Chapter 124 - A Life Worth a Fortune

Baudouin was exposed, and with him, three other Wiper plants in the hotel. All three were unfamiliar faces. None besides Baudouin came from Yin Caixin’s team. It was possible they came from the same Wiper branch but were planted in different teams.

None of that mattered at the moment, though.

Luca was being given emergency treatment.

Han Qingyu felt disheartened. As a nineteen-year-old recruit, his thinking simply hadn’t been exhaustive enough. By the time he arrived in his device with He Tangtang, Wen Jifei, and Liu Shiheng, the scene had already settled into a standoff.

On one side stood Shen Yixiu in her full suit of armor.

On the other were Baudouin and the three unfamiliar Wipers. Baudouin wore a maneuvering device on his back and held his blade against the side of the unarmored Yin Caixin’s neck, threatening Shen Yixiu and everyone else there.

They had backed all the way into the plain lobby on the ground floor.

Nearly everyone in the hotel had run out to watch.

At one point, someone recognized a Wiper planted in his own team and shouted something in a rapid mix of French and English.

People from the Alphonse family were on the scene too, alternating between threatening the Wipers and demanding that they surrender.

Han Qingyu and his group stood in the second-floor corridor.

Baudouin was saying something.

“What’s he saying?” Han Qingyu asked.

“He’s telling them to let him leave and threatening to kill her if they don’t,” said a stranger. He approached, though still keeping a proper distance, and introduced himself. “I’m with the Oriental Republic Army Group too. Third Army.”

“Thanks.” Han Qingyu nodded to him.

“Need any help?”

“Probably not.”

With that, Han Qingyu and his team jumped down from the second-floor corridor and came to a stop at a distance.

As if sensing that the key player had arrived, the spectating crowd only hesitated briefly before parting for him.

The ground of the standoff opened up considerably.

Baudouin saw him too. Panic filled his eyes for a second, and he warned the three behind him that this man was strong. Then he suddenly laughed in a sinister way, lifted his head, and rattled off a long string of words to everyone in what sounded like French.

Another Wiper repeated his words in English.

International communication really was a nuisance.

Han Qingyu still couldn’t follow, though he vaguely caught something that sounded like Auntie Qing.[1]

To hell with your terrible pronunciation.

“What’s he saying?” Han Qingyu shouted.

Shockingly, the person he directed that question to was Yin Caixin, the one being held at knifepoint.

She’s being held hostage, and she still has to translate?

Yin Caixin froze. So did a lot of other people.

Even Shen Yixiu glanced back at Han Qingyu, at a loss for words.

“He...” Yin Caixin locked eyes with Han Qingyu, nervously opened her mouth, then shut it firmly and stubbornly shook her head.

Baudouin jabbered something and waved the blade in his hand, forcing Yin Caixin to translate the line into Chinese.

Yin Caixin shook her head again, lips pressed shut, eyes still fixed on Han Qingyu.

Many of the foreigners turned their eyes on Han Qingyu, conversing in every language. They had clearly understood the words.

The scene was getting chaotic. Baudouin’s movements grew with his agitation.

Han Qingyu lowered his palm in a calming gesture, then looked into Yin Caixin’s eyes and coaxed her with a gentle smile, “It’s all right. Say it. Go ahead. Even if you don’t, they’ll all find out sooner or later anyway.”

“He...” Yin Caixin got one word out and stopped.

Baudouin swung the blade again, signaling her to speak louder.

“He says your name is Han Qingyu. They’re telling everyone here... that your life is worth a lot of money,” Yin Caixin finally said, her gaze staying firmly on Han Qingyu. That was why she had kept her mouth shut. It didn’t mean much in the end, but she had still held out a long time, right up until Han Qingyu coaxed it out of her.

“Han Qingyu?”

“That’s Han Qingyu?”

“Why’s he here?”

Startled murmurs in Chinese went up.

That Gold Azure Guardian Medal had spread Han Qingyu’s name far and wide. He simply hadn’t been aware of it himself.

One foreigner, whether out of helpfulness or malice, called out loudly in broken Chinese, “He says you’re worth three million yuan plus twenty energy cores—no, twenty-five now.”[2]

That was the bounty the City of Sin had put on Han Qingyu. Not many people were supposed to know about it. Even Han Qingyu himself hadn’t known that his price had risen from twenty energy cores to twenty-five after cutting down the A+ Bai Ji with a single stroke.

Baudouin had announced this information both to pay Han Qingyu back for wrecking his plan and to stir up trouble.

Twenty-five energy cores and three million yuan. Arguments broke out. It was becoming chaotic. Nearly every pair of eyes was on Han Qingyu.

Among them were Coalition people, Preserver teams, and, no doubt, Wiper plants.

Baudouin’s purpose in saying all this was obvious. He wanted Han Qingyu to become prey.

Once the news broke publicly, the threat to Han Qingyu during the trial was bound to multiply ten or even dozens of times over.

“Little Qing...” Wen Jifei panicked. So did He Tangtang and Liu Shiheng.

Shen Yixiu turned to glance at him.

“Maybe we call this one off and go home, Little Qing?” Wen Jifei asked.

There were many people here, with plenty of young geniuses among them—many whose loyalties couldn’t be told apart. Even Han Qingyu and Shen Yixiu couldn’t be certain they could overwhelm these people because of the sheer difference in their experience.

Shen Yixiu nodded at Han Qingyu, silently agreeing with Wen Jifei.

Everyone gradually quieted as the lobby waited for Han Qingyu’s answer.

Baudouin watched him with a smirk, appearing rather pleased with himself.

“It’s fine,” Han Qingyu answered Wen Jifei and the others. He then directed a smile at the people around him and on the floors above. “What he said is true. My life is worth quite a lot. Rest easy, everyone. I’m not withdrawing. I’ll still be taking part in the trial.”

Having said it in Chinese, he smiled at Yin Caixin. “Translate that for me, please.”

Yin Caixin remained silent.

In the end, between Han Qingyu’s coaxing and Baudouin’s threats, Yin Caixin caved. She repeated it once in English, then once in French.

Han Qingyu had admitted his identity and his price. He also said that he was staying.

The crowd erupted into a noisy uproar again. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were all fixed on Han Qingyu.

“No wonder he’s the strongest recruit the Erasers have had in ten years! He’s got guts!” someone upstairs called out loudly in Chinese. “Don’t worry, Brother. The Oriental Republic has two more teams here. Once we’re inside, we’ll go with you.”

Han Qingyu looked up at the speaker.

Another young man standing beside the first, also in the Only Witness Legion combat uniform of the Oriental Republic Army Group, was already repeating it in English for everyone, though with a distinct change in tone.

“The Oriental Republic Army Group looks forward to facing you!”

1. 青姨 (qīng yí) as opposed to 青禹 (qīng yǔ) ☜

2. The author used 650,000 dollars here, but I checked the yuan-to-dollar exchange rate in 1990, and the maths just doesn't check out, so I just stuck with three million yuan as per the previous chapters. I know the person saying this is a foreigner, but I’m not dealing with made-up exchange rates that fluctuate according to the author's whim. ☜