You Are the Mute [Comprehensive Martial Arts] - Chapter 12

Qiao Yiying looked at Wang Lianhua with confusion. What is he talking about? she wondered. What does he mean by “not indiscriminately killing the innocent”? What does he mean by “upright conduct”? Why is he telling me this?

Most importantly, Wang Lianhua? Upright conduct? Qiao Yiying thought either Wang Lianhua had lost his mind, or her ears were playing tricks on her. How could he possibly be associated with such a term?

Wang Lianhua kept his gaze fixed on Qiao Yiying. Seeing only confusion in her eyes, he felt a momentary pang of disappointment, but quickly composed himself. He smiled and said, “You’re probably thinking I’m being too familiar, aren’t you?”

Qiao Yiying raised an eyebrow. This guy actually has some self-awareness, huh? she thought. I did find him rather presumptuous. Wait, do people in this world even use the term “presumptuous”? Is it a common expression here? A flurry of questions flooded her mind.

Wang Lianhua offered no explanation, only smiled and said, “You’ll understand in time. For now, all I can tell you is this: you can trust me completely. No one in this world can surpass the bond between us, and I will never harm you.”

He looked directly at Qiao Yiying, his gaze locking onto her eyes. “No one in this world can harm you over my dead body,” he declared, “not even my own mother.”

Qiao Yiying’s eyebrows twitched, and she found herself scrutinizing Wang Lianhua more closely. Logically, his words were as insubstantial as water, utterly lacking credibility. Only he himself knew whether his words held any truth. One moment he could be all smiles, the next he could turn murderous.

Yet Wang Lianhua had one exception: his mother, the Yunmeng Fairy. He harbored only hatred for his biological father, a hatred so intense he wished to tear him apart limb by limb. But his feelings for his mother were a tangled mess of love and resentment, so complex that even he couldn’t untangle the proportions of each.

Still, Wang Lianhua clearly cherished Yunmeng Fairy deeply; his very desire to kill Chai Yuguan stemmed from her. Now, he was telling Qiao Yiying that even his mother couldn’t harm her? Despite knowing better than to trust Wang Lianhua easily, Qiao Yiying’s resolve softened slightly.

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, Qiao Yiying wrote: “Why are you telling me this?”

Wang Lianhua’s eyes curved into a crescent moon, his expression radiating pure joy, transforming his usually mischievous features into something utterly innocent. “Because I want to be your friend,” he said. “Protecting friends is only natural, isn’t it?”

Friend? Qiao Yiying wrote, puzzled. We’ve only met once. She recognized his voice now—he was the one who had stopped her outside the city gates, asking for a ride. But in truth, they had only met today; before this, they had never crossed paths.

She found Wang Lianhua very strange, especially his attitude toward her. He acted far too familiar, far too kind. He wasn’t the type to be nice to people without ulterior motives.

Wang Lianhua’s gaze shifted, his tone becoming righteous and solemn. “As the saying goes: ‘Though our hair turns white, we may still be strangers; yet a single meeting can forge lasting friendship.’ How can you be so sure we haven’t already formed such a bond?”

Qiao Yiying: “……”

Just because she couldn’t speak didn’t mean she couldn’t express her speechless exasperation. She was utterly speechless right now. Wang Lianhua, do you even believe your own words? If you can’t convince yourself, why try to convince me? Really, thank you for nothing.

Though she couldn’t speak, Qiao Yiying’s heart pounded like a machine gun, firing off thoughts without pause.

Despite her silence, Wang Lianhua seemed to have heard her silent curses, bursting into hearty laughter.

Qiao Yiying: “……”

Laugh, laugh, keep laughing, you lunatic. Enough already! With that thought, Qiao Yiying rolled her eyes.

Wang Lianhua had already stopped laughing, but seeing her expression, he burst into laughter again.

Qiao Yiying: “……”

This time, she was truly speechless.

With another eye roll, Qiao Yiying rose and headed upstairs to her room, determined to ignore Wang Lianhua. If he wants to stay at the inn, let him. I have things to do and no time to waste on him.

Wang Lianhua watched Qiao Yiying’s retreating figure, his laughter softening into a gentle smile. He murmured to himself, “After all these years, we meet again. You haven’t changed at all, but I’ve changed so much. Still, I’m so glad we could reunite.”

He had almost given up hope, convinced that their long-ago promise was nothing but a lie. He clung to belief while harboring doubts, desperately wanting to believe yet unable to shake off his skepticism. Day after day, year after year, just as he was about to abandon all hope, news of her finally reached him.

Wang Lianhua’s smile grew warmer and brighter. Anyone who knew him would have thought they were seeing a ghost. But in the next moment, his expression darkened with a hint of sinister intent and murderous intent, revealing his true nature once more.

If it weren’t for that damned Chai Yuguan, if his own people hadn’t been holding him back, if those fools in Jiangnan hadn’t been deceived by those imbeciles, he wouldn’t have learned of Qiao Yiying’s whereabouts so late, and they wouldn’t have met so late.

In his good mood, he decided to cause Chai Yuguan a little less trouble. Of course, that would only happen after Chai Yuguan was dead, Wang Lianhua thought.

Upstairs, Qiao Yiying was frantically calling out to the System in her mind.

System! System! System! System! System!

To conserve energy, the System often remained offline for centuries at a time, frequently falling into hibernation. If Qiao Yiying hadn’t called out so frantically, she truly wouldn’t have been able to summon it.

As expected, after countless calls from Qiao Yiying, the System finally arrived, fashionably late.

Ding-dong.

Stop ding-donging, System. I need to talk to you. Actually, since it was just her and the System, Qiao Yiying could have spoken aloud. But with Wang Lianhua downstairs, she worried about unexpected complications that might hinder her Mission progress. So she decided to communicate mentally.

What is it? The System sounded a bit dazed, as if it had just woken up.

System, check if there’s any connection between me and Wang Lianhua, Qiao Yiying thought.

While the System was dormant, her query function could only access basic information. She had already tried searching for connections between herself and Wang Lianhua but found nothing, confirming she needed the System’s full capabilities. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have wasted energy summoning it.

Please wait. The System’s energy began to radiate outward.

Downstairs, Wang Lianhua abruptly looked up, his brow furrowing slightly. He felt a strange sensation of being watched. Was it just his imagination?