["Where are you going? Get back to your station."]
He could hear Zao Xing speak in his mind. He was using the telepathy line that connected both of them. Although Gao Shunyuan couldn't talk back to him, as the line only went one way.
"I'm going to go check on our guests." He said.
["You don't need to do that, we should do this as we normally would. We can just leave them be for tonight and have someone dead by morning. Have them worry, and then get rid of one once they leave."]
"What's the point in that? They already know about your little game, so why should we waste more time when I can get it all over with right now?"
["Gao Shunyuan, stay back. I'm telling you that we're not doing that."]
Gao Shunyuan stayed silent as he continued to walk towards the main room. But Zao Xing tried to stop him by creating a wall to cover his path. He clicked his tongue and lifted his own hand, where his own black mass covered his hand as an extra glove.
"Don't try to stop me."
His amethyst eyes glowed brightly as he swerved his hand, causing a large opening to cave in. Several sparks went off in front of his eyes, causing him to flinch in pain.
["Gao Shunyuan,"] Zao Xing threateningly said in his mind. ["Stop this now, that's an order."]
He felt himself halt, but he forced himself to continue through the sparks pinching at his eyes. With long strides, he burst into the main room.
Yin Meng was once again holding his blade in a ready stance and waiting for someone to walk in. Upon seeing Gao Shunyuan walk in, he didn't lower his stance.
Shen Lin narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "Is there something you want?"
Gao Shunyuan relaxed and let the black mass slip off his hand. The sparks dimmed and he relaxed his eyes. "Yes, I just came here to speak with one of you. Would you mind?" He looked at the impassive Ye Delun who just raised an eyebrow at his stare. "Me?" He asked while pointing to himself.
["Gao Shunyuan, that's it."] Zao Xing said in his mind. ["You watch what you're doing, or else you're going to regret it."]
"Yes, you. Would you spare me a moment?" He said.
Ye Delun had a confused expression and stood up from his spot to walk towards him. "Yeah, I guess that fine." He moved past the guarded Kang Maixiu and stood in front of the young adult. "What is it that you have to tell me?"
"I just have a question I need you to answer if you don't mind?"
"Ask away."
"So let us say that you've been living your life the same way for years, working at the same job every day. Everything works perfectly and is stress-free. But then one day, your boss changes and you're job is on the line. You can choose to go along with your new boss's rules, risk your life and your family's financial future. Or, you could refuse your boss and go back to work the same as before. If it was you, which would you choose?"
"..."
'This... what?'
"That's a random question, does it have any special meaning behind it?" Shen Lin asked with a raised eyebrow and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Gao Shunyuan scowled at her, "I'm not speaking to you." He said as a spark pinched at his eye. He turned back to Ye Delun and asked again. "What would you answer?"
[Choice! Choice!]
[Pick which answer you think Gao Shunyuan is looking for!]
[Work with new boss]
[Refuse boss]
Ye Delun felt a drop of sweat fall down his forehead. Which one is he supposed to choose? He felt the pressure come from Gao Shunyuan's eyes and felt his brain turn to mush.
"Umm...I...I guess trying something new isn't so bad." He said.
Gao Shunyuan's eyes turned dead as he stared at him, causing Ye Delun to shift in his place. "Is that so?" He said. His now dull eyes slowly looked towards the ground as thoughts entered his head at rapid speed.
"Um... Gao Shunyuan? Are you alright?" Yang Lan asked, causing him to look at her. He stared at her for a moment, more thoughts entered his mind.
"Um, if my answer really meant something to you, then I don't think you should listen to me. You can do whatever you want." Ye Delun said as he tried to fix the situation.
"Whatever I want?" The look in his eyes caused Shen Lin's gut to scream at her.
"You're giving me permission to do whatever I want?" He walk closer to him as if it was to hear his answer clearer.
Ye Delun backed away as well and put his hands up to stop the albino from moving closer. "Permission? Well, I guess if you want to put it that way, then sure?"
Gao Shunyuan went quiet as his lips pulled back to reveal his white teeth, making a big smile. "Did you hear that? I'm not going against the contract anymore!" He laughed, boisterous and loud. Not at all what they would expect coming from the young man.
Ye Delun looked down as he saw the familiar sight of a message.
[Unknown plot development has occurred! Unnatural character action inevitable!]
[Something has triggered an error in our story process, please hold on as we try to fix the problem :)]
'Huh?'
He turned towards Yang Lan, who also looked down with a confused look on her face.
"Ye Delun, get back." Xiang Tingfeng said to him with a worried face as he motioned with his hand. Ye Delun started to back away from the man and back towards his group when a gloved hand reached up and wrapped around his neck. It squeezed tight enough to hold him in place.
"Gao Shunyuan! What are you doing?!" Zao Xing, who just appeared, called out to the young man.
Gao Shunyuan sneered at him, "Why should I? Master gave me permission to do whatever I want. So now I can just do this." He swept his free hand towards the others and then floorboards lifted up to create some kind of wave. Xiang Tingfeng quickly grabbed onto Kang Maixiu and Yang Lang and jumped out of the way. Shen Lin and Yin Meng were able to get away by themselves.
"You know that's not what Master meant! You're taking it out of hand!" Zao Xing didn't even seem to care about the bystanders and completely focused on the fact that Gao Xhunyuan's hand was wrapped around Ye Delun's neck.
"So what if I am? I'm sick and tired of having to live behind you. Aren't we the same? Why is it that I have to listen to you? You, who doesn't even care about the wellbeing of the house, but just the random vesicle we put in charge of it! What happened to protecting this place together?!" He yelled in Ye Delun's ear, causing him to wince. Ye Delun didn't know what exactly was going on but just decided to go along with it.
"What even is it about him? What makes him different from the vesicles from years ago? Because back then, whenever the house's secret was in danger we wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone off! The house came first, that was what we lived by!"
"Well, I don't live by that anymore. So Gao Shunyuan, if you don't let him go, then I don't care about how many decades we've been working together, I'll end it here on the spot."
"Is that it? That's what you think?" He heard Gao Shunyuan's voice crack and his fingers tighten. "Well... then I guess that means our relationship ends here."
A sharp pain shot through Ye Delun's back and all the way to his front. It dug past his ribs and straight through his heart. He gasped in pain and felt his lungs fill with blood. Zao Xing's face turned pale as he ran forward towards him. He heard Yang Lan scream and tried to turn his head towards them. But his vision started to blur and double and the creeping darkness at the corners of his eyes started to take up his whole vision.
He felt something being ripped out of him, both the inserted object and something else. Something that was ingrained into his body. He felt the warm liquid rise up his throat and he coughed it out on instinct.
"Ye Delun!"