover "classified intelligence."

The final result was... he had thought he intercepted Noxian intelligence and intended to turn the tables, only to be "counter-counter-counter-played" by the Black Rose, who had seen through everything from the start.

In this game of chess, he had indeed lost.

LeBlanc's cunning far exceeded what any ordinary person could imagine.

Fortunately, the final outcome wasn't too bad—aside from that strange magical mark.

He could only say he had been too careless before, failing to fully untangle the causalities between Samira, Indali, LeBlanc, and Emystan, which ultimately led to him being outmaneuvered by LeBlanc using a "mole"—well, the main issue was that he hadn't expected LeBlanc to expend so much effort on a "small fry" like Emystan.

Now, as for Samira...

Indali had hidden the truth about the Black Rose from her, seemingly wanting to use or even control her in some form, and she herself knew nothing about the intersection and relationship between Indali and the Black Rose... he couldn't tell her these things for now.

If she were to find out about the connection between Indali and the Black Rose, at best she would break free from his control and throw herself entirely into the arms of the Black Rose alongside Indali; at worst, the Black Rose would silence her on the spot.

Either possibility would be a loss for him.

But he couldn't let her stay in Noxus to gather intelligence anymore—under the watchful eyes of the Black Rose, at least ninety percent of the information she obtained was likely fake, or even deliberately fed to her by others—just like the previous incident at the Reef Strait.

"You don't need to return to Noxus for now." Finally, Chen Ce issued a new order to her: "The investigation into the client is suspended for the time being; I need you to remain in Ionia."

"Ionia?" Samira calmed down slightly.

"Yes, as for Noxus... I have new eyes there. You will be responsible for gathering intelligence in Ionia."

"Understood."

"Stay here for these next two days and wait for my instructions—remember to wear your veil; don't let anyone discover you."

"Your will be done."

After finishing the serious business, Chen Ce pointed at her body, which was revealing a great deal of beauty, signaling her to put on her clothes and leave quickly.

However, after Samira shamefully dressed herself, she did not leave immediately.

"Is there something else?"

"Yes..." Samira nodded. "I have one more piece of intelligence to give you."

"Oh? Why didn't you say so just now?"

"Because I thought you would kill me for losing your trust, so I naturally didn't intend to give this intelligence to you." Samira said sincerely, "But since you have chosen to trust me now, I will naturally hand over all the intelligence I have."

Hearing this, Chen Ce smiled from the bottom of his heart.

With this mindset, she clearly still hated him—if she were going to die, she wouldn't give him any extra benefits.

This was good.

Only by continuing to hate him could he increase their [Interaction Level] further.

"Go ahead."

"Yes." Samira straightened her outer garment and said earnestly: "I learned from a Noxian noble that your Resistance Army's Third Legion Commander once met with an outsider."

"An outsider?" Hearing this keyword, Chen Ce instantly recalled something—before he set off to find Yasuo and Riven, the Second Legion Commander had mentioned that the Third Legion Commander, Glick, had secretly met with a mysterious person, and suspected that he or his "partner" was the mole who had been hiding within the Resistance Army all along.

"Do you know who that 'outsider' is?"

"I do." Samira's tone revealed a hint of pride, as if she were very confident that this intelligence could not be wrong—at least not like the trap she had fallen into before.

"Pardon my intrusion." She suddenly stood up, raised her hands above her head, leaned in slowly, and finally hovered right by his ear. Her warm breath and heat were ticklish, like a private whisper between lovers:

"It is someone from the Order of the Shadow—Zed."

Chapter 64: Little Fawn Lillia is Afraid of Trouble!

Speaking of Zed, Chen Ce had a very deep impression of him.

He was an orphan abandoned by his parents. His story began with a little boy sitting on the cold stone steps in front of his home; his home was the Order of the Kinkou.

Under the careful tutelage of the former Eye of Twilight of the Kinkou, Master Kusho, he grew up quickly and became inseparable friends with the current Eye of Twilight, Shen. They often referred to each other as brothers.

It must be mentioned that Zed's talent for martial arts was extremely high, his training was sufficiently diligent, and combined with Master Kusho's excellent guidance, he transformed from a naive child into a fully qualified Kinkou acolyte in just a few years.

His strength was on par with Shen's, and he was Master Kusho's most capable assistant.

Even though he was an outsider with no blood relation, Master Kusho and Shen never showed the slightest "xenophobia" toward him; instead, they accepted him from the bottom of their hearts.

He felt joyful for this and tried his best to repay this kindness.

But... there were still moments when he felt like he didn't quite fit in.

He had always upheld the philosophy of the Order of the Kinkou as his highest creed, but deep in his heart... he still found it somewhat difficult to accept. He possessed more ferocity than the Kinkou philosophy allowed.

And this ferocity reached its peak after a mission with Master Kusho and Shen—

The three of them traveled far together to track down the notorious "Golden Demon." When they finally succeeded in capturing this "monster" who made people tremble at the mention of his name, they discovered that he was merely an ordinary man named Khada Jhin.

The young Zed stepped forward, blades raised high, wanting to execute this perverted madman who called his frenzied slaughter "art." But Master Kusho stopped him and ordered them to take Jhin to prison.

[The duty of the Kinkou is to maintain the balance between the spirit realm and the mortal realm, not to interfere in the disputes of the mundane world.]

Zed would never forget those words from Master Kusho.

Back at the temple, dissatisfaction began to bloom in his heart, and he started to find his studies increasingly difficult.

The gruesome murder scenes created by Jhin haunted his mind repeatedly, while the escalating tension between Ionia and the Noxian Empire accelerated his disillusionment.

By that time, Shen had already begun to learn his father's cold selflessness, but Zed refused to let the lofty ideals of the Kinkou stand in the way of punishing the wicked.

Finally, under the dual pressure from within and without, Zed chose to fully embrace himself and follow the voice deep within his heart.

He ventured deep into the temple's hidden catacombs, violating the sect's taboo—there lay an ornate black box, which only the grandmaster of the sect could open, yet he peered inside regardless.

And then, he obtained a forbidden power.

The power of shadows.

Upon returning to the light of the temple, his temperament changed drastically—the ancient dark magic within the black box granted him immense power, but it also instilled in him a contempt for the weak and fueled the bitterness in his heart.

Afterward, he confronted Master Kusho directly, demanding that the Order of the Kinkou use all its power to strike back against the Noxian invaders, but Master Kusho refused.

From that moment on, he left the Order of the Kinkou.

He gathered a group of warriors willing to follow him to fight against the Noxian invaders, and in the process, he gradually built up his own force.

Not long after, he returned to the temple of the Order of the Kinkou once more—bringing all his followers with him.

He did not come to argue with Master Kusho, nor did he have any interest in listening to those foolish platitudes about balance.

[Balance is the teacher of fools.]

Zed brutally murdered Master Kusho, solely to reclaim the black box buried within the Order of the Kinkou.

Master Kusho was dead, and the Kinkou disciples were powerless to resist Zed, who had already obtained the dark power. Like a herd of beasts, they fled in panic, only to be slaughtered at will by Zed's men. He then seized the temple and established his own sect there—

The Order of the Shadow.

Shen fled into the distant dense forest with the few remaining Kinkou disciples; the Order of the Kinkou had been nearly wiped out in a single night.

Zed's vile act of repaying kindness with enmity, murdering his master and slaughtering his sect, spread far and wide; many in Ionia loathed him, while many others revered him.