am-books Chapter 982: Hypothetical
Chapter 982: Hypothetical
Chapter 982: Hypothetical
A tall, slim young man appeared by the Green Lotus Lake, looking through the white marble railing at Qilin near the pavilion. Gao Yang wore his usual attire—a worn black coat, jeans, and Marten's boots, his messy black hair tied in a ponytail with loose strands falling across his pale face.
Translucent golden armor covered him. Combined with level 7 Psychic Armor and a Charisma exceeding 3600, he was confident he could prevent Qilin from killing or controlling him instantly as long as he avoided Brain Formatting at close range. If things turned dire, Absolute Barrier would give him time to even the odds.
During their morning strategy meeting, they had considered all the tricks Qilin could pull.
First were the borrowed Talents: Sister Ling’s God of Water and Praise, Nomad’s Rules of Jianghu, Flower’s Telekinesis, First Firelord’s Six Senses Judge and Mind’s Eye, Amon’s Arm Strength, Jing Ke’s Bone Growth, Stubborn Weasel’s Hedgehog and Bullseye, Yellow Lotus’ Muscles, Thick Earth’s Gambler, Zhong He’s Phantom, Blood Amber’s Patient, and Edmond’s Unreachable.
If they thought the worst of Qilin, the man could’ve turned all remaining members of the Ocean River Union into puppets.
But that seemed unlikely. The remaining Union members were noncombatants with Talents of little use to Qilin. Moreover, Surnamed Li wouldn’t permit it. Qilin would have to kill Surnamed Li too, and that wasn’t something he would do. At the moment, he still needed her support.
Qilin raised his prosthetic left hand, gloved in black, and checked his watch.
“I’m glad that you came on time.” Qilin looked dozens of meters across at Gao Yang. “I dislike tardiness.”
“Same for me,” Gao Yang responded evenly.
“I have the people you want.” Qilin smiled. “Do you have the Rune Circuits I want?”
“I do.” Gao Yang raised his right hand, and two Rune Circuits appeared between his index finger and middle finger. “I brought all of them, but I have to confirm the hostages’ condition and make sure they are safe first.”
Qilin’s eyes darkened.
“How about this?” Gao Yang continued to play with the two Rune Circuits in his hands, the Support and Buff Rune Circuits. “As a show of goodwill, I’ll hand you these two, first.”
Qilin remained silent.
“Captain, are you mad—” Zhang Wei was about to shout, but Qilin gripped his throat with Telekinesis and lifted him off the ground slowly.
“We can’t bring back bodies anymore, Zhang Wei,” Gao Yang said. “Stay put.”
“I...I’m sorry... I made a mistake. I’ll shut up...” Zhang Wei implored in humiliation, face flushed.
A second later, Telekinesis loosened its grip. Zhang Wei fell, coughing with a hand on his neck.
“Go on.” Qilin held Gao Yang’s gaze.
“You aren’t gathering the twelve Rune Circuits to open the Gates.” Gao Yang’s gaze darkened. “Am I right?”
Qilin stayed silent.
Gao Yang continued, “And there’s something I don’t get. You and Sir Jiang discovered the Gates of Closure, and you alone knew about it. If you never said anything, we would never have known. Wouldn’t that serve you better?”
“Sir Jiang and you didn’t want to open the Gates, yet you spread and promoted their existence. That’s contradictory.”
“My goal has always been to open the Gates.” Qilin smiled cryptically. “But I can give you two possible theories.”
He stepped forward with his cane. “Based on your hypothesis that I never intended to open the Gates, why would I spread news about the Gates?”
“First, the hypothetical Qilin wanted to use the Gates of Closure as a lure, mobilizing the awakeners to collect the twelve Rune Circuits. After all, they were difficult to find. That Qilin wouldn’t have done it alone.”
“Right.” Gao Yang smiled. “It does make sense. But there would have been a better solution were that the case. For example, that Qilin could have told everyone that the twelve Rune Circuits would make everyone stronger, and death monsters would sooner or later emerge to kill all awakeners. I believe then the awakeners would still stop at nothing to collect the twelve Rune Circuits to fight the death monsters. Once found, Qilin no longer had to find an excuse to gather all of them and secretly complete his ambition. And he wouldn’t be facing such resistance.”
“Indeed, the hypothetical Qilin would be better off doing what you said.” Qilin adjusted his glasses. “Why don’t you hear me out about the second possibility?”