Chapter 22: Soft Heart and Hesitation (Includes 9k Nutrient Solution Bonus)

Chapter 22: Softness and Hesitation (Includes 9k Nutrient Solution Bonus)

It was already past ten by the time he got back to the palace from Xie Chi's place.

Yan Baiyue was already asleep. Yan Wanqiu walked back to his own bedroom, washed up, then stepped out of the bathroom in his bathrobe.

His gaze drifted to the trash can in the room.

There were five trash cans in the room, and the one by Yan Wanqiu's bed was mostly for dry trash like tissues. After the thermal suit Xie Chi had given him was thrown in last time, Yan Wanqiu had never had it emptied.

The suit was still sitting there in the trash can.

Yan Wanqiu stared at it for a moment, then bent down and fished out the thermal suit, along with the wooden block that had been crushed beneath it.

A few days had gone by, and the little alpha's orange pheromones had faded to almost nothing, but the bite marks on the wooden block were still clearly visible.

Yan Wanqiu thought he must be losing his mind—he actually found Xie Chi's bite marks cute.

...He was definitely crazy.

Yan Wanqiu pressed his lips together, threw the thermal suit into the washer, then traced his fingers over the wooden block, lost in thought.

Coming back from Xie Chi's place, Yan Wanqiu's mind was anything but settled.

Between the thermal suit's extra protective features and the nutrient solution Xie Chi had mentioned, his worldview had been rocked again.

A lot of what Xie Chi did seemed dumb to him, even outright stupid.

But the guy always managed to catch him off guard with a wake-up call.

—He wasn't just some ordinary shadow guard; he had cards Yan Wanqiu couldn't even begin to read.

First the mineral map and thermal suit, then the terminal, then the repair solution, and now a nutrient solution out of nowhere.

Except for the repair solution that had been wrung out of Xie Chi by sheer luck, everything else had hit his most pressing needs dead-on.

Yan Wanqiu knew damn well no one could perfectly line up with all his needs by coincidence. Xie Chi had carefully staged each reveal—there was no way it was just out of the goodness of his heart.

Xie Chi was definitely after something.

What could it be?

It couldn't really just be about a "Ji Chou," could it?

Yan Wanqiu found the thought almost funny and let out a quiet laugh.

The smile vanished as fast as it came, and his face went cold again.

There was only a little over two weeks left before the freezing period. A freezing period that lasted ten months—even with Mr. Ai's stockpiles and overpriced shipping lanes, there was no way to secure supplies for all of Blizzard City.

Eating was the most basic instinct there was. Push people to the brink of starvation, and they'd do anything to fill their bellies. That was exactly how riots had erupted in Blizzard City in years past.

Yan Wanqiu's ambitions had never stopped at this little camp. The freezing period was a crisis, sure, but it was also a golden opportunity. With the main star too far away to interfere, he'd push outward, take over all of Blizzard City, then Ice Cold City, and eventually the whole Northern Domain—finally squaring off against the main star.

Ever since he'd been exiled here and realized his days were numbered, the only thing keeping him going was the fire of revenge.

Xie Chi was right—even if he could temporarily hold back the Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome, without a real cure, Yan Wanqiu wouldn't last two years.

That was why Yan Wanqiu couldn't afford to waste a second. He had to get stronger, fast, while he still had time.

Only then would he have even the faintest shot at revenge.

So he needed to get that nutrient solution, and fast.

Yan Wanqiu curled his lip in self-mockery.

He'd just "mistreated" Ji Chou to squeeze the repair solution out of Xie Chi, and now he was about to "torture" Ji Chou for intel on the nutrient solution, using him as leverage to make Xie Chi hand it over.

Xie Chi already hated his guts. After this, he'd probably hate him even more.

But that didn't really matter.

Yan Wanqiu thought to himself.

He'd never been lacking in hatred anyway.

The one who got loved was Ji Chou—it was never Yan Wanqiu.

.

Three days passed.

"Captain Xie, out here inspecting the mine again today?"

Xie Chi had just stepped out of the thermal ore field, backpack in tow, when he bumped into Mr. Ai.

Mr. Ai, pipe in hand and clearly here for the same reason, was beaming at Xie Chi with a friendly smile.

Xie Chi nodded. "Mm, on the prince's orders."

Mr. Ai nodded and said with feeling, "You and the Second Prince really are thick as thieves—two peas in a pod."

Xie Chi, a Shadow Guard captain whose real job was killing people, was out in public every day for Yan Wanqiu, just to babysit the mine's progress. That only cemented Mr. Ai's belief that Xie Chi was Yan Wanqiu's right-hand man.

Xie Chi: "..."

His relationship with Yan Wanqiu wasn't actually all that great.

He was just there to plant the dummy explosives.

But that wasn't exactly something you shared with an outsider. Xie Chi just nodded, flashed Mr. Ai a polite smile, and headed out of the tightly sealed mine.

Three days had gone by, and Yan Wanqiu and Mr. Ai had already hammered out a preliminary deal. The mine on the old Night Owl Syndicate casino site wasn't up and running yet, but Mr. Ai had already locked the whole place down and started screening hires in town, making sure no outsiders could sneak in and mine it on the sly.

As one of the local big shots, Mr. Ai handled all this without breaking a sweat. After politely kicking Yan Baiyue's people out of the mine three or four times, Yan Baiyue—furious as he was—had stopped trying to pull anything with the mine.

His main goal was still killing Yan Wanqiu. Once he was dead, everything else would be his for the taking.

So Xie Chi, the only one with free access to the mine, started drawing Yan Baiyue's attention. Yan Baiyue kept inviting him out, and Xie Chi had to grit his teeth and play along with the whole "honey trap" routine.

Xie Chi let out a quiet sigh. Just thinking about heading back to camp and dealing with Yan Baiyue gave him a headache.

Yan Baiyue wasn't making his move for another two days, which meant Xie Chi had to put up with him for two whole more days.

He'd rather just go kill somebody.

He got on the aircraft, looked down at his terminal, and fired off today's mission report to Yan Wanqiu.

Yan Wanqiu had been slammed these past few days, only managing to see Xie Chi in person once, and that was just in passing. The rest of the time, Xie Chi just sent in his reports remotely.

Xie Chi glanced at his terminal—battery at 30%—and was just about to ping Shi Peijue about the repair progress when a message from him popped up on the screen.

"Shi Peijue: Brother Xie, your quantum gun's been modified, and the terminal's done too. When do you wanna come check it out?"

Xie Chi's eyes lit up.

Finally, some good news.

"Xie Chi: On my way."

.

Back at camp.

With Mr. Ai on board, Yan Wanqiu was finally able to pull people from the mine to work on camp construction. In just a few days, the camp had doubled in size.

Although Shi Peijue still couldn't move out of the shadow guard's living area, he now had a large lab on the camp's outskirts, dedicated to working on electromagnetic guns and thermal ore.

Once back at camp, Xie Chi went straight to Shi Peijue's lab.

"Hey, Brother Xie."

Shi Peijue greeted Xie Chi with a bashful smile.

He'd spent a week in Blizzard City, and after realizing Nie Huaiyi and the others weren't hostile, he'd been sparring with Nie Huaiyi every day. He was looking much better now.

Xie Chi nodded at him and cut to the chase: "Where are the items?"

Shi Peijue had already dismissed the other two mechanics. Without missing a beat, he locked the door and brought out the quantum gun and terminal Xie Chi had given him.

"Here, I've modified them like you asked."

Shi Peijue picked up the terminal and showed Xie Chi the newly added charging port: "I modified the terminal's battery, so now it works with regular charging cables and voltage. When you get it home, just plug in a data cable and it'll charge normally."

As he said this, he connected a data cable to the terminal.

A green "Charging" indicator appeared on the screen right away. Shi Peijue had clearly tested this already—the terminal showed a full charge at 100%.

It had been so long since Xie Chi had seen a fully charged terminal that he felt a twinge of nostalgia at the sight.

"And this quantum gun," Shi Peijue continued, "I removed the connectivity module entirely and changed the charging system to use thermal ore and energy stones. It should be good to go now."

Shi Peijue was clearly confident in his work, standing tall and speaking proudly in front of Xie Chi for a change.

Xie Chi took the terminal and quantum gun, giving them a once-over.

The appearance hadn't changed much, but both felt noticeably heavier when held. Xie Chi thought for a moment, then asked, "Mind if I give it a shot?"

Shi Peijue nodded enthusiastically: "Of course, the quantum gun's already fully charged. Let me take you to the testing ground."

The lab had been set up in a remote area specifically to give him room to test electromagnetic gun power. The testing ground behind the lab was already full of craters, so one more shot from Xie Chi wouldn't make a difference.

Shi Peijue led Xie Chi out back.

Xie Chi unlocked the quantum gun, aimed at the snow-covered, cratered ground, and pulled the trigger.

The quantum gun fired a silent blue beam.

As the beam struck, the thick snow melted almost instantly, revealing the dark permafrost beneath. The hard frozen ground of Blizzard City was like cotton under the beam—easily consumed, torn open into a massive circular crater.

Throughout the entire process, aside from the faint "whoosh" of collapsing snow, there wasn't a single extra sound.

It had immense power, ignored all physical defenses, had no recoil, and was completely silent.

Shi Peijue gaped at the dark crater, dozens of times larger than the pits left by the electromagnetic guns nearby.

He finally understood why Xie Chi disdained electromagnetic guns.

Compared to the quantum gun in Xie Chi's hand, the electromagnetic guns that various factions were fighting over were like relics from a bygone era.

With his trusty weapon back in his hands, a smile spread across Xie Chi's face. He said earnestly to Shi Peijue, "Thank you. You've been a huge help."

Shi Peijue waved his hands dismissively: "It's nothing, none of this was too difficult. Brother Xie, you saved my life—it's the least I can do."

With the quantum gun fully operational again, Xie Chi followed Shi Peijue back inside.

Xie Chi asked, "I have another smart terminal that needs modification. How soon can it be done?"

Shi Peijue mulled it over: "One day should be enough. The main issue is materials—I can't take supplies from the camp for your weapons, so I'll need to make a trip to the black market."

Xie Chi thought for a second, placed his smart terminal on the table, and pulled out two more quantum guns.

"I'll take the modified terminal with me now. You can use my terminal for your work and keep it for now. Also, I'll need you to modify two more guns as backups. We'll stay in contact through the terminals and trade back once everything's done."

"No problem." Shi Peijue said without missing a beat.

Then, he looked at Xie Chi awkwardly: "Um... the money..."

Xie Chi hesitated for a second, then said calmly, "How much?"

Shi Peijue held up three fingers, in a cautious tone: "Thirty thousand... because the quantity is small and there's a lot to modify, that's the best deal I can get on materials."

Without batting an eye, Xie Chi pulled thirty thousand in cash from his backpack and handed it to Shi Peijue, then ventured, "If I bring you a batch of good liquor later, can you sell it to Shopkeeper Wang at the black market while you're there?"

"Sure." Shi Peijue got it right away. "Still want cash?"

Xie Chi gave a nod.

After going over some more details with Shi Peijue and checking on his repair progress, Xie Chi was surprised to learn that with Yan Wanqiu's substantial financial support, Shi Peijue had already repaired all the electromagnetic guns and had moved on to building new ones by hand.

Shi Peijue had even upgraded the thermal ore generator.

It was thanks to this groundwork that he'd been able to repair Xie Chi's weapons so smoothly, without spending much on trial and error.

In a sense, Xie Chi had benefited from Yan Wanqiu's efforts.

Xie Chi thought about this, said goodbye to Shi Peijue, and turned to head out the door.

Xie Chi was already beginning to stress.

Last time, Yan Wanqiu had given him a million. He'd spent five hundred thousand just on weapon repairs, then shelled out two hundred fifty thousand on daily necessities at the black market, and given his wife two hundred thousand for spending money.

Now, with another thirty thousand gone, Xie Chi was left with just thirty-six thousand eight hundred seventy-one yuan.

More than ten grand of that was from Mr. Ai.

Money just didn't stretch.

Xie Chi felt bummed out.

Boss Ye's stock could only bring in seven or eight hundred thousand at most—just enough to hold him over for now.

This time he got lucky—when he needed to repair the quantum gun, Yan Wanqiu happened to be throwing money at electromagnetic gun research without holding back, so Shi Peijue only charged him at cost. If he wanted to repair weapons like drones in the future, he'd probably have to pay for the whole thing out of his own pocket.

He still had to figure out ways to keep earning.

Hmm... Yan Baiyue seemed to have brought a ton of pricey luggage—every time they'd met lately, he was rotating through all kinds of jeweled accessories. Maybe after killing Yan Baiyue, he could swipe some of his stuff too?

Yan Baiyue's jewelry was pretty nice—the craftsmanship alone must've cost a fortune. Selling it on the black market would only get him raw material prices, which was a total waste. He wondered if Shi Peijue knew any gem dealers...

Xie Chi's mind wandered, and when he opened the door, he almost ran straight into someone.

"Sorry." Xie Chi apologized on reflex.

Once he saw who it was, Xie Chi froze. "Your Highness?"

Yan Wanqiu was caught off guard too, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

Xie Chi never expected to bump into Yan Wanqiu after all this time, and stammered: "Uh... just checking on a coworker?"

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

Yan Wanqiu gave the obviously lying shadow guard a deadpan look and said, "Perfect timing, I need to talk to you. Don't leave yet."

He'd originally planned to corner Xie Chi right after their meeting and demand the nutrient solution, but for some reason he couldn't explain, he hadn't been able to bring it up when they met.

Later, when he began cooperating with Mr. Ai, Yan Wanqiu was so swamped prepping for the freezing period that he'd deliberately—or maybe just conveniently—let the whole thing slide.

Now time was running out—only a week left until the freezing period, and Yan Baiyue was about to strike. Even if Yan Wanqiu wanted to put it off longer, he had to suck it up and deal with it.

He'd planned to come up with an excuse to call Xie Chi in, so running into him here was actually perfect.

Xie Chi got a bad feeling from Yan Wanqiu's expression.

He'd been working his ass off lately, right? Yan Wanqiu shouldn't have any reason to nitpick him.

But Xie Chi couldn't defy the Tyrant, so he had no choice but to obediently trail Yan Wanqiu back inside.

Shi Peijue had just finished cleaning up the stuff Xie Chi had left behind when he looked up and saw Xie Chi being brought in by Yan Wanqiu.

Shi Peijue: "?"

Shi Peijue had no idea what was going on and cautiously asked: "Your Highness?"

Yan Wanqiu nodded at him without wasting words: "Hand me the smart terminal I had you modify."

Shi Peijue quickly got up, pulled the box with the smart terminal out of the cabinet, and handed it to Yan Wanqiu while explaining: "Your Highness, the bomb in this terminal can be detonated remotely from the main star, and the box can block signals. For your safety, you really shouldn't open the box unless you have to. As for the recording function you mentioned, I've already tweaked it. The camera on this terminal has been replaced; the people controlling it in the background won't be able to tell anything's different, but the footage will come out blurry, so no one's identity will be exposed."

The more Xie Chi listened, the more it rang a bell.

The smart terminal Shi Peijue was describing—wasn't that exactly like the one Yan Baiyue had given him?

As a proper mole, Xie Chi filed detailed reports on everything every single day, so of course he'd recorded the fact that Yan Baiyue had given him a bomb-rigged smart terminal.

A few days ago, Yan Wanqiu had taken that terminal.

Had Yan Wanqiu really handed his terminal over to Shi Peijue for modifications?

Sure enough, the next second Yan Wanqiu confirmed Xie Chi's suspicion.

He took the box, didn't even glance at it, and just tossed it to Xie Chi: "Hold onto it. It's yours."

Xie Chi caught the box and saw Yan Wanqiu already turning to leave, so he hurried after him.

"Your Highness, this is...?"

"We'll talk at my residence," Yan Wanqiu said curtly.

Xie Chi understood.

Shi Peijue didn't know he was undercover with Yan Baiyue, and Yan Wanqiu was worried about leaks if they talked out in the open.

The two of them hurried in and then quickly left, leaving Shi Peijue standing there dumbfounded.

Why would Yan Wanqiu hand Xie Chi such a nasty smart terminal?

Were these two playing some kind of "betray me and I'll kill you" master-servant roleplay?

.

Inside the palace.

"...As you ordered, Yan Baiyue's witnesses have been placed in the mines, each one with dedicated people watching them. All the explosives in the mines are duds—when they go off, they'll just make noise."

Xie Chi knelt on one knee, giving Yan Wanqiu his usual rundown of the day's operations.

Yan Wanqiu narrowed his eyes, studied Xie Chi for a moment, then said, "Got it. Get up."

Xie Chi stood up.

Yan Wanqiu spoke slowly: "The smart terminal Yan Baiyue gave you—I had Shi Peijue inspect it. The bomb inside can't be removed, or the terminal would alert immediately. Yan Huishi wants to use that terminal to get footage of my death or proof that we killed Yan Baiyue, so he wouldn't allow the terminal to be destroyed. So I only had Shi Peijue mess with the recording function as much as possible, to keep Yan Huishi from getting solid proof we killed Yan Baiyue."

"When the time comes, stay sharp and be ready to ditch the terminal to save yourself. Your safety comes first."

Xie Chi bowed his head slightly. "Thank you, Your Highness."

The uneasy feeling in his gut only got worse.

Knowing Yan Wanqiu, he'd at most toss the terminal at him and order him to wear it in two days—he shouldn't be explaining all this in such detail.

He wouldn't give a damn if Xie Chi misunderstood him, only whether the mission got done.

When something's off, there's always a reason. Yan Wanqiu definitely had some ulterior motive.

Had his weapon repair thing with Shi Peijue already been found out?

Or was the Tyrant getting suspicious of him and Yan Baiyue again?

It couldn't be that he was about to use Ji Chou to threaten him again, right? That would be way over the line.

Xie Chi was mulling it over, about to use the chance to excuse himself before Yan Wanqiu said anything, when he heard the man speak in a slow drawl.

"I heard Ji Chou's been using his position to send you quite a few things lately?"

Xie Chi's head shot up.

So Yan Wanqiu really was going to use Ji Chou against him.

Every time Ji Chou came by, he brought a food box—such an open, aboveboard move couldn't exactly be criticized. But way back at the start, Ji Chou had risked sending him intel through Nie Huaiyi.

Yan Wanqiu was obviously talking about that intel drop.

Xie Chi's face went cold. He pressed his lips together and glared at Yan Wanqiu with open hostility: "What are you planning? We had a deal—you can't go back on your word and go after Ji Chou."

Yan Wanqiu felt a twinge of guilt and instinctively avoided Xie Chi's gaze, clenching his fists secretly.

He couldn't delay any longer.

Now that he was Yan Wanqiu, how could he let himself get so into playing house with Xie Chi that he actually started believing the role?

With that thought, Yan Wanqiu steeled himself and sneered coldly: "What do I want to do? I should be asking you and Ji Chou what you're up to. Colluding in secret and sneaking around behind my back—are the two of you planning a rebellion?"

"If you refuse to speak properly, I'll have no choice but to go ask Ji Chou directly."

This was clearly just a pretext to pin something on him and cause trouble!

Xie Chi was both furious and exasperated, but he feared Yan Wanqiu might actually harm Ji Chou. Clenching his fists, he stared coldly at Yan Wanqiu for a few seconds before slowly speaking: "What do you want?"

Since Yan Wanqiu was threatening him with Ji Chou rather than simply tossing a battered Ji Chou at him, it meant he wanted something from Xie Chi.

Only if Xie Chi failed or refused would Ji Chou be caught in the crossfire.

Yan Wanqiu forced himself to meet Xie Chi's cold, glaring eyes.

The shadow guard, who was as docile as a puppy in front of Ji Chou, now had a completely cold expression on his face, his eyes even holding a murderous edge Yan Wanqiu had never witnessed before.

It didn't fit that pretty, innocent face one bit.

When Xie Chi smiled and showed those faint dimples, he was way more beautiful.

Yan Wanqiu's mind couldn't help but wander for a moment.

He quickly snapped back to reality and slowly started putting pressure on Xie Chi: "I heard you took out a nutrient solution in front of Ji Chou?"

Xie Chi caught on right away and couldn't help but let out a bitter, angry laugh.

Yan Wanqiu had squeezed the info about the nutrient solution out of Ji Chou and was now directly using Ji Chou as leverage against him.

This ruthless tyrant!

Xie Chi gritted his teeth.

The real issue wasn't Ji Chou bringing him meals—after all, Nie Huaiyi, being Yan Wanqiu's right-hand man, would have had to approve that openly. Yan Wanqiu definitely didn't know Ji Chou was feeding him intel, or he wouldn't have waited this long to make his move.

He was just looking for an excuse to mess with him and Ji Chou, forcing Xie Chi to cough up the nutrient solution.

Xie Chi stared straight at Yan Wanqiu, holding back his anger, and calmly laid out his terms: "Fine, but I have terms."

Yan Wanqiu wasn't surprised: "Let's hear them."

Xie Chi said: "I want Ji Chou's contact information, right now. I want to add him as a contact on the smart brain. You can monitor our chats or limit how often we talk—I don't give a damn. I just need somewhere I can see him check in and confirm he's safe every day."

He said bluntly: "Your Highness, the way you're acting makes it impossible for me to trust you'll actually keep your word and not touch Ji Chou within the month."

Everyone in the camp had a smart brain with their own verified account, and Yan Wanqiu had full backend control over all of them. That was exactly why Xie Chi used a terminal instead of a smart brain to keep in touch with Shi Peijue.

Even while furious, Xie Chi kept his cool, and his request wasn't unreasonable—after all, under Yan Wanqiu's watch, even if he did get in touch with Ji Chou, nothing could come of it.

That is, if Ji Chou even existed in the first place.

Yan Wanqiu was speechless: "..."

Where the hell was he supposed to pull a Ji Chou out of thin air right now?