Chapter 746: To Tell the Truth

Chapter 746: To Tell the Truth

“It is a done deal for the Ocean River Union to be created. We’ll be under the joint leadership of Qilin and Surnamed Li from now on...”

Zhong He scoffed. “Ha, joint leadership. What a nice way to put it. Madam Li will sooner or later become a puppet.”

“Enough with the whining, Zhong He. I’ve grown tired of it.” Colorless remained unfazed. “Are you going or staying? Just give me the answers.”

“And you?” Zhong He met Colorless’ eyes and asked instead.

“I’ll stay.”

“Why?” Zhong He didn’t understand her.

“I have my reasons.”

“Tell us so that we can have some frame of reference.” Zhong He smiled.

Colorless’ expression darkened. “I don’t want to.”

“Sister Colorless.” Liao Liao chimed in. “May I ask you something?”

Colorless nodded. “Go ahead.”

“What happened at the Starcatching Pavilion bothered me. The Nine Scions had been hiding so well that the Qilin Guild never found them. As soon as Chen Ying joined the Nine Scions with her people, though, the Nine Scions’ hideout was spotted. That’s too great a coincidence, right?”

“Stop playing dumb, Liao Liao.” Zhong He snorted. “It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Yeah, it’s not. Then there’s only one explanation—Sister Ying’s a double agent. She joined the Nine Scions and somehow told Madam Li where the hideout was. Then Madam Li told the Qilin Guild, allowing them to ambush the Nine Scions.”

“But why would Chen Ying do that?” Zhong He narrowed his eyes. “There’s no bad blood between the Hundred Rivers Union and the Nine Scions. In my opinion, the Nine Scions served as a check and balance for the Qilin Guild, which would be a good thing for the Union.”

Colorless’ face darkened. She avoided his gaze.

“I think the same.” Liao Liao turned to Colorless, speaking with a hint of inquiry. “And don’t you think there were things that didn’t add up?”

Zhong He knew that Liao Liao must have identified something. He played along. “What didn’t add up?”

“If Sister Ying were a spy Madam Li sent to the Nine Scions, I would consider her shooting Madam Li and taking the Rune Circuits as the necessary evils to make things more convincing. But why would she bring so many people with her? Many on the third team were killed, and even Little Tian...”

Liao Liao’s gaze turned melancholy. She couldn’t bear to finish her sentence. “Sister Ying would sacrifice herself for a mission, but never Little Tian.”

“True.” Zhong He nodded. “Little Tian was everything to Sister Ying.”

“Thus, I believe Sister Ying didn’t expose the Nine Scions’ hideout. But who else could it be? It seems that Zhang Wei and Yanyan are the only third team members to have survived. At least there are no traces of them having died on the site. They were even less likely to be responsible for that...”

“It’s as if I suddenly found out that the food I’d been eating for over a decade was made of cockroaches, but I have no choice but to keep eating it. There’s no alternative.”

“The civil war is a great vortex that has already swept all of us in. None may stay on the sidelines, and nowhere is entirely safe.”

“I stay because I must take care of my people to the best of my ability. If Gao Yang is the Malediction, he’ll be the enemy of all humanity, and I’ll do what I have to do then.”

“I’m not running away. I’m going to fight til the last second, til I’m out of this damn place or killed here.”

Her words calmed Zhong He down somewhat. He sat back down.

“That’s it for me. Tell me if you’re leaving or staying,” said Colorless. “It’s my duty.”

Liao Liao slowly looked up, hesitant. “I’ll probably...stay. However, I want to resign as a team leader. I’m never leader material to begin with, and I’m scared of dying. I want to return to the intelligence department or the back office. If that’s possible, I’ll stay.”

Colorless nodded. “I respect your choice, but I don’t have a say in that. You should talk to Surnamed Li about it.”

Liao Liao nodded.

Colorless turned to Zhong He. “Do you have an answer now? Or are you going to lose your temper yet again?”

Zhong He didn’t say anything for quite a while, his head lowered. Then he stood up with his hands in his pockets, looking like his usual unserious self. “I’m tired. Let the world fall apart. I don’t care. You do you. I’m resigning and going unaffiliated.”

“Alright.” Colorless didn’t care much. “Remember to write a resignation letter and turn over your work.”

“I know.” Zhong He kicked the door open.

...

Multi-purpose training ground, underground base of Hundred Rivers Union, five o’clock in the afternoon.

The whole sixth team gathered in the judo room, including Zhong He, the team leader, Lying Wood, the deputy leader, and Harvest Song, Quiet Book, Sunny, Cold Cicada, Muzitu, Void, Deep Earth, Tall Sky, and Yellow Lotus.

It was their weekly melee sparring session in the judo room. The rules were simple: all hand-to-hand combat moves were allowed, but no Talent or weapons should be used. A moderate degree of injury was acceptable. No critically injuring or killing the opponent. Whoever knocked the other down to the floor—outside of voluntarily going down for a roll, of course—or made the other surrender would be the victor.

It was a training Goldthread had set up to improve everyone’s physical strength and ability to survive.

They drew lots to determine the matchups. The winner went on to the next round until the final.

In the past, the semi-finals were always between Goldthread, Zhong He, Harvest Song, and Yellow Lotus.

Now that Goldthread was dead—even though his body was still occupied by Dust—and Zhong He pulled out of the game to make the number even, the final was unsurprisingly between Harvest Song and Yellow Lotus.

The two young women each wore a judo uniform, barefooted. They maintained a distance as they faced each other.