I'm Going to Rob You, Then Kill You

"What a nuisance..." Kaiming complained in a very low voice.

Kaiming did not care how anxious the person outside was. Looking at Xie Yu, he instructed his assistant:

"Go open the door."

As Xie Yu stood up, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Kaiming had reached up, taken some silver object off his neck, and put it in his pocket.

New text flashed past.

[Sealed Artifact 3-0771 glanced at you and decided you would not live much longer. Your spirit will be devoured by Wig at the appropriate time, and your flesh, soul, mind, and fate will all become its food.]

[(Hostility has dropped to 10... Hostility has dropped to 5...)]

Wig... The old man's name was Wig Brown.

Countless signs indicated that this Kaiming was not the original Kaiming, but Kaiming's teacher, the old man, disguised using some magical power.

By now, Xie Yu was completely certain of it.

Even though his memories were hazy and his thoughts somewhat incomplete, Xie Yu remembered clearly that the pendant called a Sealed Artifact had originally been around the old man's neck.

Everything the cabin had just said might be true.

Kaiming was dead, and this man was not Kaiming.

But he had no proof. No proof whatsoever that he could show anyone else.

Xie Yu's gaze did not change, and he dared not let his expression change either. He knew the fears he had harbored were almost entirely true, yet he was alone and without help.

Everything he had seen and learned came from the "Affection" text that no one else could see.

Whether it was what the cabin had said, the way the Sealed Artifact had addressed Kaiming, the change in the cloak, or the deeply sorrowful cane... all of it was visible to him alone.

To an outsider, it might just look as though this fellow was imagining things.

They might say I'm crazy, Xie Yu thought.

If that were all, Xie Yu felt he might still be able to argue his case and try to establish his credibility in other ways. For instance, if he gave them the Sealed Artifact's number, perhaps an experienced mage could find the corresponding information.

But the killer opposite him was no fool, much less a punching bag that would stand still.

It would be all too easy for Wig Brown to cover up any truth he revealed.

He could say I'm crazy, say I had a nightmare, diagnose me with a mental problem... Or he could skip all that trouble, disregard the consequences, and wipe me from this world, just as he wiped out Kaiming... He might not even need more than an absurd remark, like "This boy's hysteria is more serious than I thought," or "This is the treatment plan I've given him."

Xie Yu thought it over.

Could the gentleman outside who had come looking for Kaiming help me? Could I tell him the truth? If I tried to expose Wig Brown and stopped playing the ignorant assistant, how would he respond?

Perhaps because he had already been frightened at the very beginning, or perhaps because he was physically farther away from the fake Kaiming, Xie Yu was calm and composed now. He walked toward the door at exactly his usual pace.

The farther he went, the calmer he became.

Gradually, Xie Yu also remembered that he still had a few trump cards.

If his perfect-score exam paper could attract the attention of other mages, such as those in the education department, then he should have a fairly good chance of getting away from Wig.

Thanks to Kaiming, and even to Wig Brown, he had already learned at the forest ranger's house that the grading was finished. He also knew that the perfect-score paper had attracted attention, prompting certain important figures to hold a meeting and even perform a divination.

He already had an idea for making good use of that to leave Kaiming's mental health clinic.

He was lucky.

But was getting away enough?

Would he be safe once he got away?

Would Wig Brown let his "ignorant assistant" leave in peace?

Wig Brown would simply die at the funeral he had arranged for himself, disappearing from public view. Kaiming's clinic would go on operating for a long time, and Xie Yu would leave Black Pine City... The matter would be left there, as though no one knew. Perhaps, many years later, he would be fortunate enough to become powerful and return to deal with it with overwhelming strength.

Outside, the door knocker sounded heavily several more times. Xie Yu turned the handle and opened the door.

Night had fallen, and rain was coming down. The man outside wore a hooded cloak. He had blond hair, was in his forties and about the same age as Kaiming, and had a beard that was blond as well.

Apparently, even mages got wet when it rained.

Xie Yu did recognize that blond hair. The man had been in the innermost circle at the banquet and had spoken with Kaiming for over ten minutes. He had sat at the center of the banquet's tea table, with a steady stream of people coming to see him.

Now, beneath the cloak, his blond hair still stuck up with no less arrogance than before.

"Please come in. I'm Doctor Kaiming's assistant. You can tell me what you need."

Seeing that Xie Yu had opened the door, the visitor's eyes lit up with delight.

"You're exactly who I'm looking for. Come with me. By tomorrow, there'll probably be enough people looking for you to fill Black Pine City and Pinecone Town! Let's get you somewhere safe first."

Could a single perfect-score exam paper have that much impact?

Xie Yu had evidently underestimated his own impact somewhat.

Although people called it the major exam, that thin sheet of paper felt insubstantial whenever one thought of it. It was hard to connect it with a major exam that "defined a person's life."

Looking ahead, the mage's path was still so long. What did getting accepted as a magic apprentice amount to? It seemed insignificant.

Inside, the fake Kaiming walked out slowly and greeted him:

"Fry, Secretary-General Fry, what happened? This assistant of mine isn't among the things my clinic sells."

The pendant-shaped Sealed Artifact had already been taken off.

The blond man said in a low voice:

"He's the one who got the perfect score."

Kaiming's expression changed. He seemed surprised, or perhaps angry at having been deceived. He eyed Xie Yu appraisingly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Really? Fry, it sounds like you're playing a joke on me... This man knows magic? No wonder he quietly went through my bookcase while I was away..."

Although the fake Kaiming did not show much emotion and even sounded approving, Xie Yu could clearly sense his surprise and suspicion.

The fake Kaiming had evidently connected the fact that Xie Yu had looked through that book, A Complete Guide to Mind and Soul Magic from Apprentice to Sage, with the information Fry had brought him.

Danger. Even though he was about to get away, the feeling of danger was so hard to shake, like dark clouds pressing down silently overhead.

When winning over the exam paper, the cloak, and the cabin, Xie Yu had always been able to detect their emotional needs from their tone. When dealing with humans, although no Affection text appeared, that ability had not faded. Xie Yu felt that the fake Kaiming's Hostility toward him was soaring.

He wants nothing more than to kill me right now.

Because he's suspicious. He suspects I've seen through him, suspects I've deceived him in other ways, suspects he never truly had me under his thumb...

The precarious safety provided by his identity as an ignorant assistant vanished at that moment.

Then why hasn't he made a move?

He doesn't dare. After recognizing the visitor, the first thing he did was take off the Sealed Artifact and hide it. He can be afraid too, and he has a guilty conscience. He isn't all-powerful.

After all, he only suspects. He still clings to the hope that he hasn't been exposed. No matter how strong suspicion is, it's still soft, and it's hard to make up one's mind based on it.

Standing in the doorway, between Mr. Fry and the fake Kaiming, Xie Yu seemed to find the same inspiration he had felt when winning over the exam paper.

That feeling of naturally recreating the other party's innermost thoughts and personality in his mind.

[The three-story cabin that loves reading (Affection 50) has complicated feelings toward you. It had thought you would keep it company for a long time, but its peaceful past was shattered overnight. Kaiming died, Wig took possession of it, and it could do nothing. It is only a house, after all. And now you are leaving too.]

[A loyal, gem-studded solid-wood cane (Affection 0) wants to get away from this man and wants to kill him. The cane finally looks toward you, remembering Kaiming's approval of you and the care Kaiming showed you. It wants to beg you for help, but doesn't know how to begin or what it can ask of you.]

[The cloak made by Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (Affection 0) finds the way you are looking at it strange. It knows you are looking at it rather than the person wearing it, but it doesn't know why.]

When he was in danger, Xie Yu had actually thought that simply getting away would be good enough.

But now, he could not accept it.

During their brief time together, Kaiming had actually left a very good impression on him. Although the cabin had said Kaiming was a swindler, and Kaiming himself had freely admitted to his money-making methods, Xie Yu felt he was a good person. He might not truly have been an excellent doctor, but compared with a much greater evil, Kaiming seemed so simple, and he held fast to that simplicity.

He had met with this undeserved misfortune, and no one knew he was dead.

But there was only so much Xie Yu could do.

With nothing but a perfect-score exam paper and no strength to back it up, how much weight could he carry in the eyes of those important figures? Behind other people's perfect scores were entire families supporting them, countless resources invested in them, and unimaginable ability and talent... His own perfect score lacked that support.

Although no cheating had been found, Xie Yu still felt guilty deep down. He knew he was not a so-called magic genius and did not truly possess the ability to match that score.

The fake Kaiming was lying and putting on an act, and Xie Yu knew he was doing the same.

He urged himself not to act on impulse, not to be reckless, and not to force things. The other man only suspected him now; once he truly exposed him, the consequences would be impossible to predict.

Mr. Fry paid little attention to Kaiming's words and did not think Xie Yu would refuse. As far as he was concerned, it was only natural for him to take Xie Yu away, and he did not need to explain himself to anyone.

After a brief greeting, Fry reached out. A mass of flame burst forth and formed an umbrella above the two of them, lighting up the night and the ground while the rain turned to vapor in the heat.

He took Xie Yu by the wrist, intending to lead him away.

But the boy stubbornly stayed where he was. His polite grasp met with unexpected resistance.

"Mr. Kaiming, you haven't paid me for today's work yet."

Xie Yu spoke.

He stood outside in the night, looking at Kaiming, who stood inside the cabin and stared coldly at him.

This was a huge gamble...

Xie Yu knew full well that the support behind him was not secure. He also knew that seizing the chance to leave was the safest decision, and understood the principle that "only a mage can deal with a mage." But he spoke up anyway.

"Your pay, of course... But we don't seem to have discussed it in detail. How much do you want? I have a very good impression of you and had intended to write you a letter of recommendation. But since you got a perfect score, I suppose you wouldn't think much of my recommendation." Kaiming smiled, handling the situation with ease.

The fake Kaiming remembered everything Kaiming remembered. Did he have a way to keep Kaiming and his house under constant surveillance? But when the old man had first entered the house, he had clearly been unfamiliar with its layout... It probably was not surveillance.

He used some method, a magical method in the domain of mind and soul, to take Kaiming's memories, Xie Yu thought.

It doesn't matter whether he stole his memories or watched him...

It makes no difference to my gamble.

"The payment I want is Sealed Artifact 3-0771."

[The three-story cabin that loves reading (Affection has surged to 80) is stunned. It suddenly realizes that you have not abandoned it, that it is not that you did not believe it-you believed it all along.]

[It murmurs:]

[The "Lord Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll" the old man spoke of is a Sealed Artifact. I knew it was a Sealed Artifact. Books say Sealed Artifacts are powerful and strange. I knew it... And you, you even know its number!]

Xie Yu did not mention the pendant, the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll the cabin had spoken of, or the murdered Kaiming at all.

Even when turning against someone, one had to choose the right approach. Saying too much would only expose him and betray his fear.

Since you're acting and so am I, let's see which of us does it better.

He truly did not remember those things. Xie Yu could not see what had happened during that missing stretch of memory, and the past he had pieced together from the cabin's account still had many gaps.

When the fake Kaiming heard the words "Sealed Artifact," he smiled, his eyes narrowing as he hid his gaze.

Then he fell silent for a brief moment.

For a moment, he did not quite know how to respond. He felt that Xie Yu had seen through every part of him.

What Xie Yu knew far exceeded his initial suspicions.

He had originally only suspected that Xie Yu had noticed something amiss, but when Xie Yu named Sealed Artifact 3-0771, that suspicion was thoroughly shattered.

This brat had done far more than "notice."

"A Sealed Artifact? You've kept yourself well hidden. I couldn't tell at all before that you had what it takes." Fry picked up on none of it. He was merely impressed, with the kind of surprise one felt upon seeing that an old classmate had also done well for himself.

"I'm not quite sure what you're talking about..." The fake Kaiming's expression did not change. He kept smiling, even putting on a slightly puzzled look.

Xie Yu said calmly:

"I've been especially interested in Sealed Artifacts since I was little. I got full marks on the advanced question about Sealed Artifact maintenance in this year's major exam. So allow me to call myself an expert in the field. As an expert, I can tell at a glance that you haven't been maintaining your Sealed Artifact quite correctly."

"Give it to me."

"I'll maintain it for two or three days, free of charge, and guarantee it'll be as good as new. That one, Sealed Artifact 3-0771, the one you wore around your neck before, called the Fate-"

His tone was cold. When he said "give it to me," he sounded as though he were robbing him.

Xie Yu had only uttered the first syllable of the Sealed Artifact's name when the fake Kaiming cut him off roughly.

"Shut up!"

The fake Kaiming's face abruptly turned vicious, and even his breathing quickened.

He could no longer keep up the act.

"What's wrong?" Fry, watching from the side, did not understand what was at stake and asked out of polite concern.