Chapter Eighty-Seven: Flames

Little White, the Butler Brother just replied that Xie Bo is not dead at all—not only is he alive, he hasn’t even lost a single hair. Big White paced back and forth along the mist-veiled road, speaking to Little White behind him.

“Damn it, he even dared to lie to me!” Little White shouted in fury.

Big White staggered and nearly fell over.

“I didn’t lie to you. Those were the Butler Brother’s exact words,” it said, feeling deeply wronged.

“I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about that bastard,” Little White hurriedly soothed him. What a foolish dog, not even able to understand a simple sentence.

At that moment, the mysterious voice sounded in Big White’s head:

“Hiss... As expected of a senior. You confirmed it this quickly?”

Its tone was full of shock and disbelief.

“Hmph. Of course. My background is far deeper than a petty scammer like you could ever imagine,” Little White said smugly.

“Uh, he is indeed not dead yet, but he will definitely die in two days. Senior, rest assured. I would never dare deceive you, nor presume to show off my petty tricks before you.”

“Oh? So you want to kill with another’s blade?”

“As expected of a senior. Truly brilliant.”

“Damn it, so you really were trying to swindle my money,” Little White snarled, exasperated.

“Wasn’t I unsuccessful?”

“Uh, if you’re going to talk, why do you always have to talk inside my head?” Big White quietly asked Little White.

“Mm, of course that’s for secrecy. Your special nature can guarantee that no other existence will discover the contents of our deal,” Little White patiently explained.

“Oh, I see,” Big White said listlessly. “This trip out doesn’t seem very fun after all. All I can see is fog, and not a single human shadow anywhere. I can’t even find any local specialty goods.”

“My divine dog, there actually is a specialty here—it just depends on whether you’re bold enough to take it,” the mysterious voice tempted.

“Don’t try to fool my dog,” Little White hurriedly cut in. “If there’s really a specialty, just send it over directly.”

“Do you think I can move? As long as you follow the road you opened and keep walking to the end, you’ll see the local specialty,” the mysterious voice explained.

“No, Big White. Before we left, your master told us not to take risks. We can’t even see this fellow’s face—how can we blindly trust him?” Little White pleaded.

“Uh, I never said I wanted to go,” Big White said gloomily. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I’m trying to lure it out,” Little White replied privately.

“Got it. So this guy is actually a fish?” Big White said excitedly. “Perfect. We can catch him and take him back to make soup for the master.”

“...Mm. With your intelligence, that’s close enough.”

...

At that moment, at the far end of the misty road, there lay a vast stretch of rice paddies.

It was late August. The fields were lush green, with golden heads of grain scattered among them. Beneath the rippling water, wisps of mist drifted upward; the great fog had actually originated here.

Now and then, one or two fish swam through the water beneath the rice stalks. This was, incredibly, a rice-and-fish system.

Elsewhere, mist swirled thickly, but within the rice fields there was no fog at all, only the blazing light of the autumn sun.

Though no one tended them, the fields had a strangely neat and orderly look. Every stalk of rice stood like a soldier with head held high and chest out, displaying its strength to the world.

A single glance was enough to tell that this place was no ordinary one.

Lin Zhongqing frowned, occasionally glancing at Xie Bo standing off to the side, then shifting her gaze to the rice fields.

“Oh? Does Chairman Lin have some concern?” Li Xing asked, seeming to have completely forgotten their previous conflict, and now speaking with great warmth as though they were close friends. “Rest assured, we have signed a safety agreement. You may act without worry.”

“Hmph. Even if you were tied together, I wouldn’t care,” Lin Zhongqing sneered. “I just think these rice fields would dirty my shoes.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll handle the dirty work ourselves. That golden rice that has developed intelligence only has the troublesome ability to create mist,” he said confidently. “It’s just that this mist is rather mysterious; all forms of tracking fail here. If we hadn’t dispatched a large number of people to carve out a path, it would have been very hard to locate this place so easily.”

“How come I can’t see where it’s hiding?” Lin Zhongqing looked around but found no unusual strain of rice in the field.

“Haha, that thing hides itself very well. Only after the rice has ripened and been harvested does it finally reveal itself,” Li Xing said with a smile.

“It still looks like it’s a long way from ripening. Don’t tell me we’re supposed to wait until October?” Lin Zhongqing asked.

“Of course not. Just set it on fire, and naturally it will come to fruition,” Xie Bo suddenly interjected, then raised a hand to order the fire to be prepared.

Looking at the emerald expanse of rice, Lin Zhongqing felt a flicker of reluctance. Such beautiful scenery, soon to be reduced to ashes by torches. Yet she said nothing.

Still, her dislike for Xie Bo deepened. This fellow had already crossed her before; she had simply been too lazy to bother with such a petty man, and so had not targeted him.

As she was thinking this, a voice suddenly sounded in her mind.

“Qing’er, this man is sinister and vicious, ruthless in his methods. He must not be spared.”

“Brother Dongfang, I know. I’m just too lazy to deal with him. I don’t want to dirty my own hands.”

“No. You have always been noble in conduct, and I cannot allow you even the slightest risk.”

Her gaze immediately grew hazy.

Li Xing had been watching Lin Zhongqing the whole time. Seeing this, he found it odd. Could this woman be about to go all sentimental and poetic, unwilling to let them burn the fields?

Lin Zhongqing thought privately, “Then Brother Dongfang, how will you strike?”

“Don’t worry. When that golden rice takes action, it definitely won’t just sit there waiting to die. It will certainly burst forth with a wave of power. At that time, I’ll use weakness purification...”

“Wait. I signed a safety agreement with them. No harm to either side.”

“It doesn’t matter. The one who signed the contract was you; the one taking action is me. Besides, that kind of safety agreement won’t recoil onto me in the slightest.”

“Brother Dongfang, as expected, you are formidable.”

At this point, Lin Zhongqing no longer regarded the butler system as a rigid, tedious machine. She clearly treated it as a lover sent down from the heavens...

When naming him, at first she called him Western Gate Crimson. Later, since the famed young master of the Western Gate had such a widespread reputation, she changed it to Eastern Gate Overseer. In the end, he was officially named “Dongfang Unity.”

The ancients said, “The sun rises in the east, and I alone am undefeated.” His name carried the meaning, “The sun rises in the east, and I alone unify all under heaven.”

After the pair of shameless lovers finished their discussion, someone had already been marked for disposal.

Xie Bo remained completely unaware. Though he could feel that Lin Zhongqing despised him, so what?

He had his big boss, and Li Xing as his backer. He was the one who schemed against others, not the other way around.

At that moment, fully on guard, he saw people behind him bring over bucket after bucket of fuel and pour it into the rice fields.

Immediately, a pungent stench of oil began to spread through the paddies.

The fish inside darted madly about, as though disaster was upon them.

He took out a lighter and struck it alight. In the glow of the flame, his face looked especially ferocious.