Chapter 104
Chapter 104: We’re Law-Abiding Citizens, We Don’t Do the Murder Thing~
At dawn, Qian Qi finally returned to where Li Hai Sheng had spent the night.
He looked like he hadn’t slept at all. His eyelids were swollen, heavy black circles dragging under his eyes. In his hands was a compressed biscuit that hadn’t even softened—he trembled as he tried to chew it anyway.
Without firewood, he’d frozen hard.
The moment he spotted Qian Qi, he detonated. “Qian Qi! Where the fuck did you go?! You still remember how to come back?”
He’d stayed awake all night, terrified a passing magic beast would jump him. He hadn’t dared close his eyes once. And without a fire, the cold had gnawed straight into his bones.
Qian Qi trotted over with the firewood, face innocent as a saint. “This really isn’t my fault! It was so dark up there. I was picking up wood, turned around, realized I was lost—and my flashlight died!”
“I searched for you all night!” she complained. “No sleep. No food. And you—look at you! Secretly eating biscuits behind my back!”
Li Hai Sheng’s brain visibly stalled.
Then restarted.
Then stalled again.
“You… are complaining about me?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.
“Give me some!” Qian Qi stuck out her hand shamelessly.
Li Hai Sheng twisted away on instinct, suddenly more protective of his food than his dignity. “I only have one pack. Figure it out yourself!”
Qian Qi pouted and muttered, “I gave you a chance…”
“What?”
“What I mean is—since you’re the Big Shot, you should eat more!” she said loudly, instantly switching tones. “Big Shot, you must’ve frozen. Hurry, let’s make a fire!”
She stacked the wood on the stone ring he’d built and gestured for him to light it.
Li Hai Sheng was so cold he didn’t even argue. He dug out a lighter and sparked the fire.
Warmth rolled across his face. The moment it hit, the exhaustion he’d been holding back crashed down like a wave.
“Big Shot, you’re really sleepy, huh?” Qian Qi rubbed her hands as if she were the considerate one. “You sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
For once, Li Hai Sheng liked what she said. He nodded, found a spot near the fire, and lay down.
Yesterday he’d fought magic beasts, marched until his legs felt hollow, stayed awake all night, and eaten nothing but brick-hard biscuits. He needed rest.
“If magic beasts show up, wake me immediately,” he warned, eyes narrowing. “Without me, you can’t survive. If I find out you dared to leave me, I’ll make you die horribly.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Qian Qi nodded and bowed like a model coward.
Five or six minutes later, Li Hai Sheng’s breathing deepened. Sleep took him.
Qian Qi’s smile vanished.
She set her backpack down, unzipped it, and rummaged.
Inside was a mess—hemostatic medicine, defense fruit, a flashlight, antibiotics. But the bulk of it was packets of colored powders, bright as candy dust.
Powders she’d researched specifically to “win.”
Qian Qi pulled out an orange packet, glanced at the sleeping man beside the fire, and poured the powder into the flames.
A faint, sweet scent bloomed.
Qian Qi covered her nose and mouth and slipped away without a sound.
Ten minutes later, she jogged back.
She walked up to Li Hai Sheng and kicked his calf hard.
Nothing.
He didn’t twitch.
If not for the faint rise and fall of his breathing, he could’ve passed for dead.
“Heehee. It kicked in.”
Qian Qi crouched and removed the light-brain from his wrist like she was picking fruit.
“Let’s see~”
She flipped through his contacts and found the chat with Chen Tong—enough to confirm Chen Tong wanted to hire him to kill someone, details to be discussed in person.
“Mm.” Qian Qi tapped her chin, then opened his recordings.
“Ah-ha. I knew it. You probably recorded it.”
There was a file from yesterday.
She hit play.
Chen Tong’s voice came through, sharp and urgent. “Kill her. After it’s done, I’ll transfer the remaining twenty million to your card.”
Li Hai Sheng answered calmly. “No problem. She’s just an ordinary person. Crushing her will be as easy as crushing an ant.”
“She’s slippery!” Chen Tong snapped. “Don’t underestimate her! And don’t let her scam your money! If she tries to win you over, remember—she can’t even pay you double, and she might trick you into losing more! Don’t fall for it! Don’t talk to her! Just kill her!”
Then, like he was trying to scream the words into the universe: “Do not talk to her! Don’t give her a chance to open her mouth!”
Qian Qi burst out laughing. “Aw. My good son really knows me.”
She listened on, and when she caught the price—forty million—her eyes glistened like she’d been handed a bouquet.
“This is true love,” she whispered, moved to the depths of her soul. “Absolute, undeniable true love.”
Who else in the world would pay that much for her tiny, insignificant life?
Only Chen Tong.
Only him.
If that wasn’t love, what was?
And for true love, you had to show care.
More warmth.
More comfort.
More deception.
Qian Qi pulled out a dagger, sliced a neat line across Li Hai Sheng’s cheek, and smeared the blood messily across her own clothes and skin.
Then she opened the camera on his light-brain. She angled it just right, propped the dagger against her chest like it was embedded there, and rubbed her face until her features went full unhinged—an expression of pure agony.
“System,” she whispered, “do I look like I died horribly?”
System was silent for a beat.
Then, with weary sincerity: […]
Yes. Very. Also maybe a little too convincing. Chen Tong might laugh himself awake.
Qian Qi happily snapped the “death photo,” did a quick edit, and sent it.
Sea King Great Sage: [Image]!
A red exclamation mark popped up.
Qian Qi clicked her tongue. “Right. No signal in this dungeon.”
She pocketed the light-brain with a sigh, then looked at Li Hai Sheng sleeping like a dead pig and grinned.
A few minutes later, she packed her loot, slung on her backpack, and skipped away into the pale morning mist.
Behind her, in the dim canyon, System’s voice followed like a cold draft.
[Why didn’t you just kill him?]
“What? System, what is wrong with you?” Qian Qi gasped, scandalized. “We’re law-abiding citizens. We don’t do murder!”
[Then give back the armor, the light-brain, the telescoping long blade, the lighter, the compressed biscuits… and those stinky shoes. Then say that again.]
“Heeheehee—nope!”
Her laughter rang through the canyon, bright and wicked, making the empty place—god knew how many bones it had swallowed—feel even colder.
*
When Li Hai Sheng woke up, pain flared across his face like fire.
He lifted a hand and wiped—only to pull back a palm full of sticky blood and clots. He sucked in a sharp breath, hissing, and then realized something else was wrong.
His defensive armor was gone.
“Where’s my armor?” he rasped.
Shock and blood loss churned together. He fumbled over himself in a panic.
Long blade—gone.
Lighter—gone.
Compressed biscuits—gone.
Everything he needed to survive out here—gone.
Then his gaze dropped.
“Fuck… where are my shoes?!”
Barefoot on canyon rock, he couldn’t take two steps without shredding himself.
“Qian Qi!” he barked, whipping his head around. “Qian Qi?!”
He looked toward the fire.
There was nothing.
No Qian Qi.
No footprints.
Only the thin smoke of a dying flame.