Calamity's Invasion (17)
Trust was the foundation of cooperation. Trust in one's own judgment was trust, too.
Fu Qian had never believed the emissary, who had once tried to scheme against him and ended up badly wounded by his counterattack, would ever let bygones be bygones.
But that was the art of communication: lay out the gains and losses in the plainest terms, put the consequences of every choice right in front of them, and that was enough.
A rational will would make its choice.
And if the emissary were the sort to let negative emotions outweigh the stakes, it probably wouldn't have made it this far.
As it turned out, it had made a choice that was reassuring.
The information it offered in exchange also seemed quite credible.
For instance, how difficult it was to spread the corruption, and how valuable Taylor's dream was.
The emissary's strategy was clear. Though it couldn't understand how Fu Qian had gotten in, his return to the Corridor had clearly given it hope. Its earlier despair had been nothing but an act.
At the same time, Fu Qian had fallen into a state almost identical to its own, so this time it had chosen a different approach.
Instead of using Fu Qian's power to escape and claim the spoils, it would ride on Yarakir's coattails.
Honestly, this once again proved how rational the emissary was.
A relatively lucid Higher Being desperate to escape, two heavily corrupted Tool Persons, and a channel for corruption that might not be available again—once you missed this opportunity, it was gone.
Taken together, these three factors made Yarakir the obvious best choice, perhaps even the only one.
Even after Fu Qian's question had left it speechless, forcing it to accept the conditions and watch over the dream, he