Chapter 7: 7

After testing his powers for the first time, Ouyang Ye was incredibly enlivened. His eyes flickered continuously between the wrecked—now a mere piece of junk—training robot and the sizable hole in the wall, repeatedly inquiring, “did I do this? Did I really do this? That’s so fucking awesome! Shao Qi, give me that sword, I wanna try again! I didn’t even get enough of this after hitting it two times!”

“If you want to continue having fun, get every single thing I told you and do it fast,” said Qi Ze, deadpan. “Then I’ll give you the sword and you’ll be able to chop everything as you please.”

“Just you wait, I’ll contact someone immediately.” Ouyang Ye was itching to get in touch with every individual he had connections with, so that he could get his mitts on the requested supplies. Despite having little to no status in the Ouyang family, it was fortunate that his uncle was in charge of the biggest, most thriving black market exchange on Neptune; therefore, the process of coming into possession of such items was a trifling matter.

His reddened cheeks, sparkling eyes and trembling fingers, as he tapped on the keyboard, were all proof of his intense ebullience that he was desperately attempting to conceal.

At last, Yan Junyu snapped back to reality after witnessing the staggering scene, and tramped towards Ouyang Ye. However, he halted in his steps as he saw him selling off his properties, receiving his start-up fund that his late mother had set up for him in advance; then, he borrowed a whopping amount of money from his uncle, finally managing to scrape together the star coins to purchase military supplies.

He was willing to risk everything to seize such an opportunity. Yet, if someone else were to confront Qi Ze, the result might have been entirely different. That very person would never help Qi Ze cover up the crime of stealing the cadaver, nor would they be convinced by his ‘claptrap’. They would be like him, choosing to make what seemed to be the most beneficial and straightforward choice—killing for the purpose of silencing.

Hence, they’d either realize they were cruelly deluded or they’d accept as true this so-called ‘miracle’.

Yan Junyu kneaded his forehead, frowning at Ouyang Ye who was laughing foolishly, despite having just lost his fortune. In a trice, he recalled an old saying—fortune favors fools1—as was anticipated, provided that Qi Ze was a man of his word and would actually trade the weapons in exchange for the supplies.

“Hold your horses. If Qi Ze uses the elemental weapons so you can swallow the bait, and he eventually scams you, then it’s really likely that you will lose both your fortune and your life. The deal may look promising and tempting, but this person definitely has ill intentions. Open your eyes and assess the situation already,” Yan Junyu, who had been subjected to a great deal of ordeals in the past, never eschewed the use of vile, sordid and gory methods to rid himself of any enemies. It was as natural as breathing for him to suspect anyone now.

One moment he was the perfect embodiment of justice, yet if the interests of his family or the empire were at stake, the next he could instantaneously metamorphose into a literal God of Murder.

He was also disinclined to regard a youngling as ill-natured, but the more he watched him, the less he could understand Qi Ze. When he thought he finally saw through his deceptions, there’d always be another, bigger mystery, waiting to be deciphered.

The unknown was harrowing to think about, but Yan Junyu’s vocabulary2 lacked the word “dread”, “creepy”3 being somewhat close to it. He had to acknowledge that, for he scorned a young man who had just turned eighteen, he was bound to use unadulterated rancor to speculate on the other party’s behavior patterns. He made Ouyang Ye aware repeatedly that he should not make the mistake of evaluating people on the basis of their appearance.

Belittling the enemy was a big no-no. Especially when Qi Ze was the enemy in question—he was a deceitful and cunning foe.

Alas, Ouyang Ye was completely oblivious to Yan Junyu’s cause for concern. Without delay, he had already sold most of his worldly goods, appearing to be quite elated, as if he had won the jackpot.

Qi Ze availed himself of the crushed training robot to make it into a makeshift stool and seated himself on it leisurely. He kept mum until Ouyang Ye was close enough to him. “I think we should be able to restore a little bit of trust between us now, right?”

“B-b-believe, I believe in you as much as I believe in God!” Ouyang Ye cried out with emotion.

“You’re exaggerating.” Having arrived in the Black Eye Galaxy more than two years ago, Qi Ze naturally recognized who God was. After stroking the goose bumps covering the back of his hand, he continued, “since you believe in me that much, you should bring out Yan Junyu’s corpse.”

“As expected, you still desperately want my body,” Yan Junyu flashed an unfriendly smile.

Ouyang Ye almost went to start the space button, but stopped at the last second and hesitantly said, “Shao Qi, are you regretting your decision? Do you want to take his body back?”

“No, I’m just going to take a glance at it,” explained Qi Ze as he waved his hand lazily.

Ouyang Ye gritted his teeth and contemplated for a long time before begrudgingly agreeing, “just take a look and then give it back at once! Shao Qi, be frank with me, are you actually a spy? What do you intend to do with that monstrous amount of military supplies?”

“Will you believe me already if I tell you I’m not a spy? Over the past two years, I’ve also observed you and I can say in all honesty that you’re not a good-for-nothing or some spoiled, rich kid, like it is rumored by the outsiders. Quite the opposite, you don’t shy away from undertaking any duties and you have a strong sense of responsibility, all without losing tact. Regardless of the advantages you’re presented with, you always have your own judgment in mind. You give in when you should give in, you pretend to be stupid when you should do so, and you never compromise when someone insists repeatedly. You never inquired about my origin, which is something that I truly appreciate. Therefore, I dare not fool you.”

Ouyang Ye’s watery eyes moistened even further at his words; he bowed his head and quietly wiped his tears. When everyone absolutely abhorred and even ridiculed him, only Shao Qi reached out to him and regarded him highly. He caught a glimpse of his feeble yet persevering self, hidden under the persona of a fop, and because of this, he was inclined to rely on Qi Ze.

With this in mind, he accessed his Interspatial Button, brought out the iced coffin, saying softly, “look to your heart’s content. Yan Junyu was unwilling to let you stare at him when he was well and breathing. But now, you can admire his body as much as you want.”

Yan Junyu had desperately hoped the youth would be more nimble-witted and not let himself be fooled by Qi Ze with no trouble, but he certainly didn’t anticipate that he would idiotically and wholeheartedly be convinced by only two or three sensational words4.

“Never compromise when someone insists repeatedly? Is this meant to represent you? Ouyang Ye, you should be glad that I’m no more, otherwise I would have expelled you from the Neptune Military Academy myself!” Yan Junyu was incandescent to the point of digging his nails into his palm to control himself; at any rate, he was incapable of stopping what was happening before him. Moments ago, when the bodyguards were close by, Qi Ze was secretly perturbed, entrusting the cadaver to Ouyang Ye promptly. Now, however, he wished to take it back. One could only blame Ouyang Ye for being too pea-brained, and Qi Ze for being too sagacious.

From within the iced coffin emerged wisps of frosty air, revealing the preserved corpse. Its blood-spattered face appeared to be less gory because of the low temperature. Qi Ze furrowed his brows, outwardly seeming glum.

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Ouyang Ye jumped to comfort him, “Shao Qi, don’t be sad. With your looks, you’ll find someone better than him in no time! You’re not really a carbon-based person, and as long as you leave the empire, find a broker operating in the black market to get a new identity and intelligent brain, you’ll be the rage at the market5 anywhere.”

“Where did you get that idea from?” Qi Ze’s eyes were glued on the pattern of the ice coffin.

“The first time we met I went berserk, yet you were still able to restrain me with one hand, so I thought with my knees6 it’s out of the question for you to be a carbon-based person.” Ouyang Ye’s cheeks reddened slightly, seemingly a bit ashamed.

The corner of Qi Ze’s lips turned up in a reticent smile and replied softly, “everything I’ve told you since we met is nothing but the truth. Because I can’t let you know my personal secrets, there’s no need to lead you on. What goes beyond question is that my genes are different from yours, and I’m not an alleged spy, as you say.”

Before Ouyang Ye could figure out the meaning of the phrase, Yan Junyu added coldly, “what are you trying to convey? Still yapping about having the means to give Ouyang Ye powers and also bringing the dead back to life? You stole my body without any ill intentions, but only to save me?”

Then, he stared steadily at the boy and ridiculed, “then wait until I come back to life.”

No matter whether he was the witness to an astonishing feat, he would never accept as true that the maimed body in front of him could recuperate and return to health. He was more yearning to live than anyone else; however, he refused to take the risk of being duped to believe in this far-fetched possibility, so his soul could retain its clear-headedness.

Coming to terms with the fact that he had passed away and looking at his remains was the cruelest and hardest thing to do, yet he was currently doing it. In spite of that, Qi Ze mentioned time and time again that he would bring him round, something that was not redemption, but torment. He had only one, final wish, and that was to be returned to his family, to rest in peace, and at long last, to be able to have his soul scattered without rueing any worldly matters.

“Would you please hand this back?” With every tick of the clock, his soul lost its clarity, signifying he was at the end of his rope. It was his first time beseeching someone, and most definitely his last.

Still and all, neither of them heard the request spoken by the soul. Ouyang Ye drew his shoulders in and stepped back two steps to keep away from the biting cold. Surprisingly, Qi Ze walked forward, took out a bead as black as pitch from his Interspatial Button and shoved it between the cadaver’s stiff lips.

“Shao Qi, what is this?” Ouyang Ye stretched his neck to peer at it.

“Soul Pearl7. Provided that Yan Junyu’s soul is still out there, it can always restore his energy. This Soul Pearl is damaged and won’t do its job for long. You have to get everything I need in a month.” Qi Ze mutely suspired, reassured as he noticed the Soul Pearl flickering faintly, strongly suggesting that Yan Junyu’s soul was unscathed.

“You need those things in order to save Yan Junyu?” Ouyang Ye finally came back to his senses.

“That’s right. Even though he rejected my confession, he saved my life, and for this reason I’m indebted to him. I’ll save him at any cost.” He owed him one, and karma would come and bite him right back if he did not pay him back for it.

Ouyang Ye was nonplussed and gave an utterance to his doubts, “Shao Qi, surely you must be jesting? Can you really restore someone to life?” After holding up his fingers and counting, he yelled out in discontent, “No way! I paid 160 million for my life, but I gotta spend more than a billion on Yan Junyu?! Why is he so much more expensive than me?”

The edges of Qi Ze’s mouth jerked slightly as he was about to gesture to the eldest son of the Ouyang family to store the iced coffin inside his Interspatial Button, responding stormily, “why? Because he saved me! How much do you think my life is worth?”

Ouyang Ye smooth-talked straight away, and answered shamelessly, “Shao Qi’s life cannot be measured with money! That’s too degrading…” They bickered as they cached the iced coffin and stepped out.

The overhead spotlights deactivated one by one as the motion sensor couldn’t detect any living being nearby anymore. After a considerable amount of time, a silhouette scintillating dim flashes of light materialized in the darkness. It was none other than Yan Junyu, his spirit more opaque and stronger than ever. When the Soul Pearl was stuffed in the mouth of the corpse, he suddenly felt a stream of gentle force flowing into his body, drawing him back from the brink of fading away.

“The soul’s been mended! How can such a thing be possible?” He murmured in a trance, incredulity written over his face.

1Foolish people have foolish blessings 傻人有傻福

2Literally translated as ‘life dictionary’ 人生字典 but it kinda didn’t make that much sense to me, so I changed it up a bit!

3恐惧 kǒng jù and 忌惮 jì dàn, the latter means ‘restraining (one’s) fear’, so it could be considered as an alternative, a softer? way of saying ‘fear/dread’. Therefore, ‘creepy’ it shall be!

4Meaningless words that are supposed to rouse emotion, sentiments, fervor.

5Popular (because of beautiful features), if it wasn’t obvious

6用膝盖想 it refers to immediately coming up with a fact, without thinking about it deeply and at length; kind of like a knee-jerk reflex.

7魂珠 hún zhū means spirit/soul bead/pearl. I was quite indecisive and didn’t know whether to leave it as its pinyin equivalent or translate it, and decided to leave it as Soul Pearl, since it sounds nicer than Soul Bead/Spirit Bead haha

*Note: I can’t recall if there were any mentions in previous chapters of a ‘black market’, but since there MIGHT be people who have no idea what it means, Google’s explanation will clear any confusion: an illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities.

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