As he thought and thought about it, Wei WuXian suddenly broke into tears.
His voice was submerged in a deep helplessness, “… Can someone tell me… what I’m supposed to do now?”
Chapter 77: Nightfall—Part Two
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
In the past, there were only others who asked him what to do. Now, though, he was the one asking others what he should do, and nobody was able to give him an answer.
Suddenly, Wei WuXian felt a faint pain at the side of his neck, as if he’d been stabbed by a sharp needle. He felt his body grow numb all over. Having been caught off guard due to the momentary absent-mindedness, he only realized what was happening after a few moments had passed. Involuntarily, he had already collapsed onto the rock bed. At first, he could still raise his arm, but soon, even his arm crashed onto the bed. He could no longer move.
With red eyes, Wen Qing slowly removed her right hand, “… I’m sorry.”
She shouldn’t have been able to land an attack on Wei WuXian with her speed, but Wei WuXian wasn’t on the alert at all. With the pain, Wei WuXian felt his mind calm down a bit as well. His Adam’s apple bobbed before he opened his mouth, “What are you doing?”
Wen Qing and Wen Ning exchanged a glance. Standing before him, in unison, they granted him a solemn salutation.
Seeing this, a restless sense of foreboding rose within Wei WuXian, “What are you going to do? Just what are you doing?”
Wen Qing, “When you woke up, we were in the middle of discussing it. I think we’ve come to a conclusion.”
Wei WuXian, “Discussing what? Stop talking nonsense. Take out the needle—let me go!”
Wen Ning slowly got up from the ground. His head still hung low, “Sister and I have come to a conclusion. We’ll be going to Koi Tower to give ourselves up.”
“Give yourselves up?” Wei WuXian was shocked, “How are you going to do that? Apologize? Surrender?”
Wen Qing rubbed her eyes, her expression appearing to be calm, “Yes, more or less. In the days you were down, the LanlingJin Sect sent people to give a few words at Burial Mound.”
Wei WuXian, “Give a few words about what? Don’t talk one word at a time. Say it all at once! Finish your explanation!”
Wen Qing, “The LanlingJin Sect wanted you to give them an answer. The answer would be to hand over the two leaders of the remaining Wen Sect members, especially the Ghost General.”
“…” Wei WuXian, “I’m warning you two. Get this needle out of me right now.”
Wen Qing continued on, “The leaders of the remaining Wen Sect members—that’s us. According to them, if you hand us over, this incident would temporarily be considered over as well. Then, we might have you on the bed for a couple more days. The effects of the needle inside of you would cease in three days’ time. I’ve talked to Uncle Four about it already. He’ll watch over you and let you out if an emergency happens within the three days.”
Wei WuXian raged, “You can shut the fuck up! It’s already pandemonium the way things are right now! You two can stop adding more trouble onto my platter. Give yourselves in my ass. Did I tell you to do this? Take it out!”
Wen Qing and Wen Ning stood still, arms limp. Their silence was the same. Wei WuXian had no strength in his body. His struggles were of no use, and nobody listened to him either. All at once, there seemed to be no strength in his heart either.
He could neither shout nor move, rasping, “Why are you going to Koi Tower? I wasn’t the one who cursed him with Hundred Holes at all…”
Wen Qing, “But they have set their minds that it was you.”
Wei WuXian tried his best to think of ways to deal with this. Suddenly, he thought of something, “Then find the real person who set the curse! Jin ZiXun’s definitely gone to experts of cursing. The most common way to deal with these curses is to hit them back, let the effects rebound back to the one who placed the curse. Even if not all of the power could be rebounded, a large portion can. We can just look for someone who has the same curse marks on them!”
Wen Qing, “There’s no use.”
Wei WuXian, “Why not?”
Wen Qing, “There are so many people—where could we look for them? Set up a checkpoint on every street of every city and make everyone take off their clothes so that we can check?”
Wei WuXian protested, “Why not?”
Wen Qing, “Who’d be willing to set up these checkpoints for you? And for how long do you intend to search? We could perhaps find them after eight or ten years, but would those people be willing to wait?”
Wei WuXian, “But there are no rebounded curse marks on me!”
Wen Qing, “During today’s incident, did they ask you?”
Wei WuXian, “No.”
Wen Qing, “That’s right. They didn’t ask. They straight-up prepared to kill you. Do you understand now? They don’t need any proof. They don’t need you to find the truth either. Whether or not you have curse marks on your body doesn’t matter at all. You’re the YiLing Patriarch, the King of the Demonic Path. You specialize in dark curses, so it wouldn’t even be strange if you didn’t have curse marks on you. On top of that, you didn’t have to do it yourself. You could’ve gotten Wen-dogs, your slaves, to do it for you. It’s you no matter what. You won’t be able to deny it.”
Wei WuXian cursed.
Wen Qing waited quietly for him to finish cursing, “And so, you see? There’s no use. With the way things are, the identity of the one who placed the curse of Hundred Holes is no longer important. What’s important is the fact that the hundreds of people at Qiongqi path and… Jin ZiXuan were indeed killed by A-Ning.”
Wei WuXian, “… But, but…”
But what? He himself didn’t even know what to put after ‘but’. He couldn’t think of a reason to give, an excuse to use.
He spoke, “… But even then, I should be the one going. I was the one who made the corpses kill the people. Why would the knife go instead of the murderer?”
Wen Qing, “Isn’t it better this way?”
Wei WuXian, “Better as in what?!”
Wen Qing’s voice was calm, “Wei Ying, we both know. Wen Ning is a knife, a knife that scares them, but also a knife that they use as an excuse to attack you. If we go, without the knife, they’d no longer have an excuse. This entire thing might finally be over.”
Wei WuXian stared at her in shock. He suddenly let out a meaningless roar.
He finally understood why Jiang Cheng would always express extreme anger toward certain things he did, why he’d always say that he had a hero complex, why he’d always seem as if he’d like to beat him up. Watching others take the responsibility onto their shoulders no matter what, insist on bearing all of the negative consequences, unable to be stopped at all—the feeling was the utmost detestable!
Wei WuXian, “Do you two understand or not? By giving yourselves in at Koi Tower—what would happen to you two, especially Wen Ning? Aren’t you the one who loves this brother of yours the most?”
Wen Qing, “Whatever that happens to him would be what he deserves.”