It seemed to have been moved by my words.
It looked at me. "Since you know I have people I fear too, aren't you afraid?"
"What do I have to fear? Haven't I encountered enough danger along the way? Which time wasn't a matter of life and death? Of course, if you hadn't stepped in, I might have died several times already. But I truly am not afraid. If I were, I would have found somewhere to hide long ago and ignored everything. But that isn't the life I want. I've always been seeking an answer—who exactly am I?"
"Do you really want to figure out who you are?" it asked.
I nodded.
It said, "But the truth is often cruel. Do you think you can bear it?"
There seemed to be something more behind its words. I asked, "Did you already know something? You didn't find me by luck, like you said. You had been waiting for me all along, hadn't you?"
It laughed. "You think too highly of yourself. I was just saying it casually. Isn't that how things usually are? Ideals are plump, but reality is cruelly thin."
I wanted to ask more, but Ye Jinghong stopped me. "Let's talk about cooperation instead. I assume you have no objections to working with us now?"
"Us? No, it's him and me. You have nothing to do with it," it said to Ye Jinghong.
Ye Jinghong chuckled. "But I have something to do with him, and he will definitely listen to me. So do you think this cooperation has anything to do with me?"
It snorted. "Useless man. Letting a woman lead you around by the nose—what future could you possibly have?" It left me utterly speechless. Still, this was the time to placate it. If we wanted to