Sir! Don't close the net!

She expressed that she would never be afraid of power and submit to someone like Li Yili, and that she would not bow her head even if she was targeted severely later.

But the thought of the two Valkyries—one claiming to be Li Yili's mistress, and the other clearly being kept by Li Yili, with Eden's princess still in Li Yili's bag—is quite striking.

A portion of her dignity seems... well worth using.

After much hesitation, Alma suddenly blurted out a sentence she had never thought she would say before.

“If you can answer all my questions, Mr. Li Yili, I will wear whatever you tell me to wear in front of you.”

Li Yili's eyes sharpened instantly, making Alma's scalp tingle and causing her to regret her impulsive actions. What if Li Yili made her take off her skirt right now?

But to Alma's surprise, Li Yili did not make any demands on her clothing on the spot, but instead raised her hand and beckoned.

"Alright... I got it. Let's get in the carriage first, we have other places to go."

Alma asked almost instinctively, "Where are we going?"

“Others in Austin’s circle,” Li Yili said, opening the carriage door and stepping into the carriage before turning to Alma and extending her hand, “besides Ips, aren’t there a few others who are considered on par with Austin as the great figures of the Instasus Society?”

Is this setting included?

Alma blushed slightly, carefully raised her hand and placed it in Li Yili's palm, and was pulled into the carriage by Li Yili.

"I just can't remember their names."

Li Yili sat down unhurriedly and shrugged at Alma opposite her.

"Is that so?" Alma scratched her face. Li Yili's unexpectedly gentlemanly behavior made her feel good about him, but the next second Li Yili's words made Alma freeze.

"Alright, Miss Alma, roll your skirt up to your stomach."

Chapter 127 He showed no respect for the call from the sea of ​​the dead.

Alma Abba didn't know what to say.

Li Yili's tone was gentle, as if she were reminding her that there was a problem with her dress etiquette, but Li Yili was telling her to roll up her skirt to her stomach.

Faced with this kind of blatant workplace harassment, Alma, as an elite, had a firm principle: no, she absolutely could not agree. But even with such a firm principle, she herself said such a thing just ten seconds ago.

[If Mr. Li Yili can answer all my questions, I will wear whatever you tell me to wear in front of you.]

And Li Yili did indeed answer her next question immediately.

Li Yili didn't make her wear any shameful clothes, nor did she make her roll up her skirt to her stomach in public. Instead, she made this shameful request in the relatively private space of the carriage, thus preserving her self-respect.

Although her self-esteem had practically vanished.

Li Yili rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the passing scenery outside the window, as if she had merely corrected a minor issue with Alma's clothing. But Alma knew that Li Yili's patience was limited. If she hadn't rolled up her skirt to her stomach before they reached the next person they needed to visit, Li Yili wouldn't do anything to her, but she would definitely continue with more incomprehensible actions.

As her secretary... she'd be driven crazy.

Alma sighed deeply, stood up, and in front of Li Yili, rolled up the stockings that were struggling to protect three-quarters of her thighs to her lower abdomen. Then she sat back down, crossed her arms, and her expression remained unchanged, seemingly unconcerned. However, her legs, tightly bound together by black stockings, betrayed her inner unease.

Li Yili raised an eyebrow in surprise and her gaze returned to Alma. "Secretary Alma, my opinion of you has improved."

“Although it’s nothing to be happy about, I still thank you for your higher opinion of me,” Alma forced a smile, suppressing her embarrassment. “May I ask a question?”

“Sure, but I’ll have Secretary Alma unbutton the top three buttons of your shirt to reveal your sports bra,” Li Yili smiled slightly.

Alma's eye twitched. She took a deep breath and steeled herself to unbutton all the buttons on her shirt. The wind blew into the carriage through the window, and the fluttering shirt patted against her bulging black sports bra.

"Minister Li Yili, why did you go to see those people at this time? You didn't go to see them when you should have, and you visited them one by one when you didn't need to see them at all..." Secretary Alma instinctively raised her hand to block in front of her, but she still pressed her hand down and looked directly into Li Yili's eyes.

"Well..."

Alma's decisive attitude put Li Yili in a difficult position, but since Alma had already endured the shame and complied, it would be somewhat inhuman of him not to keep his promise.

“Before, it was just a suspicion, but after seeing Ips, the suspicion turned into confirmation. Now, we’re going to see those people just to confirm the extent of this situation,” Li Yili pinched the bridge of her nose and raised her hand to signal Alma not to continue undressing while suppressing her shame. “As for what the situation is… they’ve been replaced.”

Alma was startled, then suddenly stood up after realizing what was happening.

"What did you say?!"

The movements were so violent that a terrifying planetary collision unfolded right in front of Li Yili.

"Isn't this part of Instas' traditional culture?"

“What’s so strange about that?” Li Yili resisted the urge to reach out and stop the two planets from colliding and waved her hand.

"That's how it is..."

Alma slowly sat back down, crossed her arms, her eyes flickered for a while, then leaned forward and held her forehead.

"But...why did this happen to Ips and the others?"

Is that strange?

“Because, in the end, a mask is nothing more than…” Alma subconsciously raised her voice, but as if she was worried about something, she immediately stopped, reached out and pulled the open windows on both sides of the carriage, then lowered her voice and spoke at an extremely fast pace.

"Aren't these so-called traditional masks and potions just tools that Ips and his ilk use to exploit the Instasians' labor force? They're just means for them to make money!"

"It's like how leaders talk about 996, but in reality, only the employees are working 996."

"Telling the masks and potions as blessings is just a way to get the residents of Instass to willingly become cheap labor without any welfare or insurance!"

“Secretary Alma, your description is very apt,” Li Yili patted her hand, “but Secretary Alma, you overlooked one thing.”

Alma blinked. "What?"

“The masks and potions are not simply a matter of capital operation, but pure religion,” Li Yili tilted her head, “It is capital using religion to seek its own interests.”

Alma's eyes flickered, but she remained silent.

“But unfortunately…” Li Yili raised a finger and bent it towards Alma, “Religion, especially the Azavetas, is not a simple religion. In a sense, they are equivalent to a country. Not to mention that when you think of Eden, the first person that comes to mind is the Azavetas, who is the actual controller of Eden, the King of Eden.”

Li Yili narrowed her eyes slightly, recalling the contents of the Thorn King's Diary.

Although Bishop Azavet is not mentioned, his influence is evident throughout, and Abel's words, such as "they have simply returned to their original form," all suggest that Bishop Azavet is undertaking some action related to their original form.

Bishop Azavet has been operating in the territory of the Horn of Galar for so many years, he must have a goal he must achieve. Rather than being used by Austin, it is more accurate to say that Bishop Azavet is using Austin. If Austin and his group hinder Bishop Azavet.

Bishop Azawi might actually just replace Austin and the others outright.

For Bishop Azavet, who possessed the knowledge of mask and potion making methods, replacing an ordinary person silently was far too easy.

"Would Bishop Azawi...do that?"

“Secretary Alma, when a person or an organization has the ability to do something, it’s only a matter of time before they do it. Besides, in Bishop Azawi’s eyes… replacing an ordinary person like Austin is just a trivial matter.”

"Then there's only one question: how many people did they replace?"

Li Yili breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's now confirmed that Ips has been replaced."

“Minister Li Yili, I have a question.” Alma frowned. “How did you figure out that Ips had been replaced?”

At least in her eyes, all of Ips' reactions were perfectly normal, including his expression when he slapped Li Yili.

"Well..."

Li Yili raised a finger and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“He showed no respect for the call from the sea of ​​the dead.”

Chapter 128 Unless, they are all fake.

"call?"

Alma pondered Li Yili's words. She didn't know what Li Yili meant by the call of the Sea of ​​Dead. At least, in all her years living in Instas, she had never heard the call of the Sea of ​​Dead nor had anyone ever heard of it being retrieved.

After pondering for a while without finding an answer, Alma decided to ask. However, they had already reached their destination, and Li Yili brazenly pushed open the door and left. Alma had no choice but to quickly straighten her clothes and get out of the car.

As a secretary, Alma instinctively wanted to ring the doorbell past Li Yili, but Li Yili's pace was fast and hurried. Even though Alma deliberately quickened her pace, she couldn't catch up with Li Yili. After a moment of surprise, Alma had a very bad feeling and immediately quickened her pace to try to overtake Li Yili, but she was still a step too late. Li Yili had already firmly occupied the door, leaving Alma with almost no chance to squeeze through.

The piercing sound of the bell echoed deep into the dark corridor, followed soon by the sound of long, drawn-out footsteps.

"Click—"

The door opened, and the male servant had barely peeked out and was about to speak when he was met with a slap across the face.

Just as I expected—

Alma covered her face, while Li Yili waved her hands, walking through the gate and down the dark corridor under the incredulous gaze of the male servant. One slap after another followed, ending with a furious roar of "Levi's Est. Richard!"

Li Yili, shaking her numb right hand, got into the carriage and let the coachman take her to the next location.

"That's really outrageous, they actually replaced so many people," Li Yili said, rubbing her reddened right hand. "Secretary Alma, you really are something, you actually let me slap them all by myself just now."

Alma's eye twitched. "Minister Li Yili...you don't mean you want me to join you in slapping those people, do you?"

"Otherwise what? You think I'd let you stop me?"

"Me?"

“I should stop you—though I really want to complain, but…” Alma yelled at Li Yili before rubbing her forehead, “I really don’t want to be sure, but you’re not planning to beat up every single entrepreneur in Instar, are you?”

"Hahahaha—Secretary Alma, you really love to joke around."

"That's true..."

"Let's call seven or eight more, so we can take stock of how many companies are actually involved."

"That's true!!!"

Amidst Li Yili's hearty laughter, the carriage continued forward, each stop accompanied by a series of slaps and ending with a roar.

As the sun set, Li Yili returned to the department head's office in the Sheep Village Logistics Building. Looking at her hands, which were noticeably larger than before, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "I really went all out for the black goat's cubs. I hope this can be considered a work injury."

How could this possibly be considered a work-related injury!

Although she really wanted to shout it out, Alma gave up the idea of ​​complaining. After all, if the Black Goat's offspring didn't emerge, Li Yili would have absolute power. She could make any injury count, let alone a work injury.

"So... how many people were replaced?" Alma sighed deeply. "Although I think that Bishop Asawi is secretly replacing the capital layer of Instas, Minister, you're overthinking it."

Although Li Yili's speculation was very convincing, even the most reasonable speculation could not withstand repeated scrutiny of the facts. Li Yili slapped the person one slap after another all day long, and she also watched the whole day. The person being slapped reacted very realistically, and did not seem to have been replaced by someone else at all.

“Secretary Alma, you should ask… how many people haven’t been replaced,” Li Yili said, spreading her hands to the sides.

"Not coughed at—is it really that outrageous?" Alma coughed loudly, her expression stiff. "Minister Li Yili, do you remember how many people you slapped today?"

"Will you remember how much bread you've eaten in your life?" Li Yili crossed her legs.

"Three hundred people!"

"What a coincidence?!"

"I'm too lazy to count after three hundred!" Alma shouted, reminding everyone. "Do you understand?! You slapped at least three hundred people today. What does three hundred people mean?! If Bishop Azavet is really replacing those people, they would have to send at least three hundred. This is Nibelungen; Bishop Azavet can't possibly send that many people to replace the capital structure of Instas—"