Also noting that this line has a lot of clothing that works for people who need easy chest access or have limited upper body mobility, like if you are recovering from surgery or doing chemo
The thing is that this guy almost certainly has normal songs too because david bowie was apparently inspired by him a lot. But i'm scared to check it out after this
I WAS FUCKING WONDERING WHAT THOSE DIGITAL PRICE TAGS WERE ABOUT SUDDENLY i had hoped they were so the workers didn't have to finagle those little papers into the slider part anymore 😭
Hi, yes, that is the OFFICIAL excuse made to me by the guy replacing the paper tags with digital ones at my local Walmart, but the end goal is to remove the numbers off the shelf entirely, replacing them with QR codes that you have to scan with the app…. Which requires your login information….. and also stores your card information so even if you didn’t use your Walmart account at the physical checkout, if you used a card they recognize, they assign that purchase to your Walmart account purchase history.
I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.
Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:
Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.
No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.
So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:
Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:
Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.
Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.
POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.
When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)
If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.
In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.
Yes, call your reps. Yes, push for more legislation like this in more places. But also take an extra minute out of your shopping trip to MAKE IT HURT for companies to pull this shit.
I've seen some people in the notes express (very fair) concern that this is only going to inconvenience already under-paid laborers, and not have any impact on corporate. While I can't speak for every company or every store, I do work in a grocery store and I can tell you this is precisely the kind of thing that would have an impact, especially if people are doing it en masse. Stores absolutely track their shrink numbers, and they do draw distinctions between what gets stolen, damaged, or wasted for other reasons. If people are making it clear that the reason they're bringing things to the cashier is that the prices are not adequately represented on the displays, and rather than improving business it's wasting product, slowing down transactions, and causing confusion and mistrust in customers, that is a language that shareholders speak.
I worked in retail for years. If this had happened while I was working retail, I would have been delighted and felt great solidarity with anyone who was wasting my employer's time and money and giving me busy work as an act of protest. In point of fact every moment the employee spends carting items back to the shelves is a moment not spent standing at a register.
I genuinely wonder if people realize how many projects get abandoned because the readership "wasn't there", when in reality, the readership just stayed silent. It's a big thing in trad pub that book series get discontinued because readers pirate the books or wait until the series is finished to buy a copy, leading the publisher to think that nobody actually wants the book enough to continue the series, but it happens with indie creators too.
I've discontinued a lot of free, online series because it's not worth putting 3-5 hours a week into posting a project for no readers. Sometimes I finish the series for me but just never post it again, other times I don't finish it at all because it feels more worthwhile to put my time into other things. Sometimes I hear from readers who are sad or upset that I didn't finish something they were liking, but the *reason* it never got finished is because I didn't know anyone liked it. If you like something, tell the creator, tell your friends, make some noise about it. If you would be sad if a story never finished, make that interest known because one of my biggest considerations before discontinuing a series is "will people miss this? Will I be letting people down" and 9/10 times, I come to the conclusion of "no, it doesn't even seem like anyone's reading this" only to learn after I've moved on that apparently someone was.
I've said this before in a different way, and this post said it so well. With real examples.
If you like something, tell people.
If you want more content from an artist or author, if you like their stuff, tell them. It will give them creative fuel to keep going. And often it gives them other resources as well.
Recommend a work to other people. Leave a comment or a review. It doesn't have to be long, just genuine, a sentence or two.
Not many people know that a book's success is judged by book reviews as well as sales. Review the book on Amazon or another site to help it pass the metric of success and be recognized by publishers and retailers.
Content Warnings: mind control, violence, nothing more than what we've already had so far in this fic and probably tamer
Read it on AO3 (x)
Read Chapter 3 (x)
He wakes up. In that first moment of confusion upon waking, it is easy to fall into old habits. When Shen Qingqiu opens his eyes, he looks around for a tray of tea and snacks.
"Welcome back to the same day, bro."
But Binghe isn't here, and Shang Qinghua is. He's shaking Shen Qingqiu's shoulder and leaning so far over him that some of his hair has fallen from his bun and into Shen Qingqiu's face. Some of it has gotten in his mouth. Why does Shang Qinghua always have to have such a skeevy, gross vibe to him? He spits some of the hair back in Shang Qinghua's direction.
And then, suddenly, he sits bolt upright.
"He fucking killed me!" He can't think of any other explanation for what happened in the last loop.
"What, bro, what?" Shang Qinghua had been hunched over to scrub the spit out of his hair and onto his robes, but he straightens up at that. "Binghe? My son? Did he actually do it?"
"I think he cut my head off??!" Right? There's only so many things that could kill a cultivator so quickly and effectively. So painlessly. What the fuck? That's not what Binghe's supposed to be doing!
"He didn't even torture you???"
"No! That's what I'm saying!" They stare at each other in disbelief for a moment. "He didn't even draw it out! If he wasn't the only one in the cave with me, I wouldn't even be sure that he was the one who killed me!"
This isn't at all what Binghe is supposed to be doing! Shen Qingqiu was prepared for rage and betrayal and scheming. He was ready to be yelled at, monologued at, tied up and tortured for years. What is this quick death? Where is the stallion protagonist that repays every offense a hundredfold???
"Cucumber-bro. What the fuck happened."
If Shen Qingqiu wants any hope of getting to Binghe before the monster lures him out of that cave, then he should already be hurrying back to the Abyss. He needs to protect Binghe from the awful loop he's stuck in.
But, also, the last time he tried to do that, it's looking a lot like he got himself killed. And! It probably didn't even do anything to protect Binghe! The monster hadn't even started up its weird mind-control coo before he died, which means that it probably still lured him out. After all that, after finally making it to Binghe, he hadn't even been able to make things better for his disciple!
He is the head of the strategist peak. And maybe he ended up there by nepotism, but if there's one thing Shen Qingqiu knows how to do, it's fake it until he makes it. Which means that he's still going to show up and make the best strategy that anyone in this world could figure out how to make.
As much as he wants to run back down and try it all again, they need to figure out what went wrong. The time it'll take to figure that out means that he won't be able to make it to Binghe before the monster has him. They'll dedicate one day to this, and then Shen Qingqiu can go back down there and hit his disciple around the head with a fan until he starts to behave like the filial white lotus he used to be! Or, at least, they can fix this and then Binghe can go back to wanting to torture him to death in revenge for all the ways that his trusted teacher betrayed him.
Shen Qingqiu starts pacing around the room. Shang Qinghua, sensing that they aren't going to be rushing out the door on this loop, flops onto the bed like a starfish.
"I don't know what was going on. Binghe wasn't acting the way he's supposed to."
"I honestly didn't think he had it in him." Shang Qinghua seems to be having his own conversation, staring at the ceiling above him and still thinking about the fact that Binghe killed him. "Like, obviously, you're still going to be fucked when he gets out of the Abyss. I knew that. It's just weird, after the way he followed you around for so long, to think of him being classic Bingge against you."
"He wasn't, though!" Shen Qingqiu once again bemoans the fact that he is stuck in a time loop with one of the biggest idiots he has ever met, who is completely incapable of listening when anyone else talks. Still, it's the only option. "He seemed like he was, I don't know, offended by me, or something."
Shang Qinghua rolls his head along the bedsheets until he's sending a side-eye over to Shen Qingqiu. "Full offense, bro, but I don't know how much I trust you to read my son. What did he say?"
Shen Qingqiu levels a searing glare back at Shang Qinghua, because what the fuck is that supposed to me. "Fuck you." Shang Qinghua always likes to act like he's way better at reading people, when really it's just that he invented everyone in this world. That's the only reason Shen Qingqiu is even going to share anything else with him. "He had me at swordpoint pretty much as soon as he realized it was me. And then he kept telling me to 'take his face off' or he'd kill me. I was trying to convince him to move away from the entrance to the cave when, I guess, he killed me."
"Bro, you are way too chill about the fact that you just died." Actually, he's died a bunch of times already, in these loops (and one time before any of this started), but like hell is he going to tell Shang Qinghua about any of the other times. "Also, you're a fucking idiot. Is this what you looked like when you were trying to talk to him?" Shang Qinghua rolls to the end of the bed, so his head is hanging off the edge and upside down, but he gives him a very obvious once-over all the same. Shen Qingqiu reaches out a foot and pushes his scummy face away.
"Basically, yeah. You saw me go in there. I was just wearing this, and I hadn't tied my hair up or anything. I guess I was a little roughed up, from the monsters down there. I had some blood on me, and I was out of breath. But pretty much just like this, otherwise."
"Yeahhh," Shang Qinghua has rolled to a luxurious spread on the far side of the bed, out of reach of Shen Qingqiu's feet, and is smirking in Shen Qingqiu's general direction. "My son definitely thought you were some kind of shape-shifting succubus."
The rage and utter confusion hits like a lightning bolt and Shen Qingqiu finds himself so incandescent that he can't move for several seconds.
"What?!" He thinks he might be shaking with it a little, and he is suddenly very much over the friendly energy in the room. "What the fuck, Airplane-bro? What the fuck are you talking about?"
"I mean," Shang Qinghua has clearly not gotten the memo that they aren't being casual or joking anymore, but Shen Qingqiu is about to fucking make him realize, "you showed up with bedhead and in one layer of ripped-up robes, your sleeping robes, probably looking all sweaty and flushed and out of breath. That's, like, a classic succubus move."
That doesn't make any goddamn sense. For a thousand reasons. That is so fucking stupid.
"What the fuck are you talking about? Did that demon king of yours beat you over the head one too many times?" Shang Qinghua still looks entertained, and that's enough to make Shen Qingqiu want to call on every moment of training as a keyboard warrior and flame his ass to hell. "I shouldn't be surprised that you don't know your own fucking world and your own protagonist. First of all, that's not how succubi work. They are meant to take the form of the person you find most pleasing, not just some random scummy teacher from the past, dressed up all sexy.
"And second of all! Stop trying to make it sound like I was dressed up all sexy!" He's pacing again, a little frantically, but he is going to destroy this man's whole career. "I was dirty and dressed the same way Binghe has seen me a hundred times. So, even if a succubi were trying to do a weird kinky teacher thing and make me sexy, then they wouldn't have gone for something that mundane. And third," he's really worked up a full head of steam here and is maybe shouting a bit, just to make sure he's communicating how agitated Shang Qinghua's stupidity has made him. "Third, Binghe would never be interested in me or any man. No succubus is ever going to make such a basic mistake, when he's so clearly the epitome of heterosexual manliness."
It feels good, to let the words whip out of him and let out some of the frustration of the past few days, especially when it's on a target whose feelings he doesn't have to worry about hurting. When he turns back to look upon the devastated cremains of Airplane Shooting Toward the Sky, though, it's to see that he's still lounging on the fucking bed, and that smug fucking expression on his face hasn't left.
"Oh, absolutely not."
That's all the fucker says.
"To which part."
"I mean, all of it, I guess, but especially that last part." Shen Qingqiu interrupts with the loudest scoff he can produce, but Shang Qinghua waves his hand in the air and powers through. "Sure, my son used to be all manly, but you turned him into a happy little tradwife before he ever left here and, no, shut up, it's my turn now! And he is definitely not straight."
And that's. What?
"What?"
"Bro, I wrote him."
"...What?"
"Obviously he's not straight? I don't think I could write a zero on the Kinsey scale, even if someone was holding a gun to my head. He gets all the girls because that's what the people wanted to read, and because that's how the genre works, and because a man's gotta afford his instant ramen somehow, but he would definitely fuck a man. Plus, and I really mean this, with every bit of condescension in my hater heart, but did you really never notice how he looked at you?"
Shen Qingqiu is processing an incredible amount of information right now. This is what happens when you allow yourself to hang out with a hack author who spews nothing but bullshit all day (and who may? not be straight??? which is totally fine, Shen Qingqiu's an ally and everything, but he really just didn't see that one coming). He needs to stop being surprised and overwhelmed and needs to start moving on to any other topic of conversation before Shang Qinghua can open his mouth and say anything else.
"Holy shit, you really didn't? Bro! My son looked at you like he wanted to jump up and grab the moon out of the sky, just so that he could give it to you. And then so that he could use it to light the bedroom while he made sweet tender love to you for hours. He's a little freak and we both know it, and I think you were fully and actually his whole-ass sexual awakening in this world. I would bet literally every B-point I have ever earned on him laying in his bed in that side room of your house, thinking about your sweet little life together, and literally jac-"
"Shut up." Shen Qingqiu slams one hand over Shang Qinghua's mouth. The other is holding a fan high enough to cover almost his entire face. "We need to-" He breathes for a moment, still pulling his scattered thoughts together. Shang Qinghua licks his palm, as if he isn't one of four children. Shen Qingqiu pushes down on his face harder, just to make a point. "We need to start strategizing. If I'm not going into the Abyss today, then we need to maximize the time we have for figuring out just what kind of monstrosity you invented and then forgot about and then sicced on Binghe."
They hold each other's eyes for a long moment. Shen Qingqiu thinks he has made it very clear what topic they will be discussing, when he finally allows Shang Qinghua the right to speak again. Shang Qinghua, in return, hits him with some Dreamworks eyebrows. Shen Qinghua pinches his nose between his thumb and palm and fully cuts off his air supply. Shang Qinghua rolls his eyes and waves a hand in the air in surrender. Shen Qingqiu pulls his hand back.
"You're so fucking dramatic and for what. Okay, fuck you, no need to hit me that hard, what the fuck. Fine. We'll focus on our fucking speed strats and shit."
And, despite what a fucking chore it always is to make Shang Qinghua do something that wasn't his idea first, they do actually manage to spend the rest of the day strategizing and planning. Shen Qingqiu draws a diagram of the monster, as much as he's able to remember from the few times he's seen it, considering it's big enough that he's never been able to look at the whole thing at once. Shang Qinghua starts to look into some possible leads, starts pulling together a list of the things he's going to keep an eye out for over the next few loops.
They also make plans for what to do in the morning. They need to get Shen Qingqiu into the Abyss as quickly as possible, but he needs to look a little more composed when he arrives. It would also be great if they could come up with a plan to convince Binghe that he's telling the truth about what's going on.
Whenever Shang Qinghua tries to take their planning into any direction that is unrealistic and stupidly sexual for no good reason, Shen Qingqiu simply picks a point in space and stares at it, blankly, until he's stopped trying to convince him of things that could never be true in the first place. It takes Shang Qinghua a few tries to realize what's happening, and then it works for a little bit, and then he starts saying more and more ridiculous things in an effort to try and make Shen Qingqiu blink, and then they waste way too much time on that instead of their research. But, mostly, they really do study from the moment they arrive in the library until the moment the world judders and goes hazy and the loop resets.
He was Binghe's teacher, once. Some would even say they were close. If he plays his cards exactly right, there may still be a way that he could get through to him, past all the rage and betrayal and vengeance. This is, of course, based entirely on the trusting and scholarly friendship that they once shared. Even if Shen Qingqiu turned out to be the kind of scum to prioritize his own life over the protection of his dearest disciple, they were close, once.
There has to be a way that he can get through to Binghe, even if it's for just a second.
*~*~*
He wakes up. In that first moment of confusion upon waking, it is easy to fall into old habits. When Shen Qingqiu opens his eyes, he looks around for a tray of tea and snacks. Instead, he sees a squirrelly man hunched over him, already holding out the easiest-to-put-on robes from the places Shen Qingqiu had lazily draped them over furniture in his room. He's holding out a comb as well.
Shen Qingqiu is forced to acknowledge that, no matter how much he sometimes wants to punt him into the sun, Shang Qinghua is incredibly competent at completing the steps of a detailed task set before him.
Shen Qingqiu shrugs into the robes while pulling a comb through his hair. He doesn't need to remind Shang Qinghua to spend all day in the library, researching the monster, because he does actually trust him to care about saving his own skin as much as Shen Qingqiu cares about saving Binghe's.
He pulls his hair back into a long tail. It's not the hairstyle he usually favors, but it's the fastest way to make sure that he will look at least a little bit like he has his shit together.
Then he's on Xiu Ya and they're hurtling toward their meadow. The portal tears its hole in the layers between the Realms, and then he's through, dodging creatures as best as he can, moving so quickly that the ones that try to give chase just give up, moving toward that same cave.
When he arrives, it's just a moment before he expects Binghe to, and he looks significantly more put-together than he did the time before. He still doesn't agree with Shang Qinghua's fucking unhinged interpretation of what happened last time, but they have endless loops to try different theories, and they don't have any other fucking ideas, and it does feel better to have more of his typical immortal master visage in place.
The hunting screech from the monster. The rocks in the cave rattle and tumble from the walls. The light in the cave entrance is blocked out, and then Binghe is once again standing before him, thin and starving and battered.
"Binghe," he says, again, even though he and Shang Qinghua definitely agreed yesterday that he should wait for Binghe to be the one to speak first. Shang Qinghua just doesn't understand the need to improvise and read the room in the moment. Plus, he's never going to find out that Shen Qingqiu deviated from their plan, so it doesn't matter.
"Shizun?" That same overwhelming mixture of so many different expressions flashes across his face, and Shen Qingqiu can almost see the reflection of himself in his little sheep's shining eyes.
And then, again, that slow tracking of his eyes over his form, and then the sharp tip of a sword beneath Shen Qingqiu's chin.
Not fair! They went through all that trouble to make it so that he looked much more like himself this time! But also! Fucking take that, Airplane! This just shows how much you know about what's going through Binghe's head!
[HELLO. SYSTEM ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL.] This again.
[UNIVERSAL ACTIVATION KEY: LUO BINGHE]
[SELF-EXAMINATION RESULTS: CENTRAL POWER SOURCE IS OPERATING NORMALLY AND IN GOOD CONDITION.]
[HIBERNATION MODE SUSPENDED. NORMAL OPERATION MODE ACTIVATED.]
[DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION OF UPDATE COMPLETE.]
[THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED USE OF OUR SERVICES.]
"Stop that," Binghe says again. "Take his face off, now, or I will kill you where you stand." It's the same threat, just about, and delivered with the same focus and tone and expression. So consistent! The Protagonist really does know what he thinks and stands by it!
Which, considering consistency, it is really starting to look like Shen Qingqiu is about to get another death under his belt in the Endless Abyss.
"Binghe, wait! It really is me. What do I need to tell you, to prove that?" This is absolutely not going to work. No amount of pleading from the people that Binghe was trying to kill ever worked, unless they were a beautiful young flower.
Still, Shen Qingqiu doesn't have any other ideas, and he's not just going to stand here and take this without trying to save his own skin. At worst, Binghe kills him, the loop starts over, and everyone forgets that he ever embarrassed himself like this. Sandbox mode.
Binghe stares down at him, coldly. Shen Qingqiu waits for the slick slice of the blade. They stand in that silence for several breaths.
And then Binghe opens his mouth. He's smiling like someone has told a not-very-funny joke, and he doesn't lower the blade, but this is already more hesitation than Shen Qingqiu ever expected to see.
"What was the first act of kindness my shizun ever showed to me?" He doesn't sound any closer to letting Shen Qingqiu go, but he hasn't killed him yet, and he isn't making a threat on his life at this exact moment, and that's further than he got last time. Nothing to do but figure out what gets him killed this time and then not do it next time.
It's a hard question, though, is the problem. Shen Qingqiu had the OOC lock on for a while. Before it came off, there was still the time that he protected Binghe from his bullies, but Binghe had never known that he did that. Also, could he really consider that an act of kindness, when no child ever deserves to be beaten and to lose their treasured possessions like that? If anything, that was just him starting to put right all the things that the previous version of himself broke.
So, not the protection from the bullies. What kindness had Shen Qingqiu really paid Binghe, beyond that which a child is automatically entitled to? Nothing else before the OOC lock was off. And then, after the lock was off, he went into seclusion so quickly. Which means-
"This master's first act of kindness toward Binghe was to protect him from Elder Sky Hammer's poison, in the fight against the demons, to protect Cang Qiong Mountain Sect." Although, if he's being honest, that really shouldn't count either. He was Binghe's teacher, and it was his job to protect his disciple from the dirty, underhanded tricks of a sore loser. Plus, he had been the one to put Binghe into that fight in the first place, and that had hardly been a fair choice.
The sword presses tighter to the thin skin of Shen Qingqiu's neck. Without A Cure suddenly flares up, since it always likes to do that at the most narratively inconvenient times, so the blade catches easily and a trail of blood drips into the collar of his robes. Fuck. So that was the wrong answer, then. Better fucking luck next time. Maybe he wanted him to say something about moving into the Bamboo House? But even that is just simply providing shelter to a child who was previously sleeping in a woodshed...
"Wrong." Binghe steps forward. Shen Qingqiu steps back. He's pressed against the cave wall, again. He is going to die, again. "Such a public scene, it makes sense that a demon would have heard of it, and would draw upon it now to save your own skin. My Shizun showed affection many other, quieter ways, not simply the large spectacles for everyone to see." Beautiful words, Binghe, but if you're going to murder someone then please just do it without monologuing. Also, and more importantly, what the fuck are you talking about??? "Were you truly my Shizun, you would know that the first act of kindness he showed toward me was to share a bottle of medicine to treat my wounds."
Binghe says the last part triumphantly, pulling the sword back so that he can have all the momentum needed for a proper decapitation. So that is how he died last loop.
Shen Qingqiu braces himself for the inevitable. What's one more death on the pile? But, then again, while he's still thinking about it-
"Wait a second." Binghe hesitates, which is more than Shen Qingqiu honestly expected of him. "Binghe thinks the first time this master showed him kindness was when he gave him medicine? That's the answer you were waiting for???" He can't help the scathing tone from coming through, probably just accelerating his death. But what the fuck! He still had the OOC lock on back then! "This master gave Binghe medicine to treat his wounds, something that he should have already had access to in the first place. Binghe, you were a young child with injuries. Of course you should have been given medicine. That's not even to mention that I was the one who gave you the wounds. How could that possibly count as a first act of kindness? Binghe deserved so much more than that! That doesn't even cross the line for basic human decency!"
He realizes, as he's wrapping up his rant, that he really shouldn't have had time to get all of those words out. His head should definitely have already been removed from his shoulders by now.
Binghe isn't trying to kill him. He's staring down at him, blank shock written across his face.
"Shizun?" The sword is suddenly whipped away from where it was pressing into the hollow of his throat. "Is that really you?"
How is he expected to respond to a question like that! Obviously it's him, but he already said that earlier. Before he can figure out what he's supposed to do now, Binghe seems to notice all over again that he has drawn blood at Shen Qingqiu's neck. He makes an inarticulate noise of distress and bustles forward. He goes to wipe away the blood with the sleeve of his robe before seeming to take stock of the filth covering every inch of his body. He glances once at the edge of Shen Qingqiu's much-cleaner sleeve, raises his hand, and then puts it back down uselessly.
"Honestly, Binghe," and this is just muscle memory, clicking his tongue and pushing away a fussing disciple. "No need for such a face. What kind of immortal master would your teacher be if he couldn't heal a little thing like this? Simply give it some time."
Strange, strange, strange. This is all so weird. They are deep in a cave in the Endless Abyss. There is a great monster currently scraping against the entrance. Binghe is almost definitely pretending to calm down while he uses this time to plan different ways to escape this situation and then torture him to death.
And yet, still, it is good to see him.
Shen Qingqiu can't help that he's already tumbled back into the old patterns of how they would speak to each other, all those years ago. And maybe that's okay, if that's going to be the fastest way to get Binghe to play along with listening to his instructions.
"It really is Shizun." Are those tears in the Protagonist's eyes? He really is such a good actor. Either that or it's just the smoke and heat in the air down here in the Endless Abyss.
An ear-piercing scrape of claws against rock wall, and Shen Qingqiu suddenly remembers that this is not simply a play-pretend heartfelt reunion between disciple and teacher.
"Quick, Binghe. We must move away from the entrance to this cave, now. That monster is more dangerous than this teacher could possibly say. We have to move."
He starts hustling down the tunnel, but only makes it a few steps before he realizes that Binghe is not following.
"All the way down here in the Endless Abyss. This lowly one can't help but wonder what one such as Shizun is doing here."
"Binghe, there is no time. That monster is stronger than you, and this master does not yet know how to defeat it."
This was, apparently, the wrong thing to say. Because Binghe starts to look really determined. Shen Qingqiu can see that infuriating little flex in his jaw that has been there since he was fourteen, and which means that he is about to stand his ground for longer than anyone else in this world would be willing to.
"This one is much stronger than the weak disciple that Shizun first banished into the Endless Abyss." Ah. So, here is the hurt and anger and betrayal that he has been waiting to see. He expected Binghe to be more conniving with it, but this is surely part of a much larger plan.
Still. That doesn't change the immediate moment.
"Please, believe this teacher. Binghe cannot win this fight."
That jaw flex, again. Binghe shifts to square his stance between Shen Qingqiu and the cave entrance.
"Did Shizun simply find this disciple because he himself could not defeat the monster? Or perhaps Shizun is here to watch this one lose a fight and ensure his demonic disciple's death once and for all?" He draws himself to stand up taller, and Shen Qingqiu's stomach sinks to the floor. "Well, that is where Shizun is wrong. This disciple is stronger than he ever knew, and this disciple can easily defend both himself and his teacher from any monster, if Shizun would only give this one the chance."
Please, I'm sorry, please, not his voice too.
The sight of Binghe's organs strewn across the bloodied rock below him.
Shen Qingqiu does not know when he reached out and grabbed Binghe's wrist, but it is a practical way to keep his foolhardy disciple from sprinting out into a fight he will surely lose, so he tightens his grasp. The smoke and the heat of the Abyss is so strong, it's getting into the cave and into Shen Qingqiu's eyes.
"Binghe." He sounds like he's begging. What kind of pathetic immortal master can't even manage to persuade a youth to listen to wisdom on a night hunt? "Binghe, listen to this teacher just once more. Binghe cannot win this fight. It is not safe. Come this way, away from the entrance. This master believes that his disciple is stronger than he ever could have known, but this is not the fight to prove it." And then, because he's truly trampling all of his pride into the ground, and because Binghe isn't going to remember this in the next loop anyway, he cannot help but let out one desperate "Please."
He isn't expecting that he'll win the argument. It's a loop. He's throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the wall and eventually something is going to stick. Either he fails and the loop restarts or this specific thing works and the loop still restarts, because there's no way they're escaping it this time. What's a little loss of face, in light of the larger situation?
Somehow, though, it does work. When Shen Qingqiu tugs against his hold on Binghe's wrist, Binghe moves as if he is a doll on strings. It is no effort at all to pull him further into the cave, away from the horrible noises of the monster just outside, even though he has properly grown into the mass and muscle (could still be better fed...) of the Protagonist, and could have stopped him if he wished.
The cave is not that deep. The monster is getting frustrated. Shen Qingqiu pulls his unresisting disciple as deep as he can, until they are pressed against a back wall with a clearly-abandoned nest of some other terrible Abyss monster. They are several tens of yards away from the entrance, which really isn't that far at all when he considers the memory of it tearing into the gaping flesh of Binghe's body.
"Binghe, you must listen closely, just a little longer. Please, trust this master for just a few more instructions." He catches Binghe's eye as best as he can, even though looking him in the eye after all he has done to this sweet little bun is difficult. "Binghe cannot leave this area of the cave, no matter how much he might want to."
"Alright, Shizun." The look in Binghe's eyes is not that of the same obedient, eager-to-please disciple he once was. Instead, it looks as though he is paying close attention and trying to solve some complicated puzzle. Likely he is gathering all the information he can for a later revenge manipulation. That doesn't really matter nearly as much as the fact that he seems willing to obey instructions, right now.
"Good."
The monster stops scratching at the cave. Does that mean that it is about to move on to its next approach? If it's going to be repeating the same approach as the last time Shen Qingqiu watched, it's about to lure Binghe out.
He doesn't know how to stop that from happening. Maybe moving away from the exit was enough.
That same rumbling coo starts up. It resonates through the whole canyon. More rocks fall from the cave walls around them.
It doesn't seem like the monster is doing anything more than making a strange noise, there's nothing Shen Qingqiu can detect that has changed, but Binghe straightens up as if he has heard a far-off whistle. He shakes his head once, twice, an almost dog-like movement.
"Binghe?" His eyes snap back toward Shen Qingqiu, seeming to refocus, and Shen Qingqiu realizes just how unfocused they were before that. They lock eyes, and Binghe looks just a little frantic, a little confused, before a glazed look starts to come back over him. "Binghe," he calls, but there's no reaction this time. Shen Qingqiu steps between Binghe and the exit to the cave, grabs him by the wrist again. He's seen what happens when Binghe leaves this place, and what kind of shizun would he be if he didn't do everything in his power to stop that from happening to his disciple?
Binghe doesn't seem to realize what's going on. He lets out a curious little hum when he starts to move toward the exit and reaches the end of his range of movement, with Shen Qingqiu clinging like a limpet to his wrist and fixing his feet to the floor of the cave as best as he can.
"Binghe, please, I need you to listen to me. Your shizun needs you to listen right now." He can't help the urgent tone that has come into his voice. Maybe it will take over muscle memory for Binghe, the same tone he uses when things are about to go Very Badly in a night hunt if all of his students don't do exactly as he says. It doesn't work, though. Binghe doesn't get violent, but he continues walking inexorably toward the exit. Without A Cure is still flaring up, because of-fucking-course it is, and Binghe is so much stronger than him without any access to his golden core.
Binghe keeps walking, and Shen Qingqiu does what he can to try and push and shove him back toward the back, but it is like trying to stop a tsunami with his bare hands. There's no way to get a good enough grip, no way to to stop this from happening. He's maybe starting to fee a little desperate, but can you blame him when the child he raised is walking toward his certain death?
"Fucking stop!" He strikes out with an open palm, slamming a blast of qi into Binghe's chest, hoping to shock him out of this dazed state.
Or, at least, trying to slam some qi into his chest.
Because, of course, nothing in this world ever works out in any way other than the most dramatic option possible. Without A Cure has been draining him since he arrived in the cave, and this seems to be the final straw. The qi, which was already flowing so sluggishly, curdles in his meridians. Nothing at all comes from the strike against Binghe's chest. The very thin layer protecting him from the scorching heat dissolves, and the now-familiar sensation of slowly cooking to death starts up.
Binghe is still moving.
The monster is still cooing.
The rocks are still shaking.
The exit of the cave looms large at Shen Qingqiu's back, and he doesn't know what else he can do to make this stop. He doesn't know what he can do with this average body, now that all of his immortal cultivator abilities have fled him. He doesn't know how to make this stop. His skin is starting to blister and burn. He can't stop this from happening, all over again, just like last time.
Binghe walks, and Shen Qingqiu is tugged along behind him, trying to stop him with all the efficacy of a leaf caught in a tidal wave. When they get to the small lip by the opening of the cave, Shen Qingqiu throws himself in front, braces his legs on either side of it, locks the joints. He cannot overpower Binghe, but maybe he can just be inconvenient for long enough that the effect of the monster wears off.
Binghe doesn't push with his hands. He sort of shoulders his weight against the blockage that Shen Qingqiu is making of himself, as if he is some kind of heavy door. Binghe's eyes are still hazy and unfocused. This isn't how any of this is supposed to happen. The Protagonist shouldn't be so easily overpowered as this.
When he doesn't move, locked in place as best he can, Binghe simply reaches out and picks him up.
It's impossible to stop. Even though he struggles with all his might, Shen Qingqiu is in the body of just an average human, and he is facing the strength of a cultivator and Heavenly Demon. It is nothing at all for Binghe to move him into a princess carry, as he peaks his head out from the very exit Shen Qingqiu fought so hard to keep him from.
"Shizun?" For just a second, Shen Qingqiu forgets the level of tragedy porn that a book like this loves to peddle. The word is said in that same shocked, hopeful tone as all the times before, when he first lays eyes on his teacher. Finally, Shen Qingqiu thinks, stupidly. I've gotten through to him. Only, well, when he looks up toward the angular planes of Binghe's face, he doesn't see his dear disciple looking back, magically saved from the disorienting magic of the monster. Binghe's eyes are still clouded, and he is staring down at the monster below them.
The monster is so fucking big. Even with them coming down from such a high perch and looking down on it, it just puts into perspective how big the fucking thing is, rather than making it feel smaller. It would be so cool, if it weren't trying to kill them right now!
It's still rumbling. Binghe seems to be focused on something, now, but it's not Shen Qingqiu. He spoke as if they were seeing each other, but that's not true at all. They start to make their way down the side of the canyon, whether or not Shen Qingqiu wants to, still cradled as he is in Binghe's arms. Even if it seems as though the Protagonist has completely forgotten that he's holding anyone at all! Shen Qingqiu can't help but notice that the fully-grown stallion protagonist can effortlessly and comfortably carry him like this even while his mind is completely absent.
The blisters on his skin have started to pop, and the edges of the skin is starting to crackle. A layer of sweat has covered his entire body and is beginning to evaporate into a sticky residue.
Not the point. Really, really not the main priority right now. The monster is getting closer, and Shen Qingqiu tries to struggle, but there is only so much he can do, and the time to do it passed years ago.
He tries to trace Binghe's line of sight, now that he's looking at something again. He's looking at the monster in front of him. A little off to the side, actually, maybe. It's just like when he first came across Binghe being attacked. There seems to be something just to the side of the monster's head. Something that only Binghe can see.
They're on the ground now. Binghe strides toward the monster, almost eager in his steps. Shen Qingqiu doesn't know what else he can do to stop this and he doesn't know how to keep it from happening over and over again. He can't stop this from happening.
Binghe doesn't look like he's in any kind of distress, but he also doesn't look like he's paying attention to anything real.
They near the monster. The monster sways back and forth a little and keeps making that chirring coo. Binghe is staring at something that isn't there. Drool drips from the corner of the monster's mouth.
Shen Qingqiu can't stop this from happening. He doesn't know what to do to protect Binghe from this.
And then, the monster suddenly seems to realize that there is another creature in Binghe's arms, one that it did not lure here and that is not under its thrall.
There is a moment where the eyes roll in the naked hyena-like head and lock onto Shen Qingqiu's. There is a moment where Shen Qingqiu struggles valiantly, one last time, to get out of Binghe's grip. There is a moment of sudden violence.
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