You're frozen on your bed, unable to move a muscle after Wen Qing stabbed you in your acupoints. "We've come to a conclusion," she says.
Her undead brother rises to his feet -- he'd been ready to hold you down, in case his sister's paralysis didn't take at once, you realize. "Sister and I have decided. We’ll be going to Koi Tower to give ourselves up.”
“Give yourselves up?” Shock joins your fear. They can't-- “What are you going to do? Apologize? Surrender?”
Wen Qing rubs her reddening eyes, but her expression is calm. “Yes, more or less. The Jin sect wants an answer for the death of their heir. The only acceptable one is to hand over the two leaders of our sect's remnants -- us. That should settle matters."
“You can shut the fuck up! It’s already chaos as it is! Both of you stop adding trouble to the pile. Give yourselves up, my ass. Did I tell you to do this? Take it out!”
She's watching you struggle, calmly answering your protests with logic, as your rage and fear gives way to something hollow and cold. They can't do this. They can't pay for your mistake like this.
At last, she says, “That’s right. They didn’t ask you for proof you were the one who did it. They straight-up prepared to kill you. Do you understand now? They don’t need any proof, and they don't need you to find the truth. Whether you present those or not, it doesn't matter. You’re the Yiling Patriarch, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. 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.”
You curse, try to rise again, to pull out the needle, to do anything, anything. They wait once more.
“But, but--” But you have no excuse to follow that with; no good reasoning to counter Wen Qing's merciless logic. You settle for, “But even then, I should be the one going, not you. I was the one who made corpses kill the people, who lost control of Wen Ning. Why should the knife go instead of the murderer?”
“Isn’t it better this way?”
“Better than what?!”
She is so 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, they’ll no longer have an excuse. This entire thing might finally blow over.”
You finally understand why your brother acts the way he does, why he always says that you have a hero complex, why he always looks like he's restraining himself from striking you. Watching others take the responsibility onto their shoulders no matter what, insisting on bearing all of the negative consequences, to be unable to stop them--it's unbearable! Detestable!
Once you run out of arguments, Wen Qing looks soberly into your face, then reaches out and flicks her finger against your forehead. “I’ve said what I had to say, explained things, and said farewell. Goodbye.”
“No…”
“I’ve never really said such things to you before. But now that it’s come to this, there are indeed things I should say before I lose the chance."
“...shut up...let me go..."
“I’m sorry. And, thank you.”
You will lie paralyzed for the next three days, as they go to their doom.
no subject
Her undead brother rises to his feet -- he'd been ready to hold you down, in case his sister's paralysis didn't take at once, you realize. "Sister and I have decided. We’ll be going to Koi Tower to give ourselves up.”
“Give yourselves up?” Shock joins your fear. They can't-- “What are you going to do? Apologize? Surrender?”
Wen Qing rubs her reddening eyes, but her expression is calm. “Yes, more or less. The Jin sect wants an answer for the death of their heir. The only acceptable one is to hand over the two leaders of our sect's remnants -- us. That should settle matters."
“You can shut the fuck up! It’s already chaos as it is! Both of you stop adding trouble to the pile. Give yourselves up, my ass. Did I tell you to do this? Take it out!”
She's watching you struggle, calmly answering your protests with logic, as your rage and fear gives way to something hollow and cold. They can't do this. They can't pay for your mistake like this.
At last, she says, “That’s right. They didn’t ask you for proof you were the one who did it. They straight-up prepared to kill you. Do you understand now? They don’t need any proof, and they don't need you to find the truth. Whether you present those or not, it doesn't matter. You’re the Yiling Patriarch, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. 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.”
You curse, try to rise again, to pull out the needle, to do anything, anything. They wait once more.
“But, but--” But you have no excuse to follow that with; no good reasoning to counter Wen Qing's merciless logic. You settle for, “But even then, I should be the one going, not you. I was the one who made corpses kill the people, who lost control of Wen Ning. Why should the knife go instead of the murderer?”
“Isn’t it better this way?”
“Better than what?!”
She is so 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, they’ll no longer have an excuse. This entire thing might finally blow over.”
You finally understand why your brother acts the way he does, why he always says that you have a hero complex, why he always looks like he's restraining himself from striking you. Watching others take the responsibility onto their shoulders no matter what, insisting on bearing all of the negative consequences, to be unable to stop them--it's unbearable! Detestable!
Once you run out of arguments, Wen Qing looks soberly into your face, then reaches out and flicks her finger against your forehead. “I’ve said what I had to say, explained things, and said farewell. Goodbye.”
“No…”
“I’ve never really said such things to you before. But now that it’s come to this, there are indeed things I should say before I lose the chance."
“...shut up...let me go..."
“I’m sorry. And, thank you.”
You will lie paralyzed for the next three days, as they go to their doom.