Chapter 94: Ask Him First

Liam adjusted the stool before sitting, moving it far enough back that his knee wouldn’t strike the microphone stand. Megan watched him struggle with the space for a moment, and the corner of her mouth lifted just as the organizer finished introducing them. A few people clapped. Others continued speaking near the counter until Liam rested his hand against the strings and looked up. He didn’t need to say anything. The ease with which he settled in front of the room drew several more faces toward the platform, and Megan took the opportunity to bring the microphone closer.

"Hi. I’m Megan. This is Liam."

Clara lifted her hand from their table.

"We know!"

A few people laughed, and Megan looked down before smiling properly. Liam shook his head at Clara, then played the opening notes. The older song came first, something Megan knew well enough that she didn’t need to think about the next line. Her first breath was a little shallow, but she found her voice before the verse ended. Liam kept the accompaniment steady and watched her instead of the audience, giving her the same small nod he had used during rehearsal when it was time to continue.

By the second verse, she wasn’t waiting for it.

She moved one hand away from the microphone stand and looked toward the tables. Her shoulders loosened, and the slight stiffness in her delivery disappeared. Liam heard the difference immediately. Megan had spent the rehearsal trying to perform every line correctly. Now she was singing to people, letting one phrase linger because someone near the front had smiled and giving the next a little more force because she wanted them to hear it.

’There you are.’

The applause caught her by surprise. She had barely lowered the microphone when it started, and Liam let the last chord fade beneath it before reaching for his water. Clara was clapping with both hands raised above the table, while Diane smiled beside her. Farther back, a man who had been looking at his phone placed it facedown and turned his chair toward them. Megan noticed him too. When she introduced the second song, she no longer sounded as though she was asking the room to excuse her for being there.

"This one was still unfinished on Monday."

Liam glanced up.

"She finished it. I mostly got told what not to play."

"That was an important contribution."

The room laughed again, and Megan looked pleased with herself as she gave him the signal. They went straight into the second piece. Halfway through, a cup struck the floor near the counter and broke loudly enough that several people turned. Megan’s eyes moved toward it, and she came into the next line a fraction late. Liam held the chord, adjusted his own entrance, and followed her without making the hesitation larger than it was. By the time the staff had cleared the broken pieces, they were already approaching the ending.

She looked at him as the final note faded.

He smiled.

Nobody needed to know how many times they had stopped for smaller mistakes in the practice room.

Megan took a drink before their last song. Liam checked the time while she set the bottle down, then shifted the guitar slightly against his leg. They were where they needed to be. Three minutes and a little more, enough to finish without eating into the next performer’s set. Megan looked toward Clara’s table once, then turned back to the microphone.

"I kept changing this one because I thought the ending sounded selfish."

The room had become quiet enough that she didn’t need to raise her voice.

"I think I like it now."

Liam began before she could explain further. He remembered the crossed-out line, the way she had kept returning to it even after agreeing it didn’t belong. The opening verse remained exactly as she had wanted it. He let her have it without adding his voice, leaving the spaces she had asked him to leave. When she reached the chorus, her hand tightened around the microphone, but she didn’t lower her eyes.

He joined her on the next line.

For a moment, the familiar weight of his previous life moved beneath the words. Liam felt it in the shape of the breath he was about to take, in the temptation to turn a simple departure into something final. Then Megan looked toward him. She was standing a few feet away, waiting for the harmony they had practiced, and he gave her that instead.

Her smile appeared halfway through the line.

This time, he didn’t have to be corrected.

They finished together, Megan holding the last note while Liam let the strings fall quiet beneath it. She remained facing the audience for a second afterward, as though she hadn’t yet decided what to do with her hands. Then the clapping began, louder than before, and someone near the back called out that they should play another. Megan laughed and looked toward the organizer, who smiled but pointed gently toward the next musician waiting beside his case.

"Thank you," Megan said. "We’ll have to come back."

Liam stood, lifted the guitar away from the microphone cable, and followed her off the platform. She caught his sleeve as soon as they reached the side of the room.

"They listened."

"Most of them even stopped buying coffee."

"Liam."

"I know."

He looked at her properly. Her face was warm, her breathing still a little quick, and she kept glancing toward the stage as though checking that they had really been standing there. Liam placed the guitar in its case before taking out the envelope. He counted out half the payment and held it toward her.

"One hundred dollars."

Megan stared at the notes, then took them carefully.

"For fifteen minutes."

"And all the time you spent writing."

She looked back at the money with a different expression. Liam closed the envelope around his share just as the green panel appeared.

[Side Mission Complete: Complete a paid live performance with Megan using an original song.]

[Reward: $50.]

[AMPLIFYING THE REWARDS BY 10,000X...]

[NEW REWARD: $500,000. Tax Paid.]

Liam stared at the number briefly, then dismissed it before Megan noticed. Half a million dollars for something he had already wanted to do. Red could make the difference between effort and reward look ridiculous whenever it pleased.

Beside him, Megan folded her hundred dollars and placed it inside a separate pocket of her bag.

He didn’t mention the panel.

Clara reached them before he finished closing the case. She hugged Megan first, then turned toward Liam and caught his face between her hands long enough to kiss him. Diane arrived behind her carrying the drinks they had ordered, which forced everyone to move away from the narrow space beside the stage. They found their table while the next performer introduced himself, and Megan finally sat down with the expression of someone realizing she had legs.

"You were recording?" she whispered to Clara.

"Of course."

"Send it."

"Tomorrow. You’re going to listen to the next person tonight."

Liam laughed into his drink. Megan gave him a look, but she left her phone in her bag. They stayed through the next two sets, talking quietly between songs. Before they left, the organizer asked Megan whether she would be interested in another evening the following month. Liam let them exchange details without stepping into the conversation. Megan had started by asking him to listen to a song. She could answer an invitation herself.

Outside, the cool air made her pull on the coat Clara had been carrying. Diane headed back toward campus with her, and Liam waited beside the Bentley while they said good night. Megan stopped before following Diane, turning toward him with one hand still inside her sleeve.

"You sounded like yourself."

Liam rested his hand on the car door.

"You’ve only known me a little while."

"I know what I heard."

She smiled, then hurried after Diane before he could decide how to answer. Clara watched the two disappear around the corner and took the keys from his hand.

"I’m driving."

"Why?"

"Because I want to."

He considered arguing, then went around to the passenger side.

At the apartment, Clara put on something comfortable and returned to the living room with her laptop. She wanted to copy the videos before sending them, and Liam left her choosing between two nearly identical recordings while he went to shower. When he came back, she had found the moment where she shouted from the audience and was laughing at her own voice. He sat beside her long enough to watch the final song once, then leaned back as she began trimming the beginning.

His phone vibrated.

Lin had sent a message asking whether Sunday morning worked for training.

Liam typed yes, then stopped before sending another joke about his hands. On the screen above the new message, their earlier conversation remained visible. The photograph of the closed sword case. Lin’s blunt confirmation that he wasn’t opening it. Liam’s own reply telling him to bring the mats.

He had helped the man lock away something that wanted his body.

Red still wanted what was inside him.

’I haven’t forgotten.’

Clara looked over when he locked the screen.

"Lin?"

"Training on Sunday."

"You’re making a face."

Liam glanced toward her laptop, where Megan stood frozen beside the microphone.

"I need to ask Red something."

Clara lowered the lid partway. She knew enough to recognize when he was trying to make a problem sound smaller than it was, and tonight he didn’t feel like making her drag it out of him.

"It wants Lin’s system."

Her expression changed.

"Still?"

"As far as I know."

"What happens to Lin?"

"That’s what I need to find out."

He waited until she had closed the laptop before addressing Red. The question had become easier to avoid as Lin became easier to spend time with. At first, Liam had wanted to know what the man could offer and whether he was dangerous. Now he knew how he took his breaks during training, how he hid embarrassment behind irritation, and how badly he had wanted the inheritance to mean somebody had chosen him for something good.

None of that answered the question.

’Can you consume his system without killing him?’

The panel appeared after a short pause.

[Consumption does not require the host’s death.]

Liam read the sentence twice. Clara waited while he repeated it aloud, but neither of them looked relieved for long. There was too much room inside that answer.

’Would removing it injure him?’

[The host’s condition after separation depends on the system’s integration and the method used.]

’Then examine those before asking me to do anything.’

[Current information is insufficient for a reliable assessment.]

Liam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. That was the first answer tonight he actually trusted. Red wanted the system badly enough to offer him a reason to pursue it, but wanting something didn’t mean it had explained the cost. He thought of Shen speaking about nourishment and guidance while carefully avoiding what would happen to Lin.

He wasn’t going to repeat that conversation from the other side.

"What did it say?" Clara asked.

"It doesn’t know enough."

"Then we don’t know if it’s safe."

"Yeah."

She watched him for another moment.

"Does Lin even want it removed?"

Liam looked down at his phone.

He had asked whether Red could take it. He had wondered what the reward would be, what the restored energy might change, and whether helping Lin would make him easier to approach. Somehow, the simplest question had remained one he hadn’t bothered to ask.

’Fucking hell.’

He opened the conversation again. Sunday’s training could wait until Sunday, but there was no reason to spend another two days treating Lin like an object with something valuable inside. He sent a short message asking whether he was awake. The reply came before Liam had put the phone down.

What did you break?

Despite himself, Liam smiled.

"Call him," Clara said.

He did.

Lin answered on the fourth ring, sounding more suspicious than sleepy. Liam could hear a television in the background, followed by the scrape of something being moved.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I want to ask you about your system."

The television went quiet.

"What about it?"

Liam looked toward Clara. She remained beside him, waiting without trying to supply the words.

"You’ve told me what it gives you. What does it make you do?"

Lin didn’t answer immediately. Liam let the silence remain this time. There was no reason to soften the question with a joke or pretend he was only curious about another skill.

Finally, Lin spoke.

"Why are you asking now?"

"Because there’s something you should know before we train again."