A Conversation Between Cousins

Dancing in shackles was not a pleasant feeling.

But compared with mutual destruction...

Dancing in shackles was not entirely unacceptable.

It was like the matter of windows and roofs. When you proposed opening a window, the others in the house would refuse. But when you proposed tearing off the roof, they would agree to open the window instead. It could be considered a compromise, one with a certain special nature.

This was precisely the game Han Fei was playing.

If you killed me, you had to gamble on whether I could catch you by the tail. If you won, you would naturally emerge safe and sound. But if you lost, you would die without even a burial place. By then, Zhang Kaidi and the others would step forward. In fact, they would not even need to testify personally. All they had to do was spread the evidence, and you would be cutting yourself off from the world.

If you did not kill me, then you could only contend with me within the rules of the game. If you won, there was no need to mention the outcome—I would die. But if you lost, I could convict you and use the tide of the times to crush you.

A life for a life.

The wager was that you would not dare trade with me.

Moreover, the most shameless part of this move was that even if you knew full well that I valued my own life greatly, that my life was undoubtedly priceless in my own eyes, and that I was plainly betting you would not dare follow through, my life would inevitably have a price in your eyes. After all, you would never place my life above your own. In anyone's eyes, their own life was priceless. No one would