[Vol. 1] Chapter 14 - Thirty Points of Hatred
Lin Zheng's entire body froze in place, unable to move so much as a finger. Not a single cell in his body obeyed his command, leaving him arrested mid-action, which forced him to buckle down onto his knees.
Feng Yue certainly had not missed the sudden shift in Xiaolan's demeanor. After uttering "save," the fool had changed all at once, as though…
she knew.
An unpredictable variable, a factor she ought to eliminate without hesitation—yet still of some use. Ah… how vexing.
A sharp, high-pitched mental scream pierced her thoughts:
(This is insane! Ah ah ah ah! I was too focused on fighting just now! This devilhead… she won't kill me, right? Please!)
(Oh great ancestor, I beg you to spare this dog life of mine.)
Xiaolan prayed desperately. She'd bought all kinds of Feng Yue merchandise in her past life, she was indeed a fan, but that didn't mean she'd lost her sense of self-preservation.
(…this devil will stop at nothing to get what she wants.)
That's right, Feng Yue mused. This woman… she acts as if she knows me.
And… she knew what her opponent's next move would be.
An aggressive, wild scent assailed Xiaolan's senses. Though unfamiliar with its exact nature, she knew instinctively it came from Feng Yue. A single word surfaced in her mind: red spider lilies.
Xiaolan trembled. Every nerve in her body screamed at her to flee, yet she stood frozen in place. It wasn't Feng Yue's direct influence holding her, she wasn't even the target, but the sheer aura of power made dread coil cold in her stomach.
Then came a voice, mellow yet unnervingly flat.
"He lost," Feng Yue observed, as if commenting on the weather. Her gaze settled on Xiaolan, a trace of something deliberate in its stillness. "And you won."
She gestured idly toward the kneeling, humiliated Lin Zheng, her voice deceptively light.
"Tell me."
The scent of spider lilies, a scent Xiaolan had never smelled in real life before but which was now unnervingly vivid, thickened in the air around them.
"This man came for your life today, and he will come again. A threat, once rooted, always grows back."
Her gaze fixed on Xiaolan, deep and unblinking.
"So, I give you a choice. A single sentence. What do you wish me to do with him?"
Xiaolan trembled. If anyone else asked this question, it might seem straightforward. But nothing was straightforward with a madwoman, a devil, a hysterical beast.
The game was named Crimson Dynasty for a reason...in the original ending, it was Feng Yue's hand that painted a dynasty in blood.
Feng Yue still wore that charming, almost benevolent smile, as though they were discussing the weather. Xiaolan wished they were.
"Enlighten me," Feng Yue hummed, her tone flat and dry.
Xiaolan gulped, telling herself to stay calm. Calm down. (I can load back with just 100 Charge points. Only one try. One safety net.) She breathed out slowly, steadily.
(In the game, Feng Yue is full of contradictions. She can be straightforward and subtle, covert and overt, all at once. Complicated. Conflicting. That's why…)
(I love her.)
That mere thought seemed to deepen the flicker of intrigue in Feng Yue's gaze. This unpredictable variable had just started an entirely new internal monologue. She noted it mentally: This one has rich thoughts.
(No answers could satisfy Feng Yue and everything she does and says are all layered. So what is a satisfactory answer?)
Xiaolan gathered her thoughts. In that suspended moment, she centered herself and spoke...
"The choice isn't whether to spare him or break him, it's whether I am worth more to you whole than he is broken."
"Your answer…" Feng Yue drew out the words, her gaze pinned on Xiaolan. A faint smile touched her lips. "Failed."
No further explanation is needed. She had failed, truly, by trying to guess what might satisfy Feng Yue.
There is nothing Feng Yue detests more than those who search for the answer they think she wants to hear.
"Load," Xiaolan utters, just as Feng Yue's sword cuts her in two.
[Charge points -100]
[Charge points: 26]
Under Feng Yue's gaze, Xiaolan's expression sharpens into one of quiet determination.
(I'll try again.)
[Charge points +5]
[Charge points: 31]
How will you try again? For a fleeting moment, curiosity flickers within Feng Yue before it retreats, sealed away once more. She merely stares at Xiaolan's bisected form, then lets out a soft, dismissive snort.
Back to that familiar point, where Lin Zheng wiped the dirt from his face. With those same movements, he was about to lunge, but he was immediately countered.
Just as he crouched for maximum power, shifting his balance for advantage, Xiaolan lunged and kicked him in the crotch.
Truly, an underhanded tactic.
Everything ended with that kick to his divine rod. Though the higher one's cultivation, the harder procreation became… it was still a sensitive area.
It was his foundation pillar! His future children! His descendants!
He felt shame and indignation, but Xiaolan didn't give him time. She drove her knee up into his unprotected stomach.
Now, back to the present, with the same situation and the same question from Feng Yue…
(She'll ask me, "What do you wish me to do with him?") Xiaolan's thoughts overlapped perfectly with Feng Yue's question.
"So, I give you a choice. A single sentence. What do you wish me to do with him?" Her gaze fixed on Xiaolan, deep and unblinking.
[Charge points +19]
[Current charge points: 50]
Xiaolan swallowed hard. The words came out plain, her voice low but clear in the heavy air.
"Don't kill him."
A beat of silence passed, thick with the phantom scent of spider lilies. Feng Yue's head tilted, just a fraction. Xiaolan held her gaze, steady, and continued.
"Let him hate me. Let him come for me. His grudge… you can use it. To test me. To see what I'm worth to you."
Feng Yue did not answer.
Everything fell into dead silence, so utterly quiet it was as though the entire world awaited her judgment. Xiaolan's voice grew softer, but no less clear.
"If I don't meet your expectations… my fate is yours to decide."
(You can kill me.)
The words rang with a terrible sincerity. And Feng Yue, who could hear the unspoken thought that followed, felt a spark of genuine intrigue flare within her.
She had confirmed it herself now. This woman was aware, deeply aware, of who and what she was. The realization was… thrilling.
Xiaolan's confidence was quiet, born from the fact that her answer had not been met with immediate violence. She pressed forward with pure, unvarnished honesty.
She wasn't lying. Her fate was Feng Yue's to decide, did she truly have any choice in the matter? Feng Yue held that power regardless, she was merely stating it plainly.
She was being utterly, dangerously sincere…
[Charge points +50]
[Current charge points: 100]
Xiaolan licked her lips, though only in her mind.
Feng Yue chuckled lightly. "Has anyone ever told you that you overthink such simple questions? I was merely asking how you'd prefer to let him off."
She turned a lazy gaze toward the kneeling Lin Zheng. "You heard her, didn't you? You have her… consent. Pursue her, then."
Coming from Feng Yue's lips, she twisted the tense atmosphere into something unnervingly ambiguous. It choked the air from Xiaolan's lungs, who screamed bitterly in her mind.
(No! Wait! Why is this turning so weird?! She didn't even ask for my permission! Lin Zheng is a man—a man!)
This, in turn, was heard by Feng Yue. A faint, almost imperceptible tilt touched the corner of her mouth like a crack in the porcelain of her composure.
Her eyes, which had been pools of still, dark water, now held a glint: the glint of a predator who has spotted something far more interesting than prey.
"Your reward," she hummed, her voice dry as bone dust.
With a flick of her hand, the talisman fastened to Lin Zheng's wrist was ripped free...pulled like a strip of tape from skin. It flew through the air and landed neatly in Xiaolan's open palms.
In the same sequence of motion, Feng Yue vanished from her spot.
At that moment, the pressure on Lin Zheng released. He screamed, his voice raw with hatred that seemed to solidify in the air.
"Xiao! Lan! You wretched! I won't let you—"
Before he could finish, his entire body faded, dissolving into motes of light before disappearing completely from the trial grounds
—teleported out and marked as disqualified for losing his talisman.
Xiaolan stood utterly numb, exhausted, and listless. Like a puppet with its strings cut, her knees buckled and she sank to the ground.
The talisman on her wrist shimmered, updating her score:
[Trial Points: 30]
She stared at the number, mind blank. Lin Zheng must have worked hard, eliminating either beasts or other participants… a full 25 points earned through combat.
Added to the 5 points Bai Yu had originally given her, it meant Lin Zheng had gathered exactly 25 points himself...now all hers.