Hao Jingye's real business was, of course, killing humans.
He had to take his time with it. He could even let them grow stronger, as long as they shed enough blood.
He knew the Fragments needed it.
During those three months wandering with the woman, he had given it serious thought.
This was his consciousness, an order he had to carry out.
And so he fought that clever woman, Sheng An, for many, many years.
He was in no hurry to kill her, but she was very eager to kill him, especially after discovering how unusual his superpower was.
Yet after a few years of fighting, she suddenly stopped being so eager to kill him.
Instead, she began engaging him in strange battles of push and pull, even interacting with him more often.
The Fragments belonged to the Otherkind, and they would help him. Sheng An was clever, but this world was not suited to humans.
So he won, and Sheng An lost.
In the end, Sheng An came to find him alone.
He succeeded in killing her.
But only then did he realize he had fallen into her trap, too.
She asked who he was, asked about "Hao Jingye's" past and family, asked about his memories, asked what exactly went on inside that clever head of his, and asked about that woman... Jiang Yu.
Right, that foolish woman was called Jiang Yu.
This was not the first time Sheng An had asked. Throughout their many strange bouts of push and pull, she seemed to have been probing him for the truth. He did not know whether she had figured it out.
But through that process, he had come to understand.
Sheng An was dead.
-But she had not lost.
Because she had done it deliberately.
She had come to