Watching Qi Chuan wolf down his al, Su Chen waited a while longer before strolling inside at a leisurely pace.
Qi Chuan's shoulders tensed. He looked up, a flash of venom in his eyes that vanished instantly, replaced by a weary, helpless smile. "Brother Su... Finally see you in person. Was all this really necessary?"
"I..." He sighed. "I just couldn't accept it. I couldn't control Jiang He, so back then I thought... murder was the answer."
"Then things went sideways, and I just wanted to find out what actually happened that night."
He opened by addressing the root cause of their conflict, appearing wholly sincere, and offered a genuine apology for involving Hu Xiang.
"You're young, handso, and dashing — jealousy consud . That's the only reason I harbored killing intent. I swear I'll never have any ill designs on you again."
"Is that all?" Su Chen's reaction was flat.
"Brother..." Qi Chuan said helplessly. "You must have checked my background. I'm nothing but a live-in son-in-law. Jiang Rong keeps on a tight leash. I don't even have side inco at the Research Departnt."
"Who's behind you?" Su Chen asked bluntly.
"I..." Qi Chuan's eyes shifted, his expression conflicted. "Please don't ask. Knowing would be bad for everyone. I haven't contacted him since they brought in. I'll serve out my ti quietly — consider it atonent."
"We're people of the sa path, after all. Give a chance."
The last line carried a deliberate hint.
Su Chen studied him. 'Knows when to bend, knows when to stand. Impressive.'
The last ti Su Chen had used the phrase "people of the sa path," Qi Chuan had nearly lost control. This ti, to lower Su Chen's guard, he'd groveled, flattered, and then voluntarily thrown those four words back out himself.
"Jiang He ca to save you." Su Chen allowed a note of sentint to enter his voice. "She's upstairs."
'Upstairs?' Qi Chuan gritted his teeth behind a strained smile. "At the end of the day, we were husband and wife."
"Sign this, and you can leave tonight." Su Chen produced the parchnt scroll.
Qi Chuan recognized it imdiately and showed no surprise. He sighed. "Should have done this long ago."
Looking perfectly composed, he took it and signed his na. The symbols on the parchnt pulsed with faint light, and the entire scroll disintegrated.
Su Chen caught the remnants and turned to leave. "Once it's evening, I'll have you released."
"I trust you, brother." Qi Chuan said mildly. He couldn't be held much longer anyway — he'd be out sooner or later.
Clang!
The cell door slamd shut. Qi Chuan let out a silent scoff — then a sudden stabbing pain seized his heart.
"What the..." He pressed a hand to his chest. The sensation vanished as quickly as it had co. Relentless hunger gnawed at every cell, each one howling for sustenance.
'Just a few more days.'
But to his surprise, barely three or four hours later — around ten at night — Su Chen actually had him released.
"I can go?" Qi Chuan couldn't believe it.
"If you'd rather stay, be my guest." The guard was expressionless.
"I'm going, I'm going." Qi Chuan was half-mad with hunger. He wanted to retrieve his confiscated belongings, but was told the officer in charge had already clocked out. He'd have to co back in the morning.
"Forget it." Qi Chuan turned and left. The Supervision Departnt was in the inner city — on foot, his apartnt was only three or four hours away. Waiting until morning risked whatever new sche they might cook up.
The sky was a muted gray. At this hour, the streets were all but empty.
'Why hasn't it kicked in yet? Was the dose too small?'
From the shadows in the distance, Su Chen tracked Qi Chuan through binoculars, wearing the Shadow Evasion Cloak — and a different face.
It was the Mimicry Mask Yuan Chenyang had provided. For any outing where caution was warranted, it offered plausible disguise. It was even an artifact-grade item.
[Mimicry Mask (1st-tier): Crafted from Ghost Mandrill skin. Allows minor alteration of facial features.]
'I wonder how far along the plan has gotten,' Qi Chuan mused, instinctively sticking to the shadows. 'The original idea was to take it slow — Jiang He dies, I win Jiang Rong's backing. Then use the stolen Saint Word Stone as a pretext to take down Yuan Chenyang. Jiang Rong backs Zhou Xian for the Supervision Departnt chief position. After that, just one more year... But it all went wrong right from the start!'
His fury flared. 'Where did Su Chen even co from!?'
The boy was hiding too many secrets. Qi Chuan refused to believe the popular narrative — that Yuan Chenyang had secretly taken Su Chen in as a student years ago, laying groundwork from afar, embedding him undercover in the City Patrol.
"...Damn it!"
The hunger clawing at his gut, the bitter resentnt in his heart, the cuckold's horns on his head, and the humiliation of having to grovel before Su Chen — all of it wrapped around Qi Chuan like a noose of rage.
"One day... Su Chen, Jiang He — I will make you both beg for death, beg for—"
"Gah!"
Without warning, Qi Chuan's face contorted and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. His heart scread with pain. Green veins crawled visibly across his arms.
"This is — Corpse Shadow Poison!" His pupils contracted. "When did I—"
"The antidote! The antidote!"
The sudden brush with death left no room for analysis. He spun around and bolted toward the outer city.
'What is he doing?' Su Chen's eyes narrowed in surprise as he surged forward to follow.
Qi Chuan was a 2nd-tier professional, but days of starvation and virulent poison coursing through his veins left him staggering. His pace was nothing Su Chen couldn't match with ease.
Qi Chuan's face was ashen, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. He ran for three or four hours before reaching the edge of the inner city — one step from the outer districts.
Su Chen half-expected him to keel over midway, but the man clung to life through sheer desperation.
Qi Chuan stopped before a dilapidated building, then shot up to the top floor. No key — he forced the door open, sending dust and furniture flying.
Bang!
He tore open a section of wall, retrieved a tal lockbox from the cavity, hastily verified his fingerprint, and pulled out a glass vial. He poured its contents down his throat.
By now, the green veins had crept nearly to his neck.
"Hah... hah... hah..." Qi Chuan panted violently, sprawled on his back, body convulsing — as though he'd snatched his life back from the reaper's grip.
The instant his wire-taut nerves relaxed, his mind raced to figure out when he'd been poisoned.
But then a chill seized his heart. He turned his head.
A blurred shadow was already surging through the doorway — a whip-like streak cracking through the air with a sound that froze his blood.
Before he could react, his skull felt like it detonated. Sothing like a needle pierced through his temple. The impact staggered him, but he could still endure it.
"Who!?"
He roared. Searing flas erupted from his eyes, expanding into a blazing curtain in the span of a heartbeat.
But he was a step too late. The whip ripped through the fire curtain and slamd down on him from above. Qi Chuan instinctively threw his arms up, flas roaring across them.
But the whip's tip burst apart like a blooming flower, splitting into dozens of razor-thin wires that slashed down with savage force.
"AAAH!" Qi Chuan shrieked. The tallic threads moved like high-speed cutting wire, carving straight into his forearms. Flesh and blood exploded outward.
"A 2nd-tier artifact!? Who — who is trying to kill !?" Panic flooded Qi Chuan's chest. His body was dangerously weakened, his strength a fraction of normal.
Two of the tal threads slithered like venomous snakes through the gaps in his ruined arms, driving straight into both eyes — and churning viciously inside his brain.
A wet crunch! Fluid sprayed!
"Guh!"
Qi Chuan's body went rigid. All sound ceased. The flas wreathing his body guttered and died.
[Advancent Condition 1: Covertly hunt and kill a 2nd-tier professional without being detected by anyone else (Complete)]
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