Chapter 169 - Li Ling Is Using Cheat Codes?

Li Ling smiled as he nodded in understanding before questioning, "It may sound ridiculous, but you plan on killing her. Don't you think that's even more ridiculous?" 

Leyah scoffed as she heard this, "I'm robbing her of her everything! Do you think I'll let her go just because you said so? We have been planning this for months! We've already dug up her grave, all we need to do is throw in her body now." 

"..." Zhihao couldn't help but think: You really planned everything, didn't you? 

"Wrong," Li Ling interjected, "You think these two fake captains were the only thing she had up her sleeve?"

All eyes turned to Rei who simply stayed there with an indecipherable expression on her face. 

Leyah looked to be a bit confused as she asked, "What do you mean?" 

Li Ling smirked as he pointed at Rei, "She's a lot smarter than you might think." 

Leyah turned her head to look at the girl who didn't seem to have a reaction to Li Ling's words.. 

Li Ling, "Captain Leyah, remember when you told us about the true leader of Utopia? Since when did she have a sister?" 

"..." Leyah was even more confused and even Zhihao seemed to be confused as he heard this. 

Leyah seemed to be seriously thinking about the answer but every time she opened her mouth to voice it out, she closed it again like a fish. 

"You can't remember, can you?" Li Ling asked in a manner that wasn't really questioning but was rather informing them of this fact, "It's because she doesn't want you to think." 

Leyah's eyebrows furrowed up as she tried to think about it harder and the more time passed, the more complicated her face became. 

Li Ling, "The leader had no sister." 

It seemed to have struck down on Leyah like a bolt of lightning. 

"And do you remember how Laura died?" 

Leyah was silent once again as she heard this. 

Zhihao felt as if he was suddenly understanding something and at the same time, it also sounded like all the previous clues and information they had collected was thoroughly a waste. 

"It was you who said it, don't you remember?" Li Ling asked but before Leyah could answer, he continued, "You said that the first leader of Utopia was Laura and her own sister killed her for that position, however, Laura never had a sister nor did she have a funeral. But you probably never questioned any of this because Rei didn't want you to." 

Leyah glared at Rei as she heard this and finally, there was a reaction from Rei. The girl simply chuckled lowly, looking up to face Li Ling as she asked, "How did you see through it? Or rather... When did you see through it?" 

Even Zhihao was a bit curious to know about the answer to this question, but since he already knew Li Ling was working in Omelas, he guessed such small information to be naturally given to him like cheat codes only available to the game developers or something of the sort. 

Li Ling, "You changed forms in front of us, do you not remember?" 

"..." 

"You approached us with another body and face, but as soon as we entered Utopia, you changed your entire appearance and displayed your 'Rei' form," Li Ling continued and it was only now that Zhihao had realized that this was also a hint given to them. 

Zhihao had originally overlooked this because he thought that this was nothing more than the girl flexing some latest technology. 

"It made me think: Could this one also be a fake appearance?" Li Ling added with a nod as if he was proud of himself, even though the original reason he had noticed all this was because he already knew the storyline, "Then you asked us to enjoy our time in Utopia, run around and explore. If you planned to let us roam free, why would you bother bringing us here where the food is already insufficient and oxygen is depleting?" 

The smile on Rei's face seemed to deepen with every sentence Li Ling spoke. 

"Then the people here were also weird. Everyone was always smiling and acting like sugar-coated idiots. Actually, let me rephrase that. They looked as if they were all on some kind of drug." 

"It's Utopia, of course, they'd be happy here!" Rei defended herself. 

"No!" Li Ling retorted, "Their happiness was weird. Leyah is a perfect example of this." 

"What do you mean?" Leyah asked with a dark expression. 

Li Ling smiled as he looked at her, "Let me ask you, where do you live?" 

"Eh? Of course, I live in... Where was it again? Huh..." She looked to be having an existential crisis and the cause of it all was Li Ling and his questions.

"You don't remember," Li Ling answered for her, "Then let me ask you another question. You said you planned this entire thing, but where? Where were you staying when you were planning and discussing it with your soldiers? And where did you get your soldiers from?" 

"..." Leyah was silent because she didn't have an answer to even one of those questions. Her whole mind was blank as if her memories were all messed up with blank fragments that were hidden behind made-up fragments of fake memories. 

"What about your relationship with Rei? How come you know her before this and she knows you? I just happened to have heard how you both attacked each other with your words just a few minutes ago. Rei sounded like she knew exactly what your plan was." 

At this moment, Rei had her head down as she started laughing, her voice growing louder and louder as the laughter seemed to turn even crazier, "Captain Liv, I greatly underestimated you!" 

Li Ling nodded as he agreed to her, "You did." 

"..." 

"Laura," Li Ling smiled as he looked at Rei and called her using the name of the supposed first leader of Utopia, "You created Utopia, a paradise for all the refugees, but how could anyone listen to you and enjoy themselves here? How could you be sure that they won't rebel against you just like they did with the previous government of Metropolis?" 

Rei shook her arms once and the soldiers that were restraining her suddenly let go of her hand and let her go. 

"You filled Utopia with drugs. The people didn't even need to take it or consent to it. All they needed to do was stay in Utopia for a few hours and the drug in the air would start to mess with their brains." 

Rei stood up and rubbed her wrist that had turned slightly red with a light bruise. 

"But someone found out what you did. 'Rei' found out what you did. She probably built a rebellion against you so you killed her and took her identity instead. You blamed 'her' for killing Laura and taking the leader's position when it was really just you killing her and fooling the people into thinking what you wanted them to think." 

Zhihao frowned as he heard this. He hadn't seen any of this coming. 

Rei chuckled as she stepped closer to Li Ling, "You're right. I'm Laura, the maker, and leader of Utopia." 

"But that wasn't all, was it?" As soon as Li Ling had said this, the earth once again began to shake with another earthquake. 

The earthquake made Rei stop in her tracks and only after it had stopped did she continue taking calm strides towards them. 

"But then the ground began to shake one day. You knew that Utopia had become unsafe. You knew that the war was coming soon, and as the leader, you would need to lead it, but why would you do that? Leading a war meant putting your life at stake and you were never going to do that. For a person who values their life so much, you would never want to risk it for unknown people." 

"And hence, Leyah came into the equation," It was Rei who continued after Li Ling, "A girl with no memories. I gave her a family, a personality, and a mission. She became the perfect pawn I had wanted her to be. You're right. I don't want to go and become a leader in this war. That's her purpose, not mine. She's supposed to overthrow me and lead everyone into the war, to their deaths and when the whole thing is over, she disappears just like you did. Once again, I would come out and create a new Utopia that is built on her failure as a leader." 

Li Ling suddenly equipped his gun and aimed it at the approaching Laura who was smiling creepily. 

"But so what if you know? You're still going to die today and I'll erase 'today' from our dear Leyah's brain." Rei added. 

Leyah gulped as she looked at her rebellion soldiers and ordered them, "Kill her!" 

Her eyes frantically looked around at the soldiers that dare not move even an inch as they heard her order. 

Li Ling smiled brightly as he pulled the trigger and shot Laura's leg, "You think you're grown enough to kill me, kid?"