Xiao Hongchen, You... You Can't Lose Face!

"I... I..."

Wang Chong's lips twitched a few times. Several times, he tried to speak, but after a fierce struggle within himself, he bowed his head heavily, tears welling in his eyes. His voice was full of bitterness as he said:

"There... there's no mastermind behind this. We did it all ourselves. I'll take responsibility for everything!"

"What? How can you be like this?!"

Seeing Wang Chong with the look of someone who had given up and decided to let the chips fall where they may, completely oblivious to his good intentions, Xiao Hongchen grew flustered. He realized that his kindness had been mistaken for cruelty.

He grabbed Wang Chong by the collar and dragged him over to the two victims, whom Qian Yuhan had just freed from their chains. They were still basking in the joy of having been rescued. Xiao Hongchen shook Wang Chong violently in front of them:

"Can't you see that I'm trying to reduce your sentence for the sake of being schoolmates?!"

"Under the Sun-Moon Code of our Sun Moon Empire, kidnapping carries a sentence of exile at minimum, with no upper limit—and it's a serious crime for which no pardon is granted!"

"Without clear evidence of meritorious service, even if those two victims turn a blind eye in court and choose not to pursue your guilt, the best you can hope for is being sent north to build walls along the defensive line against Sea Soul Beasts for twenty years."

"By the time your twenty-year sentence is up, your life will practically be ruined!"

"Only by cooperating fully, becoming a witness for the prosecution, and making amends for your crimes—and with the two victims willing to show you mercy and the academy stepping in to negotiate on your behalf—can we reduce your sentence as much as possible!"

"Brother Xiao, I know you're trying to help me, but... I really have no other choice!" Wang Chong's voice choked up, and great streams of snot and tears poured down his face.

Looking at his fellow student, who was so pitiful, miserable, and infuriating all at once, Xiao Hongchen's eyes flickered with a trace of reluctance. He slowly turned to look at Qian Yuhan. His bright eyes, glimmering faintly with a questioning look, seemed to say:

Brother, what should we do now? He's our schoolmate, after all. Are we really going to drag him straight to prison?

Honestly...

I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it!

Sigh... I'll have to handle this myself!

Qian Yuhan sighed languidly, raised a hand to signal Xiao Hongchen to stay calm, and strolled over to Wang Chong, who was sobbing uncontrollably. In a voice only Wang Chong could hear, he spoke directly into his ear:

"Crying? What good is crying? Do you think that if you cry and take all the blame upon yourself, the problem will be solved? That everything will be over and you'll be able to sleep easy?"

"Do you really think those two bastards will have a change of heart just because you took the blame, and release your parents' souls so they can be free?!"

"Use that little brain of yours and think carefully! If you take the blame for everything and get caught and exiled to the Ice Sea, those two bloodthirsty cannibals will only think you're a useless weakling. Not only couldn't you handle one little thing, you nearly got them exposed, too."

"So what do you think they'll do next? Oh, what a mystery!"

"Here, I'll give you the two likeliest possibilities. You can decide for yourself." Qian Yuhan cleared his throat and held up a finger.

"Option one: They think that even if you're exiled, you could still betray them, so they set an ambush along the way and silence you! Then they take your soul and your parents' souls and refine them into vengeful spirits."

"Option two: They don't care whether you confessed or not, because once you're taken away, they'll have already abandoned their current hideout."

"They'll find a new place and keep hurting people. Without you, your parents' souls are useless to them, so they can only refine them into vengeful spirits."

"After serving twenty years in the northern Ice Sea, your life will already be ruined by the time you're released. Your parents' souls may have long since been scattered to the winds, turned into vengeful spirits, while those two cannibals go on living it up and hurting people."

After hearing the two possibilities Qian Yuhan laid out, Wang Chong's sobs stopped abruptly. His face went ashen as he stared blankly at Qian Yuhan, turning over the two possibilities in his mind.

To be fair, they really did sound like things those two Evil Soul Masters would do.

"Judging by your reaction, you don't seem to disagree with me?" Qian Yuhan hoisted Wang Chong up like a little chick and said gravely, "Then it looks like you only have one way left to turn the tables."

"Turn the tables? What way?!"

As though he had grasped his final lifeline, a faint, almost illusory light flickered in Wang Chong's eyes. His hoarse voice slowly rasped out of his throat like air from an old bellows.

"I can't be bothered to tell you. There's no point, anyway. You're the kind of coward who'd rather be sent north to build the defenses for twenty years than take a chance and fight back. I can't be bothered with you. Just wait here for the Bright Capital patrol's Soul Engineers to arrest you, then send you north to dig potatoes and build the defenses."

With that, Qian Yuhan turned and started walking back, pulling Xiao Hongchen along. Wang Chong struggled unsteadily to his feet and grabbed the hem of Qian Yuhan's clothing. "I'm not a coward! Please tell me what I should do!"

"It's simple." Qian Yuhan yanked his hem free from Wang Chong's grasp, then plopped a tall hat onto Xiao Hongchen beside him.

"Tell Young Master Xiao your grievances, your story. He's the eldest young master of the Hongchen Family, the grandson of the dean of the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and the Hall Master of Mingde Hall, the greatest genius the Sun Moon Empire has seen in a thousand years, and the future leader of the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. He'll definitely stand up for you!"

"Am I right, Young Master Xiao?" Qian Yuhan grinned and looked at Xiao Hongchen with an earnest expression. His eyes, shining even more brilliantly gold beneath the sun, seemed to say:

Xiao Hongchen, you're Dean Jing Hongchen's own grandson, the future leader of the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Your schoolmate is asking for help from a big brother he can trust. You can't let yourself lose face!

"Ah..."

Xiao Hongchen could tell something wasn't quite right, but Qian Yuhan had put him on the spot.

He'd feel terrible if he didn't say anything, so he forced down the profound awkwardness and nodded stiffly at Wang Chong. "That's right, Wang Chong. Go ahead and tell us. I'm putting my word on the line today: I'll take care of this for you!"

"Thank you, Brother Xiao."

Xiao Hongchen's name really did carry a lot of weight at the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

After receiving Xiao Hongchen's assurance, Wang Chong excitedly wiped away his tears. Then he pulled aside the sharp-eyed man, who'd been standing there with hardly any presence at all, and began telling Qian Yuhan and Xiao Hongchen the tragic story of his past.