Chapter 1067: Heroic and Dashing
Chen Junnan’s smile gradually faded into seriousness, which made Han Yimo feel a bit panicked.
“What did you just say?” Chen Junnan asked.
“I said… could you take one of the ‘Zi’ from Qiao Jiajin and give it to me…” Han Yimo’s voice grew softer as he spoke.
“Are you out of your mind…?” Chen Junnan frowned. “Those ‘Zi’ are things Old Qiao fought tooth and nail to protect and fought just as hard to get back. And now you’re telling me you want those ‘Zi’? Do you have the guts to say that again to my face?”
“No, no, don’t get angry…” Han Yimo sensed the situation was getting chaotic. “…Didn’t you say we’re in the same boat now? Don’t you also want to defect to the other side?”
“Uh…” Chen Junnan scratched his head after hearing that. “That’s true, but Old Qiao is my sworn brother. The ‘Zi’ on him are off-limits. Pick someone else.”
Han Yimo blinked after hearing this: “Then… fine. So I’ll grab one from that kid just now, right?”
“No way. That kid is a good friend of mine despite our age difference. The ones on him are definitely off-limits too.” Chen Junnan said while picking his ear. “Pick another.”
“…?” Han Yimo felt his mind was still a bit jumbled. “Then how about I grab one from those girls?”
“Are you serious?” Chen Junnan said. “How can a grown man like you go snatching things from girls?”
“No, but… wait…” Han Yimo paused. “Since we’re in the same boat now, I can’t exactly grab a ‘Zi’ from you either, can I?”
Chen Junnan nodded: “You couldn’t beat me anyway.”
“Uh…” Han Yimo swallowed. “Then doesn’t that mean I’m paralyzed? I don’t have a ‘Zi’ on me right now, so I’m stuck in the ‘Preparation Zone’. How am I supposed to help the other side win?”
“Go find Old Qi.” Chen Junnan said. “Go grab that guy Qi Xia’s ‘Zi’—all your problems are solved.”
Han Yimo scratched his head after hearing this, a look of awkward embarrassment spreading across his face.
Grab Qi Xia’s ‘Zi’?
If that were actually possible, he would have done it already.
The look in Qi Xia’s eyes seemed like that of someone who had killed before. Even a brief, simple threat from him made Han Yimo tremble all over, let alone trying to forcibly take a ‘Zi’ from him.
“Maybe I’ll just sit here for a while…” Han Yimo lowered his head slightly, his expression full of difficulty. “Between dying early and dying late, I choose not dying at all.”
“I mean… isn’t your goal to dismantle Qi Xia’s team from the inside?” Chen Junnan said. “Why are you so fixated on getting ‘Zi’? Shouldn’t you be going after the people directly?”
“Going after the people…?” Han Yimo looked around cautiously, then leaned close to Chen Junnan and whispered, “I’ll tell you this in secret, don’t tell anyone. Actually, I made an agreement with the other side… I urgently need one ‘Zi’ right now. If I can get it, I’m sure to earn their trust!”
“Tsk…” Chen Junnan pursed his lips. “That important?”
“Really! I already made a deal with them!” Han Yimo said. “I already voluntarily handed over my own ‘Zi’ to them earlier, but they need a second one from me. But after I came back… Qi Xia seems to have lost his mind and told me to rest here, won’t let me move.”
“Right, Old Qi might have gone crazy. If you keep not showing up… won’t the other side get suspicious?” Chen Junnan mumbled evasively while trying to figure out Qi Xia’s intentions.
But he quickly understood one thing: whether it was Qi Xia’s own ‘Zi’ or the ones on Qiao Jiajin, they were all rare items that the other side had never obtained before. Naturally, they couldn’t be handed over to Han Yimo.
It seemed Qi Xia had long known what would happen if he gave a ‘Zi’ to Han Yimo.
And deliberately leaving himself and Han Yimo here together meant the plan was already set. He just needed to follow along with it.
“In that case… isn’t this little master’s chance right here?” Chen Junnan mused.
“Chance…?”
“Right. Little master means… a chance to help the other side.” Chen Junnan pulled a ‘Zi’ out of his own pocket. “Little Han, if you’d said earlier that you had a deal with the other side, I would have given you this ‘Zi’ a long time ago. Now you’re making things feel a bit distant.”
“Huh?”
Han Yimo looked closely and saw a ‘巾’ (scarf/jin) character lying in Chen Junnan’s hand.
“This… is for me?” Han Yimo asked.
“Yeah. Originally it was ‘帅’ (commander/shuai), but someone pulled off two strokes, so now it’s just a ‘巾’. It’ll do in a pinch.”
Han Yimo carefully cupped the ‘Zi’ in his hands. After a long pause, he said slowly to Chen Junnan, “Thank you so much…”
“Hey! Don’t mention it! Hahahaha!” Chen Junnan laughed heartily. “Little Han, you and I are like two socks on the same string. Go ahead and do what you need to. If anything goes wrong, little master has your back.”
“You’ve really done me a huge favor this time.” After speaking, a trace of sadness flickered across Han Yimo’s face. “But you might have forgotten—once I win… your whole team dies. Your current identity…”
“Hahahaha! No worries!” Chen Junnan laughed. “You forgot about our seven years of mutual love-hate? Little master dies all the time. This is nothing. Go on, hurry!”
Han Yimo’s eyes were full of gratitude, saying he had met his benefactor.
“I wouldn’t dare call myself a benefactor.” Chen Junnan shook his head. “Since little master has given you the ‘Zi’, I need a favor from you.”
“We’re already teammates. No need to be so polite.” Han Yimo raised the ‘Zi’ in his hand and said, “For the sake of this, I’ll agree to anything as long as it’s not too much.”
“That’s great!” Chen Junnan said. “Actually, it’s not a big deal…”
He turned and pointed at Qiao Jiajin behind him.
“You know my iron buddy here—he always cares a lot about his face.” Chen Junnan smiled and put his arm around Han Yimo’s shoulder. “Now that he fought someone to a draw and got injured, if word gets out, people will laugh at him.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I thought, once you go out, don’t mention that he got knocked out.” Chen Junnan thought for a moment and added, “If possible, it would be great if you could make up some heroic and dashing stories about him. That way, he saves face. It won’t cost you anything, right?”
“Oh, that’s fine.” Han Yimo said. “Since you, brother, have spoken, leave it to me. You help me once, I help you once.”
“No, no, no. You’re the one who’s always helping me.”
“You’re too polite.” Han Yimo shook his head. “Leave it to me.”
“Good! It’s a deal!” Chen Junnan’s face lit up again. “Remember! Make him look heroic and dashing!”
“Heroic and dashing, guaranteed!”
After thanking Chen Junnan profusely several times, Han Yimo swaggered out of the ‘Preparation Zone’.
On the way, he ran into Zheng Yingxiong, told him he was going to settle scores with Wen Qiaoyun, and then hurriedly crossed the ‘river channel’.