Chapter 138: Those who are Deceased, and Those still Alive
Translator: Letty Editor: DarkGem
"What did you just say?" Chang's face wasn't able to make any expressions, but his disbelief leaked from his eyes. "What did you just say?"
"Qing Shui Li is dead," Qing repeated.
"It's clear to us, he is dead, completely," Shui added.
"Why? How?" Chang choked and couldn't finish his words. His heart sank instantly.
"Impossible! This is impossible! You are liars!" Jing shouted to the clones, her emotions bursting out. "How can he die? That thick-skinned jerk said he would be the last human to die! How is this possible? You are his kids, and you should stop telling lies!"
"Jing, stop." Chang was almost destroyed by the news of Qing Shui's death. He pulled her hand lightly, gesturing for her to stop.
"Chang, is he really dead?" Jing asked with great emotion, her lips pursed. "How do you know though?"
"He must be," Shui Qing said. "We lost the signal of his life force, which also means that the Willow arrived in Zhengzhou ."
"How could he… He is almost almighty... How?" Chang was depressed. He sat down on a tree stump and didn’t want to move an inch, his face buried in his palms.
"Chang, you think he is dead as well?" Zhizhi and Sanpang asked again when they realized it wasn't a joke.
"It should be..." Chang nodded. "The Willow arrived, and he hadn’t left Zhengzhou. It's... impossible even for him to survive that. And Qing Shui himself told me that he was never an opponent for the Willow. So when he refused my invitation to come with us, he was already dead inside..."
"But… this can't be true!" The rims of Jing’s eyes turned read. "He was so bad; he treated me as an experiment subject! How can he die so easily? The villain always survives till end end, he is the guy who should die last... "
"Mr. Li, that powerful figure is dead?" Yin Qing was in shock as well, but in a different one than those who knew Qing Shui in person. In her mind, he was a legend that ruled Zhengzhou and killed Zhuo with bare hands; he was also the developer for many technologies. He was a hero.
A genius like Qing Shui was the last one to die in ordinary people's minds.
However, what they didn't know about this talented mind was that he had a soft heart, and that he was more humane than most people.
"Do you know how he died?" Chang asked the clones.
"We can't be sure; we could never see through his mind," Qing said. "One possibility that I can think of is that he mixed his gene with the Evil Moss's, and then he controlled that with something else so he didn't go crazy immediately. Then, when the Willow swallowed him, it would feel worse than if it had died. He might simply want to torture the Willow."
"But the Willow’s so smart, are you sure it'd get tricked?" Shui asked.
"How could it not? It’s smart, but it doesn't know everything. It might have learned about the Evil Moss on its way to here, but how would it know Qing Shui's next move?" Qing answered. "We know about the Willow because it is a high figure for us to look up at, and the Willow doesn't know about us because it doesn't need to notice nobodies like us."
"What about Qing Shui? He got a good mind, the Willow shouldn't miss the opportunity," Shui Qing said.
"Well, in theory, the Willow would acquire his brain. But his brain is also poisonous to it; the Evil Moss gene could paralyze it for a good amount of time. I also think Qing Shui would have done some other procedures on himself, like the Modifier and things that we don't know about. He must have done this," Qing said. "But who knows what either of them are or were thinking, right? All we need to do is run, run as far as we can."
"So he might still be still alive..." Jing murmured. "He always has a way to get out of trouble."
"Well, that's hundred percent impossible," Qing said. "Just give up on it."
"Aren't you guys his kids?" Zhizhi refuted. "How can you say something like this about your father?"
"We are just telling the truth." The clones didn't even glance at Zhizhi. "If you want to dig out the reason why he must die, you should interrogate the two people that he truly cares about, not us."
The clones resumed heading north after leaving such words behind.
"Are you coming or not? Although we’re sure that Qing Shui is dead, we can't be sure he could stop the Willow," one of the clones shouted out as he climbed over a tree stump. "After all, they aren't comparable in any aspect that we know. Even if he was well-prepared and equipped, the hope for stopping that big guy is still minimal. So stop thinking about him, let's move."
Their figures slowly disappeared in the fog.
Yin Qing was speechless, staring at the clones’ backs. From the conversation she just heard, she seemed to realize their identities. And when she heard what the clones said about their father in such a callous manner, she pinched her kids' ear, saying. "You guys! If you dare to treat me like this, I'll leave you behind forever! Do you understand?"
"I know, I know. Ma, it hurts!" the boy cried.
"We'll never treat you like that, mom," the girl promised.
"Humph! If you dare!" Yin gently rubbed her kid's ear to soothe what she just did to them. "Frankly speaking, I felt weird when I gave birth to you guys, but I love you more with each passing day. You are much more lovable than those little monsters."
"Of course, ma. We are good kids." The boy nodded.
"Oh come on! I’m the good kid." The girl slapped the boy's head. "You are not!"
...
The group caught up with the clones.
Before they would flee at full speed again, Chang smoked a cigarette to suppress his feelings, to bury them at the bottom of his heart.
"All right, let's... go," Chang said loudly, though his voice was soft. He hugged Jing, whose eyes were still red, then put the backpack on his back, as well as the sorrow in the south.
"They are right, those who are deceased won't come back, and those who are alive should thrive."
Since everyone knew that Qing Shui was dead, the group lost its cheerfulness. The clones were inexpressive to begin with, while Chang decided to immerse himself in his emotions. Jing's eyes were red, but she never cried out. In the meantime, Zhizhi and Sanpang's feelings were undecided.
The group continued to go up north, which was no longer tranquil and quiet. The sensitive animals seemed to know what had happened in Zhengzhou, and they slowed down in their migration.
Therefore, the night wasn't too quiet, given the fact that they were cohabiting with countless animals surrounding them.
Firewood, iron pot, and the biscuit porridge.
They were still eating the same food, but the atmosphere was much more depressing.
The only one speaking was Qing. "We need to be more cautious as we move to the north. The birds are wheeling in the air today, so I guess they’re going to settle down here, which also means the Willow decided to stop in Zhengzhou for some reason.
"The land animals may still be dashing towards here, and even if they might have slowed down, they should be right behind us. Our peaceful journey will end when they catch up."
No one replied to his comment, staring blankly at him in awe.
Except for Chang, all the other had turned their heads to Qing—because they didn't understand how could a three-year-old kid analyze the situation in such a cool-headed manner, to the extent that everybody felt that he was heartless.
The dinner finished in silence, and everybody laid down in the darkness.
Chang and Jing felt the most terrible and so no one bothered them.
Some even didn’t feel that bad - such as Sanpang. He had only met Qing Shui once, and though he felt sorry for his death, he more rejoiced that the Willow had stopped advancing.
Therefore, he did something inappropriate out of boredom - he peeped at the two-headed kid defecating.
In fact, he was curious about their gender from the very beginning.
"I am sleeping now. Don't forget to wipe it clean," the girl said, closing her eyes.
"Right, right, right. You always get to eat and drink while I can only do the dirty job," the boy mumbled, taking off the pants.
"So it's a boy!"
Because Sanpang couldn’t see well, he was actually quite close to where the two-headed kid was. And when he moved, he was discovered immediately.
"What are you doing!" When the boy noticed something was wriggling in the bush, he screamed, "Ma! Someone is peeping at me!"