Chapter 980: Choosing Sides
"Tsk, a few of my strategists told me that even though you asked me to contact you, you actually have nothing to say to me. Is that true?"
"It's true," Qi Xia replied. "I have no business with you."
"Alright, then everything adds up," Saturday said. "Tsk, as expected, smart people rely on their brains, while I can only rely on guessing."
Qi Xia let out a light laugh but said nothing.
"Tsk, big brain," Saturday continued. "So you had me send you a message just to hear the results of our discussion?"
"Yes," Qi Xia said again.
He thought to himself that "Cat" truly lived up to her name. When everyone united with one heart, even second-rate strategists could brainstorm results worthy of a first-rate one. After all, every opinion they offered was for the team's benefit or leaned toward self-sacrifice. At such times, their minds would achieve synchronization, and their collective strength would multiply.
This kind of mental synchronization placed extremely strict demands on the team. If even one person proposed a viewpoint out of selfishness, it would immediately create a "bucket effect," dragging the entire team's overall capability down to the level of that "selfish individual."
"Tsk, big brain, we have the results now," Saturday said.
"Tell me."
"Uh... hold on a second..."
He heard her murmuring and discussing for a few seconds, then she said, "Tsk, I've double-checked. The kill targets: first 'Black Tortoise,' then 'Vermilion Bird.' Correct?"
"Correct," Qi Xia confirmed. "What's the second conclusion?"
"Tsk, damn..." Saturday hesitated in confusion. "How did you know there's a second conclusion?"
"Go on," Qi Xia said.
"...The 'kill plan' doesn't include 'Azure Dragon' and 'White Tiger,' right?"
Qi Xia paused for two seconds and nodded. "Right."
"Damn, it's actually right...?" Saturday was stunned. "Tsk, but why the hell is that? There are four 'Divine Beasts' in total, right? Why do we only need to kill two? And what's with that kill order? Did you really think of all this?"
Facing Saturday's barrage of questions, Qi Xia simply said, "You mentioned earlier that there are some things you have that I don't. So who speaks, and who listens?"
"Tsk..." Saturday sighed. "Fair enough... Even if I had more questions, you couldn't answer them. But if you knew all this in detail, why didn't you just have that bastard Chen Junnan tell us directly? Do you have any idea how long we argued to reach those two conclusions? Nineteen is practically wiped out."
"Only by discussing it among yourselves could you truly believe those conclusions were correct," Qi Xia replied. "Otherwise, even if I told you the answers directly, you'd still have a mountain of questions to resolve."
"Fine..." Saturday said. "Since you think it's fine too, we'll execute the plan as agreed."
"Thanks for your hard work," Qi Xia said.
Saturday fell silent on the other end. Qiao Jiayin and Chen Junnan came over.
They could clearly sense that Qi Xia seemed to be thinking about many things, so they didn't speak rashly.
After a few seconds, Qiao Jiayin asked, "Liar... is everything going smoothly?"
"Not a big problem," Qi Xia said. "You two get some rest early tonight. Tomorrow, you're coming with me to participate in the 'Earth Dragon' game."
"No problem," Qiao Jiayin nodded.
"Need your young master to do anything...?" Chen Junnan asked.
"I..." Qi Xia thought for a moment and said, "Are you going to protect someone tomorrow?"
"Damn..." Chen Junnan cursed under his breath. "Did you install a surveillance camera on me? Old Qi, you're going too far. Hurry up and pull the plug."
"Not at all," Qi Xia said. "I just thought you might receive such a request, but you don't have to comply."
"Hey...?" Chen Junnan paused for a moment. "But that doesn't seem right... Do you know who I'm supposed to protect...?"
"Whoever it is, it doesn't matter. You don't need to protect anyone," Qi Xia said. "I'll handle the protection."
"You... you'll handle it...?"
"Chen Junnan, you're in charge of protecting me," Qi Xia said. "And I'm in charge of protecting everyone."
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiayin were taken aback for a moment, then exchanged glances.
Understanding Chen Junnan's meaning, Qiao Jiayin spoke up again, "Liar, aren't we going to participate in the game tomorrow?"
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded.
"Participating in the game... but you want to protect everyone?" Qiao Jiayin asked again.
"That's right... At this point, I'll do my best to protect everyone," Qi Xia said. "Tomorrow's 'Earth Dragon' game is not just any ordinary game. Take it seriously and make sure you 'win.' Leave the rest to me."
"Alright..."
Both agreed and then went to a corner of the room to rest. Meanwhile, Qi Xia kept his eyes fixed on the window.
Even when everyone else was resting, even when the "train" had quieted down, Qi Xia still couldn't let his guard down.
Although all "Heavenly-Level Moments" had been intercepted by Azure Dragon, after all, every "Heavenly-Level" had their own selfish motives. No one could guarantee that a defecting "Heavenly-Level" wouldn't suddenly activate a moment.
This was their critical juncture.
At this point, anyone with eyes could see that Heavenly Dragon and Azure Dragon had begun to fracture, and the many "Heavenly-Level" participants would have to choose sides at this crucial moment.
Though picking the right faction wouldn't bring them wealth or glory, it would at least ensure their survival.
Even if they were momentarily intimidated by Azure Dragon's power, it didn't mean they would side with him permanently. Given the right opportunity, someone would definitely choose to serve Heavenly Dragon.
But none of these "Heavenly-Level" participants, who had enjoyed their freedom for so many years, could ever imagine that whether they sided with Azure Dragon or Heavenly Dragon, they would all be wrong.
Only by siding with the "Participants" would they have any real chance of survival.
Perhaps only seventy years ago, the people standing on this land believed that the "Participants" could win.
Aside from that initial time, in the many years that followed, the "Participants" had never held any real chance of victory. This was the conclusion that numerous "Heavenly-Level" participants had drawn from their long experience.
"There should be randomly appearing 'Wild Needles'..." Qi Xia thought to himself. "No matter how stable the team alignment is, the 'Heavenly-Level' minds are still in turmoil... If at such a time they encounter an 'Earth-Level' who comes to kill them... sparks will fly."
Qi Xia was deducing what was likely to happen next, while cautiously watching the sky, alert for any "Heavenly-Level Moment" that might appear at any second.
The entire night passed. Only when the sky began to lighten did he stand up, stretch his stiff body, and rotate his neck.
Then he woke Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiayin. After a brief rest, they went to Yan Zhichun's room to meet up, and together they set off toward the venue of the "Earth Dragon" game.
(I want to apologize to everyone o(╥﹏╥)o. Yesterday, due to some technical issues, the livestream ended up not being synced to my Douyin account. By the time I realized it, I was already on stage and couldn't help fix it... So the livestream content ended up on Tomato Novel's Douyin account, not mine. This made it look like I did nothing yesterday and then didn't update... So I sincerely apologize. I was actually quite busy yesterday... Maybe many family and friends had already moved to the correct livestream, but some were still messaging me privately. At that time, I really couldn't answer each one individually. I'm truly sorry.)