Chapter Eighty-Nine: Loyalty

The battlefield had fallen silent, the smoke and ash dispersing at last.

The endless heavy mist that had lain over the river valley and hillside was beginning to thin as well. This covert operation, mobilized by the Silver Merchants’ Guild with vast manpower, seemed to be drawing to a close just like that.

The cost had been considerable. One man of managerial rank was dead, but compared with what they had gained, it seemed almost trivial.

After all, this golden rice would be the key to future increases in grain yield. With it added, doubling the rice harvest was no fantasy. For plants to grow naturally was, for humans, still a waste of too much nutrition and energy.

For instance, if the stalk could be made to grow a little shorter, it could easily bear more grain. But for an unconscious plant, that was impossible, because it would affect its survival in competition.

Li Xing had someone put Xie Bo’s body into a sack, carry it back for burial, and handle it all in a perfunctory manner.

As for the golden rice that had killed Xie Bo, Li Xing carefully transferred it into a cultivation tank covered with many strange talisman papers, and personally escorted it.

Once everything was done, the group set off at once on the return journey.

As the mist dispersed, Lin Zhongqing rose into the air to watch over everyone’s safety.

After flying a certain distance, she suddenly turned her head and glanced back at the empty rice field.

“What is it, Boss Lin? Found something else?” Li Xing asked.

“Nothing. I was just feeling a little sentimental. Such beautiful scenery, ruined all at once,” Lin Zhongqing said with a sigh.

“What gets ruined later will be even more,” Li Xing shot back.

Lin Zhongqing glared at him. “Do you know how to speak like a human being?”

“Do you really think we can still be human in this world?” Li Xing said meaningfully.

“Then what do you think you are?”

“A talking tool, livestock, a machine... anything but a person.”

“Very enlightened of you,” Lin Zhongqing said with faint sarcasm.

Li Xing answered, “Of course. Without Boss Lin’s luck, this is all the enlightenment I can manage.”

“Luck is also part of strength,” Lin Zhongqing said smugly.

Li Xing did not want to speak anymore.

Xie Bo’s death did not move him much, but there was a saying: when the hare dies, the fox mourns; when one of the same kind suffers, others feel it too. He was affected somewhat after all. He was not truly a cold machine; he had emotions.

Everyone was merely a tool in the service of that one being, and it had no mercy for anyone.

He even suspected that Xie Bo had been allowed to die so easily just now by that being’s arrangement, so that the golden rice could vent its anger and could truly be subdued later.

Otherwise, having served as deputy manager for so many years, Xie Bo must have had enough cards in reserve to struggle at least a little. Judging by that golden rice’s depths, it would not have been able to kill him for real.

As they talked, the group quickly left the ruined rice fields behind.

No one knew that not long after they left, amid the field full of ash, a gray human shadow suddenly drifted up. The shape of that shadow was unmistakably the same as the “Xie Bo” who had just died.

“Why? Why did my last resort fail?” it muttered. “They always say the hare is cooked after the hound, and yet there are still plenty of hares left—so why cook me instead? Is my life worth no more than a rice plant that has awakened intelligence?”

Another mysterious voice answered:

“You fool. That was the first rice plant between heaven and earth to awaken intelligence. Don’t let your easy cleanup fool you; in order to infer its exact location in advance, the one behind you must have spent an unimaginable amount of effort. To truly subdue it, what is the sacrifice of one man? Do you still think you died in vain?”

“So that’s how it is. But who are you?”

“In truth, I am of the same kind as the being behind you. I am only still weak, while it was lucky and far stronger than I am.”

“I see. You want to use me too.”

“No. This is called cooperation in which both sides win. Otherwise, how do you think you survived?”

“You can even bring the dead back to life, and yet you need trash like me at all?” Xie Bo’s resentment boiled over.

“You are mistaken. I merely gathered together your resentment and your dissipating soul. You are no longer your former self, but a conscious spiritual existence. In your terms, an awakened evil spirit. Resurrection from the dead does not exist. Once a soul disperses, it can never be reversed. To gather it again is merely to create another creature.” The mysterious voice did not, in fact, admit to the power of reviving the dead.

“Oh, so the real me is already dead.” The thing that had been Xie Bo suddenly spoke in a low voice.

“Stop wallowing in self-pity. That is not your nature. Don’t you want revenge on that bastard? Don’t you want revenge on your superior, and on the coworker who jumped ship? They can still live in style, eat, drink, and revel in the pleasures of men and women, while you can only remain forever a vile thing made of hatred, unable to enjoy anything at all.”

“I want revenge. I hate all of this. I want to be human again!”

“Good. Come here. Keep walking forward...”

The gray shadow stumbled onward through the rice field. Though the air was thick with the smell of smoke, it could feel nothing; and all of it had been caused by the man it had once been.

“Walk faster. Faster,” the mysterious voice urged suddenly.

Then, from the distance, came the barking of a dog, growing nearer and nearer.

The gray shadow knew it was extremely weak, so weak that a single surge of ordinary human will could cause it to dissipate on the spot.

So it quickened its steps.

For some reason, the barking suddenly stopped, and then began to recede.

“To lure away that divine hound, I paid a heavy price. Make sure you earn it back for me later.”

“Rest assured. When it comes to making money, the one I was in life was most confident of all, and I have inherited part of his knowledge and memories.”

...

Da Bai and Iron Ball had originally been running straight ahead along the still-unfaded path. Who knew that just as they were about to reach the destination, that mysterious voice would suddenly say the thing had already been snatched away and tell them to go somewhere else.

At that moment, they also saw Lin Zhongqing flying back in advance.

As she passed overhead, she turned her head and looked curiously at the handsome white dog, which made Da Bai puff out his chest proudly.

“Huh, that rich woman seems to think highly of you,” Little White said in surprise.

“Of course. I’ve always had a high return rate. Back when there were still people in the shelter, whenever I walked with my master, everyone looked at me,” Da Bai said smugly.

“Too bad. If you had followed that woman just now, though, that would have been better. My instincts tell me she’s loaded and has a very powerful backer. She may not be any less formidable than your master’s backing.”

“A good dog doesn’t hate a poor home. Little White, don’t be fickle and flirt everywhere. The greatest quality a dog can have is loyalty,” Da Bai lectured.

“Stupid. Can loyalty be eaten?” Little White said. “The way to survive is to switch sides in time to the strong. Forget it, you wouldn’t understand even if I said more.”

“I don’t understand. Anyway, I’m going to be faithful to my master till the end.”

“Don’t go around misusing idioms. That’s called being utterly devoted to your master, not till death do you part.”

“Oh, is that how you use it? I never went to school, so don’t lie to me.”

“What good would there be in lying to you about that? I never lie about things that bring no benefit.”

“Uh, then that means if there is benefit, you will lie to me.”

“No, I’m not that kind of dog.”