Could I Trouble You to Kill Yourself?

Yu Sheng returned home feeling somewhat tired, sat on the sofa, and looked thoughtful.

He already had a vague guess, but it overturned everything he knew so thoroughly that he did not dare confirm it just yet.

If that Dragon-Patterned Staff represented his Awakening Object after hatching, and there were many similar things in the scroll in his mind, did that, in another sense, prove that he had a chance to awaken multiple times?

In the hundred years since spiritual energy had returned, there were only two documented cases of people awakening multiple times.

And both shared a common trait: their Awakening Objects were very ordinary.

The first person had hatched a sickle and a keyboard.

The second had hatched a squirrel and scissors.

Although dual awakenings were very rare, and the Ink Pavilion had poured resources into cultivating them, neither had ultimately amounted to anything.

They consumed too many resources, and their Awakening Objects were poor, so the results were limited.

But his was different. That Dragon-Patterned Staff looked very impressive. If his guess was true, his path ahead might become much easier.

The sky had gradually darkened by then. Looking at the starlight outside the window, Yu Sheng grew distracted for a moment.

Always steadfast, he finally showed a little weakness at that moment. Even his straight back bent slightly, as though he were carrying something.

But that posture lasted only a few seconds. Yu Sheng's expression shifted slightly, and he suddenly held his breath, leaning back a little to conceal himself perfectly in the darkness.

Even though the moonlight kept the room from looking too dark, no one could make out that there was a person where he sat.

For a time, the room fell utterly silent.

The seconds ticked by.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from the doorway. The handle turned gently, and the door opened a crack.

In the moonlight, a young figure could be seen slipping silently inside, closing the door again, and pressing himself against the wall without moving.

Another half minute passed. A squad from the Guard Bureau ran past the window, vigilantly surveying their surroundings as though searching for something, before finally disappearing into the distance.

The person by the door finally let out a long breath. His body abruptly relaxed, and he sat on the floor, coughing softly.

He did not seem to have noticed Yu Sheng. After resting for a moment, he struggled to his feet and surveyed the room by the moonlight. Only after finding no one did he walk over to the sofa and sit down, beginning to tend to the gruesome wound on his chest.

The wound was deep, probably a blade wound, with the flesh curling outward.

The boy frowned slightly and looked up at his surroundings, as though searching for something.

"The medicinal liquor is in the second compartment in front of you."

Yu Sheng's calm voice suddenly came from behind him.

His body instantly went rigid. Just as he was about to get up, a dagger was already pressed against his neck. It was not merely touching him as a tentative threat, either; a little force had been applied, piercing straight through his skin and flesh.

The dagger's blade had sunk half a centimeter in.

"You'd better not move."

"The dagger is very close to your major artery. A little more pressure, and you'll die."

"Cleaning the floor is a hassle."

Yu Sheng spoke with a frown, as though recalling some unpleasant scene.

The boy froze in place, not moving a muscle, and said quietly, "I'm only here for medicine. I won't hurt anyone."

"Oh. The medicinal liquor is in the second compartment in front of you."

Yu Sheng repeated himself earnestly.

The boy fell silent again, maintaining his original posture.

The two fell into another stalemate just like that. Blood from the boy's neck ran down the blade and dripped onto the floor, the occasional drip, drip sounding through the dark room.

"Why aren't you getting the medicine?"

"Your wound is serious."

Yu Sheng kindly reminded him.

By then, the boy's face was gradually turning pale from blood loss, and his body was trembling slightly. But because of the dagger at his neck, he could not move at all.

He had seen the medicine, along with the bandages. He certainly wanted to get them, but the crux of the problem was...

Move your knife away first!

"I feel like my wound is much better. I don't need medicine."

The boy spoke slowly. "Are you going to kill me?"

Yu Sheng shook his head earnestly. "Killing people outside Sin City is illegal."

Hearing Yu Sheng's words, the boy let out a soft breath of relief, and his taut muscles relaxed a little. "There's a long road ahead. I owe you my life. This favor... I'll repay it."

But Yu Sheng still had no intention of moving the dagger. Instead, after pondering for several seconds, he asked, "Since you owe me your life, could you kill yourself?"

The boy, who had remained very composed all this time, was a little stunned, as though trying to process Yu Sheng's bizarre train of thought.

This was the first time he had ever encountered such reasoning.

"I'm an assassin. Could I kill someone for you free of charge?"

The boy made another attempt.

Yu Sheng nodded. "All right. Please kill yourself for me."

He said it as though it were perfectly natural, without missing a beat.

The boy was on the verge of breaking down. He looked as though he was in pain, not only physically, but mentally too.

"We have no grudge against each other. Why are you so determined to have me die?"

He finally voiced the question on his mind.

It had been bottled up inside him for so long that he really could not hold it in anymore.

Yu Sheng looked somewhat puzzled. "Because you sneaked into my room at night and dirtied my floor."

"If this were Sin City, you would have died the moment you came through the door."

"Sin City..."

"You're from Sin City?"

The boy caught on, growing somewhat agitated, but quickly spoke again. "Impossible. Sin City only has one slot for absolution each year. You're so young. There's no way you could have won it."

"Forget it. There's no point arguing about that."

"I admit defeat. Go ahead."

With that, the boy closed his eyes as though resigned to his fate and, following the customary practice of everyone about to die, looked back over his life.

But...

By the fifth time he had gone through his memories, the dagger at his neck still had not struck.

"Why aren't you doing it?"

The boy could not help asking again.

Yu Sheng looked at him as though he were an idiot. "Killing people outside Sin City is illegal."

"Then let me go!"

The boy began to grow irritable and anxious.

Yu Sheng shook his head. "No."

"Then this counts as unlawful detention. That's illegal too!"

"Under the Ink Pavilion Criminal Law, it carries a three-year prison sentence, or five to eight years in serious cases!"

A flash of inspiration struck the boy, and he suddenly understood something. Speaking very quickly, he shared his professional knowledge.

Yu Sheng looked thoughtful. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen. Under the Ink Pavilion's laws, I'm still a minor. If you unlawfully detain me, the punishment will be even harsher!"

As though he had found the key to survival, the boy became increasingly methodical, delivering an impromptu lesson in the law.

"Seventeen?"

"So you haven't awakened yet..."

Yu Sheng slowly lowered the dagger and gave the boy a broad, friendly smile. "You can go now. Goodbye."

As he spoke, he even waved warmly.