Before the deceased’s teammates could say anything, Brother Gu Yu continued loudly, “Listen up, every place has its own rules.”
The onlookers listened silently, but I could clearly detect a hint of fear in the scent emanating from Brother Gu Yu.
It seemed that even my “sword” wasn’t confident enough to persuade these people this time.
“You beg for a hero when you need one, but the moment you don’t, you try to kill him. The world doesn’t work that way—he’s not your tool,” Brother Gu Yu went on, his voice stirring emotions. “This building houses thousands of people right now, and any one of them could be the thief who stole those ‘jades.’ If you insist on killing the hero here, no one will ever help you sniff out scents again. Are you really sure about this?”
It sounded like Brother Gu Yu was negotiating with them, but to me, it felt more like a threat.
He was using my life to deter these people—that sounded way too dangerous.
If the negotiation failed, they wouldn’t just tear me apart—they’d tear Brother Gu Yu apart too.
“But our ‘jades’ are gone!” one of the men shouted. “They disappeared—we were so close to getting out!”
“If they’re gone, why not look for them?” Brother Gu Yu retorted coldly. “Did you ever ask the hero to guard your ‘jades’ for you?”
“What…?”
“Who’s the real child here—you or the hero?” Brother Gu Yu grew angrier, his aura radiating faint killing intent. “Not only does he check every day whether you’ve awakened, he even gives up his own food for you. Now you want him to take responsibility for your lost belongings? What’s next—should he dress you and wipe your asses too? Who’s the child here? Should you kneel and call him ‘Dad’?”
His sharp, forceful words struck like heavy blows, leaving the onlookers visibly shaken.
Now I understood these people. Though they had no scent of their own, their auras often shifted based on what others said.
“But we… trusted him so much…”
“Trust gives you the right to grab him by the collar?!” Brother Gu Yu roared. “You lose ‘jades’ today and blame him, fail a game tomorrow and blame him—do you dump every hardship on him? The hero has given you everything, and this is how you repay him?!”
Then he turned to the crowd. “Be fair—can one person possibly manage all of you? Has the hero not done enough?”
Though their scents were now aligned with Brother Gu Yu’s, I knew something was off—because he was the one who had stolen those ‘jades.’
“Then… then…” The man’s eyes darted around before he finally spoke. “Gu Yu, you go find them for us! You recovered 50,000 ‘jades’ last time—you can do it again!”
“No, quite the opposite.” Brother Gu Yu shook his head. “Not only will I not help you search, I’m setting a new rule here. Since your team lost the ‘jades’ the hero gave you and tried to frame him, you have two days to recover all 50,000 missing ‘jades’ to atone for your mistake. Otherwise, you’ll all face ‘House Discipline.'”
“What…?” The entire team gaped in disbelief. “If we could find them… why would we even ask the hero?”
“So you admit you can’t find them?” Brother Gu Yu sneered. “But ‘House Discipline’ is ‘House Discipline.’ The hero distributed all the ‘jades’ to you—you failed to protect them.”
I could feel Brother Gu Yu winning—he had “led” everyone’s scent.
“Yeah…” someone gradually spoke up. “Why haven’t our ‘jades’ gone missing?”
“Right, ours are all still here!”
The room buzzed with shifting scents, leaving the accused team in utter panic.
Just then, Sister Siwei rushed in. After assessing the situation, she picked up my “crown” from the ground and placed it back on my head, then anxiously asked what had happened.
“So that’s it…?” Sister Siwei suddenly turned to them. “You did this on purpose?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Are you trying to ‘usurp’…?” she asked darkly. “Did you hide the ‘jades’ yourselves to frame the hero?”
Their expressions grew even more panicked, their scents chaotic—Brother Gu Yu and Sister Siwei had completely won.
“We didn’t—!”
“No? Then choose.” Sister Siwei said. “Do you want two days to find those ‘jades,’ or do you want to be punished for ‘usurpation’ right now?”
Faced with the question, the men had no choice but to agree to spend two days searching for the lost ‘jades.’
After the crowd dispersed, the three of us returned to my room and locked the door. I had too many questions.
“Brother Gu Yu… you…” I hesitated. “Did you hide their ‘jades’ again?”
Sister Siwei also gave him a strange look.
“Of course,” Brother Gu Yu said. “I told you—no one can collect enough, or we’ll all be in danger. I’m protecting this place. It’s just a shame I can’t find like-minded allies in this city. Otherwise, I’d form a team to safeguard it together.”
“A team…?” Sister Siwei frowned. “You’d form a group just to obstruct others from collecting ‘jades,’ calling it ‘protecting this place’… That sounds a bit odd.”
“But…” I also felt uneasy. “Brother Gu Yu, like you said, if someone collects enough, an unforeseen disaster will strike and we’ll all die. But according to what ‘Executioner’ Sister once told me… if we want to cure everyone’s ‘illness,’ we have to kill them. Could this be our chance?”
“No. We can’t predict what kind of disaster would occur or its consequences,” Brother Gu Yu said. “All we know is that everything will reset. But what if someone like Wan Cai comes back? What if we lose our memories? Do you really want to relive the suffering you’ve endured all these years?”
Just the thought of Uncle Wan reviving, of his grinning face speaking to me again, made my hair stand on end.
“So today, I made an example of them,” Brother Gu Yu said. “But it’s still dangerous—this method won’t work many more times.”
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