The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: They Are Dead

Liu Xi had barely finished speaking, and before Gu Jue could answer, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out.

"Junior Sister Lu... she’s already dead."

Liu Xi’s heart sank. She whipped her head around, only to see that it was Ye Zhiyao and Qin Yu who had arrived.

She already had a poor impression of the two of them, and now she was so furious her brows shot up. "You’re the one who’s dead! She’s your junior sister from the same sect, how can you jinx her like that!"

As she spoke, Ye Zhiyao had already walked over to stand before Gu Jue. Hearing the accusation, she put on an aggrieved expression. "How could I be jinxing her? I’m telling the truth!"

Qin Yu’s expression darkened as well, and he snorted coldly. "My junior sister isn’t lying. Lu Sangjiu and that Body Cultivation practitioner are both dead... We saw it with our own eyes. Believe it or not!"

Speaking of the incident, Qin Yu actually felt a little uneasy.

At the time, he wasn’t sure why, but the thought of saving Lu Sangjiu had never even crossed his mind. In fact, a part of him had even hoped she would die.

After he got out and calmed down, he felt a pang of regret... After all, they were sect siblings.

Besides, all she really did was run her mouth a bit too much and get on people’s nerves.

But in all seriousness, she had never done anything truly heinous. So why had he been so heartless?

’To be honest,’ Qin Yu thought, ’it was as if something had been controlling my mind in that moment. By the time I snapped out of it, it was too late.’

He was filled with a regret he couldn’t voice to anyone. Now, running into Gu Jue and Liu Xi and having the topic brought up again, his tone naturally soured.

And so, his emotionally charged words sounded all the more grating to Liu Xi’s ears.

She, Lu Sangjiu, and Chi Yan had only met by chance; they weren’t actually that close.

But the moment she remembered that they had been separated from Gu Jue because of her own willfulness, Liu Xi was overwhelmed with guilt...

She already disliked Ye Zhiyao, and now she couldn’t help but redirect her anger. "You saw it with your own eyes but didn’t save them... Did you murder them on purpose?"

A look of shocked and wronged innocence immediately appeared on Ye Zhiyao’s face. "How could you think such a thing?"

"Junior Sister Lu is a member of my Seven Emotions Sect. Why would I ever want to intentionally harm her?"

But Liu Xi was in turmoil, desperate to prove that their deaths weren’t her fault. How could a few words from Ye Zhiyao possibly convince her?

So she glared at Ye Zhiyao, her voice sharp. "Just because you say you wouldn’t, doesn’t mean it’s true! Even if you didn’t kill them on purpose, you must have stood by and done nothing! Otherwise, how could you have ’seen’ them die with your own eyes?"

That question hit the nail on the head. A flicker of guilt crossed Ye Zhiyao’s face, and she couldn’t help but glance at Qin Yu.

’Back then... back then, it was Senior Brother who insisted on pulling me away. It’s not like *I* wanted to leave them to die.’

Ye Zhiyao tried to reassure herself, but she couldn’t ignore the faint flicker of glee she felt at the news of Lu Sangjiu’s death...

That glance from Ye Zhiyao made Qin Yu’s chest tighten with frustration.

But of course, he wouldn’t blame Ye Zhiyao. He just directed his anger toward Liu Xi.

"She was asking for it! What does it have to do with us? She clearly saw the cave was about to collapse, but instead of running, she was only focused on grabbing treasure." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"She was insatiably greedy. She got what she deserved!"

Liu Xi seized on the key part of his statement. "So you were there, and you just left her?"

Ye Zhiyao hurriedly interjected, "At the time, our team had discovered treasure inside the cave, but we were besieged by Snow Cloud Beasts."

"It was Junior Sister Lu and her companion... They tried to take advantage of the chaos while we were fighting outside to sneak in and steal the treasure."

"By the time I realized something was wrong and went into the cave, I saw it was about to collapse."

"Junior Sister Lu ignored our shouts, single-mindedly rushing deeper inside to get the treasure. The situation was critical. We didn’t have time to stop her, and so..."

A look of sorrow and regret flashed across Ye Zhiyao’s face. "Junior Sister Lu placed too much importance on worldly possessions... to think she would lose her life over them..."

She was a master of twisting words. In reality, Lu Sangjiu’s group had arrived first, and at most, it was a free-for-all where everyone competed for the treasure based on their own abilities. But by framing it as them "stealing," she instantly seized the moral high ground.

Then, she made it sound as if they had tried to save Lu Sangjiu, but she had ignored their warnings, caring only for the treasure, which led to her death.

She conveniently failed to mention that she had tried to snatch the treasure while Lu Sangjiu’s group was exhausted from their own fight, or that the cave had collapsed precisely because of their renewed conflict.

Just then, the two other male cultivators who had temporarily teamed up with Ye Zhiyao and Qin Yu walked over.

"Immortal Ye is right. We were outside fighting for our lives, and because those two tried to take advantage of the situation, we suffered heavy losses and ended up with nothing."

"Now that they’re dead in there, we shouldn’t speak ill of them, but for you to blame Immortal Ye for not saving them? That’s going too far, isn’t it?"

These two men had never entered the cave; they were only repeating what Ye Zhiyao’s group had told them afterward. Thus, they spoke with righteous conviction.

From their account, Liu Xi and Gu Jue got a general idea of what had happened. If things were truly as Ye Zhiyao described, then they really couldn’t be blamed...

Liu Xi, still unconvinced, wanted to say more, but Gu Jue stopped her.

"That’s enough."

Gu Jue’s gaze toward Liu Xi was stern. "Liu Xi, there’s a limit to this nonsense. This matter has nothing to do with Ye and her companions. Stop making a scene."

Seeing that Gu Jue was angry, Liu Xi didn’t dare say another word. She just bit her lip, her heart wracked with regret and self-reproach.

’Back then... I really shouldn’t have been so stubborn and left.’

Liu Xi had been pampered and spoiled since she was a child. Later, her master had also doted on her. Her life, up to this point, had been nothing but smooth sailing.

Whenever she threw a tantrum, everyone would just indulge her and placate her.

At worst, it would cause some minor trouble for the group, but never any serious consequences.

This... was the first time her willfulness had gotten someone killed.

It was a sharp wake-up call, forcing her, with her spoiled temper, to finally confront and reflect on things she had never considered before.

After rebuking Liu Xi, Gu Jue turned to apologize to Ye Zhiyao on her behalf. "My junior sister can be thoughtless. I hope Ye will forgive her."

Ye Zhiyao quickly waved her hands. "It’s alright. I can understand Liu Dao You’s feelings... After all, I’m also very saddened by Junior Sister Lu’s death."

Gu Jue grunted in acknowledgment. "From your account, they were crushed to death inside the collapsed cave. In that case, might I ask Ye to take us there?"

Ye Zhiyao was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Does Senior Brother Gu think they might have survived? But after we escaped, we watched the cave collapse completely with our own eyes. We even checked for any life signs afterward... there was nothing."

Gu Jue lowered his gaze slightly. "Mm, I believe what Ye says. But since we were acquaintances, I think... I should at least recover their bodies."

"...I hope Ye will grant us this."