The Perfect Path To Insanity-Chapter 50: Do You Know Ymir?

After the bounty had been fully cleared, Fateless had nothing left doing with the Krats. He finally accomplished one of his goals.

Walking away from the border checkpoint, and back into the Grey Zone, Justice clung stubbornly to his shoulder.

The cat had spent the last several minutes insisting, and begging to be carried.

Even after his recent betrayal of warming up to Lu Tian, Fei Ming still allowed him.

The cat’s weight pressed warm, and slightly heavier than before.

Behind him, General Bai stepped forward through the cluster of recovering soldiers.

Every one of his men had now been given a share of the milky water.

"Won’t you also provide the cure for the Grey Zone towners?" Bai asked, his voice loud

Fei Ming stopped. He turned his head just enough to meet Bai’s eyes.

"Our deal was that I provide the cure for you and your soldiers," he replied. "Others are not my concern."

Bai’s jaw tightened a fraction. He sighed. There was nothing else he could do.

Unfortunately, the ratio of the cure was just enough for his soldiers alone.

Fei Ming stepped around him without another word. Justice lifted his head long enough to flick an ear toward Bai, then settled back down.

A few paces later, Lu Tian moved into his line of sight. The older man stood with hands open at his sides, almost pleading for Fei Ming to stay.

"Fei Ming," Lu Tian called out to him. "Join me for a drink. Just a moment. Please."

Fateless scanned his cousin’s looks. The man had been affectionate to him. But giving it back was something he couldn’t afford.

In fact, why do humans crave the need for family?

Found family. Blood related family...

There were nothing but fragments of human vulnerability. He couldn’t process it. This man Lu Tian... who claimed to have not seen him in so many years still wanted a sort of family connection with him?

It was ridiculous.

Where had he been all these years?

"Why?" Fateless asked.

Lu Tian took half a step closer. He curled and uncurled his delicate long fingers. With his wavering gaze, he replied:

"Because..." he began, then forced a small laugh. "Because we’re family. You have no idea how hard it was, all those years without seeing you. I-I thought—" His voice cracked on the word. "I thought you died after your father’s family—"

Slash!

Fei Ming’s right hand moved. Three Swords of Justice materialized in the air—two duplicates flanking the original.

All three pointed straight at Lu Tian’s throat. The steel had a faint, red tint along the edges.

Lu Tian flinched backward. Adam’s apple bobbed once against the nearest tip.

"Any more words," Fei Ming said, "and I cut your head clean off your shoulders."

Lu Tian swallowed. His eyes darted between the blades and back to his baby cousin he had taken care of before the calamity struck.

But now, being rejected outright, it hurts. The person who he looked for. The faint memories which he carried for so many years mattered no more.

Pain shot to his head and he winced. His hands shaking fetched another pouch of wine he kept close. Uncorking it, Lu Tian rapidly gulped the intoxicating wine down his throat.

Strands of hair fell to his face. Swaying and hiccuping again, he glanced back at Fèi Ming.

"I have nothing to do with you," Fei Ming finished.

The blade floated in the air for three full seconds. Then they vanished. The original sword of Justice remained in Fei Ming’s hand.

Lu Tian exhaled sharply. Shoulders dropping, he sighed loudly.

"Ah—I apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you." He lifted both hands, palms out. "If you ever need me... broth—Fei Ming. I’m just a letter away in the Red Zone safehouse."

Fei Ming studied Lu Tian’s looks. ’Drinking as a coping mechanism?’

Not uttering any more words, he turned his head away and left.

Lu Tian watched him go. After a long moment he dropped to one knee beside General Bai and slung an arm across the other man’s shoulders.

"What a bitter end," Lu Tian muttered. "I really thought he’d warm up after I helped. Ah... it is what it is. I understand him being mad at us. Our family is more complicated than it seems."

Bai glanced toward his soldiers. Men moved among one another, passing small glasses of the cure, tipping them to their lips to drink.

Even now that they were healed, it restricted them fully. With the current spreading disease, no one would risk getting infected again.

Now thinking about it more, all through the end, the Fateless man held the upper hand. He wouldn’t admit it but, it was a well-done strategic plan.

Unless... It may backfire if Lu Yuan knew about this. Then what would he do?

Then he looked back at Lu Tian. A mix of worry etched on his face.

"Still, old friend. I can’t thank you enough for your concern. But what will you do about your brother? You used his power. If he finds out—"

Lu Tian ran a hand through his black hair. Strands fell back into perfect place.

"You’re right. That mantis bastard. I’ll handle it." He stood. "It was good seeing you again, Anubis."

He turned to leave. Two steps later he stopped, slapped a palm against his pocket, then another against his trouser pocket. His face flattened into pure horror.

"Oh my goodness. This can’t be. I got robbed again. That was all the hard coins I had."

Groaning and pacing all around, a thought came up in his mind and he stopped worrying. Then he smiled and covered his face with a palm.

Small laughter burst out of him. It startled Bai but the older man said nothing.

"Hahaha. I should have known. Baby brother stole from me. What an experience!"

---

Fei Ming walked on. In his left hand he weighed a small leather pouch. Gold coins clinked softly against each other.

When he opened the pouch, the gold shone and twinkled.

Justice coughed once against his neck.

"... Thief," the cat muttered.

"Back in the inventory you go, then," Fei Ming declared.

Justice jerked his head up in shock. Paws scrabbled once against Fei Ming’s shoulder.

"I didn’t mean it—come on—"

Fei Ming closed the pouch and slipped it into his coat.

He pushed through the sagging door of a rundown shop. Inside, there were disheveled half-empty shelves with irrelevant items. Dust coated every surface furniture in the shop.

The shopkeeper—a thin scrawny man with hunched shoulders and quick, darting eyes—looked up from behind the counter.

"I want to sell an A-tier game core," Fei Ming announced.

The shopkeeper jolted upright. His chair scraped back.

"An A-tier game core?! Is this... is this a prank you folks pull now?! You know how hard it is to win those High tier games!"

Not giving a response, Fei Ming reached into his coat.

Clack.

He set the small, faintly glowing orb on the counter. Black light swirled inside the crystal lattice.

The shopkeeper stared at the game core with such awe. His fingers twitched toward it, then stopped.

"Ten thousand coins," he quickly muttered. "The prices for game cores other than S-tiers fell in the stock market. Ten thousand. Nothing less."

Justice’s ears shot straight up.

"That’s too low!" the cat shouted.

The shopkeeper flinched hard enough that his elbow knocked a stack of ledgers to the floor.

"Ack!" He scrambled back up. "The cat talks?"

Leaning forward, eyes wide, he tried reaching out to the kitten. Justice hissed at him. "Don’t touch me."

Unbothered, the shopkeeper kept on talking. "Is— is this a high-rank beast? What rank? S? SS?"

The man’s eyes gleamed.

"If you give me the cat too," he said too quickly, "I’ll raise the price to thirty thousand coins."

Justice grimaced at him. His tail flicked side to side. "...Excuse me?!"

I’m worth just twenty thousand?!" He turned his head toward Fei Ming. "Don’t you dare sell me that low."

"I won’t," Fei Ming replied.

A voice cut through the shop from the doorway.

"Fateless!!!"

Keres burst inside. He spun on his heel, arms wide, wearing a wine-red shirt flashing with the usual metal pins.

Before he could close the distance Fei Ming lifted his free hand and pushed Keres back a full step.

Keres laughed, high and bright.

"They’re taking down your wanted posters everywhere! I saw it this morning. The whole Grey Zone is clearing them off the walls. Did the bounty drop? How did you even pull that off without a scratch? Also, I can’t believe I ran into you here. I was actually hoping—"

Justice tilted his head, studying Keres head to toe.

"Talks a lot," the cat muttered.

Fei Ming turned back to the shopkeeper, ignoring Keres’ loud yapping.

"An A-tier core sells for fifty thousand. No less. Your price is too low."

The shopkeeper’s gaze flicked to Keres, then to Fei Ming.

Gulping, he swallowed his own spit. Now just realizing the wanted killer had stepped into his own shop, he panicked.

"Right—right. Fifty thousand." His hands shook as he pulled a heavy sack from under the counter. "Take it. Please. Just—go. Don’t harm me, I beg you!"

Without a word, Fei Ming swept the sack into his coat.

Justice raised both his paws and celebrated. "Yay! We’re rich! Treats! No more homelessness!"

Blinking, Keres poked at the cat. "You can talk? I didn’t know... So cool!"

Finally, stepping outside, Keres followed Fateless close, leaning in until their shoulders nearly brushed.

Fei Ming shifted sideways in annoyance. This other man had no sort of privacy.

Then, Keres giggled.

"Don’t worry! I won’t poke you. I’m really sorry about that, by the way. Though it was for a good reason."

He referred back to what he pulled back in the Qing’s brothel.

Still walking, he studied Keres from the corner of his eye. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought that Keres was just being as unpredictable as he was.

’But he never acted in any unpredictable manner for fun. Everything he had done so far had a reason. Valid or not...’

Keres wanted something.

The pink haired man grinned wider.

"Ah~" He sounded amused. "I think you already figured out why I’m here."

Matching Fei Ming’s pace when walking, he continued.

"Don’t you want to know? The prophecy about you?" Keres lowered his voice. "Heh. I think you’ll want to know. Spoilers is... you’re connected to a cosmic god. There’s a whole nebula political struggle spinning around you."

’A nebula political struggle?’ Fateless thought.

"Damn. How I wish I was the center of attraction for once..." Then Keres added, moving closer to Fateless and studying his every eye movement. "... may I ask? Do you know a cosmic god called Ymir?"