A shadow.
On the roof of the church stood a mighty shadow, and why had it come here?
Was it hiding its motives?
No one would know, so long as no one saw.
But the shadow only sat there in the night, thinking on the truth of being.
Then it stirred, as though it had heard someone’s plea.
Down into the church it went, plainly scheming something, for it is hardly the way of shadows to show themselves in a church!
It entered as everyone was at prayer, and they did not so much as turn, as if they knew what was to come.
The shadow walked on, straight for the pulpit.
As it went it killed every soul in its path, and by the time it reached the golden statue, no one but it drew breath in that church.
The shadow fell to its knees before the golden statue and prayed.
“Even if god exists, would he really care who ends up its victim?” it declared with a grin.
But once those words were spoken, it vanished…
※ ※ ※ ※ ※
“So this is that Feng Qi?”
“Yes, Master.”
“You’re sure he managed to eat the fruit of the world?”
“He already said so!
Gramps, are you starting to lose it?
Leng Yu would never lie to us!”
“Qing Wei!”
“What?
Isn’t it true?!
He doesn’t trust you!”
Feng Qi lay on something soft, probably a bed.
Around him were the voices of no fewer than three people; he must have drawn some public attention.
When Leng Yu had looked at him back in the clearing, he’d lost consciousness, but on waking he hadn’t twitched so much as a centimeter.
He’d already spent more than half an hour surrounded by potential enemies, and now a third one had shown up as well.
But Feng Qi’s discontent was understandable: his weak body had long since gone numb.
But he needed more information.
When a man deliberately tells himself not to look at something, the temptation to do so always follows; Feng Qi felt no such urge.
He just stayed still and kept his eyes shut.
He just listened, and listened…
In any case, this Leng Yu had no intention of leaving the room until Feng Qi himself got up.
That was quite the problem, seeing as this Qing Wei would stay here as long as Leng Yu did.
Which was why he had to pick the best moment to get up.
“Well, what rotten luck…” Feng Qi said inwardly.
“Master, may I ask you a question?”
Suddenly a man’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“Fine, but only one.”
“Master…
What do you intend to do with him?”
“Oh…” The answer to that question interested Feng Qi as well.
“If he cooperates with us, then we won’t do anything to h—”
“Since when…” Feng Qi sat up and said it with a smile, his eyes on the man with long grey hair.
“Since when did you realize I wasn’t asleep?”
The grey-haired man’s entire speech had been nothing but a performance: he wanted Feng Qi to grasp the point he was making.
The grey-haired man didn’t answer Feng Qi’s question and declared, “Since you’re awake, I’ll be going.
They’ll answer your questions.”
Feng Qi looked at the back of the departing grey-haired man, already closing the door behind him.
He was in a wooden house; to his right was a table, and on the chairs sat two people — Leng Yu, with the same smile as ever, and, presumably, the girl Qing Wei, with long black hair and bright violet eyes.
“You could’ve at least said you were awake!
Thanks to you I’ve been stuck here forever!” Qing Wei declared with obvious displeasure.
“Qing Wei, keep it down.
He’s been through enough as it is,” said Leng Yu.
The words drew a small laugh from Feng Qi, and his gaze went straight to Leng Yu.
“That’s a bit rich, coming from the man who stabbed me,” Feng Qi said with a smile.
But just as quickly his smile fell, and with a grim face he declared, “What are your intentions?”
No one replied, so he continued, “If you saved me, then I’ve become too valuable to die like that, haven’t I?”
Leng Yu shrugged and breathed out, “You’re not wrong.”
“Hm?” Feng Qi let out, tilting his head slightly.
“The fruit of the world, you could say, is worth the lives of millions of living creatures.”
“So wars are waged over it?” Feng Qi replied without so much as a blink.
“Sometimes, yes.
But since it’s so rare, that doesn’t happen often.”
“I see…
But there’s something else I’m curious about,” Feng Qi said with a sigh.
“What is it?
You may ask anything,” Leng Yu replied warily.
“Are you even going to apologize?”
“Huh?” Leng Yu said in surprise.
“Well, you stabbed me, I think that’s a solid reason for an apology!”
Qing Wei froze at Feng Qi’s words.
A great deal hung on that question, far more than it seemed.
But a second later Leng Yu rose from his chair and dropped to his knees, bowing his head just as Feng Qi had done in the snow-covered clearing.
“I sincerely beg your forgiveness for my thoughtless actions!” Leng Yu declared.
“Damn, my fears were confirmed,” Feng Qi thought, his expression unchanged.
The dumbfounded Qing Wei kept opening her mouth, only to shut it again.
It was clear she wanted to object to Feng Qi and stop Leng Yu, but she couldn’t bring herself to.
“If he hadn’t been able to do it, this would all have been far easier…” Feng Qi thought, deflated.
Qing Wei tried to reach her right hand out toward Leng Yu, but once again she couldn’t.
Five seconds later, Feng Qi spoke at last: “Enough.
I have a more important question than this paltry request.”
Leng Yu rose to his feet, bowed, and sat back down in the same chair he’d occupied before.
“I’m all ears!” Leng Yu said with the same smile.
“So what did this fruit of the world do to me?”
“You really haven’t heard?
That’s pretty strange.
Where we’re from, it’s spoken of from early childhood,” Leng Yu said with the same smile.
“This Leng Yu does love his games of cat and mouse,” Feng Qi thought.
“Well, forgive me, Leng Yu, but from that very same early childhood I was an orphan, and as you already know, I was abducted at fifteen,” Feng Qi replied with the same smile.
“I was far too busy surviving.
I had no time for such nonsense.”
The gazes of the two of them crossed once more, just as they had last time beneath the open sky.
Only Qing Wei watched on, uneasy.
“So that’s how it is,” Leng Yu said, scratching the back of his head.
“So, you don’t want to answer my question?” Feng Qi asked mockingly.
“Not at all.
I’ll answer any question you like!”
“I’m all anticipation,” Feng Qi said, propping himself up on his right arm.
“Since you didn’t even know about the fruit of the world, I’ll lay it out for you in as much detail as I can.”
At Leng Yu’s words, Feng Qi grinned to himself and thought, “So now all that’s left is to work out what’s a lie and what’s the truth, isn’t it?”
He couldn’t assume every word out of Leng Yu would be an outright lie or the plain truth; nor could he tell a deliberate lie apart from one drilled in by society.
That made things far harder, if what he wanted was the truth.
Blue and green eyes held each other’s gaze; only the violet ones flicked anxiously between them.
Leng Yu opened his mouth at last and began his account: “They say the heavens fashioned the fruits for the gods.
Engraved upon them were four circles, symbolizing Mind, Strength, Spirit, and Will.”
“When a god ate such a fruit, all four essence parameters awakened.”
“Humans had these four parameters as well.
Some were born with a talent for one of the four, but such people were a rare few.
And then, out of nowhere, a fruit fell from the sky, but because we are human, not gods, the parameters were distributed unevenly.”
“Where a god would awaken all four essence parameters, a human might receive only two, or even just one.”
“I think that’s enough to answer your question,” Leng Yu finished.
Throughout Leng Yu’s monologue Feng Qi’s face had shown absolutely nothing, just as it showed nothing now.
“I see…
I still have a lot of questions, but for now, answer the most important one,” Feng Qi said, his face a blank.
“What are your intentions?”
At that, Leng Yu covered his mouth with his hand, plainly holding back a laugh, took Qing Wei by the hand, and started for the door.
“Alright, up off the bed, we’ve got business together now.
Qing Wei and I will be waiting for you outside,” Leng Yu said mockingly.
“And don’t you dare hold me up again!” Qing Wei added.
The two of them stepped out and slammed the door behind them.
He was left in the room, entirely alone.
But before he rose to go out and face them himself, he needed to think it all over, and carefully.
“First, he left out a very important fact,” Feng Qi thought.
Leng Yu had said a fruit of the world fell from the sky; but given they were meant for gods, an ordinary human would hardly survive eating one.
In short, he was worth even more than Leng Yu was letting on.
What’s more, Leng Yu had said the odds of being born with even one essence parameter were slim to none, yet with the fruit, he’d said, a person might get two, or just one.
He’d plainly kept something important back there too.
“But it’s worth remembering that all of this is only guesswork,” Feng Qi sighed.
The most important thing now was his body.
It had betrayed his mind.
“Looks like I’ll have to improve it, or even replace it,” Feng Qi mumbled, clenching his right fist.
He had also taken note of Qing Wei — she had been quite insolent with that old man, perhaps she was his relative, but she did not contradict Leng Yu, and though clearly irritated with Feng Qi, she judged Leng Yu’s choices soberly.
“Most interesting…” Feng Qi pondered with a grin.
He looked himself over; he was dressed in turquoise robes and his left hand had been expertly bandaged.
He didn’t bother to check his belly; he got up from the bed and walked to the door.