I find myself staring intently at the young boy.

Gong seems clearly disappointed by his decision, as her eyes turn cold toward him.

She turns away from him, moving back to the front of the group. Speaking as the head of the group again.

“If everyone has made their decision, we will move onto to the next step then.”

She holds out her hand, now holding onto the contract.

“Take a look here and decide whether you want to sign.”

A copy of the contract appears in everybody’s hands, mine included.

“Once again, if anyone does not want to sign this paper, do not sign it. Read it carefully, to make sure you understand the consequences.”

Re-reading the document shows it promises that the group will take care of its members, in exchange for never betraying or releasing any information regarding the methods or activities that are being done within the group.

The fine print vaguely says there will be one specific action determined by group performed, while the other aspects in the document go into detail on what will be done (based on our previous discussions).

Gong appears to be giving them time to read the document.

As they look down at it, I’m able to see how the contract works from a fresh perspective. I didn’t realize how many things that the contract automatically takes care of, that would be a concern for normal contracts.

It is obvious that there are quite a few people here who cannot read, so the contract automatically imparts the information to them, as if they could read it.

Since this appears to be a good moment to check with her, I briskly walk over to Gong.

I can see her lips purse, as it appears she already knows what I’m going to say.

“Gong, you know that kid is going to die if he actually signs the contract. We can’t just let that happen. Can we just tell him to not sign it?”

“No. If we tell him specifically not to sign it, it will cause some of our other allies to be worried about what exactly they’re signing. That’s a sign of weakness, that we can’t afford to show at this point in time. I’ve given him so much face to back out of this. He has already spited our group enough, with his complete disregard for our kindness towards his situation.”

“What are you saying? That we should let this happen because it’s their own decision? He’s a kid and obviously being manipulated!”

I can feel my whispers getting a little heated.

“I don’t know what’s up with you, but he’s old enough to make his own decisions. It’s not our problem if he chooses this. There may be some manipulation, but he’s deciding himself.

“… We already talked about this, and I hoped you would be ready for this. I understand why, but this is still quite disappointing.”

Is this actually Gong? The same Gong who looked out for Ai and Lin? Who talked with me about how she felt about taking her friend’s life?

Why does she think that a fucking kid like this is in his right mind to handle this?

My mind swims, as I try to figure out what exactly is going on, with this person who I thought I knew.

And suddenly, the answer comes to me. Simple as can be.

Oh fuck.

This is what she was saying earlier. That we need to let them die, no matter what happens.

I painted a picture of her in my mind. At the end of the day… she doesn’t share my world’s morals. She cares about us, but for someone outside her circle, she only cares so much.

She isn’t like me, who truly believes that every life is valuable, despite their characteristics, actions, or beliefs. For her, there are things that disqualify them.

This is why she doesn’t worry about people dying, as much as I do. She still feels it when she has to do it, but not as much if it is because of their own decisions.

That doesn’t even include the fact that in this world, someone of his age is usually just considered an adult, in terms of making their own decisions.

In her eyes, she probably believes she has done more than enough to help them.

I say something, almost unconsciously.

“So, there’s nothing I can say that would move you from this position?”

She sighs, putting a hand to her head. She places her other hand on my shoulder, which causes me to freeze for a moment.

She gives me a weird look and rolls her eyes.

“I can see you’re taking this in a weird direction. I want you to look over there, at that tiger woman.”

Her head motions in a direction.

A tiger Demi human woman is sitting on the ground, reading the contract carefully. Her reddish curls accentuate her sharp, but beautiful face. Against my expectations, she doesn’t have much muscle, but definitely has quite a bit of enticing curves to her.

“She’s a prostitute. She has three young kids, that are relying on her to come back and feed them. She’s been told by Ling that if she comes back with excellent information, that he’ll give her 5 silver. The kid, the one I’ve worked with for some time now, has also gotten the same deal. And is likely looking to betray us for that money.

“… For people who barely see more than a half silver, it’s practically a fortune and a ticket out of here. To add to that, Ling reliably keeps his deals. Well, to their knowledge, at least.

“Especially with their families in a vulnerable position. What do you think they’ll do?”

Her head subtly nods over to the boy’s direction.

“That kid over there is no different. He’s trying to hedge his bets, since his sister wants to join. If things go south here, he’s likely planning on selling information back to Ling, to be able to get them out of here. People like them are always creating a Plan B and can be hard to convince.

“… Like I said. They understand their decision and are making their own choices. Once you see that the contract goes through, you’ll be able to see that they are not being manipulated. They chose this.”

… Is it right that just because they chose this, that I allow them to die because of that decision?

Is it worth sacrificing some of the confidence that allies may have in us to allow people that like that to live?

Fuck yes.

I don’t care if it’s the smart choice to just let them die. Not for people like this. Granted, there are people who are looking just to make a quick buck off us. Who clearly have no good intentions and have a history of destructive behavior.

But for people who are just trying to survive and help their families, that we can potentially help through those situations.

I refuse to be like the rest of this world and just let them fall.

I have to figure out a way to make this into something that’s an advantage for us. It’s clear Gong believes differently. And ultimately, she has the ability to override me in this contract, so it’s not worth arguing with her about this and trying to change something after it’s done.

We have to change the contract now, before it’s finalized and inside it, provide rewards and benefits with little cost to ourselves. Assurances. All things that will reduce a person’s intention to betray and make them want to stay.

“Okay, Gong. Hear me out. “

She turns to me, even on her normal features I can see a show of irritation.

“James, this is the last possible moment that you could be doing something. I know you want to change this, but it does not make sense at this point in time, and will look bad.”

“I understand where you are coming from. But I think this change could be of a benefit to us and increase the trust our allies have in us. Would you be willing to at least hear it out?”

Once again, her hand goes up to her head, her fingers holding the bridge of her nose. A position seeming to become somewhat natural for her, with me.

“… Fine. But we’re gonna talk about this afterwards.”

“Thank you, Gong. I really appreciate that you’re still willing to listen to me, even in this situation…”

“Please, just hurry. Some of our allies are already getting anxious.”

“Okay, okay, but we may need a little more time to make sure this is thorough. Can we bring some food over here to them to show that we have plenty of food, as well as water? Help to have them take a break understand that we’re willing to provide for them.

“In fact, if we can give them each two silver coins, I think that could go a long way to helping them understand that we’re willing to provide for them and view them as valuable allies. Not disposable pawns.”

I can see that she’s about to argue towards this, so I cut her off.

“Gong, I should have enough coins to cover this. Granted, it probably wipes out what I have. I can pay you back after this is done.”

Strangely, she seems to grow angry now, even more than before. But she bites her lip, clearly holding back some words she was going to say.

She goes quiet for a second or two, collecting her emotions. When she speaks up again, it’s measured and focused.

“James, I think this is generally a bad idea and won’t do what you think it will.”

She pauses.

“However, you are right in that giving out these benefits will serve to make our allies believe we value them more. Making them a bit more loyal. At least, before they get really good information.

“Regarding the coins, with the amount that we got from the Yellow Sashes, don’t worry about the money. It’s because I trust you and that you sometimes come up with strange ideas that work, that we will go along with this.

“I do need you to know though, this puts me in a very weird position. Yet again.”

She turns to face everyone.

“Let me handle the wordage on this. … I hope you know what you’re doing.”