"So you can talk freely now?"
Grey looked at Barkeep Ji, waiting for an answer that never came, though the frog man's expression didn't exactly deny it either. That was good enough for Grey, especially after everything the angel lady had just explained about the Genesis System loosening the Council's grip.
"Then how'd you get stuck here in the first place?"
Ji shrugged. "Pissed off the wrong people. This was the only way to escape."
Grey frowned almost immediately. "Escape? How are you escaping by being trapped here? Don't they have more control over you here?"
"Yes and no." Ji rested both hands against the counter, looking far more relaxed than Grey had ever seen him while discussing anything remotely personal. "They cannot kill me freely here even if they want to, they can only use those on the outside to force my hand and convince me to present my neck to them."
His jagged smile returned. "But I am not stupid like a certain someone else."
