Chapter 46 : Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Li Yuan immediately pinched the corner of the paper and held it up in front of Xie Chang’an, giving it a little shake.
The rustling vibration of the sheet sounded between the two of them again and again, while the culprit demanded in a tone that allowed no compromise, “Search your conscience and tell me this: in what way does this emblem resemble the one you saw?”
“It’s still... somewhat similar, isn’t it?”
Xie Chang’an stared at the crooked hand-drawn sketch he had drawn himself, and his tone gradually turned guilty. He had already tried very hard, and he had even gone through more than a hundred sheets of paper.
This was the one he thought looked the most similar.
Although now that he looked closely, he realized it was nothing like it at all.
“Sigh... I don’t even want to criticize you anymore.” Li Yuan let go of the paper with unconcealed disdain, allowing the thin sheet to flutter lightly down in front of Xie Chang’an.
Xie Chang’an hurriedly reached out to catch the paper with the emblem on it. Before long, both his hands were clutching it tightly. The corners of his mouth drooped, and his eyes were full of a puppy-like grievance.
“You failed to handle things properly yourself, so looking at me now won’t help,” Li Yuan pointed out coldly.
He leaned back against the chair and tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingertips as he said in an offhand manner, “But since this may be the last time we meet, I’ll give you a reminder.”
“Think more about the tools around you. Wasn’t that mirror just now a perfectly good display tool?”
That... did seem to be the case. Xie Chang’an broke into a silent cold sweat.
Just as he was about to speak, Li Yuan shot him a cold glance. “Don’t expect me to take it out for you. You failed to think ahead and leave yourself a way out, so whatever result you get now is your own fault.”
So Xie Chang’an silently closed his mouth.
In despair, Xie Chang’an realized that he truly was a one-celled organism. He had somehow found the time to draw more than a hundred pictures, yet it had never occurred to him to make use of the bronze mirror he had just obtained.
Perhaps because the method of using the bronze mirror had sounded too complicated, his brain had instinctively screened out the option of making use of it. His mental power was also insufficient to support using the bronze mirror.
But he had forgotten that Li Yuan also had mental power...
“Normal people would exchange information first and only then exchange tools,” Li Yuan commented once again, still sounding absent-minded. “A pity you don’t count as a normal person.”
Xie Chang’an was speechless. “...”
At this point, even if he wanted to argue, he had no grounds to do so.
Just as Xie Chang’an was racking his brains over how to deal with the current situation, Li Yuan sighed softly. “Be more careful in the future.”
Xie Chang’an looked confused. “Hm?”
“I think I’ve roughly figured out which organization it is,” Li Yuan continued.
Xie Chang’an immediately perked up. “Please, go ahead.”
Seeing that, Li Yuan gave Xie Chang’an a complicated look, then let out a heavy sigh. “Forget it. Since I’m in a fairly good mood today, I’ll count it as doing a good deed.”
So... had he done something wrong again? Xie Chang’an wondered in secret.
His eyes shifted as he recalled what he had just done, and he vaguely sensed that Li Yuan probably found his methods too naive. But he truly could not bring himself to stay on guard...
If this had been before he received the prize from the individual competition, he would have worried about coming into conflict with Li Yuan. But now the problem had been solved, no conflict had happened, and naturally there was no need for them to be wary of each other anymore, right? Probably?
Only at this moment did Xie Chang’an finally think of something else: if Li Yuan were to use it improperly later on, would that not make him an accomplice? But the gift had already been given. Was he supposed to take it back?
Li Yuan suddenly said, “Have you ever come into contact with scenes where that emblem appeared?”
“I have.” Xie Chang’an immediately straightened his expression.
“Then tell me a few of them briefly,” Li Yuan said, propping up his cheek with one hand in a distracted manner. “Let me check whether it’s that organization.”
“Mm.” Xie Chang’an nodded solemnly.
Come to think of it, he actually did not need to listen to this at all, Ji Qing thought. But in order to avoid showing that he could recognize the true symbol behind Xie Chang’an’s hand-drawn sketch at a glance, he still chose to listen through it patiently.
“The Church of Choosing Heaven,” Li Yuan said in an even tone. “Since symbols of a nun and the Holy Mother have both appeared, it’s most likely them. But I’ve only heard of them. I’ve never had any direct contact with them.”
He relayed to Xie Chang’an the information he had obtained from the system.
The activity ranges of Dawn Society and the Church of Choosing Heaven were worlds apart, so he was not worried in the slightest that Xie Chang’an would notice flaws in his words. They were two wasteland organizations with no connection to begin with, so a few discrepancies in their intelligence would be perfectly normal.
The more Xie Chang’an listened, the graver his expression became.
He kept trying to fit the family members from the orphanage whom he had lived with into the cult Li Yuan described, but in the end he gave up. He truly could not imagine it.
At last, Xie Chang’an said solemnly, “Thank you, Li Yuan.”
No matter what, this had provided him with a clear path forward for seeking the truth in the future. Xie Chang’an had not found any records about these cults in the school library.
Compared with teaching students to be wary of cults, the school feared even more that students would blindly follow them. They had not yet matured to the point where they could distinguish right from wrong.
Even Xie Chang’an, when he first heard it, did not understand why the Church of Choosing Heaven was considered a cult. It was only when Li Yuan covered his face and let out a long sigh of disbelief before explaining, “The survival of the fittest they advocate means they support the indiscriminate slaughter of innocents,” that he finally understood.
Xie Chang’an fell silent. “...”
All right. It was his own fault for having thought too simply.
At that moment, Xie Chang’an suddenly remembered Dawn Society’s creed. Could it also contain some hidden meaning? He knew well, however, that this was not the right time to ask.
He also did not want to leave himself with an even worse impression.
Xie Chang’an had already had enough of the rumors about him at the beginning of the semester. Now he would have had more suitable ways to deal with that trouble, but back then he had known nothing.
Seeing that the topic had more or less run its course, Li Yuan rose lazily to his feet. He pulled over the blank sheet on Xie Chang’an’s desk, took out a black pen from his pocket, and swiftly wrote down an address.
“Mail the saber to the people there. They’ll repair it,” Li Yuan said coolly.
After getting the repair toolkit, Ji Qing had thought it over from every angle and still felt this route was the most useful. If Li Yuan personally took the saber away and then delivered it back, the whole thing somehow felt rather strange.
That would make it seem as though he and Xie Chang’an were too close, whereas this method was just right.
As someone who had long moved through the Federation’s dark side, Li Yuan naturally knew where in Yancheng a saber could be repaired. He did not even need to invent any rules for it. Truly skilled craftsmen were a little eccentric to begin with.
It just meant that he himself would have to make a few more trips. Ji Qing thought helplessly.
As he passed by Xie Chang’an, he gave another “kind” reminder. “They don’t accept offline meetings, so remember to include your return mailing address.”
After saying that, he did not linger and strode away.
Xie Chang’an froze for a moment when he heard that.
Subconsciously, he wanted to reach out and catch the other man by the hem of his clothes, but the hand he extended halted uselessly in midair. Xie Chang’an suddenly realized that he had no reason to stop Li Yuan from leaving.
It was simply that Li Yuan had been unexpectedly easy to talk to today, and it made him unconsciously want time to remain like this a little longer.
What a strange thought, Xie Chang’an thought.
Speechless, Xie Chang’an watched Li Yuan’s retreating figure grow more and more distant, the light in his eyes flickering uncertainly. The bar’s dim yellow light fell over Li Yuan’s black shoulders, coating him in a soft mantle of light.
Li Yuan liked wearing black, Xie Chang’an suddenly thought.
In every one of their meetings, without a single exception, that had been true. Only this time, however, he was wearing black casual clothes.
A rather subtle detail, and an unanswered question. But Xie Chang’an had no reason to ask, because he was merely a student Li Yuan happened to encounter from time to time and make use of.
***
When Ji Qing took off his sunglasses, they instantly vanished from between his fingers.
He calmly looked at himself in the mirror and confirmed that his hair color and eye color had returned to normal. Then he composed himself, took off his jacket, and retrieved the ordinary clothes he had stored in the Pure White Space.
Ji Qing was currently inside an abandoned house outside the school.
The Masquerade Mask could freely alter the user’s appearance and clothing, but the clothing was limited to formal wear suitable for a ball. There was no shortage of retro sunglasses to choose from, but as for clothes, there truly was no helping it.
That was why Li Yuan had dressed in such stately and extravagant fashion the previous few times.
This time, however, Ji Qing needed to meet a peddler at the agreed location, so he had not chosen formal wear. That would have been far too eye-catching, and far too embarrassing.
“All right...” Ji Qing washed his face once with cold water and hypnotized himself. “Anyway, among the people Li Yuan comes into contact with, not a single one is normal. Li Yuan himself isn’t normal either...”
So having a preference for dressing flamboyantly was not really such a serious problem.
Ji Qing silently added that last sentence in his heart. Then he changed into the everyday clothes he had worn when leaving school and properly disposed of the black jacket he had taken off.
The Pure White Space could store clothing.
When Ji Qing thought of that, he could not help tugging at the necktie on his shirt. In a tone of relief, he murmured, “These days are finally over for me, at least for now.”
He would no longer have to change clothes so frequently, repeatedly ask around about Yancheng’s dark web, or constantly weigh whether his every move fit Li Yuan’s persona.
However... Ji Qing’s expression suddenly turned grave.
Even if he no longer had to disguise himself as Li Yuan in front of Xie Chang’an, he still faced the pressure of the World Book and the team competition. The team competition was about to begin, and the end of the semester was also drawing near.
He had to obtain the World Book this semester.
Only by obtaining the World Book could he reasonably participate in Dawn Society’s activities as Raven. Only after that would he be able to use the opportunity to understand Dawn Society’s internal structure thoroughly.
Without a doubt, that was the most efficient route for him to recover his memories.
“Even so...” Ji Qing muttered weakly, “Starting off at such an intense pace is really making things difficult for me...”
The ease of the individual competition had already become a thing of the past. What remained before him now were two enormous problems.
Ji Qing planned to return to school, exchange for some items in the Pure White Space, and investigate where the World Book was being kept. If he stayed away from school for too long, it would look highly suspicious when the school investigated him later.
The bronze mirror was quite safe in the Pure White Space.
With that thought, Ji Qing put on the baseball cap and face mask he had worn when leaving school and set off in the direction of the academy. Along the way, he was careful not to let anyone notice his figure.
Only after he had reached an area a few kilometers from the school did Ji Qing finally lower his guard.
At that moment, he spotted a café he had visited before, and his footsteps suddenly paused. Ji Qing remembered that the cakes at this café were quite good. He was too lazy to go to the cafeteria now anyway, so he might as well get something as a late-night snack.
So Ji Qing walked into the cake shop.
But to his surprise, Shao Huayu was sitting inside. He was seated by the left-side window of the café, gazing out at the scenery with a melancholy expression.
There was a slice of strawberry cake set neatly on the table in front of him.
Ji Qing’s first instinct was to turn around and leave, but leaving now would too easily alert the enemy. Ji Qing was certain that from the direction Shao Huayu was currently facing, he would not be able to see the figure of him approaching, but he could not be sure Shao Huayu would not suddenly turn his head.
After thinking it over from every angle, Ji Qing helplessly stepped forward and greeted him. “Good evening, classmate Shao. This is the first time we’ve met outside the school, isn’t it?”
“Why are you still out so late?”
Even though I really don’t want to see you at all, Ji Qing silently added in his heart. But his Class S persona had already been established too clearly. If someone who usually greeted people on sight failed to greet him this one time, it would be strange.
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” Shao Huayu turned his head at once.
His golden, brilliantly radiant eyes fixed on Ji Qing with an unreadable light in them. Then, in a rigid and deliberate tone, he repeated, “Good evening, classmate Ji. I would very much like to ask what it felt like to snatch away both my right-hand men.”
Oh, so this was why he was sitting here brooding by himself?
A playful smile tugged at the corners of Ji Qing’s mouth. “Didn’t I still leave you Zhou Que?”
“Do you think he qualifies as one of my right-hand men?”
“Of course... not really.” Ji Qing almost failed to suppress his smile, but in the end he managed to hold it back as he explained, “Actually, at first I only wanted to poach You Xingluo. It was You Xingluo who volunteered to poach Liu Mu as well.”
Shao Huayu fell silent after hearing that.
So Ji Qing blinked at him with an innocent expression. Just as he was about to slip away, Shao Huayu asked again in a dark tone, “But why did you stab me in the back?”
Because it was interesting, Ji Qing thought.
But he could not possibly say that out loud. Ji Qing knew very well that the moment he said such a thing, he would end up with a moody and unpredictable Shao Huayu on his hands. That would not be good for the unity of Class S.
It was time to think of a new excuse.
Blaming that smiling prophet who had gone around poaching people seemed like a pretty good idea, right?