Chapter 3159: Death and Lies
"Anyway, if you're looking to me for an answer, I can tell you very clearly—I don't have one either," Liu Yi said. "I've long recognized the insignificance and helplessness of humanity. Staying in Zone 009 is just waiting for the final outcome."
After failing to defy fate and kill Xu Huo, she knew she would never get a second chance. She was still a B-rank player, while Xu Huo had already risen to A-rank. There was absolutely no way she could turn the tables, and Xu Huo wouldn't just stand by and let her kill him.
"What about your teacher?" Xu Huo asked again.
She had mentioned having a teacher before, someone who had also tried to resist a prophesied future but ultimately failed.
"I don't know," Liu Yi shook her head. Under his skeptical gaze, she repeated, "I really don't know. He never told me the specifics—only that he was utterly despairing."
"I could see how hopeless he was. And he deliberately prepared for his own death according to the prophetic vision, eventually dying just as he had foreseen."
To anyone, this sounded absurd. If you foresaw your own death, even if you didn't fight it with all your might, you'd at least try to escape, avoid every possible factor. How could anyone willingly cooperate? What if... what if the future could be changed?
"What choice is there?" Liu Yi was far more resigned than the last time Xu Huo had seen her. "It's like having a knife pressed against your throat day and night, never knowing when it will slit it. A long pain is worse than a short one—better to die early and find some peace."
Xu Huo said nothing. In truth, he hadn't held much hope that Liu Yi would provide a useful solution. He had only come to hear a different perspective, perhaps to find inspiration... If the future could truly be changed, then Carmen Field should have been the last person to die. His death proved it was inevitable, even with his Curved Time item that allowed him to rewind time and start over.
Leaning back in his chair, he turned to look at the distant, azure sky, remaining silent.
"Si Si's cocktails are pretty good. Let me buy you one," Liu Yi said, glancing at Dai Si. The latter went back into the shop to mix drinks and soon emerged with two glasses, their contents the same color as the sky.
"Have a drink. It's not like you have anything else to do."
Xu Huo picked up the glass and took a sip. The strong liquor burned as it went down, the sharp sensation momentarily making him forget everything else. He looked at Liu Yi again. "You're living well here."
"It's alright," Liu Yi said, stroking the rim of her glass. "Though everyone's final destination is death, how you wait for it is a personal choice."
Xu Huo twitched the corner of his mouth and took another drink.
Just then, two middle-aged men with their shirts unbuttoned trudged over under the scorching sun. They plopped down at the table next to Xu Huo's, putting on airs as they stared at him and Liu Yi, laughing. "Isn't this the dishwashing girl from the back? What brings you out here? Drinking, huh? Can your salary even afford a few glasses?"
Liu Yi gave an ambiguous smile and said to Xu Huo, "I'm going back to wash dishes."
She left, and the two men didn't stop her. Their target was the boss. One of them walked up to the counter and slapped the surface. "Sister Si, not resting at noon? Working so hard?"
"A small shop like this—what's there to complain about?" Dai Si said with a smile. "What would you like to drink today?"
"Anything's fine, as long as you mix it," the man said with a grin, reaching for Dai Si's hand. When she dodged, he added, "Why bother working so hard? Just come with me. I'll make sure you eat well and drink well. No more baking in the sand every day."
Dai Si sighed helplessly. "Bro, I'm married."
"What's the difference between married and not, when your husband's working out of town? Long nights are hard to get through, aren't they?" The man put on a shameless expression, rounded the counter, and moved to grab Dai Si.
"Knock, knock!" A light tapping sound came from the table, drawing the attention of everyone inside and outside the shop. It was Xu Huo, savoring his drink.
He said to the two men, "If you've got nothing to do, just go home and sleep."
Their expressions shifted slightly, but not in anger at his interference. Instead, they looked at the sky outside and nodded. "Yeah, it's really hot. Now that you mention it, I'm getting sleepy."
The two exchanged a few words and, feeling genuinely drowsy, grabbed a bottle of liquor from the counter before slinging their arms around each other's shoulders and leaving.
"Aren't you going to kill them?" Liu Yi asked from inside.
"I was thinking—if I leave Zone 009 right now, will they still die the way you foresaw?" Xu Huo said.
Liu Yi replied, "Before you came, I rarely saw deaths with blood flowing from all seven orifices. But after you arrived, they started appearing. Even if they die, it doesn't necessarily have to be by your hand."
"I know what happened at the District Government building."
He had killed many people using mental attacks. Regardless of the reason, there were bound to be imitators, and that was beyond his control.
"Looks like I made too big a splash," Xu Huo said with a faint smile. "They haven't gone far. I might as well kill them now."
"Go ahead and try. Maybe you really can change their outcome." Liu Yi was all for it.
But at that moment, Dai Si's mixing glass clattered onto the counter. She looked nervously at Liu Yi. "I put poison in that bottle."
Xu Huo looked back at the two men walking across the sand. They had already succumbed to the poison, collapsing in another roadside bar and breathing their last. Blood was flowing from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
Liu Yi looked helplessly at Dai Si. "Why did you do that?"
"I didn't deliberately follow your painting to kill them," Dai Si bit her lip. "I've used this method before to kill men who had designs on me... They usually just get handsy, but the night before last, when you weren't around, they pried open my door lock. If I hadn't hidden in time, I wouldn't have come out of it well."
"That was my oversight," Liu Yi said, patting her shoulder. "I should have killed them sooner."
Dai Si was flustered. "I was planning to close up tonight and let them in for a drink. I didn't expect them to take that bottle..."
"The bodies are in another bar," Xu Huo said, looking at Liu Yi. "You lied."
Liu Yi gave a slight smile. "The layouts of many roadside bars are quite similar. I can't replicate every detail perfectly. They've been hanging around nearby lately, so I naturally assumed they'd die in Dai Si's shop."
Xu Huo let out a scoff. She had been setting a trap for him from the start. Killing those two didn't require weighing their life or death—as long as the location or method changed, it would break the prophecy. That's why Liu Yi deliberately gave the wrong location but the real cause of death.
He had two choices: kill them in the shop using a different method, or let them die anywhere outside the shop. But a mix of true and false prophetic information could still lead to the final vision. Liu Yi was testing whether even random combinations would produce the same result.