Chapter 1150: A Motley Crowd
"Giant Bell demolition…?"
Those bizarre four words instantly left the group of "Participants" speechless.
The phrase sounded extremely unfamiliar, yet upon closer thought, it somehow made a strange kind of sense.
"No…" The middle-aged man stared at Chen Junnan for a long moment, finally sensing that something was off. "What exactly do you do for a living…? You're demolishing the Giant Bell?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Chen Junnan raised an eyebrow. "I'm from the 'Zhongyan Office.'"
"You…" The middle-aged man cleared his throat nonchalantly. "Are you one of the 'Zodiac's' people?"
"No, the 'Zodiac' are my people," Chen Junnan said. "Young Master here reports directly to that kid Celestial Dragon. This matter is highly classified, so hardly anyone knows about it."
"Wait… hold on…"
Many of the "Participants" were genuinely frightened by Chen Junnan's claims. After all, most of them knew that the "Zodiac" could eavesdrop on the participants, and many taboo words couldn't be spoken directly—even the "Zodiac" themselves were cautious about uttering certain terms.
For instance, "Celestial Dragon."
Yet the man before them not only directly invoked the name of Celestial Dragon but even referred to him as "that kid."
The crowd instinctively stepped back, afraid that if the "Zodiac" punished him, they might get caught in the crossfire.
But after waiting for dozens of seconds, the man in front of them remained standing there perfectly fine, still wearing that confident, arrogant smile. Now they realized something was very wrong.
Either this man was outrageously bold, or he genuinely had some connection to Celestial Dragon.
"Well, to put it simply, Xiao Qiao and I came down here mainly to do practical work for our fellow countrymen," Chen Junnan interjected. "We've visited many places and conducted surveys. After discovering that the Giant Bell and the Screen were starting to age, we directly arranged for a demolition plan."
Upon hearing this, Tiantian smiled and glanced at Zhang Chenze, who could only shake her head helplessly. Both of them felt that Chen Junnan's wording was rather strange—it was a wonder these people bought it.
"Qi Xia…" Zhang Chenze whispered beside him. "Won't they mess this up?"
Qi Xia turned his head, carefully scanning every person's expression, then said, "No. This is going to work."
"But the reason Chen Junnan gave…"
"The 'reason' doesn't matter," Qi Xia said. "But 'having a reason' matters a lot."
"Ah…?"
After listening to Chen Junnan's words, the group of "Participants" still felt their minds were in a fog. The young man at the front finally couldn't help asking, "Um… you discovered that the Giant Bell and the Screen were aging? Didn't you realize that the entire city has been reduced to ruins?"
"Huh?" Chen Junnan blinked.
"If you really plan to rebuild, shouldn't you construct some houses for us to live in…?"
"Uh…" Chen Junnan realized this young man wasn't so easy to fool, so he quickly replied, "A single house only benefits one person, but how many people will benefit from the Giant Bell? Take this Go club next door, for example—"
Chen Junnan pointed to an abandoned Go club beside them. "If we renovate and repair it, how many people can it hold?"
"Well…"
"But if we can rebuild the Screen and the Giant Bell, countless people will benefit. That's far more advantageous than building houses," Chen Junnan said. "However, I've noted your concerns. But this matter isn't under our 'Zhongyan Office'; it falls under 'City Planning.' Young Master will help relay your feedback."
The crowd was still skeptical. The middle-aged man stepped forward and tugged at the young man's arm. The two of them walked aside in tacit understanding to discuss the situation.
The middle-aged man felt that regardless of who these two people really were, they were clearly protecting these "rebels" in one way or another. If they chose not to believe them, there was a small chance they'd bring trouble upon themselves.
Whether the other party turned hostile and attacked directly, or they really did have some background, they might end up in a passive position.
Thus, the best course of action now was to pretend to believe their story and simply retreat. After all, there were still many "rebels" to deal with. Even if they didn't kill these eight people, they could still achieve merits and vent everyone's anger on behalf of all the "Participants."
The young man felt the middle-aged man's reasoning was sound. Even if the reasons given by this hostile bunch were utterly absurd, the safest option was to take them at face value—better to avoid trouble than to invite it.
So they stopped entangling with Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin. After a few whispered words among themselves, they silently withdrew without another word.
Seeing them leave, both Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good thinking, Handsome Boy," Qiao Jiajin said. "A few words and they were gone."
Chen Junnan shook his head gravely. "I was just spouting nonsense this time. I don't know what's wrong with these people—they seem brain-dead."
"Huh?" Qiao Jiajin was puzzled. "That actually worked?"
"This situation is more dangerous than any before," Qi Xia's voice came from behind them.
"What?"
"But as long as we give them a reason, they have no choice but to make a decision," Qi Xia continued. "Either they choose not to believe, and we all fall out openly, or they choose to play along, and everyone takes a graceful way out. Right now, the best choice for them is to leave without looking back."
"So that's how it is…?" Qiao Jiajin paused. "But how did you know they would definitely leave?"
"Because they had no other option," Qi Xia said. "These people are a 'motley crowd.' Do you know the essential difference between a 'motley crowd' and 'crack troops'?"
"The difference is… combat strength?" Qiao Jiajin guessed.
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "The difference is in 'mindset.'"
"Mindset…?"
"When a 'motley crowd' wants to achieve a goal, their first thought is 'win without bloodshed,'" Qi Xia said. "They gather together fueled by vague, hollow enthusiasm, blocking a smaller group of people. Though they make a lot of noise, no one makes the first move. Because they want to complete the task without any effort or a single scratch—they don't think it's worth risking their lives for something like this. That's the difference between them and 'crack troops.'"
"I think I get it," Chen Junnan nodded, flexing his sore limbs. "It's like the barefooted aren't afraid of the shod—they were afraid we'd really fight to the death, and I just got lucky."
Qi Xia nodded and walked over to Aunt Tong and Old Lyu.
"Qi kid… Thank you both…" Old Lyu said.
"Now that this pursuit has dispersed, thanks to the 'information gap,' your identities have been cleared," Qi Xia said. "Just pretend to be ordinary 'Participants' and keep moving forward."
Old Lyu was about to nod, but Aunt Tong objected.
"Old Lyu, let me make this clear right now: we part ways here."