A villain was a villain after all

In the somewhat dim room, the atmosphere was quiet and oppressive.

Qi Mo pressed his lips together and looked at him in silence for a long while before saying, "Wasn't Lei Guang already dead?"

"Playing dumb with me?" Lin Qingyang raised an eyebrow at him, then picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip before continuing, "After Lei Guang was expelled from the Nine Skies Sect, someone severed the tendons in his wrists and ankles. You did it!"

His tone was calm. It was not a question.

Qi Mo frowned at him without a word, but his taut jaw betrayed his tension.

Lin Qingyang swirled the teacup in his hand and continued, "I asked Feng Shu. When you came out of the Cold Moon Pavilion that day, you happened to see Lei Guang being expelled from the Nine Skies Sect. Afterward, Feng Shu and Feng Yi went to the Square to practice their swordsmanship. That was when you slipped away, wasn't it?"

"I trusted you and didn't let them lock you up, and what did you do? You took the chance to go out and kill someone! You managed to sneak out of the heavily guarded Nine Skies Sect to cause trouble. I certainly underestimated you!" Lin Qingyang gave an angry snort as he spoke.

Qi Mo listened in silence, his fingers clutching the bedsheet beneath him tightly, but he remained stubborn when he spoke. "I don't know what you're talking about."

To Lin Qingyang, his flat refusal to admit anything was plainly an attitude of "What can you do to me?" It only made him angrier. He slammed down his teacup, rose, and walked to the bed.

Seeing him approach, Qi Mo lowered his head with some guilt, avoiding his gaze, but Lin Qingyang grabbed his chin and forced him to look up into his eyes.

"Was I too good to you before? Is that why you think you can take me for a fool?" Lin Qingyang demanded angrily, radiating pressure.

Qi Mo looked at him, conflict on his face, but remained silent, looking determined to hold out to the bitter end.

Lin Qingyang narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip, threatening coldly, "Either you confess now, or I send you to Ink Cloud Hall. Mo Yan will certainly have plenty of ways to make you talk."

Qi Mo froze, seemingly not expecting Lin Qingyang to say that. After his initial daze, his eyes slowly turned cold. The guilt and unease vanished from his face, replaced by anger.

"Why go to all that trouble? If you want my life, you can take it right here!" Qi Mo said with a cold sneer. His eyes were a little red, but his gaze grew fiercer. "That's right. I did it! I followed them out of the Nine Skies Sect, waited until the others left, and used that knife to cripple his hands and feet!"

"Do you know why I didn't kill him? Because that would have been letting him off too easily! Crippled out in the wilderness, he wouldn't die right away. He'd struggle for days, living a life worse than death. If he was lucky and it rained, he could last a few days longer. But nobody goes there, so in the end, he could only starve to death or be eaten by wild beasts! A pity. If I'd had more time, I would have skinned him too!"

Qi Mo described it word by word, his eyes filled with a savage bloodlust Lin Qingyang had never seen before.

Lin Qingyang was stunned. His fingers unconsciously loosened around Qi Mo's chin, as though only now had he seen what Qi Mo truly was. Their time together over the past few days had almost made him forget that the boy before him was the main villain of the entire book. He was not some weak, pitiable creature to be bullied, but a fierce beast held captive and suppressed. Vengefulness and ruthless cruelty were his true nature. For the first time, Lin Qingyang saw in him a glimpse of Lin Yao's so-called Demon King.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Compared to what your Human Clan has done, what does this amount to? Haven't your people skinned and torn apart enough demons?" Qi Mo snarled, his reddened eyes full of bone-deep hatred that had been suppressed for far too long.

For a moment, Lin Qingyang could not speak. His fingers stiffened as he tried to pull his hand away, but Qi Mo seized his wrist in a vicious grip that made it ache. Lin Qingyang tried to withdraw his hand, but Qi Mo pulled it slowly down to his own neck, positioning Lin Qingyang's hand right around his throat.

Qi Mo's gaze remained fixed on his face as he sneered mockingly. "Do it! By your Human Clan's rules, beasts that bite are supposed to be beaten to death, aren't they?"

Anger and grim resolve churned in Qi Mo's eyes. Lin Qingyang looked at him with a complicated expression, unable to speak for a long time. He finally realized that his self-righteous attempts to save Qi Mo and uphold justice had meant nothing to him. As a modern person, he could not accept such cruel vigilante punishment, but neither could he ignore everything Qi Mo had suffered and condemn his cruelty from a position of moral superiority. For the first time, the moral standards he had always taken for granted collided with the brutal truth of this world, leaving him with a sudden sense of helplessness.

His fingers rested against Qi Mo's vulnerable neck, and he could feel his pulse. Only after a long while did he command in a low voice, "Let go!"

Qi Mo stared at him for a long time before finally releasing his hand slowly. Lin Qingyang withdrew it, revealing a clear ring of red marks around his wrist. He shook it lightly and asked wearily, "Where did you do it?"

Qi Mo paused, then answered truthfully, "At the cliff north of the sect gates." At this point, there was nothing left to hide.

Lin Qingyang picked up the clothes beside the bed and tossed them onto him. "Go back."

Qi Mo looked somewhat surprised, seemingly unable to believe that he was being let off just like that. He frowned and said, "If you don't want to dirty your hands, you can have someone take me to Ink Cloud Hall."

"I told you to go back!" Lin Qingyang raised his voice, looking irritated. "I have no interest in taking your life. No one else will hear about this!"

Qi Mo looked at him in confusion. A moment ago, he had been interrogating him so aggressively, yet now he was letting him off so easily.

Lin Qingyang looked up at him with rare seriousness and said, "This is the last time I help you!"

Qi Mo's pupils contracted, and he stared fixedly at Lin Qingyang. Beneath his anger, there seemed to be a trace of hurt, as though Lin Qingyang had wronged him somehow. Perhaps being indulged time and again over these past days had given him a strange, secret expectation that the man before him ought to understand him, agree with him, and even stand on his side. Yet this time, Lin Qingyang had chosen to draw a line between them, and that made him feel betrayed.

Baffled by that look, Lin Qingyang nevertheless offered a well-meaning warning. "If you want to live a decent life from now on, you'd better stop making trouble for yourself."

Qi Mo clearly did not appreciate it. Instead, he gritted his teeth in anger. "Then thank you very much, Elder Lin!" With that, he took his clothes, stood, and strode out of the room.

Lin Qingyang watched him storm out. Only when the door slammed shut did he frown in displeasure.

"Wow. A villain really is a villain after all," the Windflower Sword remarked, floating over from who knew where.

"What kind of attitude was that? He actually has the nerve to be angry!" Lin Qingyang cursed irritably. "What an ungrateful little brat!"

Once Lin Qingyang finished cursing, his anger drained away as quickly as air from a punctured balloon, leaving only a deep exhaustion. He sat back down on the edge of the bed and raised a hand to press his aching brow.