Chapter 94: Exactly the Same

The atmosphere didn’t last long. The first to break the silence was Qi Ran.

“Who taught you?”

“Tian Xi from Execution Group Two.”

“You just cut Liu Xu’s lake.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I wanted him to leave quickly, and I happened to have a method to make him leave. Why wouldn’t I use it?”

“You were also planning to cut my lake just now.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you finish?”

“I already finished—actually, I should be the one asking you that. You’ve clearly had your lake cut by me. Why aren’t you listening to me? And why did you bite me?”

Hearing the puzzled question in Qi Xin’s words, Qi Ran, surprisingly, didn’t feel anger. Instead, she felt a kind of powerlessness. Not the powerlessness of despair, but the helpless, exasperated feeling of being laughed at.

She had long known that the obedient, well-behaved facade Qi Xin wore was fake. But what she hadn’t expected was that, once that disguise was torn away, Qi Xin’s true nature would be so… shameless? Roguish? She couldn’t find a more fitting adjective to describe the feeling Qi Xin’s words gave her right now. It was like a thief stealing someone’s wallet, only to find no cash inside, just a bank card, and then specifically going back to tell the owner they should have written the PIN on the card. Otherwise, when someone steals it, they can’t even withdraw the money, which is very impolite.

“After acting for so long, you finally can’t keep up the act?” She practically forced the words out through gritted teeth.

“You misunderstand,” Qi Xin shook her head. “I simply failed to cut your lake.”

Unexpectedly, Qi Ran felt she understood this somewhat baffling statement. What Qi Xin meant was that she hadn’t revealed her true nature because she couldn’t keep up the act anymore. It was just that her lake cutting had failed, that was all. And the reason she answered this question was simply because she had been asked.

In fact, the girl standing before Qi Ran with a docile and obedient expression, answering every question without lying, was precisely the image Qi Xin usually performed. After the lake cutting failed, she had immediately resumed her performance. So, there was no such thing as “couldn’t keep up the act.”

Qi Ran pressed her fingers to her brow, a headache forming from being able to figure out Qi Xin’s train of thought. She clearly recognized a fact once more—though she and Qi Xin were twin sisters, the differences between them couldn’t just be described as being from two different worlds. If possible, she would rather never see Qi Xin again in her life.

“Next time you do that, I will bite off that finger.” Having sorted out her thoughts, Qi Ran said in a low voice.

“That’s not good, is it?” Qi Xin’s brow furrowed slightly, her left hand subconsciously moving to protect the index finger of her right hand, wrapped in paper. “It would be very painful.”

“You could just not do it.” Qi Ran felt mentally exhausted, adjusting her mindset for communicating with Qi Xin once more.

“But if I don’t cut your lake, you won’t listen to me.” Qi Xin’s voice was low, her expression looking very troubled. “What do I need to do so you’ll listen to me?”

Qi Ran looked at Qi Xin. She knew that not a single word Qi Xin was saying now was meant to anger or provoke her. This was simply what her heart thought. It was that simple.

She felt she had now grasped Qi Xin’s way of thinking. If so, they had arguably entered a rhythm she was good at.

“A trade,” she extended her hand, speaking slowly. “What do you need me to do, and what can you offer? We discuss a suitable outcome, and then I’ll listen to you. Similarly, you’ll also need to listen to me. It’s that simple.”

“Okay.” Qi Xin extended her hand, made a loose grasping motion, then let go.

“First, why did you come to me? What do you need me to do?” Qi Ran asked.

“Team 1 has an internal physical examination. One of the items targets the lake. We each need to enter a machine, kind of like getting an X-ray. It’s a newly developed detection instrument,” Qi Xin explained slowly. “I looked for you a few days ago, but you and Jiang Zhique had completely disappeared. Li Siwen is dead. I thought something had happened to you two as well… until this morning, when I got a message from Xu Yan saying you were here, so I came.”

Qi Ran’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. She glanced at Qi Xin, thinking this was probably more than just a little troublesome. If, at this point in time, Qi Xin was discovered to be a Lakeless Person, things would get complicated. Setting aside whether Qi Xin herself would be suspected of involvement in the earlier incidents with the executors, if this news leaked out, her own situation, Qi Ran’s, would also become difficult—after all, to outsiders, their direct paternal lineage was the same person.

“You want me to take the physical for you?” she whispered. “Fingerprints, blood, bodily fluids… what do you plan to do about those?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Qi Xin shook her head.

“What do you mean?” Looking at her calm expression, Qi Ran felt a vague sense of unease.

“Give me the phone.” Qi Xin said.

Puzzled, Qi Ran handed her phone over.

Qi Xin took the phone, her fingertip covering the unlock key. What happened next made Qi Ran freeze—

The screen unlocked.

“Our fingerprints are the same.” She handed the phone back to Qi Ran, her tone calm. “Not just fingerprints. Everything about us is the same.”

Qi Ran was frozen for a long moment before taking the phone back. A flood of new information left her momentarily unsure of how to process it.

“What about blood?” she said with some difficulty. “Our… I don’t really understand that stuff. DNA? Are we completely identical?”

“Identical,” Qi Xin whispered. “I don’t understand why you aren’t a Lakeless Person, or why I can’t invade your lake… but aside from the lake, everything about us is the same.”

Qi Ran paused for a moment before asking, “When did you find out about this?”

“Do you remember that gathering at the beginning of ’14?” Qi Xin asked.

Qi Ran vaguely recalled it. Back then, she hadn’t met Tao Xiao yet, and Qi Jianguo wasn’t in prison. So that year’s New Year celebration was still spent with Li Wanying. It was the same old comparisons, teasing, group photos, arguments… Whenever Li Wanying and Qi Jianguo turned the atmosphere frosty, she and Qi Xin would just sit quietly, not speaking, not eating, just sitting still, daydreaming or zoning out, listening to the couple’s arguing, dodging the annoyed glances from guests at other tables… That was how they looked at every year’s gathering. Li Wanying and Qi Jianguo were, in a sense, a match made in heaven. The things they argued about were exactly the same every year, nothing new, yet both of them never tired of it.

She roughly understood why Qi Xin suddenly brought up that year’s gathering. That year, Qi Xin had already had her menarche. So Li Wanying was certain Qi Jianguo definitely didn’t know, or hadn’t paid attention to her, Qi Ran’s, menstrual cycle. As she expected, Qi Jianguo was indeed completely clueless. The two had a huge argument over this matter again… In the end, the quarrel concluded with Qi Jianguo storming off, red-faced, feeling that discussing menstruation was utterly shameless. Li Wanying, meanwhile, held her head high, looking like a conquering general, completely ignoring the waitress standing awkwardly nearby trying to mediate.

The problem was, Qi Jianguo and Li Wanying seemed not the least bit surprised that she and Qi Xin’s menarche had arrived on the exact same day, at the exact same time.

As if realizing something, Qi Ran whispered, “You opened the hidden door in Li Wanying’s room.”

“You already know about those things? That’s good.” Qi Xin nodded.

“What’s your plan?” Qi Ran asked in a low voice. “Do you want me to dye my hair back? Or should you dye yours too?”

Qi Xin shook her head. “That Greasepaint, remember? Her syndrome should make handling this very convenient.”

“When does this physical you mentioned start?”

“What time is it now?” Qi Xin didn’t answer directly, but directed the question back at Qi Ran.

“Why did you turn off your phone?” Qi Ran checked the time. “It’s nine o’clock now. Nine-oh-eight.”

“Forgot to charge it. It turned off automatically,” Qi Xin said calmly. “Then there’s about twenty-two minutes left. The physical starts at nine-thirty. Don’t worry about Greasepaint. She’s in the women’s restroom on the fourth floor right now.”

“You cut her lake.” Qi Ran understood her meaning.

“Yes.” Qi Xin nodded frankly. “Otherwise, how did you plan to convince her to help, or persuade her not to tell anyone? Just because she hopes you’ll save her companions? Don’t be naive, little sister. Pinning your safety on someone else’s moral conscience—then no matter how you’re betrayed, it’s only to be expected.”

Qi Ran didn’t speak. Her originally planned scheme had already fallen apart due to that sped-up month in the shop and the fragmented state of the Second Group itself. At least on this point, Qi Xin was right. As things stood now, she didn’t have any leverage to convince Greasepaint.