Chapter 446: Gods (Seventeen) Hostage and Accomplice

In just three days, the chaotic situation quickly stabilized. Reality once again confirmed the conclusion already drawn by history: although dictatorial actions are often criticized, they are the most effective way to achieve unified agreement among scattered humans in a short period.

Jiang City lifted its lockdown on the third day. Although the Rose Monsters within the city had not been completely eliminated, they were successfully confined to specific areas due to the intervention of Lin Jue and a group of investigators. Main roads reopened to traffic, and some bold and capable individuals gradually returned to the city.

On May 16th, the off-road vehicle drove to a studio converted from an abandoned warehouse in the suburbs of Jiang City.

Si Qi was the first to get out of the car. He opened the dilapidated door, sniffed the strong scent of formalin, and a slight curve appeared at the corner of his lips.

This was where everything began. He remembered the evening two months ago when Liu Ajiu, controlled by Puppet Strings, came to this studio and used his own death to deliver him the qualification to enter the Bizarre Game, as part of the transaction between Lin Jue and Qi.

In just two months, he went from the initial ignorance and excitement, freely releasing the malice suppressed and hidden over the past twenty-two years within the instances; to now stirring up trouble, no longer limited to the scope of the Bizarre Game, but preparing to orchestrate a crazy finale in reality… It felt like a grand dream, a sense of having lived in another lifetime.

Since making a specimen covered in frogs after the end of “Frog Hospital,” Si Qi had not been here for a long time, unsure if it was due to a lack of inspiration or a shortage of time.

Fortunately, apart from the old house in Jinjiang Residential Area, the place where he spent the longest time over the past six years was this studio. a period of separation was not enough to erode his familiarity with the place.

Familiar with the process, he picked up a towel from the shelf, wiped the accumulated dust off the workbench and chairs, dug out an old record player from the pile of junk in the corner, connected the power cord, casually grabbed a record and placed it on, then lowered the needle onto the vinyl.

Low, soothing music spiraled in the small, dim space.

“I watched the world I knew unwind…”

“A sculpture shaped within my mind…”

“And in the silence, I stand alone…”

“A king upon a shattered throne…”

Si Qi strolled leisurely through the aisles, systematically checking every corner to ensure no one else had been there since his departure, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Lin Jue, as the Puppeteer who once controlled a puppet to visit, knew the location of this studio. He only needed one order to set up an ambush here, so why didn’t he?

Si Qi absolutely did not believe that Lin Jue felt a mutual appreciation for him and wanted to engage in fair play. With Lin Jue’s intelligence, he could similarly deduce Si Qi’s current suspicions.

Combined with the recent lifting of the Jiang City lockdown, his intention could not be clearer.

“Are you trying to tell me that Jiang City is already covered by a Net from Heaven and Earth, just waiting for me to walk into the trap, and that your chances of winning will be more than doubled once I enter Jiang City compared to when I’m outside…” Qi Si watched the phone on the workbench, which was on speakerphone, his expression a half-smile. “By laying all this out in the open, are you bluffing, betting that I won’t enter Jiang City?”

“Although I don’t know the reason, I believe you must have a reason to return to Jiang City. Therefore, no matter what information I present, it won’t affect your subsequent actions, so I don’t need to waste manpower and resources on extra arrangements.” Lin Jue’s voice, transmitted through the phone, had an inorganic calmness, as if he were merely a machine objectively analyzing data.

He paused, then asked, “But I still want to know, did I bet correctly?”

Si Qi laughed out loud, “Under these circumstances, anything I say, you probably won’t believe, so I suppose I don’t need to waste time. But I am very curious—

“You always said you would stay in Shangri-La. Why did you suddenly rush back to Jiang City before me, when I’ve openly declared my return?”

“You can understand it as me deliberately releasing false information to avoid being intercepted along the way; or you can understand it as me having a definite means to deal with you, fearing you wouldn’t dare come if you knew I was in Jiang City.” Lin Jue’s voice carried a hint of laughter for the first time in a while. “Si Qi, what do you think?”

“You said I have a reason to return to Jiang City. So, regardless of what I think, it won’t affect what happens next, right?” Si Qi countered with a smile and hung up the phone.

A sufficiently grand stage is bound to be bathed in tens of thousands of spotlights, with blinding light filling every corner. Conspiracies and schemes have no place, leaving only open and aboveboard strategies to be played out.

The room for choice had been exhausted long ago at countless past crossroads. Everyone was pushed by fate onto the track leading directly to the final stop, either remaining stagnant or following the only path toward the predetermined conclusion.

Si Qi needed to return to Jiang City to retrieve Qi Si’s body; otherwise, he would remain an incomplete specter. The authority of the Ancestral God would not condescend to reside in a flawed vessel, and he would be destined to lose the qualification to compete for the final victory.

Therefore, even knowing it was a trap, he still had to step into it, betting that Lin Jue’s preparations were not as thorough as he believed them to be.

“If Qi Si were here, how would he choose?” A thought popped into Si Qi’s mind, and he immediately chuckled.

A calm Trickster and a crazy Gambler are fundamentally different. Compared to venturing alone into a roulette game with unknown odds, he would likely set up multiple strategies, increase his winning probability through prolonged maneuvering, and then strike for victory only when absolutely certain, right?

Perhaps this was indeed the most rational choice, but Si Qi didn’t like it. Meticulously planning every step, and then harvesting a predetermined victory or failure—that would be too boring. He’d rather die immediately.

After another half hour, Si Qi finally finished tidying the studio and issued new instructions via the Soul Contract.

Yu Jinsheng, Shuomeng, and Jiang Junjue got out of the car one after another, all visibly in poor condition.

Shuomeng and Jiang Junjue each lit a cigarette, and their pale complexions, caused by the long journey, slightly improved.

Yu Jinsheng was leaning against the car door, vomiting miserably. After entering the studio, he made himself at home by collapsing onto the workbench, looking half-dead like a corpse.

Si Qi rested his chin on his hand and watched him for a moment before saying expressionlessly, “Before you, fifty-nine corpses lay there. Their final fate was basically having their internal organs removed and being pickled in formalin by me.”

“Old Qi, don’t forget that at least half of those fifty-nine corpses were acquired with my help. Do you think I’d care about this?” Yu Jinsheng rolled over, turning his back to Si Qi, looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. “Seriously, can you give me a straight answer? What exactly are you trying to do, dragging us on this thousand-mile journey only to end up back where Old Lin is? I’m living in fear every day, I can’t handle the scares. You might as well just give me a quick death with a knife…”

Si Qi silently picked up a scalpel, a gentle smile appearing on his face. “I can satisfy that request. Do you want to be dissected alive or dead?”

Yu Jinsheng: “I was joking, don’t take it seriously! I’m my dad’s only son. Can you bear to make the old man suffer the pain of a white-haired person burying a black-haired one? Oh, right, do you remember my dad? Six years ago, when you stayed at my house, your favorite dish was the Mango Stewed Ribs he made…”

Shuomeng and Jiang Junjue: “…”

During the past few days in the car, the two members of the Listening Wind Guild successfully witnessed the unknown side of their temporary president. By now, they were numb and accustomed to his lack of integrity and bottom line.

Whether the mask had been worn too long to be removed, or if Yu Jinsheng was naturally accustomed to presenting the face most conducive to his survival, even after his identity was exposed, he still appeared before Si Qi as Jin Yusheng, as if no conflict had ever occurred, and they were still friends working together for ill gains.

Si Qi had long been aware of Jin Yusheng’s shamelessness and allowed Yu Jinsheng to deceive himself. After satisfying a certain malicious urge by scaring him a little, he tapped into his phone’s memo app and quickly typed line after line of items.

He wrote over twenty items, exported the file, sent it to an encrypted account, and then dialed a number: “Bob, I need you to gather the items mentioned in the file I sent you within twenty-four hours. Name your price, and I’ll give you the money once the situation stabilizes.”

Bob’s voice on the other end of the phone was muffled: “Qi, I’ve heard about what’s been happening recently, even far away in North America. Usually, when you’re just messing around, I can help you out, but do you realize how serious things are this time?

“The various counties of the Federation have issued the highest level of warrant for your arrest. Every agency, if they find your whereabouts, must kill you on sight at all costs, and everyone associated with you will not be spared… I’m not young anymore, and I’ve earned enough. I just want to retire early and find a deserted place with a bunch of bikini babes to live out my later years…”

“If I recall correctly, you are only forty this year.” Si Qi casually grabbed a knife from the tool rack and toyed with it in his hand. “Of course, I have no interest in interfering with your life choices, but since the Federation hasn’t found you yet, it proves our method of transaction is discreet enough. Don’t you want to make one last big score before retiring?”

“Friend, this is the last time I’ll call you that. Putting aside whether I’ll live to spend this money, I only know that not all money in this world can be earned.” Bob’s tone hardened. “You are now an enemy of all mankind, doing something more terrifying than all terrorists throughout history combined. I used to think you were just like those blood-licking guys, only with some strange hobbies, but I never expected you to be this crazy, truly wanting to destroy all humanity.”

“So?”

“After all, I am a person with a conscience. I have family and friends. I have indeed done many wicked things for money in the past, but if humanity ever faces a crisis of destruction, I will definitely stand in front without hesitation. I also advise you to stop now. What good is it for you to do these harmful and unprofitable things? We live among people, after all. If humanity is destroyed, where can we go?”

Bob rambled on earnestly. It was clear that he genuinely regarded Qi Si, or rather Si Qi, this old client, as a “friend,” which was why he didn’t report him directly to the Bizarre Investigation Bureau, but instead tried in vain to persuade him to mend his ways.

If it were Qi Si, he might have used rhetoric to induce Bob to believe his twisted logic and offer help willingly, but for Si Qi, there were simpler and cruder methods.

“Bob, listen to me. I’ve actually always been curious why, knowing my nature so well, you never doubted me and cooperated with me so confidently for years.” The young man feigned a sigh, but a strange smile spread across his lips, as if he couldn’t help but laugh at what he was about to say.

He smiled and switched to a storytelling tone: “I remember, three years ago you adopted a girl, the granddaughter of the master who brought you into the business. Your master was sought out by enemies and chopped into eight pieces. You arrived at the last moment and saved the girl. You were still too late, but thankfully not hopelessly late. You carried profound self-reproach and guilt, which you transformed into watertight protection for that girl… She’s currently on a small island in Hawaii, right?”

“Qi Si, what do you mean?” Bob’s voice grew agitated. “Bastard! You shouldn’t, absolutely shouldn’t use her to threaten me…”

“My apologies, then I’ll switch to a different threat.” Si Qi put down the knife he was holding and leaned back in the chair, adjusting himself into a comfortable position. “Do you remember the vial of medicine I asked you to take to North America and pour into the Mississippi River? Why would you naively think you haven’t been infected with the Insomnia Virus? By the way, for the spread of Bizarre entities like the 【Insomnia Virus】 in North America, I must properly thank you, Mr. Bob, my accomplice.”

“Bastard… bastard…” The man roared angrily over the phone.

Si Qi paid no attention, his smile fixed like a mask on his face: “I actually considered the possibility that you aren’t afraid of death. But think, a lonely little girl whose grandfather engaged in activities that created enemies, and who now only has ‘Uncle Bob’ as a reliance—how helpless would she be if you unexpectedly passed away?”

“You will face retribution…”

“Alright, I won’t waste your precious ‘retirement time’ anymore.” Si Qi looked down at the time displayed on his phone. “Before noon tomorrow, I hope to see the things I need outside my studio door. I will transfer the money to you as promised.”

He hung up the phone, leaned back against the chair, and his fingers tapped the rhythm of the music intermittently on the armrest.

His index and middle fingers crossed and fluttered, wildly dancing without pattern on the mahogany platform, making a frantic “da-da” noise.

The song on the record had played who knows how many times; the latest iteration was reaching its end.

“A world remade by my own hand…”

“But no one left to understand…”

“The final move is on the board… Just me and the storm I adored.”

Amidst the looping music, the young man suddenly laughed very lightly: “You clearly treat the law as nothing and walk in the darkness leaving behind a long trail of infamy, yet you still adhere to human moral standards; the opportunity to use the world as a stage is right before you, yet you need external force to compel you to dance along. I didn’t expect you to be such a boring fellow…”