With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

White's heart skipped a beat; why did that voice sound so familiar?

Seventeen was laughing so hard in his mind that he couldn't stand up straight.

"Host, that sounds like something a villain would say."

"Shut up."

Jiang Zhiyu calmly raised her hand and turned on the ceiling light in the room.

The warm yellow light spilled out, illuminating every inch of the room clearly. White's face, painted with greasepaint, froze abruptly, then contorted in a grimace of anger and disbelief that surged from the depths of his eyes.

"So it was you!"

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he practically squeezed out the words through clenched teeth.

"I've finally caught you."

Jiang Zhiyu sat at the table without moving, her fingertips idly drawing circles on the surface.

"Oh?"

She looked up at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"It seems Mr. White has missed me quite a bit over the past year!"

A flash of malice crossed White's eyes, the disheveled state he had just displayed while climbing out the window now concealed. He glanced around the room, not seeing his eleven men, his brow twitched, and then he gritted his teeth and sneered.

"Little girl, we are now in the British Empire."

"If I can't pin you down here, all these years of work will have been for nothing."

He slowly moved forward half a step, his leather shoes making almost no sound on the carpet.

"You've messed with the Henry family, so blame yourself for walking into my line of fire tonight."

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice.

"Where did that small bronze tripod go?"

Jiang Zhiyu tilted her head, as if she was seriously thinking about the question.

"You mean that small tripod?"

She dragged out the last syllable.

"You want to see it?"

"But it's gone."

She paused on the table with her fingertips, then looked up at him.

"Or, why don't you disappear like it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the room seemed to be suddenly sucked out.

The guns in the hands of the men behind White simultaneously flew out of their grasp, as if pulled by invisible threads, and landed steadily on the table beside Jiang Zhiyu, piling up in a small heap. The metal struck the wooden table with a dull thud, once, twice, three times.

Immediately afterward, vines sprouted out, even denser than the previous two groups, binding them incredibly quickly. Before the men in black could even utter a single curse, they were already bound like a row of dumplings, arms, legs, and mouths all tied up.

White felt a chill under his feet.

He looked down, and a thick, dark green vine arched out from under the floor, wrapped around his calf, and snaked upwards. Before he could back away, he was lifted up by the vine, his toes a few centimeters off the ground, and steadily placed on the table.

Jiang Zhiyu raised her hand and tapped the table with her knuckles.

The vine obediently stopped, suspending White in front of her, so that they were eye-to-eye.

White was so shocked he couldn't say a word.

He had survived countless battles and witnessed the most underhanded tactics employed by those old fogies in the US, but what he was seeing before him was beyond anything he had ever known. His lips turned white, his throat tightened, and finally, he managed to squeeze out a single word through clenched teeth.

"Witchcrafter."

Jiang Zhiyu raised an eyebrow.

"What did you say?"

"You are a sorcerer."

White's voice trembled so much it didn't sound like his own.

"You are a mysterious Eastern sorcerer."

Suddenly, as if he had found the answer, a layer of almost fanatical understanding surfaced in his eyes.

"No wonder, no wonder I couldn't catch you no matter what I did. It's witchcraft, it's Eastern witchcraft."

He struggled for a moment, but the vines tightened their grip. He immediately changed his tune and begged for mercy in a low voice.

"I was blind to your greatness tonight, please spare my life, witch!"

Seventeen couldn't hold back her laughter and burst out laughing.

"Host, host, listen to me."

"You've become a witch, hahaha... a mysterious Eastern witch, and she's even begging for mercy."

Jiang Zhiyu's lips twitched.

"Shut up."

"oh."

Seventeen obediently shrank back, the blue crystals on its wings flashing, unable to suppress its smile.

Jiang Zhiyu looked away and gazed at White, who was hanging in front of her.

Under the lights, the man who had once preyed on her in the port city turned pale and then flushed.

"You seem to really enjoy playing this kind of game."

Her voice wasn't loud, but each word was clear and distinct.

"You think I'm easy to bully?"

"Once wasn't enough; they kept trying to steal my things, again and again."

White's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't dare to utter a single word.

"Your Henry family is doing very well."

Jiang Zhiyu leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.

"They specifically target Chinese goods; they've robbed them once, and they'll rob them again."

"It seems I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't personally go to the place tonight."

"Witch, I can lead you the way, please spare me."

White was truly panicked now. He was covered in cold sweat, which streamed down his forehead and neck.

"Please spare me, witch!"

"I was wrong, I'll never do it again."

"I was foolish last time, please keep this square pot."

He struggled as he spoke, but the more he struggled, the tighter the vines bound him.

Jiang Zhiyu ignored his attempt to persuade her.

Seventeen.

"The host is present."

"Take care of these ones outside first."

She gestured with her chin toward the few rice dumplings next to her.

"Let me see what's going on in Mr. White's head."

"Okay."

Before the men in black, bound like dumplings, could react, the vines flicked and they vanished neatly from their spot. The small stack of pistols on the table also disappeared, leaving the tabletop spotless.

White was the only one left in the room.

He hung suspended in mid-air, terrified. The vines had wrapped around his feet and shoulders, leaving only his face exposed. He opened his mouth to beg for mercy, but a thinner vine wrapped around his chin and completely blocked his mouth, choking him so tightly that he couldn't utter a single syllable.

Jiang Zhiyu stood up and walked over to him.

She reached out, her fingertips not touching him, but merely pressing lightly an inch in front of his forehead.

A very thin strand of mental energy, like a needle, pierced into White's brain.

White shuddered violently.

He could feel an invisible hand rummaging through his mind. He wanted to scream, but his mouth was gagged; he wanted to struggle, but the vines bound him so tightly he couldn't move. Tears, sweat, and snot were all smeared on his face.

Jiang Zhiyu's brows furrowed slightly.

He flipped through the layers one by one, and the more he flipped, the colder his expression became.

The Henry family was an upper-class family in the British Isles.

The top floor is the main family. The patriarch resides at the headquarters of the British Empire, controlling the family's most core collections, accounts, and connections, enjoying the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years, and even the royal family has to give him some respect.

The second layer consists of branch managers scattered across various colonies and overseas outposts. Previously, White and his "outsider collateral relatives" belonged to this layer. Nominally, they were the face of the family, but in reality, they were the family's hands, reaching out to various places, specifically searching for valuables in the colonies and transporting them back to the main family piece by piece.

The third layer, the one operating in the shadows, is specifically stationed in technologically advanced countries, where they engage in "opportunistic" petty theft. The real kind. Stealing blueprints, stealing samples, stealing people. If they can't steal anything, they bribe officials; if that fails, they drug, kidnap, or kill them.

The count from country M is a nail in this layer.

Jiang Zhiyu memorized each of these layers of structure, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"This family..."

She whispered half a sentence and then stopped talking.

"At its core, it's all about burning, killing, and looting."

Seventeen coldly replied in her mind.

"If you trace their family history back to the beginning, they're all pirates. That's quite normal."

"How can a family that grows up in this kind of soil be expected to be clean?"

Jiang Zhiyu withdrew her finger.

White's head suddenly drooped down.

"This is pretty useless now."

Jiang Zhiyu said calmly.

"Take care of it."

"Okay, host."

With a flick of the vines, White vanished from the spot, along with the vines.

The room fell completely silent.

Jiang Zhiyu walked back to the table, picked up her teacup, and took a sip.

"Host, what else did you see?"

Seventeen's voice came out again, carrying a carefree expectation.

"Is that other bronze artifact, the snake-patterned mask, still in their house?"

Jiang Zhiyu shook her head.

"I didn't see it. White can't reach that level."

"His mind is only on his own mess. Tonight, he's only trying to retrieve those five bronze artifacts, and coincidentally, we're either part of the first wave. He probably won't be able to find the snake-patterned mask yet."

"oh."

Seventeen's wings drooped for a moment, then it immediately perked up again.

"So, what's our next step?"

Jiang Zhiyu put the cup down and gently rubbed her fingertip along the rim of the cup.

"Whether you're here or not, patronize the Henry family tonight."

"You've messed with me."

"They can only blame themselves for kicking a hornet's nest."