"What is it?"
Long Xiaoyao forcibly suppressed the excitement and nervousness in his heart.
Ye Zhaolu fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Um, what do you think of Evil Soul Masters?"
"I'd love to... what? Evil Soul Masters?"
Long Xiaoyao froze.
He immediately laughed inwardly. What the heck? He had thought Ye Zhaolu was going to confess to him first!
Still, Long Xiaoyao concealed his expression very well.
Li Chen had given him special training: never show too much of a scarcity mindset around women, and never pull a face over a remark or two, especially early in a relationship.
Long Xiaoyao waited for the green light.
"I don't have any particular thoughts on Evil Soul Masters. Just kill them when you find them. Why, Zhaolu? Did you run into an Evil Soul Master?"
Ye Zhaolu lowered her eyes when she heard that.
"Just kill them?"
The light turned green, and Long Xiaoyao started the car.
"What else would we do? Let Evil Soul Masters go around hurting people? As for locking them up, Evil Soul Masters aren't like ordinary criminals. Most Evil Soul Masters have enough lives on their hands to be executed several times over."
"I don't know about anyone else, but I'd kill an Evil Soul Master outright if I ran into one. Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Ye Zhaolu's face grew a little paler at his words.
"It's nothing. An ordinary person harmed by an Evil Soul Master came into the affiliated hospital today. All the blood in his body had been replaced with poisonous black blood, and he had to keep consuming human blood to survive. Before he was discovered, he'd been stealing blood bags from the hospital."
"The hospital wanted to dispose of him outright. I purified the toxins for him despite the pressure, and the director and I exchanged a few heated words. That person is locked up now."
Complicated emotions filled Ye Zhaolu's heart.
"I was just wondering, if some Evil Soul Masters have never done anything evil, or were forced by others to do evil, how should we deal with them?"
"Does everyone tainted by evil power deserve to die?"
Long Xiaoyao turned the steering wheel in silence.
Ye Zhaolu did not press him for an answer. After speaking, she simply turned to look out the window.
The atmosphere in the car instantly chilled.
A few minutes later,
Long Xiaoyao spoke. "Zhaolu, this is a very complicated question. Indeed, just as you said, some people in this world commit crimes because they have no choice."
"But distinguishing between actual Evil Soul Masters and people forced to become Evil Soul Masters consumes society's resources. It takes a lot of people spending a lot of time investigating."
"Besides, public discourse absolutely cannot promote mercy toward Evil Soul Masters and criminals. Otherwise, social order will become even more chaotic."
"But as you said, killing them all does seem rather inhumane."
Long Xiaoyao took a deep breath and scratched his head.
"Ah, the more I talk, the more tangled this gets."
"I'm a rough sort. I don't know how to handle the situation you described properly."
"But it boils down to this: when I encounter an Evil Soul Master, I'll first make sure they lose the ability to fight. If they resist to the end, I'll kill them outright."
"But if they're relatively cooperative, genuinely have extenuating circumstances, and haven't killed anyone, I'll have my subordinates spare their lives whenever possible, cripple their abilities, and then confine them together."
"Our War God Temple even has a dedicated residential compound holding many of those poor souls you mentioned, people contaminated by Evil Soul Master powers."
"To tell you the truth, I can't figure this problem out myself. You're part of the system too, Zhaolu. You should know that not every problem in this world can be solved perfectly. We're only human, not gods."
Ye Zhaolu nodded after listening, but pressed further.
"Then if one day you discovered I was an Evil Soul Master, would you kill me?"
Long Xiaoyao froze, and the car abruptly stopped by the roadside.
The next instant, Long Xiaoyao grabbed Ye Zhaolu's hand, channeled Soul Power into her, and began examining her carefully.
"Wait, what are you doing?!"
Ye Zhaolu froze, then asked.
Long Xiaoyao said nothing. He carefully examined the Soul Power inside Ye Zhaolu's body, only releasing her hand after a while.
"Checking whether you're an Evil Soul Master."
Ye Zhaolu was speechless. "No, I was just asking."
"How can you ask something like that so casually? Usually, when someone asks me that, it means they're an Evil Soul Master!"
Long Xiaoyao sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're not."
"But what if I really were?"
Long Xiaoyao sighed speechlessly.
"Zhaolu, you're a Super Douluo! If you were an Evil Soul Master, your combat strength would rival the Four Dark Heavenly Kings. Of course I'd have to kill you!"
"The Federation and the legion raised me from childhood to kill enemies, kill Evil Soul Masters, and defend our homeland. Do you even need to ask?"
Bitterness welled up in Ye Zhaolu's heart, and she nodded. "Mm. You're right."
"Ah, stop thinking about all these hypotheticals. This isn't a movie. Where would all those outrageous plot twists come from? Come on, where's that place? I'll take you out for something good."
Ye Zhaolu looked at Long Xiaoyao's profile and smiled. "All right. Let's go eat something good."
The car started moving.
Far away,
A silver-haired woman watched the surveillance feed, watching Long Xiaoyao and Ye Zhaolu.
"Heh, aren't they close? They're even fucking eating together!"
Cai Yue'er ground her teeth.
Beside her, a man covered in marks from a beating was locked in a cage.
Cai Yue'er rose and kicked the cage. The man inside shrank into a trembling ball.
"Did you pass along the message I told you to? Someone from your Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters is coming to Mingdu tonight. You weren't lying to me, were you?"
"No, no! Your Eminence Silver Moon, how could I dare lie to you?"
Cai Yue'er said coldly,
"Then we'll wait and see tonight. You know the consequences of lying to me: a fate worse than death."
"Yes, yes! I reported everything to headquarters exactly as you instructed. At least two of the Four Heavenly Kings will come tonight. That Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, is certain to die!"
Cai Yue'er frowned. "Hmm? Who said I wanted him dead outright? I want his reputation utterly ruined!"
"Yes, yes, his reputation utterly ruined! When our cult's Heavenly Kings arrive, all you need to do is expose the evidence of their meeting with Long Xiaoyao. Our Heavenly Kings will then take Long Xiaoyao away, and the War God Temple won't be able to defend itself even with a hundred mouths. Everything will be in your hands!"
Only then did Cai Yue'er laugh in satisfaction.
Long Xiaoyao, colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult's Four Heavenly Kings-this time, I'll have everyone on the continent nail you to the pillar of shame!
The man in the cage ventured, "Your Eminence Silver Moon, I've done everything you told me to. You promised to spare my life..."
"I'd have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it."
The next instant, Cai Yue'er extended one hand, and a dense shaft of silver light pierced the man's head.
His body instantly stiffened. A moment later, his life was extinguished, and he collapsed to the ground.
His eyes were wide, his expression still frozen in disbelief, as though he could not believe Cai Yue'er would kill him outright.
"Heh."
Cai Yue'er sneered. This fool from the Holy Spirit Cult had actually thought she would spare his life. Wouldn't keeping him alive mean leaving a loose end?
Cai Yue'er continued watching Mingdu's surveillance feeds, narrowing her eyes as she quietly waited for night to fall.
Under cover of night in Mingdu,
Two of the Holy Spirit Cult's Heavenly Kings arrived silently. Thanks to Cai Yue'er's deliberate preparations, the two Heavenly Kings evaded the surveillance of Mingdu's powerhouses, easily slipped into the city, and lay in wait along the route Long Xiaoyao had to take back to the War God Temple.