Secret of the Stern

Immortal radiance seeped out from the ancient-style structures at the stern, drifting along with the mist.

However, a courtyard wall over ten zhang high blocked the view, allowing only a glimpse of the densely packed rooftops—red gold glazed tiles for roofing, flowing light divine wood for beams. There were pavilions, halls, an ancient tower...

Between the wall, imposing as a city rampart, and the nine-story ship tower lay a hundred-meter-wide open deck area.

Xie Jin had lost all his former arrogance and bluster. He sat on the first stone step of the bronze cast gate, gripping a steel pipe, casting fearful glances toward the ship tower passage from time to time.

He had become a startled bird, a shadow-fearing snake.

The stone steps behind him numbered several dozen.

At the top of the steps stood the bronze cast gate leading into the courtyard, a gate three zhang high, magnificent and imposing. The left door panel was carved with Myriad Homes' Lanterns, while the right depicted a starry river scene like the Yellow Springs, an unknown corner of the cosmos.

"Doctor Qi, how are things now?"

Seeing Qi Shanshan emerge from the passage, Xie Jin clung to her like a lifeline, his spirits lifting slightly as he hurried over to ask anxiously.

Qi Shanshan brought good news: "Don't worry. Li Weiyi and those from Laboratory 705 have both suffered losses. For now, no one has the energy to deal with you."

"Excellent!"

Xie Jin's mind began to churn. "Let's plan this out. You poison the food, and I'll launch a sneak attack. We'll take down that murderous brute Li Weiyi and everyone from Laboratory 705 together."

"Good, I was thinking the same."

Qi Shanshan took out a bag of food and handed it over. "You haven't eaten all day, have you? You look like you're about to collapse from hunger. It's a bit cold, but have something to tide you over."

Xie Jin was indeed starving, his stomach pressed against his spine. He wolfed down the food, speaking with a mouthful: "Li Weiyi must have swallowed the sarira, that's why he's so strong. But no matter how strong, he's still flesh and blood. Poison, a strong poison, can definitely kill him... Ah... you... the food you gave me..."

A sharp pain twisted in Xie Jin's gut, as if his stomach were filled with blades. He couldn't even stand straight, staring at Qi Shanshan in disbelief.

Qi Shanshan stepped back three paces, hands in her pockets, eyes indifferent: "You said it yourself—poison in the food, a strong poison. Made with black flood dragon corpse blood."

"Bitch! The reason we lost so badly... it must be you. You're in cahoots with that pretty boy... Pfft..."

Xie Jin lunged at Qi Shanshan, but after only three steps, he collapsed to the ground.

Convulsing, he spat bloody foam from his mouth.

Before his eyes, his skin began to blacken and rot.

Qi Shanshan walked over and lightly kicked Xie Jin, confirming he was dead, before muttering contemptuously to herself: "You're only half right. I wasn't with him before—I was genuinely helping you. But now..."

Qi Shanshan had allied with Xie Tianshu and the others because it was the only path to survival she could see at the time.

But she had little regard for their character or competence.

Especially after learning about Liu Ying's ordeal, she felt even more fortunate that Li Weiyi had appeared as the perfect partner for cooperation. He had strength, looks, loyalty, sharp instincts, decisive judgment, compassion for the weak, and no mercy for enemies.

She didn't want to be just Li Weiyi's cooperation partner.

She wanted to drop the word "cooperation."

But she knew she had missed her best chance to win him over. If she could have foreseen this day, she would have snatched that bowl of fish soup from Cai Yutong's hands no matter what.

Not dwelling on regret, Qi Shanshan dragged Xie Jin's corpse toward the ship's railing.

If she could clean up the traces here and keep Li Weiyi from discovering anything, she could sever her past completely. In time, she would find a way to win him over.

No matter how outstanding he was, he was still a hot-blooded young man.

"Xie Jin probably never dreamed that the most terrifying person on this ship wasn't me, but you."

Just as she had struggled to drag Xie Jin's body to the railing, Li Weiyi's voice sounded in her ear. No matter how calm Qi Shanshan was, she was badly startled.

But in the brief moment it took her to stand up and smooth her disheveled hair, she had already formulated a response. She asked calmly, "How long have you been here?"

"Since Xie Jin fell."

Li Weiyi's tone was flat, his figure tall and upright as he stood at the ship tower passage.

The two were twenty meters apart.

"So you just stood there watching? Watching me drag a corpse like a clumsy penguin?" Qi Shanshan's voice carried a coquettish reproach, as if she were unaware of the anger in Li Weiyi's heart or the disappointment and pain on his face.

Li Weiyi frowned. He had no intention of engaging in flirtatious banter.

This wasn't something a few clever words could smooth over.

He stepped into the deck area shrouded in immortal radiance. On the ground lay the bodies of four other research team members, along with various chemical apparatus and drugs.

In the corner was the massive corpse of the bear-like creature, its belly wound festering, emitting a pungent stench.

Clearly, it had died from its injuries the day it fell onto the bronze ship.

It was the Yellow Dragon Sword!

The wound opened by the Yellow Dragon Sword, even for a supernatural creature, could not heal. Instead, the wound rotted faster.

The four research team members' bodies each bore their own horrors.

Some had burst skin, leaving only flesh and bone; others had half their bodies covered in scales, the other half rotting; one had grown antennae from the head, but the skull was shattered.

Li Weiyi said, "So the legend of the four research team members who went to investigate the stern and never returned—they were actually used as live test subjects by you? You spread that rumor and deliberately smeared the bear-like creature's blood near the ship tower to scare everyone, keeping all the research team members away from here."

"That day, by the ship tower, you were afraid Gao Huan and I would discover your secret at the stern, weren't you? That's why you drove us away."

"Xie Tianshu dared to drink the flood dragon blood because you had already given him the confirmed experimental results."

"Everyone who ate breakfast and passed out—that was because you supplied the drug to Kong Fan."

Li Weiyi locked eyes with Qi Shanshan. "You're terrifying. You disguise yourself so well, no cracks when you lie. I almost fell for it."

Qi Shanshan's eyes reddened, her voice choked with grievance: "I... I had no choice. You saw what happened to Liu Ying. If I didn't do something, I'd be the one jumping today. Only when someone has value can she live, have a say, and hold status."

Li Weiyi said, "Doctor Qi, how many people died because of you? If you hadn't given them the drug, they might not have succeeded."

Tears streamed down Qi Shanshan's face. "I'm not you. I don't have your overwhelming power. I can't control my own fate. I could only compromise. When Xie Jin held a knife to my throat, I either died or helped him. Tell me, what choice did I have?"

Li Weiyi no longer knew whether to believe her.

Qi Shanshan had helped and saved him more than once.

But she was too clever, too good at lying, too skilled at spinning stories.

Every expression, every word—seemingly spoken in emotional outburst—was surely carefully calculated. Even Xie Tianshu and Kong Fan might just be her pawns.

Because she surely had a way to kill them, just as she had killed Xie Jin.

"You saved me. This time, I won't kill you. But someone will hold you accountable for what you've done." Li Weiyi made it clear—only this time.

Qi Shanshan's eyes were pitiful. "Have I only saved you once?"

In that moment, Li Weiyi deeply understood the principle that debts of gratitude must never be owed.

Tears blurring her vision, Qi Shanshan continued, "Yes, I deserve to die. But I saved Yutong. I saved you. Even if the whole world says I deserve death, you two have no right to speak that word. Go tell them now, and they'll kill me immediately—the same end as those two Security Team Members thrown into the Sea of Souls."

"You won't kill me, but I'll die because of you."

Li Weiyi could let other people's lives and deaths slide—he wasn't some righteous judge.

But his Senior Brother had ended up like this, and Qi Shanshan bore part of the blame.

Li Weiyi said, "You're still useful now, so I'll give you a chance. Help me heal Senior Brother, and let him decide your fate."

"But if Senior Brother doesn't make it through, if anything happens to him, someone will pay with their life. Even the heavens won't get a pass."

Li Weiyi carefully searched Qi Shanshan from head to toe, confirming she had no dangerous items. "Where is Senior Sister Cai?"

Qi Shanshan never imagined that the Li Weiyi who had always seemed so sunny, kind, and humble in her presence could have such terrifying eyes when mentioning his Senior Brother—a chill that seemed to seep into her bones.

In that moment, she truly understood how dreadful it was to cross Li Weiyi on matters of principle.

If she hadn't done those two or three things right before, she would already be dead.

Qi Shanshan led Li Weiyi toward the second floor of the Nine-Story Ship Tower. "No one dares come up here. It's safe. I hid her here so the chaos wouldn't reach her."

The corridor on the second floor was still lined with stone figurines.

Passing through them, they finally saw Cai Yutong lying on the ground.

"I just knocked her out. She should be fine... Huh, why hasn't she woken up yet?" Qi Shanshan sensed something wrong.

"Senior Sister... Senior Sister Cai..."

Li Weiyi crouched down to check on Cai Yutong.

"So hot!"

The moment his hand touched her forehead, Li Weiyi was startled.

Her body temperature was scorching—nothing like a human's.

"Let me see."

Qi Shanshan felt Cai Yutong's face, then immediately began undressing her, but paused, glancing at Li Weiyi.

He turned away.

But he channeled the scorching airflow from the sole of his right foot, concentrating it in his ears.

After lifting her clothes, Qi Shanshan saw a mass of Golden Meridian Lines beneath the skin on Cai Yutong's chest, spreading from her heart outward across her body, flowing with threads of golden light like fiery filaments.

"Didn't you say a one-tenth concentration of Golden Crow Blood was tolerable for the human body? Why this sudden calamity?" Qi Shanshan stared at the unconscious Cai Yutong, muttering to herself, confusion in her voice.

"Senior Sister drank Golden Crow Blood?" Li Weiyi turned back as Cai Yutong's clothes were already covered again.

Qi Shanshan nodded. "She thought diluting Golden Crow Blood would make it bearable for a human body, so she experimented on herself. But her temperature now is over sixty degrees, and rising fast."

Something clicked, and Qi Shanshan immediately took out the Cross Pendant and placed it around Cai Yutong's neck.

This Cross Pendant was an Immortal Object that Cai Yutong had obtained first.

Qi Shanshan had taken it from her after knocking her out.

She thought the Cross Pendant might suppress the destructive power of the Golden Crow Blood, since Cai Yutong had shown no such change while wearing it.

Like the Dragon-like Mutant needing the Dragon Pattern Ring to stabilize.

After removing the Cross Pendant, the Golden Crow Blood's power had been unleashed, endangering Cai Yutong's life.

Luckily, the blood was diluted, releasing slowly. Otherwise, by the time she and Li Weiyi arrived, Cai Yutong might have already burned to ash.

With the Cross Pendant on, Cai Yutong's temperature climbed even faster.

Moments later, she was completely engulfed in golden flames.

Li Weiyi and Qi Shanshan didn't dare get close at all, retreating far away.

"How eerie! The temperature of these golden flames isn't low, yet her body remains completely unharmed."

The golden flames were dazzling, but Li Weiyi could see that Cai Yutong's body outline inside the flames was intact, without any damage—this was simply too bizarre.

After all, she was only a mortal of flesh and blood.

"Splash!"

The golden flames suddenly burst into a conflagration. Amidst the sparks, a pair of several-meter-long, resplendent feathered wing silhouettes appeared, as miraculous as a chrysalis breaking into a butterfly.

The two retreated even farther, holding their breath.

The flames burned for about a quarter of an hour, then began to recede.

The light was no longer so blazing. Cai Yutong's body lying on the ground gradually became visible. A layer of mortal shell cracked and peeled off, revealing skin beneath that was dazzlingly white.

"You... maybe you should go down first?" Qi Shanshan said cautiously.

Li Weiyi naturally sensed something was off. Although Cai Yutong hadn't turned to ashes, the fabric of her clothes had turned to ashes.

Thinking that Qi Shanshan probably wouldn't harm Cai Yutong, Li Weiyi finally descended the stairway and returned to the first deck area. The image of Cai Yutong feeding him fish soup surfaced in his mind. His heart warmed, but at the same time, he secretly worried.

Before long.

The sound of the two women's low murmurs came from the second-floor ship cabin. Qi Shanshan was explaining something.

Li Weiyi's heart relaxed, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted.

But he didn't go up to the ship cabin, quietly waiting below.

With his mood eased, his gaze suddenly fell on the three-zhang-tall Bronze Cast Gate above the dozens of stone steps in the distance. Curious, he walked over.