Misfit

"Director... where did you go just now? Something this serious happened at the Legend Management Bureau, and Underworld Enforcers from every corner of the Underworld rushed over to help. Why didn't you show up?"

He Suoyi gave a dry laugh and explained, "I'm getting old. I move slowly."

Du Yu didn't press him, but something still felt off.

"Little Du." Xie Bi'an touched his face and said, "You're an employee of the Legend Management Bureau, after all. Don't forget your manners with the director."

He Suoyi hurriedly cut in as well. "Yes, yes. We're about to prepare the legend, and today's legend concerns some of you. The Legend Management Bureau has had a rule since ancient times-no meeting yourself within a legend. I won't keep you gentlemen any longer."

With that, He Suoyi turned and went inside. Du Yu was about to follow when Cui Jue called him back.

"Brother Du Yu," Cui Jue said quietly, "have you made up your mind about what I asked you last time?"

Du Yu considered it for a moment. In truth, he'd been thinking about it all this time. What Cui Jue had asked was simply too hard to comprehend.

"Boss..." Du Yu thought for a moment before saying, "Could you tell me why? Everyone else who asks me for something wants me to go back into the past and help them make their future better. But you want me to go back and disrupt your legend so you can't become the Grand Judge. I really can't understand it..."

"Brother Du Yu..." Cui Jue gave a bitter smile. "Becoming the Grand Judge was certainly a good thing. Not only did I gain supreme magical power, I also gained immortality. But the price was losing the person who mattered most to me. If possible, I'd like to experience a different life..."

"Another man devoted to love..." Du Yu murmured to himself.

"So... will you agree?" Cui Jue asked.

"I..." Du Yu was torn. "Boss, it's not that I don't want to agree. You know that if you never become a judge, it won't just generate a huge amount of supreme pivot-the entire structure of the Underworld will change..."

"I think that if I don't become the Grand Judge, someone else could surely do the job, couldn't they?"

"Big brother..." Fan Wujiao had finally understood what was going on. He hurried forward and said, "What are you thinking, big brother? You don't want to be an Underworld Enforcer anymore?"

"I..." Cui Jue looked troubled too. "There's always been a knot in my heart. I can't untie it, and I can't get around it."

"Chief." Xie Bi'an also stepped forward. "Since you can't make the decision, why not ask your younger self?"

"Oh?"

"That's right!" It suddenly struck Du Yu too. "None of us should decide for you. Just like with Da Yi and Heng'e, I'll ask your past self and let you make your own choice."

Cui Jue fell silent for a long time before saying, "I suppose that's our only option... Brother Du Yu, I'm counting on you."

Du Yu said goodbye to the three of them and entered the Legend Management Bureau. Xiao Qi and Xiao Jin, whom he'd met before, were already waiting at the round table.

"Du Yu, the two of us will conduct your briefing this time." The short-statured Xiao Jin smiled at Du Yu and took out his documents.

Without Dong Qianqiu, Du Yu felt an emptiness inside. But Lady Houtu was one of the Underworld's founding elders. If she wanted to take Dong Qianqiu away, there was nothing he could do.

"The first legend you'll enter is 'Cui Jue Slays the Tiger.' I'll introduce the outline." Xiao Jin adjusted his glasses and said, "Cui Jue currently serves as the Grand Judge of the Underworld's Office of Yin Law and as its Civil Judge. In life, he was the magistrate of Qi County in Luo Prefecture-present-day Qi County, Hebi City, Henan Province. In Zhenguan Year Nineteen, an old woman's son was devoured by a fierce tiger. The old woman beat the drum outside the magistrate's office to demand justice, so Cui Jue ordered Constable Li Neng to capture the tiger and brought it to court. He questioned the tiger on several charges, and it nodded in acknowledgment of each. Since the tiger sincerely wished to mend its ways, Cui Jue declined to punish it and instead assigned it to the old woman as her adopted son. From then on, the tiger took excellent care of her and never harmed anyone again. When Lady Houtu heard of this, she judged him capable of discerning right from wrong, distinguishing good from evil, and understanding reason, so she appointed him chief of the judges. Any questions?"

Du Yu found the whole thing absurd. Someone had actually put a tiger on trial?

Even more absurdly, the tiger had confessed...

"No questions." Du Yu understood that this was a legend, after all. As for what had actually happened, he'd have to go see for himself.

"Next, I'll..." Xiao Qi began softly, "explain the problem that has arisen in the legend..."

Du Yu strained his ears to listen. Xiao Qi's voice grew quieter and quieter, forcing him to concentrate harder and harder, but all he could hear was her murmuring something under her breath. Before long, she said, "Those are the problems with the legend..."

"What?!" Du Yu froze. "Sis Qi, I can't hear you at all! Could you speak up?"

Xiao Qi visibly startled and looked extremely nervous. Her personality really worried Du Yu. Could she actually become a Voice Transmitter...?

"S-sorry. This is my first time working with an Operator, so I'm a little nervous... I'll say it again..." Xiao Qi raised her voice, though it was still quieter than most people's. "The problem with this legend is that after the old woman's son was eaten by the tiger, she didn't report it to the authorities..." Xiao Qi said timidly. "So Cui Jue still hasn't convened a court hearing for the case..."

"So that's what happened?" Du Yu thought it over carefully, then asked, "This is a grade C mission too?"

He asked because this legend seemed a little too easy.

It looked as though all he had to do to complete the mission was get the old woman to report it.

"Yes." Xiao Jin nodded. "Although the mission's difficulty is very low, mishandling it could cause the Grand Judge to disappear from the present world. Its severity can't be underestimated, so it was ultimately classified as grade C."

"True," Du Yu said. "All right, let's get ready as soon as possible."

"Go lie down over there..." Xiao Qi said softly, pointing toward the descent apparatus. "Then we can begin..."

"Uh..." Du Yu thought for a moment and said, "Aren't you forgetting something? According to procedure, aren't you supposed to ask what I want to bring with me?"

"Bring something with you...?" Xiao Qi smiled awkwardly. "Sorry... I don't have that ability..."

"Ugh..." Du Yu sighed. "Sis Qianqiu, if you don't come back soon... I'm probably going to die in a legend..."

Du Yu steadied himself and asked, "Is this a long-term legend or a short-term one?"

"A short-term legend. One descent only, lasting seven days," Xiao Jin said.

Du Yu nodded. "All right. Let's get started."

Era: the golden age of the Tang dynasty.

Location: Qi County, Luo Prefecture.

Misfit: Jiang Qin descended.

When Du Yu opened his eyes, he found himself dressed in black clothing resembling the uniform of an imperial guard. The workmanship looked good, but the material was ordinary. He was standing in a courtroom.

"You three Misfits, come pay your respects to Lord Cui Jue. From this day forward, you will serve him," said a constable dressed in red.

"Mis... fits?" Du Yu looked himself over, then raised his head to look at Cui Jue, seated at the front of the courtroom. His appearance hadn't changed, but his eyes weren't as deep as they were in the present. Before Du Yu could react, the men beside him bowed in greeting, and he hurriedly copied them, clasping his hands. "Good grief, I'm getting dropped into the plot faster and faster."

"No need to be so stiff." Cui Jue smiled. "Might I ask what offenses each of you committed?"

What exactly was a Misfit? You had to commit an offense to be one?

"Xiao Qi! What's a Misfit? What offense am I supposed to have committed?"

"Usually..." A faint voice reached him. "Committed an offense... then they... that's what a Misfit is..."

"I can't hear you at all! Your voice is too quiet!"

Before Du Yu could finish asking, the red-clad constable beside Cui Jue stepped forward, pointed at him, and said, "You first."

"Huh?" Du Yu had just been wondering whether he could copy the cat to paint the tiger and follow the others' examples to name a few offenses. Now, though, it looked like he'd have to grit his teeth and wing it.

"I... me? Boss, as for the offenses I've committed, well... men would weep to hear them, and women would have their hearts broken."

"Oh?" Cui Jue, who had looked thoroughly bored, suddenly perked up at Du Yu's words. Then he noticed something else. "What did you just call me?"

"Boss..." As soon as Du Yu said it, he regretted it. Who called an official "boss" in this era?

"Interesting. Continue," Cui Jue said with a smile.

Du Yu stopped worrying and let the words tumble out. "At first, I... gathered a few of my brothers and killed a tyrant called Nine-Infant in the Fierce River. That tyrant was incredibly powerful. We fought for ages before the battle was decided. If one of my little brothers, Little Ba, hadn't died there, I probably wouldn't be here to meet you now."

Cui Jue fell noticeably silent after hearing that.

Du Yu had no idea what that meant, so he could only continue:

"Don't worry, Boss. There's more. Later, I joined a gang called the Qi Family Gang. We had two sworn enemies, the Qin Family Gang and the Zhao Family Gang. A woman close to my heart was the leader of the Qi Family Gang, and she accidentally got surrounded by those Qin and Zhao gang members. Thousands of them! To save her, I couldn't worry about anything else. I charged into the crowd and unleashed my supreme Shaolin technique, Fire Cloud Palm. With three successive palm strikes, I killed at least a hundred people and finally escaped with her."

"..."

Cui Jue's expression shifted uncertainly. He turned to look at the red-clad constable, and both of them wore very strange expressions.

"Still not enough?" Du Yu thought, What is this? Just how serious an offense am I supposed to have committed?

"There's more... Boss, after that woman and I returned to the gang, we couldn't swallow our anger, so we led several thousand men back to attack the Qin and Zhao gangs. We killed tens of thousands of them..."

Cui Jue finally raised a hand to interrupt Du Yu, then rubbed his temples. Looking deeply troubled, he said to the red-clad constable, "Li Neng, are you certain this man is a Misfit sent from Chang'an?"

"My lord... I..." The constable called Li Neng was at a loss. "I wouldn't dare lie. These men are indeed Misfits sent from Chang'an. I just didn't know there would be such a vicious thug among them..."

"Huh? A thug?" Du Yu looked around. "Could they be talking about me?"

"Forming gangs and killing countless people." Cui Jue looked as though his head hurt. "If what you've said is true, your crimes warrant the execution of three generations of your family under the law. How could you possibly become a Misfit...?"