You're Strong But Now You're Mine-Chapter 68 You Should Have Taken That Train

Clang!

Kui Zhao mustered all his strength for a final kick, sending Le Yuxin flying two or three meters. Le Yuxin tumbled across the ground several times, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

In Kui Zhao’s last move—the Wolf Eagle Fist—crimson blasts of energy tore Le Yuxin’s flesh apart in all directions. Now, there was barely a patch of undamaged skin on her body. Her clothes, bloody flesh, and dirt were all mashed together, as if she had been tossed into a washer lined with razor blades. Even for making human barbecue buns, this meat would be considered poor quality.

But Kui Zhao was in an even worse state.

He couldn’t stop staggering backward, cold sweat pouring down his face as he stared at the hollow in his chest and abdomen. His hands emitted a useless green healing glow, desperately plastering it onto his wound as if trying to plug the gap with glue.

"Cough, cough, cough... Stop the bleeding! Just stop already!" Kui Zhao pressed his chest and abdomen with manic desperation, but blood kept gushing from the wound, staining his jet-black robe an even deeper crimson.

"Ugh... cough!" Blood welled up, choking his throat. Kui Zhao coughed violently, spitting out fresh blood—which actually cleared his head a bit, pulling him back from the brink of terror and restoring a sliver of clarity.

He cast a look full of hatred at the struggling Le Yuxin on the ground. "Why... do you have to ruin... my plans..."

Though he wished to tear Le Yuxin apart, Kui Zhao knew survival was his top priority now. Without a second thought, he kept moving backward, planning to find a medical officer at the nearest garrison to stop his bleeding.

As long as I find a medical officer, as long as I find a medical officer...

Kui Zhao kept Le Yuxin in his peripheral vision, only to trip over something on the ground. Normally, a stumble was just that. But now, gravely wounded, he lost his balance and crashed to the earth.

"What the hell..." Kui Zhao didn’t even care that the fall split his wound further. He sprang to his feet, guarding against a possible sneak attack from Le Yuxin. Turning, he saw it was Chen Fu’s corpse that had tripped him up.

Chen Fu’s lips curled into a faint, almost invisible smile, but in Kui Zhao’s eyes, that smile mocked him—the smile of a dead man laughing at a loser.

"Even a corpse can stop me, even a corpse can laugh at me... hahaha... cough, cough, cough..."

Kui Zhao couldn’t help but laugh, a sound filled with desolation, but it quickly devolved into a fit of bloody coughs. He glanced at Le Yuxin, who was about to get up, and hesitated no longer, clutching the hole through his chest and stomach as he staggered out of the slaughterhouse, lurching down the road.

As long as I stay alive, I haven’t lost yet.

As long as I live, I can always start over!

As long as I find the medical officer, as long as I make it through tonight, as long as I get another chance, as long as...

No idea how long he walked.

No idea where he was now.

His mind felt like a congealed mess, his head close to bursting.

Just then, Kui Zhao suddenly saw—on the illuminated pavement—a shadow appear.

"Deputy Director, good evening."

Kui Zhao looked up, his face instantly lighting up with joy. "Gu Yue!"

Standing before Kui Zhao was none other than Yin Gu Yue, Captain of Team Three, Statistical Department—his most trusted subordinate!

In the Statistical Department, it was precisely with the support of people like Yin Gu Yue that Kui Zhao stood toe-to-toe with Lan Yan. Yin Gu Yue was originally trained up by Kui Zhao, and it had only been with Kui Zhao’s support that he became a team captain. So Kui Zhao never doubted him.

"Your injuries are so severe, Deputy Director, you didn’t manage to seize the Saint’s Relic?" Yin Gu Yue asked in confusion, "By rights, Qian Yuliu was already transferred elsewhere, there shouldn’t have been anyone able to stop you..."

"He came back. He’s insane... cough, cough!" Kui Zhao pressed his mouth, gasping, "Since you’re here, go get a medical officer right now, and get someone to come back with me. If you go now, there’s—there’s still time... cough, cough, cough!"

Kui Zhao collapsed to his knees, coughing up blood, his voice raw with pain—hunched and miserable, a sight that would wrench compassion from even the hardest heart. Yet Yin Gu Yue just stood still, calmly watching him. Suddenly, he sighed and said, "Honestly, I really didn’t want to be the cleanup crew. According to the plan, Deputy Director, you were supposed to be handled by someone else."

"Wh-what..."

"No need to keep pretending in front of me. As long as that lightshow in your palm’s still going, I won’t get within a meter of you."

Kui Zhao kept kneeling, face pressed to the ground. But his coughing stopped. After a while, his voice came out bitter and low: "What... is really going on?"

"Where to begin... well, I suppose with Ding Yi." Yin Gu Yue gave his head a little shake. Talking about the former governor, his tone was devoid of respect—if anything, full of derision. "As governor, Ding Yi actually did a decent job. His only problem was his outsized ambitions and lack of talent. He replaced Lan Yan with you as Deputy Director, hoping you could keep Lan Yan in check."

"He made two mistakes. First, Lan Yan was never someone he could control. Second, you couldn’t keep Lan Yan in check, either."

"And then—and then, Deputy Director, you weren’t satisfied with your position, and sure enough Lv Zhong came to recruit you. So, as expected, you became Lv Zhong’s insider. Tsk, compared to stingy Ding Yi, I’m sure Lv Zhong’s reports promised you more... I also know, Deputy Director, how bitter you always were over losing out in the Linhai Army officer competition."

"But there’s something you probably didn’t know..." Yin Gu Yue cast a glance at the river of blood flowing from Kui Zhao: "Lan Yan, way before you, already had ties with Lv Zhong."

"Funny, right? Both the Statistical Department’s top brass, left to guard the throat of Star Engraving County for Ding Yi, both saw him for what he was—not some wise leader—and both defected to Lv Zhong. Birds choose high branches; good officials choose wise lords. The world really is ruthless."

"Lv Zhong told you chaos would break out tonight, told you to seize Ding Family’s Saint’s Relic. That was his only move, since you were his only agent in Star Engraving County who could even attempt it."

"And yet his plan, like Ding Yi’s, was this: the Saint’s Relic had to be taken by someone—even if that meant you got it, better you than the Ding Family. Once the Extreme Divine Weapon recognizes a master, it can’t be transferred. Lv Zhong really didn’t care who ended up with it; he just thought with the relic in your hands, you’d have the influence and power to play Lan Yan’s rival."

"Simply put, Deputy Director, even under Lv Zhong, your only value... was to keep Lan Yan in check."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Kui Zhao hacked up more blood, raising his head just enough to glare at Yin Gu Yue, his wolfish hawk-eyes flickering with a mocking smile: "Arrogant."

Yin Gu Yue shrugged. "Can’t blame you for thinking that, Deputy Director. After all, you never saw Lan Yan’s true power—and really, all this is just hypothetical, not yet reality."

"But, here’s the real difference. Lv Zhong and Lan Yan never actually agreed about one point. Lv Zhong wanted the Saint’s Relic under his own flag, even if that meant you got it for him. But... Lan Yan already traded it away."

"Traded?"

"That’s right, a trade." Yin Gu Yue spread his hands, looking up at where half the night sky was set ablaze behind them. "In payment, he got this whole upheaval sweeping Star Engraving County, which let Lv Zhong’s invasion plan jump forward. And himself—he will now take command of the Linhai Army ahead of schedule."

"Taking command of the Linhai Army, ha... cough, cough!" The thought actually made Kui Zhao want to laugh, but his body would not allow it.

Yin Gu Yue didn’t care for Kui Zhao’s sneer. He continued, "In Lan Yan’s plan, you were supposed to be a disposable pawn—meant to die in the struggle for the Saint’s Relic. No matter how Lv Zhong arranged things, Lan Yan never wanted to see you again."

Kui Zhao’s face twisted with scorn. "Because I could threaten his position? ...He knows if I got the Saint’s Relic, his whole game ends, and Governor Lv would ditch him for me—"

"No." Yin Gu Yue shook his head. "He just thinks your braid is ugly."

"Oh? The braid’s gone? Shame. If you’d cut it sooner, maybe you wouldn’t have to die."

Kui Zhao began to shake all over.

He suddenly felt terribly cold, the liquid spilling from his chest like ice water.

"And you?"

"Me? Lan Yan brought me in from the start. If you’d shown any ability, I might’ve jumped ship to you. But, Deputy Director, every move you made, Lan Yan had already predicted. I just couldn’t believe in you."

Yin Gu Yue seemed to recall something amusing, flashing a puzzled smile. "Funny thing: Lan Yan once said you and I were alike, which is why you trusted me as your right hand. I still don’t get it—what exactly do we share?"

Then he sighed quietly. "I’ve talked to you long enough. By now, you should be about bled out, right?"

Yin Gu Yue pulled out a light pistol, aiming it at the now-helpless Kui Zhao.

"Well, Deputy Director Kui Zhao, Lan Yan sends his regards."

BANG.

...

...

When Le Yuxin finally pushed himself up off the floor, Kui Zhao’s figure had already vanished—only a trail of blood snaking across the ground marked where Kui Zhao had gone.

He no longer cared about Kui Zhao. After all, with a hole blasted in his chest, there was no way Kui Zhao could have survived. Even in the impossible event that he did make it out alive...

Le Yuxin glanced down at his own body—torn flesh and welts trailing everywhere.

If Kui Zhao did survive, waiting for him would be nothing less than soul-shattering possession.

"Could I really make it through the night? If I do, should I find someone to be my Substitute..."

Strange thoughts drifted through Le Yuxin’s mind. He gazed at the slaughterhouse doors, stretched out a hand, and used all his might to push open a crack.

He was injured so badly that, even with ’Ice Blood’ suppressing the pain and driving his body, his muscles, nerves, and blood vessels were wrecked. "If ’Ice Blood’ is a sort of super software—ignoring malware and operating bug alike, driving the computer in any state—then my body’s like a computer with a cooked CPU, GPU, RAM, and motherboard."

"The very fact I’m still able to stand here is a double miracle in both biology and physics."

As the door widened, daylight began to seep into the slaughterhouse’s darkness. Le Yuxin made his way inside, blinded, greeted only by the overwhelming stench of blood.

He could no longer tell what animal’s blood he was smelling.

"You made it."

Shadow Voice stood by a nearby window, bathed in sparse moonlight that lit up his pallid hair and the blood-streaked, ghastly face beneath. He still wore his nightclothes, and in his right hand hung a strange sword, its blade shaped like a ’屮’—sharp edges forked, their purpose hard to guess.

Le Yuxin stopped at the edge of the darkness, standing in the light, and nodded. "Where’s Wang Zongdao?"

"He’s dead."

"And the Saint’s Relic?"

"Got it."

"Good. Let’s go help the others right away. With the Saint’s Relic, our odds just went up again..."

Le Yuxin turned to leave the slaughterhouse, but then heard a faint sigh from behind him.

"You figured it out."

Le Yuxin froze.

Something icy pierced through his back into his chest.

"Shooting Star, you should have gotten on that train."