Chapter 983: Half Success

Gao Yang fell silent, his senses alert for approaching danger.

Qilin spoke in a warm, leisurely tone, like they were old friends chatting on a slow afternoon.

“Second, let us assume that the hypothetical Qilin and Sir Jiang weren’t the only ones who knew about the Gates of Closure. There was a third party who knew of the Gates. Then Qilin couldn’t go for the solution you brought up. Once exposed, he would immediately be marked as anti-humanity. That would be unfair.”

“Dragon.” Gao Yang caught on. “Dragon had known about the Gates of Closure but never told anyone. Then you and Sir Jiang told everyone. You started out as rivals from the very beginning.”

Qilin's smile was his only answer.

“But how did Dragon know about the Gates when he had never seen it?” Gao Yang frowned. “No, that’s not right. Dragon might have seen the Gates, only you and Sir Jiang hadn’t known.”

“Haha.” Qilin laughed with pity mixed with something else. “I cannot tell you the reason, but I promise you that Dragon had never seen the Gates.”

“He had never seen it, yet he knew about it?” Gao Yang challenged.

Qilin was still smiling. “Yes. So in that hypothetical, Dragon would be more worthy of your caution, wouldn’t he?”

Gao Yang let the silence stretch before looking up slightly. “You've only answered half of my question. My Lie Detection has reached level 7 already. While you didn't tell a direct lie, you lied by shifting meanings. What you mean by opening the Gates is different from the common interpretation of it.”

Qilin ignored the accusation, focusing instead on what caught his attention. “Talents below the serial number 100 can reach level 7, too?”

“Perhaps not others, but I can,” Gao Yang said sarcastically. “The Malediction should have some cheat, right?”

His eyes tracked Surnamed Li's expression as he spoke. She remained calm, as if tonight's events had nothing to do with her—as if she were merely a spectator.

Gao Yang scoffed. “You never intend to let me go alive, Qilin.”

“How so?” Qilin asked. “Isn’t our trade going quite well?”

Gao Yang slowly shook his head. “You said that the civil war would end as long as I give you the Rune Circuits, and I, you, Dragon wouldn’t have to shed blood.”

His cold gaze reflected Surnamed Li's face. “I distinctly remember that Surnamed Li will stop at nothing to get me killed, even willingly turning into a monster for that, backstabbing Chen Ying, who she saw as a daughter. However, when you said what you said, she showed no reaction. I’d say you’d talked that out.”

The tension in the air surged with killing intent under the veneer of peace.

Then Qilin looked up. His smile dropped. “You didn’t intend to give me all the Rune Circuits, did you, Gao Yang?”

“How so?” Gao Yang shrugged. “

Isn’t our trade going quite well?

”

“I’ve long noticed what your people are doing. Tell them to not get any closer. My patience has limits. I don’t mind getting a few additional corpse puppets.”

Gao Yang maintained his composure, a half-smile playing on his lips.

[Gao Yang: Hold.]

[Nine Frost: Everyone! Stop approaching! Wait for my order!]

...

The negotiation broke. They stopped feeling each other out. Gao Yang knew very well that he couldn't get more information out of Qilin, and Qilin had realized that he was buying time for his companions to close in on the enemies. All was within his plan.

The whining wind died away, leaving an eerie stillness.

Gao Yang looked up at Qilin. “Last, I’ll tell you something else. My Double’s level 7, too.”

Qilin's body went rigid, his mind racing. The realization hit him like a physical blow—Gao Yang's double was still there, right behind Zhang Wei! Was it because level 7 Double lasted longer? No, Gao Yang must have gotten a new skill, something like a duplicate.

“Qilin! He’s going to—” Surnamed Li’s composure crumbled. She had seen the future in ten seconds.

At that moment, Zhang Wei kicked Surnamed Li’s wheelchair over. “Shut up, hag!”

Qilin’s eyes twitched. He strangled Zhang Wei’s neck with Telekinesis.

Zhang Wei’s face flushed, expression pained. But he had long put his life on the line. Tears brimming in his eyes, he continued to silence Surnamed Li with desperate kicks.

Qilin quickly realized he had fallen for the misdirection. The one he should deal with wasn't Zhang Wei, and there was no reason to wait for Surnamed Li to speak. The real threat was Gao Yang's double.

It stood within fifteen meters of him. Qilin could kill it with Brain Formatting in seconds. Whatever the double had planned would fail.

Qilin struck with Eidos.

Nothing happened.

Gao Yang's double sneered at Qilin. The skin of its neck cracked open, and blinding red light blazed through like magma. It lifted its hand in its signature gesture: making a cutting motion across its neck.

Burning Heaven!

Checking the hostages' authenticity and safety had merely been the double's first mission. Its second was to use level 7 Replicate's Evanescent Omnireplication to copy Zhang Wei's Confidence through physical contact. The replicated Confidence could only be used once, but that was enough to neutralize Qilin's Eidos. Surnamed Li's warning would change nothing. Qilin couldn't stop Gao Yang now.

Gao Yang's double was going to kill everyone.

He dared to do so because it carried a Black Gold Mobius Strip marked by Gamer. While it would have been impossible for the double to give each hostage a Black Gold hairpin without detection, the double could serve as a linchpin to mark the entire pavilion with the Mobius Strip. Then Hong Xiaoxiao could rush in and reset the pavilion to three minutes ago, reviving all who died in that space—but leaving them comatose, including Qilin and Surnamed Li.

If that worked, they would secure victory.

Boom!

Gao Yang's double ignited into a small sun, unleashing tens of thousands of 3500-degree fire torrents that instantly evaporated everything they touched. The howling sun exploded. Blinding energy rippled outward along the ground at tremendous velocity, burning all the mud in the Green Lotus Lake to charcoal. The wilted lotus stems dissolved into black ash.

Gao Yang's real self stood behind the marble railing. Waves of fire swarmed toward him, turning the white railing molten and charred black. He shielded himself with a faint golden barrier.

His face remained impassive, yet his breathing grew heavy as cold sweat streaked down his forehead. The death of his double had not only drained thirty percent of his power but also instantly destroyed thirty percent of his energy pathways. The pain rivaled that of being lynched. Only his Psychic Armor allowed him to endure it.

He stared at the slowly receding flames.

Did the plan work?

Yes.

But only half of it.