Stranger Danger

Chapter 79: Why Should I Keep You Alive

“You’re going to open the gates for your fellow Strangers lurking outside the county? Are you serious?”

Ye Qing shook his head. “The gates of Anyang are imbued with powerful restrictions courtesy of the Heaven’s Eye, and I should not need to tell you how deadly it is. Forget opening the gates, you can’t even get close without feeling like you’re about to suffocate, so how… unless…”

Ye Qing abruptly slowed down when he was nearing the end of the sentence. It was because one possibility had occurred to him.

“I knew you would figure it out! It is as you imagined!” Faceless said with an obsequious smile. “It’s true that we Strangers cannot open the gates, but you humans can!”

“I thought so,” Ye Qing rubbed his chin and mumbled seemingly to himself, “To open the gate and lower the gate restrictions, you need a gate token. And a gate token is something only the gate captain possesses… Tang Yi’an is one of yours?”

“You’re incredible, warrior! You’ve guessed it in one try!” Faceless buttered up Ye Qing again, though it wasn’t all flattery. The fact that Ye Qing had managed to deduce so many things accurately and in such a short time was proof that his mind operated on a different level compared to most people.

Ye Qing asked another question while rubbing the spot between his eyebrows, “I’m curious. Why would Tang Yi’an make such a deal with you? Not only is he digging his own grave, he’ll even implicate his own family when all is said and done. What’s the point?”

“What else does a human want from this world besides fame and fortune?” Faceless let out a sinister chuckle. “Offer them one or the other, and they will willingly enter your trap regardless of the consequences!”

“You’re saying you offered him fame or fortune to open the gates?” Ye Qing tapped his armrest slowly. “Tang Yi’an is Anyang’s guard captain and the brother-in-law of a vice magistrate. He already has a highway to the top rung of the ladder—or what he perceived as the top at least, so I doubt you can lure him with promises of fame. So fortune it is.”

“Yes, I can see how you did it. I’ve long heard that Tang Yi’an is a greedy man, and practically everyone knows that he abuses his position to pin make-believe crimes on traveling merchants to strip them of their wealth. All you need to do is to bribe him, and he should do as you wish.”

In fact, the dumbass had tried to pull this on Yan Yufei when they first arrived in the county. While it had been quite entertaining to watch him crash and burn at the time, it no longer seemed so funny anymore.

“However, one must live to be able to spend their wealth, and there are few things more painful in this world than to die while money is left unspent!” Ye Qing said indifferently. “Tang Yi’an may be greedy, but I doubt he’s stupid. He should understand something this simple at least, which means you never told him about your plan, did you?”

“You’re beyond insightful, warrior! You never fail to hit the nail on the head in just a few sentences!” Faceless praised with a beaming smile on his face.

“Slow down. Flattery no matter how sweet is loathsome in excess,” said Ye Qing while shooting a glance at Faceless. How did he not notice that this guy was a professional bootlicker before?

“More words of wisdom! Not an hour had passed since I was graced by your presence, and already I feel a decade wiser!” Faceless exclaimed in false wonder. That said, he did understand that anything could be loathsome in excess, not to mention that Ye Qing had already warned him to cool it, so he had no choice but to stop his bootlicking for the moment and return to the main subject.

“You are correct. Tang Yi’an doesn’t know that we’re planning to destroy Anyang. We lied to him saying that we’re a bunch of spirit material merchants, and that we have a number of goods that need to be shipped into the county in three days at most, or they would lose their value. At first, Tang Yi’an refused to budge no matter how hard we begged him, but he caved immediately after we gave him a thousand silver!”

“A thousand silver? Damn! That’s a lot of money!” Ye Qing sighed before launching into a counterpoint, “But even if you managed to slip in an army of Strangers through the gates undetected, Anyang is still protected by the Shenwu Defense Force and the Sentinels. Of course they wouldn’t be able to react to your attack in time, but when they do show up, I highly doubt you’ll be able to defeat them and destroy Anyang!”

Faceless smiled. “That would be true, but a village called… something Hill Village recently vanished into thin air, prompting the Pacification Bureau to dispatch most of their men to investigate this matter. They aren’t expected to return any time soon either, so their headquarters is severely undermanned right now.”

“Ahem. What about the Shenwu Defense Force?” Ye Qing coughed. He was pretty sure that that “something Hill Village” Faceless was talking about was August Hill Village, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it.

“The Shenwu Defense Force just left the county to hunt down some raiders, and they’re not expected to return in three to five days!” Faceless noticed Ye Qing’s odd expression as well, but he wisely chose not to say anything about it.

“Raiders?” Ye Qing frowned.

Faceless chuckled. “A few days ago, a group of Grave Raiders appeared outside Anyang and ambushed countless traveling caravans that were passing through Anyang. They also dug out every grave they could find in the area in search of loot. That is why the magistrate ordered You Da to take a thousand Shenwu Defense Force with him and eliminate the Strangers just yesterday. They must be enjoying that sweet, sweet mountain wind right now!”

The Grave Raiders weren’t just humanoid-shaped Strangers, they were humans who had transformed into a Stranger. Despite possessing a human’s memories and intelligence, they willingly allied themselves with Strangers and loved nothing more than to dig up grave sites and plunder the treasures within. They also consumed the corpses for sustenance.

It should not need to be said, but they were easily one of the most hated Strangers in the realm, so much so that Chu itself decreed that all Grave Raiders would be killed on sight!

“It can’t be a coincidence. Your group must have contacted the Grave Raiders and told them to attack at this time, am I right?” Ye Qing asked.

“An astute deduction, warrior!” Faceless replied simply.

“With this, you hold the absolute advantage while Anyang holds none. I must admit that I’m impressed!” Ye Qing sighed. No wonder Faceless was so confident. With little to no men left to protect Anyang, the invading Strangers would be able to slaughter the people to their heart’s content. Forget the Sentinels at August Hill Village, not even the Shenwu Defense Force would be able to make it back in time. The county would have long turned into a living hell by then.

Ye Qing fell silent for a moment before asking, “You’ve given me the general outline of your plan, but what about the specifics? What role does each of you play in this plan?”

Faceless answered honestly, “My mission was to bribe Tang Yi’an, Old Grass’ mission was to collect information throughout the county just in case, and Rotten Crown and Dark Eye’s mission was to contact the Strangers outside the county and make the necessary arrangements.”

“Your roles are very clear cut, huh?” Ye Qing shot a thoughtful glance at Faceless before asking another question, “What else are you expected to do? Don’t you have a mission to cause a commotion or sabotage a key location or something?”

Faceless shook his head. “And why would we do that? Evergreen Ivy told us that the plan has reached a critical stage, and that it would be unwise to complicate things unnecessarily. If the plan goes smoothly, then all is well. If not, we can lie low and wait for another chance.”

“Evergreen Ivy? From the sounds of it, she’s the leader of your little group, isn’t she?”

When Faceless nodded, Ye Qing fired another question, “Besides Old Grass, do you know where Dark Eye, Rotten Crown and Evergreen Ivy are hiding?”

Faceless shook his head.

“Really?” Ye Qing’s tone darkened.

“With heaven and earth as my witness, I swear that I haven’t told a single lie since you won my heart with your boundless grace!” lamented Faceless with a hurt look. He even squeezed out a few drops of fake tears to make his act look more convincing. “Of the five of us, Evergreen Ivy is probably the only one who knows about our true identities and hideouts. In fact, we usually rely on her to contact us every time we hold a meeting. Also, we always meet each other using our true forms, so I truly do not know who they are and where they’re living!”

But Ye Qing did not let up the pressure. “You say that, but what about Old Grass?”

Faceless shuddered a little at the flinty glint in his eyes and said, “Old Grass is an exception to the rule because we already knew each other before we infiltrated Anyang. You can even say that we are old acquaintances. But I seriously know nothing about the others!”

“When is your next meeting?”

“I don’t know. Like I told you, we usually wait for Evergreen Ivy to notify us when and where the next meeting will take place,” Faceless answered in a helpless voice.

“If you know nothing useful, then… why should I keep you alive?” Ye Qing said lightly.

Faceless visibly shuddered before dropping to his knees. He then shuffled closer to Ye Qing and begged in a weeping voice, “Warrior, you promised me you will let me live if I told you our plan! Surely a man of integrity such as yourself wouldn’t go back on your promise!”

Ye Qing chuckled. “Is that so? I’m pretty sure I said I ‘might’ consider letting you live.”

“That cannot be right! You must’ve misremembered!” Faceless then raised his right hand as if he was preparing to swear an oath and said, “I may not know where they live, but I do know their scents like the back of my hand! I swear I’ll locate every last one of them if you would just give me some time!”

“Besides that, I’m a man of many uses. I can make tea, do the laundry, cook, run errands, and perform manual labor. I can even be a woman of many uses and tidy your bed, act as your escort, warm your bed and more…”

When Faceless said he was a man of many uses, his face started changing in rapid succession. When he said he could make tea, his face changed to that of a male servant. When he said he could do the laundry and cook, he actually transformed into a cook with a round head and a broad neck. When he said he could tidy his bed and act as his escort, he actually transformed into a young woman with an hourglass figure and a shy look on her face, and when he said he could warm his bed, he transformed into a cool beauty whose elegant appearance, warm eyes and sweet voice could’ve melted even the hardest soul.

Finally, Faceless ended his appeal with a melodious voice, “I can be whatever you wish, young master. All I ask is that you don’t abandon me!”

“...”

His performance was sublime, but Ye Qing only felt goosebumps all over his body. After all, just because he took the face of a woman did not change the fact that he was a man through and through! I’m a perfectly straight male, thank you!

“I can let you live, but how can I be certain that you wouldn’t betray me?” Ye Qing ignored Faceless’ antics and asked in a cold voice.

In fact, Ye Qing did not want to kill Faceless. For one, taking out the Stranger might be to chuck a very large rock into a pond. Two, he was hoping to use Faceless as a mole and capture his whole group in one fell swoop.

While he could use the Annon Sutra and the Incense of Fortune to locate these Strangers—the Annon Sutra would give him a rough location, and the Incense of Fortune would lead him straight to their doorsteps—but the incense stick was almost used up completely. It would only last one more use at most, which was a couple of uses shy of tracking down all of the Strangers, not to mention that he would rather save it for emergencies.

So yes, Faceless’ beseechment did appeal to him somewhat. There was just one simple problem: Strangers were naturally cunning and treacherous. How could he make sure that Faceless would not betray him the second he left his sight?

“How could you say that? I’ve long since repented and resolved to serve you as your loyal servant since you’ve bested me with your awe-inspiring charisma. I could never hurt you, warrior!” Faceless implored coquettishly. He still hadn’t turned back to a male human.

Ye Qing merely curled his lips upward and asked, “You don’t actually think I’m that stupid, do you? You know what? I changed my mind. It’s far easier and safer to just kill you and be done with this farce!”

“Wait wait wait! I can sign a Heavenly Ghost Contract with you and become your eternal servant! This way, you’ll know that my loyalty is true!” Faceless instantly broke character when he saw the growing bloodthirst in Ye Qing’s eyes.

“Heavenly Ghost Contract?” Ye Qing actually sneered when he heard this. His smile was so chilling that Faceless realized instantly that he had made an error. “You do think that I’m a young and inexperienced warrior you can toy as you please! The Heavenly Ghost is the trickster Stranger who loves nothing more than to sow discord and mischief. Any contract that is signed with or through it will be flawed in a certain way no matter how carefully the parties had worded it. After the contract is complete, the Heavenly Ghost would actively encourage both sides to break the contract so that it could devour their souls.”

“I-Is that so? You’re such an erudite and multi-talented scholar, warrior! I have no idea about this, and I’m so sorry I nearly steered you wrong! I deserve to die for my mistake, I truly do!” Faceless feigned innocence and berated himself with all his might.

Ye Qing cared little for Faceless’ petty tricks, however. He said with a smile, “That said, your suggestion isn’t totally useless. There is a way to keep you on the straight and narrow. We can’t sign a Heavenly Ghost Contract, but we can sign an Oath of Burden!”