Upon hearing the words "secret intelligence," the devils immediately became interested, generously shelling out money. The black cat followed suit, trading a gold bean from Lucifer for a parchment scroll.

It removed the silk ribbon tied on top, unrolled the scroll, and laughed angrily after reading the first sentence.

"Zheng Qing is actually a witch from Shangri-La, whose surname is Qin and name is Zheng. He is a branch member of the Longxi Qin family, taken as a pupil by the Big Wizard who lives reclusively in Shangri-La. He is a lifelong friend to Su Qingqiu and the Zhongshan Jiang Family, with detailed evidence as follows..."

It didn’t even finish reading the rest of the contents before crumpling the parchment into a ball and pressing it onto the table. Just as it was about to voice its doubts, the mocking tone of the red-haired fox’s voice was heard beside it.

"Now I understand what your ’no reliable sources’ means!" Mammon flicked its fluffy big tail with a hint of annoyance in its voice: "...Doesn’t no reliable sources mean rumors?"

Clearly, the intelligence on the parchment the red fox received wasn’t that reliable either—Zheng Qing had cause to suspect the fox saw something as ridiculous as ’Zheng Qing is actually a lizard person’ or ’Zheng Qing likes to eat children’s hearts,’ hence its agitation.

"You shouldn’t be lacking a few gold beans, right?"

The Persian cat coiled its tail up under its paws, elegantly grooming its ears as it looked at the big bat: "Or perhaps your original goal was to have everyone help you spread rumors and get these messages out?"

The black cat got a jolt inside. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

It suddenly realized the origin of these rumors—if Lucifer was helping Linda Barnes spread rumors, it meant he was some wizard active in the circles of blond witches. And since it was already confirmed Lucifer was hiding nearby, by just filtering the overlapping parts of their circles, it was likely to find Lucifer’s true identity—the black cat’s paws couldn’t help but open and close as it felt it was almost touching the tip of a mouse’s tail.

The hunter’s blood coursed turbulently in that moment, making it increasingly excited.

Unlike it.

The devils were more focused on the authenticity of this intelligence.

And devils remain devils.

They quickly deduced the veracity of the content on their paper strips, based on responses and casual remarks, despite being unable to communicate the specific contents due to the Silence Contract, their long-standing tacit understanding led them to start a lively discussion.

"...No wonder you limited each person to one piece of intelligence."

Belfinger lazily flapped its wings, reasonably speculating: "This way, you can avoid one person from getting contradictory messages and also broaden the scope of rumor spreading, truly a cunning strategy."

"And you still have the audacity to charge us money for this? I think you should wear a fox’s skin as ’Greed’!" Mammon spoke again, sneering.

"Have you noticed there have been a lot of rumors about Zheng Qing lately?"

"He’s always had many rumors...You should ask if he’s made any new enemies recently and is someone trying to mess with him."

"Who in the First University doesn’t have a grudge against him? Have you forgotten about last year’s grand parade on Halloween? I believe seventy to eighty percent of the students, including warlocks and witches, detest that charming scumbag. If it weren’t for Su Councilor warning the fan club beforehand, he would’ve been beaten to a pulp long ago. I really don’t know how he’s deceived so many witches."

"Someone said he mixes his cologne with love potion, is it true?"

"If it’s true, that’s extremely vile—not a prank but a criminal act! It should be reported to the school or Danghag for a thorough investigation of that guy!"

"It’s unlikely. The school’s Assistant Team has incredibly strict evaluations, if he were rampantly using love potions, he couldn’t have received a position at the First University...Besides, do you think Su Councilor is the kind of little witch that can’t recognize a love potion?"

"It might not be the cologne, I rather think it’s more like sowing confusion."

Asmodeus, who seldom liked to speak, commented for once, slowly chewing on the parchment it had just bought, its large sheep eyes shining brightly in the room, muttering:

"...Just like these strange rumors, they sound like they’re tarnishing him, but how much harm do they actually cause him? Someone said the best place to hide a grain of sand is the desert and the best place to hide a drop of water is the ocean...If someone wants to conceal a rumor, the best method is to surround it with rumors. I have reason to believe these rumors could have been commissioned by Zheng Qing himself...So rather than who the commissioner is, I’m more curious about which rumor he’s actually trying to hide?"

"Perhaps the Gypsy witch’s child has been born?" The white-skinned black-spotted little pig flicked its big ears, snorting as it offered its guess: "...As far as I know, she’s been gone for about ten months or so."

Achoo!

The black cat, originally participating in the identification of Lucifer’s true identity, involuntarily sneezed upon hearing this.

The devils all turned their gaze to their Sin Bearer.

"Ahem, let’s not waste time discussing these baseless rumors, the Seven Sins is not a gossip club, our time is very precious!" The black cat cleared its throat, looking at the red big bat at the end of the table with the same serious expression and tone: "Moreover, just as everyone analyzed, the intelligence you gave me has no consultative value...Our last client demanded a high degree of authenticity of the intelligence, all information must have reliable sources."

Lucifer nodded slightly.

Zheng Qing took the opportunity to carefully observe it—a bat with a small face, deep skin tone, wrapped in large wings, like a person hidden in a trap, Zheng Qing felt he couldn’t quite understand what it was thinking at the moment.

Just as he was pondering.

The alchemical horn below Lucifer’s chin sounded again with a formal, deep tone: "I want to correct one point. To my knowledge, the commissioner is not Zheng Qing. But I can confirm my commissioner is very reliable. As for your ’spreading rumors’ speculations, I think there may be some misunderstanding...Let me emphasize once again, my commissioner is very reliable and not intentionally spreading these messages. I simply happened to get this intelligence, thus sharing it with everyone."

The devils looked at it with skepticism.

Not entirely believing its defense.

The big bat continued calmly, adding: "...Priced at one gold bean because my commissioner isn’t short on money, he merely, like most students at the First University, intensely dislikes that guy, so he’s willing to spend a bit to cause some trouble for him. No one demands you resell these messages, feel free to eat them like Asmodeus."

The black cat narrowed its eyes, suddenly feeling less certain about its previous analysis.