Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva
Chapter 910 - 69: Afternoon Breeze

At night, the four of them were barbecuing on the open ground outside the warehouse. The charcoal glowed a dull red, and every so often, oil dripped onto it, sizzling into faint wisps of smoke and releasing an enticing aroma.

"Want a can of beer?" Gen asked the girl sitting across from him on an iron drum.

Tilan was holding a freshly grilled lamb chop, gently blowing on it before taking slow bites. One had to admit, the Maillard reaction sparked during grilling made the food exceptionally tempting, its aroma, temperature, and texture weaving together a wonderful sensory experience.

"A light one, please." Tilan raised her hand. From the scattered ice, the other person picked a can and tossed it over directly.

Catching it, Tilan set it aside for now, waiting to finish the skewer in her hand before opening the drink.

The other two, Suoga squatted on a pile of scrap metal, alternating between bites of meat and sips of a cocktail. Alanna, on the other hand, was slightly more refined, sitting on a chair next to the grill, eating leisurely. She had headphones on and occasionally tapped her fingers on the speaker beside her, seemingly pondering the melody of a certain tune.

Gen briefly turned the meat on the grill, then leaned back on a reclining chair nearby. He first took a deep gulp of beer with satisfaction before grabbing a skewer of grilled meat to enjoy.

Since Tilan's arrival and Alanna's recovery, the atmosphere tonight was obviously much better—no longer as tense and oppressive as the days before. Suoga even remembered something midway, dragging over a dismantled car audio system and connecting it to the speaker to play music.

Of course, the tracks played were mostly metal rock, something Tilan didn't particularly enjoy.

Midway through the meal, Alanna set down her headphones and stood up, beckoning the other three to gather around.

"I feel much better today. I really worried everyone these past few days." She gave a glance to Suoga and Gen.

"It's fine. As long as the young miss has regained her fighting spirit, that's all that matters." Gen was unconcerned, fully confident in Alanna. He believed that as long as she recovered her spirit, many problems could be solved.

"Now that's the big sister we know!" Suoga raised his glass to toast Alanna.

Seeing how much everyone believed in her, Alanna couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. In fact, she had been rather dazed at the time, shaken by the sudden changes.

Now, after a few days of recovery, she realized she wasn't entirely powerless to fight back.

The fact that the other party hadn't used violence or additional personnel to forcibly detain her at the Air Harbor that night implied that they didn't want to escalate matters. After all, it made sense—if a highly popular celebrity were to suddenly die or go missing there, it would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar.

Given this was the Central Star Domain, such a serious security incident would inevitably trigger a thorough investigation by the Federal Upper Echelon.

Clearly, the other party had significant concerns as well.

Moreover, despite the fact that the other side had managed to turn a considerable number of 'Z' Group members, Alanna realized that their control over these individuals was quite limited.

A regular Federation Citizen, with no prior criminal record, would naturally be terrified and resistant if suddenly forced to commit major illegal acts. Some might even deliberately botch such tasks, either out of fear or unconscious defiance.

That night, despite the majority's betrayal, their attempts to stop Alanna from leaving could be described as half-hearted at best—utterly unlike the competence Alanna was accustomed to seeing from her peers.

"...So, after thinking it over, as long as we can uncover the reasons they were coerced and resolve their concerns, bringing them back into the fold should be relatively easy." Alanna explained.

"The problem is, we're completely at a disadvantage in terms of intelligence. We don't even know who they are or where they operate." At this, Alanna looked a little dejected.

"No, no, no, we do have leads." Gen waved his hand dismissively. Having once been a Black Mercenary, he naturally knew a few tricks of the trade.

"For the other side to threaten those members, they must have used some method or leverage. It's impossible for random misfortune to befall them out of thin air."

"With so many people having betrayed us, not all of them would have unwavering resolve. If we can identify a few who are already wavering, we can extract intelligence from them to find out what means the opposition used to make those threats."

"Besides, like I said earlier, if both we and the other party are reluctant to involve authorities, that actually works in our favor." Gen took another sip of beer.

"Even crimes are handled with varying degrees of severity. If it's something minor like illegal gatherings or petty theft, the police won't allocate too many resources. But for the other side to be so covert yet capable of silently manipulating most of our members, it shows their organization is extremely well-structured and thus very dangerous."

"Highly dangerous organizations are much more afraid of exposure than we are. At worst, our past actions might paint us as an anti-Federation illegal group, but overall, we haven't committed any major crimes, so the penalties for us would be relatively minor."

"However, it's entirely different for them. One wrong move and even the Court of Judgment might get involved, setting up a dedicated task force to investigate." After Gen's detailed analysis, the others appeared thoughtful.

"If that's the case... I might have a few candidates in mind." Alanna also thought of a few potential breakthroughs. She still had a solid understanding of her former subordinates.

"However, simply communicating through 'connections' makes it hard to grasp their true conditions, so..."

"So we're going to confront them directly, aren't we?" Suoga sounded a bit excited.

"We still need to be careful, but once we corner them, they'll have to say something. It's impossible for them to stonewall completely." Alanna sounded quite confident.

"When do we go?" Suoga pressed further.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow evening. I'll notify you all in advance. We'll also need to bring along some reinforcements." Alanna suddenly recalled an old friend.