Zhengwei Jing still kept the appearance he had when he was alive.
His whole body's clothes had been soaked with blood and rain, and the burlap used to cushion him was already drenched through;
The steel-toed boots were caked with mud, his legs bore multiple wounds, and what had started out as a decent pair of riding pants had nearly turned into a pair of holey rags;
The luxurious shirt on his upper body was now just scraps of filthy, tattered cloth, the exposed skin underneath was raw and bloody, covered with grime;
His face was crisscrossed with blood, half an ear was gone, and several scars ran from his eyes to the corners of his mouth. Those grooves seemed like someone had dug out flesh with a chisel on his face, and his throat had completely dried up.
Leyu almost blurted out, "Damn, they really went to town on him."
Back when he was getting beaten up, although he had felt like he was about to become a filthy rag himself, there hadn't been much actual feeling about it. "It was like playing an RPG from a first-person perspective: you'd feel the controller rumble, see the red flash on the screen, your HP bar plummeting, and know you were about to die—but you'd never really know just how bad you looked."
"Maybe it was because that was his own corpse, or maybe because Leyu was an utterly indifferent, hedonistic sort of man—either way, the sight of Zhengwei Jing's body was intensely jarring, but he didn't feel afraid. In fact, he had the urge to get closer and study it."
"Yeah," Qin Yueshi said quietly as she stepped into the room, crouching down to inspect Zhengwei Jing's dead face, "you really didn't hold back." She added, "He died in a way nastier than Zhengwu Jing did."
Qin Yueshi.
Zhengwu Jing's fiancée.
Because Le Yin Qin had laid the groundwork in advance with her, she had completely buried Zhengwu Jing's last chance of escape, and gave Jing Qingfu the opportunity to completely finish the job.
Whether in the past or the present, Leyu had always been both her enemy and her family.
"Maybe it was Le Yin Qin's way of thinking tainting him, or maybe it was just Leyu's own curiosity," he asked, "I killed Zhengwei Jing, so that means I've avenged at least half of our grudge. Happy now?"
She didn't answer.
Leyu stepped into the room, catching a faint whiff of that unique corpse smell. Zhengwei Jing's injuries had already been over the top to begin with, his guts and bones and flesh almost all exposed, and with the summer heat, he was already starting to rot.
"Give it a few more days and this corpse would become a perfect maggot buffet, but Leyu felt nothing about it—he still remembered his own body, the one Qian Yuliu killed, dumped in some dark alley. At this point it was probably part of the local ecosystem."
Leyu turned to his younger brother, "Why did you bring his corpse back, too?"
"The people who went to pick you up saw you lying next to him, so they took both of you with them," Qin Yueyang said, "They recognized Zhengwei Jing and figured maybe his corpse could still be useful in your hands."
"It's not like I can perform Edo Tensei," Leyu thought, "what use could it be…?" But he had to admit he was grateful to Le Yin Qin's subordinates. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to retrieve the Saint's Relic or his phone.
Leyu squatted down and pressed [E] to loot Zhengwei Jing's corpse, taking off the iron wristband, reaching into his coat to dig out a phone. Surprising—his phone was totally undamaged. Le Yin Qin's attack hadn't touched it, but that also meant the phone hadn't blocked any blows for him, either.
Qin Yueshi watched her brother loot a corpse in silence, then suddenly asked, "Why did you do all this?"
"Hm?"
"You turned on Zhengwu Jing for Zhengwei Jing's power before, but now what—why betray Zhengwei Jing?"
Leyu hesitated a moment. "In this world, there aren't any eternal enemies or eternal friends, just eternal interests."
"Youth Daily, Issue 4, Knowledge Section on page 5—Churchill said that." Qin Yueshi replied, "So, you betrayed two people who trusted you, just for your own self-interest?"
"Not that I really believe they trusted me… but yeah. You're right."
"Then was what you gained worth what you paid for it?"
Leyu gave a smile.
"What do you want to hear? That scheming look if I say it was worth it? Or a remorseful face if I say it wasn't?"
"Youth Daily, Issue 5, Knowledge Section on page 4—Kira Yoshikage said, 'Don't answer a question with a question.'" Qin Yueshi lowered her eyes and said softly, "Sometimes avoiding the question is an answer in itself."
"Wow, I run into a hardcore Youth Daily fan and every quote is literally a meme I posted…," Leyu marveled, "Right when I was thinking, 'You dare use my own magic against me,' Qin Yueshi said again, "You just asked me if I was happy that Zhengwei Jing's dead."
"I'm not happy."
"While you had me locked up, my favorite thing to read was Youth Daily. From it, I saw Zhengwei Jing's ambition and hope, his drive and big dreams. I knew what he was after, and that he nearly made it."
"Even if I hated him, I have to admit—he was on a path against the gods, a long and rough road, a road countless people dream of."
"Both he and Zhengwu died way too young, and way too unjustly."
Leyu let out a small laugh, like he was intentionally stoking the fire, and said, "Anyone who does great things has calamity in store. If they can't get through their trouble, maybe that's just fate."
Qin Yueshi didn't get mad, just pointed at Zhengwei Jing's face. "Why did he have a smile on his face when he died?"
Leyu looked over—creepy as Zhengwei Jing looked, his mouth actually was smiling, and that only made his ruined face even more grotesque.
"That was your brother's last kindness," Leyu said honestly, "Right before he died, Zhengwei Jing nearly managed to do your brother in too. But at the last moment, your brother tricked Zhengwei Jing into thinking they'd both die together. So Zhengwei Jing finally relaxed and died in peace…"
Qin Yueshi said, "I don't think so."
"Huh?" Leyu was a little lost.
"You know the victim and the killer better than anyone? What are you, omniscient?"
"Zhengwei Jing wasn't actually mad about the workers' uprising. He was, if anything, pleased." Qin Yueshi spoke softly, "He started the rumors, worked in the shadows, even limited the Silver Bloods, all so that the lower classes would awaken themselves, take back the hot blood they'd lost over centuries, and remember that rebellion is in their blood."
"Right before he died, he must've realized… Though he couldn't see Dongyang's future, he believed others wouldn't stop, that his path would go on, the cause would survive, and if new exploiters appeared in Dongyang's future, the people would overthrow them, too."
"Future Echoes, Chapter 5—Liu Yu saw a line in the textbook—"
"'All men are born equal, but not meant for chains.'"
"He believed that someday Dongyang would hold that line to be self-evident."
"Zhengwei Jing knew he'd done what he had to do, the rest could be left to others who believed the same. That's why he could die calm and in peace."
Qin Yueshi looked at Leyu. "You're always going on about 'you can't fight fate,' but I think there's a quote from Youth Daily that suits you better."
"Do good, and don't ask about the future."
"You know what that means?" Leyu curled up one corner of his mouth, sneering, "It means you do a good deed, and you can kiss your future goodbye. Don't ask, because there isn't one—look at Zhengwei Jing. Best proof around."
Qin Yueshi still didn't get angry. She stood up, calm, and started to leave. Leyu suddenly grabbed a memory from Le Yin Qin's mind and said, "Once we're in Yanjing, if you want, I could try to get you admitted back in to the Royal Academy for your studies."
"Is this another mission?"
"It's just your brother being kind, letting you meet some kids your age, and get your mind off things."
Qin Yueshi pointed at Zhengwei Jing. "After seeing what happened to him, you really think I'd dare accept your so-called 'kindness'?"
Leyu had expected this refusal from Qin Yueshi. He'd just finished cross-examining her, now he was playing the caring brother—nice cop, bad cop, carrying both faces like some Pokémon trainer. Qin Yueshi was no low-IQ Pokémon: obviously she wouldn't just roll over and accept instructions.
After Qin Yueshi left, Qin Yueyang said, "Give it a bit longer, once our sister calms down, bro, don't stress it. Family doesn't hold grudges overnight."
Leyu shot Qin Yueyang a confused look and saw his brother actually meant it. Immediately, Leyu mentally downgraded him from SR to R—"You just took revenge for an old grudge, kid. You got any business talking about forgiveness?"
He waved his hand, "Go on, get out. I want to talk to Zhengwei Jing for a bit."
Qin Yueyang nodded, handed Leyu a bottle of liquor, and quietly shut the door as he left.
Leyu twisted off the cap—turned out to be bright red tomato juice. He took a gulp and realized it was tomato juice mixed with human blood—maybe it was the tomato, but it actually tasted pretty good. Sweet and sour, Leyu rated it just below honey Five-Flower Tea.
He sat next to the corpse. Suddenly, all around him grew quiet, sunlight outside blocked by clouds, the whole place plunged into gloom.
With the door closed, the stench of death got thicker and thicker, the cramped boat cabin feeling more and more like a coffin.
"Good thing you got brought along, too,"
"Because I wouldn't want Qing Lan seeing you like this."
"Qian Yuliu's body, Yin Yinyin's, even my own—I never got to take a close look at any of 'em. This time I get an eyeful, but man, it really is rank."
"Next time I die, I better not go out with a smile. See what a mess it caused—everybody's reading into it."
"I finally get why authors hate reading comprehension tests."
"She actually found so much meaning in a dying smile."
"You hear all that stuff she said? Just about turned you, a regular guy, into a Saint. Unreal—she and Le Yin Qin really are siblings, that uncanny eye for things runs in the family."
"That 'do good, don't ask about the future' crap again."
"Just listening from the sidelines made me wanna die all over again from embarrassment."
"Honestly, honestly…"
Leyu covered his eyes, lips twitching upward—maybe laughing, maybe crying.
"…That really was what I thought, though."