Chapter 446: The Gods |
In just three short days, the situation, which had been utter pandemonium, swiftly stabilized. Reality once again confirmed a lesson history had long taught: while the methods of a dictator are often condemned, they are the most effective way to unify a scattered humanity in a short amount of time.
On the third day, the lockdown on Jiang City was lifted. Although the rose monsters within the city had yet to be completely eradicated, they were successfully confined to a few specific areas thanks to the intervention of Lin Jue and a team of investigators. The main roads reopened to traffic, and a few of the skilled and the brave began to trickle back into the city.
On May 16th, an off-road vehicle pulled up to a converted workshop in a derelict warehouse on the outskirts of Jiang City.
Si Qi was the first to step out. He pushed open the dilapidated door and inhaled the thick scent of formaldehyde, a faint smile gracing his lips.
This was where it all began. He remembered that evening two months ago, when Liu Ajiu, controlled by puppet threads, had come to this very workshop. His death had been the price of admission, delivering to Si Qi a qualification to enter the Weird Game as part of the deal between Lin Jue and Qi.
In just two short months, he had gone from a clueless but intrigued novice, unleashing twenty-two years of repressed malice in the game's instances, to a figure who could stir the winds and clouds. He was no longer bound by the confines of the game but was now poised to orchestrate a mad curtain call in the real world... It felt like a grand dream, a lifetime away from who he once was.
Si Qi hadn't been back here since creating the specimen covered in frogs after the *Frog Hospital* instance. It was hard to say whether it was due to a lack of inspiration or a lack of time.
Fortunately, over the past six years, this workshop had been the place he’d spent the most time, second only to his old apartment in the Near River District. A brief separation wasn't enough to dull his familiarity with it.
He moved with practiced ease, grabbing a towel from a shelf to wipe the dust from the workbench and chair. From a pile of junk in the corner, he unearthed an old record player, plugged it in, casually selected a record, and set the needle on the vinyl.
“I watched the world I knew unwind......”
“A sculpture shaped within my mind......”
“And in the silence, I stand alone......”
“A king upon a shattered throne......”
Si Qi strolled leisurely down the aisles, methodically inspecting every corner to confirm that no one had been here in his absence. His eyes gradually narrowed into thin slits.
Lin Jue, as the Puppet Master who had sent a puppet to this very door, knew the workshop’s location. A single command would have been enough to set an ambush here. So why hadn't he?
Si Qi would never believe it was out of some mutual respect, some desire for a fair fight. A man with Lin Jue’s intelligence would have easily anticipated his suspicion.
Combined with the recent lifting of Jiang City’s lockdown, his intentions were unmistakably clear.
“You want to tell me that Jiang City is now an inescapable net, just waiting for me to walk right in, and that once I do, your odds of winning will more than double...” Qi Si mused, staring at the phone on the workbench, its speaker on. His expression was a mixture of amusement and mockery. “By laying all this out in the open, are you bluffing? Betting that I won’t dare to enter Jiang City?”
“Though I don't know the reason, I suspect you have a compelling need to return to Jiang City. Therefore, no matter what information I present, it will not affect your next move. As such, there was no need for me to waste manpower and resources on additional arrangements,” Lin Jue’s voice, filtered through the phone, sounded even more sterile and emotionless, like a machine dispassionately analyzing data.
He paused, then asked, “But I still want to know. Did I bet right?”
Si Qi let out a laugh. “In this situation, you wouldn’t believe anything I said, so I see no point in wasting time. But I am curious—
“You kept saying you would stay in Shangri-La. Why did you suddenly rush back to Jiang City, even before me, when you knew full well I was heading here?”
“You could interpret it as me intentionally releasing false information to avoid being intercepted en route. Or you could see it as me possessing a surefire way to deal with you, unafraid that you’d lose your nerve if you knew I was in Jiang City,” Lin Jue’s voice held a rare hint of amusement. “Si Qi, what do you think?”
“You said I have a compelling reason to return to Jiang City. So no matter what I think, it won’t change what happens next, will it?” Si Qi countered with a smile before ending the call.
A stage grand enough was bound to be bathed in the light of ten thousand spotlights. The blinding glare would fill every corner, leaving no room for conspiracies and covert plots. All that could be brought to the stage were overt, open stratagems.
The luxury of choice had been exhausted at countless forks in the road. Everyone was now being pushed by fate onto a track leading directly to the final station. One could either stand still and hesitate or follow the only path toward the predetermined end.
Si Qi needed to return to Jiang City to retrieve Qi Si’s body. Without it, he would remain an incomplete specter. The authority of the Ancestral God would not deign to inhabit a flawed vessel, and he would be fated to lose his right to contend for the ultimate victory.
Therefore, even knowing it was a trap, he had to step into it, betting that Lin Jue’s preparations were not as thorough as he believed them to be.
“If Qi Si were here, what would he choose to do?” The thought popped into Si Qi’s mind unexpectedly, and he chuckled.
A calm trickster and a mad gambler were fundamentally different. Rather than throwing himself into a game of roulette with unknown odds, he would likely have spent his time laying out intricate plans, increasing his chances of success through a prolonged struggle, waiting until victory was all but certain before delivering the final blow.
Perhaps that was indeed the most rational choice, but Si Qi despised it. To meticulously plan every step, only to reap a foregone victory or defeat, was far too boring. He would rather die on the spot.
Another half an hour passed. Si Qi had finally finished tidying up the workshop, and only then did he issue a new command through the Soul Contract.
Yu Jinsheng, Say Dream, and Jiang Junjue emerged from the vehicle one by one, all looking visibly unwell.
Say Dream and Jiang Junjue each lit a cigarette, and the color slowly returned to their faces, which had been pale from the long journey.
Yu Jinsheng leaned against the car door, retching violently. Once inside the workshop, he made himself at home, flopping onto the workbench like a corpse, half-dead to the world. Si Qi propped his chin on his hand and watched him for a moment before stating flatly, “Before you, fifty-nine corpses have lain on that table. They mostly ended up with their organs hollowed out and pickled in formaldehyde.”
“Come on, old Qi, don’t forget I helped you get at least half of those fifty-nine bodies. You think I care about that?” Yu Jinsheng rolled over, turning his back to Si Qi with the shameless air of one who had nothing left to lose. “Anyway, can you give me a straight answer? You dragged us on this thousand-mile journey, heading to the same destination as old Lin. What exactly are you planning? I’m on edge every single day. I can’t take the suspense. You might as well just put me out of my misery with a single cut...”
Si Qi silently picked up a scalpel, a gentle smile gracing his face. “I can grant that request. Would you prefer to be dissected alive or dead?”
Yu Jinsheng shot back, “I was joking, don’t take me seriously! My dad only has one son. Would you have the heart to make him bury his own child? Oh, right, you remember my dad, don’t you? When you stayed at our place six years ago, you loved his mango-stewed ribs...”
Say Dream and Jiang Junjue: “...”
Over the past few days on the road, the two members of the Listening Wind Guild had witnessed a side of their temporary president they never knew existed. By now, they were numb to it, utterly accustomed to his boundless lack of shame and integrity.
It was hard to tell if the mask had been worn for so long it could no longer be removed, or if Yu Jinsheng was naturally inclined to present the face most conducive to his survival. Even though his cover had been blown, in front of Si Qi, he was still the same old Jin Yusheng, as if all their conflict had never happened and they were still partners in crime.
Si Qi had long been familiar with Jin Yusheng’s shamelessness and allowed him to continue his self-deception. After teasing him a bit to satisfy some dark whim, he opened the notes app on his phone and his fingers flew, typing out a list of items.
He wrote down more than twenty entries, exported the file, and sent it to an encrypted account. Then, he dialed a number. “Bob, I need you to get everything on the list I sent you ready within twenty-four hours. Name your price, and I’ll pay you after the situation stabilizes.”
On the other end of the line, Bob’s voice was heavy. “Qi, I’ve heard about what’s been happening, even all the way over here in North America. Usually, for your little projects, I can do you a favor. But do you have any idea how serious things are this time?
“Every district in the Federation has issued the highest-level wanted notice for you. Any agency that gets a lead on your whereabouts is ordered to kill you on sight, no matter the cost. And anyone associated with you won’t be spared... I’m not young anymore, and I’ve made enough money. All I want is to retire early, find some deserted place, and live out my days with a bunch of girls in bikinis...”
“If I remember correctly, you’re only forty this year,” Si Qi said, grabbing a knife from the tool rack and toying with it in his hand. “Of course, I have no interest in interfering with your life choices. But since the Federation hasn’t found you yet, it proves our transaction methods are discreet enough. Aren’t you tempted to make one last big score before you retire?”
“Friend, this is the last time I’ll call you that. It’s not about whether I’ll live to spend the money; I just know some money isn’t worth earning,” Bob’s tone hardened. “You’re making an enemy of all humanity now, doing something more terrifying than all the terrorists in history combined. I used to think you were just like all the other hardened criminals living on the razor's edge, just with some weird hobbies. But I never thought you were this insane, that you actually wanted to destroy the entire human race.”
“So?”
“At the end of the day, I’m a man with a human heart. I have a family and friends. I’ve done a lot of unconscionable things for money in the past, but if humanity ever faced a crisis of extinction, I would stand in the way without a second thought. And I’m telling you, it’s time to stop. What good comes from doing these things that harm everyone and benefit no one? We live among people. If humanity is destroyed, where could we possibly go?”
Bob rambled on, pleading earnestly. It was clear he genuinely considered his old client, Qi Si—or rather, Si Qi—a “friend.” That was why he was making a futile attempt to persuade him to see the error of his ways instead of immediately reporting him to the Weird Investigation Bureau.
If it were Qi Si, he might have used clever rhetoric to sway Bob with his twisted logic and persuade him to help willingly. But for Si Qi, there were simpler, more brutal methods.
“Bob, listen to me. I’ve always been curious why you, knowing my nature so well, trusted me so readily all these years,” the young man sighed theatrically, but a strange smile bloomed on his lips, as if he could barely contain his amusement at what he was about to say.
He smiled, his tone shifting to that of a storyteller. “I remember, three years ago, you adopted a girl. She was the granddaughter of the mentor who brought you into the business. Your mentor was found by his enemies and chopped into eight pieces. You arrived at the last moment and saved the girl. You were still too late, but not hopelessly so. You carried a heavy burden of guilt and remorse, which you transformed into an ironclad shield of protection for that girl... She’s on a small island in Hawaii right now, isn’t she?”
“Qi Si, what are you saying?” Bob’s voice grew agitated. “You bastard! Of all the things you could do, you threaten me with her...”
“My apologies. I’ll switch to a different threat,” Si Qi said, putting down the knife and leaning back in his chair to find a more comfortable position. “Remember that vial I had you take to North America and dump into the Mississippi River? Why were you so naive as to think you weren't infected with the Insomnia bacteria? By the way, I have you to thank for the spread of the *Insomnia bacteria* in North America, my accomplice, Mr. Bob.”
“Bastard... bastard...” the man growled furiously into the phone.
Si Qi paid him no mind, the smile fixed on his face like a mask. “I actually considered the possibility that you’re not afraid of death. But think about it. A lonely little girl whose grandfather’s line of work made plenty of enemies, now with only ‘Uncle Bob’ to rely on. If you were to have an accidental death, how helpless would she be?”
“You’ll get what’s coming to you...”
“Alright, I won’t waste any more of your precious ‘retirement time’,” Si Qi said, glancing at the time on his phone. “I expect to see what I need at my studio’s door by noon tomorrow. I’ll wire the money as promised.”
He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping out a musical rhythm on the armrest, one beat at a time.
His index and middle fingers crossed and flew, dancing a wild, chaotic rhythm across the mahogany-carved surface, producing a frantic *tap-tap-tap*.
The record had played through several times, and the latest spin was drawing to a close.
“A world remade by my own hand......”
“But no one left to understand......”
“The final move is on the board......”
“Just me and the storm I adored.”
Amidst the looping music, the young man suddenly let out a very soft, very light laugh. “He clearly scoffs at the law, walks in darkness leaving a trail of infamy, yet still clings to human morality. With a chance to use the world as his stage right before him, he still needs to be forced to join the dance... I didn't expect you to be such a boring fellow, too...”
(End of this chapter)