Maria still had a calm arrogance as if she didn't feel like she was in a disadvantaged position at all.

Andrew's current strength was still far from Supreme-rank. In the face of Maria's pressure, every inch of his body screamed danger. However, he still met Maria's sky-blue eyes without a trace of fear and even suddenly chuckled.

"Hahahaha..."

Maria's face turned cold. She kept her silence with a straight face as if she couldn't understand why Andrew was laughing.

"Huh, why so nervous, Chairman Maria?" Andrew spread his hands apart while maintaining his smile. "If the notebook you possess is what Boss Lin wants, and he wishes to support you as a reward for getting it, then I would naturally have no complaints.

"After all, your talents and gift for Boss Lin are things that I can't do." Andrew bowed to Maria formally with the etiquette of a noble. "If Boss Lin is happy and feels that you deserve it, you will undoubtedly be the Truth Union's Chairman, and I'll be your pawn."

Maria sneered, "So, your idea is that the legitimate Truth Union Chairman is the one who obtains the approval of the bookstore owner? On what grounds! You guys have been completely brainwashed by that guy indeed…"

Andrew's smile became strangely fanatical. "On what grounds? On the grounds that the lord's greatness is incomparable."

"Insane lunatic," muttered Maria, giving her assessment.

Andrew seemed rather pleased with Maria's judgment and didn't refute, even nodding his head in agreement. "But unfortunately..."

"What's unfortunate?" inquired Maria. She knew that Andrew couldn't be reasoned with. She had to see how much he was willing to say in order to get more information.

"Unfortunately, you don't believe in Mr. Lin at all…" uttered Andrew. "You don't even want to use this notebook to ask for anything, nor expect to get benefits from Mr. Lin. Rather, you have another motive.

"But Boss Lin is a great and benevolent existence. As long as you pray to him, you will receive a response and obtain strength, even if one's a faithless person like you," Andrew said. "So, it's just too unfair."

"Don't you think that to make it fairer... I should be the one to bring Boss Lin this offering?"

Andrew put his hand to his chest. "Please hand this notebook over to me."

Maria surmised as she stared at Andrew without a shred of emotion. The Supreme-rank gaze made Andrew's hairs stand on end, but he stood his ground.

After what seemed like an eternity, Maria muttered, "Dream on."

Andrew's eyes narrowed. "Since you know Boss Lin wishes to study this notebook, aren't you afraid that I'll kill you and snatch it away?"

"Ha." Maria' stared straight into Andrew's cold eyes and sneered. "You can try. Didn't Raziel already give it a try? If he had succeeded, I wouldn't have come back from the Lower District."

Andrew remained silent for a bit. Though he had already gained power from the bookstore owner, dealing with this woman was still a little too difficult.

However, Andrew was now certain that even though Maria had reached Supreme-rank, she hadn't yet mastered the nature-defying domain like Wilde and Joseph had.

Otherwise, she wouldn't just be countering with only words against such a close-range provocation.

"Esteemed Chairman Maria, I don't know what you are talking about. The collapse of Machine Loop was just an accident." Andrew forced a smile. While he wasn't sure what made Maria this fearless, he couldn't reveal anything about the device in Machine Loop.

"Since you said that we'll vote in three months, let's wait peacefully till then." Having said that, Andrew picked up Hood from the ground.

Hood was knocked out cold, but his right arm was still a bunch of squirming tentacles. They were like soft creatures without any of the five senses hiding within Hood that now had control of his body.

"Enough, Hood." Andrew gently patted the agitated tentacles. They seemed to gradually quieten down before regenerating into a new arm. Other than his torn clothing, Hood's arm didn't seem to have been broken before.

Maria watched silently as Andrew dealt with her 'nephew.' She could only clench her fist and say nothing. As much as she wanted to seize her only family back, she was more afraid that Hood would just be another stranger when he woke up.

"Seeya, Chairman Maria."

Andrew took Hood and left the office.

Maria heaved a sigh of relief when she could no longer sense his aura. She eyed the blood on the ground and saw that it was gradually evaporating into nothingness, as if it had been some sort of invisible creature that had left the office... Maria relaxed slightly and sat back down.

After resting in her chair for a while, Maria raised her hand, and a reflective ring-shaped object appeared in her palm. Many runes were faintly discernible on the surface and in the hollow center floated a broken stone fragment.Maria revealed a look of reverence as she gazed at it. The stone fragment glowed with a dark red light and had many strange symbols engraved on it. However, because there was a lot missing, these symbols couldn't be interpreted. Nevertheless, just by looking at it, one could feel a tingle as if they were standing before a warm bonfire while surrounded by darkness.

She kept aside her palm and leaned back, closing her eyes. Memories of the Lower District came flooding back. The feeling of being on the verge of a mental breakdown every single day during that period of time was vivid in her mind.

If not for this keepsake of a Primordial Witch, Maria would have lost her life in the Lower District a long time ago.

The explosion which Raziel set up had also nearly taken Maria's life too. No, it could even be said that she had already died once, but it was this object that had resurrected her...

Presumably, regardless of how powerful that bookstore owner was, there was no way he could compare with the power of a Primordial Witch.

Maria, who was resting with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped open those sky-blue eyes of hers and took a deep long breath. Whether it was for the Truth Union or Hood, she had to visit that bookstore.

Lin Jie sat lazily on the newly bought sofa in the bookstore, watching the fuzzy display on his television.

After the last heavy snowfall in Norzin, the weather gradually warmed up, leading to a couple of rainy days which probably messed up the signal and resulted in the fuzzy display on the old television set that Lin Jie had been using to kill time with.

Lin Jie stood up with the remote control and hit the back of the television set several times. The fuzzy lines cleared up, and the anchor on the news broadcast could finally finish a complete sentence—

"According to reports, a large-scale collapse occurred in the internal laboratories of the Truth Union, a well-known academic organization situated in the Central District. It is unclear of the extent of damage and number of casualties as of now. Experts say this was caused by periodic subsidence..."

Lin Jie raised an eyebrow as he heard the reporter's analysis.

Initially, Lin Jie had assumed blizzards and earthquakes were already the extremes. He never imagined that there would actually be such a term as periodic subsidence.

Lin Jie used logical thinking to force himself to believe this.

At the thought of this, Lin Jie felt that he had to offer solace to these three regular customers and thus took out his communications device. However, before he even made a call, he heard the report from the television continue, "Presently, the Truth Union isn't accepting interviews and their communication lines are temporarily disconnected..."

After pondering for a bit, Boss Lin decided to call Ji Zhixiu. She, too, lived in the Central District, so Miss Ji should have a better understanding of the situation. Moreover, there was one other thing to discuss, so Lin Jie had a reason to make the call.

The communications device rang only once before the call was answered respectfully by Ji Zhixiu. "Boss Lin, what can I do for you?"