Chapter 17
The more perceptive individuals in the base were beginning to sense that something wasn’t right.
Yin Mingzheng, who only focused on fighting with the Insects before, began to partic.i.p.ate in the affairs of the base more and more.
No one could come up with a reason to stop him.
After all, he was the general, who was supposed to be one of the most powerful people in the base.
As long as Yin Mingzheng was willing, his authority was enough to partic.i.p.ate in any project
It was just that he was only interested in going out before, so he never cared to take part in these things.
Now the hero of humanity, who has never fought for fame and wealth, started to involve himself in the base.
The upper levels of the base gradually changed.
Those that were righteous welcomed a new compatriot.
Those that were unscrupulous or guilty could only be afraid.
Over time, rumors began to circulate in the base.
Stuff like how Yin Mingzheng bullied people, Yin Mingzheng sacrificed civilians for no good reason, Yin Mingzheng overindulged in luxury and so on.
At first, these rumors only spread secretly and most people refused to believe them. Everyone knows that without Yin Mingzheng, they would all be dead by now.
However, there was also a subset of people who lived in perpetual darkness. Maybe it was because they didn’t know when their next meal would be or that they’ve lost all their loved ones; but they go through the motions of life as if they were already dead.
They were desperate for a scapegoat.
And the conspirators hidden in the shadows shamelessly pushed all the blame onto Yin Mingzheng.
There was a battle in A City about a year ago. Almost 500,000 Insects had occupied the city and all the humans inside were slaughtered. Yin Mingzheng went in with the army and killed all the Insects to repay the debt in blood.
Now, rumors about that time were quietly spreading in the base.
–Not all of the human beings in the city were dead from the start. Maybe the Insects had seized some of them as hostages. Yin Mingzheng, who was only concerned with merit, ignored those hostages and ordered the army to open fire. His actions were what left the city without even a single survivor.
It was clearly a lie, but some people who lost someone there might just be desperate enough to believe it.
On a rainy day, the base received news that the Insects were sweeping into the city borders, where scattered farmers lived. Since they needed to farm, they couldn’t live in the relative safety of the base. Instead, they slept in their cellars during the day and went out to farm at night.
The Insects seemed to have been stimulated for some reason. They were on the hunt for farmers.
Yin Mingzheng received a distress signal at 4 in the morning. He came back an hour before midnight covered in blood.
Shi Qing played video games with Le Youyuan the entire day. When he thought it was almost time, he carried a small bench with him to wait for the man at the entrance of the base.
The guards there were familiar with him, and one person even gave him a lollipop he had found during a mission.
Nowadays, all the bases were in urgent need of food and clothing. Stuff that couldn’t fill the stomach, such as lollipops, wouldn’t be made and sold poorly as well. After all, with that money people could buy more filling options.
The value of the lollipop was therefore close to nil.
The guard thought it was funny how the youth that was sleepily nodding his head like a chicken pecking at rice insisted on waiting, so he gave out the lollipop.
Shi Qing expressed his thanks and opened the packaging to see a rainbow-coloured candy. He carefully poked out his tongue to lick it. It was only after he tasted sweetness that he shoved it into his mouth while narrowing his eyes with satisfaction.
He couldn’t eat too much human food, but a lollipop should be alright.
While waiting with the lollipop, he counted the ants on the ground. The System soon issued a reminder: [Host, Yin Mingzheng is back.]
The little prince raised his head and looked towards the gate of the base with wide eyes.
Yin Mingzheng walked in with the others.
He was covered with the blood of the Insects. Since the Insects had blood in a variety of bright colours, it clashed heavily with his sombre demeanour. His already dark eyes were stained with fatigue.
The ability users following him were the same, especially the younger, less experienced ones. Some of them were even shaking while they walked. Cheng Jun, the handsome guy with a familiar little hat, yawned and leaned on his teammates’ shoulders.
Shi Qing stood up and ran over. He was about to jump into the arms of the man, but a figure that was faster than him rushed out.
–Ping!
Without even giving him time to react, this guy was bounced back by the shield of one of the ability users. His dagger fell on a stone on the ground, making a clear sound ring out.
Shi Qing stopped.
[Was that an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt? An ordinary man tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate an ability user?]
The System was also confused: [The plot has already been changed, so the System can only see the general flow of events. Smaller details like this are muddled.]
The man who was repelled struggled to get up. His eyes were hatefully fixated on the hero of humanity. He grabbed the dagger beside him and rushed forward again: “Die, Yin Mingzheng!”
Cheng Jun, who was dozing off before, was completely awake now. He stepped forward and directly blocked the impact with his powers: “Who do you think you are? Do you know what the punishment for murder is?”
“Capture him!”
After the man was caught, Cheng Jun approached Yin Mingzheng: “Boss, I think he’s in cahoots with the guy who tried to make thing difficult for Shi Qing last time.”
That guy died before they could start interrogating him. Luckily, they’ve caught a live one this time. Surely they would be able to find out who was behind it all soon.
The man frowned as he looked at the struggling person. There was a hint of calculation in his eyes. “He seems like a regular civilian. It doesn’t feel like someone put him up to this.”
“Then I’ll ask him.”
Cheng Jun came up to him and said, “Tell us why you wanted to kill General Yin!”
The man was pressed firmly into the ground, but he continued to struggle. After hearing those words, his eyes became even more resolute. He shouted in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “It was him that killed my son first!! A year ago, in A City, how could my son have died if he didn’t disregard the lives of the hostages for his own glory!”
“Yin Mingzheng, you’ll get your reckoning one day for taking the lives of the common people lightly!! I may have failed, but someone else will succeed one day!! Hero of humanity my a.s.s!!”
Yin Mingzheng opened his mouth. His voice was raspy, “In the battle of A City, all the humans had died before we arrived.”
“Pah!! You still want to lie to me! You’re just a selfish monster willing to kill for your own desires!! Yin Mingzheng, give him back, give me back my son!! Give him back!”
At the sight of his madness, Shi Qing knew that this guy had been brainwashed.
When a person loses everything and could only see despair, as long as someone gave them a goal, they could dedicate their life to hatred.
If it was him in this situation, he’d let this person die.
Did Yin Mingzheng deserve to be murdered because this guy lost his son?
In recent years, he has been injured in the line of duty countless times. He’s narrowly escaped death no less than ten times and saved more than ten million people. Despite all his merits, he lived in an ordinary two bedroom house. In order to give Shi Qing a place to put his toys, he even had to clear out the living room.
He helped others only to be resented by them. If it was someone as willing to hold grudges as Shi Qing, those people would be lucky if they didn’t become the victim of one of his schemes.
In the end, when he looked over at Yin Mingzheng, the man was still. His face remained expressionless, but both of his fists were tightly clenched.
There was a dark and ambiguous look under his furrowed brows.
Although it might seem to others that Yin Mingzheng was just as aloof and uncaring as ever, Shi Qing could sense his sorrow.
Normally, he wouldn’t be so vulnerable.
But he had been fighting nonstop for nearly 20 hours. There was no time to drink even a mouthful of water or eat any food. He just dragged his tired body back, and all he wanted was to have a good rest. What faced him instead was the one of the very civilians he worked so hard to protect raising a blade to him.
Who could be unaffected by such a sight?
What’s more, although Yin Mingzheng might look cold on the surface, his heart was softer than anyone’s. After all, before this little world gained a life of its own, the author had created him with a kind and loving soul.
It’s a pity that the world was tainted by reality. The people who should have been kind alongside him became human.
Human nature has always been deeply rooted in darkness and mutual repulsion.
From afar, Shi Qing stared at the man who seemed to blend into the darkness of the night. The emotions he must be feeling were not shown to outsiders. He sighed: [If I was in his place……]
The System has always been unhappy with Yin Mingzheng, but it felt a little bit sympathetic towards him at the moment. Its tone was soft: [Don’t be afraid, Host. If this happens to you one day, we can just ignore the guy.]
[Why ignore him? He said I killed his son right? Then isn’t it better if I send him to reunite with his child? Let him ask in person who killed him.]
System: [……]
After a pause, it said cautiously: [……Isn’t that going too far? This person is doing this out of love for his son, so we should be considerate……]
[f.u.c.k that. Forgiving him for wanting to murder me, am I his dad or something? Does Yin Mingzheng owe them anything? This man can only live on because of Yin Mingzheng. Now, after hearing a completely unsubstantiated rumor, he thought that Yin Mingzheng killed his son and came to kill him. He might not know that he’s a puppet for someone else, but he couldn’t protect his own son or commit suicide so he found an excuse to blame others. Yin Mingzheng’s whole problem is that he thinks all of these people are his responsibility. He just stands there wallowing in his grief when he’s being used as a punching bag.]
Shi Qing sneered: [I finally understand why this world was going to collapse. How can an idealistic paragon of truth, goodness and beauty support a world full of the ugliness of reality? It would be more surprising if it didn’t collapse.]
[It’s just like when I trapped him on the s.p.a.ceship before. I clearly kidnapped him, but he couldn’t raise a hand against me. His heart is too soft and indecisive. If he was anyone else other than the protagonist, he would have died 800 times already.]
The newbie System just got an earful of information that was entirely inconsistent with what it was taught. It was only after struggling through two moral cla.s.sics that it didn’t panic.
[I didn’t expect the host to look down on him so much. I thought you liked him a lot.]
[I do like him a lot ah.]
The brightly smiling little prince that seemed to have no worries rushed into the stiffly standing man’s arms.
[The more stupid he is, the more cute he becomes. It’s charming how he’s a big softy at heart.]
[But it’s enough for him to be stupid towards me alone. ]
Shi Qing buried his face in the man’s arms and smiled sweetly. He felt the man stiffen for a moment before gradually relaxing. He slowly lifted his tired hands to hold him.
At this moment, Yin Mingzheng was like a bird flying around aimlessly that finally found an island to live on.
He roughly exhaled in relief.
He was able to carve his own place in the base with an unyielding hand.
He could also fight against thousands of Insects alone.
But he wasn’t as adept at dealing with this kind of subtle intrigue.
Just like before when he went back to the base, he knew that someone had orchestrated his sacrifice, but he couldn’t come out and accuse anyone.
Or now, when a civilian he had always protected tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. He has the strength to end him with one slap, but he couldn’t do it.
Shi Qing’s thin fingers were on his hand.
The man allowed himself to be pulled in front of the civilian.
Shi Qing only asked one question: “You said that Yin Mingzheng didn’t care about the lives of civilians. Then why would he willingly sacrifice himself to the s.p.a.ceship that was threatening hundreds of thousands of lives?”
The man who was frantically struggling froze.
When Shi Qing saw he was stupefied, he followed up: “If he was really like what you think, he could’ve just ran away right? He’s the strongest ability user in the world and he enjoys a high position, so why must he be concerned about civilians like you?”
“We all know that the aliens are ferocious, and they might’ve just decided to eat him raw aboard the s.p.a.ceship. He was willing to die for you, and here you are slandering him behind his back. Do you have no shame?”
That person lost control of his emotions. He cried and laughed as he grabbed his hair in a daze before finally bursting into tears: “I’m sorry!! I’m so sorry!!!”
Shi Qing lifted his chin with satisfaction.
Behind him, the painful emotions in Yin Mingzheng’s heart had already dissipated.
He couldn’t help but look at this young master who was as pleased as a peach, and then think of how he described himself as a vicious, man-eating alien.
En. That he was.
The man’s lips hooked upwards unconsciously. His eyes towards Shi Qing were both doting and warm.
Shi Qing did gobble up his heart after all.
[Ding! Yin Mingzheng’s animosity value: 0/100]
Author’s Note:
My thought process was that a world is a fragment, and a fragment represents a type of character. In this world, what kind of fragment do you guys think Big Yin is?
I’ll send some Little Angels red envelopes at random. I haven’t given up the chance to make little Shi Qing act up some more. After all, this novel is called ‘Everyone Knows I’m a Good Person’!