What He Refused to Throw Away

"Let's head back." Beside the mountain trail outside, Luo Qi waved a weary hand.

Snow and ice howled through the mountains, where it was much colder than inside the stockade. At least the stockade had plenty of places to shelter from the wind and cold. Coming out to work meant frost that truly pierced the bones.

Luo Qi had become a minor leader, taking a squad to lie in ambush beside the mountain road and try to rob passing merchants. But how many merchants would travel in such bitter cold? They had not seen so much as a ghost all day. Falling snow had long since covered his hair and shoulders, and his frail body looked like a frost-covered eggplant.

When he left the Luo Family, he had not had time to pack his belongings. He had only a thin outer robe on him. After crouching in this world of wind, snow, and ice all day, even the modest progress he had made in cultivation could hardly keep him going.

His subordinates, on the other hand, were all bundled up and fared a little better than he did. Luo Qi was newly arrived and had yet to establish his authority, so he could hardly bring himself to take his subordinates' clothes. He had been gritting his teeth and holding out for a long time.

One of his subordinates said, "Boss Luo, guarding this mountain road isn't getting us anywhere. Looks like we'll have to head toward the city..."

Luo Qi shook his head. "Let's watch it for another two days first. We don't know whether the higher-ups intend to preach in the city. If they do, believers will bring offerings. We can't act on our own initiative."

Preaching to receive offerings and robbing people like bandits were the two typical sources of income for a demonic cult. If things developed well, they might even acquire properties and run businesses. But everything at this new branch was only just beginning; they had nothing. So far, all their food had been purchased outside the mountains. Startup funds, essentially.

The subordinate said, "But we've been hungry all day! We'll get yelled at when we return to the stockade, and they probably won't even feed us. At this rate, we'll starve to death ourselves!"

Luo Qi said, "Another day, we'll go into the city privately. I'll treat you brothers to a meal."

His subordinates gave him ingratiating smiles. It seemed this newly promoted leader knew how to get along with people, easing some of their worries.

Luo Qi dismissed his subordinates and dragged his exhausted body slowly back toward the mountain stockade in the setting sun.

When he passed the underground altar, Luo Qi instinctively glanced at the secret door, concealed so well that no one could recognize it, and gave a faint, cold smile.

He knew what this was.

Zhao Changhe thought he had been forced to come along with no other choice. Only Luo Qi himself knew that they had not been escorting prisoners on the way here, nor was he so weak he could not walk. He could clearly have left halfway. Why insist on coming here to suffer?

Because he had always understood what this place was, what the Blood God Cult did, and... exactly why they had wanted to destroy the Luo Family.

After careful consideration, he had decided to come of his own accord.

He entered the stockade as though nothing were amiss and went to the administrative hall to report on the day's robbery assignment. Having gained nothing, he was naturally subjected to a torrent of abuse, and sure enough, he was not given so much as a bite to eat. Luo Qi withdrew with an apologetic smile and slowly returned to the living quarters.

From far away, he saw his wooden cabin, with Zhao Changhe reading outside the door by the last glow of sunset.

He really did have something of those scholars who read by bagged fireflies or reflected snow, or bored through a wall to steal the light.

He was also holding a horse stance, a book in his left hand and a single-edged saber in his right, practicing the motion of gripping the saber and chopping downward, over and over.

There was a wooden post in front of him. He seemed to be trying hard to land every stroke in the same spot, but at present his cuts were all over the place, leaving saber marks everywhere on the post.

Luo Qi could honestly say he had never seen anyone work this hard... well, he had not met many people, either.

Zhao Changhe turned and saw him returning, and delighted surprise spread across his face. "You're back?"

That spontaneous delight struck Luo Qi as very strange. "What are you so excited about?"

"Well... I was worried you might run into danger out there." Zhao Changhe smiled. "Looks like you're all right? Good, then. Have you eaten?"

Luo Qi's expression grew even stranger. Only after a long pause did he say, "Yes."

In truth, Luo Qi had eaten nothing all day except the coarse steamed bun he had had that morning. The moment his stubborn words left his mouth, his stomach supplied a gurgling accompaniment.

Luo Qi instantly flushed and glared furiously at Zhao Changhe.

Zhao Changhe was hardly going to argue with someone this hopelessly prickly. He turned and went inside. "I was worried you wouldn't manage that so-called 'feeding yourself' in all this ice and snow, so I saved you some food... You're just in time. It's still warm."

Luo Qi followed as though sleepwalking, staring at the leftover food on the table, still faintly warm, his mind a tangled mess.

Seeing him stand there in a daze, Zhao Changhe put on a stern face. "Don't tell me you mind that I've eaten from it? Make do, my senior brother."

Luo Qi said nothing. He quietly sat down at the table and lowered his head to look at the food.

There was even a piece of meat in it.

"You... need meat more right now," he said with some difficulty.

Zhao Changhe waved a careless hand. "I had three portions at noon. That was enough. I'm not hungry."

Luo Qi fell silent. Since when did eating at noon mean you could go without dinner...

Zhao Changhe sat beside him while he ate and asked, "What merchants would be passing through in the dead of winter? How are you supposed to carry out a task like that?"

"There are a few now and then. If there really aren't any..." Luo Qi paused without finishing, then turned to look at Zhao Changhe with some puzzlement. "Perhaps this winter, we'll cause many more incidents like Zhao Cuo. Doesn't that bother you at all? Wouldn't that make your anger back then rather ironic?"

Zhao Changhe gazed absently at the sunset outside and said quietly, "I was wrestling with that before you came back. I thought about it for a long time. There are a few things I wanted to discuss with you, actually."

"What?" Luo Qi asked, puzzled.

"Before, we had no choice. We could only take things one step at a time. Now, we actually have a certain amount of freedom to act." Zhao Changhe lowered his voice again. "For example, could we choose our targets? Pick people like the Luo Family. If we went after them, couldn't we at least call it carrying out heaven's justice, robbing the rich to help the poor? I suspect that's where a lot of great heroes get their money anyway..."

Luo Qi's expression went through a spectacular range of changes. He stared at Zhao Changhe for a long time as though looking at some bizarre specimen before finally laughing. "I thought you were a man of heroic mettle. How are you this naive?"

"Naive? Maybe." Zhao Changhe said softly, "There are just some things I really don't want to lose."

Luo Qi did not mock him. He lowered his head and prodded the grains of rice in his bowl. "Trapped in a demons' den, how can you be your own master? Deep down, you know it too. It can't be done."

Zhao Changhe said, "If we can't do it now, then we get stronger. I could see it for myself today: in a demonic cult, strength speaks loudest. If you're a badass, people respect you. Who'll dare let out another fart? You're a leader, for instance. At least you have some say over that squad. What if you become branch master one day? Wouldn't you be the one calling the shots here?"

There was something else Zhao Changhe did not say aloud.

Once I'm strong enough to deal with anyone they send after me, I can just run if I have to. It's only a lousy stockade. If I really want to slip away, what's stopping me?

A stranger in a strange land-who gives a damn about whom? I'm already a born bandit. Adding a born rebellious streak is hardly a big deal.

"Heh..." Whether or not Luo Qi caught his unspoken meaning, he instead sighed softly. "I hope you can hold on to your conscience, and your innocence too. Like this meal right now... Thank you."

Zhao Changhe smiled. "It's not easy getting that tone out of you. We're friends now, then."

"Mm," Luo Qi answered, then said gently, "We already were."

In truth, they were more than friends. It would not have been an exaggeration to say they depended on each other for survival. Luo Qi had simply never imagined those words would apply to him and anyone else.

"Then we can lie down together tonight, right?" Zhao Changhe tapped the table. "I mean, haven't you had enough? How long are we supposed to keep this up, one sleeping in the bed and the other slumped over the table? Whatever you say, I'm sleeping in the bed tonight. I'm fucking freezing."

"..." Luo Qi said woodenly, "Then take the bed. Or perhaps one day I'll die out there, and you won't have to worry about things like this."

Zhao Changhe snapped, "Don't tell me you really are a woman. Why are you being so precious about this? Readers don't even want to see that woman-disguised-as-a-man trope in novels anymore."

Equally irritated, Luo Qi pointed at his Adam's apple. "Listen, Zhao, have you gone mad from pent-up lust? Does everything you see make you think of women?"

"Exactly the opposite! What mood am I in to get lovey-dovey with a woman right now?" Zhao Changhe said angrily. "I don't want you to be a woman at all. A man is countless times more convenient. A woman would be trouble, all right? Can't you act like a man?"

Luo Qi's eyes widened. After a long pause, he laughed. "Truly... the words of a stalwart hero of the martial world."

"You mean I'm a steel-plated straight guy, right? Oh, I forgot you don't know that term." Zhao Changhe stopped giving a damn. "So I'm a die-hard straight guy. What of it? Here's how it's going to be: if you're a man, we start sleeping together today. If you're a woman, I'll go sell my ass to Instructor Sun tomorrow morning and beg him to give me another room! It's just sleeping. Why all this fucking bullshit?"

Luo Qi poked and poked at the food in his bowl with his chopsticks. The piece of meat he had been reluctant to eat was nearly mashed to bits. He muttered so quietly he could barely be heard, "A bandit through and through. So vulgar."

Zhao Changhe did not catch it. "What?"

"Nothing." Luo Qi lifted his chin. "Fine, we'll sleep together. You think I'm afraid of you?"