Huai Shi complied, readily agreeable.
After those few overseers left, Ai Qing finally asked, "What happened today?"
"Sorry, I caused trouble again."
"Don't always apologize for other people's mistakes—"
The teenage girl rubbed her temples with displeasure and sighed. "To be honest, I don't care what you turned that group of societal trash into. As an employee of the Astronomical Society, the standard procedure when under attack even includes the option to kill, understand? Don't underestimate the privileges of the Astronomical Society. Even if you pulled out a gun and killed all of them, there would be no issue with the procedure; at most, you would face an internal demerit after going through the process. I'm just curious—what was your reason for doing this."
"Hmm?" Huai Shi was puzzled.
"Normally, you would run away, right?"
She said, "Pleading desperately, running away if you can't fight... Taking a direct confrontation is not your style."
"..."
Huai Shi was speechless. "Am I really such a coward in your eyes?"
"What do you think?"
"...Okay, I guess you're right." Huai Shi sighed and scratched his head, unsure of what to say. "If I have to say, I guess I was just angry? And without paying attention, things went a bit too far, and I ended up like this."
"Does it have anything to do with Old Yang's funeral?"
"..."
Huai Shi was stunned for a moment, then gave an awkward smile. "How could it?"
Ai Qing didn't speak, just looked at him as if waiting for him to continue. After a while, Huai Shi finally gave in.
"Okay... Maybe a little."
He looked down at the wounds and bandages on his body and sighed helplessly.
"I was scared."
"No matter how eloquently I spoke, when I was surrounded by a group of people in an alley with knives in their hands, threatening my life, I couldn't help but be scared. I always thought I was tough enough to not even fear death, but it wasn't until I saw a friend enter the cremation chamber that I realized not only was I afraid, I was terrified to death."
Huai Shi sighed. "After so many years of being a joyful idiot, it's suddenly not easy to be happy anymore, and I can't even continue being an idiot. But what else can I do? I can't even take care of my own life. Just by going out for a walk when I have nothing else to do, there are people from who knows where trying to take my life... Even if I am annoying, isn't that a bit too much?"
"Yeah."
Ai Qing nodded, as if in agreement, though it was unclear precisely what she was agreeing to—whether she found him annoying or the situation excessive.
Huai Shi gave a bitter smile, reached for the table, and pushed himself up, blood seeping through the bandages once again. This time he was really badly injured.
He then realized another bad habit developed after reading the records.
Dying on a whim in the records was convenient, but doing so recklessly in reality comes at a steep price.
Fighting one against seven sounded grand, but it's hardly possible to not get hurt when it's seven against one.
"Do you need a hand?" Ai Qing suddenly asked, seemingly hinting at something.
Huai Shi smiled and shook his head. "No need, I can manage on my own."
"Life has to be lived on one's own, right?"
He finally managed to stand up by himself.
He put on the coat hanging in the corner. The well-worn suit was still immaculate, covering the bloodstains. He looked harmless and mild-mannered again, just like his old self.
"Should I have the driver take you home?"
"I'll call a cab." Huai Shi waved his phone, raising his eyebrows cheerfully. "I snagged a taxi coupon on the way here today. It'll expire if I don't use it soon."
Watching his slightly staggering, comical demeanor as he leaned on the wall, Ai Qing fell silent.
"If you don't long for something beyond the everyday, there's no reason to become a Sublimator..." she suddenly asked, "Huai Shi, do you regret it?"
"No." Huai Shi grinned. "I'm just not used to it yet."
As he said this, he patted his chest and gestured an 'all OK' sign with his hand.
"Such a minor issue, just give me a little time."
The young man smiled, nodded his farewell, pushed open the door, and seemed to mutter to himself in a soft whisper, "Just give me a little more time..."
Ai Qing watched as he descended the stairs.
She didn't try to comfort or persuade him anymore, even though she thought his decision to face everything alone was exceedingly foolish.
Worst case, I'll just have to dig deeper myself. If necessary, I can step in and save the day. Maybe that will even get him to sell his life to the Astronomical Society for a few more years. His pride and my career ambitions would both be satisfied. Double the satisfaction, double the joy. A perfect solution, really.
Only, in the silence, as she looked at the page of [The Collection of a Thousand Evils], her eyes darkened at that quietly increased bounty.
Two hundred thousand US dollars? That's rather cheap for an official employee of the Astronomical Society, isn't it?
Unexpectedly, she decided to fulfill her responsibility as a superior.
The page closed. Her fingers glided, opening the intricate symbol composed purely of triangles and circles—the Metatron Cube.
This trading platform was established by the three neutral tycoons of the Border: Tomorrow News, the Stone Pot Society, and the Workshop Alliance. It provided the three essentials for Sublimators: intelligence, Border technology, and weapons and tools.
Quickly, the pages flickered as she navigated, finally landing on the site of an Alchemy Workshop renowned for combining cutting-edge science with Border technology—the Cavendish Laboratory.
Recalling the untouched reward money in her account, a sum connected to Huai Shi, her mood unexpectedly lifted.
Three million US dollars. That should be enough to buy something good, right?