Page 47 of Light Leech

But still.

Laughter. Laughter In the face of torture and pain.

However corrupt this woman was, she was doing what she believed was good, even if that good only benefitted herself under the weight of the world suffering.

Perhaps she was now realizing her mistakes. None of that mattered. Guilty or not–though I knew well how guilty she was–there was no need to rejoice in her pain.

I felt this. Understood this on some level, yet the carnal man won.

I smiled along with his laughter.

Here we all were, vile beings forced to do what we thought good.

How did we differ from her?

I couldn’t answer. I didn’t want to face that reality, even though I had already accepted that the survival of the world was contingent on the savagery we pursued.

“I’m pretty hungry, Kalacia. Do I really need to take more? Or is this one of those ‘they’ll hurt me worse than you ever could if I tell you’ situations? Still not pumped to answer? Fine, let’s start with something adjacent. Who the zeg is Veren? Let’s act like we’ve already discussed my parents, even if you don’t care about them. I know that mecha-lady was on the PTA with them, so if you two are connected, there must be a reason.”

She spat out blood and stopped her gums bleeding with the edge of her sleeve. Her blood gleamed over the violet-lit gems. The gaps in her teeth made it harder for Boyband to maintain a serious composure as she spoke. “She was an and placed in by an outside company after seeing your parents probing activity. When they died, she took the helm.”

“Other company my ass. Who?”

“I don’t know! Someone who works with… the… um.”

“Your boss?”

“No, it’s–”

“The Correction,” I said.

She furrowed her brow. It looked like recognition, but that wasn’t right. Maybe something that led to it? It all had to be connected one way or another. Even if she had no Gongtide ties, Gongtide had its tentacles in every part of the world: Education, Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals, Government. We were only at the cusp of it.

“Pure Knowledge,” she said, as if it wasn’t a statement but rather a title or thing in itself.

“Explain,” Boyband said, then picked his teeth with bloody fingers.

“It’s… a concept. An ideal… it’s hard to explain. It’s something core neurocrawlers speak of, but few pursue.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Ralia said.

“Are you a neurocrawler?”

“Deeper, ma’am. I don’t limit myself to titles, and by the way, Pure Knowledge is a zegging myth.”

“Say what you want.” Kalacia smirked.

“Don’t get all cheeky with me.” Boyband spat on the ground before her. “Is that what the admittance was for?”

She stared.

Boyband laughed. “You can lie with a false face, but you’re terrible now. Why do you need to kill one of us to get in?”

“It’s the Correction,” I said.

“You sure?” he asked.

“It has to be. They find out we’re looking for them and two assassins come? It’s got to be Gongtide, regardless.”