Early the next morning, Qin Siyang woke to a call from Chu Zhongxiong.
"Good morning, Minister Qin."
"Minister Chu, what is it?"
"Someone's about to breathe his last, and he wants to see you before he dies. Whether you go is up to you."
"Who?"
"Xiao Zhigang."
"Xiao Zhigang? Didn't he go insane?"
"He was faking it. We both knew he was playing mad and backing down to keep us from settling accounts with him."
"Then why stop pretending now?"
"He's dying," Chu Zhongxiong said. "What's the point of pretending anymore?"
Qin Siyang looked utterly baffled. "Why would I want to see him?"
"Minister Chu, you know perfectly well how bad things are between Xiao Zhigang and me. I'd say not killing him was already more than generous of me, wouldn't you?"
"And he wants to see me before he dies? Is he sick in the head? No. Absolutely not!"
"If he were dying an ordinary death, Minister Qin, it would be a mark of our restraint not to set off firecrackers," Chu Zhongxiong continued. "But there's something to be said about the way he's dying."
Qin Siyang snorted. "What could there possibly be to say? Don't tell me he's dying for the Safe Zone."
"More or less. That's not an unreasonable way to put it."
"Huh? What happened? Wasn't he critically injured by the Invaders?"
"No." Chu Zhongxiong shook his head. "Here's what happened."
"Sima Ji led his troops to capture the War Readiness Zone where Xiao Zhigang was staying. Some of those who surrendered told him that Xiao Zhigang was at odds with the United Government's current Decision-Making Tier, and that he had once been a senior United Government official with a certain amount of influence. So Sima Ji planned to back him and establish a puppet regime