Chapter 910: The Plan is Set
"Yes." White Goat replied.
"Then, putting aside everything else, let's say we really can get on the 'train,' really find 'Black Goat,' and 'Black Goat' truly doesn't kill us. By some incredible stroke of luck, we kill 'Longhorn Beetle,' rescue 'Ant'... what do we do after that?"
"That's the easy part," White Goat said. "Everyone who survives focuses solely on escaping. By then, you should see many of 'our own people' on the train. Whether they're 'Earth Grade' or 'Human Grade,' as long as you identify their positions, decisively hide inside their rooms, wait for the commotion to die down, and then find a way to evacuate the train."
Yes... The plan was good. It sounded like White Goat had planted many 'needles'...
"But how many of us will actually survive?" I asked, my expression dim. "How many do you think will escape?"
"I cannot predict everything that will happen in the future," White Goat said. "After all, this plan requires many people to cooperate seamlessly. If one link fails, the other links will be affected too."
"Sister Yan, I really have no confidence leading a group of ordinary people onto the 'train,' killing a 'Heaven Grade,' and then making a clean getaway..."
"There's no need to be so insecure." White Goat reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. This was the first time in my memory he had ever touched me.
"What?"
"You are 'Heartstealer,'" White Goat said. "None of the 'Zodiacs' here can be 'immune to Echoes.' As long as your conviction is stable enough to control 'Longhorn Beetle' from the very first moment, your victory might only take an instant."
Yes... In theory, that was correct. But I had never used my 'Heartstealer' to fight an enemy of such a high rank.
"You can use the remaining time to train hard on your 'Heartstealer' and the 'conviction' in your heart," White Goat said. "You must view human life as weeds, and your teammates as scattered stones. No matter how many people die, how many teammates you lose, your 'conviction' cannot waver in the slightest. Otherwise, you will be destroyed."
So that meant I still needed to keep participating in 'Earth Grade' games, using my 'Echo' as much as possible to kill other 'participants.' Otherwise, I wouldn't get the training I needed, and I wouldn't learn to view life as cheap.
"And... 'Ant'?" I asked again. "After we rescue them... where do we take them?"
"Take?" White Goat shook his head. "No need to take them anywhere. Just restoring their mobility so they can move around freely would be an enormous help to me already."
"What?" I blinked. "We rescue them... and then let them roam freely on the 'train'? What's the point of rescuing them then?"
"Of course, to find the 'Eyes.'"
A faint smirk curled at the corner of White Goat's mouth, a cold smile that sent a chill through me.
"Find the 'Eyes'...?"
"There are many 'Eyes' for them to find..." White Goat continued, still wearing that cold smile. "Since they'll be mobile but can't go to the 'Earth,' they'll have to settle for searching for 'Eyes' on the 'train'... This is truly the best possible outcome..."
I felt like I couldn't see through White Goat again. Every word he said was hard for me to understand.
"You'll rarely see an 'army' with such a clear objective," White Goat said to me. "This will all be the result of your efforts."
How should I put it... My purpose for joining White Goat was to become strong, and White Goat, as he had promised, bestowed wisdom upon me.
I had thought I would have a chance to protect myself, to slip away when I sensed danger, to remain uninvolved.
But now, it seemed there was no such path.
Even if I truly sensed danger, I would already be on the 'train'... How would I get out unscathed then?
"The latter half of the plan is too vague," I said. "You said we would see many of our own people on the train, enter their rooms, and wait to evacuate. But who are these 'our own people'? What is the method for 'evacuating the train'? If the train really has an exit, shouldn't we do everything we can to rush toward it? What's the point of hiding in rooms?"
White Goat stared at me in silence for a long moment, then slowly let out a single syllable: "Oh?"
I didn't quite understand what that "oh" meant...
Judging by the subtle expression on his face, it was either "I can't believe you thought of that" or "So even this didn't fool you."
"Sister Yan," I said, organizing my thoughts. "If you really want us to escape the 'train,' the best way would of course be right at the moment we kill 'Longhorn Beetle.' By then, the 'Ants' will scatter, your people will appear, the train will be in chaos—only then do we have any chance of getting away. But once we hide in those 'rooms' and wait for everything to settle down, for order to be restored... where would we outsiders even flee to?"
I thought White Goat would answer my question, but he fell silent for a few more seconds.
"Yan Zhichun, if you want, you can run at the moment Longhorn Beetle is killed," he said flatly. "I'm just laying out one path that I've planned. But you don't have to follow it. When the time comes, you can do whatever you want—run, commit suicide, or even put on a mask and become a 'Zodiac.' It's up to you."
"What...?"
A plan so meticulously crafted, yet with such a casual ending?
"I can't guarantee that everyone in your organization will be 'safe forever,'" White Goat added. "But you need to find a way to hide. Once everything is settled, I'll come find you."
Alright... So this wasn't *our* ending—it was the ending of the 'Extreme Path.'
After all, the role of the 'Extreme Path' would end once they protected this place, destroyed the giant bell and display screen, and killed 'Longhorn Beetle.' As far as White Goat was concerned, these people would be completely useless, disposable at any moment.
But I couldn't abandon them.
Even though I had never met most of the people in 'Extreme Path,' according to Jiang Ruoxue, I carried their 'karma.' They had become 'Extreme Path,' they would charge into the 'train,' they would die under the 'Zodiacs'—all because of me.
So I would personally craft their ending.
I would adopt the first half of White Goat's plan entirely, but the second half needed adjustments.
"This is the plan I've set for you and your organization," White Goat said. "Remember: if I disappear two or three years from now, you must find a way to look for me, no matter how long it takes it's fine. If I've preserved my memories, you carry out the plan. If I haven't preserved my memories, you help me get them back."