# 411
**Chapter 411 – Iron-Boned Lord Beile**
**Asylum of the Gods.**
“Kill.”
“Dodge.”
“Zhuge Crossbow.”
“Burn the Bridge After Crossing!”
“???”
In the activity room, Li Yifei stared across the table at Bragi and couldn’t help shouting, “It’s my turn—you can’t play Burn the Bridge on me now!”
Bragi scratched his head in confusion. “Then when do I use it?”
“Wait until your own turn.”
“Oh…” Bragi pondered, slid the card in front of Merlin, and solemnly declared, “Burn the Bridge!”
Li Yifei: …
“My lord, did you see that? He actually tried to Burn *your* Bridge—outright traitor!” Li Yifei leaned toward Merlin, righteous fury blazing. “Let this loyal minister protect you and slay the rebel!”
Merlin glanced at him. “He’s just the hidden traitor. *You’re* the rebel.”
Li Yifei froze. “How do you know?”
Merlin spoke calmly, “Because I’m the Seer.”
Li Yifei: …
Lin Qiye, white coat flapping, paused at the doorway. Watching Nyx, Merlin, Bragi, Li Yifei, and A Zhu hunched over a game of *Legends of the Three Kingdoms*, the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Your game selection keeps expanding,” he remarked. “Three players—Landlord; four—Mahjong; five—Three Kingdoms?”
Li Yifei’s eyes lit up. “Qiye, join us?”
Lin Qiye waved him off. “You play. I’ve got work.”
He turned away, heading straight for the director’s office.
Merlin, unruffled, drew a card and flicked it onto the table.
“Nullification.”
……
**Dungeon.**
Deep inside, a palm-sized golden bug crouched on the floor. Sensing something, it spread its wings slightly and edged toward the wall, every line of its body on high alert.
Tap… tap… tap…
Steady footsteps echoed. Lin Qiye, black-framed glasses and hands in his coat pockets, stopped before the cell, gaze settling on the golden insect in the corner.
“Again we meet, Bell Cranel,” he said evenly.
The bug pressed to the wall, wings trembling with a low hum—a warning.
Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed, then he remembered. “…Right, you can’t talk. Wait here.”
Under Bell Cranel’s stare, he strode out, returning a minute later lugging a half-dead Pekingese. The dog’s eyes rolled white, a huge lump on its head; strangled noises leaked from its throat—
“Ya-me… te…”
Lin Qiye shoved the dog between the bars; it flopped at the bug’s feet.
“Use its vocal cords,” he said.
Bell Cranel stared at the mutt, then up at Lin Qiye—*are you kidding me?*
It’s a *dog*! How’s it supposed to speak human?
But under Lin Qiye’s gaze the insect reluctantly crawled onto the dog’s tongue. Wisps of mist seeped from its body into the canine brain.
The Yiyu-puppet Pekingese lurched upright, turned, and eyed Lin Qiye with disdain.
“Are you… stupid? A dog… can’t… talk…”
The dog froze mid-sentence.
The golden bug on its tongue fell into contemplation.
Lin Qiye’s lips curved upward.
An ordinary dog? Impossible. But this one had been sculpted by Merlin from a Yiyu soul-fragment—fluent in chicken, duck, goose, and, naturally, human.
“Now we can chat,” Lin Qiye said, leaning against the opposite bars, hands in pockets.
The dog scowled (though it had no eyebrows). “What about?”
Lin Qiye pointed. “What you’ll pay to keep your life.”
“You know the rules here—I hold your soul’s life and death. Show me your worth, or be scattered to nothing.”
The dog fell silent, thinking.
So did Lin Qiye.
What can this bug *do*?
Wash and cook? Impossible.
Amuse the old folks? Doesn’t have the vibe.
The Chaos Cube isn’t human either, but at least it’s an automatic mah-jong table. This thing just scares people.
Maybe just dispose of it?
Sensing the murderous glint, the dog shivered, then spoke slowly:
“I’ll trade intel from the Mist.” Bell Cranel used the dog’s voice. “Great Xia has been cut off for a century; you know nothing overseas. I was born in that fog. What I know is what you lack.”
Lin Qiye’s eyes sharpened.
Since the Mist shrouded Earth a hundred years ago, all lands beyond Great Xia became forbidden. Expeditions brought back only scraps; the Mist remained a mystery—and the foreign gods’ divine realms hid within it.
Before, he’d had no source. Now a sentient, talking creature from that fog sat before him.
The moment Bell Cranel made the offer, Lin Qiye knew he couldn’t refuse.
Of course, he wouldn’t show it. A director who didn’t squeeze every drop of value was no director at all.
“Not enough,” he said, shaking his head. “You’ll also work for me, no conditions.”
The dog glared. “Don’t push it, Bell Cranel has dignity… Agreeing to this is no better than being a dog!”
It fell silent again.
Lin Qiye gave it a strange look, turned, and walked away. “Then we’re done. Hope you’re reborn human next life—oh, wait, no next life for you…”
“Wait!” The dog yelped. After a long struggle it opened its mouth—
“Woof!”