Evolution - Chapter 111
Chapter 111
In Ji Changqing’s view, Saiweiyala acted with a kind of casual, naive cruelty, but she was also capable of great forbearance when the situation turned against her.
Take this mission, for instance. To ensure nothing happened to her, the first thing she did was find a place where she could hide and sleep all day. A spot sheltered from the wind and rain, where all she had to do was return to the ship on time.
As for selecting people, she would just point to a few who looked tough when the time came.
But considering her history—a major upheaval at eleven, a year on the run, and then over four years scraping by in a den of space pirates—it was quite normal for her personality to be a little twisted.
The candidate Saiweiyala proposed was Zhao Qingci, the younger sister of a trusted subordinate of the pirates’ third-in-command. This subordinate, originally from the Empire, had wanted his sister, who had differentiated into an Alpha, to live a normal life and walk a righteous path. Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. She had bad luck, ending up with a superior who was shameless and credit-stealing. He even dug up her brother’s background as a space pirate and used it to blackmail her.
She wasn’t the type to endure such treatment. After being tormented a few times in the Imperial military, she decisively killed several of the bullies who had been throwing their weight around and promptly fled to join her brother.
This female Alpha, whose build was similar to Ji Changqing’s, was like a fish returned to the sea after joining the space pirates. She unleashed her true nature, becoming exceptionally bloodthirsty and cruel.
The reason Saiweiyala had singled her out was that her brother and his group had died in the same battle as the major general’s personal guard, who had been killed over half a year ago.
Having lost the protection of her brother, the third-in-command’s confidant, she didn’t restrain her temper. Less than a month after her brother’s death, she nearly killed a new favorite of the second-in-command.
This time, the second-in-command’s attitude was completely different. He was relentless, insisting that the third-in-command, whose power had been greatly diminished, give him an explanation.
What explanation could the third-in-command give? Even if loyalties fade when people are gone, her brother had been dead for less than a month! He had no choice but to hold his nose and kick her out of the core group. She could forget about lucrative missions that offered a chance for advancement; from now on, she would be stuck with high-risk, low-reward, grueling jobs like escorting cargo.
Being kicked from the core group to the periphery was like an imperial guard commander being exiled to the frontier as a common foot soldier. It was a demotion of eighteen ranks, far from the center of power—an extremely severe punishment.
After all, you couldn’t demand the life of a brother-in-arms, someone you’d been through life and death with, just for the sake of a plaything, could you?
Was this candidate suitable?
Not entirely.
The suitable parts were that she was right here, and her build, gender, and so on were all a match. The unsuitable part was that she was a very conspicuous figure—the most twisted among a nest of deviants. Almost everyone in the core group knew her.
Ji Changqing thought it over and decided the risk was worth taking. The woman had a lot of wild antics, but the people who knew her best had mostly died over half a year ago. Secondly, she had been exiled to the frontier; there was no telling when, or if, she would ever return to the core group.
Even if she did return, those who merely knew her but weren’t familiar with her could be fooled. There was room to maneuver. People had to be allowed to undergo a drastic change in personality after suffering a great disaster, right?
Impersonating this person was risky, but if handled well, it could also bring greater benefits.
They were now even planning to use the “cargo” they had originally intended to sell, which showed how short-handed they were in preparation for what was to come. For this pirate crew, as the powers behind the scenes prepared to step into the light, gather forces, and vie for control, someone who had been sidelined and given the cold shoulder by the previous leadership but was actually capable and had a record of achievements would be a hot commodity.
Now that they had tentatively chosen their target, they naturally had to start figuring out how to be a good stand-in.
As a long-time fringe figure, Saiweiyala only knew the most obvious, widely-known traits: she favored dual blades, was violent and tyrannical, lecherous and cruel, had a penchant for torture and murder, and her blade work was mostly used for slicing flesh with particular finesse, and so on.
These were all just broad labels; the next step was to refine the details of the impersonation. Their first task was the “plastic surgery.” Achieving a perfect likeness would be difficult, so they would aim for seventy or eighty percent similarity for now.
Zhao Qingci knew someone had been watching her, but she simply didn’t care. In her view, if anyone got any funny ideas, she would just kill them with a single slash.
That was until she overheard someone say, “We definitely can’t let her go. What if she finds out her brother’s death had something to do with the second-in-command…”
The words froze her in place, her eyes instantly burning red with fury.
When she tried to listen more closely, the speaker trailed off, rambling and complaining about the current mission, the temporary stop on this barren planet, and having to watch over the “cargo” every day…
She stood rooted to the spot, her expression shifting. She touched the blade at her waist, but she didn’t make a move, not even after the two people, who thought they were whispering in secret, had left.
She remembered their voices.
She narrowed her eyes. Although she didn’t know what these two weaklings had to do with the second-in-command, it didn’t matter. They would soon tell her themselves.
No need to rush. She just had to find an opportunity.
In the days that followed, Zhao Qingci acted as if she hadn’t noticed a thing, going about her business as usual. When she was in a bad mood, she would even beat her own people until they were half-dead and a bloody mess.
The person in charge of the cargo ship didn’t dare provoke a deviant like her from the core group—mainly because he couldn’t defeat her…
Meanwhile, the others were slowly refining their “plastic surgery” plan, focusing on details like facial contours, the lines of her eyes and brows, her posture, habitual movements, and the tone and speed of her speech.
They first made a list and slowly prepared the necessary materials. They crossed off items they could find on the barren planet or that Saiweiyala could trade for with her “colleagues.” With limited resources, the process was particularly painstaking.
Saiweiyala was quite worried. “Even if we lure her out, how are we going to deal with her? She’s level eleven!”
He Qingzhi, who was only level nine, wasn’t too concerned when he thought of Ji Changqing’s off-the-charts ability to fight above her level.
Ji Changqing, also level nine, felt that worrying was useless. Ever since that rough-and-tumble big boss had tested a restoration potion on her two years ago, her advancement had slowed. Otherwise, she would probably be close to breaking through to level ten by now.
She estimated that her current cultivation speed was only about a third of what it used to be. This meant that among peers of the same level, her endurance had likely tripled.
Adding the energy stored in her opened acupoints, a level-eleven opponent was actually worth a try.
Saiweiyala, completely unaware of this, saw the calm composure of the two level-nines and figured they probably had a way to handle it. In any case, they would be the ones facing her. If they failed, they would be the ones to die. All she had to do was hide off to the side.
With that thought, she calmed down as well.
It wasn’t her own life on the line, after all, so why not give it a shot?
And it wasn’t like they had a choice not to try.
Alphas were rare to begin with, and those with a similar build were even rarer. A ferocious individual like Zhao Qingci, whom no one here knew well and most were too afraid to approach, was a one-of-a-kind opportunity. Disguising as another gender would make it easy to slip up.
Besides, the two unlucky souls they had chosen could at least wear down some of Zhao Qingci’s stamina, right? It would be best if they could injure her a little. Then, she and He Qingzhi could take advantage of the chaos and launch a sneaky attack just as the two schmucks were on the brink of death, increasing their chances of success.
This way, they could observe Zhao Qingci’s fighting style on the spot and also ensure that everyone involved in the matter ended up dead.
With no witnesses left, wouldn’t she be free to spin whatever story she wanted?
Then she could logically undergo a “drastic change in personality”!
To ensure the plan’s execution, Saiweiyala, the arts-and-crafts and communications expert, cobbled together three short-range, single-use communicators. Their only function was an indicator light. When the red light flashed, it would reveal the location of the person who had pressed it for help, signaling: Trouble, come quick!
It couldn’t be helped. They didn’t dare, nor did they have the opportunity, to tail Zhao Qingci directly. So, Saiweiyala was tasked with watching the two unlucky targets. Firstly, she had a divine artifact of concealment. Secondly, she was considered one of the space pirates’ “own,” and with her weakling-level combat ability, she wouldn’t arouse suspicion even if discovered. At worst, they would just assume she was a coward seeking a sense of security.
Meanwhile, Ji Changqing and He Qingzhi had to find their own food to maintain their strength.
After they had been stranded on the barren planet for nearly two months, Saiweiyala, who was severely marginalized within the pirate crew, finally received news that their group might be moving out soon.
A strong piece of supporting evidence was that Zhao Qingci seemed to have taken an interest in the two unlucky targets’ patrol area a few days ago.
The two unlucky targets overheard someone muttering, wondering how they had provoked Zhao Qingci. That demoness had apparently asked about their patrol area a few days prior.
The two were scared to death. Then they had an epiphany: there’s safety in numbers. They figured that if there were more people around, even Zhao Qingci would have to think twice before making a move on them, right?
If no one was watching, getting beaten was just getting beaten, and getting tortured was just getting tortured. Complaining afterward was useless without a powerful backer.
But with a crowd, even if they still couldn’t win a fight, at least someone might step in to mediate and smooth things over, right?
These two were black-hearted themselves. They knew that if others found out Zhao Qingci was after them, no one would want to get involved, let alone help. So, through a mix of lies and deception, they used various excuses and offered small incentives to coax one or two people to hang out and slack off with them each day.
Ji Changqing and He Qingzhi were also extra cautious these past few days, choosing locations that weren’t too far away. If they were too distant, given Zhao Qingci’s legendary ferocity, she might finish the fight and be gone before they even arrived.
On this day, Zhao Qingci—who no one dared assign tasks to, allowing her to comfortably eat, drink, and relax on the ship every day—overheard someone mention during a meal that there were good things to be found on the barren planet. They’d heard someone had found something somewhere, and since they were idle anyway, why not team up and go have some fun?
Safety in numbers!
Zhao Qingci sneered. Were they trying to lure her out to make a move? But how could they be so sure she would go out, and where she would go if she did?
Someone slapped their thigh. “Didn’t Heizi and the others say there might be Stone Ganoderma on the south side of the planet? Let’s go check it out.”
Someone else laughed heartily. “Stone Ganoderma? Even if it’s there, do you think you could get it? Are you stupid or what!”
A murderous glint flashed in Zhao Qingci’s eyes.
That was it. She had a hidden injury, and her left-hand blade work was not what it used to be. She had always kept this a secret from the crew; very few people knew.
And Stone Ganoderma was the perfect remedy for such an injury.
If she hadn’t known the second-in-command and his people were plotting against her, she definitely would have gone to check it out upon hearing this news.
She lowered her gaze to her left hand, which was growing weaker and weaker. After a long moment, as if having made a decision, she shot to her feet.
Even if it was a trap set by the second-in-command, she still wanted to try! If there was nothing there, she would just kill these bastards and, while she was at it, ask them what really happened to her brother.
If there was, even better.
Oblivious to all this, the two unlucky targets arrived at their usual prime spot for sheltering from the wind and sand in their patrol area. They craned their necks, waiting for the two colleagues they had coaxed into coming over for a bit of gambling today.
The two unlucky targets pointed and gestured, scribbling on the ground.
“Let’s bet on this in a bit. We’ll see who can toss a pebble into these spots when the wind picks up.”
Zhao Qingci, who had followed them from a distance, watched the two huddle together, drawing on the ground and pointing to several locations ideal for an ambush.
“Best three out of five!”
Murderous intent filled Zhao Qingci’s eyes. So, five people in total. They were waiting for the other three to arrive and set the ambush.
She scoffed. If she hadn’t known in advance, an ambush by five people would have had a high chance of severely injuring her. But now… she was prepared. All you bastards can go to hell!
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