Work Text:
"Not another qi deviation," said Shang Qinghua as he had tea with Mu Qingfang. Shen Qingqiu had fainted while they were having lunch while discussing new business products. When Shang Qinghua had touched his forehead, he was burning.
"Yes, another one," said Mu Qingfang, his expression grim. "He keeps yelling over and over again that he doesn't want to die. I told Zhangmen Shixiong that he mustn't visit him as it would do the patient no good and would only distress him."
"Do tell me when he wakes up," he said, hoping that Shen Qingqiu wouldn't say something telling though he supposed that whatever came out of his mouth would be dismissed as the rantings of a feverish man.
***
"Yo, bro," said Shang Qinghua as he walked into the private room of the clinic where Shen Qingqiu was being kept. "How are you? You know about . . ." He stopped abruptly when the look in Shen Qingqiu's eyes was cold and dark. Oh fuck, did the original flavor come back?
"What's wrong?" said Shen Qingqiu.
"Are you . . . "
"I'm Cucumber bro version if that's what you're worried about."
Shang Qinghua let out a relieved sigh. "It would help if you didn't look at me like you want to gut me."
"I've decided that I'm going to do whatever it takes to live. I'll invent whatever it takes to destroy anybody and anything that comes after me . . ."
"Bro . . . that's dark . . ."
"No, it's practical."
"So . . . what kind of stuff should we make?" said Shang Qinghua.
"Weapons . . ."
"Weapons?"
"I'm talking cannons, landmines, torpedoes, guns and missiles. We already have gunpowder. it wouldn't take much to adapt it for military use and reap a great profit."
"I'm just trying to make money and have fun."
"And I'm just trying to live. I have a few other ideas as well."
"Like what?" Whoa, dude, you are seriously scaring me, he thought.
"If we could get some of the students to learn how to use cultivation to affect magnetism, I was thinking that we could create a rail gun. As for ice demons, how about a flame thrower?"
"Wait, wait, wait, who are you trying to kill?"
Shen Qingqiu sipped his tea calmly and said, "You don't think the Emperor wouldn't buy as much as we could make? Just imagine regular peasants being almost as powerful when it comes to killing demons as cultivators. And considering how much Mobei-jun mistreats you, don't you want to try the flamethrower out on him?"
"Holy shit, dude . . . You know that stuff can and will be used against humans, not just demons, right?"
Shen Qingqiu seemed to brush his concerns aside. "This is for the eventual rebellion against demonic occupation. I'd rather have a stockpile now rather than try to make any of this afterwards. As for my main concern . . . do you know of anywhere that has uranium or something radioactive?"
"You want to make a nuke?"
"I don't think that's technologically possible but a dirty bomb might be."
Shang Qinghua laughed nervously. "That's a lot to throw at a man at one time. How about you draw up some prototypes and I'll check to see if our suppliers can pull it off."
"You do that."
***
In his house's dining room, Mu Qingfang looked through the various blueprints of the weapons that Shen Qingqiu had drawn and turned to his guest. "They're all inventions built to kill people."
"Actually demons but yeah, they can totally kill people," said Shang Qinghua.
"You came here because you think there's something wrong with him."
"I don't THINK there's something wrong with him. I KNOW there's something wrong with him. Even before his last qi deviation, he was sour, bitter, petty . . . even cruel but he never went this far."
"You . . . have a point but I thoroughly examined him before declaring him well enough to go back to teaching," said Mu Qingfang.
"Maybe it's something that can't be seen. But . . .I can't let him make these."
"You could tell him no."
"Then he'll find someone else to help him. It'll take longer and the product won't be as good but it'll still get made."
***
"Ahhhhhh!" screamed Ming Fan. "Shizun's hut is on fire." The fire was so intense that nobody could go near it and it lit up the area around it so nobody needed to use Night Pearls.
Ning Yingying said, "Where is Shizun?"
"Maybe he is at Shang Shishu's house . . ." said Ming Fan.
An alarm went throughout the Peaks and the other Peak Lords and disciples came to put out the fire, which looked as if it would threaten the rest of the Peak if not put out. it took Yue Qingyuan's power to suppress the flames quickly.
"Has anybody seen Qingqiu Shidi?" said Yue Qingyuan.
Everybody shook their head no.
Seeing that all the other Peak Lords were there except Shang Qinghua, Yue Qingyuan said, "Where's Shang Qinghua?"
Zhang Min said, "The last time I saw him, he told me he was going to Shen Shibo's place to discuss inventions . . ." She turned pale as she realized that Shang Qinghua might have been in the house.
Mu Qingfang said, "I'm used to these type of investigations. Please let me go through what's left of the hut. I will tell you what I find . . ."
***
"There's a reason why I insisted that only Peak Lords could hear my preliminary report," said Mu Qingfang in the usual meeting room. "My opinion may change once more information comes to light."
"Please tell us your findings," said Yue Qingyuan.
"There's only one body found in the hut and it's of Shen Shixiong," said Mu Qingfang.
Yue Qingyuan gasped. He knew that if anybody was found inside, it would be Shen Qingqiu but still to hear it . . . made it real. "You're sure?"
"Yes. Even though there was no flesh left, his bones correspond to his height and I recognize his teeth."
"Who could have done this?"
"I have a theory but it's an unpleasant one. I think Shang Shixiong killed Shen Shixiong."
***
36 hours earlier
"Oh, dude, I got you that flowering tea you like so much," said Shang Qinghua.
"Thank you," said Shen Qingqiu as he put the ball of leaves that would look like a flower upon brewing a few minutes in hot water in his tea cup. "You're not having one?"
Shang Qinghua had just put some loose leaves in his. "Just not into the floral stuff like you are."
After Shen Qingqiu put hot water into both their cups, Shen Qingqiu said, "You don't like some of my ideas."
"When you say demons, you mean all demons . . ."
"Yes."
"And it's not like the Imperial Army is going to give up using these weapons once demons are slaughtered. They're going to use these on peasants. Hell, they'll probably use them to bully cultivators like us."
"Or they might use them to go after other countries. You know that in our world, European powers really did a number on China because their weapons were more advanced. This time, China will be able to defend itself. It might even become the number one military power . . ." Shen Qingqiu did a slow blink. "I'm so . . ." Then he fell back on his cushions.
Shang Qinghua sighed as he looked down at his sleeping fellow transmigrator. "I can't let you fuck up the world I created like that. I won't allow you to kill my king either." He pulled out his sword and threw the blueprints and drawings on top of Shen Qingqiu.
The End