Book 3 Chapter 41 – Coincidence
"Please wait for a short while. Master Ye is still conducting his physical exam. You know how important their thoroughness is for someone who has just recovered from cancer." The butler at the Ye Mansion brought tea to the three visitors and stood on the side quietly, just in case he would be needed. The three visitors comprised of an old man, who was dressed elegantly in traditional garments and a young couple who had nearly flawless appearances.
These three were deputy director Ye"s guests. They claimed that they had precious artifacts and required deputy director Ye"s expertise to identify them, a request which was taken very seriously after pictures of these artifacts were sent. On top of that, the butler, who had worked for his master for so long, knew from the air of the three visitors that they were not to be trifled with.
"It"s okay. We"ll wait. Mister Ye"s health is certainly more important." The old man, who led the group, answered courteously.
Beep beep…
The butler"s phone rang. He apologized to his visitors and walked to the side.
"What? Friends from the antique market district? Are you sure?" It was a call from the security guard at the entrance to the neighborhood.
"The antique market?" The butler was shocked. He knew about his master"s extraordinary purchase of the jade bracelet at the antique market district. Deputy director Ye had been talking about it ever since he had recovered from his cancer and always talked about the two young people who sold him the object with praise.
"Tell them to stay where they are. I"ll come out to welcome them myself." The butler was overjoyed when he received the confirmation from the security guard. "I"m sorry, sir, but there"s an important guest. I"ll have to leave for a moment." The butler left the mansion after a simple explanation.
"Important guest?" The old man squinted and seemed irritated.
"Well, I didn"t see anyone come to greet us when we arrived." The young woman commented angrily.
"We shouldn"t care about strangers. We should focus on what we came here for. There"s no point in risking a complication when we"re in an already difficult situation."
"If it weren"t for the rules, I would have sucked all of them dry instead of wasting time." The woman said with a dissatisfied frown.
"Wu Hao is right, we shouldn"t be risking it." The old man recovered his relaxed countenance, swallowing down both his pride and vexation.
"Wait!" The old man, who had just begun to smile again, suddenly raised his head and looked at the gate with alertness.
"What is it?" The young couple noticed his sudden nervousness.
The old man did not answer his two friends. Instead, he kept staring at the entrance to the living room, expecting a terrible enemy to come in.
"Please, come inside. We"re very happy to receive you as our guests. Master Ye has been talking about you over and over again these past few days," the butler"s loud laughter could be heard coming from the entrance.
Before the young couple could ask again, the butler arrived with two young people, who not only looked as handsome as they did, but also possessed that air of grandeur.
"It"s him?" The three who were seated in the living room jumped up like a cat who just had its tail stomped on. They were at a complete loss for what to do.
"Why are they here?" Li Yiming curious; he met these three back in the park when he saved the Fang sisters. It was the old man who could use his focus radar technique and the vampire couple.
"You…" The butler hesitated. "These three people are in the main seats for guests, but these two are clearly more important to Master Ye. Should I ask them to swap seats? I can"t do that."
"It"s okay, we know each other." Li Yiming saw the panic on the three guardians" face and knew what they were thinking. He smiled at the butler and sat down right beside them with Liu Meng.
"Sit down, come on. Why are you standing?" Li Yiming asked them calmly.
"Yes." The three nodded and sat down at once with movements cleaner than soldiers in a politics course.
"It"ll take a while for Mr. Ye, I presume?" Li Yiming did not mind the three in front of him, who were trembling with fear, and asked the butler with a smile.
"He should be done soon. Maybe… I should go ask?" The sight of the group of three in such a state, while a second ago they seemed so composed, almost scared the butler.
"Oh, it"s okay if it takes a while for the physical check-up. It"s better to leave Mr. Ye undisturbed for the moment. I can use this time to talk with my friends here." Li Yiming pointed at the three guardian, who sat there dumbfounded.
"I"ll go prepare tea right away then." The butler took the opportunity to escape the room. He sensed that trouble might be coming and did not want to be caught in any of it.
"Why are you here?" Li Yiming looked at the trio, a little amused by their att.i.tude. Liu Meng sat silently next to him, curious about why they would have such a reaction upon seeing Li Yiming.
"We…" The old man swallowed his saliva with difficulty. His throat remained dry. "What kind of bad luck is this! Why is he here again?" He had activated his sensory abilities out of habit after seeing the butler rush to the door to welcome the "important guests". What he was able to sense brought a chill down his spine. Li Yiming, of course, escaped his perception completely, but the old man landed right on Liu Meng.
"This young girl, she"s not human! She"s a beast ready to devour us all!" After seeing Li Yiming appear with Liu Meng, the old man had lost all hope. "Are you telling me that this beast is his servant?" The old man foundl Bi Fang, who remained dormant within Liu Meng"s body. Although he had yet to wake up, the anger and fury from being forced to seek refuge within a human spilled over and terrified the old man.
"Our friend was injured after our encounter. We lost everything we had, and, after seeing the news, we thought that there might be some of equipment here that would be useful, so we came to visit." The young woman, worried that the old man, who was frozen in his trepidation, would irritate Li Yiming, answered fearfully. The scene of Li Yiming calling down thunder at a slight disagreement was still fresh in her head.
"How did you get the information?" Li Yiming squinted his eye; the woman"s response aroused his alertness greatly. He was ready to do anything to make sure that the fact that he was the one who sold the jade bracelet stayed a secret. Anything.
"We saw it on the news, and we thought that the bracelet might… be…" The woman"s voice trembled, and her answer turned into an erratic mess when she began to feel that Li Yiming could take her life at any time.
"Guessed it?" Li Yiming knew that the matter was too important for him to rush to any conclusion.
"They"re not lying." Bai Ze"s voice was heard.
"You"re saying that I shouldn"t kill them?" Li Yiming asked in a calm voice.
"Never said that." Bai Ze sank back into silence after a terse reply.
"Kill, or not to kill." Li Yiming hesitated once again. He looked at the group of three in front of him, who were awaiting their fate helplessly. He had already made a mistake, so he must not make another one. Bai Ze would not lie to him, so they had to be there by coincidence alone, but his secret was too important to take a gamble on. If there was a potential threat, then the best thing he could do was to not leave it to chance and eliminate any potential threat.
"We, we"re just here to try our luck. We really didn"t know about your relations.h.i.+p with Mr. Ye. Please, we would never dare to offend you." The old man noticed Li Yiming"s hesitation and pleaded with a crying voice. He now hated himself for even having the time to watch the news out of all things.
Li Yiming looked at the old man, who was about to fall down to his knees again to beg for his life. He took a deep breath, and suddenly a terrible thought occurred to his mind. "What happened to me? Since when have I become someone who thinks about killing people right away? Was it because of Eden, or because of Bai Xi"s illusion? A month ago, I would feel bad for a fish that was about to become someone"s meal, and now I"m ready to slaughter an old man who"s begging for his life just because he might know something he shouldn"t know about?"
Li Yiming mood sank and he felt a sudden sadness. "What have I… Is this the fate of all guardians?"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The three guardians kneeled down one by one. Li Yiming felt as if he was about to lose something very dear to him.
"Yiming." Liu Meng did not even glance at the trio on the ground. Instead, she kept her eyes on Li Yiming. She could see the internal struggle that he was going through.
Li Yiming turned his head around to look at Liu Meng. She remained unchanged, charming and good-natured as always, despite being possessed by the phoenix and becoming Bi Fang"s host. But what about him? Was he still the same Li Yiming that was worth her love?
"Get up. There"s no need for that. I was curious, that"s all. I don"t know Mr. Ye. I just came here after seeing him on the news. I"m as curious as you guys are." Li Yiming suddenly smiled. He picked up Liu Meng"s hand. As he made it clear that he would not harm the trio, he felt as if he had just been freed from invisible fetters that chained him. He was no longer possessed with self-preservative bloodthirstiness, instead, he smiled, and this time his smile was the gentle, kind and innocuous one Liu Meng had known for so long.
The trio also felt the sudden change in Li Yiming"s intentions. The tension was gone, but they had difficulty standing up after such a rollercoaster of emotions. It was especially hard for the old man since he was extremely sensitive to people"s auras, so he was the most affected. He knew that Li Yiming really did want to take their lives just a moment ago. Sweat had soaked the back of his clothes completely and he struggled to stand up, despite using the sofa as support.
"We will leave then. Please take your time." The young man in the group helped the old man get up. It was not necessarily a gesture of compa.s.sion, but rather one that was made from being worried about Li Yiming"s growing irritated.
"Wait, I have something to ask you," Li Yiming suddenly said. His pity for the trio grew as he watched them leave carefully for the door.
"Please." A unanimous answer.
"Do you know anything that can repress the vampiric virus?" Since the young couple had vampiric talents, and the serum itself originated from them, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find out more about vampires for Eyegla.s.ses" sake. Li Yiming had asked Bai Ze earlier, but the fact that vampires themselves were a young species meant that Bai Ze could not offer much help.
"When you say repress…" The young man carefully asked back. There was a big difference between eliminating the side-effects and removing the virus completely. A mistake while answering the question could have disastrous consequences.
"I"m talking about the side-effects from injecting the serum. What can I do to eliminate them?"
"If you just want to be able to walk under the sun again, then you"d be fine with finding something like a Shadowless Pearl," the man continued when he saw no response from Li Yiming, "but if you want to purify the virus completely, then you"ll need a Fate Pill."
"A Fate Pill? You mean the one made with the Water of the Past Life, the bodhi leaf and the Fruit of Nirvana?" Li Yiming remembered what Bai Ze told him when he asked her how he could gain a talent of his own. 1
"Yes, that"s the only way. It"s the only way to reset one"s talent completely. You"ll be given a new body by the power of the Heavens." The vampiric guardian was surprised: not a lot of people knew about the Fate Pill, and he only obtained the information about it after many years of research and asking around However, not only did Li Yiming seem to be very knowledgeable about the pill, but he did not even bother to keep the ingredients a secret.
"Alright, thank you. You can leave." Li Yiming waved at the three guardians. "Shadowless Pearl, Fate Pill!"
Ahhhh! Brilliant chapter! Brilliant. I never bought much into the typical MC who just turns from a naive guy into cold-blooded madman within a few dozens of chapters. And also, he who fights monsters, be careful…
- See Book 2, Chapter 3 ↩