TDU Chapter 407
Chapter 407 Figures of Authority
Everyone was at a loss. No one could have imagined that walking down the street like usual would lead to encountering Celestial Snake.
Almost every Mortal and Terrestrial Snake game relied on {questions}, and it was clear Celestial Snake was a master at this.
Could they escape their predicament merely by questioning him?
"I have one last question…" Zhang Chenze’s eyes grew cold. "If you know the answer to this one, then killing me would be justified."
"Go ahead," Celestial Snake smirked. "As long as the question has an answer, I will know it."
Zhang Chenze took a deep breath and, following Lin Qin’s example, closed her eyes. "I have a colleague. Every Monday, he goes alone to the hotpot restaurant beneath my office. His favorite dishes are huang hou* and Hao’er fish (black scraper) because the names the restaurant gave them are very amusing. Tell me, what are the names of these two dishes in that restaurant?"
(TLN: "Huang Hou" translates to "yellow throat", but it actually has nothing to do with throat. It comes from the large blood vessels of pigs/cows and is a common ingredient in Sichuan Hot Pot. The names Lawyer Zhang is using are regional, similar to how ‘soda’, ‘pop’, and ‘coke’ all refer to the same thing but names vary depending on where you are in the state.)
The moment the words left her mouth, everyone around froze.
"Hm…?" Celestial Snake blinked, realizing he had heard each word but understood nothing.
"What is… huang hou?" Celestial Snake muttered. "H–Hao’er fish…?"
"You have five seconds left," Zhang Chenze continued, still keeping her eyes closed.
The air seemed to freeze for five seconds; Celestial Snake couldn’t utter a single word.
"See…" Zhang Chenze opened her eyes. "There’s knowledge you don’t understand… so you have no right to decide our life or death, do you?"
"You made up this question, didn’t you?!" Celestial Snake stared into her eyes. After a few moments, he realized he had miscalculated—this question actually had an answer.
His face grew colder and paler, trembling slightly.
"I absolutely want you to be my assistant…" He glanced at the two corpses beside him. "You’re far more capable than them…"
"No, I said it already—we each possess knowledge that you don’t know," Zhang Chenze continued calmly. "If you want to become increasingly learned, then don’t kill anyone so easily."
Celestial Snake glanced at her eyes again, his lips moving, "I can’t believe you… didn’t deceive me."
"Yes, I don’t like deceiving others," Zhang Chenze replied.
"How very strange…" Celestial Snake stepped closer, placing a cold hand on her neck. "Every time I appear, everyone always tries to deceive me… yet you didn’t?"
His icy fingertips, slick with blood, brushed against her neck, making her shiver slightly.
"Your circumstances are very peculiar…" Celestial Snake’s gaze twisted unnaturally as he stared into her eyes. "You are so knowledgeable… yet your family is so ignorant… Can you truly tolerate your own life?"
"I am different from you," Zhang Chenze answered. "There are indeed many ignorant people in this world, but I don’t want them all to become knowledgeable. I can only work on bettering myself."
Her thoughts drifted to her own preposterous life.
To escape that parasitic mountain village, she had been constantly learning new things, always striving to improve herself—never imagining that now, all of it would actually prove useful.
"Fair enough."
Zhang Chenze suppressed her fear and spoke, "I like people who reason. You wouldn’t kill us without cause, right?"
Celestial Snake paused for a long moment before finally withdrawing his hand.
"You speak the truth," he nodded. "I hate being deceived more than anything. Since you didn’t lie and are so knowledgeable, I have no reason to kill you… Now, tell me where this Chen Junnan is, and I will spare you all."
Lin Qin and Yun Yao hesitated. Among everyone present, only the two of them knew Chen Junnan’s exact location—and only they knew where {Cats} was.
"Are you related to this Chen Junnan?" Celestial Snake asked. "Would you be willing to die for him?"
"Of course not. I can tell you where he is," Lin Qin replied.
"Hey… are you being serious?" Yun Yao whispered. "Qi Xia and the rest are there too."
"There’s no other way…" Lin Qin quietly replied. "Even if we don’t tell him, he can still read our mind. If that’s the case, I might as well use this chance to save myself."
From her earlier observations, Lin Qin had realized Celestial Snake had a peculiar obsession: he liked intelligent people.
In other words… if they could lead him to Qi Xia, Qi Xia most likely wouldn’t die.
If Zhang Chenze could come up with a temporary solution, Qi Xia certainly could as well.
Moreover, {Conjoined Identity Bloom} was stationed there. Even a Celestial-grade {Earthly Branch} would think twice before making a move.
"Look into my eyes," Lin Qin said. "The location of {Cats} is in my memory."
Celestial Snake looked at her eyes for some time, then abruptly his eyes widened. "Not only do your eyes show the location of {Cats}… they also show the scene of me clashing with {Cats}… So you want me to face that {Qian Five} in a fight?!"
"What!? No, that’s not—"
He immediately lunged at Lin Qin, his hand aiming straight for her heart. "How dare you play tricks on me!!"
Lin Qin froze. She had never faced someone like this and had no idea of the full extent of his abilities.
Just as Celestial Snake’s hand was about to pierce her chest, a massive, fierce gust of wind suddenly swept through, knocking everyone off balance.
Celestial Snake quickly stood upright and turned, only to see a gaunt old man standing behind him.
The elderly was on his tiptoes, his body leaning forward in an eerie arc, his face almost touching Celestial Snake’s.
"You…" Celestial Snake took a step back, adjusting his glasses.
"The foul stench of an {Earthly Branch}…" the old man remarked, exposing the only tooth left in his mouth, his expression grotesque. "Though this isn’t my jurisdiction… who allowed you to murder participants so brazenly?"
"Y–You’re…?" Celestial Snake hadn’t experienced a sense of intimidation from anyone in years, yet this old man gave him a peculiar feeling.
"How peculiar…" the old man narrowed his dry, yellowed, clouded eyes at Celestial Snake. "You’ve clearly broken the rules… and yet there’s been no intervention? The harmony here is so brittle… if disrupted, wouldn’t the consequences be endless?"
Celestial Snake’s gaze sharpened, but the fear that gripped him came from the fact that he could discern nothing from the old man’s mind.
This elder didn’t seem human; his mind was a void of darkness, like a stone without thought.
"Y–You are one of the {Sacred Guardians}?" Celestial Snake stammered.
After all, only a {Sacred Guardian} would dare speak to a {Celestial-grade} in such a manner—and among the four {Sacred Guardians}, the only one he had never encountered was {White Tiger}.
"I am indeed {White Tiger}." The old man slowly straightened his posture. "Which {Earthly Branch} is your master? Who has commanded this killing?"
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
