TDU Chapter 157: The Adherent Among Us
Chapter 157 The Adherent Among Us
Qi Xia continued peeling peanuts with practiced ease. He rubbed the thin red skin off a peanut with his fingers, blew it clean, and popped it into his mouth. "Purging this place… Then why haven’t you done it already?"
Lin Qin stared ahead, her gaze fixed on the lively scene before them. She took another sip of beer, her voice unhurried as she replied, "Because I don’t want to reveal myself too soon."
"I’m not interested in that answer." Qi Xia's gaze dropped to the peanuts in his hand, his voice sharpening. "I want the truth."
"Because I want to invite you to join {Judgment’s Domain}, so we can better safeguard {End Point}."
"That doesn’t sound right either." Qi Xia shook his head, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "You’ll need to come up with a better excuse than that."
Lin Qin fell silent, her expression momentarily unreadable. Qi Xia was proving to be far sharper than she had anticipated.
"Qi Xia," Lin Qin said after a pause, her tone shifting as she redirected the conversation, "why don’t you tell me what you think? What kind of person do you think I am?"
"You’re strange." Qi Xia’s reply was devoid of emotion, his expression calm as ever. "You’ve helped us numerous times, so your motives aren’t easy to deduce. What I do know is that you don’t harbor ill intentions, but you’re clearly orchestrating something."
"You can even infer that?" Lin Qin chuckled, her tone a mix of amusement and disbelief. "Are you trying to intimidate me, Qi Xia?"
Qi Xia popped another peanut into his mouth, savoring the brief pause before turning to her. "Lin Qin, there’s no way you can purge {Passage to Heaven}, because your {Reverberation} is {Boosting Touch}."
Lin Qin’s eyes widened in momentary shock before her expression quickly settled into a wry smile. She shook her head lightly and asked, "How could you have possibly known that?"
"Lin Qin, what exactly are your intentions?" Qi Xia asked, his head lowered, "Are you my enemy, or are you my teammate?"
"I haven’t decided on my position yet," Lin Qin replied, her smile unfaltering. She leaned slightly toward him, her gaze sharp yet playful. "What’s truly fascinating, Qi Xia, is how you’ve managed to maintain such composure. You deduced my identity and yet chose to keep it concealed."
Qi Xia paused, his fingers brushing a peanut shell idly before speaking. "The book says {good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat[1]}. Since you’ve yet to make your move, I won’t be the one to expose any flaws."
"Haha!" Lin Qin covered her mouth with a hand and let out a soft laugh. "I don't believe in {Sun Tzu's Art of War[1]}. I follow {On War[2]}, instead—because On War teaches that {the best defense is a good offense[2]}."
Qi Xia refrained from engaging further in her philosophical debate. Brushing the peanut crumbs from his fingers, he turned his gaze toward her and asked, "So, you infiltrated our team on purpose and used your {Boosting Touch} to activate three {Reverberatees}? Is that your so-called offensive strategy?"
"Exactly," Lin Qin replied with a composed nod. "I was the first to awaken in the room. I touched the man next to me, enabling his {Reverberation} to manifest. Then, after standing up, I reached out to Han Yimo, ensuring his {Reverberation} was also triggered. And when we discovered Officer Li during the last cycle, I ran over under the guise of checking his injuries, successfully helping him attain his {Reverberation} as well."
The description Lin Qin provided of her {Boosting Touch} aligned perfectly with Qi Xia's deductions. He had noticed the pattern: every {Reverberatee} in their team had acquired their abilities only after being in contact with her.
Lin Qin went on, her tone tinged with mild exasperation. "I could have avoided {tolling the bell}, but that woman, Xiao Xiao, was dead set on killing you. I had no choice but to reveal my ability to prove my affiliation and save your life. But you—so ungrateful—ran away the very next day. Lawyer Zhang and I spent seven exhausting days searching for you."
"Oh?" Qi Xia's frown deepened, his gaze sharp with calculation. There were inconsistencies in Lin Qin’s story, and he intended to unravel them. "Lin Qin," he began slowly, "you and Xiao Xiao are both members of the same organization. Why didn’t you recognize each other?"
Lin Qin grabbed a nearby bottle of beer and handed it to Qi Xia. "Can you open this for me?" she asked casually.
Qi Xia picked up the bottle opener from the table, popped off the cap, and handed the bottle back to her without a word.
She took a generous swig before continuing, "First of all, {Judgment’s Domain} is not an {organization} in the traditional sense. We have no leader, no rules, no permanent members, and no concrete plans. The only thing uniting us is the verse: {All hail Judgment’s Domain}."
"What...?" Qi Xia's expression shifted as the weight of her words sank in. He had always assumed {End Point} was a battlefield of three distinct factions—{Earthly Branches}, {Participants}, and {Adherents of Judgment’s Domain}. Yet, Lin Qin’s revelation cast everything into doubt.
"Secondly, every so-called member of {Judgment’s Domain} protects this place in their own unique way. I don’t know who the other {Adherents of Judgment’s Domain} are, nor do I understand their intentions." Lin Qin gazed at Qi Xia with a hint of melancholy. "It seems I’m not the only one fixated on you. That pair—Jiang Ruoxue and Xiao Xiao—they’ve also taken a keen interest in you."
Qi Xia decided not to linger on the matter and shifted the conversation. "How is it that you’re able to use your ability without tolling the bell?"
Lin Qin leaned back into her chair, stretching languidly, her voice carrying an almost playful ease. "Ah, Qi Xia, that’s quite the intriguing question," she drawled. "Let me put it this way: when the bell tolls, it’s certain that someone has triggered their {Reverberation}. But if someone triggers their {Reverberation}, it doesn’t necessarily mean the bell will toll."
Qi Xia’s brows furrowed as he mulled over her statement. "So, you’re saying," he began, choosing his words carefully, "there are people here who can activate their {Reverberation} without setting off the giant bells?"
"Precisely."
Qi Xia realized that his assumptions might have been clouded by preconceived notions. Up until now, he had always associated the tolling of the bell with the activation of a {Reverberation}, but who had ever said the bell must ring whenever someone triggered their {Reverberation}?
He recalled the conversation he had with Jiang Ruoxue about the principles behind the bell’s tolling. She had only spoken of scenarios like {hearing a Reverberation} or when a {Reverberation fades}, but she had never explicitly stated that {Reverberation} and the {bell’s toll} were intrinsically linked.
"This is {Pavlov's Dog[3]}," Qi Xia muttered, his brows knitting tightly. "How dare they manipulate and condition us with the bell!?"
"It's not manipulation," Lin Qin replied, her tone measured. "When you learn to control your {Reverberation}, you'll understand." She wiped her mouth delicately and leaned forward. "So, Qi Xia, have you ever considered the possibility that one of your teammates might already be a {Reverberatee}— someone who has been hiding their identity all this time? What if someone in your group has been deceiving you from the very beginning?"
Lin Qin's words sent a chill down Qi Xia’s spine. If such a person existed, they would have to be profoundly cunning, their motives shrouded in layers of deceit.
But how much of Lin Qin's words could truly be trusted? In this cursed realm, deception was as abundant as the air they breathed. Everyone he encountered seemed to wear a mask, each concealing a web of lies. How was he supposed to untangle the threads of truth?
"I don’t even care if there’s an {Adherent} in our team," Qi Xia said, his voice steady but laced with a subtle edge. "So why should I care about a {Reverberatee} hiding their identity?" His gaze locked onto Lin Qin, piercing and unyielding. "I’m not interested in speculating about others right now. What I want is clarity from you—your position. Tell me, Lin Qin, how should I regard you in the days to come?"
Lin Qin lowered her head in contemplation, her fingers lightly tracing the rim of her bottle. After a moment of silence, she finally spoke, her tone calm yet carrying an undercurrent of determination. "Qi Xia, I have a {grand plan}, but it’s not something I can accomplish on my own. That’s why I need you to join me."
"What plan?"
"As I’ve mentioned, {Judgment’s Domain} claims to protect this place, but I believe they’re misguided," Lin Qin replied, her gaze sharpening with resolve. "I want to lend you my power, Qi Xia. Together, let’s destroy this place."
"You mean..." A flicker of understanding crossed Qi Xia's face as the implications of her words began to crystallize.
"My {Boosting Touch} significantly increases the likelihood of triggering a {Reverberation}. Let’s form a {Reverberation Army}, unleash chaos on this wretched place, and carve a path back to the real world."
TL Note: Lin Qin’s words sound sus, really sus. Does anyone want to believe in her?
Footnotes:
[1] Good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat (善战者先为不可胜) - This verse is from Chapter 4 (Tactical Dispositions) of The Art of War by Sunzi (aka Sun Tzu). He was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC), an influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and East Asian philosophy and military thought. The whole phrase "The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy" can basically be interpreted as ‘Do not first seek victory. Establish conditions such that you cannot lose.’
Sources:
https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/Suentzyy/Suentzyy04.html
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gDfGE6Hk2vBPmL6Tn/sunzi-s-methods-of-war-the-army-s-form
[2] On War - or Vom Kriege (fɔm ˈkʁiːɡə) is a seminal work on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, written between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously in 1832 by his wife, Marie von Brühl. The book remains one of the most important treatises on political-military analysis and strategy, deeply influencing military thought. It’s doubtful the words "the best defense is a good offense" can be found in official translations, but the work critiques the emphasis on maneuver, surprise, and cunning, viewing them as distractions from the central importance of battle. Clausewitz argued that defense is legitimate only when one is weaker than the enemy.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War
[3] Pavlov's Dog - Refers to Ivan Pavlov's experiment demonstrating classical conditioning, where he trained dogs to associate a neutral stimulus (a bell) with food. Initially, the dogs naturally salivated when presented with food, an unconditioned response to an unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov repeatedly rang a bell before giving them food, and over time, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone, even without food present. Basically, classical conditioning is a type of learning where a person or animal learns to associate one thing with another.
