“That’s my speculation on the meaning you were trying to express just now,” Qi Ran looked towards the slightly stunned Parrot. “Is there anything incorrect?”
“No, nothing. Thank you,” Parrot hesitated, then said quietly, “I… couldn’t articulate it so clearly myself. That’s pretty much how it feels.”
“A very interesting perspective,” Yue Yunqiu snapped his fingers. “Let’s follow this analogy forward. We’ll first face a question: you think this company is terrible, so what do you plan to do? Dissolve the company and establish a new one? Or keep the company itself and kick out the managers and boss you dislike?”
“The latter,” Parrot answered after thinking for a moment.
“You, and those other children, think back. Why were you brought in here?” Yue Yunqiu asked. “Theft, aiding arson, and assaulting Executors… let’s set aside assaulting an Executor for now. Let’s assume that was part of the plan. Then what were the arson and theft for? To take revenge on the Su Family? To make a name for yourselves? Even if it succeeded, how close would it actually bring you to your original goal?”
His tone wasn’t severe; it was even gentle, carrying a hint of subtle guidance. But Parrot only hung her head low.
“…This is exactly it. I agreed not to lecture, and yet it turned into a lecture in the end,” Yue Yunqiu sighed, standing up from the floor. “You stay here, watch these people. When they wake up, don’t let them leave this storage room. Of course, if they insist on leaving, you don’t need to forcibly stop those who seek death. Understand?”
“Huh?” Parrot looked up, astonished. “Her leg is injured. Where are you taking her?”
“The lowest level. I suddenly remembered there’s a dangerous character down there,” Yue Yunqiu said. “Don’t worry about her. With me, she’s safe.”
Parrot seemed to want to speak but held back.
“Why do I feel like you don’t quite believe me?” Yue Yunqiu felt a headache coming on and tapped his knuckle against his brow. “Seriously, I’m pretty strong.”
“Compared to Li Yuan?” Qi Ran suddenly spoke.
“Li Yuan, huh. You really picked a tough opponent for me. If it’s that girl, it depends on what we’re comparing,” Yue Yunqiu counted on his fingers one by one. “Physical fitness, Syndrome manifestation, marksmanship…”
“Actual combat,” Qi Ran asked. “I mean, unrestricted, to-the-death combat.”
“Let’s put it this way. In a long, narrow corridor, if I suddenly encountered her,” Yue Yunqiu crossed his left and right index fingers, forming a cross, and stated flatly, “Ten seconds. I’m confident I could end her vital signs within ten seconds.”
Qi Ran froze momentarily. For some reason, when this young man spoke those somewhat absurd words, she had a feeling… that he really wasn’t just boasting.
“Of course, those conditions are far too advantageous for me, how should I put it?” In an instant, that sharp edge vanished completely. Yue Yunqiu returned to that easygoing demeanor. “Ten seconds sounds easy, but actually, dealing with Li Yuan’s Syndrome requires a blitz attack. A war of attrition or prolonged battle is just self-destruction. Her regeneration ability and stamina are monstrous. If I can’t kill her in ten seconds, allowing her to react, the outcome probably won’t be so pleasant.”
“Your Syndrome… has a very high short-term burst?” Parrot guessed.
“Saying it like that feels a bit strange, kind of edgy,” Yue Yunqiu sighed. “Yes, in gaming terms, that’s it. A speed attacker versus a HP tank. If I can’t finish Li Yuan in ten seconds, then I’ll probably end up being used as a punching bag.”
Qi Ran stood up, hopping on one foot to the doorway, feeling her current appearance was somewhat comical.
Yue Yunqiu closed the door. In the dim corridor, only the two of them and that lone head remained.
“So, have you ever fought Li Yuan?” Qi Ran asked quietly, still curious about this point. The terrifying impression Li Yuan had left before was too deep, that absolute violence nearly crushing the Welfare Institute Group of Five. Before that overwhelming power gap, Paper Cutter and Dry Wood’s methods seemed as ridiculous as a kindergartener’s game. Whether in strength or speed, Li Yuan couldn’t be classified in the human category. Calling her a monster was no exaggeration.
She even suspected that even with a gun in hand, she might not be able to pose an effective threat to the monster-like Li Yuan. A 9mm pistol gave her no sense of security. As long as she didn’t hit a vital point, emptying an entire magazine would be like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water.
“If you mean regulated sparring, where you stop before harming each other,” Yue Yunqiu said, “Yes, we have, but we didn’t use our Syndromes. After all, neither Li Yuan nor I could guarantee we could hold back while using our Syndromes. Did Li Yuan ever tell you about her previous tests?”
“No,” Qi Ran shook her head. “Tests related to her Syndrome?”
“Yes,” Yue Yunqiu reached out and placed his hand on his left shoulder. “Let me give you an example. If Li Yuan, after beast-transforming her arm, punched me with full force… say she hit my left shoulder. Then the left half of my body would probably turn into mincemeat. We could skip any attempts at rescue. But if she chose to hold back, not transforming her arm, or not fully transforming it, then she wouldn’t pose even the slightest threat to me—because she simply wouldn’t be able to touch me.”
“And even if she wanted to hold back, sometimes instinctive reactions can’t be controlled. If she sensed danger and subconsciously failed to control herself, swinging a punch and somehow landing it by luck, I might end up martyred on the spot.” Yue Yunqiu said with some helplessness.
“Is your Syndrome related to speed?” Qi Ran said thoughtfully.
“You could say that,” Yue Yunqiu nodded, looking intrigued. “That’s why I said, if I ran into Li Yuan in a place like a corridor, I’m confident I could finish her in ten seconds. If it weren’t for that kind of sudden encounter, I honestly wouldn’t dare say I’m completely confident in beating her. After all, she’s a pure stat-monster. Completely unreasonable.”
He walked to the elevator and pressed the down button. The illuminated circle made Qi Ran pause involuntarily: “The power’s out, and the elevator still works?”
The elevator doors slowly opened. Inside was clean, no bloodstains or corpses, the white light reassuring.
“Li Yuan didn’t tell you?” Yue Yunqiu walked into the elevator. After Qi Ran hopped in, he pressed the button for Basement Level 3. Only after the doors fully closed did he continue, “This elevator is a Paranormal Object. The previous Team Leader brought it into the Pingjiang Executor Group Headquarters, said it could save a bit on electricity. After being domesticated, it’s basically no different from a normal elevator now. It just occasionally plummets down suddenly.”
Qi Ran struggled to maintain her impersonation of Qi Xin, keeping her expression calm, as if to say ‘Ah, I knew it, just a Ghost Elevator, nothing to be surprised about.’ But inside, she was already starting to curse. What do you mean ‘save a bit on electricity’? What do you mean ‘it just occasionally plummets down suddenly’? Was the previous leader of Execution Team One a bit too carefree?
She forced a smile: “What kind of person was the previous Execution Team One Leader?”
“A rather unlucky person,” Yue Yunqiu sighed. “How should I put it? She wasn’t a bad person, just a bit foolish and a bit dense. But it was a blessing in disguise for her—she got along well with people and equally well with ghosts… She died in the line of duty on her forty-sixth birthday. The cause was dying of old age. After all, dealing with ghosts for so long does shorten your lifespan.”
“You knew her well?” Qi Ran asked. “What was her name?”
“You could say that,” Yue Yunqiu sighed. “Her name was Yue Shijiao.”
“She was your mother?” Qi Ran was slightly taken aback.
“Hard to say,” Yue Yunqiu shook his head, his tone nonchalant. “By blood, we are indeed mother and son. I became an Executor just to find her. But she didn’t acknowledge me. And, to avoid any suspicion, she never spoke to me and avoided being alone with me. To her, I was probably like a tumor that had come out of her womb once? A disgrace. It was only after she died that I could take her surname as my own—before that, my first name was just Yunqiu.”
As he spoke, he suddenly chuckled softly and said slowly: “My appearance gave her a long headache, because I look quite like her, and our Syndromes are very similar. Even though everyone kept quiet, they all guessed the relationship between us. So during that time, there were rumors in the team about how unfaithful she must have been when she was young… I got into a fight with that Executor who spread the rumor. That conflict gave her an excuse, an excuse to dismiss me from my post. She finally managed to get rid of me in the last two years of her life and enjoyed a relatively warm late life. For a dedicated Executor, that’s considered a good ending.”
He tugged slightly at the corner of his mouth: “Seriously, her life was quite… upright. My matter was her only stain. To her, it must have been the worst luck? Being pestered by such a stubborn kid, like a haunting ghost demanding her life.”
Qi Ran fell silent. After a long quiet moment, she finally said quietly: “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t worry. When I was little, I cared about it a lot. But now, it seems alright,” Yue Yunqiu sighed. “How should I put it? Like I said to that girl called Parrot earlier, in our line of work as Executors, you just have to get used to these things. Everyone’s brain is more or less a little sick. What we have to do is tolerate each other’s sickness. It’s that simple. After all, we’re all patients here. We need to be more tolerant of one another.”
