Chapter Ninety-Five: Gone Mad

No chance! Ye Xing refused without a second thought. It was not even a question of whether they had the right to ask him to join them; the very sight of the two of them put him off, and there was no way he would ever side with people who already made him sick at heart. Clearly, neither of them met his standards.

“I knew you would answer like that, Classmate Ye Xing, but it still hurts when you refuse so decisively. Won’t you think it over a little longer? Classmate Bushima has been looking forward to your arrival, and the silver-haired girl you care so much about woke up today and has already been taken in by us. You should think about them as well.”

Fujiro Koichi had long anticipated Ye Xing’s rejection. That was precisely why he had taken both Kanade Tachibana and Yako Bushima away.

There was a note of threat in his voice. He was reminding Ye Xing that both Yako Bushima and Kanade Tachibana were in his hands, and that Ye Xing had best think carefully before acting. If he did not join them, then the meaning was obvious. Behind Fujiro Koichi, the blond-haired man obligingly drew a dagger and pressed it to Yako Bushima’s snow-white throat.

“You mean Kanade has already woken up? Then that means...” Ye Xing arched a brow, a trace of delight flickering through him. At once he called out to Ye Chen in his mind and immediately received a response: “That’s right. I no longer need to remain asleep to recover. As long as we collect the souls of all the zombies in the world, we can leave this boring world behind!”

Fujiro Koichi had intended to use the two girls Ye Xing cared about as leverage, forcing him to obey and then seizing all the power of the Takajo family for himself. Yet when Ye Xing heard this news, he did not look concerned in the slightest; on the contrary, he seemed pleased. Fujiro Koichi was beginning to doubt his own judgment. Could this man really be the kind who would abandon his companions?

“Whether he is or not, we only need to test it!” Fujiro Koichi suddenly hardened his expression, snatched the dagger from the blond-haired man, and drove it straight toward Yako Bushima’s right chest. This strike was merely to verify whether Yako Bushima truly held any place in Ye Xing’s heart. If he cared, then she could be used to threaten him, so she could not be allowed to die; accordingly, the force behind the stab was not especially great.

“Are you courting death?”

Fujiro Koichi’s action instantly enraged Ye Xing. Their time together had not been long, but she was still his subordinate, and she had helped him many times. How could Ye Xing possibly stand by and watch her be hurt?

Hearing Ye Xing’s words, Fujiro Koichi confirmed his judgment had been correct, and he did not stop the dagger in his hand as it continued to fall. He meant to use Yako Bushima’s injury to warn Ye Xing, but he overlooked one very important thing: he had forgotten Ye Xing’s power.

Within those star-ringed eyes, the red mark of Geass fluttered like a bird in flight, swift and elusive. An invisible hemisphere spread across the entirety of the Takajo residence, and Fujiro Koichi’s forceful stabbing arm suddenly halted. Everything else fell still. Fujiro Koichi and the blond-haired man stood frozen like puppets.

Neither Fujiro Koichi nor the blond-haired man possessed any strength at all; naturally, they could not break free from Ye Xing’s sensation of suspended time. If Ye Xing held it too long, they might even think their hearts had stopped and die from the prolonged pause. As for Yako Bushima’s physical condition, even if the two of them died, it would not burden her much.

Ye Xing strolled slowly out from beneath the shade of the trees, came to Yako Bushima’s side, and pushed aside the troublesome blond-haired man and Fujiro Koichi, who was just about to strike her. Under the freeze of perceived time, neither of them noticed a thing. The dagger slipped from Fujiro Koichi’s hand and clattered to the ground, while both men remained locked in their attack poses, cruel smiles still fixed on their faces.

After saving Yako Bushima, Ye Xing gently laid her on the grass nearby. The simplest way to dispel the effects of the drug was to refine it away with energy or remove it outright. There was no special energy within Yako Bushima’s body, and Ye Xing would not go so far as to expend the power of the stars merely to undo this small effect.

But he had other methods. When he was little, C.C. and Bai had taught him many abilities. After pressing his fingertips in a few massaging touches over several of Yako Bushima’s acupoints, Ye Xing left her alone. By past experience, she would wake within a few minutes.

With a snap of his fingers, he ended the effect of suspended time. Fujiro Koichi and the blond-haired man both cried out in pain, having somehow ended up on the ground. Startled, they looked up and saw Ye Xing not far away, regarding them with naked disdain. Frightened, they scrabbled backward, putting distance between themselves and Ye Xing in a futile search for safety.

“Ye Chen, I’m going to teach them a lesson. You won’t stop me, will you?”

In Ye Xing’s impression, Ye Chen was a little too gentle, which left him somewhat dissatisfied. If Ye Chen really did try to stop him from punishing them, Ye Xing would not be pleased.

“I have no objection. If they dare come after us, they must be punished!”

Ye Chen was not the sort who would happily chat with someone after being hit. He had a temper of his own and shared one particular trait with Ye Xing: he was fiercely protective of his own. He had already come to regard Yako Bushima as a companion, and he too felt an urge to teach Fujiro Koichi a lesson.

“Good. That’s perfect.”

Ye Xing smiled faintly and stepped forward. He lifted his foot and brought it down hard on Fujiro Koichi’s lower leg. The crack told him the bone had been smashed to pieces. Fujiro Koichi screamed again as overwhelming pain shot through his nerves, and he convulsed, clutching his leg while filthy snot and tears streamed down together, his cries never ceasing.

“Hmph.”

With a soft snort, Ye Xing raised his right leg and kicked him flying. For someone like him, Ye Xing did not even deign to kill him himself. But after being provoked again and again, Ye Xing decided that in order to ensure he would never be troubled by such things again, Fujiro Koichi had to die. Of course, Ye Xing would not be the one to do it.

His cold gaze settled on the blond-haired man, whose face was now full of fear. Suddenly, a foul stench spread through the air. Ye Xing looked down and saw a yellow-brown liquid running from the man’s trousers, which made him frown in disgust and step back several paces.

“Go kill him for me! Then get lost!”

He pointed to the dagger Fujiro Koichi had dropped on the ground. The blond-haired man was instantly overjoyed, snatched up the dagger, and walked to the side of the howling Fujiro Koichi.

“I’m sorry, Teacher Fujiro. I’m only trying to survive. Didn’t you always say you wanted to save us? Then I’ll use your life to save myself first.”

“No! You can’t do this! I’m your teacher! Without me, how could you have survived and made it here? You can’t kill me!”

Terrified of death, Fujiro Koichi struggled to move away from the blond-haired man, who was drawing ever closer. He had cooperated with this man many times before when abandoning others by throwing them off the vehicle, so he had never objected to killing. Yet now that very familiarity had become the key reason for his own death.

No matter how much Fujiro Koichi pleaded, called for help, or cursed, the blond-haired man remained unmoved. The dagger plunged down with ruthless force. After the first stab, a thread of blood appeared at the corner of Fujiro Koichi’s mouth, but the blond-haired man did not stop. He continued, stab after stab. Terror filled Fujiro Koichi’s eyes, and the blond-haired man did not cease until Fujiro Koichi was thoroughly dead, even driving the blade in several more times after the end.

“Hahahahaha! I killed him!”

Throwing his head back in wild, crazed laughter, Ye Xing could see that his mind had nearly gone mad.