Chapter 10 - Two Lions For A War
Vigil
"A poison can kill a man.
A genius can kill an era.
But two geniuses... can erase the story. "
No one could kill Yuèyao with a simple poison.
Not because she was immortal.
But because she knew every molecule. Every smell.
Each variation of bitterness.
She could identify a poison just by breathing the air around a closed bowl.
His body was no more than a living laboratory.
But she knew it:
Jinlian, his new opponent, was not a poisoner.
She was an architect of poison.
A creator of refined alchemy, unpredictable, capable of conceiving a poison that even Yuèyao would not recognise...
And therefore, potentially... to kill her.
It was on that day that Yuèyao did the unthinkable.
She asked for help.
In Ken.
He was flipping through an old manuscript when she entered without a word.
She looked at him for a moment, then said softly:
"I need you. "
Ken looked up. A silence. Then he calmly closed the book. - "We have never been allies.
You can't force me. "
He turned around, ready to leave the room.
- "It's over. What you did with me, I overcame it. "
But then...
Yuèyao whispered, almost shamefully:
- "Please, Ken. "
His words had a crack that he had never heard from him.
And in his eyes... something old.
A memory.
The day he got on his knees so that she would take him as a guinea pig.
And that she had refused it.
She sent this memory back to him... without saying it.
Ken remained silent. Then sighed.
- "Very good.
But on one condition. "
She looked at him.
- "That no one knows that I'm helping you.
It will be our secret. "
She nodded, and then the real exchange began.
- "Jinlian is a genius of medicine," she said.
- "To beat such a genius... what do you think it takes? "
Ken immediately replied: - "Understand the enemy. "
- "Yes... but that's not all. "
He frowned.
- "So what? "
She looked at him with intensity:
- "To beat a lion... you need two lions. "
The silence was heavy.
Then Ken nodded slowly.
- "Now I understand. "
- "It's not a question of student or teacher, Ken.
It's a war of geniuses. And I need you, not a subordinate.
"
He replied without smiling:
— "I agree. But it will be my way. "
Thus began their silent pact.
Two former enemies. Two monsters of intelligence.
United... the time of an invisible confrontation.
And somewhere in the shadows, Jinlian... was already preparing the first shot.
End of chapter 10